Stanman's Wrestling AfterThoughts - Vengeance Predictions & Brand-Exclusive PPVs
Submitted by Stanman on Friday, July 25, 2003 at 9:34 AM EST



Welcome to another edition of SWAT, the column that is NOT named after the movie that is coming out this August. Well the gimmick is, but not the name.

It looks to be a good movie to watch and whenever I see the movie title on billboards, I think of this column. So I felt motivated to write..

On another note, I would like to thank all the readers who support this column and provide me with feedback. I couldn't e-mail each and every one of you since that would take forever to do. So I figured I would say it here. I have been missing in action the past few weeks because of my work schedule and other life happenings. Hopefully, this answers those readers' e-mails who were inquiring about my whereabouts. I'm still here, yo!

Anyway, back to business. I have the results of what the readers thought about brand-exclusive pay-per-views in this edition's Gathering Intelligence section. Very surprising to say the least, but we'll get to that later on in the column.

But first let's dissect the first Smackdown! brand-only pay-per-view, Vengeance. On with the column!


The Sharpshooting Gallery: Vengeance Is Sweet

Before I start with the Smackdown side of things, I would like to say that RAW has been pretty decent lately. I like what the WWE is doing with Kane, as he is one of the main foci of RAW. I mark out every time I see the tombstone since it's my favorite wrestling move of all-time. And to see Linda McMahon on the receiving side of it was great; although she was protected more than Fort Knox. But nonetheless, it was good.

Now that I got that off my chest, time to rip apart Vengeance...

The Greatest Tag Team In The World goes up against Rey Mysterio and Billy Kidman. I have to say, the new team name for Haas and Benjamin may be a bit much, but if they wrestle like they have been the past few weeks, they can live up to it. As for the match itself, this has Kidman heel-turn written all over it. Hence, TGTTITW will remain tag champs while Rey/Kidman/Ultimo Dragon will go at it until or past SummerSlam. Hopefully.
Stanman's pick: The Greatest Tag Team In The World, Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin.

Whoa, I am getting flashbacks. We have an APA Bar Room Brawl to suffer through? The year 2000 called, they want their gimmick match back.
Stanman's pick: Who cares?

If the Undertaker had a sense of decency of putting talent over rather than himself, his match with John Cena would be my favorite of the pay-per-view. But alas, it was not meant to be. I am a huge fan of Cena's work on the mic as he really is into the gimmick. With anybody else, the gimmick would have flopped. He should get rewarded for his work but instead the dead man will make him his bitch. Such a shame, too.
Stanman's pick: The Undertaker. You just don’t bet against the guy on a pay-per-view.

Next up, we have Eddie Guerrero vs. Chris Benoit for the United States championship. You know, I've seen these two wrestle so many times that I have become sort of 'desensitized' to the quality of matches these two can put on together. But this time it's for the U.S. title, which should give them that extra energy to put on something great. Nothing more to say except to expect an awesome match from these two.
Stanman's pick: Chris Benoit, because he needs it more than Guerrero.

In what should be a quickie match, Sable 'wrestles' against Stephanie McMahon. Anybody else find it funny the way Stephanie growls as she beats up Sable? I know I do. Tough match to call, as Sable has been developing her character rather well while looking great in the process. But what it all comes down to is the McMahon influence and ego. And we all know Stephanie has that.
Stanman's pick: Stephanie McMahon

Vince McMahon wrestling Zach Gowen should make for one boring match. From what I’ve seen, and no disrespect to Gowen and his disability, but he cannot carry a match, as he needs someone to help him out. McMahon is NOT the guy for the job. It is sad because Gowen has so much talent despite his handicap; he just needs someone good to work with. Well, my guess is that this will be a typical one-sided brawl with McMahon dominating, when some outside interference (Hogan?) enables Zach to come out on top. Typical WWE booking.
Stanman's pick: Zach Gowen

And lastly, the most predictable match of the pay-per-view is the Brock Lesnar vs. Kurt Angle vs. Big Show triple threat bout for the WWE championship. Everybody and their mother knows Lesnar and Angle will be wrestling one-on-one at SummerSlam for the title. Since the WWE is not whoring the titles as much as they used to, logic says that Lesnar will win this match. Big Show will be the lamb that takes the pinfall.
Stanman's pick: Brock Lesnar via F-5.


