Precious Roy

Also, on the higher power, I've heard that Jake Roberts name was bounced around, I think that would have been awesome, but I was never expecting it at the time. I always figured it would be a either a debuting indy wrestler or a retired wrestler/manager, maybe someone who was jumping from WCW or ECW without the sheets knowing. Personally, I was hoping for Terry Funk playing some sort of satanic character.

Rikishi being the guy who took out Austin and Vince McMahon as the higher power. I didn't see either coming because they were both so insanely stupid and left field, probably the prime WWE examples of swerving the audience just for the sake of swerving the audience.

It's sad when the old lower midcard teams like the Bees, Stallions, Rougeaus and Conquistadores, teams I didn't really care for that were overshadowed by The Hart Foundation, Demoliton, Brainbusters and Bulldogs, completely blow away any tag team the WWF has created in the last four years, with the exception of WGTT and Los Guerreros, who each lasted for like what, a year? I doubt we'll ever see that much tag team depth again.

I can upload some of the following during RAW if anyone is interested: 05-19-1996 - Baton Rouge, LA - Eddie Guerrero & Arn Anderson vs. Ric Flair & Randy Savage - Slamboree Lethal Lottery 11-13-1991 - New Haven, CT - Bret Hart vs Ric Flair 07-1-94 - Bushkill, PA - Bret Hart vs 1-2-3 Kid - Monday Night RAW (clipped down to 16 minutes, unfortunately) Shawn Michaels vs Jeff Jarrett - WWF In Your House #2, July 1995 I also have the two recent Akio-London Velocity matches, if anyone wants those

When The Radicalz walked. That's the point where I completely lost faith in a turnaround, and while I didn't think they'd go out of business, to me WCW lost all relevance at that point. Russo/Bischoff returning, stripping all the titles, and creating the New Blood stable was the equivalent of poking the corpse with stick.

McMahon, The Rock, DX and The Undertaker definitely share a lot of credit, but Austin without question got the ball rolling. People came to check out Austin, and they discovered the other characters as a result.

That's pretty much how I look at it. The Knicks championships in the 70's are cool and everything, but they don't mean shit compared to the Finals series' they lost in my lifetime. And by the same token, if they'd won in 93 or 99 it would probably be a lot easier to swallow their current ineptitude. With the Yankees, I'll never complain in a meaningful way, other than nitpicking about personnel. They could be the worst team in baseball for the rest of my life and I'd still be grateful for their run in the late 90's.

I'm not outraged, but definitely shocked. I would think Knicks fans would be more likely to rock a KT jersey given Houston's rapid decline.

Yes, and I'm confident that head to head we could beat the great Cowboys, Niners, Steelers or Packers teams. IMO this team is on even footing with any championship team from any era.

Hart Attack Total Elimination 3-D Doomsday Device Sidewinder Rocket Launcher

Well, agree to disagree then, because even with a dozen years as a fan or whatever under my belt, Austin in 98 was some of the best wrestling entertainment I've ever seen. It helped that everyone I knew was finally into something I'd been a fan of on my own my whole life, which I never expected to happen, but on it's own merit it was still a really cool, fresh time in wrestling. And this argument isn't about what you enjoyed personally, but about the comparative overall impact of Hogan and Austin on the existing and potential fanbases at the time, and there is really no debate that they're in the same league. The best way I can put it this: When I was a little kid I remember watching Hogan/Andre with my dad, and the next day in school all the kids my age were talking about it. Ditto for everything in that time period up to Hogan/Warrior. But I can say with reasonable certainty that the average older kid, kids in high school and college, were not discussing pro-wrestling as a watercooler topic. It was considered uncool, and for little kids. Now, when the WWF "boom" hit, 97-98, I was a senior in high school and then moved on to college. Wrestling, something that would have been taboo in the past, was popular amongst pretty much everyone at my high school, especially the jocks and cool cliques who set the trends for younger kids. It became hip and acceptable amongst very picky sets. My girlfriends were into wrestling because the guys were. I don't think Hogan had teenage girls watching wrestling. And Austin got the kids as well, as our younger brothers and their friends were all into the WWF as well, at least in part because it was seen as cool amongst the older kids. My first year or two in college it was the same way, dudes and chicks would gather in the dorms to watch RAW, and pretty much everyone from every group was down with it, it became a popular, social drinking event. The same crowd that I'd be watching rasslin with on Mondays I'd be out at the bars with the next day. Hogan NEVER had college kids watching wrestling unless they were geeky shut-ins. I really don't see any rational argument against Austin here.

Hahaa, LooneyTune, you're completely full of shit! Talk about biased..... I'm telling you, for a fact, that my friends who were casual fans were HYPED for both of those matches, the PPVS were major events, and they still think to this day that those matches are the peak of pro-wrestling. The only other matches that might compare are the Rock-Mankind series where they swapped the belt. So you can say that they weren't memorable, and maybe they weren't to you, but a shitload of people will tell you otherwise. And I'm 25, I saw both men's runs when they happened, and I'm telling you that yes, they are very much on equal footing despite the obvious differences in the industry and target audiences.

We're also 20 years removed from Hogan's heyday, and most of us remember it fondly because we were little kids at the time. Austin's impact is more recent, and quite different, but I have a hard time saying it was lesser, as he actually made wrestling cool and mainstream for a time, while targeted towards an older, more fickle audience. Hogan made it popular with kids and their parents, and he made it mainstream, but did he ever make it cool? Different audiences. That's not true. My friends who were casual fans thanks to Austin but stopped watching in 2000 are definitely more familiar with matches like Austin v. Undertaker at SummerSlam 98 and the Austin/McMahon cage match at St. Valentine's Day Massacre, not to mention all the non-match angles he did on RAW, like kidnapping Vince etc. Most of them have never seen any of those old Hogan matches, nor would they care to.

He, and the entire team for that matter, have been playing much better under Karl. I'm embarrassed that I thought Coop could turn them around but I wouldn't have passed up hiring Karl either, he's a hell of a coach and a perfect fit with the talent Denver has Karl seems to have lit a fire under Nene's ass especially, he's been balling lately

we don't need you, stick to your own crappy teams

Short Reply: why?

what?

The best thing about the bitches in the media bitching about the Jacksonville weather is that up here in New England we've been living through a brutal winter, and I'm sure it can't be that much better in Philly, so the actual FANS of both teams would KILL for 40 degree weather, but the fucking spoiled prima donna bitches act like they've been shipped to Siberia. At least I know Belichick and the Pats will appreciate the "unfavorable" conditions.

My educated guess would be Supreme

Short answer: yes

I'll believe it when I see it, the Tigers can't be that stupid, especially when there's virtually no market for the guy after Sosa and Burnitz landed. He should be getting a one year deal until he proves his healthy. 1 year at 15 million is a HUGE stretch, but multiplying that by 5 is insanity.

yes

...... ..... ... .

I like the look of the Jets one, and the possible construction is going to tie into the NYC summer Olympic bid. New Orleans looks cool, but I'd like to see an outside rendering, and different angles for all of them for that matter

Whoever wrote the article should be docked pay and suspended. Irresponsable reporting is dangerous.