[Mr. Dashbee]

[glow=red,2,300]Week 9 [/glow]
Week 9…you break it, you buy it!

The object is simple. You rank your top 6 performers of the week. Inverted points are awarded for 1-6 (6 points for your #1, 5 points for your #2, etc.). The top 12 point getters will comprise the Pun's House 12-Pack! Some fun will also happen with historical rankings and brand rankings, so keep an eye out for Serge, Lucky & Demko's contributions as we start to develop some history.

A few ground rules:
-Posting is preferred (with some comments if you can, they are very important to the rankings!), but you can also PM me your votes if you like.
-Feel free disagree and discuss your opinions. Try not to trash others' opinions, this whole thing is subjective. If you do disagree, present some great counter arguments and get the discussion going.
-Ties are okay. But you must skip the next spot if there is a tie. You can't have more than 2 per ranking (no 6-way ties for first place), either. And know that your points will be divided up amongst those who are tied. For example: if you have two tied for 2nd place, they share the 2nd & 3rd points (5 pts + 4 pts = 9 pts, or 4.5 per ranked competitor in that tie). The most you can rank is 7, if you have a tie for 6th place. A three way tie for 5th place (with no 6th place) is acceptable as well. You can also have a 6-way tie for first, or even a 7-way tie for first. As long as the numbers work out to an even point or half point, I will use it. I'm like math...
-Only vote for a specific performer once. If they competed in different ways, or even for different promotions, consider their body of work as a whole. If this is done and not changed, only the higher vote will count for the current week.
-Feel free to link to or post video evidence or campaign for someone if you feel moved to do so. Lucky also has a great online wrestling content thread going here.
-It’s okay to change your rankings. But please PM me to let me know. I tabulate the points as we go along, so I might not realize you changed something if you don't let me know.
-If you're unsure about something, check-out prior voting & result threads found nearby. As always, feel free to ask in this thread or via PM.

Week 9 Specifics
-Eligibility period: Monday 5/26 - Sunday 6/2
-Voting closes at 11:59 PM Wednesday 6/5, Eastern time (9 PM, Arizona time for me). The results will be posted before you wake up Thursday (East Coast, at least).

Eligible shows from the "Big 3":
-WWE RAW
-ECW
-TNA Impact
-WWE Smackdown
-WWE One Night Stand PPV

Plus:
-Any online content involving recent events that started airing this week, including an ROH VideoWire, WWE Heat, and TNA Today videos. Many indies put out online content as well.
-Any indy or international shows that took place during the eligibility period.

Have fun, and vote away! As always, please pimp the shit out of this!

[Demko]

Okay, first of all, let me apologize for flaking on you guys last week... things got a little busy for me last week. I should be back full time this week. Here are my rankings:

6. Awesome Kong - Still handing out the beatings, but not the cash... yet.

5. Ted DiBiase, Jr. - While some people called his actions on Monday night stupid - challenging for the tag titles without an announced partner - I see it as an opportunity! Jr. can resurrect his daddy's gimmick, offering cold hard cash to some top names to act as his tag partner. What a fantastic way to form a new team! Plus, the guy's mic skills are above average. I'm looking forward to his push.

4. MVP - The guy has really come into his own over on Smackdown. The draft is just begging for this guy to be moved to Raw. Maybe that's why he dropped the US Title?

3. The Undertaker - What I saw of the TLC match impressed me last night. It definitely wasn't Edge's best outing, but Taker took a hell of a beating, PLUS the 4-table bump off the top of the ladder. Not something you usually see a 300+ lb guy doing.

2. A.J. Styles - Good things(tm) abound for Mr. Styles. He's finally getting a character that the fans can get behind, and TNA has done a wonderful job in promoting him as the top face on Impact right now.

1. My top pick may be surprising, but it works for me, since I've been impressed with the long-slow-burn of the storyline. 'Black Machismo' Jay Lethal - every single PPV and most every match that Lethal and Dutt have been involved in, almost all of us have been expecting the heel turn of Dutt. It says a lot that the story isn't nearly over yet, and we're all still very interested in the outcome. How many stories in the rest of the wrestling world have been burning slowly for 6-8 months and haven't gotten old yet? This week just sorta reminded me of all of this, with the Best Man spot on the show this week. But I agree... someone needs to kill Ace Young before this story arc is over.

