Summerslam anticipation thread 2005

Shawn needs to review his tapes from 1997 because he's forgotten how to cut a heel promo. I like the gloomy, moody, conflicted heel character that kicks people and walks away silently, but the words that come out of his mouth don't match his actions.

The heat was INSANE for Matt Hardy's run-in, and for once they're doing a good job of making an "invasion" look like an invasion, i.e. no commentary when he's on screen; messy, confused camera work; raving like a madman, etc.

They're essentially saying "I don't think she's capable of the rigours of gravy bowl matches". How do you say that with a straight face?

The rest of the show sucked, though. Cena's single sounds a lot better live than it does with that stupid ass A-Team video. Edge took a good chokeslam bump onto the stretcher. It's nice to see them let Jericho's balls out of their leash so he can act like an arrogant prick, as is his forte. Otherwise, fuck a RAW.

"RAW fucking sucked tonight,"
I was naively hoping things were going to improve with Triple H's exile but both Raw and Smackdown have just got so retarded in the past weeks.

Cena-Jericho would be a decent build if not for Bischoff's useless involvement. It would have also helped if Jericho had won a big match at any time in the past year to help build him up as an actual contender, but I guess that's what happens when HHH decides to pull himself out of Summerslam at the last minute.

(admittedly sat back down when i saw the shape the man was in)

love it

Their were zero good matches last night. What the hell is Rob Conway's deal exactly? I don't see the con-man connection, complete with a reasonable facsimilie of "The Sting" theme, with the gay guy parody attire. I don't think this gimmick seems ready for Raw or even one of the B-show.

His old school cowardly heel schtick reminds me of Eddie Gilbert quite a bit.

There's no doubt in my mind that they played Bret's entrance music to help convince Bret to appear on camera again. That pop was insane.

That was a hell of a chair shot absorbed by John Cena's face. The handicap match made me realize I wouldn't mind Bischoff too much if he was a heel manager. Same goes for Jonathan "The Coach" Coachman. I don't get why they felt the need to effectively phase out the manager role.

The Edge-Val Venis match was actually rather good, best match of the night but really that says next to nothing. Also, I realized that Edge is similar to Shawn in the sense that he's a heel in a shoot heavy feud and practically everything he says is correct and I don't want to boo him.

I so enjoyed Kurt Angle's Eugene beatdown, the intensity of it was captured very well by the cameraman's handheld dutch angle. It also meant that I woudln't have to see Rene Dupree wrestle.

I like Jericho, but he's a pathetic challenger. He didn't win any big matches leading up to the feud, and he hasn't won any matches during the feud (matches against refs notwithstanding). He didn't even get to beat up some midcarders each week a la HHH to look the least bit dangerous. He's a pest who won't leave Cena alone and that's his lone qualification for challenging for the title. It's not like it's been a big secret that Jericho's taking time off after Summerslam, either, or that Angle will be challenging Cena at the next PPV. At least the match should be decent.

he didn't win that one either!!! (the 'ref' for that match didn't hear the ref tap out!!)

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/cheap/2005/cheap0819.html

Runs down the card, talks about Hassan, and interviews Bob Mould of all people..

hbk just said what he did b/c of where they were that night, and to remind hogan that nothing is ever for certain, even an agreed-upon finish.

here's the Torch email about it, posted in its entirety since i can't find any link to it. Note that this is kinda long but quite interesting, esp. with Keller's analysis:

VIP EMAIL EXPRESS EXCLUSIVE - TORCH COVER STORY
First Hogan vs. Michaels match to be centerpiece of Summerslam
HEADLINE ANALYSIS by Wade Keller, Torch editor

Sure, there's the epic Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guerrero match. There's
John Cena's first Summerslam WWE Title defense ever against Chris
Jericho in what could be Jericho's final WWE match for a while. There's Batista's rematch against JBL. There's Kurt Angle's "got nothing else to do" match against Eugene. There's Undertaker vs. Randy Orton and Chris Benoit vs. Orlando Jordan filling out the undercard. And then way down on the card, there's that thing everyone was talking about a month ago that nobody's talking about now, Edge vs. Matt Hardy. But what Summerslam is all about in terms of how it's being sold, whether the event makes money, and what it will be remembered for is one match - Shawn Michaels vs. Hulk Hogan.

