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Lots of interesting feedback on yesterday's column. Readers sent in other ideas for why they'll always watch wrestling Pay Per Views, and some of the ideas were quite illegal. The cleaner ones were like reasons to put off studying, reasons to have women over, and so forth. Although some might have hated last night's PPV, I'm sure we won't see a big drop for the next PPV, Judgment Day.
Lots to discuss and lots to hype, so on to the PDC!
Opening match was X-Factor vs. the Dudley Boyz. Personally, I would have put Raven vs. Rhyno or the European Title fight as the first match, but I'm not a booker! The match, to me, was better than expected, although it wasn't great. I was rather intrigued by the clean win by the heels, which I believe the team of X-Pac and Justin Credible are headed for Tag Team gold soon. However, those titles are on a powerful team right now, so it's more feuding with the Dudleys.
Second match was Raven vs. Rhyno. It's such a shame that the WWF tried to push Raven as a FACE wrestler to go after the European title. It's more of a shame that the WWF waited until the last Smackdown to fix the problem, and book a good match out of it. Oh well. Raven and Rhyno put on a pretty good match, although Raven isn't the hardcore wrestler he used to be, like I discussed in Saturday's PDC. I'd like to see the WWF push a rematch between the two, to you know, make up for lost ground on the build up for this match. Again, I'm not the booker!
I figured the corny "Dutchess of Queensbury" would BURY any possibility of Chris Jericho and William Regal putting on a match as good as the Wrestlemania one. That's a shame, but I guess we'll be making up for it at Judgment Day, where they'll probably fight again.
Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle was just a boring match, even to me. I like good technical matches with lots of fierce action, and we didn't get that with Benoit and Angle. The crowd was so dead for this, because why would they cheer for Benoit? Actually, it sounded like they cheered for Angle last night, at times. This match beat down my expectations of the one match to save a somewhat average show, and it sort of hurt the crowd for the rest of the night.
Is Shane McMahon the man or what? He's the most hardcore person in the WWF, period. He's a fucking executive and part owner of the WWF, and he has more balls to take risks than anybody in the WWF. I just can't believe he hasn't killed himself doing any of the bumps, especially the ones from around 30 feet high. At least he won the match for his efforts, which makes me wonder where the Big Show's career is going.
Wow, the 3 way dance between Christian, Eddie Guerrero, and Matt Hardy was quite short. Matt Hardy won the match after help from his brother Jeff, which makes me wonder when Jeff will just come out and challenge his brother to a match. I know everyone is waiting for one Hardy bro to throw the other Hardy through a barber's window. Anyway, this was basically a normal Smackdown match for me, and nothing special.
The main event between Triple H/Steve Austin vs. Undertaker/Kane was about what I expected, with Austin/Triple H getting the win after the Game nailed Kane with a sledgehammer. Well, get used to it, for we're going to see Triple H vs. Kane and Austin vs. Undertaker at Judgment Day. I honestly don't know how many times Kane and Triple H could wrestle without getting sick of each other, and I don't know how the Undertaker could work with a guy who can't take the hard bumps needed to make him look good.
LAST WORD: Where did the Wrestlemania momentum go? After one of the best shows in wrestling history, this is the leftovers? I'm really fearful of what will happen to the WWF now, because their ratings after the WCW buyout have been dropping, and only their television tapings are selling out. Having a so-so Pay Per View, which I'll grade it as a C, isn't going to help matters. The only true way for the WWF to get out of this rut is to get the WCW angle going. However, they'll have to sign some big name wrestlers to create that spark needed in Vince McMahon's recent wrestling product.
Well, I bet you can expect Kane to be very pissed off at what Triple H did to him at Backlash. This will set up the huge INTERCONTINENTAL battle for Judgment Day, if you can't wait already. If you want to add real intrigue to the match, why not make it a Title vs. Mask match? I know fans have been creaming for Kane to lose the mask for a while now, and it would actually fit quite nicely.
Expect the Undertaker to make some sort of challenge to Steve Austin. I wonder how the crowds, though, will react to their match at Judgment Day. Undertaker is over, but it still seems that fans won't give up on the idea about Austin as the top face. I don't know...........
Of course, you can expect more from Jericho and Regal. I wouldn't be surprised if they fight a rematch tonight on RAW, but who knows? Also, the European title will probably be on the line, probably with a possible Christian vs. Matt Hardy match or something like that.
I just don't know where the WWF is going from here, until the Rock comes back in July, to spark up the product. However, the months after Wrestlemania, over time, have always proved the be the WWF's downtimes for each year. I guess Wrestlemania is that hard to prepare for?
!!! Finally, a BIG Happy Birthday to my homeboy Jaymz, who writes "Dead Bodies Everywhere" here at LoP and runs a child friendly site called KOLTERSHOCK. He's turning a big 67 today, and at that age, he's proud to say he hasn't had to use Depends yet! Go Jaymz!
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@That's all for today. I'll be back tomorrow with a RAW review and whatever else comes to mind. So until then, to quote Bill Edgar of the Wrestle Palooza Audio Show, STAY OUT OF TROUBLE!!!!
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