Just John

Well, I never gave it much hope, but you're right about the Kurt Angle thing. Man that was a bad move for everyone involved. It was Vince openly stating that ECW guys sucked and couldn't draw (similar to making Austin the leader of the Alliance) and cut the legs off Angle's entertainment value (can't cut funny promos, wrestle 10-20 minute WWE style matches, etc). Just awful thinking all around, but seeing how the rest of the product has turned out, it's really just a drop in the bucket as far as poor planning goes.

I haven't seen NYR, but I thought another obvious case of facial expression giveaway was when Edge had to lose the belt back to Cena at the Rumble. Edge looked legitimately pissed coming to the ring. Like someone just told him in the gorilla postition that he had to do the job. Later, if I recall, it came out that the decision to put the belt back on Cena was made the day of the show, so it all fits together.

The original NWO is what really started the Attitude era in wrestling. The fact that WCW's ratings went up during this time showed that fans like more down-to-earth characters with realistic personalities instead of wrestling pig farmers and whatnot. Along with the revolutionizing of cruiserweight wrestling, the NWO was WCW's greatest contribution to the sport. I know a lot of people don't like the cheapening of the NWO as time went along, but it was so hot WCW had no choice but to milk it as much as they could. And, hey, I liked the Wolfpac, so shut up. The real death blow to the NWO was the fingerpoke match where all the over wrestlers from B/W and Wolfpac united, leaving the original B/W sect with nothing but unover, talentless jobbers. On a less important note, today is also the one year anniversary of Hassan's terrorist attack that led to him quitting wrestling.

Bulls getting KG is good if they win now, but their young players will keep them in contention for years down the line. It's a bit of a gamble, but I think the Bulls should go for it. Imagine KG and Ben on the front line... Would any team be able to get an offensive board ever? Plus Garnett gives them a go-to scorer. Also, is Cleveland in cap trouble or do they suffer from inept managing? I can't imagine why they wouldn't be a more desirable destination for FA's with Lebron and all.

Or wrestlers who don't get the reaction WWE wants (i.e. Kurt Angle). They really should go through with my "no one wants to be managed by Daivari" idea after Khali dies at the GAB.

Well, it's July now, and since we all love tracking excellence in the world of wrestling, I think we should give out some awards. What has held up from your 1/4 year awards, and what do you think will make it til the end? Best matches: 1. Kurt Angle vs. The Undertaker (WWE No Way Out) 2. Kenta Kobashi vs. Naomichi Marufuji (NOAH 4/23) 3. KENTA vs. Naomichi Marufuji (NOAH 1/22) 4. Do Fixer vs. Blood Generation (ROH 4th Anniversary) 5. Samoa Joe and Bryan Danielson vs. KENTA and Naomichi Marufuji (ROH Best in the World) I think Angle/UT will hold up all year for me. I haven't seen Benoit/Finlay JD, so that's still pending. I could easily see that moving up to 3. The top 2 may very well be untouchable the rest of the year. I imagine KENTA/Marufuji will stay in my top 5, but it's probable the other two will be knocked out. Best Wrestler: 1. Naomichi Marufuji 2. Fit Finlay 3. Rey Mysterio 4. KENTA 5. Chris Benoit I myself am surprised I took Marufuji at #1, but when he's in 3 of my top 5 matches it's hard to go against him. Especially when you also add in his heroic carry job of a broken down Taue to a hot match on 3/5. Finlay has yet to have a bad non-squash and has been a staple of the SD midcard. He's probably been in 4 of the 5 TV MOTY candidates. Don't know for sure, I'll list those in a minute. Rey, despite horrible booking, still brings the goods whenever he wrestles. KENTA's also in 2 of my top 5 with some more strong showings on the side. Benoit, like Finlay, has been instrumental in the consistency of the SD midcard, but doesn't have the individual performances to get a higher ranking. Best TV Matches: 1. Finlay vs. Rey Mysterio (3/24) 2. Kurt Angle vs. Rey Mysterio (6/1) 3. Finlay vs. Chris Benoit (5/5) 4. Finlay vs. Rey Mysterio (6/9) 5. Joey Mercury vs. Paul London (?) Ok, so Finlay's only in 3 of them. My Bad. No surprise all these are from Smackdown. And the way that show's going, none of these matches may be here by year's end. I'd also give best feud to Mickie/Trish. So, let's see what everyone else comes up with.

