sek69

It's been said a million times, but who the fuck thinks this crap like having someone wear antlers would EVER work? I mean, it didn't work the FIRST time they tried it: It's 2005, cartoon gimmicks just don't fly anymore.

Perhaps they'd do the old Rick Rude bit where the security team is in full SWAT gear and one of them turns out to be Matt.

So basically HHH didn't want to pull the trigger on the Flair turn they always jerk the fans around with, and decided to lose his smile for a couple months. Tremendous.

Looks like that pic is from OVW. I don't get why WWE doesn't understand why stuff like the Hardy angle got the pop of the night and Kane vs Snitsky doesn't.

ROH fans come off to me like less ignorant versions of ECW mutants, with the whole "every other company is subpar to ours" mentality. It's fine to be a fan of whatever you want but sometimes people who are marks for these small indy promotions lose perspective when it comes to who needs who for business.

This can't be overlooked. Watch tapes of World Class and you'll see that the walkways were so small it looked like they were walking through the crowd. The Von Erichs would almost get stripped naked by the crush of female fans as they walked to the ring. It made them look like the most important people in the universe, and for that moment in that arena, they were. I never understood why WWF/E started keeping the lights on for the whole crowd, having just the ring lit would go light years toward fixing the growing problem of idiots going to WWE shows just to get themselves (or their websites) over.

Hilarous comments from Tazz re: Michael Cole.... No matter how you look at it, that's just too funny for words.

My point was that Awesome (IMO at least) doesn't suck any more or less than the hosses they did keep, which is why it suprised me he didn't get signed since he was at least over at one point.

Booker T: He's been on autopilot since leaving WCW, despite showing signs of life recently with the program he had going w/ Angle. He was a great worker until it seemed he just came to terms with never getting a real chance in WWE and just started to coast. Tito Santana: He's one of those guys who's prime came *just* before the big boom of the 80s. Most people remember him as the guy who was in a couple tag teams and jobbed at Wrestlemania every year. His matches with Greg Valentine over the IC title were usually excellent, and his feud with Savage helped launch the Macho Man into the upper tier of the WWF. Jun Akiyama: I always saw him as like the Randy Savage of Japan in the sense that he was unfortunate enough to never get the full focus of the fans. He seemed to always be in someone else's shadow. Still, I always enjoy watching his work. Hulk Hogan: It's funny, I never liked him growing up. Maybe I was just cynical at a young age, but I was never a Hulkamaniac. Hell, I even marked out when he got squished by the Earthquake. You can't deny that Hogan's probably the most brilliant politican ever in wrestling history, his heel turn and nWo run was a work of art until WCW let him get too much control. Ironically, I don't mind his nostalgia runs of the last couple years. As long as he's not being pushed as a title contender, I don't mind his occaisonal ego strokes. Mike Awesome: Everyone gives Heyman credit for being so protective of Awesome, but he really didn't do anything that wasn't already done when Awesome was the Gladiator in Japan. I'm kinda surprised WWE didn't sign him, since he has the hoss credientals they like.

Yeah, but this is WWE we're talking about, since when to they care about if something's big for another company? That's the part that baffles me, since this is completely out of character for WWE to help another company out even if it helps them in the long run.

I'm surprised the "smart" fans that ROH seems to attract haven't turned on the company for having such an obvious working relationship with WWE, the evil empire. Hell, for that matter, I'm suprised that WWE has allowed what could possibly be a big angle develop outside of their sphere of influence.

Benjamin has said he uses the Stinger Splash because he was a Sting fan growing up, and HBK trained Cade so I'd assume he was a big influence there.

Road Warrior Animal returns! What more do you want!

Yeah, there's nothing more irritating than someone who acts like they're better than what they're reviewing/transcribing. You're a wrestling fan for chrissakes, don't act so goddamn uppity.

Boy, was that guy who did the transcripts a self-important douche or what? Did we really need his MST3K type comments after every paragraph?

One thing that bugged me is that they weren't really pushing that he's an Arab-*American*. Hell, other than announcing him being from Michigan, they never really mention it at all. The crowd chants "USA", the announcers should mention Hassan was born and raised in the USA just to underscore he's an American of Arab heritage. Mick Foley mentions in his DVD that the one thing Michael Hayes taught him is that to cut a really good promo, you have to believe what you're saying. Every time the crowd would chant "USA" at Hassan or when someone tells him "love it or leave it" I'd literally be jumping up and down begging him to cut a promo pointing out he's American just like everyone in the crowd. Another thing that bugged me about his character is how WWE has to make all Middle Eastern wrestlers dress in native garb, and I've never seen an arab born and raised in the US walk around in full Shiek attire. You'd think someone like Hassan (who's main motivation is his anger in being thought of as a terrorist) wouldn't go around dressed like one of Osama's henchmen.

Just more examples of what happens when a wrestling company insists on not allowing people who know the product to work on the main shows. It's almost like WWE went out of its way to punish the workers Cornette had the most pride in, which is the most self defeating thing I've ever heard of in wrestling.

Also, didn't the taping reports say that promo was done for Velocity? It should still make it on TV.

God (or should that be Allah?) bless 'em for trying to spin their way out of this, but offensive aspect aside there's no way you can walk away from that angle without getting the clear "terrorist" vibe which wrecks Hassan's whole character of being a guy who everyone thinks is a terrorist because he's Arab-American. Now they had him act like a terrorist, so to have him still claim to be innocent makes him look stupid.

That was one of my favorite moments of the Attitude era, Austin played it perfectly as someone who didn't want to be a hero but had to stop what Taker was planning.

The best angles are always the ones people can relate to. Austin-Vince was huge in no small part to the deep down desire to slug your boss that most people have inside. Standing up to bullies, defending women (remember when Austin saved Steph from Taker?) rather than exploiting them, taking the arrogant cocky bastard down a peg, all of those are tried and true angles that almost always result in heat and money drawn. If WWE hired writers who followed wrestling, they'd know that.

I think it has the potential to be a huge angle (not Hall and Nash huge, but still...) because it's all about a guy getting f'ed over by his girlfriend. People can relate to that a whole lot better than wanting to beat someone up because you have a foot fetish.

Focusing on the internet reaction to the Matt angle ignores that it got the pop of the night from the crowd. Once the fans realized they weren't being fucked with again, they ate it up.

The Blondes never really got a chance, they were cut down by the Powers That Be as soon as it became clear they had a chance to be real good.

I love how some smarts react when they get worked (ie the tards on Matt's board) "Waaaaah, you're getting big bucks from WWE instead of working for peanuts in ROH! Damn You!"