I thought the butcher had long since retired.
Hope you have a good time at the show, sounds like it should be a good one.

So, what did everyone think of Smackdown? It looked pretty good to me.

At 7/1/07 06:57 PM, Reaperyami wrote: So, what did everyone think of Smackdown? It looked pretty good to me.

Didn't see it. I never see Smackdown anymore ever since they switched it to Friday. Don't they know that people go out and do stuff on Fridays? It pisses me off because I use to like watching Smackdown every Thursday.

At 7/1/07 07:39 PM, Clownshock wrote: Didn't see it. I never see Smackdown anymore ever since they switched it to Friday. Don't they know that people go out and do stuff on Fridays? It pisses me off because I use to like watching Smackdown every Thursday.

I remember it being done initially because UPN was trying to turn their Thursday night prime time slot that SD! occupied into a comedy block. Plus, SD!'s contract was coming due and they were a bit on the bubble about whether or not they'd renew it (remember the Palmer Cannon Network Exec character? That was a complete response to the debate over renewal from the Viacom folks).

When they moved to CW 11, I guess it wasn't changed because they just decided that they were completely comfortable with it in the Friday slot, and honestly, it's still doing good ratings for them. The CW merger hasn't really bumped ratings the way they would have liked. Plus, there's always the magic of video taping a show if you really want to see it.

Partial Source: The Wrestling Observer Newsletter

USA Network has talked of wanting Raw to increase to three hours in the fall. The belief is that is guarantees the network one extra hour of very high ratings every week, thus enabling them to maintain their status of being the most watched network on cable television. The thought process being the move is that if Raw starts at 8 p.m. more often, people will get used to tuning into Raw at that time, and it will lead to higher ratings in the second hour in particular.

They also made the suggestion of Steve Austin and Undertaker being regulars on the show, even if they can't wrestle. On the WWE front, they aren't too keen on making Raw a three hour show, every single week. They think this is the last thing they need. Although, if they go through with the move, they'll likely get a rate increase from USA.

I tend to agree with WWE on this one. Three hours every week is too much. And also think of it like this: If they are making crappy storylines for their regular broadcasts, how could they handle an additional hour? On the other hand, more of the undercard could be used to fill that spot.

Even if this was the Attitude era I'd say 3 hours is a bad idea, look at Nitro, once the show went to three hours it began to slide downhill. 2 hours is just fine, 3 hours is overkill, especially when you try to sell fans 2 hour and 45 (if we're lucky!) PPV's every month. USA needs to just leave WWE alone to do the show the way they've always done it and not get greedy. The increased ratings on 3 hour broadcasts are because they aren't done often, and there's usually a big storyline to justify it. WWE simply can't do that every week, no one can.

I agree. The occasion three-hour show is great (even if I have to struggle to remember the earlier start time), but to do it every week? It'd just take out the awesome-ness of it. Not to mention it wouldn't make things any easier for the wrestlers who gotta work like crazy just for the two-hour RAW's.

I'd much rather see a weekly two-hour ECW than a weekly three-hour RAW.

Uh oh...

If the news breaking today that Chris Benoit was being supplied with ten months worth of anabolic steroids every three to four weeks by Dr. Phil Astin turns out to be accurate, this will make World Wrestling Entertainment look extremely bad stemming from their press release comments last week.

At 7/2/07 09:15 PM, Reaperyami wrote: Uh oh...

If the news breaking today that Chris Benoit was being supplied with ten months worth of anabolic steroids every three to four weeks by Dr. Phil Astin turns out to be accurate, this will make World Wrestling Entertainment look extremely bad stemming from their press release comments last week.

I don't really see how neccessarily other then it would be a big slap to WWE's wellness policy. Which needs to change anyway since from what I've seen they're ratios are ridiculously lenient.

At 7/2/07 02:10 AM, SlashFirestorm wrote: I agree. The occasion three-hour show is great (even if I have to struggle to remember the earlier start time), but to do it every week? It'd just take out the awesome-ness of it. Not to mention it wouldn't make things any easier for the wrestlers who gotta work like crazy just for the two-hour RAW's.

I'd much rather see a weekly two-hour ECW than a weekly three-hour RAW.

I would too, but I still haven't found where ECW is hiding. It's somewhere in the T.V. at some time of the day.

