Marty

Nora Greenweld (aka Molly Holly) today:

Whatever Meltzer was drinking last night, I want some. He also said Torrie Wilson beat Mickie James by DQ in the match-by-match coverage.

He's not the only one like that, at least in regards to not watching WWE. Jericho's said in at least a couple interviews that he watches more TNA than WWE these days.

That's precisely what I was thinking too. Sting probably at the same career point edges out Cena as a worker, but Sting didn't have the initial box office success that Cena has had so far. At the same time, will the fan backlash hurt Cena's longevity? I'm not sure if he'll ever hit 1996-97 levels of Sting success, but is he in danger of being a once-was before he hits 30?

I was thinking about a comment Jim Ross made 5 years ago (probably in the Ross Report) that was mentioned in Pro Wrestling Illustrated with regards to Prototype, aka John Cena. "Prototype reminds me of a young Sting..." With that in mind, and with 5 years past, where do you guys think John Cena stands right now in his career as a comparison to Sting? Is he equal to the success Sting was at roughly the same time? Will he have the longevity of Sting? Or will he burn out fast? Discuss.

Could very well be. For whatever the reason is, it's a shame, as I like both women, and after this feud, I don't know who else there is for Trish to work with. Regarding the WM finish, I need to re-watch the match to be sure, but part of me was thinking the "botch" was on purpose (since Trish's legs were being worked on during the match by Mickie, thus they gave out on the Stratusfaction attempt).

I haven't had a chance to watch much of the shows lately, but did catch the last half hour this morning when I woke up (Canada has a replay at 3:30 in the morning on a Wednesday, and I get up at 5). So, got to see some of Trish-Mickie and main event. Trish-Mickie: Maybe it's because I haven't seen much of the shows lately, and have only really read some stuff online (aside from bits and pieces I have seen on TV), but after the WrestleMania match, I don't get this feud at all. I know Mickie started dressing like Trish (which makes sense given her character) but then Trish fired back by dressing like Mickie, then told Mickie that this whole "her dressing like Trish" thing is silly, but is now continuing it herself. And I ask myself, "Why?" Does Trish deeply care for Mickie and is trying to get her to see the error of her ways and see the light? Or is Trish just playing mind games? Right now, it's really hard to tell if Trish really hates Mickie or not (I think the other way around is more of a sure thing) and because of these confusing things, I think that's why the Trish-Mickie segments (from what I've seen and heard at least) are getting almost zero reaction from the live crowd. They don't know how to react and with wrestling needing to keep things simple quite often, it's understandable. Or maybe most fans just want this feud to end with one pinning the other (after a match where they're rolling on top of each other in suggestive ways), a lesbian kiss after the match, and then shower scene footage afterwards on PPV. Who knows? Main Event: Since Sek brought up the Spirit Squad, I think the act's cute to an extent, but it could very well be a career killer for all five of those guys unless someone starts to stand out. I think they're all making a great effort trying to make chicken soup out of chicken shit, but I can't even remember what all five names are, and even if I did, I'm not sure I'd be able to name all of them. They're at least somewhat over as a group, but they have no shot at getting over individually unless something big happens. The Big Three: I appreciate the direction the booking has taken with all the 2-on-1 match-ups and the pretty even Stephen build-up (because it makes it appear that Edge is at the same level as Cena and HHH) but the execution by the three of the feud, specifically last night, was dreadful. One thing the WWE does not do very well these days is the little things. Watching the handicap tag match, the tag corner of the main eventers was sadly uneventful. Whether it was Cena/HHH, Cena/Edge, or Edge/HHH, both guys hardly yacked away at each other or even got into a self-restraining mode of hitting the other guy. It just felt like a usual tag match, which is sad, considering these three are supposed to hate each other. No action, talking, whatever on main event corner, just lots of attention paid to the match, as if beating the Spirit Squad means something, let alone more than the Backlash title match. I don't expect the guys to beat the hell out of each other minutes into the match, but nothing of any sort of conflict happened. Just lots of blind tags and staredowns. No emotion whatsoever. Another reason the crowd was dead (except for HHH comeback). If the three don't act like they can't stand each other enough, why should the crowd?

I think the key reason for the disappearance of punches is while there are some who can throw good ones, there are those who throw some really awful ones (RVD and Lita come to my mind immediately). These days, appearance of moves is a pretty big deal (for better or worse) and with the WWE's insistance that everyone work at least a similar style, that's one reason where you see punches going away. MisawaGQ made some great points about punches and the psychology of them too, although I'm not sure if the WWE had that in mind when taking them out of the equation.

I like your take the best, Sek. I apologize to both Cam and Bruiser. Wrong of me to say that you both hope he does or something along those lines. The one thing, though, that still does upset me is how Holly gets ripped for stiffing the hell out of young kids like this, yet a guy like Dynamite Kid does the same thing and gets a free pass. This falls under one of those "double standards" debates.

I'm with Mad Dog. This isn't like HHH or Kevin Nash tearing his quad. This is a guy fighting for his life here. Am I a Bob Holly fan? Fuck, no. But wishing death on the guy is fucking childish, guys.

Ditto. This is a classic case of "Let's bring back more nostalgia as a band-aid solution" rather than looking at the bigger picture.

Two items I just noticed on WWE Shop: http://shopzone.wwe.com/Product_detail.asp...ductId=01-07728 http://shopzone.wwe.com/Product_detail.asp...ductId=01-07729 Is this an even greater (and also subtle) attempt by Vince to bring Bret back? Or just a way to make a quick buck? (BTW, I'm old enough to remember the original versions of BOTH T-shirts!)

You mean they haven't done that already?

