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The 7 - Pro Wrestling - RAW (from Hell) 8/29/05
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ges7184
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#41 Posted on 30.8.05 1306.09
Reposted on: 30.8.12 1306.15
At least the women's story made more sense this week. Now they are hating Ashley because she's wanting to wrestle instead of "knowing her role", and thus is making Torrie and Ms. Go-Daddy look bad. It even makes sense that Victoria would side with Torrie/Go-Daddy, because at least they know their place and don't try to wrestle, while Ashley needs to be put into her place. Much better than the 'not paying her dues' logic they were trying to put over last week. Now if the writers can put storylines through the logic test BEFORE they present them on TV, instead of adjusting on the fly, maybe they will start to get somewhere.

It also struck me how Ashley in her second appearance is better on the mic than both Candace, with over a year's experience and Torrie, with several years of experience. Of course, that's really not much of an accomplishment (but you would think that at least Torrie would be better on the mic by now).

Put me down as someone else who doesn't find Masters that bad. But I am miffed that some don't see Carlito as being any more talented. To me, he's far ahead of Masters at this stage of the game. He has good fan awareness when he speaks, and plays off them very well. And to me, he's simply smoother in the ring as well.
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#42 Posted on 30.8.05 1339.36
Reposted on: 30.8.12 1339.45
Carlito is light years ahead of Masters on the microphone. Who has the talk show? Who is over despite almost always losing (at least recently)? Who isn't over despite always winning? I can't believe anyone can put Chris Masters in any category above Carlito. I'm sure that if anyone can make Chris Masters look like Ric Flair, it is HBK.

I loved your recap Eke. I agreed with almost everything you said. Never quit this job.

Jobber handicap matches on Raw? If I was cynical, I would say that the WWE is tanking these final Raws on purpose before the big move to USA. But that can't be true, can it?

(edited by Torchslasher on 30.8.05 1140)
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#43 Posted on 30.8.05 1406.03
Reposted on: 30.8.12 1406.21
    Originally posted by Torchslasher
    Carlito is light years ahead of Masters on the microphone. Who has the talk show? Who is over despite almost always losing (at least recently)? Who isn't over despite always winning? I can't believe anyone can put Chris Masters in any category above Carlito. I'm sure that if anyone can make Chris Masters look like Ric Flair, it is HBK.

    I loved your recap Eke. I agreed with almost everything you said. Never quit this job.

    Jobber handicap matches on Raw? If I was cynical, I would say that the WWE is tanking these final Raws on purpose before the big move to USA. But that can't be true, can it?

    (edited by Torchslasher on 30.8.05 1140)


My question is thus: What's more important to WWE, high ratings for the premieres of Friday Night Smackdown (September 9th) & RAW on USA (October 3rd), or high buyrates for Unforgiven (September 18th) & No Mercy (October 9th)?

Conversely: What's more possible to accomplish?
Mr. Boffo
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#44 Posted on 30.8.05 1837.33
Reposted on: 30.8.12 1837.40
Is it just me, or does Lita somehow look totally disgusting wearing that cleavage revealing dress? It's like Mori's Uncanny Valley theory. When she's dressed all punk, she looks pretty hot. But when she's wearing feminine clothes, you realize that's she's got an ugly face, and her hotness falls like 3 levels. Someone should study this.

I expect Trish to return to Raw next week, where she sides with Ashley, which will unfortunately lead to a 6-man (er, woman) tag match the following week. And their partner will be, um ... Ok, maybe it'll be a tag team match, Trish & Ashley vs Victoria & Torrie, with Candice providing moral support.

Count me in with the group that thinks the Flair thing was the right outcome. This warrants a Brett Favre comparison, oddly enough.
    Originally posted by Pro Football Prospectus 2005, available at amazon.com
    "Brett Favre has become more of a symbol than a human being, representing the platonic ideal of "quarterback" in the minds of most television analysts and print writers. By midyear, the constant overglorification of Favre had reached a level of annoyance so high that it spawned an equally irritating countermovement of fans who couldn't stop complaining on Internet message boards about the constant overglorifcation of Brett Favre. Lost in all this nonsense is the performance of Brett Favre, the actual human being, who is still a pretty good quarterback though not at the level of a decade ago.

