My Smackdown thoughts? Didn't watch it. I went home Thursday night and forgot to set my timer at home. But it's not like I cared that much. Ever since the Undertaker arrived on the show, it just hasn't been fun to watch anymore. I did, however, watch Velocity to get sort of caught up on what happened on Smackdown, and let me say this: I didn't miss much. Or at least it appeared that way.
How about my Unforgiven thoughts? Didn't watch that one, either. It's the first Pay Per View of 2002 that I've missed, and you know what, I'm not bothered by it. For one, the show didn't impress me from its hype. Plus, I usually have to make a 2 and a half hour drive home on Sundays, and I didn't feel that Unforgiven had a card strong enough to make me want to watch that show and arrive back at school really late. Therefore, I can't comment if the show was good or not, but all I need to say is look at the two World title bouts. Triple H retained his fake World Title, and the Undertaker didn't put over the UNDISPUTED champion, Brock Lesnar, at a Pay Per View. Thank God I didn't pay to see that, and I laugh at the thousands that did.
I do wish I would have caught the Benoit vs. Angle match, but I'm sure I'll see that match somewhere down the road. Oh well.
The WWE is so screwed up right now that I don't even care if it goes down. I LAUGH at how the ratings keep dropping, as we are now in the 3.4 range, which was Russo's best during his early WCW days. I laugh at how embarrassing the attendance is in some certain big cities, where the WWE was just selling them out in minutes just 2 years ago. I laugh at how poorly merchandise is selling right now. It serves the WWE right. If you have a bunch of idiots writing the shows, continually pushing older guys or those with too much political influence, and to keep producing garbage like the HLA or the same sex weddings, then you get what you deserve. I hope the WWE keeps dropping in business just so that another federation will one day rise to the occasion and give the WWE some competition for a change. Lord knows the WWE needs it right now.
The rumors about possible "changes" are just hilarious! Jim Ross to Smackdown?? He considers that show the "hot" one now, so he'll bump out Michael Cole, who in my opinion is better than Jim Ross here in 2002, and hog the spotlight. You know, I don't even care. The Undertaker is on Smackdown, stinking up that show, so I don't really care. Same with the rumors of the Big Show going to Smackdown. Let them ruin the possible goldmine they had with that show, as they were just a few breakout young stars from being successful there. Instead, those same young stars must put up with bullshit from the Undertaker and chokeslams from the biggest fatass the federation has.
You ask for it, you shall receive it. I don't feel I need to stress over it like I used to when writing the Phat Daily Column. Now that I have 6 days off, I can sit back and laugh at how pathetic things in wrestling have seriously become. Also, I laugh at how many brainwashed fans there are that try to yell at me, insisting that I'm just to negative. Yes, I said BRAINWASHED. Hello!?!? The ratings, attendance, buyrates, merchandise, and public interest in the WWE are ALL DOWN. Does that not tell you something? Sure, some things could be trendy, but each have had significant drops, only showing that the WWE is doing something wrong!! Duh, you don't need to be a freakin' rocket scientist to see how bad it has become.
But some can't see that, and I hope you keep wasting your time, insisting that Mr. Tito is so negative while your precious WWE crumbles before your very eyes.
To change gears here, if I may, I just might be reopening the Backyard BBQ, only much more organized this time for Backyard Wrestling sites. Given that the Backyard Wrestling Link went down and along with other pages, I felt that a good backyard wresting index needed to be made. So, if you're interested in having your site in the index, please fill out the following registration:
Federation Name:
Location: (City and State)
Type of Fed: (Such as are you a hardcore one, technical one, a mix?)
Where you wrestle: (in your backyard, living room, etc.)
Federation's e-mail:
Backyard federations should email this information to titobbq@yahoo.com with "BACKYARD BBQ SUBMISSION" in the title of your e-mail, and I'll eventually create the site, one of these days, to honor the great sport of backyard wrestling. This e-mail is not to be confused with my Wrath of Tito feedback e-mail, to which you send all of your column gripes to wrathoftito@yahoo.com.
A new PDC archive page should be created in the upcoming weeks. I ran out of space at the current location, hence the lack of updates.
On to the Wrath, and I don't mean Brian Clarke.
Ah yes, Booker T and Goldust backstage segment. I need a good laugh. We get them playing a video of Bischoff getting the stinkface last night, which looked to be a very crazy segment last night. Good disguise for Rikishi. Rico caught the WWE stars laughing about Eric, although they don't care. Hmm...
I hope that Rico as Bischoff's personal snitch gives him a rightful push after being wasted as a manager.
Eric Bischoff comes out because he's one of the few entertaining things on the RAW roster. Well, at least they froze up the free agency, as now they'll have to make trades. Geesh. He called out Booker T, yelled at him for his HLA laughs and then Rico and the Island Boyz attack! Goldust makes the save, but eventually fails. Uh oh, Rico could be back as a manager with the Island Boyz.
Nice connection with Chris Jericho wanting Goldust after Bischoff announced that Rico would fight Booker T.
Oh no, it's the skinniest man on the WWE's roster coming out... That's right, it's Jeff Hardy. That body pain has added about 5 pounds to his weight, however. I suppose Jeff Hardy is exempt from the tanning salon, eh? HAHAHAHA! He gets to get tossed around by the Big Show, the fattest man on the WWE's roster. Talk about a mix of size. These guys are "two main eventers", as seen from the stupid #1 contender's match between Jericho, RVD, Hardy, and Big Show. Yeah right! Sell those moves like a bitch, Jeff!! Big Show won, doing nothing for him by squashing a skinny bastard, and it only flushes Hardy further down the toilet.
