Taker-HBK was an all time great match. MITB was really good, which is kind of funny since so many people were talking about how it would suck. The Hardy match had a cool ending. The brief stuff with Jericho and Steamboat was good.

The rest was pretty bad. Except the Steamboat parts, the whole Jericho-legends thing (Mickey Rourke included) stunk to high heaven. Rourke must have taken 10 minutes just to get in the ring. I cant believe people are seriously surprised that Cena and HHH won, but both title matches were lousy.

How nice that they cut out the tag title match, had no entrances for the diva battle royal, had to rush the end of HHH-Orton with the ref noticeably telling them to hurry, and the PPV even cut off before the music video ended, all so we could get Rourke and Kid Rock needlessly taking up time.

Rey Misterio as Dink was an interesting wardrobe choice. I hope JBL is going to do commentary, he and JR would be a great team.

I think the Rock will be inducted next year here in Arizona. Maybe the Rock will stop Jericho.

It was The Joker from TDK.

Speaking of... a Rey squash match against a big man where Rey was doing the squashing... never thought I'd see that.

The Rock got inducted last year in case you missed it.

http://j.photos.cx/1238987777663-bb4.jpg

And laffo:

And aaaaaauuuuuuuughghghghg what the ****?!:

Hey, bitch! Wait'll ya see my OP:

http://j.photos.cx/1238956892373-7da.gifhttp://j.photos.cx/1238956892373-7da.gifhttp://j.photos.cx/1238956892373-7da.gif

That was for his dad and grandpa. Rock himself isn't in yet.

Pretty bad show, I thought, only saved by the heavenly grace of Shawn and Taker. And Jim Ross. MAH GOD. IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT IS DECENT. I JUST HAD AN OUT OF BODY EXPERIENCE.

Ah well shit nevermind then....right now the only thing going on with Rock is Cena keeps talking shit about him.

Holy wow... the Undertaker/HBK match was as good as I hoped it would be. There was so much to love about that match. Taker's face after Shawn kicked out of the 1st Tombstone was priceless. I was also fond of a smaller moment -- when Taker sidewalk slammed Shawn while Shawn had a crossface applied -- because I did that to a friend in our middle school backyard wrestling fed.

That was the best WWE match I've seen since, well, Taker/Edge at last year's Mania.

If you like these gifs, go over to Something Awful and kiss Jerusalem right on the balls.

http://j.photos.cx/a4616d374f0e0bde5...368c75-78a.gif

http://j.photos.cx/72941f00db4d5a5cb...4e9e59-deb.gif

http://j.photos.cx/0aea00cc9b10c9618...1a0c4e-fbb.gif

http://j.photos.cx/wm25heavenandhell-6a5.gif

http://j.photos.cx/af3daecabd1f483b7...76799a-be0.gif

http://j.photos.cx/b1ccf08a4212b7d18...2afc64-42e.gif

http://j.photos.cx/5259c545f5c156c57...270a3c-1b5.gif

P.S. RICKY MOTHER****ING STEAMBOAT

http://j.photos.cx/66b34fae05bc9f76b...f523a6-d90.gif

http://j.photos.cx/steamboatisamazin...reaker-440.gif

Money in the Bank was better than I thought it would be. Christian seemed to get a sizable pop.

The crowd wanted Christian to win based on what I heard when he was at the top of the ladder...and guys getting booed for coming up with him like CM Punk.

I've also already come across this being spewed...you guys will love it..

HHH HAS been unselfish at Mania.

Lost to Benoit at 20, lost to Batista at 21, lost to Cena at 22, missed 23, lost to Orton/Cena at 24.

Is it so wrong to think he could have a victory for himself in 5 years?

No we can't cause HE'S THE EVIL HHH HE'S HOLDING EVERYONE DOWN !!!!!!! OH NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! SO WHAT IF HE LOST AT THREE PPVS IN A ROW!!!!! HE'S STILL BURYING THE GUY!!!!!

So basically this is what I've seen..."people are only ripping on this because HHH won" "HHH should have won" "More bashing of the nets whipping boy H" and of course the he always loses at mania defense...or the "The wwe always puts a face over to end mania thats just how it is"

I love the he always loses at mania one seeing as he will lose his mania match then win 99% of the other matches he has that year...

