Thoughts on 1/7 Raw

[Mat]

SHAWN MICHAELS & MR. KENNEDY vs. CHARLIE HAAS & TREVOR MURDOCH Interesting matchup. Haas new gimmick sucks. He'll be released in no time

HARDCORE "CARLITO" HOLLY vs. CARLITO "HARDCORE HOLLY" Wow I just cant get over how low carlito has gotten on the roster. Match was boring also.

MICKIE JAMES vs. MARIA vs. MELINA vs. JILLIAN HALL vs. ASHLEY MASSARO Ashley sucks, ugly twig. I dont enjoy these matches. Thank goodness for TNA.

TRIPLE H vs. WILLIAM REGAL Good match. Was surprised Regal got some good offense.

CHRIS JERICHO vs. SNITSKY & JBL Guess JBL was watching a "Benoit Training Video"...yeah that was low

THE HIGHLANDERS vs. HORNSWOGGLE MCMAHON & MICK FOLEY Nice to see foley but the match was boring.

JEFF HARDY vs. UMAGA Solid match. That "whisper in the wind" from the top of the cage was sick!!!

Overall raw was a pretty decent show. Panties match blew but thats usual.

[SMG Rules]

The main event was pretty good but the rest of Raw sucked. Man Ashley looks like crap these days. She needs to put on a few pounds because she looked scary ugly. JBL/Y2J was the only other interesting part.

Jeff Hardy is the man plain and simple. That jump off the top of the cage was sweet!

[rlm]

haven't seen it yet, i will in a few minutes. but right now i can't wait for maria to come out in playboy. yeah she's not one of my favorites, but still.

[rlm]

well i've seen it. it was allright, nothing special except for the hardy/umaga match. wow.

stuff

For those who missed it last night, former WWE diva Shelly "Ariel" Martinez made her TNA debut at the Final Resolution PPV. She is the first female member of the LAX stable.

there's pressure on JBL to get into better shape.

- If you missed it tonight on RAW, there were some technical difficulties during a backstage segment with Vince McMahon and Hornswoggle in front of the RAW Roulette wheel. The segment aired without sound for several minutes before the truck cut out to promote other matches on tonight’s show. McMahon had them replay the segment once RAW returned from commercial which caused the divas entrances for their lingerie pillow fight to be rushed. Lilian was still announcing the stipulations to the match when Melina’s music hit. Melina was not able to complete her trademark entrance to the ring before Jillian Hall’s music began playing. They rushed the divas out to make up for the time they lost in replaying the McMahon/Hornswoggle segment.

WWE RAW will debut in High Definition in two weeks on the USA Network. The company ran a promo during one of the commercial breaks of RAW. As we have been reporting, Royal Rumble will be the company’s first pay-per-view to be broadcast in High Definition. The HD version of Royal Rumble will be $10 more expensive.

Expect to see more segments teasing Maria’s assets over the next couple of months as the company will play up her body as they prepare for the release of her edition of Playboy. Tonight on RAW there was a segment between Vince McMahon and Maria where Maria revealed that her pillows were “completely natural” as the camera zoomed in on Maria to tease the size of her breasts.

Major Backstage Incident Involving Shawn Michaels, Randy Orton, & Umaga
Source: WrestlingObserver.com Newsletter

After a backstage incident in Iraq, there are several people within WWE who now see Randy Orton as something of a locker room leader. Orton is viewed as one of the few guys who don’t take crap from HHH and Shawn Michaels.

The backstage incident in Iraq, of all places, involved Umaga having tights made for his match and the seamstress telling him he couldn’t use those colors because they are HHH’s colors, but he insisted on it.

Michaels threw a fit about Umaga’s tights when he saw him go through the curtain and Orton was the only one who stood up for Umaga. Orton is said to have the same attitude that Michaels used to, but since Orton has stood up to people that a lot of the locker room doesn’t like, and knows they would loose their jobs if they stood up to them, Orton has become popular.

[Mo]

agrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr ugly Ashley is back :(

[Mat]

Originally Posted by Mo

agrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr ugly Ashley is back :(

Yup and just as skinny and annoying as ever

[Gumby]

I loved how Ashley returned to huge pyro and a silent audience That was probably one of the worst matches I've ever seen. They should have just had a lingerie over-the-top rope battle royal. Or, you know, gone with the submission match. That would've been interesting, at least. Leave it to WWE to make T&A boring.

