Candyman

What a tragedy. All those people who complain about all the rules changes for player safety in the NFL, I wish they could spend a day going through what Junior Seau likely went through. Physically and emotionally. And the thousands of former players just like him and who are struggling to get through life, with woefully inadequate financial support from NFL. Sometimes it takes a tragedy of this magnitude(no disrespect to other former players who have committed suicide, like Dave Duerson, who also shot himself in the chest so his brain could be examined) to get people's attention. The NFL is trying to change for a reason - to stop stuff like this from happening. (Even if it is just to protect themselves financially.) RIP Junior Seau

It was actually option C: Jim Irsay is an attention whore. He never had any intention of drafting Griffin or trading out of the first spot or getting Luck to take less money. He just wanted people to talk about the Colts...and, more specifically, the Colts owner. This is nitpicking, but Shaun Alexander is in thie Peterson/CJ2K/Foster category, not the Slaton/Ward/McClain one. Alexander put the numbers up for a long time and was the best running back in the league, if not the best player in the league, for more than one season. His downfall was because of injuries and loss of offensive linemen, not because he wasn't special. He was very special. But yeah, most of everything else you said is true. It's worth noting that the Colts were in the AFC Championship Game the year before they got the #1 overall pick and took Peyton Manning. (Ironically, lead by Andrew Luck's college coach, Jim Harbaugh.) So there's a lot of similiarities between the situations the team was in then and the one they're in now. But the thing that people will need to remember as they watch Andrew Luck start his career - and no doubt, they will not, and it'll drive me crazy - is how average Peyton Manning was in his first five seasons. His record was 42-38. He had an even 100 interceptions in those five seasons, which I believe is the record for most interceptions in the first five seasons of a quarterback's career. Of course, he's thrown 98 interceptions in the 8 seasons since, with 7 straight 12-win seasons and 8 straight playoff appearances. But the point is that Peyton struggled, sometimes a lot, as he adjusted to the NFL. There was never much doubt that he would figure it out eventually, but it didn't happen right away, and people shouldn't expect that from Andrew Luck. Also, I don't have the quote here, but you mentioned that the Broncos shouldn't have traded Tebow and instead let him learn behind Manning. Nah. Manning's a great QB, but you couldn't have two more different QBs than Manning and Tebow. Which means Tebow wouldn't be able to just step into the starting spot if Manning got hurt or in a few years when he retires like you implied, because they require two completely different systems. You're better off drafting a pocket passing QB who can learn behind Manning and pick up right where he left off if he gets hurt or, hopefully, in 3+ years when he retires. Which, of course, they did.

One of my favorite random, unprovoked chants of all time. I first noticed it on Smackdown! last week. Hopefully it catches on. I really don't get this line of thinking. I mean, an hour before that they did the exact same thing with Punk/Jericho. On Friday, they did the exact same thing with Sheamus and Mark Henry. It's a standard format - heel dominates, face pulls through in the end. They've been doing it since I started watching wrestling in the 80's, when Hulk Hogan became the biggest superstar in wrestling history by doing the exact same thing. But John Cena's the one face that shouldn't do it? And the dumb move would've been having a part time wrestler squash your biggest star. What are you going to do with Cena? He's no different than the guys Ryback has been eating for lunch if you do that. Don't get me wrong, on another night, under different circumstances, Lesnar can beat Cena - but not after destroying him for 15 minutes. Cena needed to pull out the win to maintain his credibility. They got their point across with Lesnar. That was my thought too. I really don't know how somebody can proclaim they're done with WWE based on that PPV. One of the best wrestling shows I've seen in a long, long time. Orton/Kane, both title matches, and Cena/Lesnar were all excellent matches. I have no idea what was so predictable about any of it, beyond the normal predictability of a wrestling match(there's only two possible outcomes, it's pretty predictable). And given what happened after the match, with Cena talking to the trainer and the little speech he gave, it certainly appears that his arm is legit injured. Definitely didn't look like a work. Although Beth Phoenix's ankle injury didn't look like a work, aside from the referee's nonchalance, so who knows for sure. I guess we'll find out in the next few days.