In the same way, Chris Masters is being vastly overrated by the Raw announce team. And we aren't buying the BS they're selling. But people are going a bit overboard with the hate, I think. Ric Flair is 56 years old. To see any 56 year old man escape from a full nelson being applied by a 22 year old 275 pound body builder is ridiculous and frankly beyond my suspension of disbelief. But that electricity thing, that was totally realistic. :-P
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#45 Posted on 30.8.05 2003.20
Reposted on: 30.8.12 2003.27
LOL ... good quote from the Pro Football Prospectus. Too bad overall, though, it's a piece of crap. I didn't realize til after I got it that they (1) switched authors and (2) switched publishers too. The writing is better than last year, but there's NO editing. Way too many mistakes for what's supposed to be the top resource. I mean, check out "Hasselback" on the front cover. lol.

Okay, end of aside.

Count me with those who thought the Flair thing was a setup on Shawn with Carlito, Flair, and Masters being in cahoots (that's a fun word!). It'll be interesting to see where they bring this in the coming weeks.
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#46 Posted on 30.8.05 2308.54
Reposted on: 30.8.12 2309.13
To me, it just seemed like a go with the flow RAW. The standout was for sure the Hardy/Edge match, but that ending where they jump off the stage to stuff below seems to have been done ALOT over the years, beggining when Cactus and Funk got tossed off in a dumpster by NAO in 1998. Carlito is going to be huge as a face when he eventually turns. I think the Ric Flar getting bloody beat up thing was a hint that HHH did it, reuniting with HBK.
HMD
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#47 Posted on 31.8.05 0120.06
Reposted on: 31.8.12 0120.40
    Originally posted by ekedolphin
    FUCK THOSE GODDAMN FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT WWE WRITERS FOR FUCKING JOBBING RIC FLAIR TO FUCKING CHRIS FUCKING MASTERS, FUCK!


Oh come off it, will you? Ric Flair is not going ever anyone clean. Fuck them for trying to get someone over who is under 9000? In case you haven't noticed, they just main evented their second biggest PPV of the year with a bout that had a combined age of the Sphinx. They need new stars. This is how you make new stars. Now, I crapped on the Brock push, and I turned out to be wrong. I crapped on the Orton push, and I still think I'm right (since he's still okay at best). Let's see where this goes.

Did you notice how much blood Flair had leaking out of him during the backstage thing? It looked like an assassination attempt. Suggesting anyone at all, let alone Flair's age, came back from THAT, is giving him all the credit he needs. He's still Flair. He'll survive.

    Originally posted by The Vile1
    Your question can be answered very easily ekedolphin. Its because Chris Masters is over 6 feet tall and over 250 pounds.


Yes. You're right. That's the only reason they push anybody. No other factors come into play. You've cracked their code. It's not charisma, it's not improvement. It's just height and weight.

    Originally posted by Spaceman Spiff
    Carlito hasn't shown much of anything besides OK mic skills, so I don't see how you can put Carlito above Masters at this point.


Because he's a hoss, bah gawd. Hosses SHALT NOT GET CREDIT. Carlito is a mid-card comedy heel who has yet to show that he can transition into intense or angry convincingly, like, say Kurt Angle can.

I hate it when they use the "Owen Hart just fell" voices. I just can't stand it. Why can't they just do "mah gawd the carnage", and move along. Good, occasionally great brawl. How could Lita look so hot at Summerslam, and so dirty tonight? She really has her days.

Hey Shawn, that feud is over. Get the fuck over it.

Babyface Trish is laaaaaame. Long live heel Trish.

Angle/Cena is looking nice. I'm usually a fan of the slow-burn feuds, but Unforgiven is not that far off, so they better have some major plot twists planned.

(edited by Hogan's My Dad on 30.8.05 2320)
ekedolphin
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#48 Posted on 31.8.05 0357.42
Reposted on: 31.8.12 0358.15
Fuck them for trying to get someone over who's under 9000? Isn't Hulk Hogan about 9000 years old too? Besides, I don't fault them for pushing younger stars. I expect them to push younger stars, because not pushing younger stars is exactly how WCW went down the shitter.

I fault them for pushing this particular young star, Chris Masters, who should be "learning the ropes" in OVW, and not "learning the ropes" by beating sixteen-time world champions. I fault them for pushing Masters ahead of guys with actual talent who've got the ability to accomplish truly great things in WWE if given a proper push, guys like Tajiri, Shelton Benjamin, and William Regal. I fault them for making Masters win every single match, while guys like Val Venis and Christian lose every single match.

