What about the set crashing at the end? Was that real? If so, it doesn't make sense why they would do that.

Vince can't just let the talent do the work for him. He's always got to be part of some stupid storyline. If it was real it would be a big story. Of course, its not, and this can only detract from the fact that they just did the "draft" (which apparently not EVERYBODY knew about beforehand) and have the Night of Champions PPV coming up on Sunday. Great time to put yourself in the middle of some stupid angle that has no payoff in the end.

Work, designed to put an end to the money giveaway.

Not only this, but it's also about a year since he had to scrap a similar storyline after the Benoit thing and then just a week or two ago someone working at a TNA show was killed taking down their set.

I feel bad for JR. Work for a company for 13 years and then get demoted with 0 minutes notice.

my lord...come on...i know we have had sorta vehicular homicide angles, but setting him up like that to kill him is ridiculous.

We've had Hogan try to kill Rock with a semi, we've had Rakishi run over Stone Cold, we've had Stone Cold drop Triple H's car from about 20 feet and now this. But Cena will be in action in 6 days, meaning he's going to no sell getting hit in the face with a car.

Another thing....IS HE ALIVE!? OR IS HE DEAD?! (and who is he? Undertaker, Paul Bearer, Vince,2Pac, Cena (Kane can travel in time?))

i think it's going to be that cena got out of the way just in time and that's what jbl was upset about. surely not gonna no-sell that, it's just a way to show the extremes they will go to in the GAB match

btw nice promo by Cena earlier, hope he gets more 'serious' material to work with.

Being a newer user of OOT, I was pleasantly surprised to find this thread a couple of hours ago since I do yearn to have a mature discussion about a male oriented soap opera with friendly people!

Lemme kind of give my overall 2 cents here...

Love the new direction for both Raw & SD since the draft took place! On a side note, I sat front row here in Wilkes Barre, PA for last year's draft, saw the filming of the limo blow-up done the night before from a few hundred feet away, and had to sit on the info for 24 hours since I work in the local media...but I had no idea who would be connected to it until one of the security guards I was chatting with the whole night gave me a heads-up right before Vince walked to the ring 5 minutes before the boom! Said security guard also shared a couple of fun stories with me about Flair and a couple other guys that I'll type up sometime.

Anyway, the angle involving Edge, Batista, Punk when the belt switched hands was nicely tied together. Plus what happened last night on RAW served as a nice added effect going into the GAB. Reportedly, the after RAW dark match saw Batista squash Punk in a 2-minute match when B hit the B-Bomb on Punk as he came off the top rope. I see Punk winning this Sunday since the plan is run with him on top for the next 2-3 months or so. I do smell the start of a full blown heel turn by B, since the plan is for him and Orton to run wild together when Randy returns in 2-3 months. You also have to wonder how many more shoulder issues that he can endure since this collarbone thing makes 3 major injuries for him.

This seems to be the start of JBL's last big program and I think this ends at SS with a potential Hell In A Cell match. Rumors have it that they'll start on Sunday from the point of Cena being
"grazed and banged up" going into the Street Fight which means I can see JBL winning Sunday to set up SS.

The formation of this Cena/Cryme Time thing is solid and I can see them getting over in the future on Rhodes/DiBiase...their interview with Duggan last night was great. Cody & Ted can talk, but someone needs to hire Cody a voice coach to remove the lisp/closet gay guy sound to his voice that pops up at times. Still no Hardcore Holly response to the swerve...bye bye Bob!

The Jericho/HBK thing is epic and this Sunday will also lead to some epic SS stipulation match as well. Jericho sounded super nasty in the post-match promo too...looking forward to seeing this develop.

Other stuff...Mysterio gets moved to RAW...I hope he doesn't get buried. I think we'll see him tangle with Jericho down the road as I can also Michaels getting into the Batista/Punk thing post-SS. Santino getting beat by Beth last night, very nice and I hope he goes away...his gimmick is stale now. Kofi's push is also good right now and they to continue to create stars like him right now.

The rest of the roster...outside of Kane (I'm guessing "he's dead or alive" is either Paul Bearer or his return to the evil side is the end result along with Taker's return), Cade, Noble, Burchill, Regal, and most of the Divas...release them! Please lose Layla & Jillian especially!

Smackdown...digging the move of HHH and the continued feud with Edge. I'm sick of Vicky even though she draws massive heat form the crowd! But their roster is pretty solid...MVP, Jeff Hardy, Big Show, Kennedy, Umaga, and Shelton can help make things stay fresh. Outside of Miz (hate him)/Morrison, Jesse & Festus, & Hawkins/Ryder...the tag team division sucks. It's why I can also see the Dudleys return later this year when their TNA deal expires...big money, big push, and one last run will be too hard to turn down. Most of these SD Divas are solid too!

ECW...close it down once and for all! Move Matt Hardy, Burke, Chavo, & Dreamer to Raw, move Henry, Neely, Estrada, the former Chris Harris, and Delaney to SD. I'd also send Tazz to the SD announce team. Everyone else can go work the indys!

Ron Killings is supposed to become a upper mid-card guy on SD soon, we'll see!

Gonna be interesting to see how the Vince angle plays out...I also think based on what happens on Sunday...they'll somehow work Shane into TV next week and maybe a live appearance via satellite with Steph since putting her on camera being preggo isn't something she'll wanna do.

Thoughts? I'd also love to some guys come home and bring some new ones from TNA. Cage,
Samoa Joe, LAX, Styles, Rhino, Motor City Machine Guns, Lethal, Daniels, Dutt, & Abyss. They could easily be meshed into each roster and improve the product, but Vince needs to let them do their style to keep the growth of the overall product. The rest of the TNA roster can retire, quit, or go spend their saved money. Don't offer Teny & West a job either!

