Precious Roy

I'll second the subtle switch in La Resistance and Edge's heel turn. The Edge turn has been especially good IMO, considering how badly they messed up his return and how stupid his character was. I'll also give credit to the initial London/Kidman push (which was never fully formed, unfortunately, in part due to a lack of competing teams), Benoit getting put over strong (not perfect, but effective), Eddie getting the belt (a couple months too late and mishandled the second he got it, but hey, at least the initial push towards Brock was good), Shelton's winning streak over HHH (could have done more here, but it established him so I can't complain), the shift in Bischoff's character (LONG overdue), and the development of Batista. Rico/Haas was also very good, I was a skeptic and it won me over, but they blew it after Rico returned from his injury. I really can't think of anything that doesn't come with an asterik though

I know it's been said a thousand times, but letting Vlade go was really stupid, he was that team's glue. Even with him they weren't a tough enough team to win the close ones, now they really have no chance.

Rock on Chevy!

The "10 minute challenge"? I'm kind of glad that match never happened.

He was really injured, and Bret was never going to make it to Mania XIV. The tentative plan may have been Bret/Austin but I really doubt Vince was banking on that match happening.

We gots to keep Ruben!!!

Barry Larkin would be a nice pickup for STL. Give him a winning environment and a good manager and he should surprise. Shit, if he can convert to 2nd I'd like to see NY pick him up

I thought the name switch thing was a great gimmick

Did Kenzo just throw a shoe at the crowd? LMMFAO!

I'm happy about the additions of F-Rod and Stanton, very happy about keeping Sturtze. F-Rod should split time with Flash as the primary setup man, and if Torre/Stottlemeyer are smart about using Stanton he will be good in a marginal role. I wouldn't count on him to carry many innings, but as a situational/matchup guy he should be fine. Pavano, I'm not completely sold on him yet, but I like his makeup and style, and he's probably an upgrade on Lieber due to less wear and tear on the arm. I was pretty disapointed to see Lieber go though, and I would have been perfectly content to keep him and let Pavano go elsewhere. Time will tell..... I don't like the Wright move, and I think he's looking at a +4 ERA. Maybe he'll prove me wrong, I hope so, but I don't think he's a NYC kind of guy. Womack I like, conditional on him having a part-time role. I don't want him out there every day, and I really think we should have kept Miguel Cairo to split time with him. I have to think we're adding another 2B at some point, I'd target Hairston except it's doubtful Baltimore moves him in division.

My guess is it was leading exactly where they ended up, an Austin/Michaels feud for Mania 98, the simply lost out on the middle portion, which would have no doubt seen Austin somewhat involved in HBK's gradual heel turn. They definitely had a breakup of the team planned, though I rather liked Foley filling in for HBK and think HBK's time off was a blessing in disguise. And that KOTR match was really, really good, one of the rare times where I think a non-finish was the best finish.

He's not even close to Free Agency right now. He's got at least another 2 years where Cleveland owns his rights. Even so, he should be able to get substantially more than 10 million a season based on Tek's contract. He had better defensive numbers last year and is a much better hitter.

Who's Victor Martinez's agent? you know he's counting the $$$ right now after seeing that Varitek deal.....

Surprised it hasn't been mentioned, but when Hogan first used a powerbomb in WCW, never thought he had it in him...... And not really a surprise, but the first time I saw a rolling cradle used I completely lost it. I still think it's one of the 5-10 coolest moves in wrestling.

What was the reasoning behind Nitro's demotion? Was he stinking it up on house shows or something? I thought he was a great character presence and more competent in that area than pretty much every other OVW call up, and far as I can recall he never even worked a TV match.

And I think some people need a refresher course on the definition of average and how it applies to music. Not liking a band or thinking a band is overrated or thinking members of said band aren't great musicians does not equate with them being average. You should be able to name a band that plays a style of music that you like but isn't as unique or dynamic as your favorite bands who play that style. There is NOTHING average about Mars Volta or Radiohead unless you've got a couple of amazing prog-rock bands to recommend to me, which I hope you do

The Killers are the most average band on the face of the earth, whoever mentioned them is right on

Is this the biggest contract for a catcher after the deal Piazza is on? Pudge got two years/19 mil, and I know he's making more than Jorge now.....

Eddie never lost to him. Lesnar defeated Guerrero in a WWE title defense match on a televised SD in November of 2002. LOL, I don't think anyone other than you and a handful of hardcore fans remembers that one. Far as most fans are concerned Guerrero is up 1-0 on him.

Joe v. Foley is the biggest match ROH can run at this point in time, so for their sake I really hope it happens. Foley doesn't need a payday, he's very well off and his books make him money, if he does this it's because he understands his place in wrestling history and he realizes what this match does for him, for Joe, and for ROH. As for Noble, I'm looking forward to him working to his full potential. Far as I can tell he only scratched the surface of what he's capable of in WCW and the E, the WCW stuf was very spotty, and even when he was getting time with Mysterio they were working under limitations. I haven't seen any of the recent New Japan stuff, but with his excellent matwork and ability to take it to the air when need be he reminds me of a young Dean Malenko. Matches with Aries, Danielson and Shelley are particularly intriguing to me. But I don't think this means much, if anything, for ROH in terms of attracting new fans. Anyone who cared enough about him in the E and took him seriously enough to look past the gimmick is likely already a fan of ROH. Rey Mysterio brings a new audience, RVD brings a new audience, Matt Hardy might even bring a new audience. Jamie Noble doesn't really have a mainstream following.

