Hawkius Maximus

If Punk bitched about jobbing, then he deserves to be jobbed out. Internet smart favoritism only goes so far. You don't bitch about jobbing. If anything you try to get it slyly changed ala Undertaker. Punk's in no position to do that either. It was probably more of a situation where Punk just asked the guy if he was in trouble. WWE's like a high school, shit just gets turned around. The reason Punk is so disliked, is because Steph dislikes him. Hunter has seemed fairly neutral on him (Comments made before his debut aside), while Vince really likes him. As long as Vince has control of his career, he's fine. Which brings up another point. Vince wanting to move Punk to RAW may be so he can control the people he likes (Lashley and Punk for example) while letting others handle ECW. Vince may be thinking long term on how to protect Punk. Who knows, he's done weirder shit.

I've just always sparsely posted here. I only post when topics interest me. I was way more active at WDI and The Hideout. Doesn't help that I got name-jacked.

It really doesn't matter how much heat Punk has from the agents as long as Vince still likes him. The second it was reported that Vince was back in control of ECW, he went from jobbing to making the MITB. Coincidence? I think not. Vince LIKES Punk. Nothing in that report says VINCE is mad at Punk, and as long as he stays on Vince's good side then he's fine.

Despite being here since the Scott Keith days, I've managed to fly so far under the radar that the majority of posters have no idea who I am. Awesome. That takes skill.

I can't help injecting some Puro into this. Misawa/Jumbo is THEE definition of this thread. When their program began, Misawa was a popular midcard babyface who was rising up the ranks. Jumbo took offense at Misawa being positioned as his heir, and the feud was on. Jumbo went heel for it for the first time in his career, and literally MADE Misawa during their feud. Misawa by the end was unquestionably the top wrestler in AJPW, and arguably all of Japan. Misawa was the first Japanese wrestler to ever make Jumbo submit, he was one of the few to ever pin Jumbo, and he did it for the top title in AJPW. Nothing is higher then this, period. Another good one is Kobashi/Akiyama. Akiyama had been a strong upper midcarder/main eventer for awhile, but never gained any significant success as Misawa, then Kobashi's young disciple. At the first NOAH show, Akiyama without warning turned on Kobashi, and their feud was on. Kobashi's won most of the matches, but Akiyama was elevated just by turning on Kobashi, and being at his equal rank. Kobashi being forced to use the Burning Hammer to put down Akiyama in their first major singles match was a major accomplishment. Akiyama was solidified as a top of the line player and main eventer from this feud.

Considering at the GP last year it looked like Shogun wanted to jump Mirko for KO'ing Silva? Insulting Silva post-win probably isn't the smartest idea. Plus, it didn't make Henderson look good. PRIDE had been building him up as the "IDEAL AMERICAN~!" and he goes and insults the person he just beat. Not great for PR. I've also read that Silva may or may not have been in the HOSPITAL over his cold. Who knows how big of a factor that played last night.

I just read some translated notes from the press conference post-show. Sakakibara said that Gomi/Diaz will fight in April, or they may fight in the LW GP which will start in May. Either way looks like title would be on the line. and he confirmed that Henderson will defend both of his championships. Which is kinda...insane. And said that either Shogun or Silva will be the first challenger for the MW title. He also says that Silva went in with a huge cold, including a temperature and his tonsils being swollen. However, Silva isn't making excuses for the loss. Apparently as soon as he got to the back, Silva broke down in tears over losing his title, and says it's like a piece of himself is gone now.

