I think so. I'm amazed they gave it away after just the second week.
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I think so. I'm amazed they gave it away after just the second week.
This was a much better show, and I hope after Vengeance is over, we can get ECW to be it's own brand, and not just an extension of RAW.
A lot of ECW shows went on sale last week, and some more go on sale this week. Did anyone get tickets?
Not a big suprise ECW was good. Now that the product is leaving cross-over hell with One Night Stand and vengeance the show will be looking more focused.
One of my friends went to the show and told me that the guy that broke up Kelly's performance was from Depp SOuth wrestling. He didn't catch the name but I'll post more info about him as soon as i find out.
I'm a huge wrestling fan and over at the scifi.com official forum for ECW I am known as ExtremeMadness. So far I really don't like this new ECW... feels too much like a water down WWE (smackdown anyone?) I want the real ECW..... otherwise I may very well stop watching this crap pretty fast.
Smackdown isn't watered down, it's the best wrestling show going. I think the DSW guy is Tony Knox (or something that).
Everyone has their own tastes - and to me Smackdown and ECW right now are on Par with each other (watered down) with Raw being the #1 wrestling show on TV - this is including TNA as perhaps #2.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeremy
How can Raw be the number one WRESTLING show when it had about 15 minutes of wrestling on it? Raw is a very entertaining show, but as a wrestling show, it fell off a cliff long ago. Anyways, here are some Figure 4 Weekly newsletter notes care of www.f4wonline.comQuote:
Many of the ECW guys have privately stated that they’re miserable, and others are having flashbacks to the WCW Invasion and the Alliance. The reality of what this version of ECW is has started to dawn on them.
Heyman was not pleased with the first show. Tommy Dreamer hated it.
Macho Libre was the artist formerly known as Tony DeVito.
Stacy Keibler, whose WWE deal expires next month, is said to be working on a sitcom for ABC.
My dream has come true. Vito is wearing his dress through airports and such to stay in character.
They’ve already finished filming season IV of Hogan Knows Best.
Batista made an unannounced return to the ring on June 17th in Portland, ME. He’s been out of action since mid-January with I believe his third torn triceps. He’s down quite a bit in weight, which should come as no surprise to anyone. It was Batista & Rey vs. Mark Henry & Booker T. Batista stood on the apron most of the match and then made the hot tag. He hit the spinebuster on Henry and didn’t kill himself, then Rey hit a frog splash off the top for the pin.
Sandman in a chat on his website said he didn’t know ECW was coming back until Tommy Dreamer called him in April. He claimed the Zombie was originally supposed to be a Martian, then an Indian Chief. That’s probably true. I do know that there was a plan to use an alien, but Sci-Fi wasn’t down with an alien being beaten up on their network. That story has to be true because it’s too ridiculous to be made up. He said he’d talked to Raven and Raven had no interest in coming to ECW. Not sure if WWE made an offer to him, but I know they made offers to both Rhino (there was strong interest in him, in fact) and Spike Dudley, and both turned down the offers (and did angles turning down the offers at TNA house shows).
Sandman also told Ringsidemayhem.com that he’d signed a one-year deal (everyone did), and that the other guys he’d like to see come in were Raven (no chance), Rhino (no chance), the Dudleys (no chance) and Bam Bam Bigelow (I’d be surprised). He said he’d like to see ECW raid Rey Misterio. Have I said “no chance” recently? I guess to be fair, there is a chance of that happening, but it’s very slim. In this interview, he said the first choice before deciding on The Zombie was an alien, and the second choice was a cook of some sort to spoof The Food Network (~!). He said he was fine right now with his position on the roster. That’s nice. From what I can gather, his position on the roster consists of him caning Zombies. He put over Kurt Angle super strong (in both interviews, in fact), saying he could never thank him enough for all the help he’d given him.
The ECW website is so weird. As of last week there was no mention whatsoever of who the ECW Champion was. The roster page originally listed all the guys as “wrestlers”. The idea is that “wrestlers” is a banned term in WWE, and since Joey Styles made mention of that in his promo, they couldn’t be called ECW superstars. This lasted less than a week as the guys are now listed as — get ready — “ECW REBELS”. There is nothing more rebellious than being labeled a rebel. Also, as of Tuesday morning, none of the links on the ECW Rebels page actually worked.
The Vampire on ECW was Kevin Fertig, the artist formerly known as Mordecai. He’s been re-signed. He was a big favorite of Heyman in OVW before he was released due to out-of-the-ring issues.
Mikey Batts was released. He’d been under developmental. Didn’t hear a reason, which makes me think there must be a reason. We’ll try to find out for next week.
I have to side with Jeremy. That show has the most consistent quality of any wrestling show on T.V.
Raw has interesting stories right now but short matches of medicore quality. Impact has some of the worst booking I have ever seen on T.V and ECW is to young to really consider at this point.
SD has at least 2 quality matches a week(something not even Impact can gurantee) multiple stories, an actual mid-card that doesn't suck.(Bobby Lashley, The U.S champ has been main eventing SD the past few weeks. What the hell is Shelton doing.) A depth of workers that could put on a quality match at any tim and their not even at there strongest. SD right now is just the best.
Yup, and that's with a massively depleted roster. WWE loads up Raw, and for what? The match quality for the shows isn't getting better, and they're still just building to one match on a PPV, essentially making it pointless to even bring guys over in the first place. For the second year in a row, they've sacrificed quality programming to get Vengeance over as a must-buy. They found the time to have 900 DX skits on Raw, but Flair-Foley, featuring two of the all-time great promo men, had ONE exchange to build their two out of three falls match. It's ridiculous, and this year, they sacrificed a fucking company relaunch's show to get over the PPV.
