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Falls
Count Anywhere
09-30-03
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Establishing a film career
under the name "The Lox."
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Welcome
to Falls Count Anywhere! My name is Chris and I pray that
Lloyd's of London doesn't catch on to my latest scheme.
RAW
I kinda like the fact that they are announcing the announcers
when they arrive at ringside. I know that I'd rather see the
wrestlers be the focus, but the only way they can make this
angle work for even this brief run is to do little things
like that.
The Highlight
Reel gets the prime spot. Jericho gets some good heat from
the crowd, as does Bischoff when he announces that Austin
is suspended for the week. JR as a guest is an OK idea, as
he got an OK reaction, and Bisch, JR's real enemy, played
his foil so well. I was expecting the attack by Jericho on
JR, but the Austin run-in was too telegraphed.
The Dudleys
vs. Test and Steiner was better than it had to be. The Steiner
turn was kinda unexpected, but still, I want this to end.
The Stacey chair shot was Lance Storm 1997 bad.
Hey, Kane
and Hurricane have a little segment that brings up their past.
At least they are learning how to do that right.
Hey, La
Resistance had a match with Maven/Garrison Cade/Mark Jindraik.
It wasn't great, but the talented young folk will probably
meet in the coming years, if they are ever given personalities
that allow them to stick around.
HHH gave
a fine little studio interview that reminded me of ECW when
Shane Douglas was on top. Then it took a turn for the Flair
with him flashing his briefcase of cash. I love a good bounty
program. This may make RAW a far more interesting show for
a while with Goldberg being hunted by just about everyone.
Hey, a
Country Whippin' Match! I'm not at all interested, but I like
the fact that they gave them a gimmick that allowed for very
little wrestling. The announcing of Jericho and Snow wasn't
bad, actually. I like the energy that Jericho gives. Best
line from Jericho: "He reminds me of a young Tito Santana."
Not a good match, not at all, but I must say, they did build
the shots and got some pops. Nice to have JR and King back,
though.
Nice package
to let the world know that the WWE can still sell out a WrestleMania.
Lita FINALLY gets to plug her book on TV. It's doing the best
of all the wrestling books right now on Amazon pre-orders.
She must have worked a bit on her promos, as this was better
than her other attempts.
By the
way, she's still freakin' hot. The claim by Molly that this
would be the shortest WWE comeback ever obviously overlooked
the Kevin Nash comeback a while back. Nice to see Victoria
getting back in the mix to the point where she is an important
figure.
Kane and
Hurricane have a match that is acceptable for what it was,
a squash. The set-up was longer and more entertaining. This
is a story that helps get Kane over a little more and they
need to do this more often.
Steven
Richards trying to collect the Goldberg bounty was a nice
touch, and it made Bill look tough. It's a smart idea.
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The quicker Goldberg
picker-upper...
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The tag
match with Shawn, Goldberg, Flair and Orton worked in my eyes.
Goldberg got a fair entry pop, as did Michaels. The match
between those two will be interesting and they should save
it for a while more. Flair and Orton both selling for Goldberg
got the crowd to the level they need to be at all times for
the Beast.
Michaels'
sell of the Over The Back Neckbreaker was awesome in a Terry
Funk sort of way. He bleeds so well. Sending the lower tier
guys out after Goldberg is a good idea. But why did he attack
Michaels instead of Michaels attacking him? Sending a message?
I love
Teddy Long, and even with his brief moment, it helped to have
his voice out there with us.
Well,
a ladder match that worked with RVD? I'm shocked! No, this
was good, and RVD getting the win may be a sign of things
moving in the right direction now that HHH isn't around. Christian
is just so natural in these matches. I'm not sure what it
is, and though RVD had bigger spots, Christian made this match
for me. Good stuff.
I'd say
that this show was good enough to get the good. Not a blow-away
show, but everything seemed to work throughout. I'm a fan
of the bounty concept, and everything else was strong. The
ladder match was strong, but is in danger of being overused.
