RavishingRickRudo

Shane McMahon is the Leopold to Vince's Super Nintendo Chalmers. I'll let that profound thought sink in.

Nobuhiko Takada was a Japanese pro wrestler who had success in the 80's and 90's. He is the head of Takada Dojo, which is Sakuraba's fight camp. Takada founded the UWF-i which was one of the best worked shoot promotions you'll see that had Vader as its champion at one point in time. UWF-i was very successful for a short period, and it is said the UWF-i/New Japan feud was the inspiration for the NWO. UWF-i wasn't the tradition wrestling federation, in its early days it didn't have pinfalls, but rather, worked on a point system, and there were KO's and submissions. Takada himself was the main star of the promotion and presented as a top fighter, who could beat anyone either standing up or with submissions. He was awesome and built up a reputation of being a legit martial artist. In his worked fights he showed tremendous stand up, some of the best you'll see out of a pro wrestler. If you went by his UWF-i matches, you'd think Takada was one of the best fighters ever. It should also be noted that Takada took liberties from time to time with his opponents, shooting on them within the wrestling matches. When PRIDE began, they used Takada's reputation and popularity and had him facing off against Rickson Gracie (they managed to get, reportedly, 40,000 in the Tokyo Dome). The fighting Takada was much different from the Pro Wrestling Takada, he was much more timid and certainly not as impressive. That confident stand up was pretty much gone, and the ground game was non-existent. It was fitting for Rickson to defeat him by Armbar, since that was one of Takadas favourite moves. Takadas fights in PRIDE were mostly farces, his win over Coleman is widely considered a work as was his fight vs. Otsuka (when there's a fisherman suplex, yeah, its worked), he had one of the worst fights you'll ever see against Royce Gracie, \and he lost his last fight via KO to Kiyoshi Tamura - one of Takadas rivals in UWF-i. TUF 1 is very good, and has some quality fights. Ortiz fought 2 fights after his loss to Liddell. Both fights he won by decision. His first fight was against Partick Cote, a Canadian fighter, and other than getting rocked in the early stages of the fight, Tito dominated but was unable to put away a fighter he probably should have finished (to Cotes credit, he can take a shot). His second fight was against Vitor Belfort, they were supposed to fight for the title at UFC 33 but Vitor got injured. The first round of the fight was very exciting, and the fight overall was a good one. I think Belfort won it, if that's worth anything.

Denis Kang might get a push in Bushido's 185lbs division. It's probably the weakest of PRIDEs divisions at this point (even PRIDE's HW division has the Big 3, then Kharitonov, AE, Werdum, Hunt), so him vs. Bustamante or Hendo could probably come in mid-late 2006. He looked great in both of his PRIDE fights, and has that whole Asian thing going on for him. I wouldn't be surprised, if Baroni is still with them, to see Baroni vs. Bustamante. It's the UFC fight we never got to see. I dunno why, but I can see them putting that fight together. If BUSHIDO keeps pace with taking in SHOOTO stars, adding Shaolin to the division opens up a series of new matches. Plus you have potential fights like Gomi vs. Edwards, Gomi vs. Hansen as mentioned, maybe Sakurai vs. Edwards, or Sakurai vs. Kawajiri. Maybe a Edwards/Hansen rematch. Lots of fun in 2006 there.

I should probably have said this was for a guy on another board who requested "must see" shows after already getting Pride 23 and Pride 25, which is why they weren't on the list. PRIDE 23: Not so much a great card in and of itself, what PRIDE 23 does to is provide an excellent build to PRIDE 25. This was Fedors coming out party, where he showed brutal punches from the guard that disfigured Heath Herrings face. Herring was never dominated this badly in PRIDE before. Herring was the only guy in PRIDE to this point to had gone the distance with Noguiera, and for him to get stopped so quickly and so easily by Fedor said something about the Russians ability. Meanwhile, the PRIDE champion was continuing his winning ways by defeating the giant Semmy Schilt. The look on Nogs face afterwards, as he smiles and sticks out his tongue cockily as if to say "I knew it all along", is the perfect image of this confident champion. This also has the "controversial" Frye/Yoshida match which many think was a work so judge for yourself, it has Takadas retirement match (which is not a good match, but does have it's moments - Takada taking one in the junk, Takada getting KTFO.. poor Takada), it has Randleman break out the AWESOME skyscraper knees, and Silva squashes another Japanese fighter. PRIDE 25: One of the best PRIDE cards of all time, the best one IMO up to that point in PRIDEs history. Fedor/Nog is just EPIC and drenched in history. You get some killer knockouts from Jackson/Randleman, Silva/Newton, Hendo/Oyama, and Schembri/Sakuraba. Steibling/Shoji is a really good fight, very competitive, and Nog/Nakamura is a good technical battle. The ending of Jackson/Randleman with Silva stepping in the ring is exciting as shit. The commentary is top-notch, the best from Quadros and Rutten and probably the best commentary job that I've ever heard. The pre-fight interview with Jackson and Randleman is hilarious "I'm kinda angry that he's here, man, I thought I was the only token black fighter in PRIDE".