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Fantabulous" data-cite="Fantabulous" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>You mean A-Train lied? But that would mean those nasty evil dirtsheets were telling the truth? But that can't be true; they're nasty and evil and only spread lies.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Good point. I mean, they right on the money when they said it'd be an Undertaker/Triple H/Shawn Michaels triple threat at Mania, when they said Cena/Rock would be for the title, when they said Brock Lesnar would be wrestling at Mania, when they said Shaq would be wrestling at Mania, when they said Randy Orton would win the Rumble, when they said Brock Lesnar would be in the Royal Rumble, when they said Triple H and Undertaker would be at the Royal Rumble, when they said John Cena was going to be at TLC, etc etc.</p><p> </p><p> They're right about everything! How dare they be questioned?</p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Fantabulous" data-cite="Fantabulous" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>WWE.com ran an article about this story, and the fact they felt the need to respond at all is pretty telling.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> What, exactly, does it tell? Based on your misguided views of dirtsheets, I'm guessing you're trying to imply that it's somehow telling that there must be some truth to it, which would make no sense of course.</p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Fantabulous" data-cite="Fantabulous" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>In case we've got the usual suspect(s) eager to go all, "LOLZ DIRTSHEETS R RONG!!!", (too late) I'll point out that:</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Why do you seem so surprised that dirtsheets are wrong again? Are you equally surprised when you don't win the lottery?</p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Fantabulous" data-cite="Fantabulous" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>1) Triple H is all, "We're not closing down FCW" but then is all, ""I can't comment as to whether or not we will relocate developmental". So, which is it? You're not closing them down but you can't say whether or not you're moving developmental?</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> If you're going to quote somebody using quotation marks, at least try to attempt to remotely represent what was actually said. Since you were so far off from anything that he actually came out of his mouth, I can only assume that your second quote was meant to represent this:</p><p> </p><p> “There are plans in the works, but nothing definitive I can discuss right now,” he said. “Shortly after WrestleMania, there will be a major announcement about our developmental system.”</p><p> </p><p> Putting the fallacy of your quotes aside, you do realize that "closing down" and "relocate" mean two different things, right? It's not a "which is it" situation. It can easily be both.</p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Fantabulous" data-cite="Fantabulous" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>2) Take out the copy and paste sites who edit and rephrase things, the story from the main news sites was that WWE were moving developmental. Which the WWE.com article all but says is exactly what is going to happen. It was the copy and paste sites, and not the main news sites, that claimed FCW was shutting down.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> And those are the dirt sheets, genius. You can't "take out" the very thing you're talking about.</p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Fantabulous" data-cite="Fantabulous" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>3) But let's presume it's all nasty lies and FCW is not closing down. Why cancel their only TV? Why not keep it until they've moved elsewhere in Florida?</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> That's your argument for the dirtsheets getting it right about FCW closing down? Really? Here's a few possible reasons off the top of my head:</p><p> </p><p> 1.Their contract with Brighthouse Network was up and the station didn't want to renew for just a few weeks.</p><p> 2.They had to notify Brighthouse Network the show was ending by a certain date, like today, or they'd be on the hook for X number of more episodes - a higher total than they were willing to commit to.</p><p> 3.Since it's still going to air on Brighthouse for three more weeks, maybe that's when they plan on announcing whatever changes they're going to make to the developmental system. You know, since Triple H said they'd announce something after WrestleMania. They may well be doing exactly what you said about keeping it until they move. They can easily move in the next three weeks.</p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Fantabulous" data-cite="Fantabulous" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>4) WWE themselves told the station carrying FCW that they were pulling out and moving things to Stamford.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> No they didn't. They told the station that the show was ending. I don't know where the Stamford rumor started, but one thing for certain is that it didn't come from a conversation between WWE and Brighthouse.</p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Fantabulous" data-cite="Fantabulous" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>5) If it is all a giant mix-up, you know what would stop stuff like this happening? Being a bit more open with the main news sites. Not the copy and paste places who turn an innocent comment into "Brock Lesnar is quitting the UFC for WWE" that the gullible believe without taking the time to check the facts on. But the main ones who are, despite what the fingers-in-their-ears crowd desperately want to believe, right more often than they're not.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> ??? Who is this "fingers-in-their-ears crowd" you're ranting about?? The people who take joy in pointing out all the idiotic reports that originate with dirtsheets? Again, the problem with dirtsheets IS the copy and paste places, which make up a vast majority of dirtsheets. I don't even know what the hell you're talking about.</p><p> </p><p> And no, no matter how much you cover your hears and scream "I can't hear you, I can't hear you, la la la," there is no site that gets it right more often than not. That's the nature of the business. Most honest reporters would laugh at a statement like that.</p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Fantabulous" data-cite="Fantabulous" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>But let's not stop the usual people from being all self-congratulatory about being brave souls and disbelieving those nasty 'dirt sheets (Is is 1996? We're still using an archaic term like that?).</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Again, what the hell are you talking about?</p><p> </p><p> You need to accept the fact that dirt sheets - and no, just like most things that are 16 years old, that term is not archaic - are mostly copy and paste places. And most of the ones that aren't copy and paste places are worse than copy and paste places, they're places that make things up own their own without talking to anybody outside of their basement. You can't just "take them out" and act like dirt sheets are reputable, honest sources of information. The "main ones" are few and far between. And, for the life of me, I can't figure out why the hell you think those are the sites people are talking about when they talk about what jokes the dirt sheets are.</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="soxfan93" data-cite="soxfan93" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Matt Bloom has re-signed with WWE. I like it. He'll come in as Laurinaitis' bodyguard in April.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Sadly, this was just a false rumor the dirtsheets stirred up. He's staying with NJPW. And as much as I'd selfishly like to see him back in the WWE, he's probably much better off staying in Japan.</p>

