Review of the Year 2007

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." - Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

2007, from a wrestling and VWWE standpoint, is a year I really don't know what to feel about. There were some incredible highs and possibly the lowest lows ever seen. And the ironic thing is, on both fronts the year started with massive optimism.

Toward the end of 2006, both VWWE and WWE had started to get our acts together. We'd just hired Nik who was writing some excellent shows on SmackDown and WWE were about to begin the build to WrestleMania.

The first WWE problems look to occur right off the bat with Triple H going down injured at New Years Revolution and ending DX, however in my opinion this was a blessing in disguise for all concerned, including Triple H as DX were starting to out-stay their welcome. The real benefit however was for John Cena, Shawn Michaels, Edge and Randy Orton, these four men putting on some of the best displays WWE had seen since SmackDown in late 2002. Raw became something that you knew would be hot every week, you could guarantee awesome television.

The build to WrestleMania 23 I thought was excellently done, the Battle of the Billionaires caught the imagination of the media, the Donald was excellent in his role while on SmackDown, Batista and Undertaker began their helatious feud. This coupled with the red hot Rated RKO, the emerging Umaga, Kennedy and MVP.. things looks very bright during the first quarter despite the passing of a great many names, Mike Awesome, Ernie Ladd, Bam Bam Bigelow and Arnold Skaaland amongst them.

Meanwhile.. VWWE was behind schedule... nothing to worry about, VWWE is always behind schedule lol, we we're behind schedule the day we launched. We quickly got Survivor Series 2006 out of the way, it's rushed status however showed. It's not a PPV I really like and it probably lacks a big marquee match-up that one of the big four deserved. In retrospect, giving the runner-up to the Elimination chamber the Intercontinental Championship was a bad idea, it devalued the belt. Though I don't suppose Forxx/Scott has complained too much lol. Right after that Forxx won the WWE Championship, a long road for him and there was a little bit of a Mick Foley vibe in the win, a good moment and my immediate thought was that the only possible WrestleMania Main Event would have to be Nathan James vs Forxx, final encounter inside Hell in a Cell...

Didn't quite work like that.

Forxx still had to face Randy Orton in his rematch, that was going to happen at No Way Out but first, Orton had to face Hulk Hogan, first time ever following the awesome revealing of Orton as the man who ran down Hogan. This for me was the highlight creatively of VWWEs year. Sam and I had been working on the angle for a few months and the blow off was particularly satisfying. Though I won't lie, Randy Orton wasn't always going to be the man who did the deed. When first conceived in 2005, I'd really no idea who was going to have done it, it would be pointless to look that far ahead. As the time for Hogans return drew nearer, Triple H I think was considered, I know Nathan James was, Forxx was ruled out as he was a face at this point. Though I liked the prospect of Orton, he'd have motive as the Legendkiller, Neal is possibly the best promo guy in VWWE who's name isn't Mick lol, plus I thought WWE made a lowsy job of Orton vs Hogan, it all fit and I think it worked perfectly. All good, Randy won his match at the Rumble, Nathan James won the rumble, we're on course.

Here's a great example of plans having to be changed on the fly and you've really gotta appreciate the hassle the real life creative team must have, times 100 I'd imagine. Randy Orton won the title at No Way Out, leaving us with Nathan James vs Randy Orton (heel vs heel) and Hogan and Forxx without matches. There were only Two scenarios - Fatal-4-Way with all 4 men or to bump Hogan/Orton up to being for the belt and Forxx/Nathan as a semi-Main Event which is what we finally did. It wasn't the best plan but I think WrestleMania 23 came off very, very well and was in my opinion our best WrestleMania since WrestleMania XIX.