Well, I opted to see fireworks instead of what sounds like another lame ECW show. I must say I'm curious as to how bad this show gets before it is inevitably canned at the end of it's time on SciFi. I regret not watching more WCW in 2000, so I will be sure to tune into the train wreck that is the new ECW. Not like my viewership matters without a neilsen box anyway. Also, I don't know why the fans threw garbage into the ring at the end. Well, scratch that. I know why, but they just didn't think it through. WWE is obviously going interpret this (either through stupidity or self-delusion) as a massively successful heel turn. Since I plan on being quite sadistic and reveling in this failure, I hope to see a Show/Test title program.

I'll be missing the show this week, but doesn't seem like there's a lot to it. Booker predictably gets his title shot, Rey gets treated like crap, Batista beats up Henry. I'm curious about the Lashley/Finlay/Regal 3-way. If Finlay and Regal would fight each other, that match could be really good. Hopefully they stray from the generic 2 heels vs. 1 face 3-way formula (heels work together for 2/3 of the match, start fighting once one goes for a cover, brawl, face comes back, big spot, finish).

I agree with Babe, MJ, and Gretzky. I'll say Montana to represent football, just to be different.

The NFL's geography from 1994-2002 makes NBA geography look top notch. Atlanta and Carolina were in the NFC West, while Dallas was in the East. Jacksonville was in the Central, while Indianapolis was in the East. Tampa was in the NFC Central too. Just a huge mess all around.

I'm not liking this offseason so far for the Rockets. First, they've done nothing and desperately need to. Second, every team in the division will be good or is getting better. NO/OKC getting Peja and Jackson helps them a lot if they stay healthy. Memphis will be adding Rudy Gay and possibly Stromile Swift to their already good lineup (thanks to the Rockets mind you). Dallas and San Antonio sure as hell aren't getting any worse. The Mike James return would be nice, but that's not going to compete with the moves made by the other SW teams. There have to be some teams out there that would give us decent or at least promising young shooter for a handful of our senior citizens.

Bah. A real heel would've ripped his autograph book to pieces.

I'm glad someone else is passionate about this match. If you don't want to do the multi-part youtube thing, here it is in one Windows Media file. http://rapidshare.de/files/19227822/Kobash...rufuji.wmv.html On the figure 4: If you watch closely, when Marufuji goes for it the first time, he sets it up the "wrong" way, but Kobashi breaks it up and when he tries it again, he does it right. If Kobashi improvised that correction, I will completely ignore the fact he did running knee strikes with his injured knee.

I agree there's lots to like about this match. My only complaint is that the story doesn't perfectly fit the characters. The whole match Marufuji is looking for ways to keep Kobashi down, and does a good job of it. The only problem is that unlike against Taue, no one wanted to see Marufuji beat Kobashi. It would've been better if Marufuji could've had some crowd support so that maybe we could believe he had a chance to beat Kobashi. And one observation I made, is how Kobashi pulls off the best "don't fuck with me" spots. Like at the beginning of this match when he challenges Marufuji to a chop-off, but Marufuji keeps ducking Kobashi's chops. The fake, then the chop which Marufuji sold like a champ was great. Another example would be from his 3/5 match with KENTA where KENTA tries his striking combo that sets up the busaiku knee kick, but as soon as he turns to hit the ropes, Kobashi grabs him by the hair and half-nelson suplexes the shit out of him.

I loved how the video package covered up this fact and made it seem like Lashley had never beaten Booker. Now that's revisionist history!

