The Tino Standard

"Win if you can, lose if you must, but ALWAYS CHEAT." The Body rules the school.

Austin beating Kane to win back the title the night after KOR '98 was a huge mark-out moment for me, but that happened in my hometown, so I'm probably biased. I wish I could score a tape of that from somewhere. A lot of my other favorites have also been mentioned, but a couple that haven't: - Austin kidnapping Vince, ending with "Bang 3:16". Just so over-the-top. - The simulcast with the final Nitro after Vince bought WCW. Have you ever seen a more surreal two hours of television? EDIT: Damn, how in the hell could I forget Jericho's debut in Chicago? That first promo with the Rock was GOLD, back and forth.

I think you can pretty much flip a coin as to who is "more over." When i was at Raw on Monday, the crowd went nuts for both guys. It seemed like there were a small few people who didn't like Cena, but Batista was pretty much well-received across the board. As for who drops first, Cena's done fine with the belt, but if you think his reign isn't coming to an end when Triple H decides to show up and take the WWE title, you're crazy. On a related note, the only bright side about Triple H winning is that I want to see how much he celebrates his 11th world title when he gets handed that ridiculously over-the-top spinner belt. By the way, the title of this should be "Who's dropping...", not "Whose..."

Cena really needs to get that "SMACKDOWN" plate with the fist replaced on his belt. And I'm stunned they haven't started selling replicas of it yet. Didn't take nearly this long for the custom US title to come out.

No. I see "short-term extension" and I read "contract to work through SummerSlam," and "working on a long-term deal" translates to "you will see skidmarks in the pavement of the MCI Center after my match is over." Trust me, I hope like hell I'm wrong because I love Jericho, but this whole thing just reeks of "Word got out that the challenger in the title match of our second biggest PPV of the year is leaving in a few weeks and we need to do anything possible to preserve the illusion he has a chance of winning."

Well of course he delivers one of their best promos. When you spend year after year delivering the exact same interview almost verbatim, odds are, you'll eventually get it right.

I think that's exactly what they want: Hardcore Internet fans get it in their heads that Brock Lesnar is coming back, then they spread the word to their casual fan buddies and the anticipation builds. Pretty soon, you start watching shows to see when he's finally going to pop up, possibly even buy a PPV (coughSUMMERSLAMcough,cough), thinking that's where he might come back. Really, the whole surprise factor is overrated. That's a one-shot deal, and if a surprise is just that- a surprise, then it won't make them any money anyway because they won't have any higher viewership than usual. The real planning here is how to make money off him long-term, not on his re-introduction. And for once, I think they're going about it the right way: Publicize every little detail of the process of bringing him back. It makes him seem like a bigger deal.

Holy shit, I had one of those! I remember distinctly coming home from a movie with my dad one night when I was like 5 or 6, only to discover that my 2-year-old sister had somehow gotten into my toys and broken one of the wings off my Voltron. My sister is almost 20 now and has no idea how close she came to never seeing her third birthday.

Ba-doom ching!

That's exactly what I was thinking when Benjamin got caught. But instead of using that slick counter, he loses and looks like a jobber in the process, leaving all of us in the building wondering who he pissed off this weekend. Thank god they gave us a dark match after the show went off the air because the TV main event was awful. Jericho NEVER hits the lionsault anymore, and not only does he hit it tonight, but it GETS THE PIN? Come on. Cena/Batista vs. Angle/JBL was a fun little match to cap the night with, and definitely had more of a main event feel. Finish came when both faces hit their finishers and got simultaneous pins. Shawn Michaels' promo seemed pretty interesting from what I could hear of it. Only problem was I had this idiot sitting in the loge behind me screaming "YOU CAN'T BEAT BRET HART!" and he did it for virtually the entire promo. It was amusing once, but got really, really aggravating fast. We could see behind the TitanTron, but didn't see much, as there was a tunnel leading from the backstage to the ramp. One funny part came when they stretchered Lita out, then you saw them put the stretcher (empty) off to the side of the entrance area behind the stage (there was a platform outside the curtain), only to see her getting wheeled into the ambulance afterwards. Cena was over like rover with the crowd and got the best pops of the night. Angle and Jericho probably drew the best heat. Entertaining show considering what my tickets cost (they were free), but definitely not an all-time Top 5.

