Is it me or are they taking out the magic out of the 2 out 3 fall matches? Miz pinned inside of 3 minutes to lose the first fall? I get why they are doing it, but it is not working too well IMO.
3 fall matches should last a minimum of 30 minutes with no pin falls in the first 15 minutes. I also miss "This contest is scheduled for one fall with a 20 minute time limit...." If they went back to this they could easily have draws instead of LAME DQ finishes. And while I am at it, a champion should NOT lose. It diminishes the BELT and makes the champ look weak.
They ran out of ideas of how to have wrestlers in the ring for multiple segments without having them wrestle through commercial breaks the very first night of the policy. “This match will restart as a tag match ...” and 2/3 falls that end up in unnaturally short matches. NXT seems to have escaped this garbage policy, and had a main event Wednesday to put both “big” brands to shame.
The only time we announce time limits is if there is going to be a draw at some point. The current bit is: Announcer: This contest is scheduled for one fall Crowd: ONE FALL!!! Then proceed with the intros.
Pro Wrestling Sheet reports that Eric Bischoff and Paul Heyman will not be beginning their new roles with WWE immediately, and that the plan is to slowly assimilate both to their new roles before they are given full control. Additionally, they report that the upcoming launch of the XFL has nothing to do with today’s decision, and it remains to be seen if Vince McMahon has any interest in taking a step back from his duties with WWE. Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Live noted that while he doesn’t yet have the specific date, he has been told that Heyman and Bischoff will assume their new roles as the Executive Directors on Raw and Smackdown “imminently.” Meltzer said he expects to know more soon, but there is no confirmation yet as to whether it will be next week or later.
Eric Bischoff’s being hired by WWE to be the Executive Director of Smackdown was reportedly as surprising to FOX as it was to everyone else. On today’s Wrestling Observer Live, Dave Meltzer discussed the situation and said that people at FOX “had no idea this was coming and wanted the other guy,” meaning the new Raw Executive Director Paul Heyman. Meltzer went on to say that while Heyman’s appointment is not surprising or something people are complaining about, there is a lot of surprise over Bischoff’s announcement. He noted that people who were once in TNA and are now in WWE are “baffled” and “can’t even believe it, because how can someone be so out of touch” as Vince McMahon in terms of bringing in Bischoff, who hasn’t been involved in the creative side of wrestling in several years now and didn’t help TNA much. There is also a lot of speculation about how much control Bischoff (or Heyman, for that matter) will have, considering they will still be reporting to Vince McMahon. Meltzer noted that the last time McMahon ceded this level of control to someone was Bill Watts in 1995 and that didn’t last long.
I'm not defending Bischoff when I say this (especially given how poor his TNA creative stint was) but it's amazing how Heyman escapes this same criticism. Meltzer and the dirt sheet writers still paint him as some sort of creative genius yet his last creative run was ECW 2006 and we all know how that went. Before that was Smackdown 2002 which was fair IMO but nothing amazing given the great talent that was there at the time. I'm actually greatly interested in how this all pans out though. Both guys are living off legacies from 20+ years ago so to see them in today's environment will be something.
Personally, I have no issues with Eric. I always liked what he did, even in TNA for the most part. The biggest mistake they made was moving to Monday night. I didn't even mind The Nasty Boyz showing up at TNA. I've come to enjoy Eric more because of his podcast. Pretty informative even if it is one-sided.
Sure do. Vince kept interfering until Paul quit in frustration. Forcing him to book WWE B players and burying the guys Paul wanted to push. Then finally putting Stephanies boobs(the WWE creative team) in charge and killed it dead. By the end it was a WWE B show.
The new ECW show was never good though. Like, at any point. Sure it got worse when Heyman left but it was awful to begin with from week 1.
But the situation I described STARTED from week one. If it wasn't Vince it was Sci Fi. Vinny did not leave the booking to Paul, which is why we ended up with that crappy elimination chamber match. Vince refused to allow Sabu to be in the main event that had been advertised. A lot of the ECW fans said buh bye after VKM installed his boy as champ. And Paul wanted to build the new ECW around CM Punk, who Paul had winning the chamber match in dominant fashion. Vinnie took over and took Sabu out of the match and buried Punk by eliminating him first. That was the last straw for Paul. Terry(Sabu) told me he knew it was over that night, and said at least he got paid, which is typical of him. Most of the good
Far from perfect, but the Heyman era kicked off last night on RAW. For me, there was a lot to like. LOVED how Anderson and Gallows were featured all through the show. Anderson is one of those guys that I really root for... love watching his family grow on social media (and love that he worked his 'hot Asian wife' back into a TV shout out). I'm such a mark, that I actually watched the last two RAW segments again before I went to work this morning. Love how AJ Styles and Ricochet are making the US Title important again! Pretty obvious that Heyman is calling the shots now since Maria & Mike Kannellis were booked with the two champions (Lynch and Rollins) and put into a pretty big storyline of their own. Heyman has gone on record saying how great he thinks Maria is and prior to last night I don't know if they were ever seen on RAW since her return. Also, I'd love to see them book Strowman and Lashley into a tag team the same way Foley put Seamus and Cesaro together. Speaking of Cesaro... loved the way they booked him last night... a wrestling machine that destroys anyone who doesn't take the 'sport' he loves seriously. I got free tickets to sit in a box at RAW in Newark next week... and prior to watching RAW last night, I was looking at it as a burden to have to go to the show... now I'm kinda excited!
Found this on YouTube. This match was written up in all the Apter Magazines along with pictures. Of my High School Gym. I was out of the business at the time. The night of the rematch at Taylor Center I WAS there, but thats a story for a different time. Anyway, the story goes that Sabu was supposed to wrestle someone else(a star. Cant remember who) and they cancelled at the last minute. Al Snow was down in Lima and took the booking. Al had a history in Detroit as a member of the New Kangaroos along with Denny Kass and their manager original Kangaroo Al Costello a few years before. IMO all the good things that happened to Al really started with this match. It put him on the map. TC is gone now. I have good memories of the gym as a student, and as the first place I ever ring announced. I played the alma mater as I watched it being torn down. Here is Sabu vs Al Snow 1 from Taylor Center High School, nominated for match of the year in PWI.
Yeah, I read that but still haven't watched Raw in ages. I gave up several years ago only watching once a year, the Raw after Mania. If it would spark my interest I would continue to watch and so far it hasn't for the last 3 or 4 Manias. This does interest me but I will give it time to develop before tuning in to it or Smackdown. I'm not interested in skits. It's poor writing and bad acting, I want to see wrestling.
James Storm wins NWA Championship. With AEW, Impact and WWE I completely forgot the NWA was back. And I forgot about James Storm!
That's the NWA National Title - the world title is I think still with Nick Aldis. Colt was legit hurt a while ago - I wonder if this was a planned change from a while back or if it was because Cabana's working through an injury?
aldis had a match on ROH his first title reign as the world champ. i think he defended against flip gordon. willie mack also had a match in ROH when he was the national champ. the NWA works with ROH when they want to
I was watching MLW and their guy stepped on the crowd every single time. I asked myself why. 1 Its a very "indy" thing and they want to be a top tier player and not indy. 2 Time and pacing 3 Not allowing the crowd to hijack the show even in a small way All valid points, however they obviously have a very indy/alternative crowd