Silva has a tendency now to go half speed against people he really respects as a fighter. Yoshida, Arona, and so on are clear examples. It's once he figures out their flaws, and/or mentally proves to himself they can't beat him that he snaps into killer mode. The problem was, against Henderson, Silva never had that chance. In regular PRIDE rules, he would have probably gotten a yellow card in the second round (Which he CLEARLY seemed to be trying for. It's his chosen way to get back up. He aims for an inactive yellow card and then goes on the attack) but since PRIDE in the US doesn't do that, and Henderson was clearly trying on top, Silva was unable to get back up. He also was amazingly unable to drop Henderson, despite landing some HEAVY blows. Henderson weathered the storms and then caught him. Another thing that I noticed, was after Henderson busted out the spinning backfist, Silva seemingly didn't know what the HELL he was doing. Silva's very good at judging what an opponent is going to do, and reacting, but as soon as that backfist came out Silva lost the ability. A spinning backfist from Dan Henderson seemed to momentarily blow his mind, which directly led to Henderson WHACKING him with that left. I really don't agree with people saying "Silva is done!". He's lost two fights in a row, one to MIRKO CRO COP and one to Dan Henderson. If anything, I'd say Silva's easier to knock out now. Being knocked completely dead by Mirko might have damaged his mythic ability to no-sell damage which if so takes away a huge part of Silva's game. I think he'll be back, but if Shogun wins the title from Henderson (And honestly? After how Henderson fought last night, I'm not entirely sure. Henderson's a tough fucking bastard.) Silva won't ever taste it again. On other fights, I think it's pretty clear Gomi underestimated Diaz. I think that's Gomi's major character flaw as a fighter. He under-trains for people he clearly thinks he should beat. He did ti for Aurileo, and now he did it for Diaz. On the flipside, this means a big payday for Gomi if he beats Diaz in the rematch. Gomi has to find a way to counter Diaz's reach, because Diaz was racking up insane damage. However, for the few times Gomi would catch Diaz he did alot of damage too. If Gomi can find a way to counter the reach in a boxing fight, I think he'll knock out Diaz. One Gomi punch had the effect of five Diaz punches. Sokodjou winning wasn't luck. That's the scary part of his win. It wasn't fucking luck. In the thirty seconds that fight went, dude showed off CRISP striking for a judo fighter. He counter punched Nogueria easily, and knocked him flat the fuck out. If he has any stamina, and isn't a flash in the pan, he could be a legit contender in the LHW world, and given what we saw I don't see why he wouldn't be. He was a judo champion which means his takedowns, ground control, and takedown defense are very good, and he showed off amazing striking. Plus, he's an easy sell in Japan. Fantastic look. All they need to do is do something inherently racist with him, and Japan will love him forever. Worked for Bob Sapp and "Donkey Kong" Kevin Randleman.

If you honestly thought the PPV sucked, you have WAY too high of expectations. Or your stupid. Either/or if you think that. That main event just changed the landscape of PRIDE so fucking unbelievably hard, I can't even begin to formulate thoughts yet. Best PPV of the year so far. Whoever they got for the show's PBP, they need to keep him. I thought he was FANTASTIC. He knew his role, and stuck with it. He simply called the action. No hyperbole, no screaming. He did his fucking job and let Trigg & Josh call the intricate stuff.

Who the hell booked this show? This has been a FANTASTIC show so far. Did Vince suddenly wake up this morning and decide to have a one hour show full of almost exclusively matches and to push CM Punk out of the blue? Vince has some kind of mental condition or something.

Hayabusa posted an online blog about Awesome, and is in hardcore denial. He mentioned how after his accident, Awesome came to visit him and basically encouraged him to fight his condition with all his heart. He doesn't think a man like that could ever kill himself, and is ADAMANT about this being a mistake. That somewhere, things got mixed up and Awesome's not dead. Really sad. The things Hayabusa's had to deal with in his life, and his friends is so very sad.

I kinda take offense at the DC controller entry, since I consider the controller far more comfortable then the PS2 Dual Shock. I've never enjoyed the PS controller design. Yes that statement has gotten me alot of weird looks. And no, I don't have warped hands.

This really knocked me on my ass. I didn't even see the headline at WO until after I saw the thread. Just...wow. In his prime, he was one of the better big men in wrestling history.