ECW was better this week, but Macho Libre was fucking retarded (but not as bad as The Zombie). Is that what they're going to do with Sandman each week, have him beat down some loser with a joke gimmick?
BTW, without his Metallica theme, Sandman is nothing.
Even though the show was improved this week, this new ECW still has Vince's fingerprints all over it. It just feel like WWE-lite. Fuck, the main event had three RAW wrestlers in it.
Wow, John Cena's so bad ass. He stood up to the entire ECW locker room. And the crowd POPPED for him! Can anyone tell me what's wrong with that?
Like several others have already said, I also like the dimming of the lights to make the venue look smaller. I've also noticed that they use a lower-res camera to make the show look cheap and low-budget.
Why tease a girl getting naked when we know she's not (though she DID show a lot, yum). Still, if you're going to have a guy come out and ruin it, why not have Tommy Dreamer come out and pile drive her like in the olden days?
Hmm, RVD got the clean pin on Edge. In WWE logic, that could mean he's losing the title at the PPV...
Oh, no?Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeremy
http://www.thewrestlingfanatic.com/i...w_feb_1998.jpg
Yeah, gee, she likes to take her clothes off. That's deep.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeremy
IBTNQuote:
Originally Posted by omfgninjas in iraq
Thats my problem with the audiance.
I liked the dimming lights like everyone else, but the crowd is like 1/3 ECW ... the rest WWE fanboys/girls. If they restricted the audiance age to noone under 18. Put it on later so the PRO-Cena fans have to be in bed. THEN you would get a real ECW, in a big venue. Other than that we will have to deal with Pro-Cena cheers till (hopefully) after Vengance.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dolemite
If ECW gives them enough money to do it I could probably see them taping at smaller venues LIKE the Hammerstein Ballroom. How many times did Sandman hit Macho Libre with the cane?
I just watched Slammiversary.
The tag match was off the charts incredible-awesome. Aj Styles is the best wrestler alive.
The Joe/Steiner match was really awesome too.
The Nash match was disappointing, but I guess it's building to something down the line.
And the finish to the PPV sucked. :(
He was nowhere to be seen at the Impact tapings. Maybe he did some video promos, but I'm hoping he just ditched after he got his win because that's far more interesting and awesome.Quote:
Originally Posted by Korly
Maybe Nash wants to ditch TNA and rejoin HHH/HBK?
I mean, they did practically the same promo on each of their shows... we all know they are friends. They need to stop beating around the bush.
Well I just stumbled onto something I haven't seen for awhile.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08Bry...ted&search=wwf
OW.
Anyone know how bad that guy was fucked up?
Good lord that's nasty.
Trips should do every Pedigree like that. Looks brutal.
I don't think he was injured... probably just stung for a bit.
Rock is injured -Quote:
Dwayne Johnson suffered a torn achilles tendon during a football practice yesterday and will be undergoing surgery on Friday in Miami.
Johnson, who has been stationed in Boston of late, was preparing for his role playing an NFL All-Pro quarterback in the movie "Game Plan," which was scheduled to start filming on Monday.
The movie shooting has been postponed. No new date will be set until after surgery, when consulting with doctors about his recovery time.
I'm sure the Rock followed that injury up with a 'Feels like old times'.
ECW was much better, but still mediocre.
I joined the fantasy league -- E-Town Drunks.
BTW they scored Sandman completely opposite of how they did last week.
2 shows down, 2 to go:
Rank Team Score Average
1 genericname.com 1169
2 Team Korly 1135
3 TRiPLE BREAK INC. 1014
4 Chucker Would! 973
5 Thompson's Teeth 972
6 Team CEO Advocate 846
7 team avatar 799
8 'Roid Rage 737
9 Team Kennedy! 565
10 blaze fire 435
11 E-Town Drunks 351
I suck :(
A breakdown of who own's what team would be helpful for me.
1. LoneDreamer - MeredithQuote:
Originally Posted by Korly
2. Korly
3. Ashen Victor
4. Me
5. Andrew
6. Avatar
8. Dunno
9. Doesn't post on TNL
10. Doesn't post on TNL but was Korly, Josh, and my own manager at Funcoland Freddy Blaze 2000 Graphics is Tight they'll think you got money.
11. PBmax.
Now that I've started to watch wrestling again I'd like to give the fantasy leage a shot. I've tried fantasy pretty much everything but wrestling so far.
Where do I sign up?
Guess people decided to give ECW a second chance, despite last week's ultra-gay debut.Quote:
Originally Posted by pwtorch
Actually Chux ... Team Advocate is ME. Avatar is behind me. The one below Team Avatar is Korly's friend, Jessica.Quote:
Originally Posted by Chux
Looks like not even a one week head start is going to keep me from beating you again this round Chux.
Was it right around then? I thought it was later than that, but it makes sense. WrestleCrap has an article on that match though.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeremy
All this talk of ECW and no one noticed Randy Orton was injured during the main event? He was holding his right arm throughout most of the match. Word is that it was only a dislocated shoulder though, so they popped it back in and he'll be fine for the PPV on Sunday.
I noticed that. Randy gets hurt a lot.
He's fragile. Emotionally and physically.
This is true... I know he's a dick backstage and all that, but I still enjoy him as a wrestler. I was worried it would affect the match on sunday (not that I'd see it, but then it'd lead to more retarded storylines to cover shit up), so it's good to hear things are fine and going along as planned.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dolemite
How?Quote:
Originally Posted by TobalRox
Well, I enjoy heels... and well, it's easy to him since in real life he's a prick. Maybe I should say "superstar" or "sports entertainer" instead of wrestler, since his in-ring ability isn't what makes him amazing. Before he was suspended, I liked how he used to "stalk" his opponent before the RKO too.Quote:
Originally Posted by omfgninjas in iraq
Yeah, I like the whole sneak up on bitches then put it on them shit he did.
