MARTYEWR

Buffalo Bills: Offense. 'Nuff said.

I don't think the deal's that bad for either side. The Redskins actually HELPED their cap problem with this. They signed Arrington to an 8-year, $60-million deal, when he was going to get $20-million the next two years. That helps them. However, with the $20-million bonus, Arrington gets basically the same amount he was going to get anyway. As far as I know, Arrington wasn't asking for any raises; he just wants stability in the overall coaching schemes and direction, something that hasn't happened too much in Washington since Dan Snyder bought the team.

Brandon knows how much I think he brings the awesome, but I needed to contribute. Keep up the awesome, man, and best of luck to LSU at the national championship. Cheers!

So close, so far away... Paul London vs Chavo Guerrero. Match Background: London and Chavo have been feuding recently. Neither has managed to get an in-ring victory in this feud. The Match: STIFF high kick on London by Chavo Guerrero. Paul London avoids a Chavo Guerrero avalanche by getting out of the damn way! London hits a HARD spinning kick to the jaw. Chavo reverses an irish whip...and Paul London runs into the referee! Chavo walks into a face crusher variation. Has anyone's face ever really been crushed by one though? Pinfall attempt, but the ref is out and can't count to three! London drops an elbow...but Chavo Guerrero moves out of the way. London takes a flying neckbreaker from Chavo Guerrero. London takes a NICE hurrancarana from Chavo Guerrero. There's a two count on the pin. Tor-NADO DDT from Chavo Guerrero, London got planted! Pin, but London is out just before the three count. London flips out of a Chavo Guerrero bodyslam attempt. Spinning bulldog in the corner and Chavo is down! Pinfall attempt: ONE...TWO...NO! I would have bought that as the finish! Chavo counters a sleeper with a jaw breaker and is able to get free! Paul London slugs Chavo Guerrero, sending him down into the corner. While London fires up the crowd, Chavo is removing the turnbuckle pad! Paul London comes over...but Chavo grabs him by the tights and uses the leverage to slingshot Paul London face first into the exposed steel turnbuckle! Chavo Guerrero rolls up the stunned Paul London: 1....2...3! How did the referee not see that? The fight has started up again! Paul London attacks Chavo, and they brawl all around ringside, then into the crowd! They eventually disappear backstage, still fighting. My Opinion: Great match. Most people would give it ****3/4 or more, but I guess I'm a harsh grader. ****1\2 for you.