WWE's show was likewise a runaway success, the highest grossing event in WWE history, record attendance (unless you believe the WM3 attendance was for real lol), records were shattered. The Undertaker and Batista has a hell of a match, Taker winning the belt, Kennedy won the MITB case (remember that crazy Edge/Jeff ladder spot?), Mr McMahon was shaved and Cena/HBK had a hell of a match with the wrong result, but it was still an awesome PPV. The greatness didn't stop there, Two weeks later in England HBK and Cena went for an hour, Two weeks after that we had a final showdown between Cena, HBK, Edge and Orton that was another amazing match. Heading into Judgment Day, things may have started to simmer down a little, Cena feuding with the Great Khali while the Undertaker was injured, the belt going to Edge who'd defeated the injured/uninjured Kennedy for the MITB case.

Out of the blue, Vince McMahon exploded. Or rather his limo did, either way, HOLY SHIT didn't come into it. My initial reaction was "WTF?" but then it all made sense to me from a creative standpoint. I know many people had mixed feelings on this but I was right behind it. If offered an excellent possibility for intrigue in the way the "Austin's been ran over by a car" angle did, the potential for merchandise in a "I blew up Vince" style and the potential to get the fans talking. Did WWE go in the wrong direction with it? yeah, this should never have been a serious angle, it should have been fun, WWE tried to go that way on the last week of it, we'll never know what may have happened if it had continued. Still, with the Vengeance Night of the Champions approaching, things were still OK (if you forget that clash that Cena and Khali had on Raw before their match)

Something had to go wrong didn't it?

It did. Spectacularly.

I think in a way the day the news of the Benoit Tragedy broke will be very much the wrestling equivalent of the day JFK was shot, I certainly remember exactly what I was doing and how it all broke for me. I was on MSN, talking with Sam about something, I seem to remember it was high spirits. Suddenly out of the blue Scott appears and tells me to go to WWE.com where the news was on the frontpage.

My initial reaction was "No way, this is just a sick angle", I couldn't comprehend it for a few minutes. I broke the news to Sam and then the locker, everything pretty much stopped in the entire wrestling world. Initial thoughts were that it was an accident, carbon monoxide was mentioned, other poisoning. Sadly the eventual reality did cross my mind, murder and suicide but it's just something at that moment you don't say, something that probably also occurred to the WWE staff that same evening.

I wrote a lengthy piece on the tragedy a few days or so after the event and my thoughts really haven't changed. I think many in the wrestling community felt they knew Chris Benoit, knew his character and they really didn't. Or maybe they did and his actions we're just one act of insanity in an otherwise great life, we'll never know that but on that day, it was just total shock, horror, incomprehension. I stayed up to watch Raw that night and it became quite obvious that a few of the people speaking knew the truth, the news officially broke during the show that it was being treated as murder-suicide. One of the greatest wrestlers who ever lived, who most people idolized as an icon of the business, was a murderer. It was for me the darkest hour I've known as a fan of professional wrestling.

The initial fallout lasted weeks, WWE immediately returned to business as they rightly should have, producing a very memorable ECW show the night after but it was empty and hollow, nobody was feeling it. There was nothing to cheer about in the aftermath of the Benoit tragedy. Many fans were searching for answers, the families involved were searching for justice and a little peace. The news media were searching for a head, preferably that of Vince McMahon.

I remember reading in Mick Foleys first book how he was affected by an expose show that ran in the late 80's, exposing how wrestling worked which in the days of kayfabe was explosive. Foley hated to see the business he loved trashed by those around him and the media. I think what we witnessed in 2007 was that times 10. I love WWE and respect Vince McMahon a hell of lot, not a apologist - if he's talking or booking crap I say so, but the trashing of WWE and Vince McMahon by the media was disgusting and left a sour taste.

