Wrestling Thread Mar 2-8 | 3/6 Smackdown - MVP vs Matt Hardy, Shelton vs Jeff Hardy

[4wrestling]

I will be brief today because I won't be around for tonight's Raw because I'll be at the Hornets/Sixers game. I'll watch the show latertonight or tomorrow.

Last week's Raw was a mixed bag. The dead crowd definitely did not help things. The undeniable highlight was the continued amazing work of Chris Jerichoand WWE Legends. Last week it was Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat's turn. After being announced as the newest inductee to the Hall of Fame, he wasgiven the chance to cut a promo. This of course brought out Chris Jericho. The two proceeded to cut another unforgettable segment. The Dragon said he dideverything in his career for the fans, that he was Jericho's idol, and that Jericho was the real hypocryte. Jericho went on to cut Steamboat down,eventually physically attacking him. While other heels like Edge and Orton may come across as "cool", you genuinely feel a sense of hatred towardsJericho. He seems like such a scumbag without having to use cheap heel tactics we so often see in the WWE. He was the Superstar of the Year in 2008, and Iwould say he is well on his way to repeating in 2009. I am actually hoping that the feud does not eventually end up as Jericho vs Austin, because Austin'spromos would be nowhere near the level of Flair, Piper, and Steamboat. Austin may present the best match, but at this point, I think I would much rather seeJericho vs Steamboat. Of course, it wouldn't come close to the draw of Jericho vs Austin. If they are eventually building towards Jericho vs. Austin, Ithink they should hold off Austin for one more week. I would like to see Greg Valentine tonight, since his story is the primary basis for the movie TheWrestler.


HBK beat JBL last week to earn the opportunity to face The Undertaker at WrestleMania 25. However, for whatever reason, Vladimir Kozlov CLEANLY defeated TheUndertaker this past week on Smackdown, so now we will see HBK vs Kozlov. If Kozlov defeats HBK tonight, I will stop watching the WWE permanently.

CM Punk defeated both The Miz and John Morrison last week in an entertaining match to earn his way to the Money in the Bank Ladder Match at WrestleMania. Iwould have liked to see at least Morrison in the match as well, but it seems they are headed to a tag title unification match against Carlito and Primo. Iwould expect someone else to earn a spot in the match tonight.

And then we had the comical portion of Raw. HHH chased Legacy around the arena like they were a group of bafoons. The segment was a complete dud in myopinion. Maybe it's my hatred of HHH. Maybe it's the way I hate how they have booked Orton and Priceless, but the backstage chase was a joke. We'll see what happens tonight, but I don't have much interest in the Raw main event for WrestleMania.

 

[dunksnjordans1992]

im headin too raw tonight

should be a great show

 

[rfx45]

I have a feeling something will happen with the Kozlov and HBK match and that in the end, it might be a 3-way match.
HBK vs Taker is a big match but what are the chances Taker loses to HBK?

 

[sidewayze]

Originally Posted by RFX45

I have a feeling something will happen with the Kozlov and HBK match and that in the end, it might be a 3-way match.
HBK vs Taker is a big match but what are the chances Taker loses to HBK?

The chances are slim to none, no one is gonna beat Taker at Mania, except if they want Ted to get his big push this way.

 

[teflandon]

I haven't seen RAW or Smackdown in a while, so I was wondering when Wrestlemania is and if someone can explain Austin's feud with Chris Jericho?

 

[dakid4996]

I will be watching tonight.

 

[illoquent aka dsk]

laterrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

 

[momoney848]

Should be a good Raw though. A month before and a month after Mania are the best Raws IMO.

 

[4wrestling]

Originally Posted by MoMoney848

Should be a good Raw though. A month before and a month after Mania are the best Raws IMO.

Well, hopefully they get things moving because I'm not too juiced up for Mania at this point.

 

[jdcurt2]

Rumored plans involving the Draft:

The final decisions for the WWE Draft will be made the week of WrestleMania. Vince McMahon will have extendedcreative meetings for the show and where the show leads.

Triple H is a lock for a move to Raw to continue his feud with Randy Orton. As previously reported, Triple H was moved to Smackdown to increase the ratings andwith the recent change to MyNetworkTV, they may not be a network in September. The general feeling is that it would be a risk to weaken the Smackdown brand byhaving all the top stars on Raw, but it would also not benefit the company by having John Cena or Randy Orton on a show averaging 2.0-2.2 ratings.

