goodhelmet Posted July 12, 2005 Report Share Posted July 12, 2005 To those of you who think this will draw money... ease on down. In no way does Matt Hardy get elevated to Main Event status. If anything, this is just a way to stop the bleeding and exploit the backlash that occurred during the Kane-Edge program. Edge is still on course to challenge for the World title and Hardy will be stuck like Chuck, looking up at the lights when all is said and done. I would not be surprised if they blow this off in a couple of weeks on TV somehow AND THEN release Hardy again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted July 12, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2005 There's no way Hardy would have agreed to that, and with the fan reaction what it's been, Matt actually had quite a bit of bargaining power. They've had Edge in a major holding pattern the past few weeks trying to figure out if Hardy was interested or not. And working indies, with his asking price so high right now and him being in high demand, he could conceivably make more money not sticking with WWE for the long term. There was a buzz surrounding the Matt/Edge/Lita segment last night that hasn't really been there seen since Hall and Nash showed up on Nitro. There's nowhere to go for Matt after this goes its course though, so I'm wondering if he's just under contract long enough to do this entire program before he jets back to the indies. He seems to be reinventing himself as Brian Pillman for 2005, and considering that he's scheduled to do the TNA PPV this Sunday and work an ROH date this Saturday night, it looks like his chances of making that role work are good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resident Evil Posted July 12, 2005 Report Share Posted July 12, 2005 Just wanted to say that Jericho may have had the best quote of all time in the history of anything last night when he defended his coolness by saying he way Canadian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted July 12, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2005 While wearing a Journey t-shirt with a blazer no less. He's a million times better as a heel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Big Papi Posted July 13, 2005 Report Share Posted July 13, 2005 There was a buzz surrounding the Matt/Edge/Lita segment last night that hasn't really been there seen since Hall and Nash showed up on Nitro. That may be so, but it is on a much smaller scale. As we know the internet is a small, but vocal percentage of the WWE's audience. Just because the net is buzzing about an angle doesn't mean it will be successful and make all kinds of money. I think a lot of people, you included, are getting too excited about an angle that only appeals to a small portion of the audience. We all loved the Pillman angle, but did the average fan care at the time? Matt Hardy has never been a draw, Edge doesn't sell out arenas and most viewers don't turn on RAW to see Lita. The success of this angle will be measured in the coming weeks. If they consistently pop a rating then the excitment will be justified. Until then the comments about this angle drawing a billion dollars and being the best thing the WWE has done in a decade need to be scaled down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted July 13, 2005 Report Share Posted July 13, 2005 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Big Papi Posted July 13, 2005 Report Share Posted July 13, 2005 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. That's a good point, the reaction next Monday will be interesting. I honestly think that if Billy Gunn, or some other wrestler that's been away for awhile, ran out from the crowd and attacked Edge the crowd would go nuts. I'm not convinced that they popped for "Matt Hardy" as much as they popped for the suprise attack and ensuing chaos. Will the crowd still pop as hard next week knowing that he's going to be there? I'm just not convinced that there is a ton of money in this angle. We are talking about Matt Hardy here, not '96 Hall and Nash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest brian Posted July 13, 2005 Report Share Posted July 13, 2005 Matt is not Billy Gunn though. He's far smarter, a better promo (especially for this type of angle), and a better wrestler. I'm much more worried that the WWE or Edge, and especially Lita, will ruin this before I worry about Matt himself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted July 13, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2005 There was a buzz surrounding the Matt/Edge/Lita segment last night that hasn't really been there seen since Hall and Nash showed up on Nitro.That may be so, but it is on a much smaller scale. As we know the internet is a small, but vocal percentage of the WWE's audience. Just because the net is buzzing about an angle doesn't mean it will be successful and make all kinds of money. I think a lot of people, you included, are getting too excited about an angle that only appeals to a small portion of the audience. We all loved the Pillman angle, but did the average fan care at the time? Matt Hardy has never been a draw, Edge doesn't sell out arenas and most viewers don't turn on RAW to see Lita. The success of this angle will be measured in the coming weeks. If they consistently pop a rating then the excitment will be justified. Until then the comments about this angle drawing a billion dollars and being the best thing the WWE has done in a decade need to be scaled down. I'd agree with you if word hadn't spread of this to a point where they were forced to turn Lita heel a few months ago and crowds weren't chanting "You screwed Matt" every week. As it stands, word has spread, and WWE should capitalize on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted July 13, 2005 Report Share Posted July 13, 2005 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Big Papi Posted July 13, 2005 Report Share Posted July 13, 2005 You guys bring up some really good points. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted July 13, 2005 Report Share Posted July 13, 2005 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted July 13, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2005 Stephanie hugging Austin, who wasn't trying to be a hero but rather just do the right thing, was GREAT! Probably the only Russo booking moment of 1999 that really worked for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted July 13, 2005 Report Share Posted July 13, 2005 Stephanie hugging Austin, who wasn't trying to be a hero but rather just do the right thing, was GREAT! Probably the only Russo booking moment of 1999 that really worked for me. 