I don't know if the E stated that that was to be SD's motif, but everything they did pointed in that direction. The show was headlined by two former amateur wrestlers, it had the cruisers, it had Benoit and Guerrero and rookie amateurs Haas and Benjamin, and the tone of the show and announcing, especially by Tazz, was very much about putting the sports over the entertainment. Whether intentional or not, that's what they had, and it WORKED and was popular. Now the show is like a tame version of RAW. to RRR, you're dealing with a lot of opinion and personal perception when you make some of the statements you make. The fact is most people saw that match as *****, and nobody I know thinks of Benoit as "that other guy." I respect your opinions, but I don't necessarily think they're very accurate here. You may think of Benoit as "that other guy" but most fans don't. And yes, he did have nuclear heat. Watch any RAW where he walked out on the stage with the belt. I do completely agree with you on one thing, that his reign, after Backlash, didn't get the respect it deserved. Involving Eugene, as much as I personally dislike the character, served to further endear Benoit to the fans, to show his human side, and it worked, but the degree to which they went to serve that end was absurd. Involving Eugene in the ending of a PPV main event and the TV Ironman match was absurd. Eugene effecting the outcome of world title matches was absurd. Booking HHH/HBK over Benoit was expected, but it was done in a very, very poor manner with a throw away title match to counter it. They easily could have booked a strong title match, Benoit v. Jericho, and done the HIAC on a double bill. We all know why they didn't, but even so..... I just have a hard time believing Benoit would have gotten any better treatment on SD!, if anything he would have been the one to drop the belt to JBL. You're asking for the sun, the moon and the stars here. Benoit was never going to be the guy to carry the company, we all knew (or should have known) going in that this was simply a nice title reign to reward him for his career, nothing more nothing less, and if you couldn't see even as far back as the first hints towards Lesnar that that would be the case you were delusional and in severe denial of what company you were watching. Would I like him to be the guy to carry the entire company? Sure, but why even waste time thinking about things that will never happen? Some things just aren't realistic given that we're discussing the WWE, and that is one of them....

Yeah, in terms of screwing over SD the draft lottery is the main culprit and the last line of defense, as that should have made up for Benoit moving to RAW, shit, it should have been the only reason they ran the damn thing in the first place. Instead the roster was further pillaged of potentially hot talent (Benjamin, Edge, Tajiri) and the dead wood was sent to SD! (Booker, RVD, Dudleyz). And even in the case of the stale talent it recieved, the fact that SD can't or won't capitalize on RVD says a lot. They could have rehabbed him and made him the star he *should* have been coming off the Invasion, but they're content to let him rot. And they had something by moving HHH but apparently only did that for shits and giggles, to point and laugh at the audience and say, "hey, you could have got something good out of this!" And what the hell was the point of Heyman getting drafted to RAW? That went nowhere. A fair balance in the lottery would have made up for *some* of SD's problems, but they really go a lot deeper than just a lack of talent at this point. The whole point of SD since the split was that it was meant to be based on pure athleticism and competition, with the cruiser division as it's special attraction, but they've completely abbandoned that and now I have no idea what the show is supposed to be about.

Yeah, he should pan out to be a good platoon player, his stats picked up once he went to Cleveland, but Toronto was expecting him to be a star. He'll fit in nice in Tampa Bay. He's making 800,000 with 200,000 in possible incentives, so it's low risk. - Yankees have broken off talks with Eric Milton (THANK GOD). Apparently the Marlins and Dodgers are the top suitors. - Yankees have resigned Tanyon Sturtze as a long reliever for a guaranteed $1 million (THANK GOD! This guy was great down the stretch last season and I thought he might get lost in the shuffle). - White Sox and Devil Rays have talked to David Eckstein - Esteban Loiza has some interest from Cleveland, LA and Washington but has semi-steep demands - Cleveland may be looking at Kevin Millwood - Boston looking to move Byung-Hyun Kim, Brewers and Rockies have interest

Well, I didn't mean just for that night, Benoit had amazing, standing ovation level heat for a couple of months after he won the belt. And yeah, they were doing a great job building him up over on Smackdown and he was getting great heat in his feud with Heyman and Lesnar, even with him playing second fiddle to Cena a lot of the time. And the E more or less scrapped all that and had to rebuild him in a new environment. And in the rebuilding process they did screw some stuff up, but in the end it turned out fine for everyone, firmly established Benoit and revitalized both HHH and RAW. It's easy to fantasy book and say the Lesnar program would have been better, and maybe it would have, but given the E's track record and the fact that SD is a) treated like a second class program, and b) lost Angle, Lesnar and Show at the same time, there's really no sure thing about it..... And like you said, where would RAW be without Benoit? 2004 was the best year for RAW since 2000, and a ton of credit goes to Benoit for that.

Caron Butler punched Dan Dickau??!?