Yeah, I like the whole sneak up on bitches and shit in their bags thing he does IRL.Quote:
Originally Posted by Chux
That too, gg.
Great DVD news - there are going to be anthology sets for Summerslam and the Royal Rumble!
That says a whole lot about Sandman doesn't it?Quote:
Originally Posted by Dolemite
WHy wouldn't they. His extremely popular(positively or negatively) and he "invaded" ECW. If Cena got no response from that segment that would be a huge problem.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dolemite
Paul Burchill's pirate gimmick was officially dropped two weeks ago. Management thought Burchill had a hard time working as a babyface. Burchill was copying Johnny Depp for the gimmick, however, Vince McMahon didn't know what he was doing since he has never watched Pirates of the Caribbean. McMahon actually envisioned the character as a remake of Jean Pierre LaFitte circa 1995.
Rank Team Score Average
1 genericname.com (Meredith/LoneDreamer) 1169
2 Team Korly (Korly) 1135
3 TRiPLE BREAK INC. (Victor Ashen) 1014
4 Chucker Would! (Chux) 973
5 Thompson's Teeth (Andrew) 972
6 Team CEO Advocate (Advocate) 846
7 team avatar (Avatar) 799
8 'Roid Rage (Jackie) 737
9 Team Kennedy! (Jeremy) 565
10 blaze fire (Freddy Blaze) 435
11 E-Town Drunks (PBMax) 351
For Tobal: (from WWE Fantasy Week in Review: Week One)
To join up, just go to the link I have provided (http://www.wwe.com/play/fantasy/), and choose "sign up". From there, create your team and then choose "Create/Join League" from the lower left of the page. From there choose "Join League" and type in "The Next Level" (without the quotes). And the password is "tnl" (again, without the quotes).
And for a complete recap of the last few weeks in Fantasy (to get you up to speed) you can check out http://blog.myspace.com/korly or you can scroll back through a bunch of pages of this thread.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Korly
Damn, I guess I'm too late. It just says "the signup period is closed for the current Game."Quote:
Originally Posted by Korly
So, how long does the "game" go on for?
Sandman is always the sandman - but Vince doesn't want Extreme....Quote:
Originally Posted by avatar
If that was the ECW Arena, with Hat Guy - and other loyal ECW fans there.... Cena would have been kicked out by the fans before he even stepped foot into the Arena. Real ECW fans are more than pissed at this point due to the shit Vince calls ECW.
I can't wait for ECW to return home and the crowd will make it ECW - ECW fans are the most vocal wrestling fans or fans of any sport in the world.
this season is 13 weeks long and ends with Summerslam. the last couple were 10 weeks each. after the season ends, though, it usually takes a couple months before they start up again.Quote:
Originally Posted by Xeno G
if you keep checking up on this thread, we usually post up when sign ups start up and make reminders every so often for everyone to join.
I liked the pirate bit... it's total 80s.Quote:
Originally Posted by Korly
um, what?Quote:
Originally Posted by korly
Anyway, for any that care, Cena was on Conan last night and when he talked about his eye he said "I got slammed face first through a table by a genie." Needless to say, that annoyed me.
Whoa, what!? Information Mr.Peeples, let's go!Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeremy
If something is needless to say, then don't say it. That's kind of the idea.Quote:
Originally Posted by TobalRox
From PWInsider -Quote:
Originally Posted by jonas
The cover art for Pillman's release has been shown, and it's perfect for both the "Loose Cannon" title and character.Quote:
Royal Rumble and SummerSlam footage is currently being edited (i.e. - blurring WWF Attitude logos) for future anthology boxed sets. No time frame has been announced for these releases.
I have the RAW magazine that that photo originally appeared in.
I firggin' loved Pillman. I hope they show the Austin stalking Pillman RAW complete and uncut on the DVD. (If not, I always have the VHS, but it does have USA censorship).
It's just a fucking song. Their is no logical reason why Vince should pay 12-13 mil. for one fucking song.Quote:
Originally Posted by Coast to Coast
How many wrestlers alive would get that response. ECW fans are convincing Vince to connect Cena with ECW becuase those 2 together mean heat.Quote:
Originally Posted by Coast to Coast
This is a prime example of hardcore fans shooting themselves in the foot.Woud Rey fighting ECW have gotten as big as a reaction. No. Vince smells the money and ECW smarks will pay to see Cena "humbled"
Agree there. It is a song, but it is nostalgia. If you wanna blame someone you should blame Metallica for charging that much. At least with that report you can see WWE trying to get the old school ECW vibe.Quote:
Originally Posted by avatar
I agree with that too. Yes. Alot of Hardcore Fans hate Cena, but when you boo and get louder at ECW. Your telling Vince and NBC that he should be the main heel guy in ECW. Thereby continuing this WWE/ECW fued. Which is being reported in Wrestleview.com.Quote:
Originally Posted by Avatar
See they want to build up the feud between the two. Since the hardcore fans are booing the WWE stars, your just telling them that its working and each week you'll tune in. When the Smarks stopped watching Raw for those few months, WWE programming took the hint, changed, and went in a differant direction. WWE took the hint when there was an enormous backlash at ECW programming when it debutted. That's what has to happen for this stupid WWE/ECW thing to stop.Quote:
Originally Posted by Wrestleview.com
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dolemite
Okay...can anyone OTHER than avatar tell me what's wrong with that?Quote:
Originally Posted by avatar
Thank you.Quote:
Originally Posted by Coast to Coast
As I've said, the overall noob quality here has improved as of late.