NEWS
Former ECW Tag Team champion Pitbull II, aka Anthony Duarte,
was found dead on Friday along with his wife. This is another
sad story as their two children were alone in the house for
a couple of days following the death of their parents of,
apparently, a pair of drug overdoses. The Pitbulls were a
huge part of ECW in the glory years of 1994 through 1996.
They held the tag titles after beating Raven and Stevie Richards
in a fantastic 2 of 3 falls Dog Collar match. It was a classic
match and it could be used as the one that best defines ECW
by combining brutal work, excellent and complex booking, and
mixing a ton of stories into one match.
I saw
The Rundown
this weekend. It was a good film, just about perfect for the
audience that would want to follow The Rock into films from
wrestling. Great performances from Walken, the Rock, and Rosario
Dawson's breasts. The film under performed, but not by too
much, raking in 18 million dollars.
Eddy Guerrero
almost got into a tussle with a fan at a house show last week.
It all started when some Jackanapes poured beer on him. You
don't pour beer on Eddy Guerrero. You just don't.
No joke
on this one: Scott Hall was again arrested for breaking parole
due to his drunkenness. That's the first time in a while that
I've had the chance to mention Scott Hall and his drinking.
The
Good, The Bad And The Ugly
Another periodic look at the state of the business by yours
truly. I will say that the WWE has been coming back, making
strides in ratings and putting on some good shows. There are
still big problems for the future, but there are also some
positive things as well.
The
Good
Eddy Guerrero. No question that the WWE writing team has put
a lot into Eddy, building him back up from a mid-card comedy
performer to his current level where he is actually competing
with the big boys for top pops of the night. They will hopefully
keep the US Title on him for a while, building both the belt
and Eddy into an even bigger heat machine.
Kurt Angle.
The man is still putting on great matches, though his drawing
power has been knocked a bit with the under performance of
the IronMan match. I'd say he's close to the level of Wrestler
of the Year.
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A little something just
for Chris --
not that he actually READS the site...
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Brock
Lesnar. The turn was the right move. Winning the belt was
even better. He's the future of wrestling if they can keep
him hot. His ratings are almost always good, except for the
IronMan match. In a hotter period, he could be Hulk Hogan.
Chris
Jericho. I admit, I've been converted to the way of the Highlight
Reel. He is a great talker, hasn't lost a step in the ring
and has had some strong matches. He's easily the best thing
on RAW most weeks.
Randy
Orton. Yeah, I am saying it now: Randy Orton is going to be
a star. He has proven that he can go with the big boys, and
his feud with Shawn Michaels was very strong. He is being
pushed in a very smart way, and they should be able to come
up big in the new year.
Kane.
I think that the Kane program can work, if they give him the
invincibility aura and keep him away from Goldberg and Shane.
He's had a couple of pretty good matches and his cage match
with RVD was pretty good too.
The
Bad
Goldberg. How many times can they kill this man's heat? To
be fair, he's managed to bounce back, to a degree, almost
every time. The match with HHH was almost in the ugly category,
but just missed it.
HHH. I
rail on him a lot, and he has hurt the product with his constant
tampering, but he has managed some good stuff. He's been good
on the mic of late, though he has not been able to work in
the ring to the level that could overcome poor writing in
the way that Brock and others have. He's gone for a while
making his movies, a move which will either kill or save the
product.
RVD. Sometimes
on, sometimes off, always interesting, but I've been finding
him lower on my interest list for a few months. It's probably
not fair to say that he's Bad, but he isn't quite good since
he's had so many poor outings.
Shane
McMahon. I love Shane as a character, but not the way they
are putting Shane over as superhuman and the only one who
can really stand up to Kane. He can perform, but he is being
given a push that isn't deserved when RVD wasn't allowed to
look anywhere near as good.
The
Ugly
Stephanie McMahon. Awful. Just plain awful. She should not
be getting anywhere near the airtime she has been getting.
Sable.
See Steph and add 50% into the skanky category.
Rico.
Man, I loved Adrian Street. I don't know why this doesn't
work, but it doesn't. Jackie is hot.
Confidential.
Even when they aren't reruns, most Confidentials are not entertaining.
The concept is great, but they need to ramp it up and start
doing more and going for bigger stories.
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