<p>From Daniel Bryan's Facebook page. Enjoy:</p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I wanted to publicly share some things that AJ can do to make herself a better Diva:<p> </p><p> 1.Be taller. Not sure how? How about trading in those Chuck Taylors for a nice pair of heels? </p><p> 2.Adopt a strict vegan lifestyle to stay mentally and physically fit. Maybe if you stop eating eggs, you’ll stop walking on eggshells all the time.</p><p> 3.Highlight your beauty through silence. Be seen but not heard.</p><p> 4.Focus on inspiring others as a role model, exhibiting real beauty on the inside and outside … like me.</p><p> 5.How about trading in those skulls you wear on your clothes for the butterfly of the Divas Title? </p><p> 6.Remember that “gamer” really means “loser couch potato”.</p><p> 7.Only champions have enough discipline to not get fat from eating vegan animal crackers. Please stop asking me to share and buy a second box.</p><p> 8.Just consider that Pokemon is a silly children’s game and will prevent people from taking you seriously.</p><p> 9.To create a constant glow, fill yourself with the blissful reality that you are dating the World Heavyweight Champion!</p></div></blockquote>

Great point. Without knowing him personally, I would say what Rock loves most is entertaining. Performing for people. He probably loves being famous and all that goes with that. I'm sure if he was a better singer(not that he's terrible, but he's obviously not recording studio good), he'd be doing that too. Professional wrestling was just an avenue for him to do something he loves. He found a better way to do what he loves and he moved on. I was just making the point that, if you don't like what he's doing, he's not doing it for lack of talent. That's just the way he's portraying his character. If you don't like the way he's potraying his character, fair enough, but most comments I've seen are implying that he's incapable of anything else and that's just not the case. Personally, I don't have a problem with the way he acted. He was making fun of the Rock before Rock came out, and he continued making fun of him while he was out there. It fit with the tone of his entire promo. I actually thought the serious, empty arena promo seemed more out of place. I would've preferred to see that the week before WrestleMania, or even better at WrestleMania itself.