All these rules apply unless of course you are Triple H...he mainevented and won at Mania as a heel..

He faced a guy in Booker T where he threw racial slurs at him in which Booker T obviously should have won yet Triple H won...

And then people wonder why he has hate, when he wins due to booking logic his fans go "he should have won you just hate him" then when he wins when it's completely illogical you are met with um "you just hate him!" or something of the sort.

Taker/HBK stole the show but given the card that isn't too surprising. Can one of you fine gentlemen please inform me what happened to Tazz?

His contract was up and he didn't sign a new one. Friday was his last show.

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CNICKRO%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><o:smarttagtyp e namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="City"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id=ieooui></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:1;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> The MITB was decent, but it wasn’t really up to MITB standards. I’d say that it was probably 4^th or 5^th of the 5, with only the MITB from 23 possibly worse.
<o:p> </o:p>
The Divas Battle Royal at least was out of the way early, but I’m surprised that it didn’t occur in the popcorn match slot.
<o:p> </o:p>
I’m glad I downloaded it so I could skip past the Kid Rock “concert”.
<o:p> </o:p>
The Jericho-Legends match was booked much better than I had hoped. I’m glad <st1:city w:st="on">Austin</st1:city> didn’t come out, and <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Jericho</st1:place></st1:city> deserved to go over, but they booked themselves into a corner
<o:p> </o:p>
The Hardys’ match was pretty bad. It was a spot fest without any memorable spots, save for the Twist of Fate on the chair at the end.
<o:p> </o:p>
The JBL-Mysterio match was pointless. As much as I hate JBL, wasting 5 minutes of time that could go to either main event (w/ entrances and the promo) was pretty pointless.
<o:p> </o:p>
Michaels’ entrance, his hat, and the duster were the very definition of win. Great match, easily the match of the night. Funny thing about Shawn is that he always shows his stroke through match length
<o:p> </o:p>
The Triple Threat Match was pretty blah. I just hate Triple Threats for the title.
<o:p> </o:p>
The Main Event was pretty underwhelming. The crowd was dead and the finish basically came out of nowhere without any type of build. One of the worst WM ME’s I can remember, honestly, maybe the worst Main Event since 11.

Has Big Rock shown up to defend HHH yet?

It was weird how it went:

Punt
Sledgehammer
Punches in the face
Pedigree
3 count

It was just......weird.

And how how much of a tool was Michael Cole when Austin was driving around the ring?

"Heeeeeeee's Baaaaaaack"

SHUT UP COLE

I know that they were rushed for time, but that's the fault of the dumbasses who gave Kid Rock carte blanche for 10 minutes and let SCSA have 55 beer bashes when the four turnbuckles is more than enough.

4 hours is more than enough time. And I'm sorry, but I really don't see any reason why WM ME's and semi-mains can't go for 25-30 minutes. They just need to strip the bullshit down to a bare minimum.

The Diva Battle Royal was pointless and just buried them (as if they needed any help doing that) as a division.

MITB was about the right length.
The Legends match was a fine length
The Hardy match was a good length but was too stop-start b/c of its spotty nature
HBK-Taker showed what you can do with 30+ minutes if you pace yourself correctly.
Both other MEs were too short.

Sometimes, I wonder if Creative is honestly ****ing reeruned. Look at the match lengths at WM X7 and tell me what went on too long? That show was the epitome of how to pace a PPV.

However, ever since 21, they've been completely unable to pace their title matches. Happened with the Cena-JBL match, the Triple Threat at 22, the Triple Threat at 24, and last night.

More importantly, one of the reasons why the crowd was dead for the finish was because they didn't want to see HHH go over.

I still want someone to explain to me how that was the right move "for the business" to have a 39 year old guy whose blown two quads and won 13 world titles go over clean in the ME against a guy who turned 29 last week and who has lost every high profile match he's had against said 39 year old, save for one (which was the 39 year old's 3rd match of the night).

It's just stupid.