I think Bernard (I refuse to call him "Albert" or A-Train. He's Giant freaking Bernard, killer of men) got unfairly lumped in with the big slugs WWE were bringing in. Bernard showed off good agility, and could out muscle just about everyone on the roster. The fans were never given a REASON to like, or hate him though. If WWE applied the same push NJPW & AJPW use (Used in AJPW's case) with him being an unstoppable wrecking ball, he'd have worked out. Bernard was one of the biggest WWE wrestlers, and it really doesn't take much to put over how strong someone is. They just didn't TRY, and thought just because he was big, and somewhat ugly, he should be automatically over. In the end, Bernard's gotten the best out of it though. He's the Vader of the 2000's now. He KILLS PEOPLE DEAD. He's lost the odd singles match, but he's never lost in dominate fashion, and just keeps coming for the opponents. Simple booking really. The only blemish for him is the Brock match, and NJPW wishes they could re-do that and put the IWGP title on Bernard. He'll get it soon enough though.

Giant Bernard is supposed to be intensely loyal to NJPW. From what I've heard, he's in the Steve Williams/Stan Hansen mindset that they really have given him a chance, and a home, and won't leave them. He's supposed to be like they were back during their primes (Williams would skip NWA shows for AJPW, and Hansen actually hijacked the AWA World title for Baba). You really can't blame him after how WWE used him for years, and TNA not bringing him in. Tomko's been getting booked alot in NJPW as well, and could have that mindset too as NJPW brought him in before TNA did. If I remember right, Bernard has gotten rid of the hair, and has some new tattoos that increase his intimidation factor. Couple that with his yelling/screaming everytime he hits a big move, and he's a perfect old school killer gaijin in Japan. The fans respect him, and he's probably sitting pretty for the rest of his career over there. if NJPW were to ever let him go, AJPW and possibly NOAH would snap him up just for his name value. I'd be really surprised if Bernard ever works a major NA fed again. He's considered on an even level as NJPW's top guys...Why the hell go back to jobbing in the midcard?

I say don't even bother with another fight for Mirko. Do Sylvia/Couture, then do the winner of that versus Mirko by June at the latest. Mirko has supreme takedown defense, and looked perfectly comfortable in the cage. Neither of them stand a shot against Mirko, so why drag it out? If you must give him one more fight, give it against someone he'll either absolutely smash, or someone in UFC's top ten to make himself look better. If UFC isn't planning on giving in to Vera's demands, I say throw Vera in there with Mirko for his last fight. Vera's a good fighter, but he's not in Mirko's league, and it'll make Mirko look like a deadly killer if he destroys the man UFC's been building up. Vera's only shot is to take Mirko down, and coupled with Mirko's sprawl and his growing abilities on the ground I'm not convinced Vera could DO anything with Mirko there. Mirko's pretty much in Fedor's spot in UFC now. There isn't anyone who's at his level in UFC. He may get a surprise loss or two, but what can you do to Mirko now? You can't beat him standing, he's probably one of the hardest fighters to take down along with Liddell, and his ground game is good to the point where he can escape, sweep, or even try for a submission. Also, Mirko could slim down to LHW if he really wanted to, but he doesn't want to. I think he's one of those fighters that doesn't believe in fighting in a weight class lower then his natural one, so he doesn't pull crap like Lutter tried to do. Plus, it's not like there's many challenges for him there. He's pretty much equal or better then Liddell in every facet, so he'd be in the same position Liddell is in. On top of all that, Mirko's said in interviews that he wants to challenge Fedor again someday, so he has to stay at HW. If UFC hasn't bought PRIDE, they need to watch their asses a bit with Mirko. He said in an interview that his whole plan is to blow through his entire contract this year, win the UFC title and take it back to PRIDE in order to fight Fedor on NYE in a double titles match under PRIDE's banner. Hyperbole, maybe, but Mirko has alot of ties in Japan and his using the PRIDE theme raised alot of eyebrows.

Lutter got PWNED.

Mirko's gonna make UFC alllot of money. He doesn't talk much, and when he does he's arrogant and plainly says he's better then his opponent but once in the ring/octagon, he FUCKS people up. "Right leg puts him into the hospital. Left leg puts him in the cemetery." THAT'S MONEY.