Does anyone know if Rey Mysterio is coming back any time soon. Basically Rey-Rey, Matt Hardy, Batista and the Undertaker ARE Smackdown. And right now 2/4 of them are out for reasons of hurt. I hope on seeing Rey soon enough.

I think Mysterio will be back by the time summerslam rolls around, or somewhere close to that. He is needed to get SD back on track, and if he is back before Taker, he could have some matches with Edge or something.

I would too, but I still haven't found where ECW is hiding. It's somewhere in the T.V. at some time of the day.

Its hiding on SciFi, from 10 pm to 11 every tuesday, so see if you can catch up on it today.

Any body else see Raw? It was pretty good, except for how shitty Raw is treating Mr. Kennedy. At least its over with the IC champion. Carlito Vs Sandman is giving a great show, and I look forward to what it could shape itself into.

Am I the only one that'd never heard the Sandman talk before last night's Raw? He had a much less rough voice than I expected.
And I think Kennedy is being treated fine on Raw. The fact that he lost just gives him more ammo to mouth off, and be the guy everyone loves to hate, which is exactly what he needed after almost being pushed to a face turn, after Edge took his MITB.

At 7/3/07 02:37 PM, HeartbreakHoldout wrote: Am I the only one that'd never heard the Sandman talk before last night's Raw?

Ask one of the other ECW late comers, because I've heard hak talk many times...hell I've even seen him yank out his johnson in a drunken tirade on an ECW house show, lol

I've heard Sandman talk from the old ECW stuff I've seen. Sabu is the guy who you should be shocked any time he says a word.

Raw was decent, but I am starting to think that having kennedy on Raw is turning out bad for the guy. From what I heard he is going to be amung those who are going to be destroyed when HHH comes back.

"After nearly breaking John Cena in half on Raw, Bobby Lashley tells WWE.com that the time for talking is over"

haha yah damn right. NEVER and I mean NEVER have Lashley talk ever again. He made RAW suck more dick than Paris Hilton.
The coolest wrestler on raw is definitely Mr. Kennedy.
I'm so glad that Lashley left ECW because now ECW is the coolest show i've ever seen in a long time.

At 7/4/07 10:12 PM, YoinK wrote: "After nearly breaking John Cena in half on Raw, Bobby Lashley tells WWE.com that the time for talking is over"

I still want to see Cena finally losing his title, seriously. To be honest, if Cena has a match with Hogan, the Hulkster will probably job like a b!tch considering how much Vince loves Cena. SERIOUSLY!

It was kinda cool at first, but know people who hated cena are starting to like him; and people who like him are tired of him being champion. I want his title reign to be over already!

At 7/5/07 05:43 AM, Dream-of-Duke wrote: I still want to see Cena finally losing his title, seriously. To be honest, if Cena has a match with Hogan, the Hulkster will probably job like a b!tch considering how much Vince loves Cena. SERIOUSLY!

I think with the new people on Raw, there are now people that Cena could lose the title to, which wasn't really the case before.
Lashley is already big, so he could win the title, and Kennedy is going to be big soon. Booker is quite established now. Maybe not enough to win the title, but at least enough for a feud to push someone else.
So I think Cena could be losing the title soon.

At 7/5/07 07:34 AM, HeartbreakHoldout wrote:

At 7/5/07 05:43 AM, Dream-of-Duke wrote:

I think with the new people on Raw, there are now people that Cena could lose the title to, which wasn't really the case before.
Lashley is already big, so he could win the title, and Kennedy is going to be big soon. Booker is quite established now. Maybe not enough to win the title, but at least enough for a feud to push someone else.
So I think Cena could be losing the title soon.

Yeah a 9 month reign is too much, especially since he already had a good reign when he first won the title. One more thing, if you watch the marine and then RAW, you notice John Cena in WWE and John Triton in the marine are exactly the same. They are both fucking invincible.

I think the problem though now is going to be that all these established guys that have been moved to RAW will be DE-ESTABLISHED because of the fact that they will continue to push Cena hard, and they will then push H just as hard if not harder on his return. I see Kennedy and Booker's future easily being as job guys to the top faces of the brand and never getting beyond that. Top heels who will never get to the top.

Which is dumb when you think about it. You need top heels who you can belive will be a threat and on top, so that eventually the face will prevail.

HHH will probably go back to being a heel anyway since he likes that role better than being a face.

