Official "Squared Circle" Thread

[LowerCaseRepublican]

I wouldn't mind a Ric Flair/Big Show match so much as if you know, it was on Raw.

 

I just don't know why Vince would bring back ECW and think that it is going to be popular if he's putting it in his image rather than what hardcore ECW fans want. Of course, now, with it being back, it has sparked interest, so people are watching, but it's not going to take long before it goes the way of The XFL unless something changes.

 

The Kelly Kelly thing is just dumb. Yeah, she is smoking hot, but in old ECW that girl would have been driven through a table by now or hit in the head with a kendo stick or whatever.

 

And why not bring in guys like Mike Awesome, Mikey Whipwreck, The Blue Meanie, Steve Corino or anyone else that could make that show worth watching. Those guys I'm sure need the money and the job.

 

As far the roster split, it was fine when the shows were somewhat balanced. But, you take Kurt Angle and Randy Orton away from Smackdown and replace with then with no one? How that show even draws ratings anymore is beyond me. And their PPV's? Who the hell wants to watch The Great American Bash? Get real.

 

If only I owned WWE.

Awesome is on a self-imposed retirement after blowing out his leg at ONS against Tanaka and not getting what he thought was a fair payoff for tearing down the house in that (and this is coming from a guy who thought that Awesome jumping to WCW made him a terrible wrestler to have around, talent aside) excellent match.

 

Whipreck was offered a part-time contract but I don't think he signed. The Meanie hasn't been contacted and Corino has said that ECW died in 2001 and that he wasn't interested (He's working for Zero-1 Max in Japan, Hustle in Japan and some other indy promotions) They had a lot of the core talent for ECW in 2001 but they treated them like total s*** and what came of it is a pretty big blowback since much of the upper-tier talent went elsewhere/refused to come back.

 

Orton is such a hack. He's got no mic skills, limited in ring talent (Well, I guess if using restholds were a qualifying factor for a ***** match then he'd be tops) and hasn't really hit his potential as a heel. Nobody wants to watch SmackDown or SmackDown's PPV's. I mean, the only reason Mysterio has the strap is because Eddy died and Batista went down with an injury.

 

Vince is so delusional with his hard-on for hosses. Watch WWECW is like watching a train wreck now -- you know it is going to be terrible but you can't look away.

 

And why doesn't Dreamer get a shot at the belt since they were building that feud between he and Show? Why aren't all the matches under 'extreme rules'?

 

The whole full time ECW roster is: RVD (suspended), Angle (suspended/health), Sabu, Little Guido, Tony Mamaluke, Big Guido, Roadkill, Doring, Al Snow, Balls Mahoney, Test, Justin Credible, Jazz, Mike Knox, Sandman, Stevie, Sandman and Dreamer. (and the bastion of sXe awesomeness that is...CM PUNK!)

 

They can keep adding Crazy, Psicosis et al. to the roster but it doesn't mean that they'll see camera time. The show is only one hour and Vince/Steph seem content on 10 minutes of Kelly's Expose (the only thing being exposed is that the segment f***ing sucks), a Knox squash match, Sabu match, Test squash, main event.

 

It's a sad state of affairs.

[whitesox91403]

Awesome is on a self-imposed retirement after blowing out his leg at ONS against Tanaka and not getting what he thought was a fair payoff for tearing down the house in that (and this is coming from a guy who thought that Awesome jumping to WCW made him a terrible wrestler to have around, talent aside) excellent match.

 

Whipreck was offered a part-time contract but I don't think he signed. The Meanie hasn't been contacted and Corino has said that ECW died in 2001 and that he wasn't interested (He's working for Zero-1 Max in Japan, Hustle in Japan and some other indy promotions) They had a lot of the core talent for ECW in 2001 but they treated them like total s*** and what came of it is a pretty big blowback since much of the upper-tier talent went elsewhere/refused to come back.

 

Orton is such a hack. He's got no mic skills, limited in ring talent (Well, I guess if using restholds were a qualifying factor for a ***** match then he'd be tops) and hasn't really hit his potential as a heel. Nobody wants to watch SmackDown or SmackDown's PPV's. I mean, the only reason Mysterio has the strap is because Eddy died and Batista went down with an injury.

 

Vince is so delusional with his hard-on for hosses. Watch WWECW is like watching a train wreck now -- you know it is going to be terrible but you can't look away.

 

And why doesn't Dreamer get a shot at the belt since they were building that feud between he and Show? Why aren't all the matches under 'extreme rules'?

