Loss

With Edge unhappy last year and considering quitting the company, I'm wondering how he's taking losing the belt so quickly.

Can you believe there were people defending Chyna going toe-to-toe with and cleanly defeating Chris Jericho, who at that time was the hottest star in wrestling not named Austin or Rock?

Yes, but was that a finisher?

Yes, but does that mean anything if they don't profit at all from it? Ratings mattered as a comparison when Nitro was on the air, and they don't really matter at all now because they don't mean anything, except that USA can charge "x" number of dollars for ad revenue. House show attendance spiking after Edge won the title and the Rumble PPV buyrate being higher than it was last year would show an interest from the fanbase in spending money to see Edge defend the belt. As it stands, there's no proof of such a thing. As far as ignoring the crowd reaction, there was no reason they couldn't acknowledge it on the air, of course, but unless Cena was actively turning fans away from the product, there was no reason to take the belt off of him. It was a reaction. If anything, the fans were reacting like they wanted instead of like WWE told them to, but it wasn't adversely affecting anything at all. I think the booing of Cena was like the "What?" chant in many ways; people saw it happening on TV and it caught on in the arenas, but eventually, fans would tire themselves out on it. It has little to do with actually hating Cena, and even if it did, unless he was pushing people away from the product, it's still a reaction and it doesn't really matter at all. HHH is right that Cena has also been paired with guys who have no idea how to get heel heat. Not that HHH will do it any better or anything, but his point is correct.

That there was no reason to take the belt off Cena in the first place and that the boos were no big deal and should have just been ignored, I think. That's my take on it anyway.

Since Edge is a homegrown creation and they like him a lot, I think they'll try to make it up to him in another way. They wanted to get the belt off of him, but not necessarily bury him.

It took three months for my account to be approved at Classics, which I've used probably twice. They are indeed weird. Maybe drop an e-mail about Mark Nulty? Play to his ego by telling him his calls of the Joe/Punk matches were reminiscent of Gordon Solie at his peak?

I definitely agree that there weren't really any horrid US champs until the Bischoff era, with the belt and the champion always having a very clearly-defined role prior to that. I didn't think Dusty was the best choice to wear the belt in '87-'88, but he didn't hold it long, and they sort of booked themselves into a corner with the match stips for Starrcade. (Although originally, the Midnight Rider angle was scheduled to start right after Starrcade, but was postponed so Luger wouldn't get the heel heat for putting Dusty out when they were about to turn him face.) As for Hayes, yeah, he was sort of a waste as champion, although that was almost by design, as it was done to build up Luger's heel turn and give him a reason to start becoming sort of a jerk. The loss of the belt was what he needed to kickstart that attitude change. I'm in the minority, but I really enjoy their match at Wrestle War '89 as really fun, basic character work with Luger being a total angel and Hayes being a total devil. The amount of heat they were able to get off of really dumbed down, guys-in-wrestling-school-level offense was very cool.

I think the RKO is horrible, but maybe that's because Orton does it and attempts it far too many times over the course of a match.

If "Big Time" is the song, there are all sorts of clever nods they can make if Rey does indeed take the title.

Meltzer is also pimping Rey as one of the only three likely winners, with Orton being a more distant favorite, and HHH being in the running just because he's HHH. Looks like it just might happen.

Grab a concurrent hold and then it becomes a battle of wills to see who will release their hold first.

I guess it just surprises me that as old and broken down as he looks, as overexposed as he is, with all the bad publicity he's gotten and with booking portraying him in practically the worst way possible at least 90% of the time, that he is still somehow able to bring in ratings. It never fails to boggle the mind. Flair is 30 years my senior, and he will probably be wrestling after I'm dead.

I definitely agree with that. Had they waited to put the belt on JBL until 2005 after pushing him hard in 2004, it probably would have worked because he's reinvented himself, but he still had that stigma at the time and it was all too new.

I don't understand what You Tube is then, I guess.

Wrestlers always refer to Vince McMahon as a champion of free speech on WWE TV, and they're expected to keep straight faces while doing it.

I haven't seen this week's match, so I can't comment on it yet.

If the material is copyrighted, yes. If not, no.

I agree. It's my least favorite thing about Rey matches.