|
SLAM! Readers speak: A fixed Taboo Tuesday?
By
SLAM! Wrestling Readers
|
  
|
The results are in, and your choice is...Well, it looks like you, just as we were, a bit undecided as to whether or not Taboo Tuesday was fixed. Based on our reader votes, it would seem like a couple of the matches were on the up and up, while others were pre-planned.
In Tim Baines' Ottawa Sun column from Saturday, WWE Canada president Carl DeMarco said reports that Taboo Tuesday results were fixed are way off base. "It was on the up and up ... legit," he said. "It's such a cool concept. Why mess with that?" Baines promised more from DeMarco this coming Saturday.
Here's what you thought of Taboo Tuesday.
Blair Burch
I wanted to believe that Taboo Tuesday was legit. It even felt [that way] through
most of the show. The match between Jericho and Shelton was so sloppy they couldn't
have talked it out first. They are both much better than the bad match. The
girls stips and the weapon I believed no problem. They got around letting us
pick the weapon by using the chair for the finish regardless of our choice,
and the calls on chain spots were obvious.
By the end though, I didn't believe it anymore. It was perfect. Every major
Raw angle got advanced, with the groundwork perfectly laid out for the next
few months and ultimately 'Mania. I think in all honesty, this was one of Vince's
greatest achievements. He worked us so well, he had us believing we weren't
being worked.
For what it's worth here's how I voted.
IC Title : Stevie Richards (I had just rewatched ECW Holiday Hell from '95,
it was Stevie night with him in like fivesegments as the mouthpiece for Raven).
Diva's: School Girl (if they're putting it on, might as well make the best of
it).
Weapon: Chair (just seemed open to more creative match, it got used in the end
anyway).
World Title: Edge (It was the only match that seemed worth watching, Benoit/HBK/HHH
has been done to death; the new blood being the way to go) *props to Shawn for
making me a liar on a bad wheel to boot.
Eric/Eugene: Shaving (They wanted it, I want the angle to go away, I cared even
less than the divas. At least the divas look good while wasting my time).
Carmalla/Christy: Obstained (Unlike the diva match this wasn't even worth making
the best of).
Orton/Flair: Steel Cage (RKO is not a submission and falls count anywhere matches
tend to be boring brawls in the crowd.......the cage was the only way to go).
Rob Desnomie
Taboo Tuesday was an absolute fix. Let’s face it, when there is only
one real surprise match (Chris Jericho vs. Shelton Benjamin) during the whole
night, something is definitely up. Putting an injured Michaels up against HHH
is the only way the strap could have stayed in McMahon’s favourite son-in-law.
Edge still needs more of a build up to get his title shot, and Benoit needs
to get back into main events to get his chance. The Jericho/Benjamin match was
the only way the WWE could make the PPV look sincere in its attempt to use fan
input.
I agree with Greg Oliver’s suggestion to have WWE put on another such
event and have an outside organization receive the ballots. Perhaps the writers
at SLAM! Wrestling would be willing to count the votes.
(Editorial note: If the money's right...)
Christopher Bell
Was the fix in for Taboo Tuesday? Probably not in the way you’re thinking
about it. Yet, it definitely was.
Taboo Tuesday was rigged from conception. If you give somebody their choices,
is it really a choice? For example, I was only allowed to vote for three people
to face Triple H: Edge, Benoit, or Michaels. Except I didn’t want to vote
for any of them. I wanted to vote for Sheldon Benjamin. I couldn’t. Is
that a fix? Absolutely. I was only allowed to vote for one of four stipulations
for the Bischoff/Eugene match. They didn’t allow for the option I wanted:
Dark Match. Is that a fix? Sure is.
Taboo Tuesday was good in concept, but poor in execution. In the future, I’d
like to see a more open ballot system, where there are a dozen choices for every
match, and no matches are set beforehand. Just say, “X champion is defending
his/her belt against one of the following twelve people,” and let us choose
who it is. I guarantee you won’t be seeing Shawn Michaels carried through
any more lame World title “matches.” And maybe some of the younger
guys could get the legitimate shots they so badly deserve. It worked for Sheldon.
Angelo Furlan
Oh, I voted all right. It's a reflection upon my lack of a life at the moment,
because I deleted my cookies and voted 10 times in a row. Mind you, my time
isn't so devoid of value that I voted for every bout. I concentrated my efforts
on three bouts. Too bad it wasn't enough to get Benoit over, or see Orton vs.
Flair in a submissions match (because Orton doesn't have any submission holds).
Worst of all, my ballot box stuffing didn't help to bring about my dream match
for the IC strap - Jericho vs. Val Venis. Now there's a true taboo!
Do I think the voting was fixed? Not really, since the choices offered were
obviously meant to keep things under WWE's control. If WWE wanted to be really
daring, they should have given fans the option of selecting/deselecting bouts.
Let the fans decide if they want to pay for pillow fights, or pay to see Vince
continue to fight the Monday Night Wars. Maybe the fans would want to see matches
between ppeople who can wrestle. And give the results out the week before the
PPV, so people know what's in store.
-- compiled by Jon Waldman
