Another RAW Recap
*I loved the opening of RAW. I'm getting sick of the Dolph Ziggler gimmick. What's he doing, running for Presidnt? Anyway, Shane's arrival was pretty cool.
*I loved Shane's jab at Stephanie. I do hate how we're going to get yet another McMahon vs. McMahon angle going on for dominance over the show, but hey... at least it's not Mike Adamle.
*Um... JBL proposed an offer to Shawn Michaels? Ooookay. Big question here. Um... why were we not aware of this? Why is it that all of a sudden, they're running storylines OFF the show? The Jeff Hardy thing I can understand, but JBL making a proposal? You'd think they'd take out thirty seconds to have JBL actually come on screen backstage to propose the deal. *Mr. Kennedy's on his way back! YES!
*HOLY SHIT! It's a tournament!! FUCK YEAH! Not only that, but it's a tournament for the IC Title! When was the last time we had a title-based tournament for the right of getting the title shot? 1998? 1999?
*Two things wrong here. 1) Santino ISN'T in the tournament! WHY NOT!? 2) Why the f*ck would WWE resign Goldust again!? Why get rid of Dykstra and London, but bring Goldust back? WTF will he do for WWE? Remind everyone that he's a washed up, never-was, and has never done a thing since his "Prince Formerly Known As Goldust" gimmick? Great move to the future, Vince!
*Rey had to watch the DVD to know the history of the IC title. You know what I did? I actually payed-the f*ck-attention!
*The DX merchandise bull$hit session was indeed BS. Why are DX allowed to promote their products, but Regal can't even have a T-shirt? Why does Shawn get more TV time and Trips get TV time period on RAW, but they couldn't show JBL making an offer to Shawn? How much trouble would it be to have two promos. First promo - JBL making the offer. Match - JBL helps Shawn. Second promo - JBL has good faith. *They totally botched the Melina's surprise return. *Was that segment at the end supposed to advance the feud or just kiss the fans' asses? Geez.
*I'm actually kinda looking forward to the Grammy Awards.
TNA... The Turning Point
Was TNA's most recent PPV the turning point for the company? Is Vince Russo finally pulling decent angles out his "batista" (Batista is the new term for "a$$")? Could this MEM vs. TNA Originals be a real turning point for the company and not just a name for their PPV? My guess.... perhaps.
I'm enjoying the current product on a great scale. I mean... I was actually able to sit through the entire show! For those of you who don't know, of all the times I gave TNA a chance, I was never able to sit through the whole thing. Could November 13, 2008 be the marking point in which TNA Impact starts to rise? It could be. Maybe not on a similar scale as WWE, but definitely better than it used to be.
We have the Main Event Mafia (Sting, Angle, Booker, Steiner, and Nash) going up against a group of "TNA Originals" (mostly AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Jay Lethal, and Eric Young). Mick Foley and Jeff Jarrett come in as aides for the TNA originals, because they remember and understood what it's like to be a younger, less established performer in the wrestling ring.
It's very much similar to nWo vs. WCW in that nWo had the biggest name in wrestling (Hogan), which is similar to Kurt Angle's position, and four of the biggest stars that wrestling's ever seen. Is it any bit of ironic that with exception of Angle, every member of the MEM used to be an nWo member?
The angle can go all over the place with heel turns from Jarrett or Foley or face turns from Sting or Booker T. Not only that, but there are a ton of wrestlers that could be built up as a result of this angle. Samoa Joe and AJ Styles are the obvious choices here, but the Motor City Machine Guns are actually becoming a major influence in the feud. Eric Young became the first member of the "all about me" group of TNA Originals to win a title, even if it wasn't from a MEM member. Also, Jay Lethal and Petey Williams have been subjected to some major influences (a title match loss and a beat down) against members of MEM.
I know a lot of people are absolutely foaming at the mouth at the thought of every MEM member winning at Turning Point, but they have to understand something. Every great storyline in TV series, movies, and yes, wrestling, follows a similar structure. The faces (heroes, main characters, etc) must go through a series of downfalls before finally rising and standing tall at the final battle. In order for the final victory to mean anything, there must be a period of "downs."
