Hektik

How do you figure the AFC West being as bad as the NFC North.

I am not a fan of DePodesta or the Dodgers but I think McCourt has made a bad move. How can any GM be expected to turn a team around in just two years. Depo did not get a fair chance in LA.

From wrestlingobserver.com: --Jerry Jarrett was in the WWE offices and it was made a pretty public deal. Jarrett had called Jerry Lawler recently and told him about being disenchanted with TNA, believing he put the company on the map and now that it is on the verge of success, he has pretty much no power. With the exception of working at the Gorilla position at tapings, Jerry Jarrett has virtually no involvement in the company at this point in time. In May, he was vocal against putting the new creative team in place and told anyone who would listen that they would fail. When they didn't tank the company, his opinions stopped being listened to. The story is he was there to negotiate with WWE for a big Russian he was representing, but at the meeting, made it clear he was unhappy with TNA. Virtually nobody, and that includes the people closest to Jeff, were aware he was going. The "other guy" that the WWE web site doesn't say but wants everyone to believe was Jeff, would have been the Russian, whose name we're not aware of. The way the story is being slipped out on the internet is a very public FU to TNA from WWE, and no doubt, Jerry perhaps even more, knowing it'll shake everyone up. To say people in TNA are pretty furious at Jerry for how he played this game would be an understatement. Stories that Jerry was there to sell the Memphis tape collection are entirely untrue as he has no rights to the collection. Jarrett sold his 50% of the company to Jerry Lawler circa 1997, who in turn sold it to a Cleveland based group, who in turn, put it quickly out of business resulting in a messy lawsuit.

I find the whole situation funny. It is hillarious to see real life Vince complain about not getting any real sponsors like auto companies. He does not realise that it's because of stuff like last night. I mean he used to complain. I don't think he will anymore because of the shitty deal he got stuck with from USA where he gets no ad money. But that is a whole other funny situation.

I don't think he is anti or pro either guy. I would say he has a better relationship with Bret, but that was not until after the whole Montreal incident. Before Montreal they didn't have a good relationship.

The Dolphins have also traded QB AJ Feely to the Chargers for 3rd string QB Cleo Lemon. It looks like AJ will be the backup next year for either Brees or Rivers. ESPN speculated that this moves means that the Chargers will move Rivers in the offseason.

ECW averaged a 0.9 on TNN.

In the latest Observers, Meltzer has mentioned that Vince is preparing for a war, even if the other guys know it or not (UFC/TNA). He did mention that Carter & company know about it, not sure if UFC knows about it.

Meltzer has said in his Observer that there are no real effects on a program switching networks. He had this to say about Raw switching from USA to TNN in 2000. "By the ten minute mark, almost all the Raw viewers were tuned to TNN and the opening show on the new network did, over two hours, almost the same rating as the prior week."

The game is less than an hour away & I am excited that the Padres will be going up against the best in the National League. This team has played some of it's best baseball against the better teams in the National League. Earlier in the year they were just 3 outs away from being the first NL team to pull off a season sweep of the Braves. Then they won the season series with the Cardinals. The most impressive thing about that was they won 3 out of 4 in St. Louis. Best scenario for the Padres is Jake Peavy is going today and game 4 (if neccessary).

I agree that San Diego is probably more of a football city. But that has to do with fans having more of an attachment to the Chargers because they were the first pro sports team to come to SD. Even though the Chargers haven't won in recent years, long time fans can still remember the 1960s when they were the AFL's glory franchise and the 70s/80s with Air Coryell. The Padres don't really have that. In the recent 15 years San Diego has become a good baseball town. They weren't in the 60s/70s, but they are now. The reason you don't have a buzz with this team this year, is because they suck. I am a huge fan but I know they suck. If they were at least 10 games above .500 you would hear it. In terms of drawing power, despite a bad year they are still 7th in attendance.

The San Diego Surf Dawgs play at Tony Gwynn Stadium. They are in an Independent Baseball League. They even had Rickey Henderson playing on the team last season.

