Originally posted by Matt TrackerKing BookAH: appreciated above all others
Except by the commentary team. Every time Good Ol' JR says "Booker T," I like to immediately say "KING Booker" but Kim's going to start throwing things at me pretty soon because it happens ALL THE TIME.
The problem I've always had with Beat the Clock is nobody's ever been smart enough to engineer a quick DQ win for themselves by having one of their cohorts saunter down to ringside and pop them in the mouth (for instance). I think Russo booked this ONCE in WCW. At least this week we did have two other things we should have always had - (1) guy asks his opponent to lay down for him and (2) guy promises first title shot in exchange for a li'l help. It would have been better if the same competitor had done BOTH of those, but then we might have missed Shelton Benjamin kissing the ring, and between the look on HIS face and the look on King Booker's face, that was some priceless television.
Is this more of a Sandman push, or a Carlito (Caribbean) cooling off?
Originally posted by Matt TrackerKing BookAH: appreciated above all others
Except by the commentary team. Every time Good Ol' JR says "Booker T," I like to immediately say "KING Booker" but Kim's going to start throwing things at me pretty soon because it happens ALL THE TIME.
There are RAWs where I switch to the Spanish audio because JR and Lawler destroy the angles/matches/purity of a divine Creation. Cena matches, in particular, work well this way. Lawler can easily fix his character if he just lowered his screech and calmed down. JR, well, the man lives by his cliches of "quite frankly, in my estimation, by God, scalded mules."
"To be the man, you gotta beat demands." -- The Lovely Mrs. Tracker
Originally posted by Matt TrackerKing BookAH: appreciated above all others
Except by the commentary team. Every time Good Ol' JR says "Booker T," I like to immediately say "KING Booker" but Kim's going to start throwing things at me pretty soon because it happens ALL THE TIME.
The problem I've always had with Beat the Clock is nobody's ever been smart enough to engineer a quick DQ win for themselves by having one of their cohorts saunter down to ringside and pop them in the mouth (for instance). I think Russo booked this ONCE in WCW. At least this week we did have two other things we should have always had - (1) guy asks his opponent to lay down for him and (2) guy promises first title shot in exchange for a li'l help. It would have been better if the same competitor had done BOTH of those, but then we might have missed Shelton Benjamin kissing the ring, and between the look on HIS face and the look on King Booker's face, that was some priceless television.
Is this more of a Sandman push, or a Carlito (Caribbean) cooling off?
I know King corrected JR once, but that would have been more effective if King hadn't made the same exact mistake thirty seconds later.
Am I remembering wrong, but in one of the past Beat the Clock matches was there a stip that if the opponent won, the opponent would replace you in the competition? Or was that a prelude to one of the five-man or six-man championship bouts, where each man involved had a match the week before and had to win to stay in the match? I was just curious if they changed the rules this time around to allow for the Super Crazy/Mr. Kennedy match.
And as an aside ... would it work, do you think, to have a series of "Beat the Clock" matches to see who gets #30 in the Royal Rumble come January?
RAW was mildly decent. I agree with everyone who thinks they are rushing Cena/Lashley (It IS one of their few remaining money matches), but it was great to see Val Venis on and doing well. I hope he gets a push, but I doubt it.
Originally posted by HokienauticAm I remembering wrong, but in one of the past Beat the Clock matches was there a stip that if the opponent won, the opponent would replace you in the competition? Or was that a prelude to one of the five-man or six-man championship bouts, where each man involved had a match the week before and had to win to stay in the match? I was just curious if they changed the rules this time around to allow for the Super Crazy/Mr. Kennedy match.
The first time they did Beat the Clock was for the second elimination chamber (the first New Years Revolution). Notable for a) Batista squashing the hell out of Rhyno (giving him a couple of powerbombs, saying got plenty of time in between), and b) HHH finally getting a win over Shelton. And yeah, for that one it was beat the guy, you get to replace him, which is what made the Shelton match fairly interesting.
I would have liked it if they had mentioned Kennedys prior Beat the Clock victory, to set up his challenge of Batista at the Rumble.
The strategies shown were pretty ineffective. I was hoping that when Hardy was doing dives at Orton that Orton was going to end up DDTing him on the ramp and sneaking in for the early countout win. (However, that Twist of Fate reversal was pretty sweet).