That's not the only thing, though. TNA also has something going on between Team 3D and Beer Money Inc. This is interesting because despite Team 3D being not only veterans but the most celebrated tag team in wrestling history (probably second only to the Road Warriors), but they aren't members of MEM (yet). Beer Money Inc. is a nice combination of the New Age Outlaws and the Eliminators in that they're mixing rudeness, athleticism, quick wit, and everything a great heel team needs.
These two storylines, along with a few smaller storylines concerning the Knockouts and the Beautiful People, aren't complicated, fun to believe, and aren't hard to follow along. It's what TNA needed. Now the only question is... how long can TNA keep the streak of good episodes going?
Oh? Let's not forget that there are three gold mines ready for TNA to pick up. Paul London, Kenny Dykstra, and Elijah Burke. These three men are eerily similar to the Radicalz (Guerrero, Malenko, and Benoit). Hell, you could even add Palumbo in a similar place of Perry Saturn! These three (four if you include Palumbo) could really be helpful for TNA to really build up on what they have going here.
Neither are former world champions like the members of MEM, but they're not TNA Originals either. So it'd be very, very interesting to see just where they'd fit in with the angle going on.
I'm not sure where this will go. Whether Russo hasn't learned his lesson and keeps MEM going strong for several months and squashing every TNA performer against them or if he's actually learned his lesson and has a planned ending will remain to be seen for a while. If he HAS learned his lesson, then this could very well be the best angle of recent times and the angle that puts TNA on the map for good.
Another TNA Chance
*Ok, I've been hearing a few good things of TNA Impact here lately, especially by Lance Storm, so I decided to give it a try.
*I enjoyed the opening promo. I liked how Jeff stated that they had to "pick themselves up." The Obama joke was actually pretty funny and Foley's outburst was well-done. *I really liked how they pointed out how these "inexperienced" men aren't working as a team like MEM were. The "booger" bit was a bit.. um.. unneeded. Though aside from that, Foley was great in his promo.
*Wait a minute... WTF just happened? How does AJ Styles go from going after the TNA Title to teaming with Joe to go after the tag team titles? How does Black Machismo go from nothing to getting a TNA Title match? Why aren't Motor City Machine Guns trying for the titles again?
*AJ and Joe got ahead because.. um.. they have name recognition. Not only that, but getting ahead IS what the U.S. stands for. If this was Russia, everyone would be in the same status you dumbasses.
*Now that Eric Young's dropped the stupid ass Superhero gimmick, he's actually pretty entertaining. Him being himself just... works.
*Wow... that's gotta be the smartest referee in wrestling history and the worst angle ever. How bad did that just make Sheik look? A REFEREE just kicked his ass. A REFEREE!! That's like a referee taking down Peyton Manning in football.
*How is Young winning the belt a score for the "TNA Originals?" Last I knew, Sheik isn't a MEM member.
*WTF? They just interrupted the show to do a lame Spike TV announcement for video game awards? They couldn't do that during the commercials? WTF!? Ok.. let's recap.. before the fucking interruption, we had the TNA Originals arguing because of Motor City Machine Guns.. then when we return we see Petey Williams getting his ass handed to him. Total WTF.
*Beer Money Inc. reminds me of a mixture of New Age Outlaws and the Eliminators. That's a good thing because they're on their own page, too. I like them. "Sorry About Your Damn Luck!" That's GOTTA be the best catchphrase, ever. *Does... does TNA REALLY expect Palin to show up in TNA?
*Loved the ending. Just absolutely loved it.
*Y'know... this was ACTUALLY a good show. My interest was actually kept for the most part of the two hour show. The matches were fun to watch and the backstage segments got their point across. It was a fun show to watch that reminds me of what a wrestling show SHOULD be about. Yeah, there were some "eh?" parts, but that's fine. I'd be pissed off with Spike TV if I were TNA.
*Oh! I'm psyched out for William Regal capturing the IC title from Santino Marella. While I am upset that they didn't wait until he was at least a week away from the 64-week mark. Could you imagine how funny it'd be if he'd freak out after losing his belt just one week away from meeting Honky-Donky Man's record?
RoW ... Raw Recap
*Am I the only one that thinks Jericho or Orton backing down to Adamle makes them look like neutered pitbulls? Seriously, Adamle's completely over-shining them, which is NEVER a good thing!
*Oh... Punk and Kofi won the tag team titles in a match that doesn't matter.
