Diamonddust

Agreed. I remember freaking out about having to go to bed right after they showed Undertaker putting Warrior in the casket on Prime-Time one night.

I thought the same thing, but it is still very questionable on whether or not Austin can do one more match and take the risk of seriously hurting himself.

You know... As weird as it sounds, I wonder if this whole sudden embracing "The Wrestler" has to do with the fact it didn't get a Best Picture nomination.

I watch boxing once in a blue moon (Basically when there's a big fight on regular HBO and not PPV), but damn... Mosley handed Cotto his ass tonight. Did Cotto's whole fight strategy die once they found the stuff in his gloves?

Predict the winners for all five matches and receive five bonus points. 1. WWE Women's Title: Melina vs. Beth Phoenix© WINNER: BETH PHOENIX 2. ECW Title: Matt Hardy vs. Jack Swagger© WINNER: JACK SWAGGER 3. World Heavyweight Title: John Bradshaw Layfield vs. John Cena© WINNER: JOHN CENA 4. WWE Title: Jeff Hardy© vs. Edge WINNER: EDGE 5. Royal Rumble Match -Participants as of 10:10pm Eastern Friday 1/23 according to WWE.com: Finlay, Mark Henry, CM Punk, R-Truth, Carlito, The Brian Kendrick, Triple H, The Big Show, Vladimir Kozlov, Shelton Benjamin, The Undertaker, Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, Kofi Kingston, Rey Mysterio, The Miz, John Morrison, Cody Rhodes, Ted DiBiase, Santino Marella, and Kane WINNER: TRIPLE H All bonus points are based on the Royal Rumble match itself and are as follows: 1. With only 21 names announced, who fills out the final nine spots (1pt for each correct)? -Umaga, Chavo, Tommy Dreamer, Shad, JTG, Goldust, Ezekial Jackson, MVP, The Great Khali 2. Who draws number one? -Triple H 3. Who draws number 30? -Umaga 4. Who draws number 27? -Randy Orton 5. Who lasts the longest amount of time? -Triple H 6. Who makes the most eliminations? -Kozlov

The same applies for Goldberg's entrance (And Jericho's awesome Spinal-Tap version as well).

Another one people have forgotten is Goldust's entrance.

Yeah... 95% is a laughable number.

For you history buffs, today is the 25th anniversary of one of the most important matches in WWE and Wrestling History: 25 years ago today, Hulk Hogan beat The Iron Sheik and the rest, well, is history.

1. Who will win the 2009 Royal Rumble? (5 Pts) -TRIPLE H 2. Who will be the runner-up (3 pts) -RANDY ORTON 3. Who will be the iron-man? (5 pts) -TRIPLE H 4. Who will have the shortest time? (5 pts) -MVP 5. Who will have the most eliminated opponents? (3 pts) -KOZLOV 6. Who will draw #1 and #2 (3 pts each, 3 bonus for accurately naming both) #1 - HHH #2 - The Miz 7. Who will draw the most successful entry # of 27? (2 pts) -RANDY ORTON 8. Who will draw the #30 spot? (3 pts) -UMAGA 9. What will be the eventual winning #? (5 pts) -#1 10. Will there be any surprise/unannounced entrants as of 1/25? (no point value), If yes, who will they be? (3 pts each) -UMAGA (Not sure if he's an announced participant - if not him, then no surprise) 11. Will the endurance record of 62:12 held by Mysterio be broken? (no point value) If yes, who breaks it? (3 pts) and what will the new time be? (7 pts to closest time predicted) -NO 12. Who will be the final six men in the ring? (3 pts each, 10 pts for accurately naming all) -TRIPLE H, RANDY ORTON, UMAGA, THE UNDERTAKER, KOZLOV, CHRIS JERICHO 13. How many instances of interference by non-competitors will we see? (2 pts) -NONE 14. Will anyone bleed? (no point value), if yes, who? (3 pts) -NO 15. If Charlie Haas is a participant, who does he imitate? (3 pts) -Haas won't be in

