This is exactly correct. A lot of casual wrestling fans are this way, they would never go out of their way to catch another wrestlilng program on another night. The hardcore fans who posts on internet message boards and check the dirtsheets don't exactly make up as big as a portion of the wrestling audience as you would expect.

Even myself, I have no idea what day of the week ECW, WWE Superstars, etc is on. When we watch the Royal Rumble PPV last month you could tell right away that the overwhelming majority of the live audience had no clue who Ezekiel Jackson was, or when Yoshi Tatsu ran out during the Royal Rumble. They had no clue who he was.

In theory this is perfectly possible. The competition didnt raise the viewing figures, but it did force both WCW and WWF to scrutinize every single second of the show with a fine tooth comb and you just didnt get any "that will do" segments.

I dont know if the blackhole that is Hornswoggle wouldnt have a spot if everything fell the way it did for him but he sure as hell wouldnt be putting on bull**** matches and would instead be doing bull**** driving cars into the arena segments.

Assuming the number of viewers can grow overall and assuming both can keep themselves profitable there is no reason why both couldnt go on at the same time and still do really well. But there is no doubt its going to be tough going for TNA and luckily they are framing their own idea of success relating to their past performance and not comparing themselves to Raw. There were a bunch of mainstream articles on the live show in Jan where they noted the good audience but compared it to Raw as if it is itself a negative. TNA needs to crawl before it can walk before it can run before it can even consider doing figures like Raw.

Hell im not even sure Spike has enough coverage they could do this as it stands...

Wanted your guys opinions on EC. Seems to be the widely held opinion on here that Jericho winds up with the WHW strap to create a Jericho-Edge wrestlemania match. If you think differently, why? And also what do you guys think about raw. The following seems likely to me:

- Kofi isnt winning
- Dibiase isnt winning
- I doubt Seamus goes into mania the champ, so i doubt he wins.
- Cena seems to have Cena-Batista as a WM match, and i cant see it being for the title, although i guess it could be, but it seems more like a battle of the billionaires type match with Cena repping hart and batista repping Mr Macmahon.

- Seems like Orton v Legacy (one or the other or both) at WM, which means it wont be Orton.

Which leaves HHH
(I know there is a ****load of HHH hate, but i think the HHH of 1998-2003 bought him some leeway because he was really one of the top 3 guys to create that popularity we saw. Plus I just dig him :P)

Any thoughts on that? Its possible there will be some sort of HHH-HBK thing based on the breaking of DX, but it seems way more likely that Taker-HBK goes on at WM and HHH does something else (Most likely defending the WWE title, by my analysis).

So in my eyes i guess it looks like Jericho taking the SD cell while HHH takes out the raw cell. Opinions?

Also, if you agree about HHH looking likely to win the chamber, who is his WM opponent?

H^3 isn't winning. HBK is gonna turn at the chamber

did anyone have sheamus beating cena in that tables match by chance? I mean I agree with you, I'm just saying that if they're giving Sheamus a push then I don't see why Kofi or Teddy don't get one either, but I digress. There's no reason why Randy can't win it and give Teddy a shot for example.

Kofi and Dibiase don't brah-up at the gym with HHH.

I don't see why Sheamus can't go into WM as the champ. They've invested a ton in him already so why not send him in there with someone who could get him over? Sheamus vs HHH is likely this match.

I even thought he wasn't completely horrible in that match with Xtian on Raw.

As much as I hate to admit it, Sheamus is improving both in and out of the ring very quickly...

i realize this, but kofi and teddy have been around way longer than sheamus. on raw anyway. do they really have to "brah up" with someone before getting a shot or can they just put in their time like most people?

edit- this sounds kind of snarky but it shouldn't.
also teddy and randy are buddies, no? after hhh and hbk, randy is prob the best bet to brah up with.

In response to people who say they could see Seamus winning the chamber and facing HHH at mania: If thats the case I'd rather see HHH win the chamber (preferably not pinning Seamus) and then you can use that as a storyline for the match. I don't hate Seamus but i really dont want to see him win the chamber clean or dirty AND go into mania as champ in his first year as a contender. He can fight the mania match in my opinion (and probably lose), but I dont want him winning the chamber and going into mania as champ, rather see it the other way around with HHH winning.

Also to guy talking about Kofi and Ted winning chamber. I don't have any beef with either of those. I'd be a little stoked to see it actually, just cant really see it going down like that. Those two have even less main event cred than Seamus, so I cant see them bringing the strap to WM.

Also, if HHH isn't in the ME at WM, is there really anything else he can be doing, cause I think its pretty obvious he isnt missing mania altogether in a million years.

Sheamus retains.

He is improving in both ring work and crowd reaction and there is zero reason to think he will bomb. Assuming HHH walks out of Mania the champ (safe bet) for him to beat Sheamus in the chamber and then at Mania it loses a lot of the push they have invested in him. However for him to retain in the chamber, lose to HHH at Mania and then go on to "injure" one of the half dozen guys who need time off after Mania (most likely Cena) they get the title result "they" want but also produce a heel with a LOT of heat and huge monster potential.