They released guys like Charlie Haas (one of the best technical wrestlers around), Maven (who was at least a decent midcard comedy chickenshit heel), and Matt Morgan (a big guy with an actual moveset who was starting to show some serious potential). They released Spike Dudley, who took the insane bumps that everyone else was smart enough, or lucky enough, not to have to take-- and practically every time you saw him on the screen. They've released half the women's division, including Molly Holly (who they never figured out what to do with except make fun of her), Jazz (the true badass of the division), and Gail Kim (who was at least trying to become the women's division's first true submission specialist). Paul London lost the Cruiserweight Title on Velocity, for crying out loud, and neither he nor the new champion, Nunzio, have been seen since.

But don't worry about any of that, because here's Chris Masters, the guy with only one move, to save the day? Screw that.

And I don't give a damn if Flair was practically the victim of an assassination attempt or not. He's Ric Flair, and you're not. And two weeks ago Masters still hadn't beaten anybody higher on the card than Tajiri or Hurricane.

Besides, Chris Masters is not Brock Lesnar. He's not even Randy Orton. It's not that a lot of people simply don't like him, it's that a lot of people are completely apathetic about him, and Coach and Lawler go to extreme lengths to remind us that "bah gawd, he's a hoss". Only in their case, it's "quiet, you're watching art," which is annoying because it's so damn repetitive, and also it's vaguely gay. And heck, I don't even have a problem with people being vaguely gay. It's just that five minutes later Lawler's talking about things he'd like to do to Torrie Wilson, so I wish he'd at least make up his mind. (Not to mention that Lawler makes less-than-subtle racist references for every black wrestler, implying that they've spent time in prison. But I'm not turning this into a Lawler rant, 'cuz I'd be getting off-topic.)

Just to specify again, I have no problem with WWE pushing younger talent. That's exactly what I think they should do. I just wish they'd push younger talent, not people I could care less about who haven't shown, to me, that they have the talent to be a lower-midcarder, never mind a main-eventer. And I wish Shawn Michaels wouldn't have to sell a regular stupid clothesline from that hack by being "knocked out" for a good thirty seconds. And dammit, I wish that Shawn Michaels will break the Master Lock next week, because Masters damn sure doesn't deserve to have the honor of making HBK pass out to a fuckin' full nelson.

(And as a side note, I think it's funnier than hell when Shawn Michaels makes aside jokes about Hulk Hogan, even though Michaels is a good guy again. Don't feel bad, he'll be back when he needs another payoff.)
Spaceman Spiff
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#49 Posted on 31.8.05 0726.01
Reposted on: 31.8.12 0726.27

    I think the Ric Flar getting bloody beat up thing was a hint that HHH did it, reuniting with HBK.

That would be monumentally stupid. How many PPV matches did they have feuding, and how many months did they spend showing that they hate each other? Pairing them up just wouldn't make sense, even by WWE logic standards.
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#50 Posted on 31.8.05 0836.47
Reposted on: 31.8.12 0837.09
RAW was just all right for me. I watched parts of it Monday and watched the tape this morning.

I liked the Edge/Hardy match, which further proves that people who buy PPV's are suckers. Lawler FINALLY says something that makes sense! If you are dumped by someone, don't fight over them... Replace them. Lita isn't worth all those ass whuppings Hardy is taking.

I got a good laugh out of Cena's promo.

I got disgusted by Lita's ugly boobs. That's right! I said it. Ugh! They looked like hard potatoes. Yuck! Put a shirt on!

I'll probably be the first to say it but I miss Christy Hemme. At least she was entertaining.

Speaking of Diva's, where was Maria?

I am amazed to see that no one caught Matt Hardy's slip up seconds before that Side Effect off the stage. He and Edge were trading punches and you could hear Matt ask Edge if he was ready. Then he went into the set up for the move and you can hear him say "Jump!".
BigSteve
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#51 Posted on 31.8.05 1019.13
Reposted on: 31.8.12 1019.59

    I fault them for pushing this particular young star, Chris Masters, who should be "learning the ropes" in OVW, and not "learning the ropes" by beating sixteen-time world champions. I fault them for pushing Masters ahead of guys with actual talent who've got the ability to accomplish truly great things in WWE if given a proper push, guys like Tajiri, Shelton Benjamin, and William Regal. I fault them for making Masters win every single match, while guys like Val Venis and Christian lose every single match.

