Hawkius Maximus

There's no reason to get on Hamill when Kendall fucking Grove killed Day and then proceeded to do the Tito Ortiz taunt of burying him. While he was still unconscious. Hamill just...jumped alot. That type of thing has been around a long time. Hamill didn't do a contrived "taunt" to the dead man, so that makes it worse?

I'm assuming that if your coming into this thread after a live show, you aren't afraid of spoils. DREAM has poor matchmaking. Most of the fights were an exciting guy against a guy content to just try and win. Most of the fights were the definition of "fighting to not lose" which at three AM is noooo buys. I wouldn't have enjoyed this show on it's own if it wasn't so late last night though. Just probably would have hated it slightly less. A great example was Ishida versus Nakamura. Daisuke Nakamura is usually incredibly exciting. He was trying all kinds of things on the ground. As a friend put it, Ishida wasn't cooperating with Nakamura's laid out spots. Ishida responded by more or less just taking Nakamura to the ground at will, and being pretty much afraid to do much of anything. Now, Hideo Tokoro? That man got Nakamura. Granted, he ended up losing to an upside down armbar, but damnit, he entertained me. Japan is really baffling. For years, it seemed like they understood that winning fights alone generally doesn't mean shit. Doesn't mean you have to go out there and be Super Mr. Wacky. But it means you have to have SOME kind of personality to break through. It's like all these guys watched Sakuraba get famous, and said, "Hey! That's all you need! Sakuraba got over by winning!" It's like they've gone in exactly the opposite direction of where they were (Shit fighters like Matsui going "Well, I'm going to lose ANYWAY, I'll try a dropkick!" being a good example) to having good fighters who are so concerned with not losing that it just gets...meh. Imanari was a brightspot for me. He was so...WEIRD that I found him intensely entertaining. When he struck what I could only call a "sword drawing" stance I burst into laughter. Another good one was Gardner for the second time had Aoki on his back. Before he had kinda...waved to the crowd. No idea why. So, Aoki's on his back again, Gardner does the salute thing again. However, Aoki then POUNCED on his neck with a choke catching the dumb fucker in mid taunt, and tapped him. I HOOOOOOOWLED with laughter.

DREAM 7 sucked. More thoughts after I've slept.

Even if the end brawl was good, it still made absolutely no sense on even a practical level. Jarrett/Angle is not the main event of the next PPV. The next PPV is Angle/Sting. Was there any build for that? At all? A short segment with Sting is all I can think of. And the ratings are weird, but I really think it's gotten to a car crash level. People aren't tuning in because they like it. They're tuning in to see how bad it's getting. If people actually cared, TNA would not be losing money on the PPV's they do right now. When you lose money for big shows that people have to pay to see, it's a bad sign.

Brock has so much power that you don't overly NEED anyone. He'll probably spike a 500,000+ buyrate on his own. The problem is, they felt internally that Brock/Mir II would reach 1 million which it probably would have came near given both man's abilities to bullshit. Brock versus anyone else won't. It's a tough situation for UFC. Lei may be right. Dos Santos might be the best option. I'd be a little afraid that Santos wins though, and given that he has no power to his name that'd be a kinda bad situation...but if he beats Brock, it should make him somewhat of a star almost by default.

Kongo probably wouldn't, but I wouldn't rule it out either. Dana White is VERY particular when it comes to that type of thing. He'd consider it, as he would put it, "Being a real fucking fighter" to step up to fight Brock. Fighters HAVE to be aware by now that if Dana comes to you in desperation, it's probably best for your career long term to agree. That's if he's capable. If he's got an injury coming off the fight, or he uses too much to take down Hardonk, it's out of the question. But if he destroys Hardonk, then turns around and says he's not feeling it for Brock? That won't make Dana very happy with him. Given the star power, and the guys coming up, if such a scenario happened Kongo would probably never touch a title shot again. Brock has to fight relatively soon, and it has to be against someone who might mean something. I don't know who else they could do besides the three mentioned so far.

Watching Mike Tenay "act" during the Don West storyline is the highlight of TNA. Don West pulls his end off well. Mike Tenay looks like Kermit the frog with his overblown facial expressions.