No great match here, but it's Royal Rumble 2004 for me, and a certain net favourite takes it this year, and will get a title shot against Kurt Angle at WrestleMania: - Royal Rumble. Match Background: None. The Match: Scotty 2 Hotty and Spike Dudley are the first two competitors. Scotty 2 Hotty hits a rolling kick on Spike. Konnan has ruined any chance for me ever enjoying this maneuver again with his shitty execution of it. Scotty 2 Hotty connects with a back heel kick on Spike and gets back up quickly. Entry # 3 : Sean O'Haire! Scotty just WAFFLES Spike with a STIFF chop that hurt ME to watch! THERE IT IS! A legdrop to the BACK OF THE HEAD! I swear, that makes any match just a little bit better. I don't mind telling you that every time I see it, that's for sure. Entry # 4 : Undertaker! Bodyslam by O'Haire. STIFF~! chop lights up Spike who covers up to try and stop the agonizing PAIN! Entry # 5 : Zach Gowan! Wack kick from Undertaker. Undertaker scores with a crappy looking standing spinebuster. Could have been done a hell of a lot better though. Entry # 6 : Chuck Palumbo! Spike Dudley gets hip tossed by Gowan. Gowan threw Spike Dudley over the top rope, but Spike Dudley skinned the cat to save himself! Entry # 7 : Ultimo Dragon! Spin kick by Scotty 2 Hotty to the face sends the opponent FLYING across the ring. Spike Dudley got eliminated by Scotty. (Elimination # 1) Entry # 8 : Batista! Chuck Palumbo hits Gowan. Big kick from Palumbo staggers Gowan but that's about it. Entry # 9 : William Regal! Undertaker hits a right hand on Scotty 2 Hotty and follows it up with a couple more. Scotty 2 Hotty got tossed over the top rope to the floor HARD by Undertaker. (Elimination # 2) Entry # 10 : Randy Orton! Gowan hits a quick kick on Regal. Gowan threw William Regal over the top rope, but William Regal skinned the cat to save himself! Entry # 11 : Test! Undertaker hits O'Haire. Sean O'Haire got tossed over the top rope to the floor HARD by Undertaker. (Elimination # 3) Entry # 12 : Chris Benoit! Benoit slams Zach Gowan down and motions to the crowd. Zach Gowan got eliminated by Benoit. (Elimination # 4) Entry # 13 : Rob Van Dam! Massive backbreaker on Test and I get happy flashbacks to Bret Hart's Five Moves of DOOM. Orton tried to eliminate Test, who hung onto the top rope for dear life! Entry # 14 : Tommy Dreamer! Batista hits a sloppy double axe handle off the top. Batista tried to eliminate Chris Benoit, who hung onto the top rope for dear life! Entry # 15 : Kevin Nash! Regal takes a quick lariat. Benoit tried to eliminate William Regal, who hung onto the top rope for dear life! Entry # 16 : Kane! Ultimo Dragon kicks the leg, knocks Test down, and goes to work on it. Tor-NADO DDT from Ultimo Dragon, Test got planted! Entry # 17 : Nunzio! Ultimo hits a HARD spinning kick to the jaw. Implant DDT by Ultimo Dragon! I will always and forever mark out for that move. Entry # 18 : Christian! Trying to channel the spirit of Misawa, Kane ends up chanelling Lex Luger instead and nails a running forearm to the face, minus the steel plate, of course. Kane scores with a big spinebuster. Entry # 19 : Big Show! Dreamer takes a vertical suplex, but pops right back up. Uninspired brawling from Test. Entry # 20 : Tajiri! Kane slams Nunzio. Death valley driver (not to be confused with the DVD 500) by Kane connects and Nunzio is down! Entry # 21 : Al Snow! Undertaker walks into a high dropkick from Rob Van Dam, almost losing several teeth in the process. Second rope flying axe handle, Undertaker goes down. One day, RVD might even consider coming off the top with that. You know...for more impact and stuff. Entry # 22 : John Cena! Test just WALKS into a stiff lariat clothesline from Snow. Powerbomb on Test. Entry # 23 : Matt Hardy Version 1.0! Flying cross body off the top rope! Tajiri tried to eliminate Chris Benoit, who hung onto the top rope for dear life! Entry # 24 : Goldust! Goldust hits some punches. How generic. John Cena was eliminated by Goldust. (Elimination # 5) Entry # 25 : Scott Steiner! Nice piledriver on Palumbo. Orton went for the elimination, but Chuck Palumbo held on to the ropes at the last possible second! Entry # 26 : Edge! BIG clothesline on Dreamer. Snow threw Tommy Dreamer all the way over the top rope to the floor. No question about that one. (Elimination # 6) Entry # 27 : Shawn Michaels! Palumbo takes a flying neckbreaker from Ultimo Dragon. STIFF high kick on Palumbo by Ultimo Dragon. Entry # 28 : Chief Morley! RVD takes a couple of weak clotheslines. Rob Van Dam got bundled out by Show. (Elimination # 7) Entry # 29 : Rhyno! Second rope flying axe handle, Christian goes down. One day, Ultimo might even consider coming off the top with that. You know...for more impact and stuff. Christian was eliminated by Ultimo. (Elimination # 8) Entry # 30 : Booker T! Undertaker hits Edge. Undertaker threw Edge over the top rope, but Edge skinned the cat to save himself! Booker slams Rhyno. Booker T with a spinning neckbreaker on Rhyno. STIFF~! chop lights up Nunzio who covers up to try and stop the agonizing PAIN! Shawn Michaels scores with a big spinebuster. Snow scoops and slams Undertaker. What's the difference between a scoop slam and a body slam anyway? Undertaker takes a butterfly suplex from Snow. Goldust hits a right hand. High Angle DDT by Goldust just SPIKES Test down! Big clothesline from Batista. Batista tried to eliminate Undertaker, who hung onto the top rope for dear life! William Regal gets up and gives a Belly to belly suplex to Regal. Scott Steiner was eliminated by Regal. (Elimination # 9) Goldust hits a right hand. Fallaway slam by Goldust puts down Ultimo Dragon. Batista hits Morley. Batista strikes Chief Morley with a hard blow. Trying to channel the spirit of