    They released guys like Charlie Haas (one of the best technical wrestlers around), Maven (who was at least a decent midcard comedy chickenshit heel), and Matt Morgan (a big guy with an actual moveset who was starting to show some serious potential). They released Spike Dudley, who took the insane bumps that everyone else was smart enough, or lucky enough, not to have to take-- and practically every time you saw him on the screen. They've released half the women's division, including Molly Holly (who they never figured out what to do with except make fun of her), Jazz (the true badass of the division), and Gail Kim (who was at least trying to become the women's division's first true submission specialist). Paul London lost the Cruiserweight Title on Velocity, for crying out loud, and neither he nor the new champion, Nunzio, have been seen since.


You can be in OVW for twenty years but the fact is that a lot of those guys just aren't that good. Or at least they certainly aren't as good as Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair. You'll learn a lot more, a lot quicker having matches with those guys than you will by wrestling other rookies. Val Venis has been with WWE for seven years and never showed that he could connect with the crowd as anything other than a gimmick midcarder. Christian loses every match because he's the chickenshit heel who can get his heat back on the mic. Shelton Benjamin definately has a main event spot waiting for him in the not too distant future, and Tajiri is best as a mid-card sideshow act. I think that the internet types vastly overrate the appeal of William Regal (though I myself am a big fan).

I agree that they released Charlie Haas way too soon. But Matt Morgan? I hear he was a good talker, but he never came close to impressing me in the ring. Maven had any number of chances to get a push because they wanted him to succeed as the winner of Tough Enough, but he was still as bad in '05 as he was in 2001. Spike Dudley is a guy that can take huge bumps, but that doesn't translate into being a main eventer. The problems that they have with the women's division and cruiserweight division won't be solved if they stop pushing hosses like Masters so that's irrelevant.


    And I don't give a damn if Flair was practically the victim of an assassination attempt or not. He's Ric Flair, and you're not. And two weeks ago Masters still hadn't beaten anybody higher on the card than Tajiri or Hurricane.


You complained about WWE insulting your intelligence earlier but now you don't think a guy that looks like Chris Masters should be beating flabby old Ric Flair. I don't care how many times Flair was the World Champ 20 years ago. He's useless as an active wrestler at this point if he isn't jobbing to young guys they have an interest in pushing. And how can you complain about him only beating lower card guys and then turn around and complain when they give him a win over Flair. Flair isn't even a main eventer so it's not like they gave him an undeserved win over HBK.


    Besides, Chris Masters is not Brock Lesnar. He's not even Randy Orton. It's not that a lot of people simply don't like him, it's that a lot of people are completely apathetic about him, and Coach and Lawler go to extreme lengths to remind us that "bah gawd, he's a hoss". Only in their case, it's "quiet, you're watching art," which is annoying because it's so damn repetitive


I think HMD is right about people not giving any of the big guys credit for anything. Masters has had perfectly fine short matches with Tajiri, Val Venis, and even Stevie Richards (the second one). His promos are pretty forumula, but then everyone's are like that. I see nothing wrong with his delivery. He also seems to sell fairly well when he needs to do so. So what is so bad about Masters other than the fact that he's big, and he's not as good as Shawn Michaels.
PsychoticMidget
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#52 Posted on 31.8.05 1105.27
Reposted on: 31.8.12 1105.27
Since apparently comments go unnoticed unless you are part of the long-timers club, I shall have to repeat myself.

    Originally posted by Hogan's My Dad
      Originally posted by The Vile1
      Your question can be answered very easily ekedolphin. Its because Chris Masters is over 6 feet tall and over 250 pounds.


    Yes. You're right. That's the only reason they push anybody. No other factors come into play. You've cracked their code. It's not charisma, it's not improvement. It's just height and weight.

      Originally posted by Spaceman Spiff
      Carlito hasn't shown much of anything besides OK mic skills, so I don't see how you can put Carlito above Masters at this point.


    Because he's a hoss, bah gawd. Hosses SHALT NOT GET CREDIT. Carlito is a mid-card comedy heel who has yet to show that he can transition into intense or angry convincingly, like, say Kurt Angle can.



Wrong, Sarcastic Boy. Perhaps if Masters HAD talent in some form or another, your scathing wit would have found its mark. Instead it flops dead like a fish on the beach, for it lacks any kind of factual weight to it. Saying Chris Masters has mic (or ANY) skills comparable to Carlito is akin to saying that Kevin Nash has longevity comparable to Ric Flair. It's a laughable statement.

Carlito night-in and night-out is consistently funny, swarmy, and gold on the mic. He brings in the little things, like facial ticks and expressions as well as voice inflections. He's on the Jericho/Flair/Angle road of being a heel that still gets people laughing. Oh, wait, he's never ANGRY! Um...look at his character. It's Carlito Caribbean Cool, not Carlito Kicks-Your-Ass Angry.

