Still pushed as the most important star on the show, but still suffering from being stale and having no new rivals. Trip vs Shelton Benjamin was rushed, dropped faster than one could say "Jeff Hardy", and buried Monday night when Benjamin vanished during Shawn's run-in, leaving the long running soap opera between Trip and Shawn as the major storyline of the RAW brand.
2) Shawn Michaels
Shawn's sexy boy gimmick is starting to look pretty creepy, like a middle aged man chasing chicken, but he got a good rating in a decent match with Benoit and Trip sees him as a great way to keep everyone else down, so he can continue to live his fantasy.
3) Chris Benoit
Stuck as the third wheel to Trip and Shawn until he's sent hurdling back into the midcard mix... or SmackDown! Caught a break drawing a disappointing number against Shawn that looked a lot better a week later, but still destined to return to a midcard enhancement role.
4) Chris Jericho
After finally ending his long running feud with Tatanka*, er, Christian, he actually mentioned the WWE title on RAW, hinting that he may yet have more than midcard heavy metal aspirations. Unfortunately he needs to be built up after getting caught in the quagmire with Christian for so long. Could be the next "legend" to fall to Orton.
5) Randy Orton
Heavily protected in tags and short matches, but still not ready for the big matches. Orton made several gaffes against Edge and his moveset is still a work in progress, including the worst assortment of "restholds" in many years.
6) Edge
Returned from injury and was given the task of carrying and putting over Lex Orton. Edge looked pretty good, despite some laughers from Orton, but his value will depend on where he goes from there. He should be pushed higher while Orton should be protected until he's ready.
7) Kane
One week he abducts Lita. The next week he abducts Val Venis. Where's Ross with the "switch hitter" jokes?
8) Batista
Batista is working hard and doing what he is told to do. Fans gulled by Orton's singles push, looks, and feud with Foley aren't giving Batista enough credit, but he's better off going unnoticed while riding in the wake of Triple H's faux Horsemen.
9) Eugene
Hillbilly Jim, Norman the Lunatic, Doink, and Zach Gowen. Did any of them become more than a short term midcard novelty act? At best Eugene is a singles version of Too Cool that can be used to heat up the next Rikishi, that being whoever takes Eugene aside and explains how Regal is using him.
10) Ric Flair
Ric Flair is embarrassing himself and his legacy, but at least he's doing it on a big stage rather than working indy shows like Terry Funk or Misawa. Just think of Flair as "our Giant Baba."
11) WWE Divas
They better hope Vince watches RAW instead of NBC's "The Restaurant", because the girl who got fired on Monday looked much better than all of them except Stacy and she would probably be willing to "play ball."
12) Eric Bischoff
The best Jack Tunney ever, if you don't count Vince McMahon, and lucky to be marking time on Trip's show which will always be the stronger of the two "brands" in the WWE.
13) Christian
The success of Eugene's character makes the failure of guys like Christian more obvious. Fans are more into Trish.
14) Shelton Benjamin
Disappeared May 10, 2004. Got pushed way too soon and was badly exposed. His moveset, which should have been developed and refined at OVW and in months of tag matches, was still a work in progress and he was still blowing simple spots like a firemans carry by taking people over using their right arm and then obviously switching over to bar the left arm. In the end, TWGTT may go down as little more than a parody of ECW hyped teams like the Eliminators.
RAW is the most watchable professional wrestling program right now. Nitpicking aside, what's the problem?
Benoit is the World Heavyweight Champion right now. Regardless of what happened before and what will happen in the future, he (and his fans) will always have that.
Maybe it's just time to relax and enjoy the show instead of waiting for it to suck.
THE NHL'S FINAL FOUR: Western Conference Final: Calgary Flames lead San Jose Sharks 2-0 [Game 3: Thursday] Eastern Conference Final: Tampa Bay Lightning & Philadelphia Flyers are tied 1-1 [Game 3: Thursday]
Disappeared May 10, 2004. Got pushed way too soon and was badly exposed. His moveset, which should have been developed and refined at OVW and in months of tag matches, was still a work in progress and he was still blowing simple spots like a firemans carry by taking people over using their right arm and then obviously switching over to bar the left arm. In the end, TWGTT may go down as little more than a parody of ECW hyped teams like the Eliminators.
Frank
TWGTT isn't just a hyped team. They constantly put on 4 star tag matches. When they first came up they put on great matches w/ Benoit & Edge. Then continued w/ Los Guerreros, Eddie & Tajiri and Rey & Kidman. And Benjamin did have months, actually a few years of tag matches to work on his move set.
"Whats your name? Dick Army. Hahaha, whats your wives name, Vagina Coastguard?"
Originally posted by Boston Idol14) Shelton Benjamin
Disappeared May 10, 2004. Got pushed way too soon and was badly exposed. His moveset, which should have been developed and refined at OVW and in months of tag matches, was still a work in progress and he was still blowing simple spots like a firemans carry by taking people over using their right arm and then obviously switching over to bar the left arm. In the end, TWGTT may go down as little more than a parody of ECW hyped teams like the Eliminators.
Frank
Jeebus, Benjamin appears ONCE on Heat (mainly because they gave Chris Benoit about 5 segments at the Calgary Raw, so there's only so much time), and has a match with Triple H (arguably still the top star on Raw) that's used as a plot device for the next HBK-HHH PPV match, and people think he's getting buried. Do people not remember the pinfall victory over HHH? The countout victory over HHH? The PPV win over Flair? Those tag matches he got to main event with (and hang pretty well in) on Raw? All of a sudden, the guy's being buried and has "disappeared"? Excuse me?
Besides fans online getting all worked up over certain WWE stars bashing the internet (notice how only ones that happen to be heels do that), the "Shelton is getting buried" theme is probably my biggest pet peeve on the net right now.
