RavishingRickRudo

I would have thought that people who liked the earlier Buffys would have hated Season 4 - considering it was such a departure. Watching it at the time (albiet inconsistently), Xander as the loser-living-in-his-mothers-basement, Willow having her "change", Buffy being more of a clingy slut, Giles having relatively nothing to do - the fellowship was breaking and it was frustrating. The relationships created in the early seasons were coming undone and new ones were being created... I'm one of those folks who generally hate change in a good series (see my Simpsons rants), and I think a lot of people are like that too.

It's on kazaa. REAAAAAAAAAAAALLY? A little less german suplexing would have been nice. But this actually had a purpose as it set up the UBER Suplex.

I think the point Power is making is: At what cost?

Why is Smackdown and Raw divided?

Can someone track down how many handicap matches were actually won by the 2 (or 3) guys?

Wow, so we shouldn't take into account MATCHES?

Top 5 cause-this-year-wasn't-good-enough-for-10 1. Benoit vs. Angle RR03 - the pinnacle of its form (that being the WWE workrate intensive style). It was mainly style over substance, and I usually hate that (at least, in the "ratings" sense), but it was such a high calibre of work that it fucking ruled. Every move was crisp and clean and the flow was superb. The work was SMART and they manipulated the crowd to perfection (sleeper spot to put heat on benoit, double knockdown to get the crowd chanting along with the ref, reversals into the BIG German Flip spot, all being capped off with Benoit's HUGE swandive). In terms of technique, I haven't seen anything better this year. A 10 for sure on that scale with a medium degree of difficulty. I'm sure you could pull something out of it in terms of story and substance to help prop it up, but in this case of extreme technical excellence, it doesn't bother me. 2. Taker vs. Angle SMACKdown - I wish I had taped this. This wasn't even _that_ great, maybe **** if I were feeling generous, but I still dug the shit out of it. Taker was definitely feelin it and Angle was willing to go along for the ride. The screwy finish and horrible (but still appreciated) triangle choke take this down a notch, but they did some really fun stuff in it that made it stand out and above the normal crap they do. It didn't seem like the typical WWE-style match and the pacing was slow(er) than usual. Each move had a purpose (Angle going down from a single punch I liked a lot), Taker was definitely fearing the ankle lock, and there was a noticable difference in styles - rather than 2 guys doin the same thing (in contrast to #1 on the list ) 3. Guerrero/Tajiri vs. Team Angle - they had 2 really good matches, so either one can go here. Eddie was definitely kickin it up a notch as he started to bust out his funky lucha moves and the crowd responded very well to it. The cheating at the end and the crowd going NUTS really puts this above most of the class. Tajiri is always good and Benny and Charlie make good straight-men to Eddies cheatin ways. Wish I taped these as well. I'd slap these with ***3/4, maybe 4 if I took a few hits from the "Lesnar/Angle" bong. 4. Team Angle vs. Rey/Billy - it's a half-hearted pick, I wasn't feelin it as I had hoped. Still, some crazy stuff that makes me shed a tear knowing that the bashams are the tag champs. Great crowd heat, nifty finish, cool spots... Probably in the upper ***-**** range. 5. Um... err... um.... uh... Taker vs. Albert/Big Show WM 17... I dunno. Best match at WM 19, and so many people put HBK/Jericho and Lesnar/Angle from that event in their top 10 that this should at least be mentioned . Smart, smart work. **1/2

