Damn, I was busted for two errors last week. First, the oversight on the year 1993... I said that Luger and Hart landed at the same time during the 1993 Royal Rumble. That is incorrect, for it was the 1994 Royal Rumble. See, 1993 was a bad year and when I think about a bad year involving Lex Luger in the WWE, it's Lex Luger with his fucking Lex Express. My apologies for that one... Secondly, I was busted on Lita vs. Trish Stratus not getting announced a week in advance. I usually forget what gets announced in the midcard of shows, so that's another oversight. I had a busy week during the time I had off and I was writing up an exam during the show. Forgive me, if you weeeeelll...
But, fan feedback has resulted in my BLOG returning. That's right, the Mr. Tito Weblog has returned and the address is http://mrtito.blogspot.com/. I'll try to keep it updated often, with my thoughts on various things non-wrestling. In my latest and returning update, I talk about the video games I'm playing, music I'm listening to, and sports, as well as other stuff. I asked the readers if they wanted it to return and so it has. Enjoy!
-The BIG NEWS OF THE WEEK are backstage fights in the WWE. Last night at RAW, Mick Foley and Ric Flair came to blows after an argument over what was said in 2 books. It's apparent that Ric Flair offered a handshake to Foley and Foley declined. Foley, in gest, asked Flair for an autographed copy of his book. Now the situation was really heated and Flair connected with a punch. Luckily, the situation was broken up before it could get really ridiculous. I guarantee, though, that Vince McMahon was really smiling over this situation. You can't ask for better backstage publicity to leak out than two legends, in their own right, getting into a fight. You can't! Especially something that could potentially boost book sales...
Then, at the Smackdown tapings, a frustrated Chavo Guerrero over Heyman leaving argued with the Big Show. BIG MISTAKE, as the Big Show pie faced Chavo across the room. Seriously, Chavo, what are you thinking trying to pick a fight with a guy 7 foot tall and 500 pounds? Stupid, stupid, stupid... I bet Chavo is punished for this one, as you'll likely see him do a few jobs in the next week, but nothing more than that. I seriously believe, though, that the WWE is purposely leaking the backstage brawl news to wrestling news sources just to give smart fans a curiousity about the product. You know, just think what COULD HAPPEN if Flair and Foley did a television segment together or if Big Show and Chavo happened to wrestle in the same match. *GASP* I believe that most fight news gets overblown, except for the late Curt Hennig and Brock Lesnar fighting on an airplane. You know, destructive fights that could have killed entire rosters if an emergency door happens to break open.
-Another big news item was Ivory... Ivory? She's still in the WWE? Now there's a broad that should be used in the Women's Division, but hey, let's just keep that division with just 4 women wrestlers (Molly, Trish, Lita, Victoria). Whatever. But the news about Ivory is her comments regarding Muhammed Hassan when talking to Todd Grisham. Now first, let's not forget that Grisham said he'd be driving to the show. That's pretty tasteless to begin with, but Ivory responded with the following comment: "Good, because I don't want you to be flying, if you get my drift.". While what Ivory said was tasteless, it's far and beyond what the WWE has done regarding 9/11. While the WWE boasts about traveling over to Iraq for the troops, they have Lance Storm, Chris Nowinski, and now Muhammed Hassan slamming the United States of America over 9/11, using that tragic event as cheap heat for those wrestlers. What Ivory said is nothing in comparison to what the WWE has done for cheap heat, and the WWE is the wrestling federation who performed the whole Desert Storm war in their storylines during 1990-1991 with Sgt. Slaughter vs. Hulk Hogan!!! So again, tell me how tasteless Ivory's ridiculous comments were in comparison to what the WWE has done themselves, even though they are such great humanitarians for entertaining troops overseas. If I were an United States soldier over in Iraq right now, I'd get in Vince's face about the Hassan character and ask him why he's hear after that bullshit.
-WWE.com had a recent poll discussing Hall of Fame inductions. The WWE Hall of Fame is almost as big of a joke as the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame is in Cleveland, OH. The WWE is only going to give inductions for guys willing to show up on their shows, which shows bias and it taints what real contributions certain guys made to their federation, such as Bruno Sammartino, who wants nothing to do with the WWE right now. The RNR Hall of Fame is a joke, as they clearly can't induct very deserving acts (such as my favorite, Chicago), but they can induct acts with much lower overall success and over small periods of time. Plus, that museum sucks. I've been there twice, and have been impressed very little. Cooperstown and Canton do well for representing Baseball and Football respectively, but Cleveland's Hall of Fame is a poor display in honoring the best in Rock N Roll. It has its good parts, but a lot of it is useless and the inductees are very questionable.
