DraxSpago

Didn't Edge win a Gold Rush tournament while he was the MITB holder?

I suppose the thing about the third hour is that if 2.8 million watching is more than the USA network would get with another show in that slot then they might not be that fussed

Not seen it anywhere yet so I'm calling it now, Kane turns on Taker at Survivor Series

 

I do genuinely think that'll happen by the way, probably with the writers' reasoning that it's happened loads of times before so no one will expect it this time

What's the reason behind the different pops though? Are there more kids at house shows? or just more narky/sad twats at TV? Surely the make up of the crowds can't change that much?

I remember The Rock tapping as Lesnar smiles at him from outside the ring as being a great moment, just one of those little things WWE has always done really well

 

Surprised D-Von was losing to Rikishi though, wasn't it not long before this he beat Triple H (admittedly with interference)?

He should indeed be a plumber, with those plunging ratings....

Are we still blaming the 'champ' for ratings? Obviously it's not the stale show week after week, I'm a good example, I still watch the network but took Raw off Sky +, couldn't be arsed with 3 hours of shite, nowt to do with who the champ is

Does Billy Graham still hold the record for most times anyone has fallen out with the company then come back? I imagine Hogan is close

I didn't have a problem with him doing German suplexes, just the continuous ones, the time he hit ten in a row on Austin it looked like they were doing some weird pissed up conga

 

In regards to what Supremo said about possibly viewing him as boring and shit, I'd say that was my opinion of him about a month into his WWE run when I realised he only had 2 types of match he could perform, babyface crying all the time match and heel with a snarl on his face match, even the matches I liked of his were all done by one of those formulas, still good matches but once you've seen Benoit in a PPV match once you pretty much don't need to see another one

I think his moves were believable for his size. He might have been small height wise, but he was very muscular for his height. For me, the Germans were completely believable. There's much worse culprits of wrestlers not playing to their size today.

 

He is one of the best I've ever seen. Complete conviction. In 2003, I was 12 and loving him because he had fight, overcame odds, had great matches, good music and the Crossface was a lush finish.

 

The opponent always had to get up ages before him though for it to work, whenever Brock has done multiple German suplexes in a row he just rag dolls them up and suplexes them again, Benoit always had to crouch while the opponent picked themselves up, always took me right out of the match

Just been reading the Benoit thread in Gold during my dinner hour and I've remembered how much I didn't rate him

 

This is aside from the fact he's a murderer, to put it in terms of a lot of people in that thread would (and I appreciate the ones defending him were reacting to an almost unbelievable event) Chris Benoit The Wrestler was massively overrated

 

The triple German suplex always looked shite because he was too small to do it convincingly, his over the top "agonising walk to the corner and climbing up the turnbuckles" bit he did in every match was pathetic, he wasn't just a bad promo he was an embarrassing promo (telling Vince to "stand back" being the best example)

 

For a bit of balance I'm not saying he's anywhere near the worst wrestler of all time, he patently isn't, just that he's nowhere near all time great territory, even if you're just counting in ring ability.  His snap suplexes were superb, the headbutt was always good (could do without him selling it by seemingly bursting into tears everytime though, if it hurts that much don't do it you daft twat), crossface was a great finisher

 

My main problem with him (and Malenko actually) is they never seemed to work their size into how they wrestled, they just did what they thought would make a good match, regardless of how ridiculous the moves looked with two of the Time Bandits being the ones perfoming them

 

I will say though that since getting the network I haven't had a problem seeing him on Nitro for some reason, I thought I'd find it odd to watch him but it hasn't bothered me, which is handy because I did rate his matches with Jarrett (the ladder match), Rock (Fully Loaded 2000) and the Smackdown 6 match at No Mercy or Survivor Series 2002, whichever it was

 

Also, I do find it hilarious in hindsight that he left WCW as he thought he was never going to get pushed (despite being given the, admittedly then worthless, World title) only to end up 10 months later running round as one of Triple H's lackeys like a midget Road Dogg, though I suppose WM20 will have more than made up for that

Didn't know Johnny Ace was engaged to the Bella's mum! If Cena marries Nikki that's a family stable better than the Hart Foundation

Think he slapped him didn't he? then it was rumoured the crew member thought he could get away with it as he'd heard someone far higher up in the company call him the same name/slur

So like half the Bond films then? I actually remember the first time I watched Die Another Day, I thought it was pretty good and was taken with Rosamund Pike as I think she'd been in Loaded a couple of months prior

 

Then Madonna turned up and it was just embarrassing, I'm not saying Bond films need to be ultra realistic and I'm certainly not saying they shouldn't have any humour, but that scene just made you go "oh Madonna's turned up" then here "risque lezza innuendos" were shite and unfunny

 

Actually yeah, fuck Die Another Day, I'm not having that in the same film series as You Only Live Twice and OHMSS

I would imagine he's on a massive wedge to keep him sweet on the whole being called a spic or whatever it was thing, I can't think of any other reason why they'd pay him that much, or bring him back at all come to think of it

Don't let that stop him being in the Hall of Fame though!!!! Jesus, I foolishly read a thread on another forum about him not being in the HOF years ago, worst thing I've ever done

Yep the Lesnar Podcast was a disappointment. Fell asleep half way through. To Lesnar, WWE is just a payday. Reading his book, he had zero interest in professional wrestling growing up (something that he confirmed in the Podcast). Saying that, his match against UT was awesome so he's forgiven.