Like most of the ROH stuff to...but I've only followed them for the last 18 months or so. I'd not be surprised to see Danielson come to the WWE by year's end either!

Lastly...I saw someone's post about cutting down the number of PPV's and how to still make the same revenue. I agree they should cut it down...the monthly money is too much for some to handle now in this economy, plus they do need to spend some more time on promotion of certain events. If all this is done, while continuing to execute great TV going into these PPV's...money won't be a problem.

Since Vince now seriously views the UFC as a direct threat to his monthly PPV and overall business dollar...the old "less is more" strategy needs to happen here!

Thoughts?

Cool post, one comment, I would LOVE to see a Dudley return if only they directly copied there 1996-98 ecw gimmick of just murdering other teams and insulting the crowd.

GAB = SHIITE

What do you expect when Batista is in a title match? **.5 stars.

This was such a bad PPV. Worst one I've seen in a while. Nothing at all worked all night. Parking lot brawl was a horrible idea and the execution of it was brutal.

I didn't waste the money last night since most of the previous GAB's have been pretty ugly...I'd prefer a late June PPV and nothing until a SS PPV between 8/10-8/20.

I read the recaps...pushing Shelton now all of a sudden after burying him...ugh! Looks like he's favored to stay employed vs. Carlito...who hasn't been seen on TV since the draft.

I don't understand giving Hawkins/Ryder some gold either unless they push Morrison into being a singles guy again and Miz is about to get a pink slip.

Plz fold ECW...what's next, Ricky Steamboat or Rocky Johnson comes to the aid of Dreamer since it's obv. that Delaney is now a 160 lb. heel?

It did seem like the 4 main singles matches were solid from the blow by blow recap I read...I am sick of Cena and JBL...hopefully this dies at SSlam & we get Cena/Jericho. I still think Jericho "kills" HBK at SSlam since rumor has it that Shawn still hasn't fully healed from some nagging rib and knee issues. Plus, there's a running joke that he's gotten so bald that he wants a hair transplant...Aug. thru October should cure it, leading to another late fall return from near death just in time for Survivor Series!

The Batista/Punk/Kane thing could be good if done right....3-way at SSlam I see.

If Stephanie wasn't so close to popping out another kid...I'd think we'd see Edge kidnapping or attacking her as payback to HHH for the wedding thing. Maybe if this continues past SSlam...we'll see it.

RAW will be interesting tonight...we'll know the ME by the end of the show! Less than 4 weeks to go!

I think that could happen easily!

Looks like Kelly Kelly learned some new moves this past week. I don't understand making Beth the babyface last week vs. Santino and then the heel this week! Nice pin though by Beth tonight...sitting on her chest and KK spread wide! LOL

I think we'll see a 4 way at SSlam with Punk, Batista, JBL, and Cena. Kane & Taker as well.

Some Smackdown thoughts: decent opening match, mvp's promo was awesome, wtf with the wrestling comedian gimmick? Freddy Prinze? same thing with edge's halfass heath ledger/joker impersonation as his new persona, pretty damn lame.

PPV of the year last night?

So I'm like what possibly could've happened to make the PPV awesome and go to wwe.com as I stopped checking up on it briefly after Jericho lost to HBK.

Jericho wins the World Title! Awesome. I have a 300% chance of watching Raw tonight.

all the scrambles were awesome (there were some minor consistancy points that people could nit on) THE Brian Kendrick was booked super strong, the tag match was great and pushed another upcoming storyline. michaels jericho was great as usual (ending was weird)...just top to bottom an entertaining well booked ppv.

This was the first PPV I've gotten since Wrestlemania. I usually get the Rumble and Wrestlemania and that's it, but this intrigued me a lot and I wasn't dissapointed. There hasn't been a fun wrestling stable in years so I'm looking forward to the Orton/DiBiase/Rhodes/Samoan group. Maybe this can get Carlito back into the mix a little (if he even cares anymore).

They've got to be banking this stable as kids of former Superstars. The Samoan is Afa, Jr., son of Afa of the Wild Samoans and former manager of the Headshrinkers.

I haven't gotten a PPV since Wrestlemania and haven't really been paying attention to RAW lately, but was intrigued by what I saw of the Jericho/Michaels angle. I'll have to acquire Unforgiven based on what I've heard on here. For some reason, 2p2 marks have better taste than any other forums I've read.

That's exactly the plan, I'm sure. Natalya could be group diva and I think Hennig's kids are in the developmental programs, so they could have a huge stable with some intriguing angles.

Whoever said the tag match was terrific, I have to resepectfully disagree. Cryme Tyme seems to get very minimal pop, and their promos are usually pretty awful, like the last Raw promo from the luxury box. Now that Cena is shelved for a little while they can't ride on his coattails and if the past few weeks are any indication they are going to struggle on their own. IMO, anyway.

Jericho winning the title after getting destroyed by Michaels is a total joke. Makes Michaels look weak, and makes Orton saying Punk was a fluke champion look pretty ridiculous too when Jericho runs in, doesn't put in any offense, and sneaks a pin with 6 seconds to go. He should have gone over Michaels if they were going to gift him the World Title. Or just put Batista over, but now we have to suffer through another Batista being pissed at getting ripped off for the title and chasing for x months like his entire run on Smackdown the last 2 years, ugh.

So I guess it's going to be Batista vs Jericho, Punk vs Orton, HBK takes time off to heal? Sounds pretty good. I'm definitely looking forward to Punk vs Orton.

Serious Heel Jericho is really good too.

I'm def. a fan of heel Jericho. Always wearing suits just adds to his badass-ness as well.