Just John

Ok, that final DX segment wasn't very good and went on way too long, BUT... HHH doing the Khali chop on one of the midgets was priceless.

The foul was on Dirk, which was exceptionally stupid. All Dirk did was turn around and look at Wade. I'd tear up the locker room too after that shit. At least with the Harris still-frame, it looks like an iffy call, which is a hell of a lot better than pinning it on Dirk. That backcourt violation was inexcusable, though. How does a "professional" ref miss that?

I'd argue that the TV title had no prestige between Renegade's run and the Booker/Benoit feud. It was hardly ever defended on ppv up until the Iaukea run, then featured a series of transitional like reigns, except there was no big picture goal of who should have the belt. I know Ultimo, Regal, Saturn, Disco, Alex Wright, Martel and maybe a couple others just had a bunch of short reigns that did nothing for anyone. 1998 was a much better year for the belt as Booker/Finlay carried the first half, and Jericho had a good 2nd half run with it.

Don't forget time passes faster in WWE. Michaels and HHH were feuding for about 25 years between DX incarnations. I'm glad WWE is actually remaining consistent with the Edge/Foley alliance.

Major transition is right, but it has potential to be very good. Booker has enough charisma to pull off being the top heel, while Finlay and Regal make good enforcers. Rey is a good underdog face, and he'd better without the title because then losing so much wouldn't discredit the belt. Lashley is a star on the rise and the more time he spends in the ring with Finlay and Regal will only help. Once Benoit gets back, he and Scott should have some wars with Finlay and Regal over the tag belts. I'd rather Batista just go to Raw, to be honest, since he'll hurt the new ME more than help it. I can totally see him going over all Booker's court at the same time.

Champs: Arquette and McMahon obviously (World/WWF) Chyna (IC) Jacquiline (Cruiser) Billy Gunn (IC) Stephanie McMahon (Women's) Judy Bagwell (WCW tag) Add the guy she replaced, Kenny Kaos, while we're at it. Jeff Jarrett (World/NWA) Pushes: Bradshaw (not JBL, the "leech onto Austin" Brashaw push of 02) Mark Henry (any time) Hardcore Holly (Rumble 04) Jeff Jarrett (WCW and TNA)

This is true. Good play will always overcome bad officiating. However, that doesn't excuse the bad officials. The refs this post-season deserve to be called out for their consistently terrible officiating.

Damn. And my Mavs in 6 prediction almost held up. I forgot to factor in a non-existant foul call and Josh Howard channeling the spirit of Chris Webber.

1996 was pretty bad overall for the US title. First was Konnan's heatless run, then the belt was thrown on Flair for no reason. Then there was a vacated title mess, ending with the NWO helping Eddie Guerrero win the belt (?). Luckily, it got a lot better with the run by Eddie, then reigns by Malenko, Jarrett, Hennig, and DDP (which featured good matches with Benoit and Raven). I think the US title has a better history because throughout the 90's, WCW generally had a stronger midcard. Since being re-instituted on Smackdown, the midcard has usually been better there than on Raw.

Come to think of it, Regal and Finlay getting the belts would be a great idea for the tag division that's been destroyed recently. They could squash jobbers every week and it would be entertaining, just because they're so stiff. Then, when Benoit comes back, the seeds have already been planted for Finlay/Regal vs. Benoit/Scott. If the Mexicools re-unite and L/K somehow stay on the map, the tag division could be alright. As far as the stable goes, I'd like to see Rey, Lashley, and Benoit be the 3 guys that primarily take them on. Scott can be sprnkled in there too. It'll provide some great matches and title runs for guys at the end of their careers, and could get Lashley and Scott to the next level if done properly. For Lashley, that would be the ME, for Scott, a solid upper midcarder.

I think the World title moves into the picture soon enough. Rey has no challengers at the moment, and Booker has jobbed twice to Lashley in the last 3 weeks, so that should wrap up that mini-feud. If the writers are smart (I know, big stretch), they give Finlay and Regal the tag titles too, to put the entire stable over. Only problem is Batista's return. Sure, first he'll waste some time with Henry, but afterwards, you know he's getting the belt, and that'll ruin all the build these three have gotten recently. You just know Batista would go over all of them.

I'll agree that Stack getting suspended is BS. That was a flagrant foul, but nothing more. Should've been one shot and the ball. That's it. So that's how many piss-poor games officiated by Dick Bavetta this post-season? SA/DAL 7, DET/MIA 2, and now DAL/MIA 4. However, the Mavs don't have much of an excuse if they lose the next game. If you're team that prides yourself on team play and depth, losing a bench guy isn't something that should bother you. I still think the Mavs win.

So the top face on SD, is who? ME jobber Rey? US champ Lashley? The top heel is Booker T. And SD is still a good show. I don't know how they do it. Rey/Helms was a good match. Scott/Hardy vs. Finlay/Regal was MOTN. And Booker/Lashley was good too, minus the abrupt finish. Then there were 3 squash matches, and a tolerable Mark Henry beatdown. That's good enough for me. Finlay/Regal need to get the tag belts, Booker needs the World title, and they need more skits together to get them over as a top stable. They could be one of the best ones in recent memory. JBL had some good one-liners, but he and Cole really need to develop some chemistry. JBL was acting like an in-character 3rd wheel announcer, when there was no second guy. Cole, who is easily distracted and loses focus, tried to antagonize JBL too much and there was a lot of arguing and not a lot of quality match discussion. Plus, JBL treated Cole like a bitch, which further limited what Michael could possibly bring to the table. With Tazz, Cole could make a comment without Tazz shitting all over him, which made the announcing much easier on the ears overall. Being argumentative does not equal good announcing.