The Lake Elsinore Storm play in the Inland San Diego area. They are the Padres single A affiliate.

I have been a charger fan sice I was 8 years old and I have a better perspective. It is not about wanting Eli to play here. It is about having an unproven rookie saying I am going to choose where I play. What do you want the fans to do, cheer him. Hell no, you boo the shit out of him.

Excerpt from the 8/29 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Vince has banned all acrobatic top rope moves such as the 450 splash and the shooting star press (but not the moonsault) after Juventud nearly injured London using the 450 on the 7/12 Smackdown from Worcester. The Vince/London discussion has become a major topic, and in fact, Kazarian was telling friends about it regarding his decision to leave. When Vince banned the moves, London argued with him, saying thats the only way to get cruiserweights over because if they wrestle like everyone else, they can't get over. Vince made some comments about learning to work. That reminds of when 240 pound veteran wrestlers who have years of stardom "in the bank" knock 200 pound guys who have never gotten a push and try to innovate, and knock them saying they can't get over and saying they don't know how to work, like anyone will have any patience for unknown small guys doing slow paced matches. London brought up that he was cruiserweight champion and Vince made it clear he could care less about the title. Evidently London did not get on Vince's good side, because the next thing you know, Nunzio is the champion and london was being turned heel doing a whiner gimmick, which was the kiss of death for him. There are wrestlers thinking he won't be around much longer.

Money, security, the chance to showcase their skills in front of a much larger audience. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> That depends on how much of a shot the wrestler gets. Meltzer pointed this out about Matt Hardy choosing WWE over TNA. In hindsight, Hardy looks to have made the wrong call, because he could have been NWA champion and gotten $2,500 per shot every weekend working indies, plus picture money, plus had expenses paid, and in WWE, well, he's headed nowhere, and nowhere in WWE isn't neccessarily a high paying job.

I just read my newest Observer. It says the WWE may want to keep the Eddy/Rey program going because of the numbers it draws.

The Observer said the plan is to Rey in a program with Randy Orton and Eddy to start a main event program with Batista. For all the complaining about how bad the angle was between Eddy/Rey, it was the only thing that has kept Smackdown from plummeting in the ratings. It was the only television draw Smackdown had. I have to agree with Meltzer on Eddy Guerrero. When Eddy turns face again, he will be bigger superstar than he ever was.

Julian McMahon

From Dave Meltzer: The idea of Bret going to WCW with the belt is a made up story that Vince concocted because he had no other answer for the locker room in the wake of what happened. And it made a great story, because it allowed a lot of people to justify his actions without looking into what the real story was. The best thing for Vince possible was for Bret to show up on WCW wearing his belt. Because of the 1991 lawsuit regarding who owns the belt and appearing on rival television, Vince would have made an incredible amount of money in a lawsuit against Turner if they would have put the WWF belt on their TV show (don't bring up Madusa, totally different legal situation because they fired her, and by firing her without losing the belt, it killed their case that there was any significant value to that belt). Bischoff knew full well he'd be toast if he put the company at risk like that on a point that it was WCW that established in winning a court case against WWF. No chance of it happening and everyone knew it. But the wrestlers didn't, so Vince was able to use that line to quell an uprising.

Why is everyone under the impression that Survivor Series was Bret's last match. His contract wasn't up until the end of the month and even then he could have gotten an extension from Bischoff to drop the belt at the December IYH. He had a whole month after the SS to drop the belt.

What do you mean? I think they are trying to be controversal, yet factual. I dont see where your coming from dude. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> No they weren't. The DVD was going to be a total burial job like the Ultimate Warrior DVD is going to be. When Bret signed on to be part of the DVD, he changed that. Now most of the interviews burying him will no longer be in the there and he will no longer be the heel in his own DVD.