The Jeff Hardy/Umaga match was fantastic. Hardy proved why he deserves his title shot and to be in the main event. Orton was a maniac, which is perfect for his character right now.

I really, really want the JBL/Y2J feud to be good, but Jericho is much better suited as a heel.

Nothing of else was really of note to me.

[SMG Rules]

JBL really needs to get into shape.

[Mo]

Never been a fan of Ashley's even her playboy shoot was boring :p

[rlm]

did ashley lose alot of weight while on survivor? i wouldn't have recognized her at all. if her name hadn't been said i would have thought she was a new diva.

stuff

Ron Killings has been in talks with WWE for a while now, and the latest is that the company has officially offered him a contract.

Big Backstage Heat On HHH Involving Jericho & Booker T
Written by Tim Brown on Jan 8, 2008 - 12:07:32 PM

Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

While HHH has his friends in the locker room, the general feeling is that he still uses his political power to hold people back when he feels like they are getting too hot and could become a threat to him. John Cena is said to be one of the few people who blew up that HHH didn’t try to hold back.

HHH is even less liked now than he was before his injury. The Game’s paranoia of losing his spot on the card dates all the way back to the MSG incident in 1996 when the clique broke character in front of a live audience, and for years he was punished for the actions of Michaels, Hall & Nash.

When Booker T was rising in popularity, HHH was widely seen as part of the reason he left WWE for TNA. HHH felt that he couldn’t have a competitive match with Booker, because Booker had just done competitive matches with Jerry Lawler, a 58-year-old announcer. Booker T, who was well-liked in the locker room, had been in talks with TNA even prior to SumerSlam and the straw that broke the camel’s back was his suspension. The Game got even more heat on himself when he made some comments about Chris Jericho’s return that didn’t go over well with the guys backstage.

HHH’s former Evolution partner Randy Orton is seen as one of the only people who stand up to him and Shawn Michaels backstage, but at this point in his career, HHH is basically untouchable.

[Mat]

Thanks for the news RLM. The HHH stuff is to be expected :/

And Ashleys has always looked like a twig with ugly clothes on.

[SMG Rules]

I don't know why Triple H would worry about someone getting too "hot" because his job is set in stone. He is the last person in the WWE who should ever have to worry about his job.

Killings might work out on ECW/Smackdown when he comes in.

[rlm]

stuff

so far these are the competitors in the 30 man royal rumble match.

RAW
Umaga
Snitsky
Hardcore Holly
Mick Foley

Smackdown:
Hornswoggle
The Undertaker
Batista
Kane
Jimmy Yang
Shannon Moore

From ECW:
John Morrison
The Miz
Shelton Benjamin


At a recent WWE RAW house show in Chattanooga, TN they did an old-school gimmick of opening up with a Battle Royal with the winner getting a title shot against Randy Orton. Jericho ended up beating Orton via DQ in a match said to be as good as or better than a pay-per-view match.

Ice Cube’s latest music video title “Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It” features clips of Chris Benoit in wrestling and then of his home after the suicide-murder scene.

[Mo]

Dam,
thats cold from Ice Cube...

[SMG Rules]

I just heard that the WWE has signed TNA wrestler The Wildcat Chris Harris. He was half of the TNA team America's Most Wanted.

Just what I read.

[rlm]

stuff


Chris Harris Speaks Out

Written by Tom Wilkens on Jan 10, 2008 - 10:21:01 PM

- This hasn't gotten any attention, but a month ago, Chris Harris wrote a really interesting pseudo-shoot blog on his official website. Basically, he complains about TNA holding him down, although he appears to be "in character" in the piece.


For instance, he wrote: "That glass ceiling that I was suppose to break through suddenly had a trap door that fell right on top of me. Dustin Rhodes returned to TNA and cost me to lose the match with Christian. Within days I found myself locked in a feud with a re-creation of Golddust with a sick...evil twist. Nothing against Dustin...because I like him and he has had a great career, but how does this help me? In a matter of weeks I went from the main events to the bottom of the card in matches that were barely talked about. My TV time was cut in half. I was told when we went to 2 hours things would change. The next two months my matches with Dustin at the PPVs were not even mentioned when building for the show. Somehow I managed to get the task of making sure Black Reign made a huge impact in TNA...at Chris Harris' expense!"