[Batman]

Man, this is not going to be one of those weeks where most of our ballots mainly agree. Man, the only guys I can even think of right now are Big Show, Edge, and 'Taker. I just dunno.

Big Show's blade job looked awesome.

[Demko]

Well, there really wasn't any one single thing that stood out this week (i.e. Joe's title win, AJ's beatdown, Kong/Kim match, etc).

[Batman]

I sort of agree and sort of disagree. I'd say that Edge vs Undertaker was clearly the highlight of the week. But beyond that, there's slim pickin's. I wouldn't be surprised if including one of the two of them ends up being the only thing that most ballots have in common.

[Lucky]

Dibiase might be a common theme as might Burchill's propulsion into relevance. But yeah, I can't think of too many standouts. Kind of a weak week for TV. I haven't watched ONS yet but I'm not sure I have 6 legit candidates yet.

And after reading Demko's writeup on Lethal I just wanted to say something I realized during Impact. I don't care at all about this story. It might as well be an Eric Young one. The entire Val/Lethal romance has been ridiculous as it took them months to go on their first date, a month to finish the first date, and yet got married a few months later. Completely unrealistic and stupid. Dutt has played his jealous role well never being too over the top but still looking upset. Clearly mocking Jay and Val while they talk about their wedding plans but then revealing he had gotten the American Idol guy was the perfect example of a dude who is clearly displeased but playing nice. And Lethal is handling it as a dude who wants to know what's up but hasn't been pushed enough to do anything.

But I just don't care. Lethal's complete lack of interest in the X Title after being screwed out of it, the complete unbelievability of the Val/Lethal story, and the slow burn to this heel turn has just sucked all the interest out of this like a Bobby Roode feud. I'm no longer anticipating the heel turn. I'm just waiting for it so that the damn story can start already and I might start caring. But they've done an effective job of making Val/Lethal/Dutt the 2nd least interesting thing on Impact for me. They're lucky EY is around.

[Batman]

Reverse order this week!

DHM) TNA - 90% of the time they put on the best show of the week, but this week they didn't do one thing that they hadn't already done better last week. They're really spinning their wheels till Slammiversary....

6) Beth Phoenix - What's with the chick wrestling lately? I mean, I expect to enjoy something involving someone really impressive like Mickie James or Kong, but a Pheonix/Melina feud? I'm surprised to be enjoying it. I think they probably had the second best match of the PPV. Good work.

5) Chris Jericho - I love the story-telling going on with his character right now. He's torn between respect for HBK and frustration at not being able to beat him. So now he feels very invested in how HBK does--if he can't beat HBK, and HBK can't beat Batista, then that reflects on Jericho. I'm sure tonight he'll be letting Shawn know just how much he let him down in the stretcher match....

4) Melina - See above, plus she got a pretty decent match out of bad-singer-chick.

3) Big Show -


'Nuff said.

2) Edge
1) Undertaker - Maybe it wasn't as great as Edge's ladder match with Cena, or 'Taker's with Jeff, but it was sure as hell the best thing going this week. Both guys bumped like mad, and Edge's win was a genuine shocker.

[creepy]

'Nuff said? I don't get it. Big Show bled. So he gets a 3rd place vote? What happened to force the blood? Was the bump awesome looking? It's your vote and you can do what you want with it, Serg, but I don't know why bleeding, and apparently only bleeding, get the next spot after match of the week. I'm sorry sir, I just don't get it.



My 6 - Because they entertain me:

1. Mizz/Morrison - Just awesome
2. AJ - The dude wants it, and by god he'll get destroyed to get it.
3. Christian - (My opinion) He had balls that Joe didn't
4. Elijah Burke - He wrestled. I'd rather see him wrestle than 80% of what happens on wrestling ever week.
5. LAX - They came out to fight and get revenge on a 3-2 disadvantage. Then stormed the ring at a 5-3 advantage. Then at the end, during what would have been a 5 - 2 disadvantage, they showed smarts and Hector showed what a real manager is supposed to do - cool his clients jets and think about the situation, not just go in guns 'a blazing style. Loved the characterization, it just made so much sense.
6. Kong - Wow.

I might also be doing this wrong.

[jetskid48]

Big enough week for me.

