Hey now WWE is getting it right...

[Liontamr]

Anyone watch RAW last night? Am I the only one thinking they are starting to get things right?

Some of the matches lasted more than three minutes.. the story line of the Dudleys being screwed over by Chief Morley... Jericho hitting Stacy in the face by accedent and knocking her out... the formation of what looks to be a new age four horsemen (finally!)... Jeff Hardy with a possibly heel turn...

It was kind of refreshing to see some decent story lines being turned out and not that HLA or necro crap.

 

[Cibo]

I missed everything before Bishoff came out...explain.

 

[Lasz]

I havent found WWE story line sstimulating since 1993 when I was 12 years old and it was called the WWF.

 

[Phoenyx]

I missed everything before Bishoff came out...explain.

The opening montage was footage from last week of Vince McMahon giving Eric Bischoff the 30 day ultimatum, and Shane appearing as Bischoff's successor should he fail to turn RAW around. A clip also aired from Royal Rumble where Bischoff promised a bombshell.

Triple H & Ric Flair came out. HHH's head was bandaged and he had an ugly black eye, which apparently came from one of Scott Steiner's punches connecting during their title match at the PPV. Jim Ross & Jerry Lawler put over that Steiner dominated most of the match, and that HHH tried to deliberately get himself DQ'ed or counted out to save his belt (he eventually succeeded with the DQ). JR said his money would be on Steiner in a rematch. HHH posed with the RAW World Title belt and bragged about still being the champion. He said he went 30 minutes with Steiner (actually about 18 minutes, but to some it seemed like 30) and made him look so bad in front of his freaks that he was forced to use a sledgehammer to try to save face. He called Steiner a disgrace and said he'll get no rematch. This brought Steiner out. His ribs were taped to sell the sledgehammer shot he took. He wanted a rematch, and wanted it right there on the spot. HHH revealed a doctor's note, which said he wasn't cleared to wrestle. The crowd really let HHH have it over that one. Flair said if Steiner wants competition, he could wrestle Batista. Batista came out to ringside. Steiner started talking trash to him, which allowed HHH to sucker punch him from behind. Steiner recovered immediately and punched out both HHH & Flair, who retreated while sort of using Batista as a shield. So Steiner vs. Batista was scheduled for the main event. A routine opening angle.

Rob Van Dam defeated Jeff Hardy in 3:54. They did a neat opening sequence where they avoided one another's spots. They went to the floor where RVD kicked Jeff as he was doing his rail run. Jeff dropkicked RVD as he was coming across the ropes back into the ring. Jeff hit a twisting moonsault. RVD did a rolling slam and hit a moonsault of his own. Jeff hit a swanton and was frustrated to only score a two count. RVD blocked a twist of fate and won with a simple backslide. Short, but all action. Afterward, Jeff sort of snapped and lariated RVD out of the ring. He got a chair and would have hit RVD but the ref stopped him. Jeff stormed off in frustration, apparently starting something of a heel turn.

Christian and Christopher Nowinski were talking backstage about the Rumble. Christian claimed he would have won if he hadn't trusted that piece of crap Edge. Bischoff walked up and made a snide comment about the bruise on Nowinski's cheek (from when Edge landed on his face in a spot during the Rumble). Nowinski said Bischoff has 21 days left. I guess since he's a Harvard grad he figured out that Vince's 30 days are really 28 days. Christian wanted to know what the Bischoff bombshell would be. Bischoff refused to say, but vowed that it would be his biggest accomplishment since coming to RAW. Nowinski, obviously bluffing, claimed to know what the bombshell is, but he refused to tell Christian.

Randy Orton encountered Steiner. He sarcastically reminded Steiner that he had vowed to become World Champion at the Rumble. He told Steiner not to worry about failing to live up to his prediction, since people make mistakes every day. He noted that his doctor told him his shoulder would take a year to heal, but because of his great conditioning it's taken only a third of that time and he's now at 95%. Steiner exploded and shoved Orton against a wall. He said Orton's shoulder may be 95%, but Orton himself is 100% a**hole. That was pretty funny.

Chief Morley met with referee Nick Patrick. Morley claimed that the Bischoff administration wants to have good relations with the referees. But Morley was disturbed over Patrick's officiating during the Rumble match where the Dudleys beat William Regal & Lance Storm to capture the RAW World Tag Titles. Morley played a tape of the closing moments of that match, which showed D-Von using brass knux to KO Storm for the pin. Patrick said he didn't see the infraction at the time, and would have DQ'ed the Dudleys had he seen it. Morley said Patrick needs to make a public apology.