It was cracking me up when JR was talking about how the RKO can come out of nowhere and is so effective, and then says that the ToF is also out of nowhere and equally effective. That was great because a) no, its not effective; Jeff hardly ever wins with it; and b) it SHOULD be as effective, because theyre both diamond cutters.
Originally posted by Psycho PenguinRAW was mildly decent. I agree with everyone who thinks they are rushing Cena/Lashley (It IS one of their few remaining money matches), but it was great to see Val Venis on and doing well. I hope he gets a push, but I doubt it.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the last real Venus push when he was Commissioner Regal's right hand man, Sean Morley? If so this is a great piece of accidental continuity by the WWE having Regal go to 'his boys' in a somewhat big situation. That's very Bill Parcells of him.
I'm remembering that "Chief" Morley was the right hand man for Raw GM Eric Bischoff, and he sort of got squashed out of the position in a 3-on-1 handicap match right around the time Bisch was under the gun to shake up Raw by signing the return of Stone Cold?
The one where the clock kept ticking, and Bischoff ended up in a bar in Bandura, Texas??
I'm guessing that Great American Bash will end in a non-finish, and they will at least stretch Cena/Lashley to SummerSlam.
I was thinking that beyond the business standpoint, for P.R. sake - is this really the point in time that Vince wants to make muscle men Cena/Lashley the focus of his flagship show? (And HHH on deck, apparently)
Youre right! A better decision would have been a HUGE CM Punk monster push right now and to really go with that Straight Edge thing! THAT would have been a statement!
But of course .... Punk is a) not a homegrown talent and b) way too skinny (in Vinces mind)!
I went to this show, my first ever Raw....and was hoping I'd get to see Kennedy once, and he ended up getting four segments. Not too shabby.
Booker, Kennedy, Cena, Lashley, with the returning HHH is going to be a nice 5 that they can fill nearly the whole show with every week.
The only moment I thought Marella might have a shot was when he talked to Maria, after he came out, it was all over for him. Other than his kicks to Umaga's legs, I don't remember him getting any kind of offense in...and what happened to Estrada? Did he get injured?
When they played the second HHH video...everyone in Dallas thought he was about to come out, eyes were glued to the entrance just waiting for him to come out, was a little bit of a let down when he didn't come through the curtain.
Good show, fun show, and a good way to end a night full of wrestling.
Co-Winner of the 2006 Time Magazine Person of the Year Award
Could Marella's utter demolition be a petty "fuck you" to the Italian nation after WWE lost their TV deal there last week?
To those who say people wouldn't look; they wouldn't be interested; they're too complacent, indifferent and insulated, I can only reply: There is, in one reporter's opinion, considerable evidence against that contention. But even if they are right, what have they got to lose? Because if they are right, and this instrument is good for nothing but to entertain, amuse and insulate, then the tube is flickering now and we will soon see that the whole struggle is lost. This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires, and lights, in a box.-Edward R. Murrow
Originally posted by Psycho PenguinRAW was mildly decent. I agree with everyone who thinks they are rushing Cena/Lashley (It IS one of their few remaining money matches), but it was great to see Val Venis on and doing well. I hope he gets a push, but I doubt it.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the last real Venus push when he was Commissioner Regal's right hand man, Sean Morley? If so this is a great piece of accidental continuity by the WWE having Regal go to 'his boys' in a somewhat big situation. That's very Bill Parcells of him.
I think he teamed with Regal, and was the right hand man for Eric Bischoff.
Originally posted by Psycho PenguinRAW was mildly decent. I agree with everyone who thinks they are rushing Cena/Lashley (It IS one of their few remaining money matches), but it was great to see Val Venis on and doing well. I hope he gets a push, but I doubt it.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the last real Venus push when he was Commissioner Regal's right hand man, Sean Morley? If so this is a great piece of accidental continuity by the WWE having Regal go to 'his boys' in a somewhat big situation. That's very Bill Parcells of him.
I think he teamed with Regal, and was the right hand man for Eric Bischoff.
Morley was Bischoff`s "Chief Of Staff", and later on he became co-tag champ with Lance Storm because Regal was ill. There.