The media stopped caring about Nancy and Daniel Benoit within hours, as soon as the word steroids came up, that was the story. The murders were off the front page as an irrelevance and in there place was a stream of hasbeens and nobodies, people who'd been fired by Vince or had a grudge. CNN wanted to have the Ultimate Warrior on their show, a man who last worked for WWE 11 years ago for all of a month and is clerarly mentally disturbed, names like Lex Luger, Chyna were wheeled out, sure, these are REAL reputable characters (note sarcasm). If I had to pick who was worse, I'd say Fox News. I'd heard a lot about what they were like but really hadn't taken much notice, sure they were a little fascist from time to time, but at least they weren't the Communist News Network, right? wrong. I found out pretty quickly that Fox News is one of the most biased, opinionated bunch of jack offs in America today. They make Mahmoud Ahmadinejad look Liberal. They're owned by the same people who own The Sun in Britain so you know what to expect :)

Rant over, I miss Ted Turner lol

It wasn't just the "real" media though, even the dirtsheets got in on the act, a fact that finally put me off the PWtorch for good, a site I never now visit. Despite popular/Internet belief, the ratings DIDN'T fall in WWE, they stayed healthy for a good number of weeks, at least 5 or 6 I think, when rating did start to dip, it wasn't because of this tragedy, it was because of the product WWE started to put out.

The tragedy caused WWE to suspend, rightfully, a great many workers, top names. This coupled with injury left us with a point where John Cena and Randy Orton were the only active headliners on Raw, Cena briefly feuding with Carlito. WWEs quality plummeted and was unrecognizable. I was depressed with wrestling and probably for the first time ever actually questioning a lot about it, including my love for wrestling. At several points I really wanted nothing to do with it, even just owning a site and writing about it. SummerSlam was coming but I really wasn't interested even in the VWWE one or the WWE one, I think a lot of other people felt the same, there was just a complete atmosphere of doom and gloom over the entire wrestling business.

VWWEwise, it was slightly before the Benoit tragedy I think that a certain E-Fed made a comeback, Rhyno believing for some reason that FWC had an audience. I'm not going to waste letters on this, everybody was there and knows what happened. All I'll say is, at least you managed a show this time, please try again next year lol

I don't know when the clouds cleared in WWE and not wanting to sound vindictive but I think they really cleared the moment that John Cena got injured.

I admit, I was pleased he was injured at first and made a few wisecracks, that was wrong. I really should have been more adult, but sadly I think it wasn't uncommon and is a damnation of WWEs policy toward Cena. His reign of doom was more painful even than Triple Hs in my opinion, he defeated man after man, Edge, Umaga, HBK, Khali (bad example), Lashley (equally bad example), but by the time he was injured, people were bored and getting sick and tired of him despite drastically improving in the ring and having genuine match of the year contenders. When he got taken out it was like the sunshine coming out, they'll be a new Champion at No Mercy - guaranteed. WWE did excellently in not revealing anything before the PPV and gave us a hell of a memorable night at No Mercy itself with the title changes. Since then WWE have returned to a better form, yet still not as hot as pre and post-WrestleMania, yet there is light just coming through.

VWWEs personal clouds had cleared a few weeks earlier, Fi and Mike had gone off in a fit of pique after a few words from Mark and Sam, I think I may have said something too.. the old memory fails me from time to time. The little gray cells are not what they once were. Either way, FWC had gone under leaving me free to concentrate on VWWE.

I was legitimately worried for VWWE, the product was stale, we'd old characters, too many characters, shows everywhere, everything was a headache. There was only one solution - totally clear the decks.
So half the roster was fired, two shows canceled and I'm certain everybody thought we were crazy. Somehow it worked. Since then we've had a show every week, three of them being Pay-Per-Views, we've had some great new ideas and everybody seems to be promoing every show, things haven't been so good in a long time and, quite frankly, that last episode of Raw fuckin' rawked :D

In WWE? well they've just had a great 3 hour Raw as well, a great Raw last week and a very very good Armageddon, Raw looks to have characters that will entertain week in week out and also deliver in the ring.... so there ya go... and i didn't even mention the incident with the midget son, not once.

But what of outside the wrestling World? well there's always the whole England business in the soccer, and the Scotland one too, but you guys probably don't wanna be reminded of that at this festive time lol, Tony Blair finally got the message and packed his bags, normally cause for cheer but unfortunately he was replaced by Gordon Brown who thus far seems to be as competent as was Steve McClaren. Since then Tony Blair has become a Catholic. No doubt he's angling for the Papacy in the near future.