A few weeks ago the feud was limping along. Michaels was giving
wishy-washy tweener promos. It felt as if Michaels was going to be a
good trooper and play his role as the latest to job to Hogan's legdrop.
Then Hogan would move on to producing six more episodes of "Hogan Knows
Best" for VH1 and Michaels would move on to another feud, able to
redeem himself from the Hogan loss with a good match or promo and a
strong next opponent. Then something happened along the way. Hogan took
some potshots at Michaels during mainstream media interviews. Michaels
got inspired and spoofed Hogan in a borderline heavy-handed way on Raw.
It appeared things were going to be interesting come Aug. 21.

Then they went face-to-face on Raw for a major segment that closed out
the Aug. 8 episode and it appeared things were back to the usual
routine, with Michaels cutting a traditional heel promo, Hogan cupping
his ear and getting cheered, Michaels throwing a punch, and Hogan
blocking it and knocking Michaels out of the ring. Michaels showed
signs of being the bump machine whose job was to make Hogan look good,
do the job, and just be happy to be getting his minority share of the
main event pot-o-gold that Hogan so generously has shared with his
opponents over the years.

But, it turns out, that may not have been a sign of what's to come. It
might have been Michaels showing Hogan what he can do for him, but at
the same time what he can take away. In a sense, he gave Hogan a sample
of the drug that can make Hogan feel really good. He doesn't have to
give him any more, though. Michaels gets to negotiate whether Hogan
gets any more of that addictive drug. He can either decide to bump for
him and make him look great, or not. It's dependent on how Hogan acts
in the days leading up to Summerslam as they negotiate the content of
the match and the finish.

Michaels and Hogan were well into the hype for this feud and no finish
had been agreed to. Nothing even close to a finish had been agreed to,
in fact. It's not unusual for Vince McMahon to allow that since
whenever two top names are staring each other down behind the scenes,
it keeps them occupied and motivated. When push comes to shove, McMahon
can insert himself into the situation and play peacemaker and reach a
compromise that suits everyone - including himself, of course.

Hogan has done enough things along the way to make Michaels feel
anything but magnanimous toward him. Hogan worked out with Rock in a
practice ring in Florida before their match. Hogan turned down
Michaels's request for a similar dry run. Is that because Hogan is
older and more broken down, or he has more confidence in Michaels's
ability to wing it, or he feels this match with Michaels isn't worth
the trouble? Hogan, after all, is entering this match as the designated
babyface. He knows that formula well. No need for a dry run or
practice. Michaels can simply pop in a Hogan vs. Hercules match from
1986 and memorize the pattern he's expected to follow.

Michaels, though, is going to be around in three months and probably
three years. Will Hogan? Probably not. Hogan's got his reality TV show
to push and his daughter's career to fertilize and hoe. Michaels,
meanwhile, is just getting rolling on his latest multi-year contract
extension with WWE. Does he, whose only legacy is his wrestling track
record, want to play by Hogan's rules and do what's best for Hogan and
in the process just be grateful to be in the ring with Hogan? Not
likely.

That might be Kurt Angle's attitude. Angle might have just been happy
to be in the ring with Hogan this week, although he didn't have to
agree to an actual finish to his match on Raw. Their match was a TV
match meant to build toward Hogan vs. Michaels. The run-in was
acceptable and expected. No run-in is acceptable or expected for
Sunday's PPV match, unless it's Bret Hart, and that's not in the cards.

So insiders say Michaels began playing hardball regarding the finish
of the match in recent days. He didn't want to be 0-1 against Hogan and
that's it. So now there is talk of Michaels actually beating Hogan at
Summerslam, and in exchange Michaels does the legdrop job at Unforgiven
in September. After all, if Ultimate Warrior got to score a three count
against Hogan, why not Michaels? If anyone has "earned" a pinfall win
over Hogan, it's Michaels. Even more than Rock, Steve Austin, or Triple
H. Michaels is a worker and workhorse. He continues to work a near full
time schedule for WWE. He plans to be around for years to come. Bret
Hart, if healthy enough to work full time, would also deserve a pinfall
win over Hogan. It makes business sense. And it would be the right
thing to do out of principle. Michaels's skills as a worker are what
makes the match even possible. His promo skills are what make the match
big-money.