Tonight's Raw is probably make-or-break for me for a while. If they continue the new year with this kind of dumbassery, I'll probably just do what I did after Michaels and Jericho had their blow off and Orton was hurt--tune out.

This Week on RAW:

Triple H takes on three squads of Delta, no sells a belt of SAW rounds and an M203 to the chest, and kick-wham-pedigrees them straight to Arlington.

Here's a good one:

Let's briefly review the current state of WWE:

Top Champions: Cena and HHH

MITB Winner: CM Punk

IC Title: worthless

Tag Titles: somehow more worthless

ECW Title: negative worth

Entire Female Roster: a joke

So we have the same two guys on top from Wrestlemania 22, which by itself might not be a bad sign. Except that the top two heels in the company both got jobbed out. Rather than any of several guys in need of a push winning MITB, Punk is exactly where he was a year ago. All secondary titles are worthless but the US title. I say that based solely on booking, not personal opinion of current champs. The entire women's division was the setup for a punchline that made no one laugh (I hope).

Who did Wrestlemania 25 help? Who will fans now have a greater respect for and either see as a top guy for the first time, or at least get excited over buying tickets to see? Neither Cena, Hunter nor Taker made any new fans. The only guy who possibly came out better than he went in is Matt Hardy, and good for him. The biggest show of the year, with a single exception, managed to tread water and accomplish nothing. It will now take months for them to undo their own damage and rebuild their roster's credibility.

These two sentences detail exactly why I seldom watch pro wrestling anymore. The matches are too short, too unbelievalbe, and there is too much other junk going on. I guess growing up and watching Sunday Morning wrestling on Channel 41 when Harly Race was in his heyday ruined me. :D

Defend him from what? Winning? I would have liked seeing Orton win as much as anyone, but I don't know why anyone's surprised he didn't.

HHH usually wins. Like I've said before, you either roll your eyes and put up with it, or you find something else to do. I'm more bothered by the fact they had a shit match than who won.

When I was a boy, we had to walk three miles uphill to get to school! Both ways!

(which is to say "things my grandpa would tell me for $500, Alex")

He might be 6'1 and mysterio is probably like 5 foot. I have a picture of my 5'4 wife towering over him lol.

Straight-up lolllllllin':

I've seen several people argue that H had to go over because of the way it was built. Basically if he doesn't go over he looks like a doofus and a bad husband they can't have him lose the way that match was built.

I'd like to add that's the 2nd Mania mainevent that Triple H has killed a crowd..if that was anyone else they'd have said "ok time to move on" but with H they'll say "Um uh give him a new opponent"

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The only thing that has ever made Cole tolerable was JBL ripping on him.

JBL quit, huh? Can't say I blame him.

Looks like my guess about a tag team rematch on Raw was right.

And what a wacky main event they're going to have.

JFC. They are rapidly approaching WCW 2000 levels of dipshittery.

I don't give a ****, more STEAMBOAT!!!!!!!

I must say, it was nice to see someone actually target and work a body part for once.

It seems like WWE style is completely inimical to any kind of ring psychology.

By "main event" they mean opening match right? RIGHT?

WWE style is basically just a bunch of punching and kicking with 5 signature moves and a finisher mixed in.

Yup. It sucks so much, too.

What better way to tell the crowd who to pop for than to make everyone work exactly the same?

That's WWE style it's nearly impossible for anyone to get over on ring work due to it just like when you write everyones promos for them....

The WWE isn't about giving fans what they want, they're about pushing their favorites and telling us to like them.

I like they way they've turned Wrestlemania into a b-show, building for the Legacy/McMahon war at Backlash.

I doubt it happens, but hopefully Miz and Morrison go over here.

That opening segment just showed everything that is wrong with this company.

You've got a huge RKO chant when Orton is talking about taking out the McMahon family, and then you have VKM strutting down to set up a 3 corners of McMahon match at Backlash while he calls Orton an abject failure.

So much for Vince transitioning to an off screen role.

Instead, we'll have Shane give Orton a Van Terminator and Vince deliver some bowling shoe offense while HHH gets to pedigree all three members of Legacy.

The McMahons are bigger marks for themselves than even H is for himself...he fits well in the family.