Internationally, the Iraqis were kicking seven shades of shit out of each other, no change there. Barak Obama, Hilary Clinton, Mike "By Gawd" Huckabee and Rudy Guiliani quickly emerged as the front runners for the Democratic and Republican nominations in next years US Presidential Election. The monks of Burma were brutally suppressed by the ruling junta and the great Nicolas Sarkozy was elected President of France, promptly inviting Colonel Gaddafi to Paris and shooting off abroad with a MILF Italian model. How very French.

The Iranians were rattling their sabers when the British managed to find themselves captured and proceeded to make themselves propaganda gold for the regime. Iran 1 - Britain 0. Don't it make ya feel safe to know these people are protecting us. Though the forces of militant Islam didn't have it all their own way and managed to drive a car into a door. Osama would be proud. All hail the jihad on doors. More seriously, Al Qaeda's assassination of Benazir Bhutto just days ago is already threatening to spiral out of control, a very dangerous situation for Pakistan and the World going into 2008.

In sport, Man Utd won the Premier League and Chelsea the FA Cup after a memorable strike from Didier Drogba in extra time of a poor game and AC Milan gained revenge in the Champions League, defeating Liverpool. The San Antonio Spurs took the NBA Championship while somebody unimportant won the World Series, Barry Bonds claimed the all time home run record to very little fanfare due to his alleged steroid use. Kimi Raikkonen came from behind to claim an unsuspected Formula One crown from Alonso and Hamilton. England lost the rugby World Cup, Hatton lost to Mayweather and then England lost their place in Euro 2008, Steve McClaren replaced by Fabio Capello and in the dismissal of the year - Jose Mourinho was sacked as manager of Chelsea, the reign of the Special One at an end.

And talking of at an end, in 2007 we said a final farewell to: Magnus Magnusson, Bam Bam Bigelow, Frankie Laine, Anna Nicole Smith, Ian Richardson, Mike Awesome, John Inman, Ernie Ladd, Arnold Skaaland, Bad News Brown, Bob Woolmer, Boris Yeltsin, Alan Ball, Sherri Martel, Bernard Manning, Daniel, Nancy and Chris Benoit, Lady Bird Johnson, John Kronus, Mike Reid, Tommy Makem, Tony Wilson, Brian Adams, Antonio Puerta, Alan Coren, Luciano Pavarotti, Colin McRae, Lois Maxwell, Ian Smith, Deborah Kerr, The Fabulous Moolah, Evel Knievel, Ike Turner, Benazir Bhutto and Phil O'Donnell

RIP one and all.

On the other side of the coin, somehow Pete Doherty, Amy Winehouse, Britney Spears, Scott Hall, Michael Jackson, Scott Steiner and Kurt Angle are still with us. For this we are thankful.

In most cases lol

It's certainly been an eventful year to say the least, let's hope for more of the good times, and less of the bad, in 2008.

Happy New Year everybody.

CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
December 24, 2007

Sorry if the chat is fuckied up on phones, thats my fault lol

For those who cant access chat, the Christmas/Anniversary special of Raw will be up before 11am in the morning and will be named "One Night Only" on the sidebar.

For those that i don't see before tomorrow, a very merry Christmas to one and all, have a great time everybody.

LAST CHRISTMAS
December 22, 2007

Raw is now up in it's usual place, thanks to Steve, Morten and all those who promoed.

The next Raw is the 24th and will; be the holiday/anniversary three hour special. No card is to be released for this and last weeks guesses have been used where people didnt give unique guesses. This will be the last Raw of 2007.

The set is currently also being updated, it would have been done by now but im having a site problem.