Gathering Intelligence: Brand-Exclusive PPVs

What Do You Think Of WWE Brand-Exclusive PPVs? Thumbs Up Or Thumbs Down?

When I wrote my last column, I felt it was too soon to ask this question. I thought about giving the WWE a couple of PPVs before asking so that the readers can make a concrete decision on how they felt about brand-exclusive PPVs. But then I thought otherwise since it's the first instinct/impression that is the most interesting.

Out of 74 e-mails received, 48 people favored the brand-exclusive PPVs where 26 people gave it a big thumbs down. Rather surprising to say the least. When I asked the question I was thinking it would go the other way. Anyway, here is what a couple of folks had to say:

SWAT reader, Christian Cage wrote:
Personally I think the idea for exclusive-brand pay per views will turn out to be a horrible decision.
While I do like the idea for the Big 4 PPVs garnering more attention than the "In Your House" style PPVs, I feel it is a bad idea.
The first PPVs for both RAW and SmackDown! are going to have some stand-out matches/moments to get people geared up for the changes, of course. In the long run, this brand PPVs idea is going to become stale and predictable. How many wrestlers are there on each brand? I'm not sure, but I'd guess somewhere around 50 wrestlers each show TOPS. This leads to a 25/25 wrestler split, IF there was an equal number of heels and faces on each show, which I seriously doubt.
Now, all this leads to the fact that there are only so many matches you can pull out for eight different PPVs a year. How many times are people going to want to see Triple H vs. (insert your top face challenger here) in a row? Unless you put wrestlers like Maven or Al Snow in the main-event scene, there are only so many credible challengers for the World champion of each show to face. Now, apply this to the rest of the card.
It will end up being bland and predictable by their Sept/Oct shows. See where I'm getting at?

I see where you're getting at. The WWE can only do so much with Triple H as champion since any face challengers have been buried by him, have no credibility because of poor booking decisions or because they haven’t gotten over (i.e. Maven, Al Snow). Also, like you said, split rosters don’t help since the shortage of main event wrestlers will cause redundant matches at PPVs, which is something we don’t want to pay for.

SWAT reader Jose Pagan had this to say:
To answer your question on the brand exclusive PPVs; I am all for this idea, because it'll benefit the most deserving mid-carders who hardly get any PPV exposure. This would hopefully lead to the rising of new stars, because they would finally be given their chances to shine. This also helps with the matches, as they would be given more time to develop, and give the wrestlers an opportunity to pull out a match to the best of their abilities instead of just rushing through the matches. And last but not least, this decision provides us fans with a choice of which brand to watch. This helps me a whole lot since I feel that won't have to watch the RAW brand until they start making some changes.

Well said. A big plus for the brand-exclusive PPVs is that mid-carders have a better chance to shine. Also, if a fan is more into the sports-entertainment aspect of WWE, the RAW PPVs would be the way to go, where if a fan is more into the wrestling aspect, the Smackdown! PPVs would be their cup of tea.

Here is what SWAT reader and long time member of the LOP Message Boards, Mikeofreak, had to say:
I've wanted this idea to happen for a long time. If you have two world titles matches, one of them doesn't get the credit it deserves. The World Championship (or champion at least) should headline every PPV event. This has been bothering me ever since the roster split and I’m finally glad something was done about it.

I was thinking the same thing too. If a championship match preceded another one, I would see the first championship match as the inferior one. And that is not the case. It's just a kink the WWE had to work out. Now with the split, you wouldn't have to think that.

This week's question:

Would you like to see Goldberg as the World Heavyweight Champion? Why or why not?

Send your replies to the e-mail address shown at the bottom of the column. I look forward to your responses, and who knows? Maybe YOURS will get posted in my next edition!


Mission: Accomplished

…And cut! That's a wrap! Now I am off to enjoy the season that is known as summer. Picnics, vacations and sports. Ah, the good life. Go outside and enjoy the sun!

Thanks a million for reading.

Until next time, peace.

-Stanman
StanmanLOP@yahoo.com









*NEW GALLERY* Amazing! RAW's Melina Taking a Shower Backstage!

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