I said this back on page 374.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dolemite
Quote:
Originally Posted by Advocate
No, I want to thank Metallica for being greedy bitches and charging so much that WWE couldn't afford the song. The only reason Sandman ever got over was because of his entrance and the crowd totally getting into it and singing along. Take away Enter Sandman and you're left with one of the worst wrestlers on the planet who can't even do a decent Russian Leg Sweep, and the fucking thing is his finisher.Quote:
Originally Posted by Advocate
Oh, right. Good man, Advocate.Quote:
Originally Posted by Advocate
Well after my recent report that won't be happening anytime soon. But Dole the reason is they are holding ECW in a WWE arena. If it was anywhere else it would have been heat. But then again thats what they want. They want to get Cena over whether its heat or pops.Quote:
Originally Posted by me
I understand that- that's been my point all along.Quote:
Originally Posted by Advocate
If it was a real ECW crowd Cena'd be booed out of the building.
But he is a cool guy; I know that doesn't excuse his lack of wrestling skill. I saw pics of him at Pitbull 1's wedding. Nice guy and a hot wife. BTW ... Wolfe is a funny guy. Ashame Pitbull 2 was a prick.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dolemite
WO site notes -
Note from me on the F4W boards -Quote:
--Dwayne Johnson got out of surgery a couple of hours ago, having his Achilles tendon reattached. He was told he can start training immediately (obviously limited to upper body).
--In this week's silly name change, the ECW wrestlers are no longer wrestlers, nor are they rebels. They are now Extremists. Are they right wing or left wing extremists. I mean, Paul Heyman is left wing, but not necessarily extremist. But Sandman, the only party affiliation he'd probably have is the next one thrown after the show.
Quote:
Nash needs to come out on a Segway, with a sidecar for Shelley.
They don't care. A response is better than no response and Cena isn't being booked as a heel.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dolemite
Post-Smackdown scores:
Rank Team Score Average
1 genericname.com 1169
2 Team Korly 1151
3 TRiPLE BREAK INC. 1041
4 Chucker Would! 1002
5 Thompson's Teeth 972
6 Team CEO Advocate 846
7 team avatar 826
8 'Roid Rage 766
9 Team Kennedy! 618
10 blaze fire 435
11 E-Town Drunks 351
ECW (WEEK 5, 6/22/06)
In regards to ECW, the Fantasy Board has reached a determination on “extreme rules.”
On ECW on Sci Fi, Joey Styles and Tazz have repeatedly said that “ECW rules means anything goes.” Normally in WWE, this would fall under the category of a Specialty Match. However, it would be unfair to make every ECW match a Specialty Match, as that would virtually make ECW Rebels higher scorers than RAW or SmackDown Superstars and skew scoring completely.
Likewise, it would be just as unfair to not do that, as the use of foreign objects is rampant and encouraged in ECW. As such, the ECW Rebels could again become the “best” scorers simply from object use.
So in the interest of finding the best way to avoid Fantasy becoming centered solely around ECW, the Fantasy Board has made the following ruling effective in Week 6 of Season 7:
On ECW programming, foreign object use will be considered inherent to any match; therefore, ONLY foreign objects used before or after the bell or during a non-match segment will be scored. Furthermore, specialty match points will only be awarded if the match alters standard ECW match rules (as in any WWE Specialty Match).
For Weeks 1-5, no retroactive points will be awarded and no points already awarded will be taken away. While it is understood this decision may not be popular or conventional, the Fantasy Board believes that this is the best way to address the issue at this time and will revisit the decision prior to next season if necessary.
Kelly and the Little Bastard have been added to Fantasy. And Mr. Kennedy now has his Kenton Bomb as a valid finisher.
We've got a PPV on Sunday night, and that's where the real points will come from.
You can check out the latest edition of WWE Fantasy Weekly (with special guest host Steve Romero) on your Fantasy homepage.
The reason for OJ's firing is now crystal-clear.
http://img67.imageshack.us/img67/4585/ojfriend3du.jpg
o rly?Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeremy
homo rly
GET IT?!
So for example none of the weapon attacks that took place during that ECW battle Royale would have counted?Quote:
Originally Posted by Korly
Remember how good tag team wrestling was? Well relive:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=lnOhm5iK0-o&search=WWF
I wish Vince would hire a bunch of teams. Give us 6 teams who AREN'T going to be broken up.
Super Card is a miniature mobile GBA(SP) file Manager and Bakup device. Fore backuping files it uses Mini-SD. It will allow you to run a variety of software, Play Game, Watch movie, E-book, Music and Photo albums.
Features:
Game save file store in SD card. Can save game into SD card at any time. Never losing game save. Without game save space limit
Plays movies, music, FC games and e-books on your GBA or Nintendo DS
This product is not licensed, endorsed or sponsored by Nintendo
Support Real Time Save
Detail:
***Spam link removed***
I wonder if he just looked for the thread with the most posts, and dumped his advertisment here.
Pretty funny that.
JOHN CENA FANS FIGHT WITH THEIR ECW COUNTERPARTS IN PHILLY - AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT THE NEW ECW'S DEBUT AT THE OLD ECW ARENA
by Slade Bracey
ECW fans are nothing, if not passionate. They love the company, the personalities who built it, and the legacy it carries in the world of professional wrestling. And because of this passion, they want only what is best for the promotion and desperately seek to protect their fond, maybe overly grand, memories what ECW once was. Saturday night was supposed to be the another in a long line of those fond ECW memories, when ECW, after 5 and half years, through a total collapse, a complete takeover and 2 revivals, finally made it back home to the corner of Swanson and Ritner in the depths of South Philly. It was supposed to be the victory party, when everything was finally set right with the world, but what ended up happening was something far different.