 

The whole full time ECW roster is: RVD (suspended), Angle (suspended/health), Sabu, Little Guido, Tony Mamaluke, Big Guido, Roadkill, Doring, Al Snow, Balls Mahoney, Test, Justin Credible, Jazz, Mike Knox, Sandman, Stevie, Sandman and Dreamer. (and the bastion of sXe awesomeness that is...CM PUNK!)

 

They can keep adding Crazy, Psicosis et al. to the roster but it doesn't mean that they'll see camera time. The show is only one hour and Vince/Steph seem content on 10 minutes of Kelly's Expose (the only thing being exposed is that the segment f***ing sucks), a Knox squash match, Sabu match, Test squash, main event.

 

It's a sad state of affairs.

 

 

When you are right, you are right.

 

I have never seen CM Punk wrestle. I have only read about him and have been waiting to see him now for a while. Is it true he was held back because of his relationship with Maria?

 

Don't forget about the pointless Sandman caning a lose segment either.

[LowerCaseRepublican]

When you are right, you are right.

 

I have never seen CM Punk wrestle. I have only read about him and have been waiting to see him now for a while. Is it true he was held back because of his relationship with Maria?

 

Don't forget about the pointless Sandman caning a lose segment either.

Supposedly Punk was held back because some of the higher ups (it has been said it was Steph, HHH and HBK) didn't like his style of wrestling and the whole backstage political situation -- he wasn't a hoss, wrestled 'too indy' and had a lot of tats. He wasn't considered 'sports entertainment' material.

 

CM Punk's tryout match against Val Venis (not his best work)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZ16lett0N8&search=cm%20punk

 

ROH has a Best of CM Punk DVD with a lot of matches from there. You should be able to find some of his indy work online at youtube, google video etc.

 

And yes, can't forget the Sandman caning a Baldie in an alternate gimmick segment.

[The Critic]

Last night's Raw = another VERY strong Mick Foley promo (if he's not the best promo in the business, I don't know who is) and besides him, a giant steaming pile.

Honestly, I don't know why I watch any more. And I hardly watch as it is. I was flipping between the HR Derby, Raw and that Real World/Road Rules thing on MTV. (that girl Diem is quality)

I was lucky to catch a glipse of Foley before I flipped away from Raw, because Ric Flair doesn't stop my remote anymore either. He is what Foley said he is, a used-up hack.

[Gregory Pratt]

Suck dick, McMahon.

 

Big Show versus Rick Flair for the ECW Title?

Wow.

 

(Edit: fixed from "WWE" to "ECW.")

Edited July 11, 2006 by Gregory Pratt

[Milkman delivers]

Smackdown has some great wrestlers, WWE just doesn't know how to use them.

 

Despite his age Finlay's put together better matches than anything on Raw all year.

For the record, tonights Raw might be the worst I've EVER seen.

 

Finlay's actually one of my favorite wrestlers these days.

[Gregory Pratt]

Last night's Raw = another VERY strong Mick Foley promo (if he's not the best promo in the business, I don't know who is) and besides him, a giant steaming pile.

Honestly, I don't know why I watch any more. And I hardly watch as it is. I was flipping between the HR Derby, Raw and that Real World/Road Rules thing on MTV. (that girl Diem is quality)

I was lucky to catch a glipse of Foley before I flipped away from Raw, because Ric Flair doesn't stop my remote anymore either. He is what Foley said he is, a used-up hack.

 

What'd Foley talk about -- and who is he feuding with?

[The Critic]

What'd Foley talk about -- and who is he feuding with?

I can't describe his promo HALF as well as it came off. He's so good.

He's still sort of feuding with Ric Flair, and he mostly talked about how Flair had a ghost writer for his book and Foley wrote his books by hand, and then he called Flair a "used-up hack" and mentioned how when Foley's ear got torn off, Flair was basically in charge of the booking. When they brought Foley's ear backstage, Flair went out to see what happened and Foley was still out there wrestling. Foley was insulted by Flair saying that Foley "took the easy way out" by doing hardcore matches, so Foley described all the sacrifices he's made over the years to show that he never took any easy way out.

He finished up by saying that when he saw Flair bleeding all over the ring during their last match, and saw Flair's family crying, the space in Foley's mind that Flair used to occupy suddenly was cleared out. He's not giving Flair a rematch because "you don't matter to me anymore".

It really was so much better than a synopsis can convey - Foley gets angry at just the right moments in his promos, and he makes you believe what he's saying.

[MHizzle85]

I can't describe his promo HALF as well as it came off. He's so good.