-Recently demoted creative director Paul Heyman spoke with PWInsider.com for an interview recently. He put over the DVD, which he expected to be poorly produced but wasn't. Then, he went off again over Rob Van Dam being misused. That's true in some aspect. But if you ask me, Rob Van Dam hasn't been doing a lot of things on his part to improve his character. RVD is STILL the same guy I remember from ECW, and that's the same old spot machine that says "DUUUUUDE" every once and a while. He needs to update his look and maybe update his wrestling ability... Heyman, though, went on to defend his ECW by saying the WWE shouldn't try to reincarnate ECW by their own means... BUT, if a one time show was held, he felt fans would be interested in that. Basically, Heyman confirmed that something in 2005 will be done with ECW in mind, such as an ECW reunion Pay Per View. The WWE has a lot of ECW wrestlers on its roster... the question is, would Sabu, Shane Douglas, Raven, Sandman, and a handful of others be willing to return for one night only? Doubtful...
-And while I'm on the subject of interviews, I LAUGHED at Vince Russo defending his decision to make David Arquette WCW World Champion. That positive shit about Arquette winning the title getting national headlines is ridiculous, for the title's value was completely diminished and the angle didn't bring in new fans. In fact, it's shown that Arquette winning the title actually killed Russo's 2nd run as head writer in WCW! The Arquette title victory insulted what WCW fans were left and killed that fanbase for good. Now, I'm not going to knock Arquette personally because the guy donated ALL of his WCW earnings to the families of lost loved ones in wrestling, such as the Pillman family. I respect him a whole lot for that and I don't blame him for taking the opportunity to become champion. I blame Russo. It was Russo's creative decision and it was one he made without putting wrestling fans' dollars in perspective. He completely wrecked the WCW fanbase during his 2nd run as the top creative man in WCW, period, end of sentence!
-I'm a good 310 pages or so into Jerry Lawler's book and should probably finish it sometime soon. What can I say, I'm a slow reader and I'm also a busy man. My time is valuable. After I get done with Lawler's book, I'll hit up Freddie Blassie's book next. Then, I'll go get Edge's book and definitely read that one since Edge wrote it himself (gotta respect that). The only WWE book I've avoided was Lita's. Is that one any good at all? Let me know, for I can get it in paperback...
-With regards to Game Cube's WWE Day of Reckoning, I'm fighting through the schedule, winning some and losing some. I have Greg Valentine, Andre the Giant, Roddy Piper (although I don't know if you have to unlock him), and Brutus "the Barber" Beefcake unlocked, for it's a bitch to unlock Bret Hart! I really enjoy, though, playing as Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle to take on the "Dream Team" of Brutus Beefcake and Greg Valentine. Good stuff... too bad the Elimination Chamber isn't on Day of Reckoning... damn it!
On to the RAW review, which I wrote before my introduction. This method seems to be working for me, as before, I'd run out of steam after an hour's worth of writing the introduction. Readers seem to agree as well.
The first match of the night was as advertised last week between Edge and Randy Orton. Again, I'm not very high on Randy Orton's in-ring work, and the same thing happened here than it did during the Intercontinental Title wars: boring action. Both guys traded moves back and forth, but without much emotion, hence the so-so reaction from the crowd throughout the match. I don't know how many times I must say that Randy Orton is NOT READY for main event status. He's only 24, which is my age. Would it be logical to say, promote me to mayor of my city? Of course not! I would be no where near ready for that great responsibility, nor is Randy Orton as being a World Title contender or main eventer. When will the WWE get it through their THICK heads that Orton is not ready? He HAS the potential, but not this year or next. He's 24 and the WWE is already destroying his potential by pushing him too fast. The WWE just needs to watch EVERY match of Orton's this year to see that as a fact, and the only good match he's wrestled this year was the RAW after Summerslam against Chris Benoit and that was Benoit's supreme carrying. Anyway, Orton won this match, as Edge has actually lost a lot of matches lately to render giving him the World Title useless in the storylines. I do like Edge's constant paranoia over the title, though, and he's probably one big win away from inking it in fans' heads that he's ready to become World Champion. Good build up by the WWE on Edge, but a very poor continuous one on Randy Orton.
Next, we had the RAW Divas out in mini-skirts (mmmmm) and shooting shirts out to the crowd. I was thinking we'd get more bimbo limbo or lingerie stripping until the fucking man comes out and that is Gene Snitsky. In his own cheesy way, he says he's out here to have fun! That would be the strangest orgy I've ever seen... His nice guy act ends with his attack on Christie, the bimbo limbo contest winner of last week and that prompts new Women's champion, Lita, to display her BEST MIC SKILLS EVER. She actually spoke well for a change. I couldn't believe my ears. She said that Kane is coming and that would lead Snitsky to go chase her up the ramp. However, just as Snitsky gets near the entrance, FIRE shoots up. It happened again, signifying Kane is coming back. The WWE loves to use the supernatural, even though fans are very smart against it these days. Seriously, Kane's NOT in Huntsville, AL, so Snitsky should attack the production guys for shooting fire at him. I would.