Masters, on the other hand, is slow and plodding. Was nobody listening during his promo against Michaels? "No Shawn it...looks like....you're thinning....up here." followed by his one generic facial expression. The guy is a neanderthal, with no skills other than Nathan Jones brawling version 2.0.

It is very appalling to see anyone even think there's a modicum of talent to be polished in Masters. He's a turd, not a diamond in the rough.
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Y!:
#53 Posted on 31.8.05 1150.01
Reposted on: 31.8.12 1150.27
    Originally posted by PsychoticMidget
    The guy is a neanderthal, with no skills other than Nathan Jones brawling version 2.0.

    It is very appalling to see anyone even think there's a modicum of talent to be polished in Masters. He's a turd, not a diamond in the rough.


And, like HMD said (which you failed to notice), people said the same thing about:

Brock Lesnar.
Batista.
Randy Orton.

Those people were clearly wrong on the first two counts, and depending on who you ask, right on the third.
CRZ
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#54 Posted on 31.8.05 1208.44
Reposted on: 31.8.12 1209.07
    Originally posted by PsychoticMidget
    Since apparently comments go unnoticed unless you are part of the long-timers club, I shall have to repeat myself.
This will get you noticed in the wrong way. Please don't cut-n-paste your comments in a thread for the second time without at least first correcting the typos you made the first time. I hope that comment wasn't too swarmy.
sentonBOMB
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#55 Posted on 31.8.05 1247.40
Reposted on: 31.8.12 1247.57
    Originally posted by Battlezone
      Originally posted by PsychoticMidget
      The guy is a neanderthal, with no skills other than Nathan Jones brawling version 2.0.

      It is very appalling to see anyone even think there's a modicum of talent to be polished in Masters. He's a turd, not a diamond in the rough.


    And, like HMD said (which you failed to notice), people said the same thing about:

    Brock Lesnar.
    Batista.
    Randy Orton.

    Those people were clearly wrong on the first two counts, and depending on who you ask, right on the third.


Also, please don't compare anyone to Nathan Jones. That guy was a level of useless that no one on the current roster deserves to be compared to.
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#56 Posted on 31.8.05 1337.57
Reposted on: 31.8.12 1338.20
For Goddess's sake, the word is smarmy. Not "swarmy," which would suggest Carlito is a group of small animals clustering around the mic. (Unless you're referring to his hair, which does look like it could be made of bees.)

And I'll believe Chris Masters = Nathan Jones when Masters falls on his ass in the middle of a match.
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#57 Posted on 31.8.05 1655.24
Reposted on: 31.8.12 1655.39
Is Masters related to anyone? I mean, second generation hoss or whatever? Because I could swear he reminds me of Paul Roma (I think its him anyway).

I'm really enjoying Angle right now.
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#58 Posted on 31.8.05 1725.57
Reposted on: 31.8.12 1726.13
What I really don't understand here is why everybody has to be compared to somebody else. Is Masters as good as Carlito on the mic? Certainly not. Is he still perfectly good? I'd say so. Likewise, who's better in the ring, Masters or Carlito? Well, you can't really make that comparison at all, considering they're two guys with totally different styles who are in there to accomplish totally different things. Personally, I think Masters is a pretty good big man who wrestles a good power style. I think Carlito bumps very well -- which is more than half the battle -- and has some crisp and well-set-up big moves but needs to work on what comes in between. I also have little doubt he'll improve. I think Masters will improve, too. Frankly, neither one of them has to improve all that much to be a credible and valuable player in WWE for years to come. Overall, I like Carlito better than Masters, but who cares? I still like Masters.

Oh, by the way, Masters isn't insanely over, and he's not Carlito over, but the crowd isn't dead for him, either. Remember the first week he came out for his ill-fated debut match? That was a dead crowd. He's improved a lot since then, if you've been paying attention.

Also: I wouldn't put Flair over anybody in WWE. Not anybody. I wouldn't put him over Rosey. It is simply not credible that at his age, in his physical condition, he would be able to beat someone less than half his age. I'm glad he's there and he can still fill an important role (for the record, I think he's been used excellently and properly in the past few years), but beating Chris Masters -- or anyone else -- isn't it.
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#59 Posted on 1.9.05 0224.23
Reposted on: 1.9.12 0224.35
    Originally posted by Destrucity
    Oh, by the way, Masters isn't insanely over, and he's not Carlito over, but the crowd isn't dead for him, either. Remember the first week he came out for his ill-fated debut match? That was a dead crowd. He's improved a lot since then, if you've been paying attention.


