Given the intelligence, or lack thereof, displayed in a lot of the posts made here, I’m often wondering how the people behind them have the capability to breathe, let alone operate a computer.
UFC:
Best knockout from a punch: Brad Kohler on Steve Judson at UFC 22
Best knockout from a kick: Yves Edwards on Josh Thompson at UFC 49
Best submission: Matt Hughes on Frank Trigg at UFC 45
PRIDE:
Best knockout from a punch: Igor Vovchanchyn on Francisco Bueno at PRIDE 8
Best knockout from a kick: Gilbert Yvel on Gary Goodridge at PRIDE 10
Best submission: Ryo Chonan on Anderson Silva at PRIDE Shockwave 2004
Sometimes, so-called ‘smart fans’ get so caught up in being smart, that they become so very dumb, and lose sight of the point in being a wrestling fan in the first place. The point of being a fan is to have fun with what you’re watching, enjoy what you’re watching, and have enough fun and enjoyment that you come back the next time to have more fun and enjoyment. It’s such a simple concept that it flies right over the heads of some ‘smart’ fans, who are so busy trying to be smart that they forget about actually being fans. They get so caught up in being ‘smart’ and showing everyone else how smart they are, that the only thing they show people is how dumb they are, and how they’ve missed the point in being a fan.
Try being a fan again. You might like it more than being ‘smart. And you might actually become smart once again.
I enjoyed this PPV a great deal, and more so than any wrestling PPV for a very long time. The last PPV of any kind that I've been this excited about both while watching and afterwards was UFC's Unfinished Business from last year. As far as wrestling goes, the last PPV to have this kind of buzz about it was WM X7. Since then, wrestling has been totally lacking the kind of emotional connection that allows for this kind of reaction, and the fact that a promotion that has been dead for five years elicited such a response while WWE is getting so apathetic that the people who hate it can't even be bothered to rip into it is sad in so many ways.
The matches were mostly secondary, which would have been obvious going in had people thought about it. The only real standout matches were Tanaka v Awesome and Dreamer and Sandman v The Dudley's. The rest were just kind of there, with Storm v Jericho was the most enjoyable of the undercard matches. Benoit v Guerrero was a letdown in some ways, and really came off as filler, but in no way was it bad. I know some people have torn into that match something fierce, but those people should take a look at themselves and think about things a little more clearly, rather than trying to be some sort of 'super smart smart fan' or whatever their gimmick is.
The highlights were easily RVD and Paul Heyman's promo's, with RVD shattering the myth that he can't speak. If anyone thinks RVD can't talk after his promo at ONS, then must be really wanting to believe a myth that everyone else has had the good sense to see through. Heyman's speech was great stuff, and, again, showed how great someone can talk if you let them talk about a subject they are genuinely into and really want to talk about.
Joey Styles was great on commentary, while Foley wasn't all that hot, which you could tell he was aware would be the case going in, and he stayed in the background for most of the PPV. The highlight for Styles was his shooting on Mike Awesome during his match, and when Eric Bischoff was at the commentary table for the show ending angle, and Styles just tore into him with, "You are without a doubt the worst goddamn color commentator I ever heard in my life.” For me, that was the line of the night, as it came out of nowhere, and there was no real set up to it, unlike with RVD's and Heyman's stuff, though that was still great.
There were a few minor points I didn’t like about the PPV, most notably Steve Austin leading the ECW charge against the WWE ‘Crusaders’ and him getting the last attack on Bischoff, but they were minor enough, and the strong points strong enough, such as Sabu showing up, that this PPV is the easiest thumbs up I’ve given to a wrestling PPV for so many years that I don’t even remember the last one.
