Speaking of screwing up names, with Buffer out there I'm happy Bret Clarke wasn't in the Rumble.

But we did have THE UNDERTAKERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR and "HBK"...THE HEARTBEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAK KIIIIIIIIIIDDDDDDDD.

Indeed, Ben Stiller did a bang up job in the Rumble I thought. Oh wait, there was something after the Kid? Silly Buffer

PWI reporting that he's gone from the company as both sides agreed he just isn't cut out for the business.

 

I actually thought he did a decent job in the role as his flubs gave some realism to his supposed (in character) frustration.

 

Looks like Shane and Stephanie take over RAW similar to Vince in 06

PWI reporting that he's gone from the company as both sides agreed he just isn't cut out for the business.

 

I actually thought he did a decent job in the role as his flubs gave some realism to his supposed (in character) frustration.

 

Looks like Shane and Stephanie take over RAW similar to Vince in 06

I didn't mind Mike Adamle in the GM role. It would've been funnier if they'd have made the GM character a full blown Jim Herd parody though (i.e. guy who knows nothing about wrestling in position of authority).

I thought Adamle was getting into a good groove as GM, but he was never going to be able to overcome his Shockmaster-like intro to the business.

 

 

What's funny is the angle with Steph and Shane seems to be designed to make Shane look like a sap not unlike the dearly departed Adamle. The whole "Steph undermines everything Shane does in an attempt to get the company all to herself" seems to be another step towards her becoming an eerie female clone of her own father.

Just a thought from somebody who fancies himself a fan of early 90's WCW:

 

Do the words "Adamle Alliance" sound good to anyone else?

 

Seriously, I was digging Adamle as nouveau Jack Tunney, but the fans were never going to get behind him. I suppose they never got behind Tunney, either. But Adamle doing the best he could, realizing that that wasn't enough, turning against his masters, quitting, and deciding he was going to bring down everyone who wronged him on the way out...that's good TV right there.

I still don't regret thinking this was a good idea, as I had no idea about his reputation in Chicago for being a horrible live broadcaster.

Even with promos which had clearly been scripted word for word, he still stumbled over his words in nearly every segment he ever did where he was required to talk for more than a few seconds at a time. You'd think that the WWE would do the tiniest bit of research into hiring a new lead announcer, to ask questions like "can he competently string together a sentence" or "does he know the names of any of the moves", but apparently they did not.

 

The writing itself also never did Adamle's GM character any favors. They booked him in an odd tweener-leaning-heel fashion, where he'd do like 70% evil stuff and the crowd would boo, but then he'd do 30% good and then everyone was just confused.

What's funny is the angle with Steph and Shane seems to be designed to make Shane look like a sap not unlike the dearly departed Adamle. The whole "Steph undermines everything Shane does in an attempt to get the company all to herself" seems to be another step towards her becoming an eerie female clone of her own father.

Meltzer/Alvarez are theorizing that this is leading to the Steph/Shane power struggle storyline that they have been planning on doing since 04/05.

 

I don't hate Steph as much as the rest of the IWC but the thought of her dominating RAW again is quite frightening

You'd think that the WWE would do the tiniest bit of research into hiring a new lead announcer, to ask questions like "can he competently string together a sentence" or "does he know the names of any of the moves", but apparently they did not.

Has WWE ever really cared about their announcers knowing the names of moves? From Gorilla Monsoon's penchant for making up body part names and ignoring matches for mindless banter, to Vince McMahon's trademark "What a maneuver" catchphrase to cover every move he didn't know the name of, and to today's revolving door of pretty faces with no wrestling background (Michael Cole, Jonathan Coachman, Mike Adamle, Todd Grisham, Steve Romero etc), history indicates that knowing the names of moves isn't high up the agenda of things they want their new prospective announcers to know.

The pretty faces with no wrestling background deal goes back to Craig DeGeorge.

Just a thought from somebody who fancies himself a fan of early 90's WCW:

 

Do the words "Adamle Alliance" sound good to anyone else?

Ha, that's awesome. Who'd be in the Alliance ? I was just feeling nostalgic for that stuff and was about to throw in a Clash DVD from that time.

