sek69

And then won it back in a potential WWE MOTY I like how the main event being a good match gets people to ignore the nonsensical path it took to get there. Seriously, what was the point of giving Orton the belt and having him lose it and win it the same night? They could have had the main event they did without all the other bullshit. That was some very TNA-ish booking that will get completely no-sold by the masses because HHH lost in the end and the match was good.

So apparently the best WWE could come up with is having Orton do the Stunning Steve job to HHH. Well I guess he held the belt longer than Andre at least.

From the ROH PPV taping yesteday: Because this is the perfect time for any wrestling promotion to do a concussion angle on PPV. Nice to see TNA doesn't have the market on lock for "why are they doing this" moments.

I'm really hoping it's not Cornette, because I'd be sad to find out one of my childhood favorites has been reduced to writing anonymous letters on the interweb. However, reading that again with the image of him gesturing wildly with a tennis racket makes it more entertaining.

So who's the douchebag who wrote that "OPEN LETTER TO DIXIE" on WO.com? Not that the points the writer were trying to make weren't correct, but they're made in the most irritating way possible.

Between the bad acting, hot crowd, and blatant appeal to the southern fanbase, this could be the most WCW-ish segment in history. That's meant in both the best and worst way possible.

You are correct ,Sir. Also, anyone else hear Candice Michelle's new theme and immediately think of the ?

No, but news organizations kept mentioning Angle because of that other steroid list he ended up on a while back. Still, Angle's such a trainwreck, even TNA has to reach the point where they go "Jesus Christ, this guy's fucked up"

They just rephrase it as Vince "going national" so that the viewer is left with the idea that wrestling would have forever remained in little fiefdoms had it not been for the WWF. When they discuss another territory they almost always go out of their way to emphasize that it was just a small little regional group and everyone in it secretly wished they could go to Vinceland.

Complete muscle tears from what would be (for a wrestler) a routine movement is a huge neon sign that steroids or HGH played a part. I'm surprised it hasn't picked up more steam on the internet circuit yet.

4:22am? Did you wait until midnight for the update and then watch 24/7 all night, man? Jesus. Yes. The Monday Night War show is like 3 hours, then I watched the WCCW show. The joy of working second shift means I can do that.

So Michael Hayes does the new episode of WCCW solo, only to be joined at the end by Buddy Roberts in a surprise cameo. Other than the tracheotomy/voice side effect of his cancer battle, he looks about a thousand percent better than the last time I saw pics of him where he looked like death warmed over.

I'd say not, even with the "the Freebirds made WCCW" revision, they still put over Fritz on the 24/7 show as a guy ahead of the curve in terms of production and promotion at the time. In fact, it even ends up contradicting the time honored "Vince took wrestling out of smoke filled arenas" myth as Hayes states openly that Fritz was way ahead of the WWF in the early 80s.

You know, people would watch this and jump on the fact that it's Bret in there and that's why the match is good, but Yoko was probably one of the best big man workers ever. It warps a lot of people on the internet's minds that someone that size isn't automatically horrible, but I think it's safe to say there probably won't be another guy that size who works that well. Most superheavyweights tend to be the "I'm just going to fall on you" variety, but Yoko would actually bust out the MOOVZ~! and his team with Owen was one of the highlights in the WWF that year.

You know, it's not as if I think he's a guy who would have been world champion or anything, but watching Terry Taylor matches usually leaves me frustrated a little that the thing he's going to be remembered most for is the Red Rooster gimmick. Why did Vince go through the effort of signing him when he was somewhat of a name in the NWA just to give him a dead-end gimmick? Just another case of "embarrass the guy who was a star in a competing fed"? Flair vs Anyone at this point in time would have been decent at minimum, it was always nice to see Flair in there with someone who could hold their end of the bargain instead of the usual broomsticks.

The thing about Cena is that people look at pics of when he was the Prototype in OVW and see how he's obviously less jacked now and assume he's no longer using. Of course all that means is somewhere along the way someone taught him about moderation. Not to take joy in someone else's misfortune but it's absolutely fucking hilarious that pretty much everyone who's been vocal about there not being any roid use in today's wrestling has either been busted or had some roid-induced injury. It's like karma is working overtime making WWE is collective bitch.