1. Undertaker/2. Edge -
If you go down the checklist of things a TLC match needs, they pretty much covered it as well as we could expect these two to do (especially with the help of La Familia). I don't think there's a person around that thought Taker was going to be the one going through those 4 tables, but boy did he. Both bumped like hell, and we got the surprising ending that more or less makes me believe that if we are going to exit the HHH era anytime soon, the next one, especially after the rub Undertaker just gave him, may very well be the Rated R era. He almost single-handedly gives the heat for one of the weakest big-time stables of all time, and is now World Heavyweight Champion for what...the 4th time? As for the Undertaker, if he's going to be taking some time off, this is the way to go out for once instead of the sad endings that he's gotten the last few times because of injury. I wonder how Smackdown will be now that they're losing one of their big 3...at least until the draft.

3. Big Show - might give relevancy to the ECW title for the first time since...well...that last time he held the belt. They handled the match perfectly with him, and it should always always always be a reminder that when angry, there's no way in hell anyone should ever be able to beat him. I just wish he would have used every last one of those canes from the can.

4. Chris Jericho/5. Shawn Michaels -
Really good match, only getting a demerit for a double countout - although it was probably needed - on Raw. Everytime it seems like this storyline is losing its steam, something else happens that brings a new wrinkle to it. This may be WWE's first great psychological storyline in a while...not to mention its first long term feud that didn't see 7 repetative matches in a row month to month to month. I'm still looking forward to Raw to see what Jericho's response will be from ONS. Michaels followed up with a pretty good match with Batista, or as best as you can do with a stretcher match.

6 (t). Miz/Morrison and MVP
3 1/2 appearances out of them this week gives me the excuse to put them on.
...and MVP is half-man, half-amazing.

HM:
Beth Phoenix: suddenly has an identity...sick ass finisher on ONS.
Punk: Did a lot of stuff this week.
Ted DiBiase Jr. - Orton Jr had a not so bland introduction. I completely expect him to be winning tag gold in his first match.
Melina: Now a face.
The Bad Guys: Another smooth promo.
Matt Hardy: Him and MVP are now 3a and 3b on Smackdown.

[Mr. Dashbee]

Jun 2, 2008 15:17:14 GMT -5 creepy said:

I might also be doing this wrong.

As long as you want your #1 to get 6 points, #2 to get 5 pts, and so on, you seem to be doing things exactly as indicated.

I like that you vote on entertainment value. I guess everyone does (except for those of us that let a little bit of kayfabed importance get in the way).

If your points were meant to be different, just let me know.

My votes coming later today/tomorrow.

[Batman]

As far as I'm concerned, that image summed up everything I enjoyed about Big Show this week nicely. Sure, I enjoyed watching him whack the bejezus out of eight other guys with sticks after that, too. But to me a great deal of what's awesome about pro wrestling is how sometimes everything can be summed up in one moment, or with one image.

In other words, Big Show's crimson mask looked great, and the crazy look in his eyes was awesome.

[Batman]

Jun 2, 2008 15:26:55 GMT -5 jetskid48 said:

I just wish he would have used every last one of those canes from the can.

Hehe. "I broked all de sticks. Dat means I win, right?"

[Lucky]

Yeah, I got Serg's message from that image. It was that deranged look from show that speaks to how awesome the guy is at body language and playing the crowd. It was the highlight of that match. That being said I love the Show and all but he's bored the ever living fuck out of me since his return, I don't care in the slightest about this ECW title situation, that match was totally forgettable, and one truly great moment from Show didn't bail it out for me.

Creepy, the fact that your rankings are kinda based on what you yourself volunteered was your own racial stereotypes is kind of... well, creepy.

I wonder if the TNA bias isn't going to shine through this week or if the wankers just haven't posted yet.

[creepy]

Jun 2, 2008 15:36:51 GMT -5 Batman said:

As far as I'm concerned, that image summed up everything I enjoyed about Big Show this week nicely. Sure, I enjoyed watching him whack the bejezus out of eight other guys with sticks after that, too. But to me a great deal of what's awesome about pro wrestling is how sometimes everything can be summed up in one moment, or with one image.

In other words, Big Show's crimson mask looked great, and the crazy look in his eyes was awesome.

OK, thanks for the clear-up.

And GB, I didn't put why I voted for people, but then I edited-in reasons. It was a continuation of my question to Serg.



And Lucky, I didn't really mean that in a negative way with the stereotyping. If anything, it was plus 100 points for some rasslin' authenticity. I dug it.

[jetskid48]

Jun 2, 2008 15:49:32 GMT -5 Lucky said:

I wonder if the TNA bias isn't going to shine through this week or if the wankers just haven't posted yet.