I've only seen the eps.'s once since originally aired That "once" is the reruns. I've seen the originals, then I've seen the reruns. Everything changes and moves on to the next season in Wheadon shows. That's not just season 4. But I think Season 4 stands above every other season (cept, of course, S1) in terms of developing characters. The development is shown in Season 5. The actual transition period isn't so much meant to be enjoyed as it is to be survived... at least, that's how I feel with S4. That's why there were those gimmick episodes (Hush, Superstar, Restless) - to keep people happy while all the changes occur. I don't really care about Willow "becoming" a lesbian or the beginning of her relationship with Tara and the breakdown of her relationship with Oz nearly as much as I do with Tara/Willows fully established relationship in S5. I don't really care about Buffy's tuff time in school and her struggles with "boys" and beer and growing into adulthood as I do with her as an adult. S4 was necessary for these things to be established and there was no way to get around it; all Joss could do was make it as painless as possible so that Season 5 could become the masterpiece it was. What I find funny is that we're talkin bout Angel in the Buffy thread and Buffy in the Angel thread

Benjamin would be better as a metal head - they could give him a big mullet and a POISON shirt and just have him say "LET'S ROCK" a lot, and throw the devil horns and stick out his tongue.

Eh, they only air it once a month and they usually show the same one over and over again (ORTIZ vs. SINOSIC WASN'T GREAT THE FIRST 5 TIMES YOU SONNSOFBITCHES~!)... luckily, they've only shown this twice and I missed the first time Uno vs. Iha was short but sweet. Some sick shots from the guard by Uno that register at .7 Fedor... if only Iha had the chin of Noguiera, he wouldn't have gotten KTFO. Rodriguez vs. Arlovski was a neat lil fight. Riccos slam and attempted leg lock were the highlights from the first round. Arlovski looked better than I would have thought, showing his awesome sprawl and above avg standup. It got a lil boring after a while but it was still a good fight. Barnett vs. Shilt I've seen before, but still enjoyed. Barnetts post-fight antics of wiping his bloody face with his hand and then licking it along with his throat-slash was almost better than the fight itself. Bloody, bloody fight with both guys' nose bleeding. Good ending with the armbar.

See, I liked that they gave up on the college life and opted more with the relationships between characters and the big bads.... there's only so much you can do with having trouble with work and evil teachers and "boys".

"It was all about change and moving on." .. yes, changing and moving on to Season 5 I found that Angel actually aged pretty well. Mind you, I've only seen the eps.'s once since originally aired, while I've probably watched Buffy 3 or 4 times through (depending on which season).. but they were a lot better than I remembered.

Well they could make him into a Country Star or Metal Head... he'd get over.

"And screw Lex Luger and Jeff Jarrett too." WHO?

The Beginning: Ted Turner wants to destroy Vince so he buys "the old NWA". He brings over all the big stars "I heard that Ted Turner wanted to compete with McMahon; I told them they were nuts and I got out of there as fast as I could. You never want to compete with Vince." - Ric Flair The Rise: With the creations of Vince McMahon, the stolen ideas of Vince McMahon (Nitro), and Ted Turners Billions, WCW got successful. "I was watching RAW and it was so innovative and real; it just hit me, I have to steal that and use Ted Turners Billions to do so. That was Nitro..." - Eric Bischoff "He brought me and Scott over - and at that time we were the biggest names in the sport... We really didn't want to go, but the billions that Ted Turner had - we have families... how could any sane man resist? So we went over and I told Eric of this concept I heard Vince tell Pat Patterson... something about a New World Order... Eric liked that and voila... the NWO was born" - Kevin Nash "So for a few weeks WCW beat RAW in the ratings... I hated it there btw, it was never as good as the WWF or the WWE. But Ted Turners Billions kept me there, even though I longed for the warm embrace of the WWE" - Gene Oakerland The Fall: "So Bret Hart betrayed Vince by not doing the right thing for business and jumped over to WCW - we paid him so much money and didn't do nearly as good of a job as Vince did with him... that was the real end of WCW... the big contracts... bret hart... that was it" - Eric Bischoff "Everything I said about WCW and the NWA.. it was all a lie. That final Nitro... a lie...In my heart "WCW" meant the "WWF" or the "WWE"... WCW was always second best." - Ric Flair

Here are the shows I have on the tape(s): The Secret of the Mayas The Anti-Proton Gun The Secret of the Bee City The Liar Robot* Robio and Robiette Blackie Young* The return of Queen Cleopatra Goliath's Head Atlas Forever The Death Balloon The Greatest Robot in the World - 1* The Greatest Robot in the World - 2 * * - these are the ones I will (would) really focus on, as they smoke anything anyone has ever seen about anything and everything. It's insane how fucking deep and dark they got. Just reading through some of the eps. descriptions on other websites, it's a total nostalgia trip.