He's still sort of feuding with Ric Flair, and he mostly talked about how Flair had a ghost writer for his book and Foley wrote his books by hand, and then he called Flair a "used-up hack" and mentioned how when Foley's ear got torn off, Flair was basically in charge of the booking. When they brought Foley's ear backstage, Flair went out to see what happened and Foley was still out there wrestling. Foley was insulted by Flair saying that Foley "took the easy way out" by doing hardcore matches, so Foley described all the sacrifices he's made over the years to show that he never took any easy way out.

He finished up by saying that when he saw Flair bleeding all over the ring during their last match, and saw Flair's family crying, the space in Foley's mind that Flair used to occupy suddenly was cleared out. He's not giving Flair a rematch because "you don't matter to me anymore".

It really was so much better than a synopsis can convey - Foley gets angry at just the right moments in his promos, and he makes you believe what he's saying.

 

Last night's promo was a little too good...makes ya think it wasn't all acting

[Gregory Pratt]

I can't describe his promo HALF as well as it came off. He's so good.

He's still sort of feuding with Ric Flair, and he mostly talked about how Flair had a ghost writer for his book and Foley wrote his books by hand, and then he called Flair a "used-up hack" and mentioned how when Foley's ear got torn off, Flair was basically in charge of the booking. When they brought Foley's ear backstage, Flair went out to see what happened and Foley was still out there wrestling. Foley was insulted by Flair saying that Foley "took the easy way out" by doing hardcore matches, so Foley described all the sacrifices he's made over the years to show that he never took any easy way out.

He finished up by saying that when he saw Flair bleeding all over the ring during their last match, and saw Flair's family crying, the space in Foley's mind that Flair used to occupy suddenly was cleared out. He's not giving Flair a rematch because "you don't matter to me anymore".

It really was so much better than a synopsis can convey - Foley gets angry at just the right moments in his promos, and he makes you believe what he's saying.

 

Mmm hmm.

I love Mick.

[LowerCaseRepublican]

I can't describe his promo HALF as well as it came off. He's so good.

He's still sort of feuding with Ric Flair, and he mostly talked about how Flair had a ghost writer for his book and Foley wrote his books by hand, and then he called Flair a "used-up hack" and mentioned how when Foley's ear got torn off, Flair was basically in charge of the booking. When they brought Foley's ear backstage, Flair went out to see what happened and Foley was still out there wrestling. Foley was insulted by Flair saying that Foley "took the easy way out" by doing hardcore matches, so Foley described all the sacrifices he's made over the years to show that he never took any easy way out.

He finished up by saying that when he saw Flair bleeding all over the ring during their last match, and saw Flair's family crying, the space in Foley's mind that Flair used to occupy suddenly was cleared out. He's not giving Flair a rematch because "you don't matter to me anymore".

It really was so much better than a synopsis can convey - Foley gets angry at just the right moments in his promos, and he makes you believe what he's saying.

Foley cuts promos that make me quiver with anticipation. He's so damn good at it. If only we could diffuse his charisma to the hosses Vince is shoving down our throats. Outside of the Foley promo, Raw was pretty bad. 4-5 backstage segments of Edge and Lita in a hotel? And who didn't know that Cena would show up and lay him out. It was a lot funnier when Stone Cold did it to McMahon at the hospital. Viscera and Haas in the match nobody cares about Part 2798374824734834? Vince and Shane beating up washed up never-weres and poor bastards that are actually talented but stuck with terrible gimmicks. DX outsmarts the McMahons and the Spirit Squad again? Oh those rambunctious rebellious forty year old family men! Nothing says 'degenerate' like having to run away from scenes that may offend their religious values.

 

But what really irked me was the total and complete destruction of any heat/push/power/momentum that Shelton Benjamin was getting by having him job to SuperCena cleanly. Not to mention Nitro and Melina -- damn Melina gives King Kong a run for his monkey.

 

Do you have any hope that a Dreamer/Foley run-in is going to be in the cards tonight on WWECW for the main event? I'm trying to hope for competent booking and solid material -- but I know that WWE won't go that way by a long shot.

 

/Mabel is the true King of Kings!

//supports Viscera going back to Mabel, joining Nitro and Melina for the reformation of MNM

[The Critic]

Last night's promo was a little too good...makes ya think it wasn't all acting

When it comes to Ric Flair, Foley definitely wasn't 100% acting.

But it's not unusual at all to use real-life personal hard feelings to further a storyline.

Makes for pretty good television when done right, though, and Foley does it damn well.

[Gregory Pratt]

Do you have any hope that a Dreamer/Foley run-in is going to be in the cards tonight on WWECW for the main event? I'm trying to hope for competent booking and solid material -- but I know that WWE won't go that way by a long shot.