This is all pure truth right here. Somebody said they liked Rock back in the 90's, because he loved wrestling not the money...did he love wrestling when he was playing football for the Miami Hurricanes? Did he love wrestling when he was in the CFL? Did he "sellout" his football aspirations when he became a pro wrestler? Professional wrestler was his JOB. Just like actor is now his job. Just like it's John Cena's job. Don't get me wrong, I have a ton of respect for Cena and his passion for the WWE. But do you think Cena would be in the WWE if he was good enough to play football professionally? What about if his bodybuilding career took off? Hell, John Cena tried out LIMO DRIVING before he decided to pursue professional wrestling. Every person in the WWE is there because of they money they make. They like wrestling, they might love it, and I don't doubt that most of them are completely dedicated to their job (a lot of people, myself included, are simply wired to give complete dedicatation to their job, regardless of how much they enjoy it) - but that's what it is to each and every one of them. A job. And if a better job came along - and I guarantee everybody there has something they'd consider a better job, just like the vast majority of people on this planet - they'd take it. Cena saying he'd never do what Rock did is completely hollow to me, because he never had the opportunity. He never had a chance to be a full time actor, he never even had a chance to be a full time rapper. Maybe he's right, maybe he wouldn't have, but nobody knows that until you're in that situation. And of course Will Smith is a good actor. How can anybody even say otherwise? Bingo. I've never quite been able to grasp why people think Cena's a bad actor or he's not showing emotion because he acts a certain way...like, you've never seen somebody act that way in that situation in real life? I know I have. It's not like he's out there trying to act serious and completely failing. He's conveying the emotions he's trying to, and doing it well.

Agree 100%. It's too coincidental that it's just now coming up, now that Rock's back and the road to WrestleMania is in full force. If it was legit, we would've heard about it a year ago, or at Survivor Series at the latest. I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, it's fun to see. His promos are great to watch and it's nice knowing all of his haters are out there left with nothing bad to say about him. (I mean, the best they can come up with is he "no sells what people say to him." Really?) But on the other hand...it can't help but make you think how entertaining he could be year round if he wasn't handicapped by the PG Era whenever he's not talking about The Rock. I don't remember hearing any boos before he started talking, either. But I can't say I would be stunned if he did get some. Remember that the fans forcefully turned him heel after the first couple times he left to make movies and came back, viewing him as a sellout and whatnot. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a portion of the crowd that felt that way, a portion of the crowd upset abou him saying he was home and never leaving...and then leaving, again. (He definitely got booed when he brought up that comment and tried to justify it. "That didn't mean I would be on every Raw" etc.) Really? That'd be a hell of an acting job. I don't buy it. He may have been trying to act flustered, but he was definitely legitimately thrown off at the same time. As for Cena "no selling" Rock's promo, I'm not entirely sure what he was supposed to sell. Rock's promo was heavy on crowd interaction, crowd chants, twitter trends, and all that fun stuff, but it was pretty light on Cena insults. He was in the ring for 15 minutes and all he did was call him a kung pow bitch and make fun of his camo shorts, which was a great line, but it's still only one line. It should be noted that Cena's planned promo was probably rather different than what was presented given how long The Rock went. Cena should've had more time to work and The Rock probably had more to say for Cena to respond to.