I'm pleased to also announce that every episode of Raw has now been transfered from mywap to the server, so they'll never be lost or censored and are fully searchable. The Episode Guide will be completed today and work will begin on the transfer of the PPVs and SmackDown in the new year.

BUT FEAR NOT...
December 19, 2007

Hey yo...

Sorry for the lack of recent updates and Raw not being up. Don';t worry, we're not behind, it's just that i've alsoe been writing next weeks special edition of Raw which is PPV length and rather good imo :)

Raw should be up soon and the anniversary special will defo be up on Christmas Eve

Welcome to Y2J and Blast also, you'll be added to the roster soon.

The roster and frontpage will defo be updated in some capacity after Raw as will BS news

DRUMROLL PLEASE....
December 13, 2007

The VWWE Awards 2007 winners are....

(CHRISTMAS) CARDS
December 12, 2007

The Raw card is now up and this will be the last card released of the year. The Raw sepcial will have no set card, so if people wanna send me guesses for both shows at once, that's fine. Guesses ASAP as usual please peeps.

The first VWWF Card will be:

1. WWF Tag Title Tournament: Edge and Christian vs nWd
2. Hardcore Title: James Duroc vs Viscera
3. WWF Tag Title Tournament: New Age Outlaws vs The Hardys
4. European Championship: Nightmare vs Kurt Angle
5. The Big SHow vs The Big Bossman
6. WWF Tag Title Tournament: The Rock and Dr.SmackDOWN vs Doomsday and mystery

Forxx, Triple H and everybody else will play a part

Can people tell me how well VWWE.com is loading on their PCs/PDAs/Phones/Laptops in the chat please, mainly how long it's taking

Chat:

I'm a little distressed at how little the chats being used and more particularly how few posts are being made.Come on peeps, we're not a cheap immitation, nor FWC. The locker was the pride of VWWE, the jewel in our crowl. Please put in as much time there as you have.

RAW II
December 11, 2007

Raw is now up in the usual place, expect the next card shortly.

The first VWWF Card has been released in chat and will be repeated here tomorrow and the VWWE Award winners will be announced on Thursday

RAW
December 10, 2007

Raw should be up tonight quite late, about 10ish.

Can Steve holla as to the status of those matches, thanks.

SMALL JOB
December 7, 2007

I've a writing job available. However it's not a major job and is more site related than anything. Plus nobody will probably read what you write and theres not much creative freedom to it lol

If anybodys interested, holla.

VWWE AWARDS 2007 NOMINATIONS
December 6, 2007

Wrestler of the Year (2006 winner - Randy Orton)

• Randy Orton
• Hulk Hogan
• Triple H
• The Undertaker
• Doomsday
• Forxx
  

Tag Team of the Year (2006 winner - Michael Shane/John Morrison: MNM)

• MNM
• Los Conquistadors
• Adult Viewing
• MoD
• Carlito and Jesus
• Cade and Murdoch
  

Match of the Year (2006 winner - Shawn Michaels/Undertaker Hell in a Cell)

• Randy Orton vs Hulk Hogan (Royal Rumble 2007)
• Ric Flair vs Triple H (WrestleMania 23)
• MNM vs Adult Viewing vs Los Conquistadors (WrestleMania 23)
• Doomsday vs Nightmare (WrestleMania 23)
• Hulk Hogan vs Randy Orton (WrestleMania 23)
• The Rock and Hulk Hogan vs Triple H and Randy Orton (SummerSlam 2007)
• Michael Shane vs John Cena (No Mercy 2007)
• The Undertaker vs Forxx (No Mercy 2007)
• Hulk Hogan vs Triple H (No Mercy 2007)
• John Cena vs Doomsday, Michael Shane and The Rock (Survivor Series 2007)
  

Rookie of the Year (2006 winner - Primal)

• Shaun Paytner
• Jerry Ford
• Father O'Reilly
• Cade and Murdoch
• Jesus
• Jeff Hardy (as singles star)
  

Most Popular Wrestler of the Year AKA Best Face (2006 winner - Shawn Michaels)