I must say JBL is starting to live up to his potential as an announcer. Once he gets completely removed from his feuds with Rey and Lashley, he'll be gold. He does a good job putting guys over and being neutral enough to rip the stupid shit to pieces (Vito gets burned 5 or 6 times a show by him). He's like Tazz only with the balls (or job security) to shoot a little. Although despite JBL's comedic talents, he was on the receiving end of possibly the SD zinger of the year, as highlighted in my sig. Even he couldn't help but laugh at that one. All in all, not as strong of a show as in recent weeks. With a such a thin roster, you have to book to perfection, and this wasn't it. Helms/Crazy was decent given its limitations with time and the finish. Finlay/Hardy was alright, but they really need to kill off the leprechaun. Booker/Lashley was the worst of their recent matches as the cage limited, rather than helped them. As for the non-important stuff... I actually liked Henry calling Chavo a "leecher of the Guerrero name." Anyone who picks on Chavo deserves some praise. He also called him "no good" and "worthless." While true, that was very hypocritical on Henry's part. He's been booked extremely well lately, but you know what they say about polishing turds...I'd ask why the World champ was only involved in a pointless beatdown to get an upper midcarder over, but it's Rey and I know no one cares about him... Why was Gunner pulling jobber duty? He was doing fine as a midcarder. Kash and Noble vs. London and Kendrick should be good when it happens.

Definitely my runner-up for MOTY so far. Angle/UT is still my #1, but still a nice match with a good strategy-based story.

That was rather funny, but I wonder how much the announcers actually heard. If they heard most of that, every single one of them must be inhuman not to laugh just a little.

This is shitty news. Kobashi has always been my favorite puro star. I hope he can make a full recovery.

I think it'd just be easier to list guys I do want to stab, since there's less, but I'll stick to the rules. Anyone on TNT basketball Mike Breen Bill Walton Tom Tolbert Mike Tirico Sterling Sharpe Adrian Healy Tommy Smyth Actually, I don't have problems with any of the World Cup guys Al Michaels 90% of CBS and FOX football Ones I most want to stab: Screamin' A ESPN Sunday Night Football John Madden Tim McCarver The White Sox guys on WGN

If Swift winds up in that Battier deal... Good lord. I don't know how anyone can be that dumb. Not only do you not add depth to the frontline, you actually take away from it. I know T-Mac and Yao are still up there, but guys like Howard and Mutombo aren't much longer for the NBA. So now we've given up two young guys for another "veteran." Once T-Mac passes his prime or (god forbid) can't play anymore due to injury, the Rockets are gonna crash and burn (there's probably a Columbia joke to be made here, but I can't find it) because management doesn't realize hiring a bunch of veterans isn't what the team needs. The vets are going to go away, and we'll be left with the bottom of the barrel young guys.

I can't believe the Rockets gave up Rudy Gay for Shane Battier. And then one of the idiots on the ESPN crew said Battier will bring veteran leadership to the team. Uh, hello? Half the team is over 50!

He's definitely getting booed because of ECW being booked as heels. Also, Cena's popularity is on the rise at the moment. And I thought smarks always hated RVD. I was usually indifferent to him, but now I'm really starting to not like him. He appears more motivated, but he's also lost a lot of speed while still trying to wrestle the way he did 5 years ago. I blame this for the program with Shelton Benjamin bombing and producing subpar matches. They were going for a spot oriented style, but RVD wasn't fast enough and Shelton had to slow down to nearly half speed. Also, that step over heel kick is one of the most consistently poorly-executed signature spots in wrestling.

I think refering to ECW wrestlers as "rebels" is incredibly stupid. Superstars is one thing, but rebels? I mean, only like 2 or 3 of them are actually rebeling against anything.

This is the best theory presented so far. It's not overly complicated and makes a lot of sense. It also accounts for the May 19th angle that everyone seems to be hating on. He picked the day that fake Kane's movie came out to remind him that he's a fake, just like he was in the movie. Then the next week, Kane says May 19th will never go away, then shows up to attack Glen "fake Kane" Jacobs. I think you can account for last night by saying Jacobs doesn't want the secret out and being a fairly tough guy himself, beat up Kane and took his mask in an attempt to shame him away so Glen can continue to be successful.