Rey Mysterio will be moved back to Smackdown to increase the Hispanic demographic. He has not affected the demographic on Raw, but Smackdown has suffered sincehis departure. They were number one or in the top ten with Mysterio, but since he left in June they have been in the top ten once.

Jeff and Matt Hardy are expected to stay on Smackdown. There's a chance Edge will move to Raw and Chris Jericho to Smackdown. Batista could move toSmackdown if Triple H is indeed returning to Raw. Management offered Shawn Michaels in the past to move to Smackdown but he turned it down since the tapingsconflict with his Wednesday religious commitments.

Jim Ross could return to Raw's announcer booth since internal reviews for Michael Cole have not been good, however, if they stick with Cole on Raw then donot expect an announcer change to happen for a long time.

---

 

[soulonice206]

I don't understand, why not have HHH and Orton featured on both shows?....Miz and Morrison are on every damn show, so why not have your biggest stars dosome cross promotion from time to time...

 

[rko2004]

4wrestling or anyone that has exp, how do you get front row seats for events? I never had them.

 

[illoquent aka dsk]

Originally Posted by jdcurt2


Rumored plans involving the Draft:

The final decisions for the WWE Draft will be made the week of WrestleMania. Vince McMahon will have extended creative meetings for the show and where the show leads.

Triple H is a lock for a move to Raw to continue his feud with Randy Orton. As previously reported, Triple H was moved to Smackdown to increase the ratings and with the recent change to MyNetworkTV, they may not be a network in September. The general feeling is that it would be a risk to weaken the Smackdown brand by having all the top stars on Raw, but it would also not benefit the company by having John Cena or Randy Orton on a show averaging 2.0-2.2 ratings.

Rey Mysterio will be moved back to Smackdown to increase the Hispanic demographic. He has not affected the demographic on Raw, but Smackdown has suffered since his departure. They were number one or in the top ten with Mysterio, but since he left in June they have been in the top ten once.

Jeff and Matt Hardy are expected to stay on Smackdown. There's a chance Edge will move to Raw and Chris Jericho to Smackdown. Batista could move to Smackdown if Triple H is indeed returning to Raw. Management offered Shawn Michaels in the past to move to Smackdown but he turned it down since the tapings conflict with his Wednesday religious commitments.

Jim Ross could return to Raw's announcer booth since internal reviews for Michael Cole have not been good, however, if they stick with Cole on Raw then do not expect an announcer change to happen for a long time.

---

I hope not...

As long as Orton, Jericho and CM Punk don't get moved, I'm straight...

 

[blackmamba08]

Originally Posted by iLLoQuent aka DSK


As long as Orton, Jericho and CM Punk don't get moved, I'm straight...

Yep.

Also, Tonight Orton will decide which champion he will face at WrestleMania which is pretty obvious it's HHH, but you never know..

 

[thacamel]

^^Hey up there, less chit chat, more news and rumors

 

[illoquent aka dsk]

News & Notes


More on tonight's RAW.

- There will be a Triple Threat match tonight for a spot in this year's Money in the Bank Ladder match. The participants will be Rey Mysterio, Kane and Mike Knox.

- Also, Randy Orton will make his decision on whether to face Triple H for the WWE Championship or Edge for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 25.


What has been announced for ECW.

Here is what has been announced for tomorrow night's edition of ECW on Sci-Fi:

* Kane Visits The Boogeyman to Hype See No Evil's Debut on the Sci-Fi Network

* Money in the Bank Qualifier: Mark Henry vs. Santino Marella

* Christian vs. Finlay

* The show is taped before RAW tonight.


Hulk Hogan teases more about possible match at Wrestlemania.

The World Entertainment News Network is reporting that Hulk Hogan has talked to Vince McMahon about possibly working a match at WrestleMania 25 in Houston. According to the website, Hogan wrote the following message on his Twitter profile:

"I spoke with (Chairman of WWE) Vince (McMahon), he is open to me coming back and doing something, maybe at Wrestlemania. Stay tuned Maniacs."

WWE is yet to release anything official. You can read the article at this link.


Undertaker to appear on RAW tonight?

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]-- The Undertaker has arrived in Boston, Massachusetts, which is the site of tonight's WWE RAW. There's no official word on whether Taker will actually appear on RAW or not, but the fact that he's in Boston, and that tonight's Shawn Michaels-Vladimir Kozlov match is for the right to challenge Taker at WM 25, certainly leads to speculation.[/font]


John Cena's RAW promo receives backstage heat.