Misawa, Shawn Michaels ends up chanelling Lex Luger instead and nails a running forearm to the face, minus the steel plate, of course. Goldust got tossed over the top rope to the floor HARD by HBK. (Elimination # 10) Booker scoops and slams Chief Morley. What's the difference between a scoop slam and a body slam anyway? Death valley driver by Booker T! No one executes that move properly anymore. BAAACK Body drop by Tajiri gets a bit of a pop from the crowd. Tajiri was eliminated by Orton. (Elimination # 11) BAAACK Body drop by Ultimo gets a bit of a pop from the crowd. Ultimo Dragon was eliminated by Rhyno. (Elimination # 12) Test hits a punch, but takes one right back. Again! A slugfest erupts in the ring! Batista strikes Test with a hard blow. Snow takes a vertical suplex, but pops right back up. Undertaker strikes Al Snow. Undertaker strikes Batista. Batista was eliminated by Undertaker. (Elimination # 13) Trying to channel the spirit of Misawa, Al Snow ends up chanelling Lex Luger instead and nails a running forearm to the face, minus the steel plate, of course. William Regal got tossed over the top rope to the floor HARD by Snow. (Elimination # 14) Orton scoops and slams Test. What's the difference between a scoop slam and a body slam anyway? Running knee lift from Randy Orton. Trying to channel the spirit of Misawa, Edge ends up chanelling Lex Luger instead and nails a running forearm to the face, minus the steel plate, of course. Chief Morley got tossed over the top rope to the floor HARD by Edge. (Elimination # 15) Palumbo takes a headbutt from Rhyno. Chuck Palumbo was eliminated by Rhyno. (Elimination # 16) Al Snow snap suplexes Nunzio HARD to the canvas! And again! A pair of clotheslines follow and...yep, Snow is a HOUSE...EN...FUEGO~! Nunzio was eliminated by Snow. (Elimination # 17) Running knee lift from Kane. Kane threw Rhyno over the top rope, but Rhyno skinned the cat to save himself! Undertaker hits a right hand on Edge. Undertaker tried to eliminate Edge, who hung onto the top rope for dear life! STIFF~! chop lights up Edge who covers up to try and stop the agonizing PAIN! Flying shoulder tackle by Orton sends Edge CRASHING to the mat. Undertaker is a glutton for punishment and just continues to take it during this match. Kane tried to eliminate Undertaker, who hung onto the top rope for dear life! Chris Benoit charges into the corner, but EATS BOOT and staggers backward. Rhyno threw Chris Benoit over the top rope, but Chris Benoit skinned the cat to save himself! Edge slams Rhyno down and motions to the crowd. Rhyno got eliminated by Edge. (Elimination # 18) Edge scoops and slams Test. What's the difference between a scoop slam and a body slam anyway? Test was eliminated by Edge. (Elimination # 19) Edge hits some punches. How generic. Shawn Michaels was eliminated by Edge. (Elimination # 20) Edge with a spinning neckbreaker on Show. Big Show got bundled out by Edge. (Elimination # 21) Nash receives some punishment by Undertaker but with that horrid offense, we're the only ones truly being punished. Kevin Nash takes a right hand to the temple from Undertaker. Trying to channel the spirit of Misawa, Randy Orton ends up chanelling Lex Luger instead and nails a running forearm to the face, minus the steel plate, of course. Kevin Nash got eliminated by Orton. (Elimination # 22) Uninspired brawling from Undertaker. Kane got tossed over the top rope to the floor HARD by Undertaker. (Elimination # 23) Massive backbreaker on Snow and I get happy flashbacks to Bret Hart's Five Moves of DOOM. Edge tried to eliminate Al Snow, who hung onto the top rope for dear life! Booker T connects with rights and lefts and Al Snow is down! Al Snow was eliminated by Booker. (Elimination # 24) Booker slams Undertaker down and motions to the crowd. Booker hits a right hand. Trying to channel the spirit of Misawa, Chris Benoit ends up chanelling Lex Luger instead and nails a running forearm to the face, minus the steel plate, of course. Booker T got tossed over the top rope to the floor HARD by Benoit. (Elimination # 25) Vertical suplex by Chris Benoit. Edge got eliminated by Benoit. (Elimination # 26) Undertaker hits a right hand on Chris Benoit. Chris Benoit takes a right hand to the temple from Undertaker. I bet those hurt more than Sgt. Slaughter's Noogies. Undertaker gets slammed down hard and winces in pain. Orton threw Undertaker over the top rope, but Undertaker skinned the cat to save himself! Spinebuster by Randy Orton. Orton tried to eliminate Chris Benoit, who hung onto the top rope for dear life! Undertaker takes a butterfly suplex from Benoit. Benoit threw Undertaker over the top rope, but Undertaker skinned the cat to save himself! Benoit drives a HARD forearm into the chest of Matt. Benoit threw Matt Hardy Version 1.0 over the top rope, but Matt Hardy Version 1.0 skinned the cat to save himself! Undertaker with a badly-executed spinning neckbreaker on Matt. One more performed that badly and this match will end on a bad note, if you get my drift. Matt Hardy Version 1.0 got eliminated by Undertaker. (Elimination # 27) Benoit takes a vertical suplex, but pops right back up. Undertaker hits Benoit. Orton hits a right hand. Orton went for the elimination, but Chris Benoit held on to the ropes at the last possible second! Orton receives some punishment by Undertaker but with that horrid offense, we're the only ones truly being punished. Randy Orton got eliminated by Undertaker. (Elimination # 28) Undertaker gets knocked to the ground by Benoit. Undertaker gets locked in the Crippler Crossface! Undertaker goes limp! Undertaker was eliminated by Benoit. My Opinion: I'll give it a *1\2 rating. Consider getting more stars to be the adventure of a lifetime. Get started.