As i said a month or so ago, they are pretty much locked into Sheamus as champ once they strapped him back in December, even if it is jobbing to HHH or Cena or whoever before that time it still kills his momentum dead.

Also the alt plan for HHH has always been him versus HBK. With HBK heel turning anything is possible though i suspect he will somehow work his way into the Smackdown elim chamber and cost Taker the title to rubber stamp that match.

I suspect a lot of the Sheamus hate right now is because he is green and for that reason he doesnt "deserve" to go to Mania as the champ. In fact the post above has the quote "I don't hate Seamus but i really dont want to see him win the chamber clean or dirty AND go into mania as champ in his first year as a contender." Its undeniable he was the favourite to go to Mania as champ when they strapped him, they always had a plan B which was Cena getting the title straight back but his push has gone so well there is no reason not to have him go to Mania as the champ.

As much as i personally think others on the roster are more deserving of his shot, they gambled on him and it paid off. I know, politics meow chow but HHH wasnt wrong about Sheamus being a huge talent and nothing matures a talent faster than working a string of guys of the calibre of Cena, Orton, Edge (on mic), Christian and then HHH going into Mania.

Right now he is much more worthy of carrying that strap than any of the other none champions you could name (Kofi, MVP, DiBiase, hell even Miz and Morrison could be on that list). Maybe he wasnt that night he won it, but now he is a legit main event guy.

I have to agree with most of the above posts. Sheamus, whilst not looking too comfortable in his early stages, has grown into his heel role better than any of us expected. As long as familiarity doesn't breed contempt and he can continue to build on his heat, with some great promos and a little originality. Then the world is his oyster.

I mean, Sheamus is pretty decent in the ring, but this guy got hotshotted faster than anyone in like the history of the WWE. The guy has nice size and some nice offense, but there's something about paying your dues that needs to be said.

That being said, I'd be fine with him and HHH for the title at WM because it would allow for the rest of my perfect card to come to fruition (HHH/Sheamus, Cena/Bats, Hart/McMahon, Jericho/Edge, Taker/HBK).

add to that card either punk/mysterio or a real fued for the tag belts(no wai!!!!!!!) between a face-ish show-miz against the group everyone will boo, the straight edge society.

Personally id put Cryme Tyme in to make it a triple threat to one fall. CT is more than over enough and having a true face team makes sense.

Im not buzzed on Punk vs Rey unless its for Punk to "injure" him. The trouble with a mask versus hair like they have talked about in the past is Rey cant lose his mask but Punk jobbing and balding it up will kill a fair bit of momentum.

Anyway, this card is shaping up really well.

im not sold on cryme tyme at all. have not been since the start. if you add cryme time in, id like the hart dynasty added as well. make it a 4 way unified tag championship match.

and get one belt. with both tag belts being walked around with, how long til they separate them again?

Fwiw im not high up on CT and think the gimmick is generic, derivative and a little racist. But their work isnt so bad and they are over with the crowd.

Also id have face turned Hart Dynasty by now using Bret somehow during that three weeks leading to the RR where he did nothing to set them up for a Mania title shot, there are far too many heel tag teams and the only face tag teams worth talking about are CT and MVP+Henry (who i dont even think are officially together now). They knew DX would be falling apart soon and frankly they have been terrible on the tag belts so should have had this set up ahead of time. Right now the three top tag teams are heels, it just doesnt work. Maybe when they shift some of these ECW guys over they can form a new face tag team or two. Yoshi and Funaki seems like a good fit for example - they wouldnt be ready in time for Mania but could get a few matches in and job out a few times to build the titles up under ShowMiz like they deserve. I mean by default one of the top ten tag teams is Matt Hardy and Khali, and i only say top ten cos im too lazy to work out how few tag teams they have right now.

Also +1 on needing a proper single belt. How they have unified the titles 11 months ago and not unveiled a unified belt at some point i have no idea.

I have been waiting for SES to win the tag team titles, and get rid of all those belt, saying that in the past the only people to wear em haven't been pure like him, and for him to debut some new titles, it'd be awesome to do that after WM if he wins them there

Carlito video that's a must watch

I noticed him loitering around in the back of the shot when i watched it. God, such a waste of talent and to think 11 months ago he and his brother (is he even still working for the company?) went over Miz and Morrison to unify the tag belts.

+1 to him never should have signed that new contract, hahaha. Oh well, he either runs that 5 months or gets future endevoured and goes off to become a star again in his dad's federation.

Oh, and if you're at all a fan, check out his 2/4/10 Superstars match versus Evan Bourne. It's a pretty great nine and a half minute match.

Heard it was good but never got around to seeing it.

Through my ninja search skills:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCL4SrsG-40


Lol at the soundtrack boast:
"we thank the fans for downloading the WWE soundtrack through amazon to make it the number one digital download soundtrack from a TV programme", they reach so far for these "we are number one" facts

Edit to add i really hate they call the SSP the "Air Bourne"

John Morrison question?

Def good match for Carlito/Bourne, Bourne is gonna be huge soon, I expect him to get the US title soon this year
Altho that sunset flip off the top rope, man that looked close to Carlito landing on his neck, made me cringe a bit