> I was just wondering what was the > point of the Christian/Tatanka joke.
Back in 1994-95 after his big push to the title got cancelled, Lex Luger was saddled with a feud with Tatanka that lasted for more than six months. They fought at SummerSlam, they fought on opposite teams at Survivor Series, and they fought several times on TV shows. They finally ended their long feud with a cage match on Sunday Night Slam.
Luger won the feud, but lost all his heat in the process because fans didn't give a damn about Tatanka or the feud. Luger then formed the horrid "Allied Powers" tag team with Davey Boy Smith.
Seeing Jericho saddled with longtime midcarder Christian at Wrestlemania, then again the very next night, I was already thinking about Luger vs Tatanka. That they decided to blow off Jericho vs Christian with a cage match on free TV struck me as ironic and telling. The feud was designed to fail, it did, and Jericho has been weakened by it.
Frank
(I notice Trip doesn't get bogged down with midcard sidedrains like Christian.)
Originally posted by Boston IdolDave Gagnon posted:
> I was just wondering what was the > point of the Christian/Tatanka joke.
Back in 1994-95 after his big push to the title got cancelled, Lex Luger was saddled with a feud with Tatanka that lasted for more than six months. They fought at SummerSlam, they fought on opposite teams at Survivor Series, and they fought several times on TV shows. They finally ended their long feud with a cage match on Sunday Night Slam.
Luger won the feud, but lost all his heat in the process because fans didn't give a damn about Tatanka or the feud. Luger then formed the horrid "Allied Powers" tag team with Davey Boy Smith.
Seeing Jericho saddled with longtime midcarder Christian at Wrestlemania, then again the very next night, I was already thinking about Luger vs Tatanka. That they decided to blow off Jericho vs Christian with a cage match on free TV struck me as ironic and telling. The feud was designed to fail, it did, and Jericho has been weakened by it.
Frank
(I notice Trip doesn't get bogged down with midcard sidedrains like Christian.)
Why do you wrap your text like that? Is it on purpose?
“To get ass, you’ve got to bring ass." -- Roy Jones Jr.
"Your input has been noted. I hope you don't take it personally if I disregard it." -- Guru Zim
> Why do you wrap your text like that? > Is it on purpose?
I'll answer the second question first.
Yes.
I wrap my text to make it easier for other people to splice their comments into my text without having to wrap my text again to avoid strange breaks.
I've always thought making one omnibus response at the end of many paragraphs of quoted text was useless and lazy. Responding point by point creates the basis for a dialog and understanding.
Still pushed as the most important star on the show,
Ok...take the past two weeks as an example 5/3-Opening match, interfered in the main event to set up a match for a future pay per view... 5/10-Opening segment...and that's it. I didn't hear from him again...
I don't get the bitching anymore...first the complaints were that he is always involved with the World Title. Now he's not going to be involved in the World Title at least untill July or August and you're complaining?!
but he got a good rating in a decent match with Benoit and
Caught a break drawing a disappointing number against Shawn that looked a lot better a week later
Which is it? It's a good rating when you're slamming Shawn, but a dissapointing number when you're saying Benoit is going to be de-pushed soon...
Trip sees him as a great way to keep everyone else down, so he can continue to live his fantasy.
And you know this how?
Unfortunately he needs to be built up after getting caught in the quagmire with Christian for so long.
He went over in that cage match pretty strong if you ask me, fending off Christian, Tomko and Trish.
11) WWE Divas
They better hope Vince watches RAW instead of NBC's "The Restaurant", because the girl who got fired on Monday looked much better than all of them except Stacy and she would probably be willing to "play ball."
So you'd rather have shitty wrestling from no talent eye candy instead of the decent wrestling from eye candy that can actually work?
14) Shelton Benjamin
Disappeared May 10, 2004.
Please. Shelton is probably going into a Intercontinental Title Feud soon. That's hardly disappearing.
> 5/3-Opening match, interfered in the > main event to set up a match for a > future pay per view...
Was more important for interfering in the main event than anyone else on the show, especially the champ he supposedly saved because he didn't want to face Shawn.
Glass couldn't be more transparent.
> I don't get the bitching anymore...
Who was the star of the "draft lottery?"
Who saved Benoit from losing to Shawn?
I'm relieved that it isn't Trip 24/7, but clearly he is positioned above everyone, including his wife Shawn.
> Which is it? It's a good rating when you're > slamming Shawn, but a dissapointing number > when you're saying Benoit is going to be > de-pushed soon...
*bingo*
That's how it works in Titan Towers. Have no illusions of fairness there.
>> Trip sees him as a great way to >> keep everyone else down, so he >> can continue to live his fantasy.
> And you know this how?
Trip keeps going back to Shawn, like forcing Benjamin to disappear into thin air so he can feud with Shawn for the 4th or 5th time.
> He went over in that cage match > pretty strong if you ask me, > fending off Christian, Tomko and Trish.
The problem is that it took him numerous matches to win a feud with perennial midcarder Christian, if indeed the feud is finally over.
> So you'd rather have shitty > wrestling from no talent eye > candy instead of the decent > wrestling from eye candy that > can actually work?
Ask me again after the WWE divas reach the level of "decent wrestling", not to mention "eye candy." Most of them look like men in drag. Lita in particular looks like a young boy trying to make a few extra bucks.
> Please. Shelton is probably going > into a Intercontinental Title Feud > soon. That's hardly disappearing.
I keep reading that Benoit is going to put over Orton. Given that Orton and Benjamin drew boos at a house show, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for that feud, at least not this summer. More likely Benoit, Edge, or Jericho will be tabbed to try to carry Randy.
I have always given TNA the benefit of the doubt, and tried not to ever get too upset about what they do because in the end, it's just a wrestling show. But rehashing Montreal??