It all depends on timing now. If Kongo can drop Hardonk and be able to fight by then, it'll probably be him. I wouldn't be shocked to see the same scenario for Carwin if he wins and Kongo loses/And or won't be ready by then. They can't just wait to use Brock. They want Brock to fight at least two/three times per year since he's such a buyrate draw. Waiting for Mir to get ready would probably end up killing one of Brock's fights for the year.

TNA believes they're doing good. That's not a joke. They honest to god believe they are producing a good weekly product. And Dixie Carter doesn't know enough, or doesn't try to learn enough to realize that only the people in the TNA creative bubble think it's going good.

If Booker could have AJ arrested for stealing his property, why didn't he already do that before now? - He fiendishly waited for this episode of Impact to enact his diabolical plot. How did AJ know that Booker was going to call him out in order to have already been at the other side of the arena, waiting to jump him from behind? - He's psychic. And/or AJ Styles has developed the ability to cling to the ceiling and used said power to spy. Yet he was too busy contemplating how much he hates gay people to pay attention to the police part of the plan. How did AJ get his entrance music and video and lighting to all play when he was standing in the crowd and not in the back? - Promised free slurpees to the production crew. Why did the evil heels bravely call out the babyface? - Someone has to be brave in TNA. God knows the faces can't be. Why did the valiant babyface sneak-attack them from behind with a weapon, get his ass kicked, and then run away still holding his illegal stolen property? - He suddenly realized "Oh shit, this isn't working" and his heroic nature of fleeing from the scene of the crime took hold. How did they know that AJ would assault them so he could be arrested? - Mastermind like plan by Booker T. He used his gifted vocal insulting abilities to lure AJ Styles to his doom. Who does Scott Steiner think he is, no-selling someone hitting him in the back of the head as hard as they could with a heavy blunt metal object? - He thinks he is Scott Steiner. Scott Steiner does not have to sell, because he is Scott Steiner. Why did the allegedly real police have such embarassingly cheap and fake-looking outfits? - They're from Orlando. Why didn't the allegedly real police arrest Angle (a man who was supposed to be barred from the building by the owner of the company) for trespassing, not to mention beating up people and ripping their clothes off? - Angle could take out the entire police force of Orlando with his legit skills. Witness the punch he gave that security guy during the fight with Eric Young. Poor guy fell like a brick. What we didn't see was Angle's punch caused the security guy's head to explode and candy to burst out from his now hollow cranial cavity. Because Angle is that awesome. How did Joe know these cops were gonna be there? - He obsessively stalks the Main Event Mafia's every move. Why else would he have scarred his face. He is clearly mentally disturbed. Where did Joe get a uniform identical to theirs? - Beat the fuck out of a rent-a-cop in the parking lot. How did the cops not realize there was an extra guy walking out to the ring with them? - I'm sure someone said, "Hey, Bill, you look like you've gained weight recently..." but then Fake Cop Joe pulled out his sword and they reconsidered their opinions. Why didn't the allegedly real police try to stop this attempted murder which was happening right behind them in the ring? - Too busy restraining the superhuman AJ Styles to possibly help Steiner. Plus, they were probably thinking, "Hey, when the fuck did Bill become Samoan?" this question in turn caused them to reconsider intervening. If "Bill" can magically change his race, god knows what other mystical powers he has. Why isn't Joe arrested for repeatedly assaulting someone with a gigantic fucking meat cleaver? - What we don't see, is Joe disappears into the Orlando night after his attacks. Like a ghost. After segments like this, why does anyone ever try to defend either Vince Russo or TNA as anything but imbecilic trash? - No one does anymore.

Outside of that segment which was so bad it was hysterical, this week's show was just...counter productive and boring. Atleast last weeks show had the sheer oddity of it being perhaps the worst wrestling show ever put on national TV. This didn't even have that going for it.

I like the little touches...A great one, is I hit the Stunner on Rock. Rock proceeded to do his Rock Sell of the stunner, flip over, and it actually looked like he got his feet caught on the ropes before slowly falling down. Very cool. That said, it does feel a little too arcadey. I kind of like the quick time wrestling aspect, but I don't really like the fact that you can beat the hell out of someone, and they don't really sell at all. I remember that being a major issue for years with the Smackdown games, and I guess they forgot that actually selling of moves is an important factor. I DO like the manager system though. Heenan gets on the apron, I whack him off, and it cuts to him dramatically falling on his face. I try to Legdrop and pin Andre, and Heenan puts his boot on the ropes. Nice stuff.