*Umm... why are Goldust, Piper, and "Honky Donky Man" still involved in WWE? I can understand H.T.M. vs. Santino. After all, Santino's trying to break his record, but wouldn't it have made more sense if they waited until Santino's just a little closer to the 64-week mark? Yes, yes it would. *And why was Goldust the one saying he doesn't like cross-dressers!? He dressed up as one for half of his career! Him saying that is like Ronald McDonald saying he doesn't like clowns! *Batista? Crawling and scratching? You mean whining and bitching, right? Thought so. *So Michaels vs. Batista will go unfinished, Michaels vs. Jericho is finally finished, and now we have Michaels vs. JBL? You know what? I like that. This will be another good feud.
*Kane & Mark Henry... yeah, makes about as much sense as Tom Cruise and Mr. Miyagi in a porno. A bad porno. Ew...
*Morrison/Miz vs. DX... NEXT WEEK! Don't get TOO excited folks, it's gonna be a squash.
*Well.. we don't need to watch RAW anymore for the next month, because despite Michaels having been jumped, he and Batista STILL beat Jericho and JBL tonight. Their revenge was delivered and there's no reason to watch. *SERIOUSLY! STOP WATCHING THIS SH** SO WWE CAN GET THE MESSAGE!
As always, check out my MySpace page HERE for my other blogs.
I also have a YouTube channel where I'll be posting end-of the week RoW Audio! Check it out, HERE!
As always, I love a good debate, so feel free to e-mail me at RoWJJL@yahoo.com.
JesseLee's Fist Audio RoW
RoW... More Realistic
*It'll be a sad day in Jesse-Land when Jericho loses the belt. He's been awesome as the champ here lately. His feud with Michaels was gold (even if it ran a little longer than it should have) and I was hoping he'd have an opportunity to pop into a feud with CM Punk. Of course, THAT wouldn't fly though, because Vince is an egotistical maniac who hates anything "different" from his own image.
*Batista telling someone to stop whining? That's like Hulk Hogan telling others to sell.
*Question... HOW THE FUCK is Charlie Haas prancing around, parodying other performers anywhere near creatvie!? All he's doing, is playing dress up and pretending to be stars who were bigger than him. If 8-year-olds can do it, then it's NOT creative! It's retarded, insulting, and damaging his career!
*Was Duggan drunk or something? Why the hell was he even out there? That certainly didn't make me want to vote for anything.
*Wow... did WWE even THINK about the amount of heat Regal lost due to this quick squash? Did they even try making Jericho look anything like a REAL champion when Batista spent so little time on Henry? Seriously... WHERE THE FUCK IS CREATIVE!?
*Jerry Lawler is a shell of his former self. He annoys me to no end. Remember back when he always sided with the heels? That's what made him funny! Why the fuck isn't he funny anymore!? Because now he's nothing more than a simple "yes-man" with Michael Cole. No funny.. no interesting traits... no reason to listen to him.
*Fuck this... fuck this to all hell. MORE REALISTIC Vince McMahon has stated that he wanted a more realistic look for the product. There's no doubt in my mind that Vince is thinking things like "ok.. he's bigger, so he wins, lolz." That's just plain insulting. We all know that there's one place where you can watch realistic professional wrestling.... Japan. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, puroresu is probably the most realistic-looking wrestling out there and still closest to what WWE could be. However, that's not where I want to go. What I want to go is somewhere along the lines of Fantasy Booker. Whatever happened to UFC-like gimmicks? Ken Shamrock, Dan Severn, and Taz were three of the best performers that could make their style seem real. Taz is a nice guy, but when he wrestled, he looked like he could legitimately beat the living shit out of anyone in the business. That's what we need. We need a wrestling... not a style in the entire show... to act more like an actual fighter. Don't have him talk, don't have him deal with stupid fucking gimmicks, and just have him go out and wrestle. Don't make him seem unstoppable (meaning, let him sell), but just have him be more athletic and show more prowess in holds of all kinds. Have his finisher be a submission and don't let anyone break it for at least six months. Build this guy slowly and don't have him lose for at least six months. This way, by having his first loss, there's some actual importance. Basically, a mixture of Ken Shamrock, Taz, and Samoa Joe.
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RoW.... Where is it?
*Oh, that's a new concept. Feuding wrestlers pick each other's opponents. Ugh.
*Batista vs. Shawn Michaels. Yeah, Jericho, you sure showed them. $50 says Jericho goes up against Khali.