Walking back into Viking Hall/ECW Arena/New Alhambra Arena, I was shocked to see how understated the setup was for the show. A WWE-produced version of ECW was actually less heavy on production than your average CZW show. They made no use of the Arena's video-screens, and used the automated moving lights on sparingly during the course of the show. I took that as a positive sign of things to come, as it seemed to emphasize a return to classic ECW form - stripped down and straight forward. The only noticeable addition that WWE made to the standard setup was floor matting. But even that small addition, which is put there for the safety of the performers, caused early grumblings in the crowd that would manifest themselves further as the show went on.
The show opened not with something fitting, like say, the AWOL duo of Joey Styles and Tazz welcoming everyone to the show and taking in their praise for finally making it back home, but rather with an ominous pre-recorded message from the WWE regarding photo and recording policy, as well as the standard legalese that waived us of our image rights in case the SINGLE HANDHELD CAMERA might have panned by us. I found it mind-boggling that they wouldn't at least want to film the show for posterity's sake, as we all expected it to be a truly special evening for everyone involved. Again....more foreshadowing of the night to come.
Following the announcements from the great lawyer in the sky, and the subsequent, semi-hypocritical "F*** You Vince" chants, we heard the opening chords of the classic ECW theme song...."Bodies" by Drowning Pool, and were greeted with the sight of legendary ECW announcer Justin Roberts making his way to ringside. And if you can't feel the sarcasm oozing of the back half of that sentence, I feel for you. Roberts got tormented throughout the night, mainly with a near constant "You Suck D***" chant anytime he got near a microphone. If anyone could tell half the roster's generic entrance music apart from one another, they probably would have continued straight through the introductions as well.
The opening match featured a classic ECW tag rivalry renewed as the Full Blooded Italians of Tony Mamaluke and Little Guido (minus Trinity and Big Guido) taking on the last ECW Tag Team Champions, Danny Doring and Amish Roadkill. The crowd and the wrestlers seemed to have fun dusting off the old "Where's My Pizza ?" and "You F*** Sheep" chants. The match was an entertaining way to start the show, albeit a bit shorter than anyone would have hoped for. There was a strong "Tracy Smothers" chant going for a minute in the match, but any similar chants for JT Smith were poorly-received. The highlight of the match was Roadkill, who was in position for a top rope splash on Tony Mamaluke, opting to walk about 1/4th of the way out along the rope and dive onto Little Guido, who dodged and left Danny Doring to take the full-force of the dive. Everyone involved put in a solid effort for the short time frame they had to work with, but they set the overall tone of the show as well - it was fun to see the old faces, but the storylines and characters are so underdeveloped at this point that it felt like a throwaway match.
Next up was the unassuming ECW debut of the next great wrestling superstar - CM Punk, taking on Stevie Richards. Crowd put Punk over huge during his entrance, breaking into big "CM Punk" chants as soon as they recognized the familiar strains of "Miseria Cantrae" by AFI. The crowd definitely made Punk feel like an established upper-level talent right out the bat. The match itself was a slow burner, with Punk breaking out a lot of headlocks early on. For as much as Punk had the crowd in his pocket for the entrance, a good bit of them were vocally unimpressed with most of this match. Not a bad contest by any means, but definitely tight on time and worked very safely by both men. You can't blame them either - there's no storyline reason (outside of a one-off angle in ROH) for these two to tear into each other, and there's no cameras rolling to make a big risk worth taking. Punk teased the crowd with an attempt at the Pepsi Plunge, his old top-rope Pedigree finish, which Stevie wiggled free from. Punk got out on 2 after the Stevie kick, and eventually cinched in the Anaconda Vice submission, for the quick tap out. Afterwards, both men shake hands and Stevie leaves the ring for Punk to soak in the cheers. Anyone with half a brain can see that Punk is going to be one of, if not THE top guy in ECW within a year or so. His connection with audiences is effortless, and his work in-ring is first-rate, especially when you give him a good storyline to work with.. Expect big things.
Following up the future of the business was a steep regression in the form of an "Extreme Bikini Contest" between Francine, Trinity and Kelly. The crowd gave Franny the requisite love that every ECW alumnus received, but wasn't wildly into her. Trinity got the middle of the road reaction one would expect for an unestablished character. But the joy in this match came in listening to the crowd boo Kelly out of the building. If we can't convince WWE to drop her from the ECW roster, at least we can finally vocalize our displeasure with it. The rest of the segment was pretty well formulaic, with Francine winning the contest and catfights breaking out. The crowd was pretty well over the segment until Trinity threw Francine to the outside and went for a moonsault press from the top, at which point Francine side-stepped the move entirely and Trinity took an absolutely hellacious bump to the floor. Franny turns her attention to Kelly again, which leads to Mike Knox charging the ring and pie-facing Francine. Out come Balls Mahoney to defend her honor and an impromptu match is on...
The crowd was all over Knox during the match, chanting "No one knows you" and "You can't wrestle" for most of his offense. The bulk of this match was nothing to write home about. The only notable point of this match was the continuation of what seems like a burgeoning storyline for referee Mike Posey, reworking Bill Alfonso's old role as the straight-laced official stuck in an lawless environment who is still making straight-laced calls during the matches. The finish saw Posey try to stop Balls from using the chair, which led to Balls trying to explain that anything goes in ECW, and the crowd chanting "Hit the ref", Balls looks like he's about to deliver on the request and gets rolled up by Knox for the 3. Post-match, Balls tries again to crack Posey with chair, but Posey scrambles to safety.
