You have to remember that since Smackdown does lots of double-tapings now, the crowds are just going to be dead every other week since it's a 4+ hour show. At least the WM match won't be a blowoff by any means, and a ladder/TLC match will be in the works.

The version of SD that made it to TV was heavily edited from what took place live. For instance, Matt stated that he was the one who burnt Jeff's house down (supposedly got a lot of heat) and it was edited out of the show because of WWE's PG status now. Anyways, big disappointment with the Jericho storyline if that's what goes on at Mania. BTW, how bad was that botch in the finish of that 6-man tag between MVP and Shelton?

About the only thing good on Raw was the call for the cage, this one girl's ass crack, and Hornswoggle on the mic.

Meh, wrestling is dumb, why am I watching?

This weeks RAW was a tad underwhelming, we barely saw much in terms of wrestling.

Cody Rhodes vs HHH was a complete non-match, just HHH "posturizing" as Barry G would put it.

Cena vs Edge, oh look at poor Cena, he's such an underdog at WM, yeah, until he graces us with his beyond terrible match storytelling coupled with his amazing powers of recovery.

They did nothing to progress Matt/Jeff, and what J_HasTheNuts said about them editing out Matt's serious attempt to bring heat cos of PG guidelines then just LOL, why bother attempting to Promo? considering HHH just locked an unconcious opponent in a cage and hit him over the head with a hammer, then i must have a serious misunderstanding of where morally they should be drawing the line(normal people, people who walk the streets everyday, we cannot understand!).

The MITB tag match was quite decent, yeah they botched the ending a tad but it was watching Mark Henry at 6:06 in this video http://videos.sapo.pt/0cGEwEv6kUH1wnm72bIQ that didn't do much for confidence.

WTF are they doing with Jericho, pretty sure its all one big level, i really can't see that being the match for WM, if they wanna instill some nostalgia and bad wrestling then bring back the Ultimate Warrior, at least the fans will be excited and we all know we could look forward to the promos each week(if you havent seen this then you're probably not reading this thread http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laiZgrIpbcA ).

Rey Mysterio vs Dolph Ziggler.....It spoke volumes that this was arguably the match of the night in story, though short, it was at least fluid and mildly entertaining wrestling. And i'd never even heard of one of them before.

One last point is that while it's great to know after a month or 3 of not watching WWE shows that you can tune in to RAW or Smackdown and half of the show will be dedicated to you being completely filled in on where we are up to in every storyline arc. However, it is really annoying if you're in a spell of watching regularly, especially when one quarter of the show is the Undertakers entrance, and him showing us how to remove your hat really carefully(remember to use 2 hands, one at the front, one at the back). Which leads me another reason as to why i think we should see an Ultimate Warrior return.

I can't believe you presumably know this much about wrestling and then say you've never heard of Rey Mysterio.

He's basically been the #1 Mexican wrestler in the US for the last 10yrs.

Yeah, but anybody who calls themselves Dolph Ziggler has to be pretty special.

A random thought: Someone linked TheSmartMarks.com in this thread earlier. If you haven't gone and want to learn a ton about wrestling, go.

I've been spending hours on there. It's so AWESOME.

Yeah, I used to read and post on TSM a while back, and it was ok then. It's got a lot better (or at least the WWE forum has- it used to be overly markish).

I thought the Rey match was kinda meh. It looks good in comparision to everything else, but it was pretty much just Rey working through his standard spots, which have been stale for years imo. (I am not the biggest Rey fan. What he does is impressive until you watch non WWE cruiser weights and then all his jumpy jumpuy floppity floppity is a bit meh).

This site will change your life(for a bit) http://galaxiawrestling.blogspot.com/ unless it was previously posted, then it might not.

If I could read it

Evan Bourne vs. Jack Swagger should be decent at WM, can't be any worse than last year's ECW Title Match

hbk smackdown spoiler photo

lol

awesome awesome

Raw has been pretty weak leading up to mania.

Last week's show Dolph Ziggler probably impressed me more than anyone.

Good time for a bump. I am looking forward to this card for a few matches and I think a couple of others could be good.

Chris Jericho vs Steamboat/Piper/Snuka
They announced tonight that this will be an elimination match. That doesn't really do anything for me. Based on watching all 3 try and sell for Jericho I have to imagine Snuka gets bounced quickly since he doesn't appear to move too well. Piper can still bump around a little and The Dragon still looks to be moderately ok. I'm still holding out hope that Austin gets involved but I'm guessing that Jericho wins the actual match then challenges Rourke, who will get involved and beat up Chris. All in all I'm not expecting much out of this despite Jericho's best efforts.

IC Title: JBL (c) vs Rey Mysterio
This match is seemingly an afterthought and it all centers around what JBL's "big plan" is. They booked Rey over JBL clean tonight on RAW which is kinda strange. I'm still guessing that Rey wins and JBL claims if he can't beat Rey then he probably should just retire and does so. meh.

Tag Title Unification: Colons (c) vs Miz/Morrison (c)
I like how they've built this match. I've been pining to see Divas just be eye candy to occasionally cut to during matches as well as being HPOA's for guys to fight over. I guess I care about this match more than I probably should is what I'm saying. I think the Colons need to win this match and Morrison needs to start his singles career by him and Miz fighting over whichever Bella twin that is. Morrison is the next HBK and I think they need to get him going on his own.

Jeff Hardy vs Matt Hardy
Can't say I've liked the route they've decided to take on this one. Just nothing that they've said or done has made me care. I think a lot of boils down to the fact that they did about 3 weeks of promos that really could have all been condensed into 1 promo and done the exact same job and they then could have used those extra 2 weeks to do something else. I can't see a reason for Jeff not to win here. The match itself however should be very fun.

