RavishingRickRudo

The word I have heard for years was that Goldberg turned down the NHL to announce for the UFC. And this was during the lean years of the UFC.

Guys who've watched Gilmore Girls have been hit by a bus. And that bus was full of quick wit and snappy dialogue that only a young mother and her teenage daughter can share.

I heard Goldberg was offered a chance to do be an announcer for an NHL team but turned it down to commentate for the UFC, and this was when UFC wasn't nearly as successful as it is today. I doubt he'd jump to the WWE as he seems pretty loyal.

http://www.thehansofoundation.org/ http://www.kraftkost.se/

Great episode tonight. So far, Lockes episodes are 3 for 3 in terms of kickin ass. That whole button thing/sociological experiment deal is fantastic.

Don't... Just don't. ...don't open up old wounds...

I think Benoit/Benjamin tops the shoulda/coulda/woulda list.

Yang.

You still post on WC Downhome? Yeeesh. - So Long from the Great White North Ravishing Rick Rudo

I shouldn't have stressed that last sentence. The main point was their personalities don't "fit" each other, feud-wise. Who is going to carry the feud? Benoit. I like Benoit, but his personality (as well as Reys) is best suited as being the reactor rather than the instigator. Plus, when has a Canadian vs. a Mexican ever drew? I mean, really people... just think about it.

They don't really have the personalities to pull it off. I'm sure with the right booking and storytelling it would be great, but think about that and both WCW and WWE's willingness to do that, and you get your answer to why it never happened.

I think it was the Cena-isms that made me dislike him. Or maybe I liked him... I forget... I imagine I said something about him in an earlier post. But now there's motivation. Now there's feeling. This is why Koscheck/Leben was a successful feud. They were fighting for a reason. And with Von Flue, heres this situation where he was (a)The Underdog who (b)Fought hard and won, and ©No one gave a shit about it. These 3 elements make for a relatable, sympathetic, character. And if Hughes challenges Jason to fight next week, they should make it a double episode, cause that could make for an awesome storyline.

Mathews makes for a good Tenay, but Tenay isn't a good JR. The role of the announcer isn't just to call moves, it's about selling. Mathews, while good at the technical aspects, isn't good at conveying a feeling. Then again, JR has about 3 modes to convey feeling - Insane JR, Indignant JR, and Somber JR. That's still 3 more than anyone else they have, sadly. I do think they need to find an alternative to JR, simply because the announcers are an integral part of the show and if someone who watched back in 99 turns to hear JR and the King do the same schtick they did 7 years ago, why would they start to watch the same thing they gave up? There was a shift in announcers in the mid-90's, and while that's certainly not the reason why WWE became successful, I think it helped having different voices than the 80's boom. And they can't fire him and just replace him, he needs to retire and it needs to be on-air.

Oh, I'm with you on that. I didn't really like JVF before this, but now I can't help but root for the guy.

"How about we get out of these wet clothes" "Po-TATO Salad" "DUFFEL Bag" BO! I mean, HOLY SHIT, that was awesome. PLUS we got some Finn in it, "I'm not trying to marry her".

You know, it's been 2 years and change since PRIDE dropped Quadros and he still hasn't been heard or seen on WWE tv.

It would end up like the Christmas Play from South Park I would almost toy with having the feud be like all the other Hogan feuds with the whole "legend vs. legend" thing going, and have Hogan beat Austin and then try to do the handshake thing and Austin stunners him. Have Hogan come out the next night and say "what the fuck, Steve?" and have Austin go all rattlesnake on him. Then it becomes a _real_ feud, rather than a quick buyrate where nothing really happens. Maybe have Austin/??? vs. Hogan/??? and have the aforementioned handshake finish after a Hogan pin, so you don't waste the first singles match between the two. Maybe Austin/Cena vs. Hogan/Batista??? Or vice versa?

It was a building episode, which are integral ... if not unwelcome

I would have pegged you as a fan of Desperate Housewives, Kotz.

Forrest takes this one via KO in the very last sentence of his article.

RAW screamed out "more of the same" to me during the 10 minutes of the show I watched.

Spoilers on River... A constant theme in Whedons work has been "choice". With River, she chose to use her abilities to benefit the crew, rather than hiding away as she usually did. So I doubt it was a lingering effect of the subliminal code.

