As was mentioned previously, there was a fire in the data center housing TWB’s server over the weekend. My Smackdown column got eaten so I probably won’t repost that but I’ll catch up on something regarding One Night Stand soon. As was noted, the reason Pulse and TWB don’t go down together anymore is because the performance issues on Pulse finally made us split Pulse off on to its own machine. The machine that TWB is on now only hosts Pulse’s media (images and podcasts and such).

That said, the site will probably be down again around 11pm - 11:30pm tonight so I can re-upgrade to Wordpress 2.5.1.

—

1) I still don’t really like John Cena… at all… but he needs to be the champion, not Triple H. Triple H is the San Antonio Spurs of the WWE. He’s old, boring, and no one really wants to see him as champion anymore. As I said last week, he’s one of the least egregious examples of nepotism in wrestling history but it doesn’t make his matches any more exciting. That said, I’d be pretty happy with a four-week Hardy/Cena program leading to Cena’s win at Night of Champions.

2) I keep waiting for Paul Birchill to not be boring… it doesn’t seem to be happening.

3) Is it just me or does the WWE seem to be employing a huge number of countout finishes lately? I guess it makes sense when you need a non-finish and it’s better to mix in count-outs than constant DQs, but it seems weird now that they went so long never using them. Embrace the heelishness Chris… just do it.

4) Wouldn’t it be amusing if Jericho held the IC belt for like a year and started pretending it was bigger than the World Title? I mean, if any guy could pull it off, it’d be him. They could offer him world title shots and he could turn them down saying that he already had the premiere belt in this business. I have no idea if that would make him a heel or a face, but it’d be damn funny.

5) OK, stupid little things like the million dollars getting its own entrance music are one of the myriad of little details that makes the WWE a million times better than TNA. I’m not greedy. I’d take $40k to pay off my student loans. If they’re real generous I’d take $100k to pay off my student loans, mortgage, and leftover credit card debt.

6) The Orton and Batista meeting on ONS last night sparked a lot of talk around the IP office about the awesomeness of a faction including Orton, Batista, Rhodes, Dibiase Jr, and (maybe) Smith. Even more awesome would be the storyline that would eventually see Batista ejected from the later-generation superstars. You could even give them the name “Evolution” and have Orton and Batista talk about how Evolution is an ongoing process and stuff.

7) The WWE needs to have a training course for all new and upcoming stars about not speaking with lots of pauses in their speech. Dibiase Jr hasn’t learned yet and it defeats the WHAT morons.

8) Could they please stop selling the Undertaker’s retirement match as a permanent retirement? Please. It’s insulting. The only difference this year between every other year when he goes on summer vacation is that he’s not “dead” this time. Can we stop pretending that he won’t start “haunting” Edge, who will then demand that Vicki re-instate him, in time for Survivor Series or Summerslam?

9) I will never understand spectators who want to jump into the ring. I mean, first of all, they operate on a delay so you never, ever manage to get on televsion. Secondly, you generally get your ass kicked by WWE security or one of the referees (I remember Dave Hebner locking in a guillotine at one point) and you most likely get arrested for some ridiculous thing that we’ve never heard of (like “Interfering with a show” or something). On top of all that, in the YouTube age, it’s very likely that a video of you getting your sh*t ruined will end up on the Internet for all to see. It seems like an awful silly way to spend a night in jail. At least try to steal the money or something.

10) Great finish. Hardy crossbody into a Cena roll-through into Cena picking up hardy and turning it into an F.U. Probably the right winner. I have no idea what they’re going to do with Jeff for the next few months… which probably means they don’t either.

—-

I’ll be back later tonight with some One Night Stand thoughts while watching to see what part of Pedro Martinez’s body falls off later.