That's awesome for Santino. And I couldn't help but feel that something was wrong with Orton in his match with the Big Show...he seemed a little woozy from the point where Big Show tried to palm his head and pull him into the ring. I don't know if that's where he got his concussion(WWE says it was from Bryan's title shot to the head, but that seems highly unlikely), but he definitely didn't look the same after that. Check it out on Youtube. He definitely, DEFINITELY said funky chicken. It was on Smackdown!, so it would've been editted out if he said otherwise. Unless there's a Raw segment between them I'm unaware of... Yeah, I definitely don't buy that one at all. Like I said above, there was no F-bomb, but I think he's just been off TV because they don't have enough time for him. This is a horrible time of year for a guy to debut, during the build to WrestleMania. That's why people who are getting super pushed (like Lesnar and Kharma) often debut right after WrestleMania. His in ring work may be a small factor, but I'd say it's probably not the primary reason. Yeah, no. He actually literally didn't move one inch the entire time. But that was the problem. He could've easily leaned a little to his left and caught Truth. I had the same reaction. On April 7th, the average high there is 58 degrees...and since the sun sets at 7:30, it's likely going to be considerably colder than that during the show. Especially by the time the main events roll around. I can only assume they plan on doing something to keep the ring and ringside area warm.

So Sting doesn't count when Bully Ray or Jeff Hardy have a legimate clean pin, and instead tries to revive the ref...but when Robert Roode is making the pin, and Sting doesn't want to count, he does? Huh. EDIT: And didn't we already see that finish at SummerSlam 1997?

That's Edge. Shawn Michaels is perfectly healthy. Edge is the one who won't be cleared to wrestle. Randy Orton is very out of place on that list. If you're going to include him, you have to include guys like Cena, Sheamus, Alberto Del Rio, The Miz, etc. who are just as good as Orton. I think the list stops at CM Punk and Daniel Bryan when you're talking about guys who would be better than Shawn Michaels if he returned on a full time basis. Maybe Jericho too, but we haven't seen enough of him since his return to make a judgment on that, IMO. That's true, but you're comparing him to the best in ring performer of all time - which is what he had been. That's not fair to him. A guy like that can lose a step or two and still be one of the best in the world. Well, it'd be 12 since there were already 4 in the ring when he got there. And really, you could say he "outlasted" 27 since he was in the ring longer than anybody but Miz and Rhodes. But I get what you're saying.

You beat me to it. There's just not enough time on TV for that stuff. Most of these guys have to go out there, get all their moves in, and get to the back. That's why, when you do see it, it's main eventers doing it...they have more time out there. Go to house shows. It happens much more often there...I've seen many wrestlers say that crowd interaction is one of the reasons they like doing house shows.

Sure was. Can't help but wonder if Big Show was supposed to pull DBry back in and one of them lost their grip. Might be why Ryder was down in the ring for so along and/or why we got those strange Cena/Rock bio things. Me too. I was terrified that Jericho or Orton would win and we'd have to deal with everybody crying about how predictable it was. 'Course, now that an unpredictable guy won, we have to deal with everybody crying about how stupid it was...and, undoubtedly, some people still calling it predictable. I'm guessing Sheamus will go after Daniel Bryan. Not exactly a marquee title match, but they don't really need one with Rock/Cena, the WWE title match, and Undertaker's match (presumably) already on the card. Plus Randy Orton against somebody, maybe Mick Foley against somebody, maybe Triple H against somebody(if he doesn't fight Taker). I'm just really curious about where this whole "end of the world" thing with Jericho is going...

Apparently Primo and Epico just beat Air Broom for the tag team titles at a house show. Seems kind of weird they didn't just make the switch at TLC...