HAH! Take that people who said some good WCW Stuff wouldn't be in it. ...ok, some of it is NWA Stuff, but still. Flair's NWA stuff > Flair's WCW stuff (well, from about 97-2001, at least).

The Jericho Blood Capsule moment happened in July 2000 at the prime of the build-up towards HHH vs. Jericho at Fully Loaded 2000. It was the episode of Raw where Jericho tricked DX into thinking he'd appear at the entrance ramp, but later, in a Jericho match, HHH and DX ran in to beat the snot out of him. The blood capsule botch happened during the beatdown, IIRC.

RAW is actually drawing better than Smackdown right now. Badd Blood did get more buys than Vengeance, plus RAW's houses are drawing better than Smackdown's. I think that may have to do with the different star power on each show, plus possibly the markets, although I haven't analyzed the latter that much. I credit the star power more. As awesome as some of the wrestling on Smackdown is, they don't have any real well-known marketable names outside of Vince, Undertaker, and Angle.

Just want to send some more positive feedback to Matt. Great job with this! As I read on, I was wondering how you'd take care of WrestleMania X-7 (with the limited slots), but you did a great job getting rid of the two most useless matches. Keep it up, this is fun reading. I too miss Pro Wrestling Hogan, or should I say, Destrucity Death Wrestling, but I guess the end was near.

I'm surprised this one hasn't been mentioned: Four words: SummerSlam 1989. "Fuck it."

I was at that particular show when RVD was late for the group promo. I believe it was intentional, as the planned main event for the next PPV (No Mercy 2001) was Austin-Angle-RVD.

Jake Roberts!

I think Jericho's dispute over the internet was fairly reasonable, although I think he generalized all of the net WAY too much. I think he realized that at some point too. But the thing I found really interesting was: "But after it was all said and done, I basically just lost interest in the web. Not because of any of you, more because I just found other things to stimulate my lunatic mind. " Hmmm, considering that his last commentary was June 22 or 23 (I'm a Jerichoholic, sue me, I remember these things...) and since EWR was originally released on June 15, IIRC, then, hmmm, Jericho an EWRholic? Maybe Shane Helms got him into it. Well, I can dream. As can Adam Ryland.