 

Don't hope for anything on WWECW.

 

I wanted this so bad a few years ago.

Now I wish it had never been reborn.

 

Can someone explain to me how the f*** a Rick Flair v. Big Show match came about?

 

This is horses***.

[Brian]

Did I just read that Sabu got DQ'ed tonight for putting Justin Credible through a table? Oy ve.

 

I'm not as down on the product as most people here. It is going to take time. I like that they are bringing in CM Punk and hope it soon makes a clean break from the other brands. They will need good young talent for the under card to make it a success, like TNA.

I could easily see it tanking even more and Heyman pleading for full control and recieving it.

[LowerCaseRepublican]

Did I just read that Sabu got DQ'ed tonight for putting Justin Credible through a table? Oy ve.

 

I'm not as down on the product as most people here. It is going to take time. I like that they are bringing in CM Punk and hope it soon makes a clean break from the other brands. They will need good young talent for the under card to make it a success, like TNA.

I could easily see it tanking even more and Heyman pleading for full control and recieving it.

Yes, Sabu got DQ'ed because it wasn't 'extreme rules'. It was lame.

 

Although the main event did make up for the suck factor of the rest of the show -- with Flair pulling out a barbed wire bat, trash can, chair and thumbtacks (and both Show and Flair taking bumps in the tacks)

 

Heyman's an excellent storyteller and booker, just terrible with finances. Let Vince/Steph worry about the money and let him take the book to make some interesting TV -- cuz it can't be much worse than what we've had now.

[whitesox91403]

The main event tonight was awesome. I didn't think those 2 could pull it off, but they did.

[T R U]

Funny thing is we are all on here complaining about it yet we are still watching

[The Critic]

Funny thing is we are all on here complaining about it yet we are still watching

I haven't watched an episode of WWECW SmackRaw yet. I saw the first episode on tape and that was enough for me.

I basically watch Raw out of habit, and I'm doing more channel-flipping than ever.

I don't watch SmackDown anymore, either.

I'll probably tape Saturday Night's Main Event to see how watered down it gets for NBC to air it.

[LowerCaseRepublican]

Critic, you're going to laugh hysterically at this...I couldn't make this up if I tried.

 

WWE creative criticized Mick Foley for his promo and told him that it was 'too intense' among other things.

 

On the ECW front...

- Vince is putting in a lot of work for ECW. He's been working on ECW more than just about anything else lately.

 

-The EC F'N W shirt, the most popular seller in ECW history is likely to be taken off WWE ShopZone etc. because it isn't "advertiser friendly. Cuz everybody knows ECW totally gave a damn about advertisers.

 

Bold portion for my emphasis -- seems backstage everybody knows Kelly sucks but...

- Everyone backstage notices that Kelly Kelly is horrible and has no natural talent at all in terms of looking sexy, dancing and everything else. That is, no natural talent for doing her job. Many people commented, saying that this was especially obvious in her segment with Candice, and that she looked like a "little girl" trying to do a "big girl" thing. Having the two together opened a lot of eyes to the fact that she just doesn't belong on TV at all, since Candice looked like a pro. in comparison. Despite all this, Kelly will still be pushed nonetheless.

 

- Joey Styles is back in Vince's "dog house." After the show last night, Vince had a long talk with Joey, telling him that he's once again not happy with how he's calling the shows. After the meeting, Joey was in a very down mood and one person described it as, "he looked like his dog died," and that's how down he was. Vince just doesn't like Joey's style of calling matches, in that Joey tries to call it like an athletic contest. Vince, as we all know, wants him to call the match by "telling stories."

[The Critic]

I just obtained a transcript of the actual meeting between Vince McMahon (on behalf of WWE creative.....if there is such a thing anymore) and Mick Foley. Well, I'd actually call it a lecture, since Mick doesn't get a word in - well, here, see for yourself:

 

"Listen, uhhh, Mick......you know and I know that we here in the WWE strive to be 'cutting edge' and all, but......that promo you did last Monday.......well, quite frankly, it crossed over the line. I mean, it's one thing to allow a skit, as I did on July 4th, where Triple H and Candace pretend to be serviced orally behind a picnic table, even though we can CLEARLY see that their pants are still on.....but your promo was UNACCEPTABLE, and I'll tell you why. If we allow you to deliver emotional, intense, realistic, believable promos, then, well, we may eventually have to expect that of everyone, and we both see why we can't have THAT, right, Mick? I mean, can you imagine Shelton Benjamin, Charlie Haas, or any member of the Spirit Squad delivering a promo that good??? Of course not! Can you see where a decent segment would break up the dull, lifeless, interchangable feel of the show? C'mon, Mick....be a TEAM PLAYER.....dumb those promos down, okay?.....keep the expectations NICE AND LOW where we like them.....oh, and Mick?......have a nice day....."