Right now, the plan is to have Rampage/Rashad sometime this summer. So, if Jardine beats Rampage then technically, Jardine will be ruining their plans. It's going to be hard for Lyoto to end up getting a title shot this year, regardless of what Dana has said if Rampage doesn't lose. Lets think about it... Rashad/Jackson would probably happen in the summer, depending on Jackson. If Jackson can't go, they'll wait for him. But lets say he's good to go by June-August time period. Rashad beat Griffin and then decided he didn't want to fight for about six months or so. He beats Jackson, then he probably won't want to fight again for another four/six months. That puts us at the most in October to December-ish. I suppose, if Lyoto has continued to win, they could do it here...but I somehow doubt it. That's one of UFC's top periods. Unless Lyoto has become popular, they wouldn't want to go with it. They'd probably go with someone with more name power who has won more. If Chuck Liddell were able to KO Shogun, and then win maybe one more fight over the course of hte year, I could totally see them doing that fight before Lyoto. Same goes for any of the big stars. If no one else is in contention by that time period, then I suppose Lyoto could get it then. But this is fighting. It's going to be hard for all these chips to fall into place.

Brown/Faber II is probably as big of a fight as WEC can produce, but I'm not feeling it for PPV. The only way WEC guys are ever going to be anywhere near the stratosphere of most UFC talent is to start using UFC TV to hype them up. But doing so would ruin the credibility of the brand, so they are stuck. Without UFC's hype machine and it's penetration in the market behind WEC, it's always going to be it's step child on a shitty network. As it is, not even Faber has enough power to headline a PPV and draw. They had the best chance with Faber/Pulver, and I really don't think that would have done it either. It's one thing to get a good rating. It's a different beast to make people pay to watch you.

Given the discussion in the Raw thread of duplicate names I feel this issue can no longer be ignored. I demand from hence forthwith that nobody gives a fuck about me. I claim it as my right on this forum to shut the fuck up. I also require that I be banned for being a useless whining pussy. Hawk has been my name on these forums since the days of Scott Keith. I will be damned if I let this continue. Please, for your own sakes, change my name to Fuck Me In The Ass! Because I like getting fucked. In the ass.

I love these. Keep them coming. The Voynich Manuscript is my favorite. Sure, it could be nothing but it sounds like the start to some type of horror movie.

Laziness.

I honestly see no reason why the Seahawks would be the fourth to last team in the league on this list. Seattle's only had years at 4-12 or worse four times their entire existence. 7-9, or 6-10? I can buy that, but that certainly wouldn't put them in the bottom four given how the league's gone. Unless you REALLY think Jim Mora Jr. can't coach at all. Then I suppose perhaps.

Damacio Page came in with some SERIOUS killing intentions.

To be fair, did they not have Okami penciled in and he got hurt? It's not a Lyoto situation. They actually had him set up for a shot at one point. Shitty luck intervened.

I'm not going to lie. I'll be cheering on Herring when this fight happens. I've always liked Herring for exactly the reasons that's been mentioned. He's not very skilled, he's not very smart, but damned if the man understands the concept of giving up. If MMA was a movie, Herring would be the protagonist. Quite frankly, I admire the sheer BALLS this takes on his part. He is coming off being raped by Brock Lesnar and having his eye crushed. So, Heath Herring decides to accept his first fight back against a guy with Brock's same skillset who may be even scarier. Balls.