Morley & Patrick came out to the ring. Morley began talking and the "what" crap immediately started as well. At least when Pavlov's dog salivated, it was relevant to the issue at hand. Anyway, Patrick apologized for his error. Morley then demanded that he reverse the match decision, DQ the Dudleys, and return the belts to Regal & Storm. Patrick refused to do that, saying it's company policy that all referee rulings are final. Well, it's more like it's company policy that ref decisions are final except when they decide not to follow the policy, like all other policies in WWE. Morley was pissed, and said Patrick gave him no other choice but to call the Dudleys down to the ring. The Dudleys came out, stopping to high five JR & Lawler on the way. Morley told them that Patrick admitted he made an error, and called upon them to forfeit the belts back to Regal & Storm in the interests of fairness. D-Von said Morley must be out of his damned mind, and said they aren't forfeiting anything, with Bubba reminding Morley that Regal was the one who brought the knux in the ring in the first place. Morley claimed he went down to ringside to point that out. Bubba said that was a load of crap, and the crowd agreed. Morley told the Dudleys they'd regret it if they didn't forfeit. Bubba called Morley a "kiss ass washed-up ex-porn star" and said the only thing he regrets is that he and D-Von failed to use tables at the Rumble as Mr. McMahon had requested. So to belatedly fulfill Vince's desires, Bubba told D-Von to get the tables. They were about to put Morley through a table but Regal & Storm came in for the save. They laid D-Von out with a shot from one of the belts and flapjacked Bubba through the table. With both Dudleys KO'ed, Morley announced that a rematch for the titles would start immediately. He forced Patrick to signal for the bell, which led to.....

Regal & Storm beat The Dudleys in 0:12 to regain the RAW Tag Titles. Regal simply covered the unconscious Bubba. Patrick hesitated but had no choice but to count the pin for the title change. JR screamed that this was a travesty. It was actually kind of a neat angle.

Trish Stratus & Hurricane beat Victoria & Steven Richards in 3:00. This was fought under the traditional inter-gender rules, where the guys weren't supposed to touch the girls. Victoria had a new outfit designed to display the requisite T & A. Victoria kept trying to provoke Hurricane into hitting her. Trish and Victoria messed up a spot pretty badly. The whole match was weak. Richards tried to DDT Trish but Hurricane made the save. Trish pinned Victoria with the Stratusfaction.

Bischoff phoned Vince, but got his secretary. He told her to tell Vince to turn on the TV because he was about to reveal his bombshell. I guess we're supposed to think Vince wouldn't have been watching otherwise. The camera panned over and there was a dartboard on the wall with Shane's photo on it, and several darts stuck in it.

The Sean O'Haire promo from the PPV aired.

Hour two began with Bischoff coming out for his bombshell. Someone had a sign saying Bischoff has 21 days left, so the fans figured out the number of days in a week as well. Bischoff said that last week Vince challenged him to grab RAW by the throat and shake it to its very foundation. He admitted he wasn't sure at first how to do that, but at the RAW 10th anniversary show, he had a vision. Considering how bad that show was, I'm surprised he didn't go into a trance as a psychological defense mechanism. Bischoff aired footage on the Titantron of Steve Austin winning the Superstar of the Decade award, but he wasn't there to receive the trophy himself because Vince didn't invite him. Bischoff then said the reason Austin wasn't invited was because he walked out on Vince, a presumably unpardonable sin. Speaking of unpardonable sins, the crowd started chanting "what" again. Bischoff said we've heard Vince's side of the story on the Austin walkout, and even heard JR's opinion, but we haven't been able to hear Austin's side. So Bischoff said at 8 AM he ordered the printer to stop the presses on the new RAW Magazine so that Austin could add a column giving his side of the story. He then had footage aired of the classic angle where Austin drove a beer truck to ringside and hosed down Vince & Co.. Bischoff said it showed that only Austin could truly shake RAW to its very foundations. He revealed that Austin will return to the WWE at next month's No Way Out PPV. There were actually a few boos, because the audience wanted Austin to appear right then and it was kind of a letdown when it was announced for the upcoming PPV. But in truth it makes far more sense to save it for the PPV because that's where the money is, and No Way Out is one of those second tier PPVs that can always use a boost like the return of Austin. Everyone expected that Austin would return sooner or later, so the time has come.

JR & Lawler wondered aloud about the validity of Bischoff's bombshell. JR said he talked with Austin three days ago, and he said he was going deer hunting but said nothing about returning at No Way Out. Lawler said Bischoff could have contacted Austin in the three days since. JR hoped Austin does indeed return.