Exactly. Everything is either predictable or stupid, dragging on or rushed, lasted too long or was too short, every wrestler is booked too weak or too strong, not used enough or too much...and everything absolutely must be judged the second it happens with no thought whatsoever put into what it might lead to. John Cena hasn't been used anywhere near the way his haters claim since he tore his pec over 4 years ago. He's not on TV a lot, he loses pretty often, and he's constantly helping somebody get over. As much as the internet drools over Punk and Ryder, you'd think they'd be thankful for all that Cena has done to help both of them get over. I know a lot of people won't admit this, but neither of those guys would be where they are right now without being on TV (either fueding or aligned with) with Cena as much as they have in the last year. And of course the Summer of Punk was a huge success. And the changes Punk talked about are still taking place. It wasn't going to happen overnight. It wasn't going to happen in 6 months. But in 5 or 10 years, we just might look back at his worked shoot promo as a moment that changed WWE and professional wrestling forever, like we do Austin's KOTR speech now - and the changes from that didn't happen overnight either. I think there's something people don't realize. Chris Jericho is 41 years old. I may be wrong, but I believe he's the oldest full time wrestler (if he does become a full time wrestler) in the WWE right now. He's not much younger than guys like Triple H, Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Steve Austin, Batista... Your prediction is pretty much exactly the perfect role for him. Put him in a fued with Punk for match at WrestleMania and then slide him into a Gatekeeper role. Fued him with guys like Zack Ryder and R Truth, and even lesser guys like Mason Ryan and Alex Riley. Even Brodus Clay. I love what they've done with Jericho so far. I wouldn't mind if he stays silent until Royal Rumble, or later. Exactly. The WWE isn't trying to be a legitimate combat sport anymore. It'd be silly, if not downright offensive to their viewers' intelligence, to act like the championships are a huge deal. They're never going to mean what they did in the 80's and earlier again because the WWE will never be what it was back then.

I had just come here to say that Brock Lesnar announced he was retiring. There's no way it's Lesnar in the promos - Brock said that if he won this fight, he was going to have his title match and then retire, so he couldn't have planned to come back now. And the WWE wouldn't build promos around it if it wasn't a sure thing. Of course, like you said, it still opens the door for a Brock return...and in time for WrestleMania. It's funny because I just mentioned on another message board that if I had my choice of anyone my opponent for Undertaker would be Brock Lesnar, with no idea he'd retire. But I will also say we need to be careful with the "Brock to WWE" speculation. He's retiring for serious health reasons, and because in his words he promised his wife and kids. Pro wrestling is easier than MMA, but it's still not easy. And it involves more travel, which he was unhappy about even before he had a family. He could come back for WrestleMania, if not this year then in the future, but I'd be surprised if he ever came back full time.

Bingo. As often as not, guys who win their first World title don't hold it very long or look good with it. Just look at the first reigns of ADR, Swagger, Christian, Sheamus, Jeff Hardy, CM Punk, Edge, Randy Orton, Chris Jericho...all were either short reigns, or they looked weak, or both. All of them turned into bonafide main eventers, many of them after going back to the midcard for awhile. (Swagger's still in the 'back to midcard' phase, but I'd be surprised if he wasn't back in the main event before too long) The WWE likes to give a test run with the title before they commit to making them main eventers - especially this time of year. When you book as far in advance as they do(they likely had the WrestleMania card finalized by now), it's a lot less risky to do it that way. You don't want to have to change things on the fly because you thought somebody was ready and it turns out they're not. Yeah, me too. I was there when he beat Hogan for the WCW title in his first match(between the monster truck match and the DQ-loses-the-title deal, one of the oddest/dumbest booking decisions I've ever seen) and when he beat Triple H for the WWF title. I've always thought somebody with his size, athleticism, and charisma should do much more than he's done. I was happy to see him win. I'm guessing this will lead to a Christian-esque heel turn. I had the same thought. I was hoping DB would come out and celebrate with Punk, although obviously the storyline connection isn't there between them like Eddie. Hopefully Punk and DB will still both be alive in 4 years with neither of them having decided to murder his wife and child. I'm guesing they never planned on having him cash in at WM. It was pretty smart the way it went down...he says he wants to cash in at WM, Big Show convinces him to cash it in earlier, and it ends up backfiring on Big Show.