In the last match before the break, CW Anderson made his return to ECW, looking much healthier than he did at the last Hardcore Homecoming, to take on Sabu. Nothing really surprising in crowd reactions here - plenty of respect for CW, massive amounts of adoration for Sabu, and plenty of anti-Cena chants that would come into play later in the evening.. It was standard fare for both guys, with Sabu getting the win with a gorgeous Arabian facebuster on a slanted table. Like everything else on the card, it was a solid effort, but it just felt like a throwaway match. It lacked the time to really draw the crowd in, and didn't have anything resembling storyline development. This show is prime evidence as to why ECW needs to get away from RAW post- Vengeance. Heyman has to reestablish all of these characters with the audience and reset the battle lines in short order, essentially cramming years of work into 11 more weeks of TV. Even a few short promos during the show would have made a world of difference - why does CW want a match with Sabu? What does he have to gain? Everything felt thrown together so randomly that it was hard to get into the matches much more than cheering the highspots and booing the restholds. And with the seemingly clipped matches, it was even hard to do that.
Post-intermission, we get more harassment of Justin Roberts, followed by "Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck" and the arrival of Justin Credible. I found it kind of strange that both Credible and CM Punk can use unlicensed copy-written music for entrances, but the Sandman is still relegated to the generic metal entrance. Despite the lack of "Enter Sandman", the crowd still pops huge for Sandman. The match is a "Dueling Singapore Cane" bout, which is a bit misleading as there was only one cane in the ring for much of the match. It was short and forgettable, with Sandman getting the win via White Russian Legsweep.
At this point, it seemed the crowd had finally had enough of the lack of wild action that defined the original ECW. Loud chants of "This Show Sucks" broke out as Justin Roberts re-entered the ring. And as if on cue, "This Is Extreme" comes blaring over the house system and out comes Paul Heyman to rally his wandering flock. Heyman talks about how this moment is one he's been dreaming of since December of 2000 when ECW last ran the Arena. It's largely a mutual admiration society, with Paul even jumping out the ring to lay a large man-hug on Hat Guy and Hawaiian Shirt Guy in the front row. He says that despite the fact that the Sandman's music sucks (prompting a loud "Yes it does" chant in return) and the fact that there's a stupid stripper on TV every week, the fact remains that ECW is actually alive once again, and that alone should supersede all the negatives. This began to feel like one of the legendary Heyman morale speeches at this point, with Heyman stressing the importance of ECW fans attending the July 4th TV taping at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia. He urged fans to skip the July 3rd combined RAW/Smackdown taping at the same building, and make sure that the July 4th show isn't populated by the kind of audiences they've been working with at the Smackdown tapings for the past two weeks.
There was definitely a vocal minority that wasn't buying into Paul's speech - crying sellout and telling Heyman that he sucked. Heyman tried to address them by making jokes out them, but at times it did seem genuinely hostile. It was almost surreal to see an ECW Arena crowd turning on Heyman, even in minor fashion, and then resuming singing his praises. Heyman then introduces Tommy Dreamer, putting over Tommy's loyalty to the ECW until the very end and telling the audience that Dreamer deserved "the biggest pop this building has ever heard." Dreamer comes out to his generic WWE reworking of "Man In The Box." Like Heyman before him, Dreamer and the crowd engage in a mutual admiration society, with plenty of "Thank You Tommy" and "Welcome Home" chants. Dreamer tells a story of how early in the day, his daughter, Brianna, took a nasty spill that caused JT Smith-esque swelling on her head. Even though the doctors had Ok'd her to leave hospital, Dreamer wanted to say with his daughter through the night, even if meant skipping the Arena show. He then told the crowd, with tears welling in his eyes, how his wife Beulah looked him dead in the eyes and said "Tommy...it's the ARENA." Dreamer went on to stress how amazing it was to be back in the building and that everyone from fans to wrestlers - in the building or elsewhere - were a family. Dreamer says that if you can make it in the Arena, you can make it anywhere and calls out Big Show to see if he can pass the litmus test of the Arena.
This match was probably the most engaging match of the entire show, if only because it was the only one with any actual back story behind it. The Arena crowd HATED the Big Show and let him know it from the time he walked out until the time he went through the curtain. Tons of "F*** You Big Show", "You Can't Wrestle", "You Still Suck" and "Don't Come Back" chants for Show. The match itself saw Tommy take his classic amount of punishment, and brawling through the crowd, where Dreamer repeatedly slammed Show's head off the brick wall of the Arena at the top of the South bleachers. Eventually, the two worked their way back into the ring (but not before Show could smack the hat off of Hat Guy on the way back), and brought out some plunder like stop signs and trash cans. At one point, Show tried to throw the trashcan out of the ring and ended up bouncing it off the top rope, prompting a loud "You f***** up" chant that enraged Show, causing him to throw the trashcan down the aisle, almost to the entrance. Dreamer hit the DDT for a 2, followed by Show press slamming him to the outside through a table for a 2 count. The finish came when Dreamer attempted a Spicolli Driver, but couldn't lift Show, leading to a chokeslam through a table and the aforementioned "Don't Come Back" chants leading Show to the back. The crowd exchanged more love with Dreamer and we were, roughly 2 hours into the show, on our way to the main event.
Unannounced, we were greeted with the pleasant surprise of Dean Malenko refereeing the semi-mystery main event, which turned out to be Kurt Angle vs. Rob Van Dam. While I was certainly excited to see it, I hope they realize this is the big money match for ECW, and needs a good slow build if they're going to do it on TV or PPV in the future. Angle got a mixed reaction for sure, while Van Dam was almost unanimously greeted like a conquering hero back from war. This was the type of match that seems intentionally booked to steal the show and hopefully make the audience forget how lackluster the rest of the show really was. Much of the early part of the match was dominated by dueling "F*** You Angle"/ "Let's Go Angle" that seemed to go on for 5 minutes straight. Lots of great mat work by both men at the start, and slowly working it's way into more of what the crowd expected, spot-wise. Plenty of action without going all out the night before a major PPV. RVD broke out a lot of the old chair spots including the skateboard, the Van Daminator, and even countering the Ankle lock with a chair shot. RVD takes the match clean with the 5 Star Frog Splash. Van Dam soaks it all in and the show comes to a close...or so it would seem.