Booker T & Goldust defeated Three Minute Warning in 9:19. JR accidentally referred to TMW as Three Count. He was off by a few tons. Speaking of errors, I made one last week when I wondered why Raven was back on RAW. Numerous readers wrote in to let me know that he got back on RAW by winning a match on Heat, which I missed during the holidays. Thanks to all who wrote in. This match was pretty slowly paced except for a few flurries from Booker. JR & Lawler talked mostly about Austin, so the match dragged. Booker took a cool spin bump. Jamal took a scary backdrop for a guy so big. Rico got in his usual cheap shots from ringside. Booker double DDT'ed Rosey & Jamal and did the spinaroonie. Jamal missed a big splash off the top. Rico and Rosey collided. Booker pinned Jamal after a scissor kick.

JR put over that Chris Jericho was the longest lasting man in the Rumble, and also eliminated more opponents than anyone. Footage aired from the Rumble of Jericho eliminating Shawn Michaels early, and of Michaels returning later and causing Jericho to be eliminated by Test.

Jericho vs. Test ended in a no-contest in 4:40. Jericho said that just like Martin Luther King, he had a dream, which in his case was to win the Royal Rumble. Jericho said his dream was stolen unfairly, and that the ass clown fans loved it. He vowed retribution on both Michaels and Test. The match began and Test overpowered Jericho. Jericho did the skin the cat move but got slammed coming out of it. Jericho hit a suplex. Test scored two with a high powerbomb. Jericho took a big bump out and they brawled on the floor. Jericho swung a chair at Test, who ducked. The chair instead hit Stacy Keibler. Actually, the ring post absorbed the blow, but it was sold that she took the hit. She went down and sold it like she was totally KO'ed. Jericho backed off, looking disturbed, since the idea for the angle was to make it look legit as possible. They did as good a job as they could in that regard, recognizing that in today's atmosphere it's almost impossible to get anything over like that. Test actually began crying. The road agents ran out, followed by EMTs. Jericho got in the ring and insisted it was an accident, and was acting legit upset. Some referees encouraged Jericho to leave the ring area, and on his way out he appealed to JR that he had only hit Stacy by accident. JR agreed with him. Test was still crying, and Stacy wasn't moving at all, so in that sense it came off pretty well as an angle. As the EMTs worked with Stacy, they cut away to a pre-taped segment with Al Snow presenting the five remaining Tough Enough competitors at The World. The cut away was designed to make the injury look real. When the World segment ended, the EMTs had strapped Stacy to a gurney and put a neck brace on her. They stretchered her out as a tearful Test followed. Pretty good angle.

Flair told Batista that if he can beat Steiner, he'll make a name for himself in the business.

D-Lo Brown beat Tommy Dreamer in 3:30 in a Singapore cane match. D-Lo is now managed by former referee Teddy Long doing an Al Sharpton type gimmick. He said Martin Luther King believed in pacifism, and look where it got him. He said the black man has to take matters into his own hands, and charged that D-Lo was kept out of the Royal Rumble because of his race, while Dreamer was allowed in because of the color of his skin. I didn't know scar tissue was a skin color. Long said "The Man" had forced D-Lo into this Singapore cane match. D-Lo said "free at last, free at last, free to cane a white boy's ass!" They brawled with the canes and took some pretty stiff shots. D-Lo legdropped a cane across Dreamer's throat. He won with the Lowdown on Dreamer to launch the new era of the Nation of Domination, or something like that.

Nathan Jones' PPV promo aired.

Steiner defeated Batista by DQ in 1:24. This was kind of a lame way to end the show, but at least it fit the storyline. If it builds to something, namely a successful revival of the Four Horsemen, it'll be okay. But history shows that revivals rarely work in wrestling, especially with a new cast of characters (other than Flair, obviously). Steiner and Batista briefly brawled. Steiner suplexed Batista and Orton then hit the ring for the DQ. Steiner was about to destroy Orton, but Flair began chopping Steiner. So Steiner destroyed Flair instead. Steiner was superman until HHH ran in and they did a four-on-one beat down. HHH pounded Steiner with fists, juicing him. Orton and Batista held Steiner for HHH to lay in the blows. Flair sneaked in a low blow. Steiner was left laying with a pedigree from HHH, as JR & Lawler put over that it had all been a set-up. It was apparent that HHH, Flair, Batista, and Orton are now a group, though not yet identified as Horsemen.

 

[Liontamr]

Oh yeah.. Nathan Jones... I can't wait to see how this guy turns out. The promo they did for Jones this past weekend - the montage of video clips from Austrailian media saying how lethal Jones was in prison - was very cool.

Now if only WWE would get rid of the stupid Al Wilson angle.. they'd be set.

 

[Frimost]

I'm still in a foul mood because I found out that the Chris Nowinski in the WWE is the very same Chris Nowinski I went to High School with and that was a classmate of mine. Jealous and green with envy? Fuck yeah I am! He really did go to Harvard for four years too to boot.