Funny stuff with Eugene and Mick Foley, I must say...
Looks like Simon Dean's character will be a lot more toned down now that he's signed a wrestling contract with Eric Bischoff. I wonder if the WWE will let Dean eventually become a flashy and very charismatic wrestler he once was in ECW? Time will tell...
Next, it was a tag match to polish Bischoff's ass for his decision later and it was Triple H/Batista vs. Chris Benoit/Chris Jericho. This was a LOT better than last week's effort, in my opinion. I liked the psychology of when Flair tried to run in and attack Jericho and Benoit, but HHH/Batista had to hold him back. Nice turn of events, too, with Batista getting the winning pin on Chris Benoit, a guy Triple H has failed to defeat in singles action this year. Much better tag team chemistry used in this match and better use of the time given to both teams. After the match, HHH was jacked about Batista winning the match, but I seriously doubt Batista will turn on HHH in the end. It seems like the WWE is actually slowly building up Batista, which is the opposite of HHH's other friend, Randy Orton.
Mick Foley arrives next and promotes his appearance on next week's Smackdown... He's never been on Smackdown much, but this time, he'll be there when it airs from Iraq! As much as I give the WWE props for entertaining the troops, they sure enjoy showing video clips of last year's show. Just an observation. Foley said that while he's anti-war and formerly a John Kerry supporter (saying he had boxes of Kerry bumper stickers), he still supports the troops no matter what. See, that's the attitude a liberal should take, not voting against an $87 billion bill to supplement the troops like losing John Kerry who voted to authorize force in Iraq. Oh shit, I'm getting political, must stop! After a while, that would prompt Muhammed Hassan to come out and talk stupid over 9/11. Major KUDOS to the Huntsville crowd for shitting all over this guy with the "WHAT!" chants. That just goes to show you how ridiculous the WWE is for creating and pushing this character. His cheap heat tactics weren't working, as the crowd knows what the WWE is up to in terms of shock value. Welcome to 2004, WWE. You just don't get what makes a good wrestling show any more. What makes a good wrestling show is someone who can speak from the heart, as Mick Foley's responses were incredible and the crowd was into it. Now, while Hassan is no Foley by any means, the crap he was saying was clearly baited by the WWE to get a cheap heat reaction. It didn't work, as the "WHAT!" chants proved that. End this ridiculous character, especially with your future trip to Iraq, of all places, to promote good will.
Next, we had a bad six man match with Christian/Tyson Tomko/Maven vs. Eugene/William Regal/Shelton Benjamin. The problem is your heel side in this match, as only Christian is the only one on that team capable of working a match, and even he isn't that interesting these days. Picture perfect superkick in this match by Shelton Benjamin, by the way, on Tyson Tomko. Damn, that was beautiful! The match ended with Maven getting the cheap roll-up finish while holding the ropes. Oh joy, Maven vs. Benjamin matches. Now, remember what I said about Orton not being ready? At least he's way more ready for any kind of push than Maven, who is so green and if you ask me, he's barely made progress since his appearances after Tough Enough 1. The only difference between Maven now and Maven then is his muscular mass, which has greatly increased over time.
Backstage, we saw Triple H sincerely begging Eric Bischoff to give him the title, even possibly crying. Is that what HHH learned from Blade: Trinity, which is currently bombing at the box office? My brother said it best... is this what Triple H does to Vince McMahon when he wants his way?
No main event match, as the final segment was Eric Bischoff FINALLY making a decision about the World Title, as he did in the ring. Bischoff said that the title was still vacant and it will be decided at the next RAW Pay Per View in the ELIMINATION CHAMBER, with Edge, Benoit, HHH, Jericho, Orton, and Batista are your lucky contestants. That COULD be interesting, as both Elimination Chamber matches held have been decent, although not injury free because the structure of the chamber is legitimately dangerous. Ask HHH, who took a knee to the throat by RVD from a high leap. I liked last year's Summerslam one where Bill Goldberg FINALLY exploded onto the scene in the WWE... but of course, HHH still won.
LAST WORD: A much better show this week than the past few weeks, at least storyline wise. The midcard needs a lot of help and repair, though, as it's not coming through with any good matches or good feuds. Nice build up of Batista to allow him to be in the Elimination Chamber for this show. I didn't like the Hassan/Foley segment, and a lot of stuff was ridiculous, such as fire going off before Snitsky could leave the arena. The WWE seriously never learns by past idiot mistakes in insulting fans' intelligence. In addition, the WWE will never learn patience on pushing such young stars as Orton and Maven. Yeah, I've always said that the WWE needs to create new stars, but not out of two guys who CLEARLY aren't ready. Guys like Benjamin or Edge are ones to push to the top level, for example. I'll give this show a [ C+ ], a generous grade at that.
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