Just watched the opening segment of tonight's Raw. Two thoughts: First, who thought it was a good idea to have the trainers try to pick up a guy who clearly had a severe back/neck injury and help them walk backstage? That was truly baffling. Second, for the love of god I pray that the WWE's real security is 1000x better than the fake stuff. Somebody's got to have a gun or at least a taser. Jesus.

I know. This was the first time in months I was able to watch Raw live and could check the boards without worrying about spoilers, and there wasn't any discussion anyway. Anybody else notice how early it ended? It only went 3 minutes past 11...usually it's at least 7-8 minutes. I wonder if the Jackman/Ziggler/Vickie thing was supposed to last longer...Jackman seemed pretty amped and rushing through everything.

So true. They haven't mattered in YEARS. Not since the world realized wrestling was scripted. How many times did Austin lose? Rock? Cena loses all the time. The only time in the last 15 years that it remotely mattered whose hand was raised after a match was during Goldberg's winning streak. Other than that, it's meaningless. Matches last anywhere from 1 to 30+ minutes. The relevance of the pinfall is directly proportional to how much of the match it takes up. (3 seconds out of 1800+ seconds in a match) If they mattered, we would actually know who wins and loses a week after a match. Can anybody tell me what CM Punk's record this year is? Cena's record? Most guys are going to win some matches and lose some matches. It's a hell of a lot more important how guys are booked up until the end of the match and how guys are booked outside of matches. And, assuming ADR is going to stay in the title picture, there's nothing wrong with him losing it before the Mexico tour. He'll still be in the main events and getting his hometown moment, even if he's not celebrating with the title. Lol, yeah, I was worried that this was going to turn into another Daniel Bryan situation where people thought it was legit for weeks and weeks...I'm glad they didn't make us wait as long this time. This is another great example of what I was talking about regarding wins and losses. Nobody cares. Kelly Kelly's lost like one match this year, but all people do is complain about her. It's just like Miz and Jericho(to pick two examples), when they were champions all anybody ever did was complain about how poorly they were being booked and they looked like bad champions...despite the fact they were winning all the time. If I didn't know any better, I'd think the IWC just likes to complain about everything they possibly can.(Yes, I do realize that that's exactly what they do.) I digress. I do kind of see the Kelly/Trish comparisons...but I think there's a signficant physical difference between the two. Even when Trish was a model, she LOOKED like a wrestler. She was a fitness model, not a barbie model like Kelly. That's not to say barbie dolls can't wrestle, it's just Kelly has a much steeper uphill climb towards legitimacy than Trish did. Edge held the title for 21 days when he cashed in the first time. RVD held it 22 days when he cashed in the first time. Neither of CM Punk's reigns lasted 2 months when he cashed in MITB. This is the ENTIRE POINT of the MITB briefcase. Getting heel heat for somebody because they win the title when they shouldn't. The most logical follow up to that is having them lose it not long after. It got the title off of Punk and onto Cena without having them face each other and gave Kevin Nash a purpose and ignition for his fued with Punk and the Johnny Ace storyline. THAT is why he won it. I've talked before about how the IWC cares a lot more about ratings than the WWE management does in the post-Monday Night Wars era, and I'm guessing that the WWE management also realizes the person holding the title doesn't have much of an impact on that ratings. Hell, the WWE title match wasn't even the main event of the PPV. Triple H/Punk was, and that's the storyline that's driving ratings for Raw right now. Not to mention the WWE plans these things out months ahead of time and aren't going to screw everything up because of a few low numbers. I think you're spot on about Rock/Cena. Cena needs to have the title going into the build to Wrestlemania, so Rock can cost him the title. But, as I've said so many times before, why can't we just let the thing play out before we decide it was the stupidest booking decision ever?

