sek69

Presumably you'd be right, but Don West isn't a "wrestling guy" and as such might not be expected to know the unwritten rules like "always take the bullet when someone insults your top guy". Then again, if he could shill that crap on QVC, putting over JJ as a credible main eventer is probably a piece of cake for him.

I agree with West when he says there's more negativity online, but what got me is his suggestion that hating people for playing backstage games somehow equates to good heeling. He's saying JJ gets negativity on the net because he's good at being a heel rather than because of people thinking he's undeserving of his push.

I'm sure they'll call it the Triple D, so they can take not-so-thinly veiled shots at WWE. "Triple D puts everyone down!"

They're kinda egging WWE to sue, aren't they? I feel sorry for the first announcer to misspeak and call them by their WWE owned names.

Impossible as it may seem, there's still some wrestling fans who don't watch MMA.

The problem with Meltz's star ratings for PPVs is you can always tell which match was his favorite since there's always one that jumps out and makes you say "that match couldn't have been THAT good". Like he gave the Matt vs Edge cage match **** 1/2 or something and you know that rating's a bit inflated.

Joe vs Styles from Sacrifice was probably the best match I've seen so far this year. I haven't seen Unbreakable yet so that may change.

I was reading an interview with Don West, and when asked about the negative reaction Jeff Jarrett gets from net fans, he basically said he must be doing his job (as a heel) well if he's ticking people off. Now I know he's not going to bash his company's owner/booker/champ, but I hear this a lot from wrestling companies small and large that if the net hates someone, it's because the person's so good at heeling. WWE trots this line out when the HHH bashing gets hot and heavy as well. Meltz likes to trumpet how many people in the biz read WO, they have to know the difference between "I hate you because you're a heel doing heel shit" heat and "I hate you because you're using backstage politics to get a push or title you don't deserve" heat. I suspect, however, that most wrestling companies just don't get it. They just view net fans as just another breed of marks, and while that may be true to some degree, you can't just act like they're the foam finger waving five year old who boos all the heels and cheers the faces. Wrestling seems to be going through a weird evolution where there's a new kayfabe where everyone cops to "sports entertainment" but they act like no one knows about backstage politics. Like, you'll see WWE.com talking about additions and departures to "creative" but they'll never admit that HHH has veto power over pretty much everything that happens. Folks from TNA will freely discuss the "booking staff" but any questions about JJ's push will be met with puzzled stares. I'm not saying WWE should devote an episode of RAW to discuss HHH's influence or TNA should devote an Impact! to why JJ deserves a push, but to act like the people who do read about these things are crazy is fairly insulting to people's intellegence.

I voted for the 8 man tag, just because of the star power involved, since that probably would have been a PPV main event 10-15 years ago.

I always found it hilariously ironic that most of the indy feds who try to cater to the smart crowd never seem to remember that most of them grew up watching endless squash matches and well crafted promos on TBS Saturday Night, or Prime Time Wrestling, and very rarely did we ever see a match even break ***. So where did they get it in their head that they demand a show of all MOTYC matches and no "sports entertainment"?

Ironman Match for the X Title AJ Styles vs Christopher Daniels Ultimate X #1 Contender Match Matt Bentley vs. Chris Sabin vs. Petey Williams Samoa Joe vs Jushin Lyger

*bans self for posting old news*

Sheesh. This is the guy TNA's relying on to carry the ball on national TV? Reading this, my mind formed a vision of JJ and Killings doing the Chevy Chase-Richard Pryor SNL skit, with Killings replying to JJ by saying "DEAD Honky!@!"

I can never bring myself to completely hate Hogan, just because I'm in awe of the man's sheer ability to work himself into and out of any political situation. He's like an evil Zen Master.

Doesn't matter if Vince okayed it, it was still a dick thing to do. Shawn seems to think being a baby over jobs and still doing them is better than how he used to be (being a baby over jobs and not doing them) when it's still him being a fucking baby.

This week's JR nuggets: Again JR can't stop mentioning the net folks that seem to bother him so. Right. Any wrestler can stumble across a catchphrase and get put into a program with Vince McMahon. What's wrong with these lazy youngin's? Not that Stone Cold didn't have the aforementioned goods, but it's not like he wasn't put in a position most guys are never in. Now my favorte part: Reader Emails! So there you go kids. You wanna succeed in wrestling, be like Shawn.

from Meltz:

Kennedy's getting one of the better handled initial pushes I've seen in years. They aren't forcing the issue and they're *gasp* letting him use his gimmick that was successful in OVW getting him over.

Pushing talent isn't rocket science, listen to the crowd and adjust accordingly. Is the new guy who's in the mid card getting a buzz from the crowd? Push him up the card. Is the guy you want to be in the main event getting X-Pac heat? Slide him down a peg and try to find a way to rebuild his heat instead of forcing him on your paying customers.

In their continuing effort to give OVW call-ups the most career crushing gimmicks right out of the box, Nick Nemeth (who's in a good feud with Ken Doane for the OWV TV title) debuted as Kerwin White's golf caddy.

I have no doubt that if WWE signed Samoa Joe, they'd want him to be a barefoot savage who wears bone necklaces.

One problem that leaps to mind is they're billing this as a RAW homecoming, and RAW didn't begin till 1993. I don't think anyone they're inviting ever had anything more than a cameo on RAW when it was on USA.

Mae wasn't bad looking in her prime, which unfortunately was about 60 years ago.

I always felt that fans related more to the fat guy or the obviously-not-steroid-assisted built guy. You watch an NBA game, and you know there's no way you could do what they do unless you're 7 feet tall. You watch someone like Arn Anderson, or Dusty, or Trevor Murdoch, and you think "hell, there's a chance someone like me could do that". I'd rather watch fat guys who could work over stiff assed bodybuilders any day of the week.

It's self serving for a company to bring back old stars, when we all know the wrestling business doesn't gve a shit about anyone once they're past their prime. The fact that a great deal of talent from the USA period are dead now is a silent testimony of just how much the buisness cares about former stars. It's sad to see guys you watched as a kid be paraded on TV all old, fat, and broken down just because most of them need the paycheck. It also sends a message to the young talent that the company doesn't have faith that they can carry a 3 hour show (and they're probably right), so they're going to stock it with old timers.