25-Diva Battle Royal
I'm really expecting this to suck. WTF with having Gail Kim just randomly appear on Smackdown last week, and then tonight she's just another one of the divas in the tag match. God I hate **** like that, they did it with Christian as well and its annoying. Please please please have Santino win this.

World Heavyweight Title: Edge (c) vs John Cena vs Big Show
I thought there was an outside chance Show wins this match since its kind of an afterthought that he WOULDN'T, but I have to think that's out the door since he went over Cena tonight clean. The sidebar with Vickie has been dumb and Cena has seemed like a ****** on the mic most of the time. I'm gonna say Cena wins and Vickie dumps Edge although I really don't care.

MITB Ladder Match: Kane vs CM Punk vs Shelton Benjamin vs Christian vs Finlay vs Mark Henry vs Kofi Kingston vs MVP
These matches need one big guy to do the power moves, but why two of them and Finlay? Only MVP and Christian are logical choices to win this. I think because Vince doesn't think too highly of Christian, MVP wins. I'm tempering my expectations because Henry, Finlay, and Kane are bags of jizz but the others can definitely do some good things.

Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels
Definitely looking forward to this match the most although the outcome is pretty obvious. The booking has been exquisite with HBK not playing a scared bitch like every other guy Taker gets put with. I'm personally tired of Taker not doing certain things because he's trying to keep his character's persona the way it is. Taker wins obviously.

WWE Title: Triple H (c) vs Randy Orton
There have been some things I haven't liked in the way they've booked this, but overall they have really done a great job with this feud. However I must give MVP awards for this feud to Stephanie McMahon. I've always had a huge crush on Steph, but she looks better than ever now and she's sold two huge bumps for Orton like a pro. Orton needs this win badly IMO. Interestingly, Triple H hasn't won a match at WM since WM19. I also expect some kind of swerve here but I've been waiting for a swerve for awhile.

Also, somebody please fire Michael Cole. Not only does he not add any value to the broadcast, but he takes it away with his monotone delivery and lack of real enthusiasm. A lot of times it feels like he's reading off a piece of paper and not even paying attention to what's going on on the screen.

I think Show deserves the belt and I really think they're going to put it on him at Mania. I really think his work has been great for quite a while and he'd make a great champion. Show takes Vickie and Edge goes to Raw I'd guess.

In MITB, it looks to be Shelton, MVP, or Christian. Christian is the best of the bunch, but doesn't need MITB to get to the main event. I think Benjamin takes it to be honest, though I'll be rooting for Christian. MVP needs a new finisher badly and I just can't take him seriously in the main event. I think the mid-card title picture is perfect for him.

Jericho's match definitely had the most enjoyable build up for me, and they'll have the match choreographed enough to make it watchable, but whether Jericho wins the match or not Rourke and probably Flair are going to assist in a beat down. Just another reason the legends are pathetic, it takes five of them to take Chris down.

JBL's match has very little build up. Win and retire, lose and retire, I won't really care unless he does something super awesome like have him buy MITB from MVP or whomever and retire as WWE and IC champion. That is, have Orton win the title from Trips, but have JBL come out and retire with it. That feud doesn't need the title beyond Mania anyways.

They could totally put HBK over Taker here. The streak has become a distraction and this build-up has been purely epic. Now if they ever want Undertaker not to retire with the streak they have to at least match the promos that have been put together for this Mania. I'll be rooting for HBK.

Hardys match build-up has been hugely disappointing. I really think they should put Matt over, I hope Jeff bleeds a lot.

Don't care who wins the Colons/Morrison match, they're both great teams and fine choices to unify the titles behind. I think Miz & Morrison will win, but drop them to the Colons in the next couple months. Colons just picking up straight away would be fine too. It looks like most of the matches the heels have the slight edge, so this could be another one of the faces winning matches along with Taker.

Seems like a light card for a WrestleMania.

i hope this is accurate.

I also think that Matt will get over, Owen vs. Bret style.

Since when is this thing in April? I thought it was this past Sunday.

somewhere I hope there is a WWE executive pining for a different mitb angle, this will be the first time there is no odds on favorite/rising star. the crowds seem to be meh with christian, but really is there anyone in this motley crew you see becoming a main eventer? last minute kennedy inclusion, one time?

I do not at all get the booking that gives us two of the Mania matches on free TV basically. Is the best way to promo your product to show us a watered down version of what you're going to charge for in 6 days?

Also, Cole totally missed a low blow that Jericho hit on King last night that turned that match. Which is odd, since it had to be a planned spot.

I've never been a fan of HBK, so it grosses me out likely more than it should that he isn't getting more heal heat in his feud.

It wasn't a low blow Dids, Lawler was on his hands and knees and Jericho kicked Lawler in the lower midsection, right around the belt line. They would've sold it differently if they were going for a low blow.

2:33 in this clip.

Kofi Kingston could become very very good if he has any mic skills I guess. MVP is not a main eventer, Christian can do it. Shelton Benjamin has all the tools but for some reason gets no buzz from the crowd.

Whenever I'm watching wrestling now I'm basically hoping for some Attitude era style shocks. They seem to ruin any and all shocks now by basically announcing them before hand in the hope you buy the PPV.

Helmsley-Mcmahon era all over again running the WWE with a vengenace after losing the title to Orton could possibly qualify for this.

Pretty average card.
There is prob about a 40% chance the last 2 matches steal the show and everyone forgets how ****ty the first 2 hours were.