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WCW used to use bait and switch in their booking every other week on Nitro. At first it was okay, and people were forgiving but when its done over and over, people get pissed and they stop watching, and eventually you go out of business.
Now, I'm not saying the WWE will go out of business because of this Foley fiasco, but its always a bad idea in this reporters opinion to use bait and switch, because eventually people stop biting on the bait. When you add that to the fact that they continue to kill stipulations by reversing everything they do, I think the WWE is headed in a bad direction.
With all that said, and this may sound like double talk, but I actually was glad Foley didn't wrestle. Personally I would have never teased the match for 90 minutes if I didn't plan on delivering. They could have run the same angle in one segment, and not fool the people. I mean I was sitting there during the whole show going to myself 'are they really this stupid to not only give away Foley's in-ring return on TV, but not even bother to hype it to get a decent rating?'. Turns out they are not that dumb, but they made the dumb mistake of lying to their audience by not delivering on a major match. The good thing is that now Foley has an angle to come back to (the whole 'do I still have what it takes' deal), but I fear that they will also be stupid and have Foley beat Orton, which would be suicide.
As for HBK, meh, they're going to be in San Antonio, and I guess they figure they need a World title match on TV, so why not go with HBK, who at least will get a good match out of HHH. Plus with the hometown crowd, its likely to have a ton of heat, and possibly sell a few more tix. Problem is that this is another example of the wrong people being pushed. Why not give RVD or Booker T that spot? Why dont they ever get back to back wins over top guys? Well I know the answer, but its still wrong to push a guy who is past his prime (albeit still entertaining) and good friends with the boss. Ive said this before but guys like HBK and Taker and others need to put out to pasture not the featured stars of the show. Assuming of course the WWE wants to be successful in the future.
I liked the Jericho stuff, its the best angle they have going on either program right now.
On the other hand the WWE's policy of ignoring stips seems to be continuing with Austin's pending return in two weeks. Although as I mentioned before the show, it was smart to announce tonight that he will be coming back, even if its a slap in the face to loyal paying customers.
I liked the Goldberg spot, that was a good way to give him his time off he needs to work dates in Japan. It'll be interesting to see if they go with the SD vs RAW matches idea, or use this as a way to move Goldberg over to SD, and maybe UT over to RAW. Ive said in the past I think they should keep the RAW vs SD matches idea, but I guess we'll see.
Six man tag match was pretty good, whats with Flair and the ropes?
Heindenreich is hopefully getting kicked off TV, and how uncredible did JR sound trying to put over "Big John" as having potential. I nearly pissed my pants laughing at that one. Who else thinks Rico is now getting a huge push.........was that crickets?........was that tumbleweed?
Jericho-Kane served no purpose to me. I thought they should have had Jericho get hurt in the match and then have Trish maybe not go to his side, but like ask someone if he's okay to show some concern and that she still cares about him. But whatever, the match itself and the outcome just seemed to serve no real purpose.
Booker T gets a win which I guess is good, looks like he's headed for another main event run..........damn, more tumbleweed.
Its tough to rate this show. I liked the first 80 minutes or so, then the show took a major dive, and the main event, while making sense in terms of a future storyline and leaving people wanting to see what happens next, really left a sour taste in my mouth, and I'm sure a lot of other people as well who invested time in the show thinking they would see Foley's return.
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