Just John

With surprise 5th entrant... David Flair.

Oh, no doubt Angle came out looking a lot worse, but with a feud like that, there aren't any real winners. Booker's wins are overshadowed by the ridiculous-ness of the feud. Besides, having Booker wrestle (and worse, job to) Christian would be a huge waste of his overness. Christian isn't going anywhere, but Booker has the potential to good U.S. champion. He's over enough to defend it on SD instead of Velocity and has some name value. Just no 6-month best of 5 series, please. And on the Eddie/Rey feud, it absolutely must end at TGAB. It's already starting to go downhill with this whole "beg me not to tell the truth" thing with Dominic. Just let Eddie win, and send each guy in their separate ways.

I agree with everything, except I would switch Chris Benoit and Booker T. Booker needs some credibility after the Angle/Sharmell stuff, and Benoit shouldn't have a midcard title leading into a feud with JBL, as that would somewhat cheapen a feud between two main-event-level players. There's no room for Christian in the ME, so jobbing him to Benoit doesn't hurt. Give him a feud with Rey for Summer Slam.

Currently: Chris Benoit Eddie Guerrero Kurt Angle Shelton Benjamin Edge (Smarks might hate me for this one, but oh well) All time: Benoit Eddie Angle Sting DDP Kanyon Malenko Jericho Edge and Christian (as a team) Rey Mysterio Jr. Booker T Ultimo Dragon

Reading through the NBA Finals thread, I was intrigued by comments like "I can't believe so and so has a ring now." It got me thinking... Who are the most useless players to get a championship in any sport? I nominate Darko and Mark Madsen.

I think I've seen Dodge ads on Raw before. Like the one where the kid says "Hemi" or where those two rednecks' car breaks down and one of them develops a gay crush on the guy in the dodge giving them a lift.

Here's the AIDS clip...

Oakland might want to worry about their defense first. Although if this deal did go through, watching the Raiders/Chiefs matchups would be mighty fun with their 66-63 final. I wouldn't want to watch the ESPN guys call any Raider games, though. However, I doubt this goes through. Does Oakland even have the cap room for TO?

I hope Josh Matthews moves up to Raw or SD one day. The other thing he does well is remember past story lines. On Velocity, Steve Romero was complaining about what a huge loss Kurt Angle was while Josh basically said fuck him. It took Steve a couple minutes to remember that Angle did beat the hell out of Josh a few months back. That's more than can be said for JR who now takes Kane's side even though Kane intentionally and maliciously set him on fire. Maybe JR just has a big heart.

I actually liked Coach on Raw this week. He seemed like a real addition, instead of just antagonizing JR and King. Some of his little comments like during the Flair/Angle match where he said "Flair's just making Angle mad now" actually helped the match which is what announcers should be doing. It was the first time I can recall him making a good, helpful statement on commentary. Hopefully, he keeps it up. I think Tazz is good when he sticks to analyzing strategies in matches and explaining the "psychology" to casual fans. The problem with his rambling is that Cole usually goes along with him instead of reeling him back in.

At No Way Out 2000, The Hardys and E/C had a regular tag match that didn't really follow that formula. The thing was they were both faces at the time, so they split the offense pretty evenly, or I guess you could say each team had a "face in peril" situation. In WCW, they didn't follow this formula as much, especially with the Lucha Libre multi-man tags, which just had guys going everywhere. Also in Steiner Bros matches, they often controlled more offense than face teams usually did. They only really did the "face in peril" when fighting Harlem Heat or the Outsiders.

No Mercy: I was fighting UT in a ladder match with my CAW. I was setting up the ladder outside the ring by the announce table for a big spot, but UT tried to do his running over-the-top-rope plancha. I ran out of the way and he flew right into the ladder.

Only 3 matches? That sucks when you know the women's match won't go over 5 minutes. That 6-pack challenge better be long, and my SD stars better show up on Velocity at least for my fantasy team.

The Selects have their disadvantages (Expensive, not as great as advertised), but they're a hell of a lot better than McNuggets, which I find repulsive.