I have to point out that Guerrero was the only type of live draw that the WWE had in 03/04. Even now his heel turn has given his character new life. Just this past week, the Guerrero/Mysterio segment gained 1,657,000 new viewers making it the biggest gaining segment on a wrestling show in years. As far as where its getting him, Guerrero is scheduled to start a program with Batista after Summerslam.

This is from the 8/8 Wrestling Obsever Newletter: As is well known, WWE will be releasing a likely three-disc DVD in November on Bret Hart’s career, and wants to induct him in it’s Hall of Fame at Wrestlemania in Chicago. The company would also like to get him back on television in a very limited capacity to help push the DVD, there is a very good chance his work in doing the DVD will also be taped before you are reading this. Since Hart was fired from WCW, there have been numerous attempts at doing a business reconciliation and attempting to mend fences. All are documented, the most notable being an attempt to get Hart to referee the 2002 Wrestlemania title match with HHH vs. Chris Jericho in Toronto, and ideas floated to possibly appear at several different WWE tapings in Canada, as well as an open invitation for him to appear for an interview at a Madison Square Garden TV taping. It is doubtful that anything past an appearance on the DVD would be finalized, but if things don’t fall apart, doors would be left open for future projects, including Wrestlemania. There is no way, due to the stroke and his career ending concussion, that Hart would even consider wrestling again. Kurt Angle made a strong play in 2004 to try and get him to do one last match at Wrestlemania XX, but Hart never considered it. According to those very close to the situation, Hart is proud that he has never gone back, but after the stroke and the death of his brother, the Montreal incident is no longer a major deal to him and he’s looking for some kind of closure. At the same time, the DVD would be the modernized version of the “Bret Hart anthology” idea, with them airing his most famous matches and providing background commentary, that he and McMahon had agreed to do in 1997, and fell apart in the wake of their falling out. As funny as this sounds because of the irony, WWE is said to be offering Hart creative control on the DVD to get his involvement. It’s unknown if any other wrestlers, most notably Hulk Hogan, has ever gotten such a stipulation in the DVD. The company had already scripted an outline of a career storyline for Hart, as well as did interviews with many different people in the company, for the DVD. While not confirmed, one would suspect that Shawn Michaels, and likely HHH, would be speaking on the DVD. There is no word on whether Ric Flair would be part of the DVD. One would suspect he would be if wasn’t involved. The guess would be very strong he wouldn’t be with Hart involved in the project. It is believed with Hart involved, the DVD will be called something closer to “The Bret Hart Story: The Best There Is, The Best There Was, The Best There Ever Will Be.” WWE’s idea, as already released, was to call it “Screwed: The Bret Hart Story.” Hart was always negative to overplaying Montreal as the focal point of his DVD. By the title, it’s clear WWE’s vision of the project was to build it around Montreal as the selling point and the focal point, with numerous WWE personalities giving their side of the story. Hart, perhaps reluctantly, no doubt does recognize a DVD on his career, like it or not, has to address the situation in some format. But it’s clear he didn’t want to turn it into a debate, with both sides recruiting people to stand behind them. As noted before, WWE’s explanation is that Vince McMahon believed Bret Hart was going to Nitro in Memphis the day after Survivor Series, while holding the WWF championship. It has become the readily accepted company story, that McMahon and Bischoff were so consumed by each other, that it led to McMahon truly believing it was likely to happen. Even in these negotiations, Vince has claimed that as his motivation, and tried to blame Bischoff for their initial problems. Harts arguments against this, aside from the fact he knows and time has proved it was never going to happen, is his belief that McMahon had to know full well that there was no way it could happen, even if Bischoff wanted it to.

There is no such thing as first place schedules anymore. Other than two games, all schedules are made years in advance. After last year, I reserve judgment on the toughness of a teams schedule. One of the reasons that people thought the Chargers would be so bad was because of their "tough" schedule. They were supposed to be destroyed by playing the Chiefs twice, and playing other playoff teams like the Titans, Panthers, and Colts. It turned out that the Chargers were good and those other teams were bad (except the Colts).