He also complains about all the TV time Kurt Angle has been getting: "I will first say that Kurt has earned his spot in wrestling. He is one of the greatest performers I have ever seen...but how much Kurt Angle do we need. It wasn't that he wasn't good in his role because he is very entertaining. We just don't need 11 segments of Kurt in one show. (I counted one night while watching Impact)"


He then complains about being left off of their November PPV and how he is losing his passion for wrestling.



The January 4th edition of WWE SmackDown! drew a 2.6 broadcast rating. If you convert Monday's Raw Roulette 3.2 cable rating to a national rating, last week's SmackDown was watched by more viewers.


The February 11th edition of WWE Monday Night RAW will not be pre-empted as previously reported. For the first time, the USA Network will be ending the coverage of the Westminster Dog Show at 9 p.m. ET so RAW can air in its normal timeslot. The second and third hour of the dog show will air on CNBC, a sister station of the USA Network.

Despite rumors online, TNA wrestler Chris Harris has not yet signed with World Wrestling Entertainment. It is possible that Harris is leaving but he is still under contract with TNA for at least another week, therefore he cannot legally sign a new deal until his contract officially expires.

[rlm]

stuff

Multi-time WWE Champion Paul “Big Show” Wight has either signed a new contract with World Wrestling Entertainment or has agreed to a new deal, reports Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Big Show should be returning to WWE television programming very soon.

Big Show has lost a tremendous amount of weight since leaving WWE as he is down to 440 lbs. The former champion decided he needed sometime off and wanted to pursue a possible boxing career. He began a vigorous training routine to get his body into shape as Hulk Hogan was his “front man” acting as his manager. With Hogan managing him, a lot of big-time boxing promoters were interested in him learning the sport, but his plans ultimately fell through when he realized at his age, boxing would not be the right decision. There was also some talk of Big Show doing a wrestling tour with Hogan, but discussion in that direction has seemed too have stopped.

Ken Kennedy got married this weekend to his girlfriend Shawn Trebnick. Matt Hardy, who attended the wedding, posted the following on his MySpace.com blog:


Whoa dudes! We've had three hard days of celebrating this monumental marriage (a.k.a. partying, LOL), but now it's time to go home. Finally, I am back in my room after a really nice wedding tonight that capped off an extremely fun 3 days in Minnesota. I have to admit, I haven't ran this hard over the course of three days since my appendix ruptured. But-I held up just like the old self, actually better! It was great getting a chance to spend so much good, quality time with Shane, Ken, Jamie, Dara, and Hassan. It was almost like the old golden days, traveling on Smackdown with the CCB's! I'm exhausted from sleeping only a few hours a night and wearing those damn uncomfortable tuxedo shoes, HA! But, in all actuality-I did get alot of compliments on my very not-me tuxedo look-I'll have to post you guys and gals some pixs when I get a chance. If I crash now, I can sleep three and a half hours before I gotta get up and catch that flight back to NC-so I'm going for it. Good night to you all my peeps, I got nothin' but love for ya! And congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Anderson, may God bless you guys in your new journey in life!


On Friday, TNA announced on their website that Chris Harris was no long a member of the TNA Wrestling roster and later removed the statement.

This doesn’t mean that Chris Harris and TNA has come to an agreement as Chris Harris recently turned down TNA’s latest contract offer because he was unhappy with the offer and opted to let his current deal expire instead.

TNA sources hinted that Chris Harris has been unhappy with TNA as of late and it was obvious that he will no longer be working with TNA. Chris Harris had a good bye dinner with the TNA stars after the TNA Impact television taping this past Tuesday in Orlando, FL.

Chris Harris was one of the original talents which TNA signed when they formed in 2002. He was part of America's Most Wanted, which was one of TNA’s first marquee tag team and held the TNA Tag-Team Championship for a total of seven times.

[SMG Rules]

I told people on another forum that Big show might be coming back and they said I was wrong. LOL

[Gumby]

Big Show's last run was excellent. If they use him right, he could be very valuable to the roster.

[Mo]

~Ah~ i don't mind if Big Show comes back his better then a couple of other big guys i wont name names tho :p