Yes they do. No they don't Watch Punk v. Rave in the steel cage match. Or some stuff from the Lethal/Joe v. Rotts feud, Punk v. Aries. ROH fans can suspend their disbelief. Explain to me how they suspend their disbelief. Really. Don't make me watch ROH. I just can't. And people have been raving about feuds in ROH since 2003 since the Raven-Punk feud. I haven't heard/read it. Anything I've read about good "feuds" were because of the _matches_ involved in the feuds rather than any stories being told. Actually, wait a sec. Raven or Dreamer pouring beer down Punks throat was part of that angle, I remember that. Yeah, that's about it, actually. My point still stands - ROH fans don't watch ROH for the feuds. They watch for more smarkish reasons like "match quality", and their emotional involvement (as Loss mentioned) is kept to a bare minimum. This leads to more "chants" than "cheers". I don't understand how can you rip on the fanbase when you've never been to a show. And at the ROH Board, after every show there's always a thread where people complain about the behaviour of the fans and it gets annoying. I've been to indies before, one in particular was comprised of many folk who would (and have) go to ROH shows. They did the dueling chants. Some decided to chant both names at the same time. Think about that. Not very genuine. Besides, not actually being in the crowd doesn't disqualify me from commenting on them, or basing an opinion on them, or being absolutely annoyed by them. The fans (YOU, Bob) are annoying. Why let other people affect your enjoyment of a show? Because if sound wasn't an important part of the show, they wouldn't mic the rings, or have announcers. But they do, so it is. I can't just watch a show in silence, Bob. Besides, the crowds reaction should be dictated by the wrestlers. If the crowd is going out on their own and coming up with several retarded chants that have nothing to do with whats going on in the ring, then whats going on in the ring can't be that good, now can it? I mean I go to ROH shows to slap the wrestler's hand, go crazy for Nigel, call Lacey a whore, see my friends and see some good wrestling. Most ROH fans go to the show just to have a good time and good wrestling. Not with some grand notion of how to put themselves over. And not with the notion of storylines and feuds, it seems from you discription Lemme post something. Kobashi vs Joe Greatest. Match. Ever. First, the crowd was absolutely on fire for this match. Kobashi was getting a lot of cheers and would get the fans on their feet by just looking at them and hulking up. I have never seen Joe so intense for this match. He came up with Lethal as his second/assistant. Match starts with Joe slapping Kobashi and Kobashi returning the favor. The first Kobashi chop gets the fans on their feet. Kobashi is thrown outside and Joe hits him with a baseball slide (maybe i dont remember well) and hits a suicide dive onto him for "Holy ****" chants. Goes back inside for some insane stiff chopping which gets the electric crowd on their feet. It goes back outside where Joe hits an ole ole kick. However, Kobashi avoids the second one and instead hits a move of his own which received a huge pop but I couldn't see. Kobashi DDTs Joe on the floor. Goes back inside for more chopping. Joe eventually gets control after a Kobashi abdominal stretch and starts locking on submission holds. Eventually Joe reverses a Kobashi suplex into a suplex of his own. Joe places him on the turnbuckle and hits him with a Muscle Buster! Crowd is going wild for only a two count. Joe hits a power bomb and flows into an STF. Kobashi almost gets the ropes but Joe in a crossface holds back his arm! Kobashi finally gets to the ropes. Kobashi eventually regains control and hits joe in the corner with a bunch of chops, leading to a huge pop. Kobashi then hits not one but two Half Nelson Suplexes! Joe kicks out of a couple of pins but then is met with a sleeper into a sleeper suplex! There might have been some more moves afterwards but eventually Kobashi gets pumped up and hits Joe with a crazy lariat for the win. Crowd goes nuts and chants ROH! Look at the self-importance. NINE references to the crowd in this. And, apparently, the match was SO great that the FIRST thing this guy had to say about it was something about THE FANS. Was the ECW audience even this absorbed into being ECW fans? Well, they *did* chant "ECW"...

I really enjoyed the show. The opener was mainly Koscheck GnPing, but both guys were active enough for the first two rounds for it not to be boring. The finish definitely was the highlight, with the big upset and Koscheck going into shock. The heavyweight fight was pretty poor for the first round, with the two just looking at each other for most of it (which tends to be a staple of the heavyweight division) but the second round had the KNEES~! In particular the repetitive knees to the body which really won the fight. 2 fights, two matches with more psychology than anything on Monday Night Raw (I didn't see Raw, I am just guessing... I guess I guess right) Then there was a loooong delay for Leben/Dewees. It got more hype than the main event. But I liked the interviews they did with Hughes, Franklin, NATE~! building up to the next PPV. Oh wait, I'm sorry. The next PPV is UFC 55. UFC 56 had more promotion than UFC 55, so it seems UFC is gonna put their heads down and just take a poor number than trying to salvage the Friday PPV. (I'll still get it). You know what makes for a popular fighter? Saying you are going to do something, and then doing it. Chris Leben doesn't do this. He talks and he talks and he talks about knocking someone out, and so far, he doesn't get it done. So why should I look forward to Leben fighting? Chuck Liddell says he is going to knockout his opponents, and for the past few years, he's been spot-on. Though I liked the fight with Dewees, I have to say Leben doesn't do himself any favours promising the knockouts and failing to deliver. The Main Event, IMO, was great. Tanner and Loiseau aren't my FAVOURITE fighters, but I like them a lot more than any wrestler right now. I wanted Loiseau to win, partly because I think he's an exciting fighter (not that Tanner isn't), partly because him vs. Franklin would rule, and partly because he's Canadian. I loved the story of the match and the notion that Loiseaus elbows are finishers. Tanner took most of the first round off the takedowns and GnP, but the few seconds that Loiseau had in control, it was clear that if he ever *did* get positional advantage, Tanner would be FUCKED. I do sorta wonder why Tanner didn't blast Loiseau when he had his back mounted. Maybe it's a Russian thing, cause Fedor and Vovchanchyn have done that very well. Loiseau may quickly become a fan favourite on the basis of his kicks. Hey, notice there were no sponsors thanked

Canadian fans don't do it to "get over" with the wrestlers though. We do it cause we're asses and tend to want to stray from the (american) norm. I'll take a WWE crowd over a ROH crowd any day. Then again, I hate wrestling fans, in general. WWE tends to have an overly markish crowd of guys who bring belts to the right. ROH has guys who chant "Thank You". Both are extremes that I don't really like to be around.