After Van Dam heads to the back, the crowd begins to file out of the building, with quite a few people knocking over chairs and grumbling about the show. Roughly 2 minutes into filing out the building, all hell breaks loose near the entrance way as a group of about 10 people get into a wild fistfight. And do you know why they got into a fistfight ? Because a few of them had started a small John Cena cheer during Heyman's speech. And to top it off, someone recklessly throws a chair into the scuffle and ends up hitting someone that was just trying to get away from the whole situation. Security eventually breaks it all up and scatters the instigators outside. And what do you know? One of the geniuses picks ANOTHER fight right outside the building with a completely different person because of the same pro-Cena sentiment. As I said before, ECW fans are great because they're passionate about the product, but at the same time - they can also be some of the outright dumbest pieces of garbage around.
Say this aloud to yourself, "There was fistfight because one guy said he liked John Cena."
Sounds even dumber than when I type it.
Tonight felt like a first time-last time situation for ECW at the ECW Arena. The crowd, by and large, was not thrilled with the show, and showed it on the way out of the building. The July 4th taping at the Wachovia Center is an almost guaranteed bomb of a show, which could seriously affect WWE's willingness to run ECW in the Philadelphia market in the future. If tonight didn't confirm that the old ECW is dead and buried, I don't know what will. Tonight's event was a very good Smackdown house show. The rebel spirit isn't coming back any time soon. But that's not to say the show wasn't enjoyable, you just have to have the realistic expectations of what it will be before you go to see ECW live. You'll get a few tables, a couple chairs, and not much blood, if any. The wrestling will be good, but not long enough to be great. The little things that made ECW great will be done all wrong, and that may affect your enjoyment off the show. It may seem as though wrestlers are put together at random, and only vaguely defined as characters. The show may just plain underwhelm you.
But if you believe Paul Heyman, and in my heart, I'd really like to....the important part is ECW is alive and running, even if it is with some compromises. And maybe, if you still want to buy into Paul's word, those compromises really will lose out in the end.
So if you're a real ECW fan, and you're saying to yourself that you're passionate about the product - have the passion to let this project grow again. It's 3 weeks old for Christ's sake. If there is no improvement in 3 months time, then I'll gladly admit that the naysayers were right. But the vibe I got coming out the Arena tonight was that ECW was dead in the water with a dud of a house show. It seems like the fans that built the company have turned and walked away at the first sign of faltering.
This was bound to happen.
ECW fans are retarded. They take something so seriously that they often forget to enjoy it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pdapuffin
If I were a for real mod, and not just a sectional mini-mod I'd have taken care of this assface.
Well, the SuperCard IS pretty badass. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Chux
Looks like a geniune mistake, not a shameless plug.Quote:
Originally Posted by Chux
looks like you're wrong.Quote:
Originally Posted by avatar
There is actually a wrestling tie-in with that post, since big wrestling shows used to be called supercards.Quote:
Originally Posted by Chux
Sigh.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeremy
Rank Team Score
1 Team Korly 1330
2 genericname.com 1323
3 TRiPLE BREAK INC. 1213
4 Chucker Would! 1191
5 Thompson's Teeth 1120
6 Team CEO Advocate 1020
7 team avatar 974
8 'Roid Rage 910
9 Team Kennedy! 694
10 E-Town Drunks 575
11 blaze fire 553
Maybe that's his brother.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeremy
lollerQuote:
Originally Posted by Chux
That was a great read.Quote:
Originally Posted by Korly
Real ECW crowds are so awesome. They're even better than the bizarro Canadian crowds whenever WWE goes up north.
No talk of Vengence whatsoever? Not a good sign. I mean, I understand the lack of talk of Smackdown, but this was a PPV :)
I've read the results and the entire thing is absolutely terrible. Nothing shocking or surprising outside of Johnny Nitro actually being handed a title belt for no purpose other than to further delude the meaninglessness of the IC title.
I don't think I'm even going to watch RAW tonight, and I've already quit watching Smackdown. It's like Vince McMahon doesn't know how to make interesting TV wrestling anymore. If you're going to water down your wrestling product you've got to make it more jazzed up in the story depo and it's not happening. They had a perfect chance to do something interesting with Matt Hardy and Edge last year, they didn't. They had a chance to make something great with John Cena and Edge earlier this year and they chose to rush a feud with Triple H that ruined any kind of real buildup they had stumbled upon.
Now with this terrible new ECW my faith that it will get more interesting is lacking. The only thing keeping me going, really, is WWE Fantasy. The problem is that UFC is getting so fucking good that my interest in wrestling seems to be moving to UFC instead of WWE. Hell, that segment Nash did with the midget was the most entertaining segment in wrestling for the past 3 years aside from one or two Mic Foley speeches (including his "I'm going to stink up the joint" comments last RAW).
IAWTPQuote:
Originally Posted by Andrew
What I highlighted is the only thing making me watch RAW/ECW anymore. That's real sad too, if the only reason you watch a show is because you play in a Rotiserrie league.
I just don't want to gay up the standings with a team name that doesn't even try (like Jeremy last time when he realized he was sucking and stopped playing).
? I'm still playing. I was lumping myself into that statement, cause if I wasn't in the league I would not have been watching it this whole summer. Hell before I joined I wasn't watching it, just reading results. I was paying more attention to my efed.Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew
It's a sad state of things when I didn't even care about going to an ROH show recenty.
ROH has good action. I would have went. My problem is with how boring WWE is, despite revolving around violence.
SD is the closest thing WWE has to compelling TV with Lashley's rapid improvement and KING BOOKER! And Finlay. And the LITTLE BASTARD..