I'll believe it when I see it.



Although you would think one of these weeks 4 WWE (non-Wrestlemania, albeit) programs have to be able to beat out 1 TNA program at some point. It's just odds.

[Lucky]

I was making a sincere comment of interest as I think I have about 8 WWE names to make 2 TNA ones in my mind at the moment. I'm just legitimately curious to see how it plays out because TNA did have an arguably weak week since most of their moments were basically retreads of stuff that happened the week before. So I'm interested to see if some of the guys who regularly go 4-6 slots for TNA do the same this week or if they found something of interest in WWE.

Its a subjective poll. Its actually not that reasonable to presume that by basic odds dxb or Demko will prefer WWE one week to TNA. Viewing habits and interest in the parties kind of goes a long way just like you have a clear and determined WWE bias. Just what it is.

Which reminds me, need to start a thread at OO.


EDIT: Creepy, I was taking a jab as denoted by the smilie. Although I must admit that as a Hispanic I'm not sure how I feel that you appear to regard us as naturally sneaky or opportunistic.

EDIT2: Smilie

[creepy]

I see how you sneakily edited that smilie there, Lucky.



I saw it coming, of course.



But really, wrestling has always been full of sterotypes. I didn't just make it up. Foreign Tweeners* usually perform some underhanded, but usually smart, tactics.

And if it's true to life, then so be it.


*Not a bad name for a band.

[DevSop]

Jun 2, 2008 12:25:52 GMT -5 Batman said:

Big Show's blade job looked awesome.

Not a blade job. It was a legit deep cut over the eye.

[DevSop]

There's not even any indy shows that I think are worth bringing up for this week's ballot. I may actually have to consider WWE guys...I'm not liking this at all.

I should vote HHH #1 just for injuring Orton and Edge #2 for "retiring" Taker and getting 2 of the biggest sacks of waste off my television, but I'm afraid we're just going to get a new RNN and nowhere near as fun as the original and some nice gay spooky from UT.

[Batman]

Jun 2, 2008 16:51:25 GMT -5 DevSop said:

Jun 2, 2008 12:25:52 GMT -5 Batman said:

Big Show's blade job looked awesome.

Not a blade job. It was a legit deep cut over the eye.

Yeah, I noticed that when I was making that picture to post, but then forgot to to go back and edit my post.

It's amazing that something unintentional like that can be so aesthetic, like... a city skyline or something.

[punk/core]

www.wwe.com/shows/onenightstand/photos/bigshow/

Pictures of his non-bladed eye.

[jetskid48]

eh, that aint so bad.

[bdbdbd]

This week sucked. It sucked.

6. Beth Phoenix - The second best match on the PPV. I may actually end up giving a damn about her if they keep booking her like this.
5. The Beautiful People (Angelina Love & Velvet Sky) - Again they're working the promos well, Love had a fun match and the whole post match segment with Roxxi, ODB, and Kim was great.
4. Big Show - Turned in a performance on SmackDown worth...something, then had fun on the PPV. At the very least his cane swinging is the "people are talking" moment behind the Orton injury.
3. Melina - Part of the second best match on the PPV, but also part of a damn good Raw match. So good I thought they may be building her to beat Beth on Sunday.
1. (tie) Edge/Undertaker - Best match on the PPV, not that that's saying a lot. Edge was also entertaining throughout SmackDown!, as was the Undertaker in the final segment.

[wld]

1.)(tie) Edge / Undertaker – It’s probably not the final chapter of their feud, but if it is, it was a convincing way to end it.

3.) Beth Phoenix – WWE seems to be giving it’s women more opportunity to step up recently, and Beth is taking full advantage of it.

4.) A.J. Styles – seems to have buried the goofy side of his character without missing a beat, and he still dies good.

5.) Kevin Nash – I liked the promo with Cornette – Blatant politicing works for his character, and being the enforcer at KOTM seems like the logical thing for his character to do.

6.) Christian – Good promo, good match – not sure where they’re going with him being the only one to try to save AJ.

[DevSop]

I'm going to do this ballot mostly based on the potential of storylines. Guys I'm expecting to do well soon will be ranked higher the more I'm looking forward to their future.

1) Ken Kennedy
2) Paul Burchill & Katie Lea
3) Christian Cage
4) Ted Dibiase Jr.
5) Amazing Kong & Raesha Saed
6) Kevin Nash