Woohoo, just got confirmation from the WWE P.R. people a little while ago that my comps are set for tonight. I'll try to check in with a live report around midnight.

Wow, I can't believe all the hate for the soundtrack on here. No love for The Clash and De La Sol? COME ON. On another board I frequent, the general concensus is that this is one of the best EA soundtracks ever. I wouldn't go that far, but I still give it a thumbs up.

Now, if only UPN would start banning ALL shitty gimmicks from their network, we'd be in business...

I don't think every single joke has to be mentioned, and there's nothing subtle about Stewie saying "sausage fest." <{POST_SNAPBACK}> The real point of that was the dig on Chinese population restrictions and the old-world mentality of preferring male babies to female babies (which has been taken to the extreme of having female babies aborted for no other reason but that the parents wanted a boy). Do a Google search for China population restrictions if you must. So many people settled for the cheap laugh of "Haw, haw, Stewie said 'sausage fest!'", the real context of the joke probably flew over the heads of 90 percent of the audience.

Given that this is in Washington D.C., Batista's hometown, I think this could end up being the first co-brand PPV with a Smackdown match going on last since Judgment Day 2003, if I'm not mistaken. That's a hell of a streak.

While some of you aren't liking the all the references, I think some of the show's subtle nature is going right over your heads. We're on page 3 and not a single person has mentioned Stewie's line about "I have seen nothing but boy babies since we got here" when they arrive in Chinatown. Not saying it was the best line of the episode, but it shows that they DO have more than 80s references. By the way, was I the only disappointed that when Lois got sentenced, Kool-Aid Man didn't jump through the courthouse wall again?

I second the Adventure Island nomination.

Man, that's tempting, especially considering both me and my roommate view NCAA as little more than a nice warmup for Madden and a way to get the rosters for future seasons.

That was an entire year ago. and it's why I said this has been getting increasingly worse over the last few years. He hasn't done ANYTHING not title-related since. We've hit rock bottom with this.

Yeah, that's pretty it for me. I'd honestly have no problem with him completely burying someone in a non-title feud at this point. He's done a series of jobs and put over Batista as well as he could before shipping him to Smackdown. He's a main eventer. I have no problem with him winning his next feud. I'd just really like him to prove me wrong and go feud with someone over somethign other than a title. It's like a crutch he isn't willing to let go of.

What this REALLY is is a thinly veiled excuse to get him off TV so that he can avoid actually having a non-title feud. He'll stay off TV just long enough to get over losing three straight title matches, then come back and get into it with Cena over some half-baked scenario and BOOM, Triple H is right back in the title picture again. Seriously, the man is INCAPABLE of having a non-title feud anymore. It got increasingly worse over the last few years, but it's to the point now where he'll go OFF TV COMPLETELY before he'll feud with somebody without a championship on the line.

For those of you not in favor of the switches to the control setup, good news: Go to controller setup, and you can set it to the 2005 controls. Saved me an awful lot of grief, plus the hit stick still works. Now if only they'd put the PlayMaker on NCAA, so I could reverse running plays at the line, we'd be golden. Other than that, big thumbs up from me for '06.

I thought they said another 8-10 cuts were coming. The only guy to get released since that was said was Cornette. What gives?

Considering Matt Hardy was arrested and escorted out of the building by the police, I find it pretty amazing he was able to find a computer to post on a Web site. Shouldn't he be in jail right now? A friend of a friend of mine got thrown out for some ringside shenanigans at a WWE show and he spent a night in the slammer. If what Hardy did was legit, I'd say he wouldn't be sitting in his room at Motel 6 right now blogging. Don't get me wrong, tho. This is crazy entertaining stuff.

Have you ever noticed how the annoucers always play up how MSG "loves" Shawn and has the heel he faces always cut an anti-MSG/New York promo before the match? It happens EVERY time he has a match there, too. Anyway, I'll throw out Rocky Maivia. He received a ton of backlash from the fans for being "That 80's Babyface." <{POST_SNAPBACK}> The MSG crowd popped pretty huge for HBK's win in the first Elimination Chamber at SurSer 02. Then again, when he did the spring up for his babyface comeback at WMXX, they booed the shit out of him, so make of that what you will.