I gotta try that. Sounds interesting...

My choices, which I made earlier. As Sek noted, many of the matches listed are already on DVD, and which I already have, so I didn't bother selecting them. I can make a separate list of matches I'd have regardless of whether they were there or not if that's what people would rather like. The 70s: - Bruno Sammartino vs. Stan Hansen - Bruno Sammartino vs. Ken Patera - Bob Backlund vs. 'Superstar Billy Graham' - Bruno Sammartino vs. 'Superstar' Billy Graham - Bruno Sammartino vs. Greg 'The Hammer' Valentine (I'm sure they mean Backlund instead of Sammartino) The 80s (Most of the stuff I have, so I chose the stuff I don't have, leaving me to choose what I thought were better matches): - Bob Backlund vs. Harley Race - The Iron Sheik vs. Bob Backlund - Hulk Hogan vs. 'Mr. Wonderful' Paul Orndorff (Steel Cage Match) - Andre the Giant vs. Hulk Hogan - Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage The 90s (Again, I have most of this): - Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart (Steel Cage) - Bret Hart vs. The British Bulldog - Shawn Michaels vs. Mankind - Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Shawn Michaels - Mankind vs. The Rock in an Empty Arena Match 2000s (Here, I just chose ones I don't have on DVD, plus Austin-Rock, which deserves entry anyway) - Kurt Angle vs. The Rock - Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. The Rock in a No Holds Barred Match - Chris Jericho vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin - John Cena vs. Chris Jericho vs. Christian - John Cena vs. Edge (Funny how there's only one Triple H match listed in the choices!)

Carl Ouelette today: http://www.cpwinternational.net/images/bios/pco.htm Is it just me, or does he look more ripped today than in his WWF and WCW days?

Agreed, Coffey, which is precisely why Trish has more mileage than a Torrie Wilson.

Isn't this what Vince said he was gonna do back in like, 1997 with the "shades of grey" speech? Yes but back then, we still had defined faces and heels. The faces just had a bit of a badass edge to them (e.g. Austin) and the heels were "cool" heels (DX, The Rock, etc.). That's where your "shades of gray" falls into play, because it went away from traditional faces and heels for good. Loss' comment mentioned the flat-out elimination of faces and heels since fans will cheer who they want to, anyway. You still get faces who get cheers (e.g. RVD) and heels who still get booed (e.g. JBL) so there isn't a total revolt against faces and heels, but the idea of fading the concept away doesn't seem like a bad one. Someone on DVDVR made a great point about John Cena being the most over face and most over heel they have, all at the same time, so this may be as good a time to attempt this.

Yeah, I imagine the delay is simply working it into the storylines somehow (although God knows they'd be better off in general if they put this much attention in every other storyline). I expect an RKO on Teddy Long or something next week as the reasoning for his absence.

Two heels went over (James, JBL). You sure about that? Other than that, agreed, and I really like your idea of the complete scrapping of faces and heels, which makes me think that Cena admitting the booing isn't him being weak, but him doing something pretty different. He not only sells merch, but he could, in a way, change the face of the industry. We'll see if it leads up to that.

For the record, from what I heard, Shawn Michaels was in the audience for the online portion of the show, but left with others before the televised portion began.

I'm in Canada, of course, so I don't get to see the show until Monday, but thanks for the heads-up. I wondered if Shawn, from all the reports and speculation during the week, would show up or not. Should be interesting to watch when I do.

The WM lineup: Certainly not spectacular at all by any means, but I do have hopes for the deliverance of some matches, particularly those on the Smackdown side. I'm thinking Benoit-JBL will deliver, as will Rey-Angle-Orton. I don't think anyone thinks Henry has a hope in hell of winning, but the quality of the match vs. Taker will surprise. Everything else isn't really captivating me. I'm looking forward to seeing Cena-HHH, but for all the wrong reasons. I'm going to a party for the show this year, so thankfully, the cost will be minimal. Fit Finlay's comeback: I'm loving it for the reasons everyone else has, but damn, does the ability of Finlay to come back from a long layoff and display his expertise just because of his journeys and all really expose how far behind the young guys (specifically, the OVW call-ups) are. Finlay knows how to look so different and do so many little things in the ring that any of the new guys have no clue about, at the risk of sounding a lot like HHH. Still, I'm enjoying his return incredibly! The ROH v CZW feud: Haven't been following. Can't comment.

Bossman hadn't been a face that long (less than a year at that point), but as I recall, they sort of threw him in the mix when Tugboat was injured (I'm not sure if it was worked or not) and subsequently knocked out of the Summerslam '90 picture. No. His thing with The Mountie was the spring/summer of 1991 and the program with Nailz was in the fall of 1992. Yeah, Bossman turned babyface in the winter of 89/90 win Ted DiBiase failed at buying him out, which led to a REALLY brief feud between the two (especially since DiBiase had a year-long feud with Jake Roberts before that). Bossman refereed the Roberts/Bad News Brown match earlier in the SS90 card, and, as Bruiser mentioned, subbed in for Tugboat. I can't even remember if Tugboat's injury was legit or not, but he did come back well before Survivor Series that year and teamed with Hogan, Bossman, and Jim Duggan. They might've done the worked injury for the sake of pushing Bossman by giving him the Hogan rub, which in a sense worked since Bossman had a fine run from then until 92-ish as a babyface. After SummerSlam, Bossman had that infamous feud with the Heenan family, including that very surprising WrestleMania VII match with Mr. Perfect. Then, it was the Mountie feud.

*prays Loss doesn't give Raven/Richards vs. Pitbulls 2/3 falls dog collar match a **** rating the next time he watches it, if that happens*