1. In the long run, do you think Sable and his ensuing feud with her (the in-ring one) helped or hurt his career? -Hurt his career big time. 2. Let's play the "What if" card. What if Marc Mero wasn't plagued with consistant injury problems through out his WWF stint? Would he have reached similar heights as the men he had joined WWF alongside; Mankind and Mick Foley (remember Mero was perhaps the most hyped of the three when they entered the company in the first part of '96)? Would he have maintained the mid-card position he had in late '96/early '97? -I don't think he would have cracked past the upper-mid card if he had stayed healthy. 3. What was best; the WCW run as Johnny B. Badd or the WWF run as Wild Man/Marvelous Marc Mero? I'm assuming no one will consider his XWF or TNA runs the highlight of his career. -Johnny B. Badd, without a doubt. As absurd as the initial stages of the gimmick was, Mero took the ball and ran with it. 4. In twenty years, what will he be best remembered for? His in-ring career or his role as a straight shooting media gadfly (and the list of guys he wrestled who died) after the Benoit murders-suicide? -I'll remember him for the early days of the Johny B. Badd gimmick and nothing else. 5. Now the obligatory final question; Favorite matches, moments, etc. -I always got a kick out of how my mother would make a crack or comment whenever she saw Johnny B. Badd on the screen.

I had also forgotten about the Roaring Elbow... completely bad-ass finisher right there.

Forgot all about The Diamond Dust (And Joey Styles calling it when Tanaka hit it in ECW). Thanks for the reminder.

Agreed X 3. Vader's powerbomb was great until Hogan killed it.

With the thread about favorite/most unique entrances and discussion on how certain moves applied by certain wrestlers appear more effective, here's a no-brainer topic: What do you think are some of the best finishers? What are some of your personal favorites? What are some of the best tag-team finishers? Who made a finishing move look the most effective? Any other thoughts? My list would include: -The Undertaker's Tombstone: Totally fits the character -The Stone Cold Stunner: Could come out of anywhere, and it usually meant things were over -The Diamond Cutter: Same thing. For a time, the Diamond Cutter was the most over move in wrestling -The RKO/Kick of Death: See above. The Kick of Death is rapidly becoming a top favorite -The Tazmission: I loved this submission and how they sold it. -The Rock Bottom/People's Elbow: The People's Elbow showed how skilled The Rock was. He could make a simple elbow drop the most anticipated spot of the match. -The Doomsday Device: Best tag-team finisher ever. I would never want to be on the receiving end of this one. -Demolition's Finisher (Can't remember the name): A close second.

Some of my favorites (Many already mentioned): -Pretty much any Undertaker/Wrestlemania entrance -Edge coming out of the crowd, but I do like his new entrance now -Any entrance where Flair got to come out with a bevy of ladies -The Fabulous Freebirds at Halloween Havoc '89 (Simply based on the fact the crowd HATED The Dynamic Dudes and cheered the Birds like conquering heroes) -Ricky Steamboat's entrance as the mystery partner of Dustin Rhodes against The Enforcers -The Brood -Austin's intro at WM19

The success that The Rock, Austin, and Foley brought in negates all of that.

In terms of lasting impact, 1996... in terms of the current product, 2002.

Same with Stan Hansen... his lariat was certifiably deadly.

Looks like WWE's going to do that every year before the Rumble, as they did a similar promo last year. Yeah... the Rumble is probably their biggest "stat-heavy" match/event, and they can play off the trends and such for a while.

for what reason? He has a chance for a title shot by winning the rumble. If this was in the summer, maybe. Maybe this leads to Austin/Orton. Now there's an interesting set-up: Vince is forced to go to his mortal enemy to take power back. If Orton faces Austin, who does Cena face? Especially if HBK/JBL is the title match, that leaves Cena with nothing to do. Good point... However, they can always do Cena/Undertaker, which would be huge.

for what reason? He has a chance for a title shot by winning the rumble. If this was in the summer, maybe. Maybe this leads to Austin/Orton. Now there's an interesting set-up: Vince is forced to go to his mortal enemy to take power back.

Or, I shudder as I type this... Orton vs. McMahon at Wrestlemania

So is Vince going away again now, or is he going to be "bitter injured Vince". I'm also surprised Stephanie wasn't trying to get someone to get him some water as well.

Or give him the Kick of Death... that will work too.