Dirk won't struggle forever. I bet he has a strong performance in Game 5 to lead the Mavs to a narrow road win, possibly in OT. Likewise, the rest of the Mavs won't struggle forever either. They have too many good shooters to have a repeat of Game 4.

Funny how quickly people's opinions change with best of 7's in any sport. A week ago, Miami was an overrated bunch that had an easy path to the Finals and was dead in the water. Now people writing off Dallas? Come on. I'm sticking with Dallas in 6.

I think they beat Public Enemy once. They're still my favorite jobber tag team ever.

Reading the WWE comments that don't warrant a thread, I saw this interesting wwe.com bit that got me thinking... Now, I don't really care about the point Edge is trying to make here, but rather an issue that I've been thinking about for a while. Is it ok for wrestling promotions to openly shit on kayfabe like this? Vince Russo's angles where he did that are often criticized (like Goldberg not following the script), so what does everyone think about this? Is it alright for wrestlers to throw around non-subtle insults dealing with workrate? Personally, I think kayfabe needs to be protected more than it is. As a net fan, that seems kind of weird, but I think it's true. Even if we know about and analyze the deeper aspects of a match or angle, we don't need them reminding us it's fake. Wrestling is just like any other form of entertainment. I think of it like a movie. What if in, oh say, The Matrix, after Keanu Reeves said something, Agent Smith responds with "Well, that was poorly acted"? In a time where it's hard to suspend disbelief, a time of dirtsheets, "Five Star Match" chants, and wrestler blogs, how much should kayfabe be protected. I know that idea is often laughed at because it seems ridiculous. But then again, if kayfabe were to go away, what exactly would we be analyzing in wrestling?

The sad thing is, no one bad/worthless ever gets injured. It's always the good ones. If it gets down to 3, it'd probably be Henry, Khali, and Jake Gymini.

I DVR'd the show, to watch when I got back home later... Out of a possible hour, that garbage took maybe 25 minutes to get through and that's while still watching lots of things I didn't find interesting. The opening promo should have been on Raw. That's all it concerned. Make Cena look good and establish Edge for Vengeance, where he'll probably go over RVD to take the WWE title back to Raw. RVD and Heyman were just props to get the WWE guys over. Angle vs. Credible? Boring. I don't care what Tazz says. Kurt is not extreme. He chokes people and yells more now. Big fucking deal. The guy that had classic matches with Benoit at the 03 Rumble and Taker at NWO 06 was the REAL Kurt Angle. This "extreme" version sucks and doesn't put on good matches. Shit, the Angle that showed up for Summer Slam 01 against Austin was more believably intense and extreme than this piss poor version. The girl stripping. Eh, she was hot, but honestly, what the fuck is this doing on a wrestling show? Like someone said earlier, Kimona she ain't. There was no need for an entire replay of Tazz/Lawler from ONS. None. It's a fucking one hour show! The Battle Royal was totally lame and a carbon copy of any WWF Hardcore match from 2000. Cookie sheets and street signs. EXTREME~! And nice to see Show treated exactly like he was in WWE. When Sabu is the best performer on your show, you have serious problems. I'll watch next week, but with more of a car-crash expectation, instead of something that could be decent.

So far, the series is turning out like I thought. Although, I was wrong about one thing... Dallas DOES have an answer for Shaq. They were playing great team D on him all night.

I always thought Harlem Heat was pretty underrated. They had good chemistry, got a fair amount of heat, and could work standard matches or those clusterfuck tag team garbage brawls WCW liked to run in the mid 90's. Unfortunately, their peak as a team hit when the Outsiders came to WCW and proceeded to dominate the tag division.

I think Finlay needs to be called Fit Finlay again. Finlay sounds dumb by itself. Same goes for Gene Snitsky and Carlito Caribbean Cool. Thank god they dropped the "Just Lashley" idea after one week. Also, Booker needs his Harlem heat theme back. The King Booker one is soooo generic.

That poll isn't surprising at all. As has been discussed, most Cali NBA fans dislike Shaq, and Illinois and Michigan's teams were both eliminated by the Heat. The rest of the country is going for the Heat because Miami's a cooler city than Dallas, and Dwyane Wade is insanely over.

You know, I actually kinda like The Miz hosting SD.

Even with SD getting every terrible break imaginable, they somehow manage to crank out quality shows. Crazy/Kendrick was good and Finlay/Rey was awesome (minus that stupid bit with leprechaun). Finlay really brings out the best in Rey, as his strikes seemed a lot more crisp than usual. They also did a good job building off their last tv match. Rey faking a charge out of the ring to freeze Finlay with the apron pull was brilliant. Ending was just there. At least it looks like Rey will "overcome the odds" again and retain the belt. I hope Finlay and Rey get 15+ minutes with a clean finish one day. I suspect Josh Matthews will be moving up to fill Tazz's spot.