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] John Cena's mocking of Michael Cole during last week's Raw did not go over well backstage. Brian Gewirtz scripted the promo and the general feeling is that he was playing to Vince, rather than doing what is best for the segment.

Vince is known for being tough on Cole, and Gewirtz used the promo to improve his relationship with the boss. Vince hasn't spent much time with the creative team lately, so it wouldn't be surprising if more stunts like this were to happen by writers to get in Vince's good graces again.

There's no heat against Cena for the promo, but there is on Gewirtz, who already had a bad reputation to begin with. Raven, Sean Waltman, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash have all been vocal about their lack of faith in Gewirtz, both during and after their time with WWE.[/font]


CM Punk to be involved in Kelly Kelly/Kane storyline?

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]-- There is some talk of pairing CM Punk with Kelly Kelly and feuding with Kane. According to upcoming house show line-ups, Punk is scheduled to wrestle Kane over the the Intercontinental Championship.[/font]


Tomko/WWE update.

Tomko had his shoulder surgically repaired about 6 weeks ago. According to sources, he is feeling well and will likely be headed to FCW once he is able to work again. We'll keep you posted here on the website.


Tyson Kidd (T.J. Wilson) to turn heel?

WWE.com has an article looking at ECW newcomer Tyson Kidd and his unique hairstyle. Regarding the hairstyle, Kidd said, "It reminds me that I'm always wearing a crown. If this haircut doesn't scream Extreme, what does?" While he appears to be a babyface for now, it looks like WWE has plans to turn Kidd heel in the near future as he acts rather heelish towards the end of the interview by cutting off the person conducting it and making some rather disparaging remarks regarding ECW. "Why don't you just watch my match highlights on WWE.com," Kidd said, "as I erase the legacy of your beloved Original ECW?" He also proclaims himself as the "future king of Extreme" and says his hairstyle is the way it is because he refuses to follow "the rest of the sheep" in ECW.


Don West's heel turn on TNA a shoot?

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Don West's heel turn on iMPACT this week seems like it came out of nowhere, but what he said about Mike Tenay actually does parallel his real-life reputation. Tenay has had a reputation of being spineless at booking and production meetings back to his WCW days. The feeling was that he would never say what he knew needed to be said because he wanted to protect his job, and a lot of people resent Tenay for that. The fact that this was brought up on TV however was quite a twist. There's no word on where they are going with this, but it's been said that Tenay and West both have had bouts of insecurity about their positions as announcers in the past, so this does draw from reality.

When it comes to some of the things West said on iMPACT, there are some people within the company who really do feel that way about Tenay and were glad to see him called out for it on TV.[/font]

 

[6 Rings G.O.A.T.]

* Money in the Bank Qualifier: Mark Henry vs. Santino Marella

Santino Marella NEEDS TO WIN

 

[jdcurt2]

I sure hope that Henry, Kane, or Knox isnt in MITB

Edit: I just heard Jimmy Snuka is backstage at Raw so he could be Jericho's assaultee tonight

 

[mjmoney23]

Im going to SD tomorrow night, Im interested to see if Cena will be there since my wife likes him. Since it is a double sd taping, the 2ed taping is suppossedto be the 500th edition of sd (airing a week from friday). Maybe something big will happen. I will post a full review on Wed. 3rd row ringside, best seats Iever had! I posted this in the old thread, I will repost, if you can help me I appreciate it...

I picked up some backlash tickets on Satruday, sec 122 row C. DOES ANYONE KNOW IF THE SINGLE LETTER ROWS (A, B, C) ARE CLOSER THAN THE DOUBLE LETTER ROWS (AA,BB,CC) AT THE DUNKIN DONUTS CENTER?

 

[T0INE]

@ Mark Henry being in the MITB match.

 

[maelstroom]

WWE better not screw up and put Kozlov w/ Undertaker or Henry,Kane, or Knox in MITB

 

[D Fly]

I swear Henry better not be in this %#@!...

 

[mjmoney23]

Poor Mark Henry catching some HGH level heat from Niketalk.

 

[yardfather]

I'm calling it now.

Santino gets a cheap victory tomorrow.

MITB match, everyone is down and out after a huge spot. Santino sneaks up the ladder and grabs the briefcase.

Please let that happen

 

[bayburyya]

lol... I love watching Jericho promos. But I can't even front, I got HELLA offended when I was at Raw and he called the crowd hypocrites and parasites.