• John Cena
• Hulk Hogan
• Forxx
• The Undertaker
• Showtime
• The Rock
  

Most Hated Wrestler of the Year AKA Best Heel (2006 winner - the Undertaker)

• The Undertaker
• Randy Orton
• Vince McMahon
• Rhyno
• Triple H
• Doomsday
  

Feud of the Year (2006 winner - Shawn Michaels vs the Undertaker)

• Hulk Hogan vs Randy Orton
• Hulk Hogan vs Triple H
• Randy Orton vs The Legends
• WWE vs FWC
• The Undertaker vs Paul Bearer
• Michael Shane vs John Cena
• Ryan Simmons vs Primal
• The Rock and Hulk Hogan vs Triple H and Randy Orton
• The Undertaker and Doomsday vs Hunter and Nightmare
• Triple H vs Ric Flair
  

Most Improved Wrestler of the Year (2006 winner - Randy Orton)

• Forxx
• Michael Shane
• John Cena
• Primal
• Ryan Simmons
• The Rock
  

Most Inspirational Wrestler of the Year (2006 winner - Dusty Rhodes)

• Hulk Hogan
• Ric Flair
• Shawn Michaels
• Sphere
• Coops
• Bagpipes McRay
  

Manager of the Year (2006 winner - Armando Estrada)

• Paul Bearer
• Eric Bischoff
• Melina
  

Comeback of the Year (2006 winner - Doomsday)

• WWE
• Hulk Hogan
• Sphere
• The Rock
• Coops
• FWC
  

Woman of the Year (2006 winner - Melina)

• Rhyno
• Gary
• Melina
• Stephanie-McMahon
• Harley Quinn
• Goldberg
  

**NEW** The Vince Russo Award for best WrestleCrap of the Year

• The Phantom Anvil Dropper
• The XFL
• The Return of FWC
• The Hairy Muff
• The Anvil
• Bagpipes McRay and The Mighty Blow

GUESSES N PROMOS! GUESSES N PROMOS!
December 4, 2007

NEED those Raw guesses and prmos please peeps.

This is also the time VWWE starts looking toward it's yearly awards so expect the nominees to be announced soon in the following catagories:

• Wrestler of the Year (2006 winner - Randy Orton)
• Tag Team of the Year (2006 winner - Michael Shane/John Morrison: MNM)
• Match of the Year (2006 winner - Shawn Michaels/Undertaker Hell in a Cell)
  
• Rookie of the Year (2006 winner - Primal)
  
• Most Popular Wrestler of the Year AKA Best Face (2006 winner - Shawn Michaels)
• Most Hated Wrestler of the Year AKA Best Heel (2006 winner - the Undertaker)
  
• Feud of the Year (2006 winner - Shawn Michaels vs the Undertaker)
  
• Most Improved Wrestler of the Year (2006 winner - Randy Orton)
  
• Most Inspirational Wrestler of the Year (2006 winner - Dusty Rhodes)
  
• Manager of the Year (2006 winner - Armando Estrada)
  
• Comeback of the Year (2006 winner - Doomsday)
  
• Woman of the Year (2006 winner - Melina)
  

PARTY LIKE IT'S 1999
December 3, 2007

The VWWF site is no up at: http://vwwe.com/vwwf

Other stuff updated on VWWE includes:

Title History
Title page
Bios added to the a few ppls pages
Roster updated
At a glance updated
PPV archive updated
Raw card up (guesses ASAP please)

Armageddon page also added

Frontpage updated later with a little BS, sorry theres not been more but with no chat activity tis difficult to do.

TICK, TICK, BOOM!
December 2, 2007

Fior those who missed it, the Survivor Series went up yesterday. Thanks to all those who promoed and Stve for his assistance.

Expect the Raw card to be released this afternoon. The frontpage will be updated tomorrow so the PPV isn't spoiled.

Keep a watch on the chat today and tommorow for the release of the VWWF site.