The Ghost of bps21

The point is...only one of these fighters is retiring...and only one is the Champion. Before the Vitali fight...Lewis could have walked away head held high. After that fight...there is a CLEAR and UNANIMOUS #1 contender for his title for the first time...virtually in his entire career as champion. He was booed, he's been challenged, fans everywhere want to know who's better... and he chooses NOW to walk away... To look at what it says in the record books is to turn your head to the actual story here.

Axl wouldn't even have to be there. He doesn't play instruments in the band. This would work better with Velvet Revolver minus Scott Weilend who'll probably be in jail anyway.

... Because he's not the champion? Once Vitali wins the title...Byrd should be the #1 person on his title defense list.

I'm gonna buy Angel...and rent Intolerable Cruelty

I watched Velocity last night (the first half of which just ruled) and they said that TWGTT had beaten Rikishi and Scotty on Velocity the week before Rikishi and Scotty won the tag titles. That must be what will earn them a title shot. But I must ask...why would Rikishi and Scotty get a title shot after losing to another tag team?

I voted for Jimmy Yang and his bum partner

Don't you mean "feed him Jericho again"? Besides...I watched a tape of HBK vs. Flair from MSG in December and the match was real good.

I'm becoming less and less on board with that too. Wrestling history took place in a time period where the goal was to get people to go see the show live in their hometown the one or two times a year they came around. The business model has changed drastically. The WWE has what...6 hours of new wrestling a week? Plus a 3 hour ppv every month? That's *does math* over a full DAY out of the month that wrestling matches from this one company hit the air. Things can get stale REAL fast. Especially the same old same old.

Thank you Coffin.

All I'm saying is...there is no way even the biggest Lewis fan can tell me that while he's walking away...he should feel that he was the better man. That's not my definition of "champion" regardless of what it says in the papers.

Wolverine wouldn't even have a prayer. I remember before they did Marvel vs. DC Wizard magazine had Wolverine vs. Lobo as their fantasy match. They put it best: "This fight would last about 6 seconds...and that's only if Wolverine could run really fast."

What courage is involved in walking away here? Had he walked away before the fight (which was heavily rumored) no one would have said anything other than "Great career", "Great Fighter", "Division is screwed". The fight did happen, and boxing fans everywhere cried foul. It would have been like Holyfield retiring after the first Lewis fight...when everyone knew he wasn't the man.

Frigid Soul is a New England fan. Eagan is a Bills fan. It just couldn't have been.

Fine. If being a stand up and classy guy is retiring after getting booed out of the arena and having your manhood questioned by everyone associated with the sport... Cheers to him.

Why? If last year was any indication, they need someone to actually catch the ball. Josh Reed isn't it. After Moulds got hurt...Reed never dropped a ball. He was their most dependable reciever down the stretch...and then they stopped looking for him. He was only in his second year...and his stats for his first 2 years are better than what Peerless Price was doing his first two years. Hell...it was very nearly better than what Price did last year as a #1. Bledsoe hasn't hit an open man since the game against the Giants.

1. Xplosion should change anyway. 2. Sunshine Network airs all over.

Anyone else think they are doing this just because they know Dallas wanted him?

That's easy to say...but this is quite the special case. Is he retiring with the title? Yes. Is he retiring where the last image of him is a guy too gased to get off the stool after the fight he was losing was stopped? Yes. That's how he'll be remembered by everyone who watched it.

...because he's not a girl? Seriously...that's what I've got. A man wouldn't retire like this. Not with how his last fight went down. There's what the books say...then there's what really happened.

I agree.

That's fine in theory and all...but it doesn't work in practice with the WWE. They've been the most successful wrestling company in America for a long time now...and they have a long streak of strong face champions to thank for it. Sammartino-Backlund-Hogan-*Down Period*-Austin. Business hasn't been booming the last few years...and HHH's long title reign on one show and Brock's on the other hasn't budged anything.

Of course heel's draw better as champions. Remember the two major boom periods for the WWE? They came when such top heels as HULK HOGAN and STEVE AUSTIN were on top. Silly rabbits.

Well...it would be a good pickup because the Bills are finally expected to draft a damn QB this year. It's been so long since they drafted a serious prospect...I don't even know who the last one was.

He had a heart problem...and somehow during surgery one of his vocal chords was accidentally damaged. It's what caused him to have to quit his broadcasting career. He spent the last year or so being QB coach for a high school that he substitute teaches for...so I guess it's good enough to go. I saw an interview with him before the Super Bowl...and he sounds good...I guess he just can't yell.

Just as an update...next weeks episode is scheduled to air at the same time on Fox Sports ATLANTIC. Don't know what's up with that...but at least it's on.