I almost forgot about the Christopher Nowinski and Tommy Dreamer confrontation. Holy shit! Nowinski is using the chalkboard! He's become Dean Douglas! Run for the hills!!!
HAHAHAHAHAHA @ the No Mercy promo! OH MY GOD!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA!
Tommy Dreamer comes in to talk to Dean Douglas 2002, only to get attacked with a Singapore cane. Dreamer fights him back in a brutal beatdown. You know, this could become a very solid midcard feud if they keep pushing it, and it could seriously help put Nowinski on the map. Just get rid of the Dean Douglas similarities (no offense to Shane, but the gimmick was bad). Nice segment.
Steven Richards comes out and he'll fight the new wrestler from Smackdown, Randy Orton. Oh big deal. I guess the WWE needs him for Mtv Heat instead of where he was, Velocity. Sure, he's greatly talented in that ring, but he lacks the personality to take it to the next level. Ross has a hard on for this guy, given his past relationships with Orton's family. Well, at least it's not a hard on for guys who are nearly 7 feet in height, also known as "hosses". Ross said it was going to be a blow to Smackdown. HOW SO?!? Smackdown hardly used him after his initial push. Orton won. Not a bad match, but these poor guys need some storylines to surround them to get the crowds much more involved.
Union Underground sounds pretty good live. Good stuff. They should have played the opening theme at the beginning, but oh well. The WWE has been greatly pushing Forceable Entry lately, probably in attempt to cover losses made from creating the Smackdown music label.
Whoooo! Ric Flair will come out. I have to wonder if Triple H and Flair will form a 4 Horsemen like group. Triple H is a big, big Flair fan, so you never know if being a Horseman is one of his fantasies. Controlling the WWE by screwing a McMahon was probably a fantasy, and he accomplished that! Flair has a decent motive for his turn, citing that none of the younger wrestlers appreciated him, so why not join up with a guy who actually admired Flair growing up? It works, but it's another way for Triple H to protect his spot. Fine. But with Flair, let's at least try to make Triple H's new feuds to be interesting. RVD would try to come down, but get blindsided by Triple H. Flair and Triple H would then pound on RVD. Oh, but Bubba tries to make the save. He failed, but would try to run back in with a chair to get Flair and Triple H away. I bet if one of them held up the 4 Horsemen signal, the internet would be a-buzzing. This would set up a tag match for the main event.
Chris Jericho vs. Goldust was next. Solid back and forth midcard action. Goldust doesn't wrestle too often on RAW. It's such a shame that Booker T and Goldust were passed over for the World tag titles. Jericho would win via the Walls of Boston! That match was given some good time to develop and it had a heel getting a clean win instead of garbage run ins or disqualifications. Good stuff.
Meredith Brooks was at ringside. So what? She was a one hit wonder and she won't ever be able to back that up with any other big singles.
Unamericans defended their World Titles against Kane and his mystery partner Hurricane. Huh?!?!? What on earth is going on? Is this "Unload Velocity Wrestler Week" here at the WWE? I'm a fan of Helms's work, but the WWE certainly hasn't cared enough to keep pushing his character to make this big switch matter. Nothing like sending Cruiserweights on over to RAW when there are giants everywhere. I guess the Big Show needed someone to take his FAT AGGRESSION out on. Double chokeslam! I liked that. Hurricane and Kane win the titles... hmmm. I wonder, when this team loses the belts, who will get pinned? I like both Kane and Hurricane, but they reek badly of the Big Show/Spike or Big Show/Tajiri teams. Plus, why couldn't Booker T and Goldust win the titles a while back instead of throwing together a team out of no where and winning the titles?
I swear, Kane is INSANE during his interviews. LOL @ Kane kissing Terri! HAHAHAHAHA
Booker T vs. Rico was next. Somewhat of a squash. Eh. Same 3 guys beat on Booker T from earlier, and Goldust, as expected, ran in for the save. Goldust/Booker T vs. the Island Boyz? That may work. It will happen next week.
RVD wasn't bad in his backstage promo with Bubba. I guess when you force him to be serious about the promo, it could go well.
Main Event time, as it's Rob Van Dam/Bubba Ray Dudley vs. Ric Flair/Triple H. ECW versus two very strong World Champions. Who will win?!? Amazing how Flair went from losing to the Intercontinental champion to hanging out with the "World Champion". Anything is possible with Triple H having control over storylines or his character. Both teams seem to be working well together. Of course, Triple H wins again, and Flair will start to win more often with Triple H as his partner. Sad thing is that two former ECW stars are the only ones to feud with Triple H. Yuck at the botched powerbomb on the table. Looks like Bubba just earned a depushing.
LAST WORD: Good lord, a MUCH BETTER RAW this week than last week. Last week's show was just hell to live through, and this one was actually pretty watchable. Matches were pretty solid here for television and promos were either kept short or entertaining, which was different from last week. I'll give it an
Check out Willygoat Xtreme Wrestling and the Valley Wrestling Federation. Two great backyard feds.
WRESTLEPALOOZA.com - Audio Show, Columns, News, and more!
KOLTERSHOCK!!! - A site that you shouldn't view with small children present!
X-Entertainment.com - One of the most entertaining pages on the net!
@Good effort this week, so let's make it 2 for 2 this Thursday in a show that I will watch. See you next Tuesday!
Take Care, and Thanks for Reading.