Michaels showed that, finally, this week on Raw. His 20 minute all-out
heel promo was perhaps the best of his entire career. He had a Montreal
crowd that relishes booing him - more than any other crowd in the
country - due to the 1997 Survivor Series incident. Michaels played
into that and seemed more comfortable in his skin behind the mic as a
heel than at any time since becoming a Born Again Christian. Without
being raunchy, Michaels was a cocky jerk again. Unabashedly.

The highpoint of the promo may have been when the fans were singing
"Na na na na, hey hey hey, good bye" at him in the middle of his promo.
They were telling him, "We've heard enough. Go away." He was on a roll
and it was all they could do to offset him. So what'd he do? In a
brilliant improvise, he lay down in the ring and let them know that he
had all the time in the world to wait them out. When would quit down,
he'd finish what he had to say. After about 30 seconds, they stopped
singing and began booing. Michaels said, ""Now that you understand who
is running this show, I'll continue." He managed to manipulate and
control a hostile crowd in a way few wrestlers could ever dream of. It
was a career highlight moment for him.

He also showed that his Larry King Live spoof wasn't the end of him
rocking the boat. "Hulk Hogan, the same thing I despise about you is
the same thing I despise about Bret Hart," he said. "You stood for some
moral fiber that in your real life did not exist, yet you stood in
judgement of me. You, Hulk Hogan, will stand for just about anything.
There isn't a realistic bone in your body." That comment not only was
meant to again point out the fact that Hogan may portray himself as
pure and good, but he's a hypocrite in reality; that comment also
harkened back to Michaels's suggestive "Sunny days" comment during a
promo aimed to get under Bret's skin ten years ago, implying he was
sleeping around on his wife with Tammy Sytch. He managed to take a dig
at Hogan and cut down the Canadian Hero in one fell swoop before anyone
knew what hit them.

He concluded: "Hulk Hogan, you're the biggest star in WWE history, and
at Summerslam, I want you to bring your big star, I want you to wear
your boa, I want you to have your sunglasses on, and I want you to have
your chin high. You're one move from your star being snuffed out. You
don't believe me, just ask Bret 'The Hitman' Hart." That comment in a
storyline sense suggested that he might screw Hogan over the same way
he did Bret and "steal a win." It also could have been a reminder to
Hogan that no one can ever be 100 percent confident they know what's
going to happen live on PPV no matter what is discussed backstage
beforehand. Michaels has reminded Hogan again that he is in control of
what happens in that ring and how Hogan looks.

Sources say Michaels has been anything but a pushover so far in
dealing with Hogan behind the scenes. Every time Hogan says no to an
idea, Michaels keeps it even by rejecting a Hogan suggestion. Every
time Hogan says, "That's not right for me, brother," Michaels fires
back with a "that don't work for me, either" a few seconds later. Hogan and Michaels don't like or trust each other, and that could mean the undercurrents of what happens in the ring at Summerslam could be
talked about for years to come. Or, they could get on the same page
beforehand, after tense negotiating, and make it all seem smooth and
easy.

so there ya go. We will see.

Hogan-Michaels was obviously modelled off of Hogan-Savage from WM V. Shawn/Savage was overpowered in the beginning, resorted to 100 types of cheating to hang onto his advantage, oversold everything like a maniac, busted Hogan open, decimated him toward the end of the match, hit his finisher; and had to ignomiously job in 30 seconds to three punches, a boot and a legdrop despite carrying the entire match and doing 99.9% of the work.

Speaking of guys that are feeling it these days, there's Kurt Angle.

Tonight's Cena-Jericho match was 10000 times worse than last night's. It was a bit sad to see Jericho turfed from the WWE this way (even if it's just for a few months), but watching Cena and Bischoff try to recreate Austin/McMahon is a lot sadder. Jericho WAS Raw for about a year and a half after coming over from SD, and was just about the only reason I kept watching the show regularly during the Nash/Goldberg/Steiner era.

Snitsky: This little piggy went to market ...
Maria: REALLY?? :) :) :) :) :) ??!!??!11 :) :) ?