Legacy has to go over at Backlash, or the feud ends.

What I wonder is how long they plan to run this HHH/Orton feud. After Backlash, I think there's 4 more ppvs before SummerSlam.

I will be utterly stunned if Orton or legacy go over, the story of Ortons career is he has been built up to be made to look like a loser by Triple H.

Triple H is good at that...he let Booker and RVD basically be built up to be his bitch time and time again aswell as Jericho.

Legacy doesn't have to "win" the match to get put over. Some kind of banana peel ending after Legacy gets demolished for 20 minutes and then pins shane or vince (assuming vince doesn't get punted tonight - the 6-man match might be a swerve). The feud continues, the McMahons stay on the air, and Legacy still looks like pussies. All the bases covered.

Ugh, **** the Colons.

God the WWE is really pissing me off.

And the lame ass ****ing colons go over.

Miz and Morrison get broken up on the draft show.

Why do the Colons get put over?

Carlito is a little bitch that has threatened to quit like 10 times he's always whining and wrestles like he could give 2 shits, yet he gets to win matches?

I still can't believe how stupid Vince was in setting up this WM. Rather than just doing what is logical, he had to try and swerve the IWC with the setup.

Cena-Orton is a perfect match for WM 25. They work well together and they should be considered the future of the company. 25 should have signifcance just for that, just like X was a turning point.

Edge-HHH would have been good from a workrate perspective, as Edge is one of the few guys who can carry HHH's broke dick ass to a watchable match without gimmicks galore.

Christ, now we have a reverse hype of 12 Rounds?

I wish they'd drop about 15 divas and focus on their wrestling, if they're going to force me to watch women do this bullshit.

That Burger King commercial just made up for the first 30 mins of Raw.

I'd imagine they want to push Morrison as a single and push the Miz as a cook at Waffle House.

The only divas that really deserve a roster spot are Mickie, Beth, and Nattie.

If you want to keep some eye candy, then I guess give a spot to Maryse, Kelly Kelly, and Katie Lea, as they can kind of work (KL can definitely go).

H not mainevent mania, are you crazy?

This guy if he hadn't gotten injured would likely have mainevented something like 8 Mania's in a row.

Hopefully, although there's a lot of whispers out there that he can't be heel enough, that they think he's too goofy, personality-wise. Like a santino that can actually wrestle.

Gail Kim.

You know what would have been great? Having the chicks come out unannounced during the Kid Rock mention and just start the match.

The problem is, womens wrestling will never be taken seriously on a national level in this country, that's why the WWE books it this way.

Forgot she was back.

Then have them valet. I just want these brutal matches to stop, one way or the other.

Natalya is the son of Jim Neidhart? Chyna must be the mom.

I wonder what Botchlina will **** up tonight.

Melina!

ROFL

"The son of the legendary -- I should say the daughter of the legendary Jim the Anvil Neidhardt"

No.


I love the fact that they are finally teasing the idea of Shane turning 5 weeks late. :shake:

They don't think anyone should valet anymore just like no one has a manager now. Back in the day if you couldn't talk but had talent or something they'd just give you a manager or a chick that could talk, now they just write you off.

So I wonder who's doing the color on Smackdown tomorrow. The teacher? Hopefully not, for his sake.

I wonder who the announcers will be after the draft's over.

Yes.

Ironically they've been using Natalya, probably the best women's worker, as a valet on ECW.

Having Shane smell HHH's clothes after he left would have been a great swerve.

I love the way they made the 10-man tag match the mid-main so that Vince can wrestle in the main.

The honest truth comes down to 1 line.

If you are watching the WWE for wrestling you should probably stop.

Yup

How many times have I talked about how the McMahons love to stroke themselves on TV?

We're talking about guys who think it's perfectly acceptable to be booked to hang with top wrestlers in the company.

It's the women's matches that bug me. They're a total waste of time. I'm fine with the rest of the product. Well, mostly.

Thank god Vince never thought of that idea during the attitude era.

I think they book womens matches to give the hormonal kids that watch something to jackoff to.

I can't imagine how much Jeff Hardy's ass must hurt after that ladder spot before the Twist of Fate last night,