ROH usually has good action, yes... but their last show in CT just didn't seem to have a card that made me care like they used to. I also haven't been keeping up with the weekly "news" on the site like I had for a while either. It's hard to keep up and then want to watch the DVDs... but if you don't keep up, then when you go to a show, you're lost. I love ROH, and have really enjoyed all the shows I've been to, I just didn't feel like going to the last one.Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew
There was a PPV last night?Quote:
Originally Posted by TobalRox
I was there. It sucked.
Damn I'm sorry.Quote:
Originally Posted by omfgninjas in iraq
I wonder what fun little suprises McECW will have in store for us this week. Perhaps a wrestling Cylon?
IBTNQuote:
Originally Posted by omfgninjas in iraq
*EDIT* Just read the recap on pwtorch. Sounds really lame. It also seemed to provide even more proof that DX is quite gay:
Quote:
Originally Posted by pwtorch
If you hated that bit of RANDOM INFORMATION!~, then you'll hate this.Quote:
Originally Posted by omfgninjas in iraq
A first season guy from the Office was a WWE writer - http://www.gothamist.com/archives/20...ce_oneal_c.php
Quote:
I wanted to ask you about the time you spent writing for the WWE.
I was a big fan of wrestling as a kid so writing for them was one of the pinnacles of my career. I got to meet Vince McMahon. He's one of the two or three people that I've met that I was in awe of. I couldn't stop watching how he operated, how he listened, and how he gave orders. It was a great experience, but I worked there a very short time, about three events. I got fired because the life style you had to lead was 100% WWE. I wasn't interested in making that my entire life. I'd have gigs, and they'd say I had to commit to their stuff. I got a little taste of the life. To write a little bit of the backstage vignettes and to meet everybody was one of the best times I've had.
You were there for a couple months, then?
Not even a month; two weeks. I was good at it. If I had decided that that was what I wanted to do, I could have done it. It came so naturally to me. Even if I had made millions doing that, there would have been a point where I looked back and wondered what would've happened if I had continued doing my comedy. I would never had done the HBO special if I had been with WWE, which was a huge deal. When HBO was at their prime, I was in my late teens and early twenties. For a young comedian, that was the dream. A taste of WWE was good enough for me.
How detailed did the scripts get?
Someone like The Rock or Triple H gets carte blanche. They follow a guide, but the main superstars get to say whatever they want because they're trusted. Writers create the storylines. If you're not a superstar like Triple H, you need a reason to exist. For some guys, writers write every word that they say. At my time there was a guy named Test who I thought should be a more popular than he was. As a writer, I could write a storyline for him, submit it to McMahon, and he could get some play.
The Little Bastard is draftable this week.
Also, they gave us a pretty good idea of the RAW card for once.
Orton vs Kane
DX vs Mcmahons
Mickie vs Trish (Womens title)
Cena vs RVD (WWE Title)
And on Smackdown
King Booker vs Bobby Lashley in a cage
And since rosters locked 15 minutes ago, I guess I'm not doing a week in review this week. I'm sure you're all heartbroken.
But, did you see Fantasy Weekly this week? It had a special appearance from MIIIIISTERRRRRR KENNEDY!!!!!!
Kennedy!
He needs to quit being so blunt on the follow-up, otherwise he'll always botch the effect.
They better not take him from Finley.Quote:
Originally Posted by Korly
Rank Team Score Average
1 genericname.com 1395
2 Team Korly 1388
3 TRiPLE BREAK INC. 1266
4 Chucker Would! 1244
5 Thompson's Teeth 1190
6 Team CEO Advocate 1074
7 team avatar 1021
8 'Roid Rage 955
9 Team Kennedy! 742
10 E-Town Drunks 635
11 blaze fire 606
I laughed when I saw that Randy Orton of all people was disgusted by the shit.
Here's a fantastic quote from today's WO site update -Quote:
--Yes, that was the Imposter Kane blow-off last night. If you ever were believing that things were planned out long-term in WWE, just check the results from Vengeance the night before. I'm sure it must have happened, but off the top of my head, I can't ever recall someone put over a major superstar clean in the middle, who was dropped one night later so fast they didn't even bother with him losing a match on the way out. Anyway, this one goes down in history right next to the Gobbledy Gooker, Linda McMahon's divorce from Vince and taking half the company after seeing him with Torrie Wilson on Raw, Linda McMahon's heel turn years later, DDP with the shining teeth, DDP as the Stalker, DDP as the homeless guy, DDP as the lottery winner, a bunch of DDP gimmicks I've forgotten, Oz, Richard & Rod Johnson, The Ding Dongs and the last episode of Seinfeld, the desperation XFL radio and TV ads where they brought up how bad the ratings and gimmicks were, Stephanie McMahon as the owner of ECW, Eric Bischoff's insane "shoot" promos as WCW was collapsing in 1999, David Arquette, Ed Ferrara and Vince Russo holding title gold and The Mullets in all-time gimmick hell. That Charlotte crowd will now go down in forgotten history for killing a character, although this one was really stillborn. It won't go down like the Tacoma crowd, which killed an entire several years worth of plans in one night. Funny, for the first four months of this year when just about every TV crowd was treating John Cena like he was the living incarnation of a Booker T vs. Buff Bagwell match, they decided that they know better than the crowd what the crowd will pay to see. And in that case, he was probably right.
- WWE.com announced Rob Van Dam vs. John Cena vs. Edge in a triple threat match for the WWE Title at the July 15 Saturday Night's Main Event show on NBC from Dallas, Tex. WWE did not mention the SNME show on Raw Monday night, but over the next several weeks, the show is expected to be hyped on the level of Kane's movie.
WWE's return to NBC on March 18 drew a disappointing 2.9 rating and the company's future on NBC will be strongly affected by the success of the second "return" show. NBC will look at the TV rating as one factor to determine whether they will schedule a third SNME show.