 

[Cibo]

You kick ass Pheonyx.

 

[Phoenyx]

You kick ass Pheonyx.

your welcome

 

[Liontamr]

I smell a huge angle here...

Frimost enters Tough Enough 4... his rage and bitterness that Nowinski made it big and he didn't fuels him through out the training.. on the last day of TE4 Frimost beats the crap out of Al Snow, forcing Al to cut such a loose cannon... Frimost though shows up on RAW a few weeks later and inturupts a match between Nowinski and Test in where he lets out his rage and vents his anger at Nowinski with a brutal beatdown all the while saying: "YOU BASTARD!! I HELPED YOU CHEAT ON THE ENGLISH TESTS AND THIS IS THE THANKS I GET?!"

Somebody call Vince...

 

[Monazwx]

ty Phoenyx.
I miss Raw. We don't get TNN here.

 

[Phoenyx]

ty Phoenyx.
I miss Raw. We don't get TNN here.

where do you live?

 

[Monazwx]

I'm in FL, but I guess this place (uni.) doesn't agree with me when I say that TNN is educational entertainment.

 

[Liontamr]

btw, how many have Anthology? Anyone have a favorite theme or even a top five?

Of course Saliva's "King Of My World" is my favorite.

 

[Liontamr]

I'm in FL, but I guess this place (uni.) doesn't agree with me when I say that TNN is educational entertainment.

Bull! Star Trek TNG is highly educational! And Real TV? What can be more educational that watching real events unfold on camera?

What about Blind Date? That's interpersonal relations education right there!

 

[Frimost]

I found out when I was at an oooollldd HS friend’s apartment that I had not seen in a decade or so to watch the big PPV event (my first). When he made his appearance in the Royal Rumble is when I found out, I was shocked, I back-tracked and skimmed the Internet to validate it-and they were correct, it was him...

I had a big interview the next morning, but I didn't get a wink of sleep all night. Suddenly the $10 per hr. starting pay looked like really pathetic small potatoes compared to what Chris is pulling down, hell so did the $14 per hr, starting pay to a other company that was expected to call Monday to get back to me.

When I saw him make a brief appearance on Raw I felt like throwing-up, its has really been eating away at me. I still have acid indigestion from it all constantly; a bitter taste in my mouth is a literal description rather than just a figure of speech. I was mostly timing as well, I am in a rut, in a long string of bad luck and just recently bounced a check for rent to boot. And to think of his luck...

The guy was smart, but not THAT smart, I mean there were several other people who were far more intelligent than him and if asked to prepare a list of who I though where the top 20 most intelligent seniors and juniors he would not be on it IMO.

But his parents had money and influence...

 

[Monazwx]

I think I need to draft a petition or something . . .

 

[Liontamr]

Oh and TNN has CSI...

Criminal investigation.. how is that not educational?

 

[Monazwx]

Ugh, tell me about it.
I have to move out of here.
Then I can get PPV as well.

Frimost, calm down.

 

[Liontamr]

Ugh, tell me about it.
I have to move out of here.
Then I can get PPV as well.

Frimost, calm down.

I have PPV's at my place every month.

The only two parites I have at my place happen within the first four months of the year... A Super Bowl party and a Wrestle Mania party.

 

[Monazwx]

I have PPV's at my place every month.

The only two parites I have at my place happen within the first four months of the year... A Super Bowl party and a Wrestle Mania party.

I ENVY you.

*green w/ envy*

 

[teddybear4play]

The guy was smart, but not THAT smart, I mean there were several other people who were far more intelligent than him and if asked to prepare a list of who I though where the top 20 most intelligent seniors and juniors he would not be on it IMO.

But his parents had money and influence...

Jeez, you think his Harvard degree scored him any points in the WWE? Or that he's really putting that degree to good use there? Chill out.

And Pheonyx, Holy Christ in a pancake, dude, I've written term papers shorter than that.

TB4p

 

[James G 5]

Jeez, you think his Harvard degree scored him any points in the WWE? Or that he's really putting that degree to good use there? Chill out.

And Pheonyx, Holy Christ in a pancake, dude, I've written term papers shorter than that.

TB4p

Hey, I missed the show, the update was nice

 

[Liontamr]

Jeez, you think his Harvard degree scored him any points in the WWE? Or that he's really putting that degree to good use there? Chill out.

He was very easy to hate right from the start of Tough Enough 1. I could have told you that even when he did lose TE, he was still going to be a WWE star..

 

[Spinaroonie]

D-Lo Brown beat Tommy Dreamer in 3:30 in a Singapore cane match

SHOULD NOT HAPPEN.

 

[James G 5]

SHOULD NOT HAPPEN.

Cane matches or D Lo beating Tommy?