*Wow... I didn't think Mysterio would watch Bleach, but I guess I was wrong. In any case, it's a fucking repeat from last weak. A twist? Of course not! *Hass Hogan... Hass fucking Hogan. WTF!? Why can't they just let Charlie Hass be fucking CHARLIE HASS!? Y'know... actually trying to build a new star by being unique and not a fucking copy cat?
"Hey dad, what you use to for wrestling?" "Me? I copied more successful wrestlers."
*A lumberjack match. This will TOTALLY change the outcome. They always do! (sarcasm at 8.96). Seriously, these are the most well-behaved heels I've ever seen. You would think that just beating the shit out of Shawn and Batista would have been the most logical. Jericho get's the pleasure of seeing them both beaten the shit out of them and the heels don't look like morons just standing by the ring.
*Well, once again, Batista steals heat from the heals. Michaels at least got some crap kicked out of him. Quick question.. where's the bad blood between them? Doesn't Batista still dislike Michaels for ending Flair's career?
*Well, Santino talking was funny. Beth slamming Knox was funny. Everything after that... well. It just seemed like WWE is trying to produce comedy without the funny. LISTEN... comedy without funny = NOT COMEDY! Jesus Christ! Ok, I will admit, Party Boy revealing himself gave a chuckle. Aside from that, this was just a random segment. Speaking of random, WTF was up with that duck goalie mask? What point did it have? Was Howard the Duck playing hockey there? OMG! THEY STOLE FROM HOWARD THE DUCK!!
*Why doesn't Jericho just leave the ring and walk away? What a great way to show the champ just how threatening he is... by making him job. Well, at least it's Punk getting the win. WHERE IS IT¿!? After bitching for the last two hours over a crummy RAW, I decided to do something other than bitch. Yeah, it's a rant, but it's not against any company in particular. It's over the current state of wrestling. The question here is, "where is it?" "It" being that feeling of legitimacy in the sport. I'm not talking about kayfabe or having the wrestlers really hurt each other. I'm talking about that feel. The fact that it seems like my disbelief is suspended. Now, don't think that just because I'm a smark, I can't do anything but complain and bitch about WWE and TNA and only find happiness with puroresu, because that's not true. WWE's been spectacular in some major parts throughout 2008. In fact, I dare say it could have been the beginning of an entire new era similar to the Attitude Era. Unfortunately, things happened, programs were interrupted, certain shows become unwatchable, and WWE's leapt head-first into a shallow pool of crap and still drowning on it. This is because they're aiming towards the kids again like they did in the early to mid 90's. I guess they'll never learn that wrestling just CANNOT be aimed towards children and expect to pull in huge ratings, huge buyrates, and huge cash. Yeah, merchandise is through the roof for the kids who want the super cool Colon Bros. bandanas and the awesome CM Punk stick-on tattoos. BUT... that can only be so much. In such a time, heels want to be faces to pull in extra money, the office is demanding too much from the stars, certain stars on the smaller circuits never get the chance to shine, and competition is huge in the lockerroom. Now, we all understand Triple H is going to stay with us until he beats Ric Flair's record (more on that in a different RoW), but it's still impossible for younger guys to rise above the top guys unless they have Vince's blessing... just like the early to mid 90's. In any case, all this and more prevents professional wrestling in WWE and TNA from getting that realistic feeling 90% of the time. There are times I'm legitimately entertained, but those are few and far in between. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying everything is terrible in today's product. What I like, you may not like. What you like, I may not like. However, the things I don't like shouldn't take up and hour and a half of the weekly shows! My main question is why can't these wrestlers hold a memory over three months long? Batista and Michaels were at each other's throats three months ago, but now they're HELPING each other? This wouldn't be so bad if they stopped acknowledging other things altogether. You can't have Jericho talking about something that happened seven years ago (most of fans today didn't have a clue who Jericho WAS seven years ago), then avoid something that happened three months ago. It just doesn't work without raising questions. Why are the heels suddenly lacking their wrestling abilities? Moreover, why do they seem to be so incompetent? Why do heels constantly lose everything and look like they're pushovers when you look at the overall product? Vince stated how he wanted realism... I have an idea for the most real you could ever get in wrestling. Next time, this is Jesse Lee, signing off. Check out my myspace page at www.myspace.com/jieshiirendan. Here, I talk about other wrestling materials, my PPV predictions/results, anime-related blogs, fanfics, movie p/reviews, Fantasy Bookers, etc, etc. Don't worry, I don't do personal drama B.S. Also, I'll be posting RoWs here on Wednesdays and a completely different RoW on my myspace on either Fridays or Saturdays. For questions, comments, praise mail, or hate mail.. e-mail me at JesseLee_GoW@yahoo.com.
