sek69

I think the crowd isn't giving the Trish/Mickie angle more of a pop because they've been trained to only cheer for T&A. They got a great reaction for their WM match until the unfortunate botch at the end.

What you said makes sense, but the internal logic of wrestling makes it look weird when you're in a blood feud with someone and you're hitting them with forearms rather than punching them in the face. I guess it comes from growing up a fan of the NWA where guys like Dusty and the Horsemen weren't concerned about the risks of potential hand injuries as the result of punching. You're 1000000000000% right that Steve Austin lightly caressing his oppponent's face after the Thesz Press was some of the most embarrassing shit ever. He'd pull his punches a good 2 or 3 inches too soon.

I've been watching a lot of wrestling tonight, and something jumped out at me: When did the forearm shot replace the punch as the basic striking move for 90% of US wrestlers? I first noticed it in WWE women's matches, and it was fine there since A. They don't want to risk getting accidentally punched in the face and B. Most of them can't throw a convincing working punch to save their lives. When it becomes a staple in men's matches, it looks like the guy throwing the forearms is a pussy who's afraid to punch. It's fine if you throw a forearm to mix things up, but when it's all you do it looks weak IMO. What really puzzles me is WWE in particular has several guys on the roster who throw some real good looking punches. Hell, I half expect Jerry Lawler to leap over the desk on RAW and start showing these motherfuckers how to throw a punch like you have a pair.

I hope they feel shitty about that one these days.

I hope Bob recovers fully and that the experience will be an eye opening "life is too short to be an asshole" lesson.

Interesting show, some of the key points: Triple H as a face has the potential to be not only a MUCH needed change, but the boost his stale character needs to revitalize RAW. Triple H in real life seems much closer to his DX-ish face personna than his Angry Heel one, and it's been long proven that guys tend to do way better when they're basically playing themselves on TV. His position with the company is stronger than titanium now with HHH Jr on the way, and it seems like he's finally allowing himself to relax a little. The fans have pretty much turned him face anyway in his feud with Cena, so they might as well go all the way with it. Looks like the payoff for this "Vince challenges God" angle is going to be Shane turning on his father somehow since he's the one that keeps dying for Vince's sins. Someone must have sent an Angry Letter as well, as they really seemed to be pushing that "according to Mr. McMahon", God will be HBK's partner. I like the pointless T&A segments as much as anyone (especially when Maria's involved) but isn't Victoria's character supposed to hate doing these things? I like the attempt, but since most casual fans have only been around since 1997, having Umaga the 80s Samoan Stereotype bring back the Spike as a finisher isn't getting over. I read somewhere that WWE is pushing this gimmick as some sort of "fuck you" to Samoa Joe for choosing TNA over them. If that's true, I'm sure Joe's only all the more confident he signed the right contract. The Women's title continues to be the belt with the most interesting angle, as now Mickie is Mickie again and now Trish is the crazy one? As long as Trish keeps wearing the brown wig, I'm happy. The Kane angle cracks me up. How brilliant is it to make the date of his movie premiere the subject of the time honored "everyone says the word/phrase that the wrestler asks them not to say" routine? I'm honestly shocked that no one's done this before. I just wonder if the Big Show is going to wear a Pirate eyepatch now that Kane apparently tore his eyeball out. If you don't like the Spirit Squad by now, you're either a terminally jaded smark or you're dead inside. They made the turn from stupid all the way to tremendous. They're so over the top with the dancing and whatnot, you can't help but chuckle.

Hase trained with the Harts and spent time in Stampede, so I'd agree he can speak English fairly well. I would think most of the top Japanese guys know enough English to call a match with an American if they have to. I know Muta has a shoot interview out as well, which he speaks English in. What might lead you to believe that some guys don't know English is the long standing allegation that guys like Misawa don't like Americans and refuse to speak English around them.

Christy Hemme in TNA makes my pants happy.

Not to mention WWE doesn't own OVW so they really couldn't force them to become a new ECW brand. I guess they could say "do this or we'll pull our talent" but they can't come in and start putting up ECW signs all over the Davis Arena.

OVW being turned into ECW would pretty much be the worst idea ever.

I find it funny that a lot of people think MMA is the next threat to WWE and that TNA will never be competition, but Vince seems to think the exact opposite based on his actions lately.

I'm about a month behind on my OVW TV, but unless someone just debuted there aren't any "bodybuilders" in OVW.

Jesus, Heyman must have a golden horseshoe up his ass. He's by far the luckiest man in wrestling history. First he ends up the brains behind the hot promotion of the 90s that ended up changing the business, which ends in bankruptcy. Then he lands a job with WWE only to get kicked off the creative team for antagonzing the Veruca Salt of WWE. Then he manages to be in the right place at the right time when Corny quits as booker in OVW, he ends up in charge of WWE's top development territory. Now he ends up in charge of his old brand with the backing of WWE. Somewhere Steph is having a tantrum not seen outside of MTV's My Sweet 16.

Not to open old wounds, but man did the promo at the end of Smackdown tonight reaffirm my belief that WWE won't book Rey the way he needs to as champ. Just him standing next to JBL looked so ridiculous, and having JBL cut a promo on him that only served to point out the obvious (like saying the belt is almost as big as him) only served to make it even more so.

You know that lame Chuck Norris Facts fad that swept the internet recently? They're all true for Chris Benoit.

He did. It was in an airport, and in a moment that has become famous on the net, was set to take JBL's head off with a roundhouse kick but his foot got caught in someone's luggage.

From Meltz's update: As I see it, this hazing shit is only going to end two ways: 1. Someone's going to snap and beat the shit out of one of these hazing assholes. or 2. Someone's going to sue the shit out of the WWE over this.

Are the people who want the split to end really that hot to see HHH all over their TV for 4 hours a week? Cause you know that's what would happen. If it wasn't for the split, half the mid/undercard guys probably wouldn't have jobs.

Ronnie's always been a guilty pleasure of mine, but unless there's something from Mid-Atlantic I've never seen, I can't put any match he's a part of above Savage/Steamboat.

Flair/Garvin better than Savage/Steamboat, I think I've heard it all now.

They shouldn't have a draft this year or any year. All they end up doing is disrupting storylines and breaking up tag teams and turning them into jobbers.

Why? What's the story with Greg Gagne and Vince? I was just thinking that Greg will probably stand in for his dad in the "Vince is the most brilliant man in wrestling" segment that you know is going to be on there just because I don't know if Verne's still got all his faculties (his HOF induction made me wonder if he's just has a hearing problem or if he's going senile).

It seems the Accepted Official Opinion on Savage-Steamboat has gone from "best US match ever" to "OMG OVERRATED!" in the last couple of years.

We've seen it a million times on this board alone how wildly varying people's opinons can be on the same match. Loss and goodhelmet have gone at it like two cats in a wet burlap bag because of how they differ on one match or another. I really don't know what the purpose of the project was other than to confirm that yes, a group of people will have vastly different views on the same 100 matches. I do have to tip my hat to whoever obtained all the footage, they found some hidden gems. It probably was no small undertaking to unearth all that stuff, so job well done. As a definitive ranking of the best 100 matches, I think the list is far too subjective to have any merit, but then any "Best Of" list usually is. I think it was a grand slam in terms of exposing people to wrestlers they may not have heard of or seen in their primes before. From what I've seen, it appears everyone who has the set found a guy they were sleeping on in terms of how well they were in the ring.