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted July 13, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2005 I'd just like to point out that all this time, Trish has been trying to warn us all about Lita's loose ways and no one has listened. They should make her gimmick when she comes back that of a psychic. She could tell people where to invest their money and stuff like that. Would be cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodhelmet Posted July 13, 2005 Report Share Posted July 13, 2005 She could tell people where to invest their money and stuff like that. Would be cool. Isn't that JBL's shtick? OMG ~ Gimmick infringement! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted July 13, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2005 Has he ever done that on TV? I mean more of a "predict the future" thing with Trish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest teke184 Posted July 13, 2005 Report Share Posted July 13, 2005 Has he ever done that on TV? I mean more of a "predict the future" thing with Trish. Unfortunately, it would probably end up being the Deanna Troi kind of obvious predictions / feelings, such as "I see Triple H retaining the title for 6 more months." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted July 14, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 14, 2005 So far, they're still handling this brilliantly. From Byte This: Matt Hardy called into WWE.com's Byte This, "confronting" Lita as to why she left him for Adam Copeland (as he called him on the air). Lita said that she doesn't think she needs to explain why she's with Edge. She told Hardy that one of the reasons she's not with him is that he's been cutting wrestling promos about their personal life. Lita said that it's not her issue to act out "this breakup in a public way" the way Hardy did. She questioned him rallying his MFers for, "What, I don't know." Hardy responded that it's a public thing because they are public people and she got involved with someone who claimed to be one of his best friends. "We're on TV, we're worldwide in every country in the world. Considering the power of the Internet, it was going to be out there." said Hardy. Lita said that if Hardy didn't rally the troops and make matter public, things would have been conducted a lot better. She said the situation came out of nowhere, but wasn't her fault. Hardy responded that it would have come out eventually and Hardy didn't want people thinking he was at fault for their breakup. Hardy then discussed his firing, saying that Johnny Ace called him when he was ready to come back to inform Hardy he was being released because creative has nothing for him. Hardy said that he didn't buy that and questioned it had nothing to do with the Edge-Lita situation. He said that Adam Copeland and Lita were in the wrong with Copeland committing adultery, but he was the one who was fired. He said that Copeland and Dumas should have been sent home, not him. Lita then asked Hardy why she would want to be with him after "a rant like this." Hardy said that he doesn't want to be with her anymore, but he's a vindicative person. He said he put her in front of his career and said he came to Raw only because he wanted to be with her to make their schedules better, even though "it was a career killer" for him. He said he would get retribution against Lita, Edge, and WWE. Hardy mentioned that his no compete clause has expired and plugged his shows this weekend, calling Ring of Honor "A real wrestling promotion with no soap opera storylines." Lita tried to cut Hardy off as he began questioning her about their relationship, "What went wrong with us?" Lita then said she didn't want to talk about it because it was personal, and when he pushed the issue, she removed her mic and walked off the set. Hardy plugged his websites and said, "See you at Ring of Honor." WWE.com then ended the show after 27 minutes due to Lita "walking off the show." Prior to Hardy calling in, Lita addressed the situation saying that she doesn't sign autographs anymore because of the situation. She regretted the way she went about things but she doesn't regret being with Edge because she's in love with him. When asked about Edge being married, Lita said that wasn't a question anyone but Edge could answer and she wasn't going to comment on it because "It's personal." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest teke184 Posted July 14, 2005 Report Share Posted July 14, 2005 If they can keep doing stuff like this to make it a worked shoot, this will get over enough to build some real heat. This is the kind of stuff that Vince Russo never got... you can do something that's a worked shoot and go in the OBVIOUS direction and people will like it as long as it's done well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodhelmet Posted July 14, 2005 Report Share Posted July 14, 2005 I am very interested in what role ROH is going to play in this, if any at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Sass Posted July 14, 2005 Report Share Posted July 14, 2005 How the hell haven't the WWE staff screwed this one up out of the gate is mind boggling. Here's to hoping they keep doing it right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest teke184 Posted July 14, 2005 Report Share Posted July 14, 2005 I am very interested in what role ROH is going to play in this, if any at all. I'd say an Edge run-in to cost Matt his match, to build up a Matt return to the ring in the WWE... That would fit in with the forgotten news that ROH and WWE have put together a working relationship, which hasn't resulted in much so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Sass Posted July 14, 2005 Report Share Posted July 14, 2005 I'm curious to see how Lita would be perceived at an ROH show... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest KingPK Posted July 14, 2005 Report Share Posted July 14, 2005 I don't know who had the idea, but having Edge show up to the ROH show and having a "confrontation" with Hardy backstage that leads to him being thrown out would be a great way to go. Don't mention it on RAW, but have a "fan" take pictures of Edge being led out by security and have Matt spread the story around on his site and post the pictures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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