 

What's actually wrong with that? It's a job and he's good at it, when JR offered him a load of money to sign it's not like he was going to go "Nah sorry, didn't watch it when I was a kid so I'll turn you down"

 

One of the positives of Lesnar not being arsed about it except for the money is that they won't have a problem with him putting people over, so when he does finally finish he can hopefully make someone

The Scramble concept was underrated and deserved another run out by the WWE. Just skimming through Unforgiven 08 on the Network and all of them are great. The ECW one is possibly the best of the lot as well. Hardy flapping about desperately chucking blokes out of the ring and breaking up pins is tremendous. Fans go apeshit at the end.

Another way of looking at it is that they were bollocks, in theory if not necessarily practice

 

Putting your world titles up in matches like that made them seem even more meaningless at the time, how are you the best by winning such a ridiculous match?

Hogan's WCW contract from 1998:

 

http://www.scribd.com/doc/287131780/1998-Hulk-Hogan-contract-with-WCW

 

He got a $2,000,000 bonus just for signing the contract, paid to him within 14 days, he was paid 25% of all ticket revenues for any Nitro or Thunder that he appeared on. This amount could never be less than $25,000. For every PPV that he appeared on, he got 15% of all PPV sales OR $675,000 -- whichever number was higher. And then Linda took it all!

 

Interesting that the wrestling part of his contract ran until May 2001, I'd always assumed he was out of contract before WCW was sold to Vince, given there was supposedly talks regarding bringing him in for Mania 17 (again, before the sale)

You want to talk about someone forgetting to stop paying them - David fucking Otunga, only time I can think of seeing him is the Battle Royale at Wrestlemania 30, and that's nearly two years ago now

 

Otunga presents the Raw Pre-Show now doesn't he? He's quite well spoken so makes sense to use him as an announcer/presenter

 

Sandow's one of my favourite guys on the roster. There are dozens who want releasing before him.

 

Comedy gimmicks normally get tired pretty quick in wrestling, if they turn him into serious ass kicker Sandow it'll be a massive waste, so basically I can't see what they can do with him

Just been shown this amazing website that does loads of wrestling/band mash up tshirts. Think I'm gonna need to have a spending spree

 

http://bigbootlegdrop.storenvy.com

 

The Warrior/Joy Division is quite smart, plus it doesn't look like a wrestling shirt, so I could wear it down the street

How can you talk about having a clear out and not mention Zack Ryder

 

The Hype Bros. are a decent little team on NXT, at least they're doing something, I'd probably add Fandango to my list as well (through no fault of his own) he appears to be in the JTG-someone forgot to stop paying him bracket now

Remember the old days when WWE would have a spring clean of its roster, normally after Wrestlemania? Well if they were going to do an autumn clean and let me pick who's out then I'd go for

 

Viktor (just stick some unknown in make up with Konnor)

Jack Swagger

Damien Sandow

Curtis Axel

 

Viktor looks like shite as part of a throwback tag team, they've tried everything to get Swagger over as a heel and a face and he's failed everytime, Sandown was only really over in the Rhodes Scholars and as Miz's double, he's irredeemable sadly, Axel is just too bland despite being perfectly capable of having good matches and has the worst ring name ever

 

How much is the recommended amount to become a paid member?

I don't know what to tell you. If a significant amount of transsexual people find it offensive it shouldn't be hard to refrain from using it. Eastenders should know better. However, the trans lobby isn't as strong or as vocal as other minorities, and probably chooses to pick their battles.

 

I will say that some trans people can be just as bad, throwing around the "cys" term, but that shouldn't muddy the issue.

 

Anyway, back to Raw being shit.

 

I'm not doubting the truth of that but it would only take literally one person to send an email to the Daily Mail saying they were offended by it and they'd have it on the front page as another stick to beat the BBC with for days

I remember watching that on the Friday night, not that it makes the whole thing any more credible but I'm pretty sure that was the night after Survivor Series when Chyna beat Jericho so it was a bit more than a Tampax joke that made him go a bit barmy

 

The good thing about all that is it led to the crowd going mental at Armageddon when he locked in the proper Lion Tamer on her, as opposed to the painless looking Walls of Jericho he'd been using since his debut