Just John

I'd have gone with Dunleavy, but no complaints with Avery. He's got the Mavs trying on D and has given them the best shot to win the West in franchise history.

Eziquiel Astacio, if he's not already there. Would it be possible to do a 6 man starting rotation, thereby allowing us to always have at least one starter on call for a couple innings of relief if someone's struggling?

Why oh why did the writers go brain dead with the Mickie/Trish angle? That was some very counter-productive booking. Mickie should've reverted AFTER she beat Trish. Shit, this feud needs to be blown off at Backlash now. And then pretend this week never happened. Still feud of the year if they have another solid match at Backlash. Does anyone else hate Shane McMahon as much as me? He was out-wrestling Shawn f'n Michaels in a straight-up one on one match, for god sake! I hope God or the new pyrotechnician strikes both McMahons dead at Backlash. Kane is very lucky the God feud is going on... Otherwise, all eyes would be on him and his shitty angle. First they have the "Warrior in the mirror" effect with the voices in his head (Show = Bischoff), and now Kane thinks he's really Jacob Goodnight. They're KAYFABING his fucking behind the scenes movie segments!!!

I think Lidge needs some psychotherapy to recover from that Pujols Game 5 homer last year in the NLCS. He was unstoppable before that, and now he's as shaky and inconsistent as a Braves mid-reliever. On the bright side, Rodriguez and Buchholz are looking very sharp early, so the overall pitching will still be solid.

I'll go with the Hulk Hogan heel turn and NWO formation. Savage and Sting are laid out in the ring, while Hall and Nash are recovering from the face comeback. Then, Hogan comes out. Tony S: L-Look! Dusty: It's Hulkamania!! Tony: You're damn right it is!!! Then Hogan enters the ring, Hall and Nash duck out while Hogan stares them down. Then, Hogan turns, and drops the big leg on a prone Randy Savage. Tony: Wait... What? Dusty: Is he the thrid man? Is he the third man? Bobby: He's the third man! Tony: Oh my god. The Outsieders then come back in the ring and high five Hogan who leg drops Savage again. Referee Randy Anderson looks like his heart has been crushed as he watches it transpire, then Hogan grabs him by the hair and throws him out of the ring before delivering a third leg drop to Savage. Dusty: You just sold your soul to the devil. I hope you like it... You'll have to look yourself in the mirror. Then the ring fills with garbage as the Outsiders and Hogan pose and celebrate their victory. Gene comes out amidst the garbage to get an interview, and Hogan proceeds to rip the WWF, WCW, and the fans while declaring that this was the "New World Order" of professional wrestling. And Tony Ends with the great line: "Hulk Hogan... You can go to hell. Straight to hell." ------------------------------- I wish I could see what a "OAO Bash at the Beach 1996: The Hostile Takeover" thread would have looked like as this went down.

Well, I certainly hope he recovers, but I'm not going to pretend to miss him on SD.

I like Foreigner. Especially "Feels Like the First Time."

How many times will we see this Vince Carter Verizon commercial? God, I think it's been on 8 times per game. "And that's why we don't feed the dog people food."

Well, I haven't seen much of the Kings down the stretch. Statistically they looked good, but I'm wondering why anyone picked 'em over the Spurs now. A 73 point half? God.

Age of Empires 2 (preferrably with the expansion)

The problem is there is no way of telling what the best match will be before the show. With this line of thinking, the only match that should ever be the best is the ME. Otherwise, you're not "building" throughout the show.

Oh man. Those backdrop drivers could fill out the top 3 by themselves. Kobashi gets a sick little German in early in the match too. Awesome match with extreme stiffness.

This is a pretty ridiculous line of thinking that relies too heavily on retrospective booking. There is absolutely no way of telling what match will be the best on the show, or when something truly special will happen with a certain match before a show takes place. The only ways you could ensure the opener to not be the best match would be either (A) Pre-tape everything then re-arrange the match order for the mainstream release or (B) Tell the guys involved to go out there and stink it up. If the guys in the opener did the best work on the show, good for them. Their match shouldn't be discreited because it wasn't what an opener "should be." Whatever that means. If the guys in the opener have the best match, there's not much you can do. Maybe the guys booked later in the show should try harder.

I always liked JR during TLC matches and the like. "How do you learn to fall on a ladder? You don't." "People say 'they know how to fall' but how do you learn to fall from a 20 foot ladder?" "He looks like he's been ejected from a moving vehicle."

Ok, I have to ask... Did someone actually take the time to draw those anime pictures, or did you use a website that has some kind of generator?

And therein lies your problem. Shaq and Zo will have a field day. Wade will outplay your guards too.

The argument could be made that the Stratusfaction or Mick Kick was just part of the bigger "Mickie wants to be just like Trish" story. She only worked the leg becuase of Trish accidentally nailing the ring post, so it seemed like a logical weardown strategy. Another thing I liked about this match, was how the ladies countered most of each other's signature spots, which you don't see too often in women's matches. And how you could not like the split pull/kick to the head combo by Trish?

Not quite. The ME was the "hostile takeover" match where the NWO was formed, which produced some of the most intense heat in wrestling history. In response to Cabbageboy, I don't know how you can fault an opener for being the best match on the show. Are the guys supposed to go out there and half-ass so they don't show anyone up? And even though Rey/Psychosis was the best wrestling match on the card (and was really the turning point for NA CW wrestling), it's still greatly overshadowed by the NWO formation, so it certainly didn't become the feature attraction or "steal the show."

I can understand saying it was botched, because it was. That was just a case of the botch not really hurting the match. It played right into the story, so you can't really knock the match for it, unless your a perfectionist. Covering effectively for a mess-up is a subtle indicator of good wrestling ability. It's not like when Orton whiffed on an RKO attempt on Jericho (the R-K-Whoa), then went right back to it. [EDIT] Damn, I see someone was quicker than me to hitting this example.

I agree with these, except I'd give Coach to Dunleavy.

Psychosis vs. Rey Mysterio Jr. (Bash at the Beach 96)

I still think the Clippers will be the great underdog story this year. Sure, beating Denver won't mean much, but I think they could take Phoenix down too.

Updated predictions: Detroit d. Milwaukee (5): There won't be any drama here, but the Bucks still have enough to squeak one out. Miami d. Chicago (4): I still don't think the Bulls will do anything. The Heat will dominate in this series before struggling with Jersey.

Is that the one where Lita took the term "suicide dive" too literally? If so, that match was not above Mickie/Trish in any way. Lita's botched spot was the only memorable moment, and the rest was just generic stuff.

Do we include NWA stuff as well? I'll try to focus on big picture matches that defined WCW. (I don't know enough prior to this point to fill in pre-89 stuff) Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat (Clash of the Champions) Ric Flair vs. Sting (Clash) Wargames 92 Sting vs. Vader (Superbrawl 3) Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair (Bash at the Beach 94) Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair (Halloween Havoc 94) Sting/Luger/Savage vs. Hall/Nash/??? (Bash at the Beach 96) Wargames 96 Hulk Hogan vs. Sting (Starrcade 97) Hulk Hogan vs. Goldberg (Nitro 7/13/98 (?)) Kevin Nash vs. Goldberg (Starrcade 98) Bret Hart vs. Chris Benoit (Mayhem 99) Hulk Hogan vs. Jeff Jarrett (Bash at the Beach 2000) Jeff Jarrett vs. Booker T (Bash at the Beach 2000) Ric Flair vs. Sting (Final Nitro) I think that hits most of the ME highlights and lowlights. I wish I could include more stuff about the CW revolution, but that could fill out its own 2-Disc set.