The Wrath of Tito - Armageddon, RAW, Goldberg on Punk'd, and more
Submitted by Mr. Tito on Wednesday, December 17, 2003 at 2:08 AM EST
Welcome to the latest edition of the Wrath of Tito. I've been extremely busy with my personal life and work lately, so forgive the delays, if you weeeellll.... Today, we'll discuss various things in wrestling, such as the Armageddon Pay Per View, RAW, and a few other wrestling issues.
-I caught Armageddon, which marks my 2nd Pay Per View in a row that I've actually watched. Give me a medal. It's proof positive that the RAW roster cannot hold a show on their own. Unlike Smackdown, they do not have the fresh or talented wrestlers to keep fans' interest for 3 hours. Hell, the show didn't even go the full Pay Per View time of 2 hours and 50 minutes, for it fell about 10 or 15 minutes short! Everything from the main eventers to the midcarders fall short, with the exception of Shawn Michaels, who is clearly the most talented guy on the RAW roster (and maybe the only one who cares to give a full effort, too!).
The main event between Kane, Goldberg, and Triple H was torture to watch. Nobody became the bumpman of the match, so the offense looked terrible and the flow just wasn't there. Triple H, now that he's officially a McMahon, needs to shed pounds of muscle to become faster. Kane was a lame duck because he can't be RAW champion for his feud with the Undertaker coming up. It was only a matter of time before Goldberg lost the title, given that he probably won't be in the WWE after Wrestlemania.
Randy Orton is NOT ready for the big main event push planned for him. I'm agreeing with the star-match crowd in that he has yet to put on a great match, with the exception of Shawn Michaels carrying him. Sure, he was with an unmotivated Rob Van Dam, OK. But outside of that, he's done nothing impressive within the squared circle. Batista is another who is not ready, either, but for the WWE in general. Good thing HBK beat him in what was a total carry-job of a match. Having Evolution hold all of the titles is so boring, especially when every title on the RAW roster has hardly any credibility behind them due to bad champions before them.
The Tag Team turmoil match was a total clusterfuck. RAW's tag teams suck because of the insistance of holding teams back when they wrestle the Dudley Boyz. The Duds are completely stale and in need of a massive makeover or a heel turn that lets them SPEAK ON THE MIC. Mark Henry vs. Booker T was awful, thanks in part to Mark Henry. That botched powerbomb made me wonder what the hell the WWE was thinking in 1996 when the signed him to a 10 year $10 million contract. WHAT THE FUCK!?!? I sort of liked the Lita/Trish vs. Christian/Jericho match, at least storyline wise. It looks as though Jericho and Trish might end up together. Then again, it's the WWE, a place where good storylines go down the toilet (WCW Invasion, Angle/HHH/Stephanie love triangle, etc).
Proof positive on how unorganized the show became was with several unadvertised matches added to the show. Maven and Matt Hardy were supposed to wrestle, but it ended up with Maven getting murdered by Batista. That angle helped nobody. Then, we had Molly Holly vs. Ivory. Talk about a crowd silencer. The whole show was a crowd silencer, actually. Possibly the worst of 2003, but I'd have to think on that subject.
-Speaking of 2003, I have a few columns I'm going to shell out. First, it's the History of 2003. I have a lot to say regarding this year in a recap column, and in my opinion, 2003 has been the most damaging year in terms of long term health to the wrestling industry ever. The WWE's monopoly has killed off many wrestling fans, advertisers, and just interest in the spectacle known as wrestling. Secondly, I'll hold my annual Tito Awards, giving awards to the best in pro-wrestling, in my opinion. Those should be coming any time at the end of this year, hopefully. You never know with my lack of motivation towards wrestling these days. Thanks WWE for ruining wrestling in 2003!
-I caught Bill Goldberg on Punk'd last evening. The show has seriously run its course. Beyonce, formerly of Destiny's Child and with what I call an overrated singles career (I find her singles to be terrible and that her fellow group member, Kelly Rowland, is BETTER in terms of solo efforts. If Beyonce didn't look that good, nobody would care about her music.), knew she was getting Punk'd during the Christmas scene. Same, partially, with Lindsay Lohan, in the previous segment. With Bill Goldberg, they screwed up the motorcycle stunt and it completely went bad. The show ran its course, especially with every celebrity looking out for themselves to not be Punk'd. Goldberg just laughed at how ridiculous the attempt was, especially when the semi-truck totally missed Goldberg's motorcycle to explode.
-RAW's ratings came in, and the show did a 3.5, down 0.3 points from last week. Mind you, this is after their Pay Per View. Terrible, terrible, terrible. Yeah, the Dolphins and Eagles put on a close game, but it goes to show you that nobody cares about the Pay Per Views enough to check out RAW the next night to see what happened. It's a sign of the times that the WWE is still going downhill and fast.
-Speaking of MONDAY NIGHT RAW... pitiful ending with Mick Foley walking out on his match with overrated Randy Orton. If it's for a well thought out storyline, then fine, but the fact is that you advertised a match and didn't deliver. The fans in attendance were severely screwed and the audience at home was too. The remaining fanbase do not deserve any more slaps to the face. The WWE cannot afford to lose any more fans at this point, for they'll have nothing to build on if they ever become serious about making the WWE product successful again. This storyline better be mindblowing, or a massive FINGER OF SHAME will be continually pointed at the WWE.
Jericho's possible face turn was slowly hinted at again when he showed more concern towards Trish Stratus after another "Battle of the Sexes" match. I don't mind the way they are handling the storyline, as long as it doesn't lead to another heel turn by Jericho in the end. Mark Henry/Matt Hardy vs. Booker T/Maven was such a thrown together tag team match. Seriously, get Henry and Maven out of there and give them more training. Actually, buy out Henry's contract... Bill Goldberg was suspended for 30 days by Eric Bischoff. This storyline is in response to Goldberg being upset with the creative side of the WWE. Hell, he has a right to be. The creative department has screwed him from the day he showed up with barely any hype of his signing to the WWE. They showed a video advertisement on Wrestlemania 19 and made him debut the next night. WHAT A BUILD UP! Stupid WWE...
Shawn Michaels continued his God-like effort in the Michaels/RVD vs. Evolution match. This now leads to HHH vs. HBK, again, only Michaels is more over as a face and gaining his old wrestling roots again since becoming a full-time wrestler lately. Good! He'd be a fitting champion over Triple H, any day of the week. Heidenreich is STILL in the WWE? Rico had the honor to wrestle the tall piece of shit, but he beat him, thankfully. Kane vs. Chris Jericho was OK... I don't know, Kane just hasn't impressed me with his matches lately. Then again, it's hard to wrestle good wrestlers when you had to toy with Shane McMahon for over 2 months. And of course, the Mick Foley angle at the end of RAW was very disappointing and lousy.
Overall, I give the show a [ D+ ] (D plus). Seriously, trade Eddie Guerrero and/or Chris Benoit to this show, since the Smackdown writers don't appreciate either highly talented wrestler. Nobody but Shawn Michaels impresses me on this show, other than Ric Flair when he wrestles part-time.
-Speaking of Ric Flair, I'm getting his autograph this Friday at the Wheeling Nailers hockey game! Whooooo!
Willygoat Valley Wrestling (WVW) - The Best Backyard fed around today!
LoPForums.com
@That's all for today. Thanks a million for reading.
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