Mirko just wanted to put on a show there.

...PRIDE theme? WTF.

The fans are REALLY annoying me on this show. First UFC I've seen in awhile where they've booed so damned much. If they boo Mirko because he's not American, I hope he hops into the crowd and highkicks people.

Cena/Umaga absolutely stole the show. People mentioned how good UT/Shawn's mini-match was, but it totally paled in comparison to Umaga and Cena just beating the evil loving crap otu of each other. What gets me, is if they kept the Umaga gimmick going full blow like he was here, he'd be easily the most feared wrestler in the WWE...but every so often, they'll fuck up his gimmick and have him get laid out by a chair or something. Here, he was hit by EVERYTHING and he just kept coming like he didn't freaking feel the pain. A small note that many don't point out, is Cena had to do the Ropes + STFU *TWICE* because Umaga started stumbling to his feet half out cold the first time causing Cena to desperately dive onto him to reapply it. Some of the stuff would have killed a lesser character, like the TV set smash into Umaga's face. Instead, Umaga just kept coming back for more. Great booking.

I don't think anyone saying O'Brien sucked for what he did. He just didn't TRY anything with his dominate positions. He simply held Herring and caught him when Herring tried to escape. It is a two sided coin. What was Herring supposed to do with a Division 1 league wrestler trying to take him down? On the flipside, what's O'Brien supposed to do? Let Herring punch him and fuck him up? All the hate is coming from the strategy. What O'Brien did may win you fights, but it doesn't win you fans and that's what ultimately drives MMA. It's a sport, but drawing in fans is much more important. Someone like Rashad GETS that, as he's improved his game tremendously due to the critism. Someone like O'Brien may, but he didn't make a good first impression on the national stage. Herring, while he got beaten at least tried to make the fight exciting for the fans with punches which he VERY nearly knocked O'Brien out with two/three times. It just wasn't a good fight for either man. I don't think either gained or lost anything from that. For Herring, he can just claim O'Brien hugged him. For O'Brien, he beat someone most UFC fans hadn't seen before. Neither won from that fight.

I want to point out how FUCKING STUPID WWE were about Terkay. No one is going to sit here and claim he was a workrate dynamo, but they hired him for one specific reason: He was The Predator, a very good Bruiser Brody clone who did the entire gimmick with chains, furry boots, so on...They bring him up...and turn him into a MMA FIGHTER, with a hold that anyone ever put into a legitimate submission hold could tell you "...That shit don't hurt" due to being so loosely applied, not to mention being labeled as a "rest hold" or "Transition move" to another spot for the LAST TWENTY YEARS. They took away every single part of Terkay that made them sign him in the first place, and for whatever reason thought they could rebuild him. The problem is, the idea of what "MMA" is for the WWE is so far and away from what real MMA is, that Terkay just looked silly. Not to mention he had to seriously pull his good looking strikes so not as to hurt anyone, let alone he be "stiff". Terkay could have worked in that role, but he wasn't allowed to go shoot style on his opponents with credible strikes, suplexes and submissions and ended up in no-man's land of being a mishmash of different things to appease the WWE. So much wasted potential. Terkay in the Predator gimmick could have been a top heel with the wildman antics. It fucking worked in Japan, why wouldn't it work in the US if you don't fuck it up? I dunno where Terkay goes now. If he goes back to K-1, he'll end up doing shoots (Which he was NEVER allowed to really train for, yet did exceptionally well in KICKBOXING MATCHES given that. and if he goes to TNA he'll be misused. He's not a good enough worker for the two top Japanese feds, and would clash in ROH in less he just randomly beat the piss out of people with a chain and never wrestled. He COULD work in AJPW though possibly. What's sad, is Terkay is legitimately a decent/good fighter, who has exceptional toughness. Given how little he was allowed to train to compete in MMA, he did damn well in both MMA fights and K-1 kickboxing fights. WWE couldn't find a way to actually USE that to their advantage. Alot of wasted potential here.

Edge once again shows he's the smartest heel in WWE. He got the hell out of dodge there.