Also HBK just heard the sound of a cash register ringing all the way in San Antonio.

Losing Cena for any significant time would probably result in WWE panicking and completing the rape of Smackdown that started at the last draft.

from WWE.com SpywareInsider is speculating a possible pectoral tear.

So I just watched the second PPV, and I thought it was a much better effort than the first. I never noticed it as much before, but between Prazak's opening promo and Austin Aries' promo, they really bring back kayfabe in ROH by pushing the aspect that what they do is a real sport. It sounds kind of silly to bring back kayfabe in 2007 but it's something different instead of trying to be a WWE clone and failing like a lot of other promotions end up doing *cough*TNA*cough*. The opening six-man reminded me of how WCW would have spotfests in the opening slot to get the crowd amped up for the show, and it worked well here too. Dave pretty much nailed it in his review in the WON by saying you wouldn't want a whole show like this but sometimes a spotfest is just what you need to set things off right. Actually showing clips of their Japan tour and showing Japanese fans chanting "ROH" came off a million times better than having the announcers practically beg for acceptance at the first PPV. It made it look like ROH isn't just bullshitting about being a company that goes around the world, which is a point that probably will be slept on by a lot of people who are already fans but might convince a few people who weren't sure about if this a company worth following or not. It should be noted that my wife, (who stopped watching wrestling when Rock left WWE and is pretty much the epitome of the fanbase they've lost since WCW died) was marking out during the Claudio-Sydal match to the point of asking "Why are these guys so much better than WWE? do they practice their wrestling more or something?". I think that's a pretty good sign for ROH, they took someone who had no clue who the fuck any of these people were at the start of the show and had her going "HOLY SHIT~!" at the ending sequence. It's an unscientific study to be sure, but its at least some evidence that this PPV adventure might end up working out. Larry Sweeney single handedly makes me care in every segment he's in, as I don't give a shit about anyone in his stable. He really is the closest thing this era has to Bobby Heenan in which he can take dudes that literally have nothing going for them and make you actually care. The title match was fine as a "teach the fans matches can be short" segment, but I'm really hoping they switch the belt soon. The longer Morishima has the belt, the more it's obvious he's just holding it so Gabe/ROHbots can wank it to Japanese dudes in person. I guess it's smart booking based on the fanbase, but they've pretty much telegraphed that no one is going to be able to stop the path of FAT GIRL RAGE besides Danielson, so now it's like just have them fight already instead of dicking around with #1 contender matches. Dragon-Nigel was pretty awesome, and except for the "charging rams" spot (which ended up looking 100x worse in retrospect after all the concussion stuff came out) it was a pretty solid match. Danielson leaning over the ropes with a bloody face should be ROH's version of the shot of Austin bleeding in the Sharpshooter. I do have one question, with all the (deserved) hate for the Canadian Destroyer gets for being convoluted, what's the deal with Cattle Mutilation? Best I can figure is it's the world's most intricate Full Nelson.

I'd imagine the Iron Sheik would be over like Hulk Hogan with the "EEE-RAN NUMBA VON!" routine.

The WWE produced DVD on the Triumph and Tragedy of WCCW was originally set to release 9/18, but a check on Amazon indicates it was pushed back to December. The offical WWE DVD page still lists the 9/18 date, and it's curiously the only non-PPV release without a clickable link to further info/matchlisting/purchase details. Granted, current events would make it awkward to release a WCCW documentary now, but it seems like this might end up on the back burner for the foreseeable future.

I would imagine CMLL would make him drop the mask if ever left the company. No way they'd let him take something they invested so much in and use it to make millions elsewhere. Also hasn't history shown that after the initial "OMG WWE is here for the first time ever/in years" shows, attendance usually goes down for international shows? The last European tour was pretty much a bust. I don't think there's a long term market for WWE style wrestling outside of the US and Canada.

Got mine.