Debut of RoW
Yo everyone! I'm back and just like Godzilla, I'm releasing my reign of terror throughout the internet. Everywhere from "das forums," to my myspace page, and to The Eagle's Ring! By the way, if you haven't heard of The Eagle's Ring, then you suck! Big ones.... in an alley.
*We (by that, I mean, me) here at RoW would like to wish Matt Stryiker our (my) condolences for the recent passing of his father, Mr. um... Matt Styiker's father. I know for a fact that if I were in the same situation, I'd be lost beyond belief.
*Well, we just got our first view of Batista squashing every bit of Jericho's credibility. With a terrible catchphrase being born, Batista continues to prove how incredibly idiotic the fans are for cheering a guy for doing something which they'd boo someone else for doing.
*Khali forces his way onto Lillian. That's called sexual harassment and even attempted rape, y'know.
*Oh joy... now Jericho, Regal, Orton, AND JBL have all been completely wiped out by Batista. What's that? "Credibility?" Never heard of ya? Who's that with you? "Potential threat?" Nope, sorry. F*ck Batista!
*Now that I can't watch Smackdown... I'm BEGGING for the draft to return early so I can see Brian Kendrick, Kozlov, and Edge on RAW. Please? Pretty please? Dammit anyhow!
Well, that's it for this week's RoW! It's my birthday and I'm spending it watching a Godzilla marathon. After that, I plan to play MegaMan 2 and 3 until I pass out. Yosh!
CYBER SUNDAY
Well once again, we're here with Cyber Sunday. For those of you who don't know, Cyber Sunday is a "revolutionary" PPV originally called Cyber Tuesday. It was a PPV made to get a quick buck in by WWE that promoted the idea of letting the fans get a say in the matches. Of course, this fools your average Johnny Everyteen and Mary Everybitch, but it really doesn't fool a lot of the smarks.
The reason? Remember last time when WWE allowed fate to steer their product? The Brawl for All? Yeah, this is the same thing, just slightly different. The layout is that fans are about to call and text in their votes (giving WWE some quick bucks that way) or go onto WWE.com and pick their vote. Some years it changes to "only being able to vote once" to "being able to vote as many times as you want."
Why do I not buy this? Well... let's take a look at your standard list of matches...
*First you have your divas match, which choices will be somewhere in the area of "bra & panty match," "halloween whore match," or "school & nurses" match. In each match, you're sure to see some scantly clad women and the resulting vote will not change the end result.
*Second, you have the match in which the fans get to pick the opponent. The three choices usually come down to a bunch of nobodies who'll never win a match in their lives. This year it's Goldust, Roddy Piper, and Honky Tonk Man... all of whom had been inactive from WWE for quite a good while and each appearance results in less of an impact. These three no-names/has-beens usually go up against a younger performer who's actually in a big angle and appear regularly on the show. Once again, the end results of the votes will never effect the change of the match.
Third is the special referee vote. This usually happens to give fans another sense of power. They'll take two performers and put them in a match like it was your average PPV. The catch? The fans get to vote for the special referee. The choice of referee is usually one legend, one wrestler who's currently in heated relationship with both performers, and another legend. Once again. End result of the vote = no change in outcome of the match.
I don't hate this PPV, but I do think it's ridiculous for fans to think WWE will let everything be counted on a few votes and just perform an expensive PPV on the fly based on the vote. Each vote is acontrolled vote, whether it being WWE leaning towards one performer to be voted for or reducing a number of votes to three choices.
"Hm... a normal match, a two-out-of-three-falls match, or a cage match? Gee? Which one is more unique and exciting?"
If you ask me, which we all know you will, if WWE truly wanted to bring legitimacy back, we'd have a chance to vote for what Mike Adamle will be dumped in... a pile of crap, a container of urine, or a pool of vomit. Even if the votes are rigged, the end result will be the same.... entertainment.