I'm glad he's done. He sucked and him being GM made no sense at all. How can a guy who knows nothing about wrestling become GM?

 

Now, Vicki needs to follow. Her and Adamle have helped contribute to WWE's complete loss of credibility and believeability.

I'm glad he's done. He sucked and him being GM made no sense at all. How can a guy who knows nothing about wrestling become GM?

 

Now, Vicki needs to follow. Her and Adamle have helped contribute to WWE's complete loss of credibility and believeability.

 

Right, Vicki's been getting the most heel heat of anyone not named McMahon in a decade at least. The only thing I don't get is how they keep coming up with ways to keep her in the wheelchair I guess because they think it hides her weight (it doesn't). Plus she has credibility that Adamle didn't from being part of one of the most famous wrestling families.

I think they keep her in the wheelchair because it's an easy heat magnet.

Meltzer's sure that the wheelchair is because they don't want her standing/walking for weight reasons.

Well, that's one of the dumbest things I've ever heard. I know WWE is all about physical appearance, and that's fine, but I'll never understand how they got so wrapped up in presentation that even the "ugly" women have to have their weaknesses hidden. VICKIE GUERRERO IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HOT. IT'S OK IF SHE'S FAT.

 

I wonder if, if Yokozuna was around were around today, they'd make him wear a shirt. You know, so the fans wouldn't know he had man-boobs.

As nonsensical as that is, the one thing that truly befuddles me is how the top heel on Smackdown is a crippled widow in a wheelchair. I mean, really, just say that over and over again. Their top heel is a crippled widow in a wheelchair. This isn't a McMahon type situation either, since it's impossible for her to ever have any kind of match like they do, so I really don't see what they expect to get out of her in the long term. Sure, she draws heat from the live crowds, but the storylines sure haven't been popping the ratings.

But Jingus, without Vickie out there every week, how would they go about reminding all their fans that EDDIE GUERRERO IS DEAD DEAD DEAD AND NEVER COMING BACK?

I'm glad he's done. He sucked and him being GM made no sense at all. How can a guy who knows nothing about wrestling become GM?

 

Now, Vicki needs to follow. Her and Adamle have helped contribute to WWE's complete loss of credibility and believeability.

Didn't the story line play out as Steffi hired him so she could secretly control?

Now, Vicki needs to follow. Her and Adamle have helped contribute to WWE's complete loss of credibility and believeability.

Do you realize what you just said?

Now, Vicki needs to follow. Her and Adamle have helped contribute to WWE's complete loss of credibility and believeability.

Do you realize what you just said?

 

Yes, I just forgot to add the word "continued" after "WWE's".

 

Jingus - That's another thing I don't like about Vickie. She's had the most tv time of just about anyone for the last 6 months or so, and I gurantee she hasn't sold one ticket.

 

Sek - What good is this heat if it doesn't make WWE any money?

She was involved in pretty much every program Edge was in last year, she wasn't the sole reason anything drew or didn't draw of course but anything that adds to the heat of an angle helps increase the drawing power.

 

Seriously, she's been such a key part of Smackdown that saying she should be banished from TV smacks of stereotypical internet wrestling fan misogyny.

If we are going by selling tickets, half the roster should be thrown off tv.

Now, Vicki needs to follow. Her and Adamle have helped contribute to WWE's complete loss of credibility and believeability.

Do you realize what you just said?

 

Yes, I just forgot to add the word "continued" after "WWE's".

 

Well, yeah, but it's still like getting stabbed in the face several dozen times and then complaining that you're in pain when a baby kicks you in the shin. I mean, if loss of credibility and believability in the WWE is a problem for you, I'm not sure how Vickie and Adamle even show up on your radar when you have 25-ish years of high-profile nonsense screaming for your attention. I'm not even sure they crack the top 10 most unbelievable things that happened in the promotion this year. If that's how you feel about them, what's your reaction to any given Undertaker angle? Or Triple H hitting dudes with sledgehammers and somehow not killing them? Or Shawn Michaels still being presented as a credible physical threat to anybody in 2008? Vickie and Adamle might not be the most compelling screen presences, but if we're talking about not being credible or believable, they're small potatoes compared to a lot of stuff.