This is plausible. Truth was laying right there at ringside the entire time. I'm sure it will be explained tonight either way. Of course, there are some people who'd rather criticize and complain than wait and see. C'est la vie. It's nice to see a voice of reason on here. Too many people don't realize WWE isn't real, and that titles reigns and wins and losses don't matter. It's just part of a story. I'll never understand why people get so worked up over who wins a title or how often it changes hands, or especially somebody winning or losing a regular match. Who cares? Punk's not going to get treated any differently because he lost that match than he would if he had won. Stop thinking in TEW terms and acting like Punk lost overness or momentum. Obviously losing was part of a much bigger storyline with Triple H and Johnny Ace. I, too, was happy to see Henry win - and not just because it's always nice to see Blandy Boreton without the belt. He's been given a chance the last few months and he's made the most of it, and it's always nice to see guys rewarded for that. I hope he at least gets to keep the title long enough to defend it against the guys he's put on the shelf lately, especially Kane and Big Show, before losing it to Sheamus.

Gunsmoke wasn't on weekly. It took breaks just like just like every other show in television history that's been on longer than Raw. They can't say they have more episodes than any other show because they're not even close. Dozens of shows have more - many soap operas, which run into the tens of thousands in some cases. They have to word it so specifically because that's the only way it's true. They say television show history, not Cable TV history, but yeah. It's the "weekly" thing that gets them past Gunsmoke, since they take time off. "Episodic" discounts game shows and talk shows and the like. But it is matching the criteria, that's the point. It's just a very strict, specific criteria. Trust me, if it wasn't true, they wouldn't keep saying it. Yep, there's your difference between taped and live. Yeah, the brand split is crucial for the midcard. I just hope they're not phasing it out. Raw's already phased it out at least temporarily with their Supershow thing, and if Smackdown! goes live every week I'm sure they'll be a Super show too. Sigh. Why can't people just watch the show and let things play out before they have a stroke freaking out about it? Are there questions to be answered about what's going on on Raw? Of course. There's also 15,000 good ways to answer them. That's the whole point. People aren't going to watch if everything makes sense every week. The point of this week's show is to get you to tune in to next week's show, not make all the people you like look good and all the people you don't like look bad. Sit back, relax. Watch the shows and take in the bigger picture. More often than not, things will make sense and be good when you do that. There were two things that could've made that segment much more fun. Either the crowd yelling "queue?" when he spoke in Spanish and "what?" when he spoke English(more likely to happen in Texas or Southern California, admittedly), or what Ricardo should've done was say something in Spanish, pause for the crowd to say "What" and then translate in English. That's the key to being a good mic guy in the WWE these days, being able to work with the "What?" from the crowd.

Sadly, no matter how this storyline goes people are going to say it was predictable and therefore sucks. And on the off chance something insanely off the wall happens, those same people are going to say it was stupid instead. (see SummerSlam) It's the reason why this was the first time in weeks that I looked at this thread, and it'll probably be the last time. Just look at the post above yours, talking about how ADR needs to hurry up and align with one of the authority figures...for the love of god, it's been ONE WEEK! Why can't people ever let anything play out? They have to jump over every little detail, complaining about it without putting any thought into it whatsoever. I don't get it. By the way, aligning ADR with one of the power figures is the last thing they need to do right now. From what we saw on Raw, it looks like ADR is going to be fueding with Cena - which means he and the title aren't going to be secondary anytime soon - while Punk deals with the power figures. There's no need to mix those storylines together in any significant way right now.

What would be the point? It was all nonsensical anti-Cena drivel. No, that's not the logic at all. The point was that booking buried them AFTER THEY WERE DONE with Cena. Cena propelled them, and then booking buried them. Cena has no control over what booking does with workers after their fued with him is over. All he can do is leave them looking stronger and getting better crowd reactions than they were when they started with him, and that's what he's done with, what, a dozen wrestlers by now? Of course it doesn't surprise me that that's not enough for the Cena haters...he's supposed to go into the writers room and demand that they all go on undefeated streaks, dominating the roster, after he's done with them, I guess. Yeah, no. He actually makes EVERYONE he wrestles look GOOD because they dominate the champ for 80% of the match.