No Flair v. Funk? Colour me pissed!

Jericho admitted once in an interview with Metal-Sludge that he did drink too much and threw up at Christian's (the wrestler) bachelor party.

Marty played Taker's ghost at the RR?!! Damn straight I did! (Apologies, but I couldn't resist!)

Depends if Edge is able to walk around and stuff, and if he has nothing else on his plate. Jericho's not attending the party for a VERY good reason: His wife Jessica is due anytime soon for their first born. That's also why Jericho isn't booked for a match at Unforgiven. Anyways, if Edge is able to at least walk around and mingle with the boys, I'm sure he'll be able to make it. He actually said on TSN's Off The Record (here in Canada) that he thinks the criticism towards HHH is overdone, so maybe he's a supporter of the guy.

The way Unforgiven is shaping up, it's like they know they can't compete against your average Sunday Night NFL game, so they're not even trying anymore.

I always thought HHH's protrayal as the Discpliarian was what Travis Bickle was for De Niro. Actually, that was the Drew Carey Show. Right?

Not to reign on anyone's parade, but Jay Bower's been known to have a ton of sarcasm in him in the past. Just a thought.

I'm surprised this hasn't been brought up yet, but my vote for Best-All-Time-Match-That-Was-Supposed-To-Be-A-Steaming-Pile-Of-Horseshit goes to Lex Luger v. Dan Spivey from WCW WrestleWar 91. An absolutely incredible performance from two guys who are normally slugs or, to put it nicely, hosses.

This was supposed to be only a filler match on Smackdown, as none of these guys had any feuds going on. Turns out to be a MOTYC: World's Greatest Tag Team vs Brock Lesnar and Edge. Match Background: This match is for the WWE Tag Team titles. The Match: Charlie Haas hits some punches. How generic. Big dropkick by Charlie Haas, who got a ton of air on the move. There's a two count on the pin. Tag to Shelton Benjamin. World's Greatest Tag Team whip Edge into the ropes and hit a double back elbow. Covers for a quick two count. Fallaway slam by Shelton Benjamin puts down Edge. Edge powers out of a Shelton Benjamin headlock. Full nelson slam on Shelton. Covers for a quick two count. Tag between Edge and Brock Lesnar. Spear by Brock Lesnar. Pin, but Shelton is out just before the three count. Shelton Benjamin charges into the corner, but EATS BOOT and staggers backward. Lesnar charges into the corner but EATS BOOT. Hard impact Russian Leg Sweep by Shelton. According to some other reviewers around here, 'legsweep' is one word. Tag between Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas. STIFF~! chop lights up Lesnar who covers up to try and stop the agonizing PAIN! Tag between Brock Lesnar and Edge. Charlie Haas with a spinning neckbreaker on Edge. Charlie Haas gets whipped into the corner. Edge charges in, but into a pair of raised boots. Haas uses a roll up, with feet on the second rope! The referee hasn't seen it: 1....2....3!! World's Greatest Tag Team remain in the ring, celebrating their victory. My Opinion: A ****1\2 rating for a great match. Keep on trucking...you'll get there.

If I may use my roommate as an example, he's been off and on with the product lately. We spent more time watching the Colts-Broncos exhibition game last night than we did watching Raw. He doesn't have the same "smart" tendencies that I do as far as wrestling goes, but he did note that "that crowd sure looks excited" during the Cade/Jindrak v. Henry/Mack match, and he also got frustrated during a lot of talk segments, particularly the Austin-Bischoff one backstage (where Austin was questioned by Terri about the SummerSlam match). That's not the only case I heard of, as a lot of people looked pretty bored during SummerSlam at the bar I was at. So, yeah, casual fans are turning off from the product, but, I think, for different reasons.

I had Eric Bischoff marry an unknown McMahon daughter when I was beta-testing the game. Very funny on so many different levels.

Uh, you mean Test at WrestleMania X-7, right?