I think Batista wins, JBL wins the 6-pack challenge, then they can re-ignite the JBL/Batista feud over who's the real champion. Have Edge come over too, because you have to do something with his MITB shot. Anyway you do it, it has to involve a REAL championship going back to SD. The "Smackdown" championship sounds second-rate considering Raw has the "World" and "WWE" titles, both of which sound much more important than a "Single Show" championship. I also fear that the SD belt will be hideous, probably with a blue strap or something. I have a bad feeling it'll look like an Indy title.

Well, Carlito is from Puerto Rico, but then again, they made Yokozuna Japanese...

From what I've seen malenko vs guerrero uncensored 97 **** 1/2. Excellent brawling, mat wrestling, and psychology. Actually, this whole show is pretty good. jericho vs malenko uncensored 98 ***. Decent match, but nothing that really stands out. kidman vs whipreck uncensored 99 ** 3/4. Some decent moves, but very heatless and a major flaw with the finish (I'd spoil it, but I don't know if you care) malenko vs benoit spring stampede 97 ***. Their Hog Wild match was much better. This one had potential to top the HW match, but the ending sucked so much cock that it ruined any chance of that. regal vs sting gab96 *** 1/4. Nice little match with Sting being a great face-in-peril like always. jericho vs ultimo dragon batb 97 *** 1/2. Fun cruiser match with both guys as faces. Lots of cool back and forth action and reversals. page vs savage havoc 97 *** 1/2. Solid brawl with great intensity from both guys. Really sucky ending, though. mysterio vs dragon ww3 96 ***. A lot of people really love this match, I think it's overrated. It's good, but essentially a squash. kidman vs juventud wwe 98 ***. Good match with some cool spots utilizing the 3 rings. Plus, you get to see the LWO.

Next draft pick: Rodney Mack

I liked the Eddie/Rey match well enough. The only problem is that Rey went over. Just let Eddie win and move on already, even if it's not clean. Both of these guys really need something new to do. I also liked the Mexicools, but I have a feeling they'll end up like the FBI. Psychosis needs to wear the mask too, because he is distractingly ugly. I did like the use of the flipping senton off the steps as a casual beatdown manuver. The MNM/Heidenreich feud needs to end quickly. Unfortunately, I think they're lined up for a feud with the Bashams next. The SD championship sounds very lame. At least it will give the main eventers some purpose.

When Rock takes the stunner, it looks like he's trying to defy the laws of gravity. When Angle takes the stunner, it looks like he literally got...stunned. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> True. An oversell can be just as bad for a move's credibility as an undersell.

I agree that the most important thing is that it has credibility. Even something like the FU or Hogan's leg drop can add a ton of drama to the match just because the fans buy it, not because it looks particularly devastating. Though personally, I like the devastaing looking finishers that clearly look more painful than mid-match moves and look like they could really put someone out. Another important aspect is the sell. The sell is what separates a clothesline from the "clothesline from hell." Wrestling's a two-man job and if the victim sells a move like death, the opponent's finisher will look a lot better to the fans.

I'm fine with Bischoff as long as he's not fighting JR, but at least get him some new music.

Was that where Eddie's mom had the heart attack?

ME vs. Bradshaw -> Opening match vs. A Basham -> Velocity match vs. Akio Seems like Benoit's really moving up in the world.

That was probably the funniest segment this year, and honestly, I have to think back to some of the Kane/Shane stuff to find something on a wrestling show I laughed at as much as this "wedding." Snitsky was money with the poem and sleeveless tux. The Matt Hardy music was funny as hell, especially when the preacher looked confused and Edge said "Sorry, I couldn't resist... I'll explain it at the reception." JR bashing it the whole way through was some of the funniest commentary he's ever done. Add to that, it had the second best ending to any WWE wedding (behind Billy/Chuck, though technically that was a civil union, or whatever buzzword they used to avoid "gay wedding"): Preacher: And by the power vested in me by our lord God, and his son... *Kane appears under the ring* ... Jesus Christ! JR: JESUS CHRIST!!!!! In short, I'm glad this got a high rating, and hopefully we'll get more comedic gold with Edge, Kane, and Snitsky. And let's be honest, this wedding was a million times more entertaining than any match those three could have together.