And I think we all know who Kurt Angle will be.... Oh it's... RRR: Starting to think these are a little more than coincidences...

THAT'S IT! I'm doing a Astroboy video review! *puts Astroboy video review in "to do pile" along-side Season 5 Buffy analysis, Ratings Report!, and rewatching Dragon/London*

You completely avoided the topic WP! AstroBenoit and Atlasner!! CAN'T YOU SEE IT?!~ = = = = C'mon NOW, SING! Soaring high in the sky, He may be small but only in size. AstroBenoit, AstroBenoit, He is brave and gentle and wise! Stronger Than all the rest, this mighty robot will pass the test, Oh villans fear him, so we cheer him, The amazing AstroBenoit! When you need someone strong, Our robot friend will never be long. AstroBenoit, AstroBenoit, He will try to right any wrong! When there's danger near by, No matter who, what, where, when or why. He'll defend us, he'll defend us, The amazing AstroBenoit

"Exciting matches are GOOD. Exciting matches get the crowd into them. The crowd then is more willing to spend more time and money on the product after they leave the arena, as will those watching on television. This is why nonsensical action films make so much money."

I would imagine it's just clips considering the amount of matches featured (well, some knockouts are really early in the match, so I imagine THOSE would be in - ditto with Submissions). If it were cheap enough (20 bucks), I'd personally pick it up. There's a lot of great (see, sick) stuff on that (Frank Shamrocks slam on Igor Zinoviev, comes to mind... *shudders*) and if you're relatively new to the UFC it would be a nice introduction (it would kinda get your hopes up though ) Unfortunately, UFC DVD's up here (UFC Hits 1 & 2) cost double that. However, if it's more than that - and if you have a fast modem - there are plenty of highlight videos out there where you'd find the same stuff for free.

Maybe in Brock vs. Benoit, Chris finds out that Brock is his long lost brother and was made from the same design as him *marks for WP sig*

Then what is the purpose of selling? Why be consistent? Why get hurt? If "adrenaline" is something that comes along without rhyme or reason, why don't two guys just fight until one of them dies? Extreme, yes, but that's essentially what you're saying. HBK's *bad back* - the reason he retired from wrestling in the first place, sure as hell was a factor in the match. I'd equate the amount of moves Jericho did on Michaels in that match to a sledgehammer shot. Besides, if 4 years couldn't totally heal HBK's back, then why should 6 months? Why is Michaels back the focus of his matches anyways??

In terms of individual eps. Season 4 had a number of "great" ones and some of the shows most memorable moments. The one where Giles turns into a demon is fucking awesome. "Superstar", "Hush", "Restless" are all ****+ episodes. "Something Blue" could be considered ****+, though I don't immediately think of it when thinking about Season 4... I'm not a big fan of the 2 parter with Faith - but then again, I'm not a big fan of brain entering (didn't like it in Season 5 as well - one of the fewthings I disliked) and not a huge faith fan either. 6 "great" episodes for any show other than Buffy would be considered a successful season

Season 4 was AAAAAAAALLL about developing the characters for Season 5. Tara and Willows relationship, I found, was better in Season 5. As well as Xander and Anyas. Season 4 was an adjustment period and often those periods are uncomfortable. The relationships were well established for Season 5 and dealing with Dawn & Glory & Joyces death. Plus, the "college experience" - IMO - was a bomb. They already did the uncomfortable learning experience in high school, and they did it well enough. They tried to go beyond that, but the results were "bad beer" and the initiative. Again, an adjustment period.