At 7/6/07 12:19 AM, aviewaskewed wrote: I think the problem though now is going to be that all these established guys that have been moved to RAW will be DE-ESTABLISHED because of the fact that they will continue to push Cena hard, and they will then push H just as hard if not harder on his return. I see Kennedy and Booker's future easily being as job guys to the top faces of the brand and never getting beyond that. Top heels who will never get to the top.

Too true- personally I see Kennedy winning the Rumble and jumping ship to challenge Edge at WM (whether Edge has held that title the whole time (unlikely) or just won it back. Until then he isn't going to get much of a push though, and I certainly don't see him with the gold, which is a shame as he is one of the most entertaining guys out there. And he was never likely to get a shot this time- I'm guessing he is still rehabbing the injury, as he didn't really get into much action on RAW, so he isn't ready to have a title challenge just yet. Just happy he is on the mic and shouting his mouth off again :D

Booker is doomed to pretty much the same- he had a good title run, but I don't see him getting another. Should have been left on SD and challenged for the US title, he could have had some good matches with MVP.

I actually think it is a little soon to give the shot to Lashley. He's the best pushed right now and the one guy (before Hunter comes back) who can actually beat Cena. I felt they would save that up for Mania as well and push it in the same mould as Rock/Austin- make it a big feud between the top stars, possibly tossing Triple H in and making it triple threat. Then again Lashley could take it now and they can build a feud that way, but that would probably leave Cena to win the title at Mania.... groan!

And I've stopped watching SD, rather watching RAW by means I won't discuss here...

As far as SD goes there just aren't any real title contenders, though I imagine MVP will get a push eventually, as will Rey. No offence to Rey and Matt Hardy (after all they are two of the best in the business), but after so many years of them being mid card/cruisers I find it hard to take title pushes seriously for them, especially after Rey was booked as such a weak champion last time around. It just seems a bit sudden that Matt can be thrown in the title picture (assuming he will be, which seems likely).

And I don't watch ECW, but from what I have seen that has been good the last two weeks. Good to see Punk in title contention- hopefully he'll take it off Nitro sooner rather than later. Nitro just isn't ready for it yet, and was never pushed as a title contender until he got it. I would like to see him in the title picture in the future though.

When I post here I don't hold back it seems!

At 7/6/07 01:27 AM, Outlaw88 wrote: Which is dumb when you think about it. You need top heels who you can belive will be a threat and on top, so that eventually the face will prevail.
HHH will probably go back to being a heel anyway since he likes that role better than being a face.

But the problem is that HHH is very popular among the fans, even when he is a heel. That explains why Cena was the one who got booed when he faced HHH at WM22. By the way, I think that HHH will remain face when he returns for two reason: (1). He just turned from heel to Face not long before he was injured. (2) RAW now has three top heels, (Orton, Kennedy and Booker) but only two faces. (Lashley and Cena) RAW needs HHH to stay face for a while longer.

At 7/6/07 12:19 AM, aviewaskewed wrote: I see Kennedy and Booker's future easily being as job guys to the top faces of the brand and never getting beyond that. Top heels who will never get to the top.

i think thats all they deserve to be, they aren't top talent material.
booker has proved that time and time again, and Kennedy is much the same.

I'm looking forward to SD tonight. Edge should be moving on to a new challenger soon since Batista lost that PPV match so it will be interesting to see who WWE uses. Chances are Batista wil still be after Edge, but thats kinda understandable.

It is good to see Kane back in the main event scene. How long has it been since he has had a shot at the title?

At 7/7/07 02:37 AM, boloneyman wrote: It is good to see Kane back in the main event scene. How long has it been since he has had a shot at the title?

A long time...I see him jobbing to Edge though. Edge probably will not drop his title until Taker returns.

SD was good last night. The matches featured were fun to watch, like the opener between Hardy and MVP was great, and the Flair/Finley matchup wasn't bad either. We saw the Major Brothers, Chuck Palumbo, and Kenny debut and now we know who both Edge and Batista are going to be fueding with.

I don't think Edge will lose the title, but it is good to see Kane in a main event for a change.

At 7/7/07 05:24 AM, Dream-of-Duke wrote: A long time...I see him jobbing to Edge though. Edge probably will not drop his title until Taker returns.

The Kane feud could be a good segway to that though, considering the links between Kane and Taker.
One thing I love about Taker coming back is the mind games. They're epic.