 

Oh, and I can absolutely believe every single bit of news you posted, LCR - Vince is clearly trying to kill ECW, and it's working better and more quickly than even he could have imagined.

[MHizzle85]

Just thought i'd reopen the thread to see if anyone wanted to discuss tonight's raw...again not a great show, but another good Foley Promo...any adds?

[LowerCaseRepublican]

Just thought i'd reopen the thread to see if anyone wanted to discuss tonight's raw...again not a great show, but another good Foley Promo...any adds?

I'm getting to really not care about DX. All they're doing is burying the Spirit Squad as a bunch of talentless jobbers. They never get bested by Vince McMahon and hence I can't really get too involved with the feud and don't want to watch the matches because I know the outcome.

 

Foley's promo this week was not nearly as good as his one that he hit last week, so it wasn't really a high spot for me. Add in the SuperCena nearly overcoming Umaga (funny how he can break a '2x4' over his head and not be affected yet moves from Cena nearly knock him out), Striker, Edge, Lita, Estrada and a going through a prop chalkboard and this show was clearly some bad booking. Granted I marked out that Cena did the job but Umaga came off looking really really really weak as a result. They built him up as this monster heel and he needs all of that above mentioned stuff to beat Cena?

 

If they're going to push anybody, push the former school teacher and our teacher, Matt Striker. Unlike that terrible excuse for an IC champ Johnny -- oh wait, here comes Melina doing the splits taking away all his heat --, Striker can get his own heel heat. Granted, I liked the gimmick better when it was the Genius or Dean Douglas, but Striker can make it work by being an actual former school teacher. C'mon who wouldn't want a rousing chant of "Let's read books!" to get some boos.

 

The Highlanders were one of the bright spots. Everything that is retro is in again from DX to the old wildman gimmick to a new Dean Douglas...and that means we must have a new re-hash of the Bushwhackers. That and the Carlito/Benjamin match were the few watchable segments (outside of Cena getting the "three second tan" despite being made out to be damn near superhuman)

 

Overall though, it was a pretty lackluster show with some pretty bad booking.

 

[MHizzle85]

The Highlanders were one of the bright spots.

 

I absolutely hate this tag team...one because they seem to be a 2006 bushwhackers...two because no matter what they're gonna get a push to feud with the spirit squad for the straps, and they'll win em, have em for a few months and then lose em/break up/go away never to be heard from again

 

I actually expected the Umaga/Cena match to be a lil more entertaining then it was...but once i saw Edge come out i knew how it was going down...but it was good to see Umaga actually facing someone other than Random Jobber #65

 

Other than that the divasearch and watching Melina do the splits and the lovely Candice of course were my brightspots of the night

 

Tommorow i'm somewhat looking forward to see 'Taker/Show....why can't Show defend the title against any ECW guys...but he can defend it against 2 WWE guys...*sighs*...let's hope the show is decent tommorow night, because no matter how much i say i'm not gonna watch...i always do. :banghead

 

p.s. please tell me that Viscera/Haas/Lillian triangle will end immediately

Edited July 18, 2006 by MHizzle85

[AssHatSoxFan]

I absolutely hate this tag team...one because they seem to be a 2006 bushwhackers...two because no matter what they're gonna get a push to feud with the spirit squad for the straps, and they'll win em, have em for a few months and then lose em/break up/go away never to be heard from again

 

I actually expected the Umaga/Cena match to be a lil more entertaining then it was...but once i saw Edge come out i knew how it was going down...but it was good to see Umaga actually facing someone other than Random Jobber #65

 

Other than that the divasearch and watching Melina do the splits and the lovely Candice of course were my brightspots of the night

 

Tommorow i'm somewhat looking forward to see 'Taker/Show....why can't Show defend the title against any ECW guys...but he can defend it against 2 WWE guys...*sighs*...let's hope the show is decent tommorow night, because no matter how much i say i'm not gonna watch...i always do. :banghead

 

p.s. please tell me that Viscera/Haas/Lillian triangle will end immediately

you didnt enjoy last week when viscera was doing his hip thrusts to try and attract jillian??? :puke

[The Critic]

I completely forgot Raw was on last night.

I actually watched that MTV "Fresh Meat" show with my wife instead.

After reading the online recap, I don't feel like I missed a damn thing.

Except maybe Carlito - I really like him.