There's nothing to gain from fighting Cain. He's only been on a main card twice, both on a fight night, against less then stellar opponents months apart. People don't know him. He's also only had five professional fights, so most people will see Herring with his twenty eight wins against a guy with a 5-0 record and think Herring just absolutely sucks when Cain steamrolls him. This isn't Brock Lesnar. There's a reason that people will fight Brock but don't want Cain. It really has nothing to do with Cain or Brock's skill (Cain is ahead of Brock but may not have all of Brock's intangibles) it has to do with name value. If Brock Lesnar outwrestles you, then...well, what can you do? Brock's the biggest star in MMA right now. If Brock KO's you...well, what are you going to do? Look at the man. Cain can do both of those. Cain could probably do better then Brock does. But Cain has no name value whatsoever. There's nothing to be gained from getting manhandled by Cain. You don't really gain anything from beating Cain, but you can lose alot from losing. The fact that lower level guys are terrified of him means Cain can't progress normally. People REFUSE to fight him. Cain's not really being allowed the natural progression he needs to reach the top level. It probably would have been better if Cain had been on sub UFC shows longer and given time to fight guys who don't know who he is without the attention, but then Dana probably felt that someone might move in on him. DREAM, Strikeforce, or then Elite XC, and he had to act. Which is where brave ole Heath Herring steps in. Cain massacres Herring, and he has name value. Herring loses and he's probably back at square one, unless they let him cut a hell of a loser promo (which he can do) and saves himself with his charisma. If not Herring's back at the bottom of the card, if not prelims. I'd SAY cut, but Dana loves guys who'll fight anyone, and if nothing else Herring is the symbol of that.

The funniest part of this, is lower level heavyweights have refused to fight Cain. They couldn't find anyone to face him. They brought in the Holland dude because they couldn't find anyone. But Heath Herring? Heath motherfucking Herring said he'd fight him. When he's got really nothing to gain and everything to lose status wise. No one but us hardcores care about Cain. Herring's been in several semi main events. People actually know him. What a brave stupid man.

And that's exactly it. Much appreciated. If you want to attack Diego's stand up in that fight, by all means, but when he got the chance on the ground he pretty promptly outworked Koscheck. Koscheck just didn't give him a chance after that. Why Diego didn't shoot in more, I'm not sure other then he may have felt that it would be a waste of energy given Koscheck's superior wrestling. But then again, he was beaten by said jab standing either way. I personally wasn't impressed by either man. Joe Stevenson doesn't do much for me. I think he's adequately skilled, but he gets by with what he has and grappling power. That's probably why he works so well with a Guillotine. He hopes the opponent lets it in there, and then just uses his raw power to secure it. Plus, he's been clearly shown to not be on the level of the top two in the division. Not being able to finish Joe is kind of a red alert that you aren't at that top level. Sad but true. Diego showed off some good skills, but it more or less seemed that him occasionally working a kick or knee in there so utterly baffled Stevenson that Diego could pull off the same combo over and over. It also helped that Stevenson was exposed as one dimensional standing and if he couldn't land strong shots with his fists, he had nothing else. Diego looked like he had sacrificed any punching power he had with the cut, which could just be a side effect of the first cut, or an example of why you shouldn't cut thirty plus goddamn pounds. I'm getting REALLY tired of this weight cutting stuff, and it only seems to be getting worse. It really seemed to be a guy cutting maybe ten/fifteen to get from say...220 to 205. Now we've got guys that can naturally fight at 205 cutting down to 170 (...barely...), and Diego fought in UFC originally at 185. He cut to 155. And he apparently walks around at or above 190. It's infuckingsane. Eventually, someone's going to try to do a massive cut and either through their own stupidity or their body shutting down, is going to be seriously hurt or die from it. They need to just start weighing in people the day of events. Whatever you naturally walk around at, is what you should fight at. And if you need to cut to fall into a weightclass, then train your body to maintain it. If not, then you have *NO* business being in that weightclass. If you are stupid enough to cut 30 pounds right before a fight, then you deserve to get your ass beaten in a fight. None of this weigh in at 170 fight at 190+ bullshit.

You can't use the Koscheck fight against Diego. Koscheck's entire gameplan was to avoid the ground. If a better wrestler decides he wants to avoid the ground, and he's not a moron, you won't go to the ground. When that fight did hit the ground, Diego near immediately put Koscheck in a bad situation and was teetering on the verge of a possible submission attempt. Koscheck didn't even let Diego get the thought of it after that. Plus, wasn't Diego VERY sick with a staph infection that he was hospitalized for? Diego tried to use ground work against Fitch, but Fitch more or less just held him down and punched him every so often to keep it from being stood up. Fitch was just stronger, and a better wrestler. All there really was to that fight.