Was it really, though? I'd have to disagree. When he came out on RAW the first time on Monday, there was almost absolute silence. The guy's not drawing heel heat, which isn't to say it's entirely his fault.

    Originally posted by Destrucity
    Also: I wouldn't put Flair over anybody in WWE. Not anybody. I wouldn't put him over Rosey. It is simply not credible that at his age, in his physical condition, he would be able to beat someone less than half his age. I'm glad he's there and he can still fill an important role (for the record, I think he's been used excellently and properly in the past few years), but beating Chris Masters -- or anyone else -- isn't it.


My kneejerk reaction when watching the end of RAW was "this is complete bullsh*t," but admittedly, that's because I have a bias against Masters (I just personally don't find him to be very entertaining or good). I think more of the issue here is that Masters is everything that most Flair fans hate...the guy who is signed and given a quick push and major spot on the upper-midcard because of his size and look. Flair was never in really tremendous shape, especially not in the era of wrestling that most fans today are most familiar with.

That being said, I agree that putting Flair over anyone at this point is ridiculous. Ten years ago it may have been questionable, but he was still the man in the eyes of the fans and therefore it wasn't a problem. You CAN be a fan of Flair (like myself) and still be able to admit that a 56-year-old man should probably not be going over guys that you're trying to build a future on. The stuff that they had done with him lately WAS very good, especially the Angle match, where beforehand he admitted he was an old man and couldn't keep up with Angle but would do anything like gouge eyes and fishook him - which he did. To think though that Flair should be going over all but the top workers in WWE is quite simply ludicrous, and you have to think how laughable that is to the average fan who never saw a Flair/Steamboat match and got into wrestling when Kevin Nash and Scott Hall "invaded" WCW, or when Steve Austin gave McMahon the Stunner.

So to say that Flair shouldn't be putting people over at his age or jobbing is ridiculous. Again, though, that's not the argument...it's WHO he's putting over that in this case is making several people upset. That point is moot, though. The question being asked should not be "why are they having Flair put this guy over," but "why are they putting this guy over in the first place."

And personally, comparing the criticism Masters got to criticisms Batista, Lesnar, and Orton received doesn't prove anything to me. I wasn't posting here at the time Lesnar debuted and therefore am not privy to what was said about him, but everything I heard and read about him from other people and websites was positive...that, and he had an intense ring presence. Batista first came in as Reverend D-Von's sidekick for crying out loud, and certainly wasn't put in the main event within a couple months of debuting on television. Randy Orton...well, he WAS around for awhile before finally getting that push. I'll concede that I don't think it has worked, since it seems that people don't really care much about him outside of the fact that he's feuding with The Undertaker.

Hosses get credit where it's due, as was shown in the case of Batista (who seemed to be receiving a fair amount of praise from other Ws well before they pulled the trigger on his main event push), Brock Lesnar (when he was still with WWE), and Matt Morgan (who a lot of people were upset about when he got cut). To say he's not getting credit because he's a big man and the smarks don't like them is just as bad as pushing them JUST BECAUSE they're big men. Credit will be given where it's due, and in this case it's not.
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#60 Posted on 1.9.05 1343.19
Reposted on: 1.9.12 1343.22
I think a lot of the hatred Masters has engendered comes from the Masterlock. He's shown a few decent power moves and, unlike a lot of new monster heels, he at least sells moves performed by smaller wrestlers (witness his Tajiri match, wherein he got his butt kicked a good portion of the time). But, regardless of arguments in terms of strength and how a full nelson would hurt in the real world if applied by Masters, the move has been nothing but a transitionary resthold since Hercules left the spotlight. I don't buy that it knocks anybody out and I don't by that it's the indestructible submission they make it out to be. The only problem I had with Flair submitting to it is that Flair, of ALL people, should've known it was time for his trick knee to kick in and smack that big bastard right in the nuts.

Unfortunately, I think the ship has sailed on him having another finisher. His character is half-centered on the Masterlock (the other half is centered on Coach and Lawler drooling over his pecs). He also needs to buzz his hair down the way Val Venis has so his bald spot isn't so prominent, but that's neither here nor there. Basically, I think he has a fair amount of potential as a wrestler, but I think his gimmick is crap.
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