The Tino Standard

I thought it was odd that they showed the team celebrating with champagne in the preview commercial... it seemed like that would give the ending away, which seemed odd. But as soon as they broke it out before officially clinching, that's when I realized what was about to happen. Great ending to the season, tho. I was somewhat interested at the start of the season, but by the end of the year, I was hooked. I can't wait for season 2.

So how is it that the PC version of GTA: Vice City gets so many nominations, but it doesn't get a nomination for PC game of the year?

So, they are covering their asses about having mistakes on their pages by making a contest out of it. Me: Hey, there's a mistake on your page. WWE.com: (confused for a second) .... That mistake is there... BECAUSE WE PUT IT THERE TO SEE IF YOU WERE PAYING ATTENTION. YEAH. It's lazy and clever all at once.

Brock is a nightmare to face on there, though I did have on of the great underdog victories against him a couple days ago... In my season with John Cena, I won the US title, then sometime in the fall, got myself a title shot against Brock. Lesnar absolutely destroyed me. Then, I got put into a 4-way elimination match for my US belt and Lesnar was in it. Not only was I eliminated first, but Lesnar took my US title to boot. I got several more matches with him, both for the title and non-title. ALL losses. I won the Rumble and earned a WM title shot against Lesnar. I went into that match something like 0-5 or 0-6 against him for the season (without ever coming CLOSE to winning). But at WM, I went to a new strategy: submission. I pounded on his head and was relentless with the rear naked chokehold... I survived an F-5 when he stupidly picked me up when he could've had a pin on me, got the submission hold on again at about the 15 minute mark and he tapped... one of my most satisfying title wins ever.

"Carmina Burana: O Fortuna" was also used in the video package for the main event of Invasion, and yes, it is a sweet tune.

I like Raw last night. JR went a little overboard with the closing sell at the end of the show, but just about everything else was fine. * My view was probably skewed a bit because I had the benefit of watching the show on tape. If I saw a segment involving people I didn't like, I could just fast-foward right past it.

I thoroughly enjoyed screwing over HHH in my first season. He won the Rumble and was supposed to face me at WM when I was the champ. Flair jumped in and said he wanted the title shot. So those two had a No. 1 contender match with me as the ref. I slow counted after H's pedigree and then immediately fast counted when Flair did a sunset flip. Sorry, HHH. Muah ha ha ha ha...

Austin-Benoit from Raw in Dec. 2000. It was Austin's first good match after he came back from neck surgery. Benoit called him out saying he couldn't WRESTLE, just punch/kick. The two ended up working a SWEET free TV main event.

Nice!

Yeah, stupid phrase on the back of the Dudleys shirt, but that logo on the other side isn't too shabby. Better than most other Dudley stuff I can think of.

That's GOLD, Jerry! GOLD!

That Christmas lights WWE logo shirt will probably be worn by all the camera guys at ringside next month. Other than that, it's useless.

Damn right it was.

Yeah, I remember one time in the gauntlet mode, I survived everybody, playing for well over an hour, only to get eliminated by my very last opponent- Val freakin' Venis- on a totally bullshit move. I was about ready to cry, but realized my hands were too cramped to hold a tissue to wipe away the tears.

Oh my god, did that game rule. That was the first game using what became known as the "No Mercy engine." Sure, compared to later versions, it probably seems primative now, but at the time, that game was LIGHT YEARS ahead of any other WWF or WCW games. My buddies and I wasted HOURS on 4-man elimination battle royales. Great multiplayer fun. Definitely a good game, especially considering the excellent tradition of wrestling titles it started.

True, but that was a rare night where the storyline stuff was so good, you can almost forgive a lack of quality in-ring stuff. To me, with a Free TV show like Raw or Smackdown, any good matches are a bonus... Those shows are basically there to set up PPV... THAT is where you are supposed to get the quality wrestling.

Not to get all preachy about the good ol' days here, but I can remember the first Raw at Gund in March 1998 (Tyson joins DX, Undertaker returns and challenges Kane for WMXIV). I went down there without a ticket and couldn't even scalp my way in. The joint was PACKED and the show was off the hook. Man, how times have changed.

The thing about what you see on the TitanTron is what you see on TV is only true about 70 percent of the time. I've been to Gund for shows and taped them on TV and you can clearly see some differences. Still, the sign thing is obnoxious. I say ban them altogether, but that would probably piss people off even more. Also, how big was the crowd? It looked REALLY small on TV, even smaller than the Raw in June '02 where the entire upper deck was tarped off. Sad.

It took me 8 Rock Bottoms, a People's Elbow, a Somoan drop through an announce table, plus countless shots with a sledgehammer and a chair before I (the Rock) could beat RVD in my Last Man Standing match. Have fun.

I still mark for Flair all the way. I love... - the way he'll yell "ohhh, SHIT" every time he gets backdropped. - the desparate thumb to the eye. - the WOOO!/chop. - the lowblows. - his tirades during interviews. Of course he can't wrestle at the same level he did 15 years ago, but having him work matches here and there, while using him mostly as a mouthpiece for Evolution is fine by me. And for the record, I think Raw is better show right now. I don't even make an effort to watch SmackDown anymore, just read recaps to keep a toe in the water, so to speak. After a lot of ugliness, I'm kinda seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with Raw, believe it or not. They're building up some young tag teams and future main eventers while still using the veterans, and outside of the Kane/Shane fiasco (which should probably end at SurSer), pretty much everything has been fairly logical.

So let me get this straight... Is Austin's house in the middle of the Undertaker's yard?

Wow, Austin's story about his gold necklace was pretty cool.

I thought he had all his teeth when he showed up in the WWE, but had the one tooth knocked out within his first year in the company. Maybe I'm wrong on that, tho.

If I were rich, I'd buy a belt featuring dollar signs made out of gold and diamonds as a symbol of how rich I am, wear shiny tuxedos, and hire a bald black guy as my silent bodyguard who counts my money. And to cap it off, I'd strut around offering people money to do humiliating things and as I watched, I'd just have this maniacal laugh. MUAH HA HA HA HA. Wait a second...

Yeah, I need to stick up for SS '02. Rey-Angle was a great opener, HHH-HBK was much better than I expected and I liked the Lesnar-Rock match too. And if my memory serves me correctly, I believe the last PPV at Continental Airlines Arena in Jersey was KOR '01.