A brief, certainly not comprehensive, recommendations for PRIDE shows. Not all of these are top to bottom cards, the ones that are weaker in terms of action tend to historically important. These are sorta manditory PRIDEs to see. PRIDE 10: This show has some brutal knockouts, some crazy brawls, and a solid fight between Sakuraba and Renzo. Good show top to bottom, but is moving down the list of best PRIDE shows each and every year. PRIDE 12: My buddy saw this show a few years ago and made him an instant fan. Silva/Hendo is really good. I can't really remember most of this show, but I do Silva/Hendo being worth it. PRIDE 13: Stay away from Satake/Yasuda. For the love of god stay away. Historically important in that it has Silva vs. Sakuraba. Vovchanchyn vs. Telligman is a good stand up fight, and you get a bunch of good quick wins. Only one match goes to a decision, and you must STAY AWAY from that match. PRIDE 14: Matsui/Pele is real good, I recall Schembris fight being good and technical, Mezger/Chuck is good with a superb KO, Hendo/Shoji and Takayama/Fujita had their moments. It's been a few years since I've seen this in full, but there's enough here to warrant a buy. Not notable or integral viewing, but you do get to see Chuck fight in PRIDE. PRIDE 15 was the first full PRIDE card that I saw on PPV. It has some near iconic moments and has some historic moments. You see Rampage and Nog debut, and their bouts fail to disappoint. Herring/Kerr is worth watching the boring 99% of the fight to get to that 1% really, really exciting part. Satake/Vovchancyn and Ismail/Oyama were pretty good. Sak vs. Rampage is tremendous. PRIDE 16: I haven't seen this one in-full, but I imagine Goodridge/Yatsu was brutal (since their first fight was), Ninja/Matsui is sick as was Shilt/Shoji, and Nog/Coleman helps build Nogs legacy. PRIDE 17: Nog/Herring is a really active fight, especially for heavyweights, and is one of the better heavyweight fights you'll see. It has some fun quick matches, Hendo/Ninja is always good to watch. This is historically important as they decide their middleweight and heavyweight champions here. PRIDE 19: Steibling/Wallid was good, Newton/Pele was tremendous, Herring/Igor was really good as was Nog/Enson, Silva/Tamura ended very brutally, and lots of people like Frye/Shamrock. PRIDE 20: One of my personal faves, Ninja/Sperry and Hendo/Arona are both top notch fights. You get Cro Cop/Silva which is more of a clash of personalities than a great overall fight, but it does have its moments and is worth watching. Bob Sapp debuts, and Rampage breaks out. PRIDE 21: Frye/Takayama is mainly the reason you get this. It's a hockey fight. The dirtiest of all dirty boxing. Takayamas face transforms. Plus you get Fedors debut, which isn't a great match, but you see Fedor work a very effective strategy against the much taller Schilt... lots of decisions here, though. PRIDE Shockwave - PRIDE vs. K1 PPV. Sapp vs. Noguiera is required viewing. I think you already ordered 23. PRIDE 24: Nog/Hendo is my buddies favourite fight. Better than Nog/Herring. Worth seeing (or get a Nog comp) PRIDE 26: Fedor/Fujita is awesome, I don't care. Fucking exciting. Schembri/Hamanaka is ok, Takase/Silva has an amazing finish, and the rest of the show should be called "liver shot". PRIDE TE 03: Fedor looks great, Chuck/Overeem is short but competitive, Jackson/Busta was good, Nog/Ricco was ok, Cro Cop/Igor.. well.. you've probably seen it several times... Yoshida/Tamura had the crowd heat, and Silva gives a picture perfect finish. PRIDE FC 03: Cro Cop/Nog was my 03 FOTY, another Sapp/Nog, but brutal..er... Jackson/Liddell was actually really good stand up battle, Yoshida/Silva was good and had a very hot crowd, and the finals has 17 knees. Pride Shockwave 03: haven't seen all of this, but I heard Nog/Sak was very good, Yoshida/Royce is historical, Minowa/Jackson was a good return fight for Rampage, and it has some big finishes. PRIDE TE 04: A lot of quick finishes, only one fight goes out of the first round, but some classic finishes. Randleman/Cro Cop, Ninja/Kharitonov, Fedor/Coleman, and Nog/Yokoi is very good. PRIDE CC 04: POWERBOMB!~ TEA BAGGIN~! ANACONDA CHOKE~! FEDOR DIE~? PRIDE FC 04: Nakamura/Busta was enjoyable... for me at least, I <3 The Nak... Nog/Kharitonov was very active, very good, Silva SMASH, Silva STOMP, Cro Cop kills Fedors brother... Fedor must get revenge. Finals are disappointing... PRIDE Shockwave 04: One of the best PRIDEs of all time. Gomi/Pulver, Silva/Hunt, Nog/Fedor are 3 terrific, awesome, stupendular fights. And Chonan/Silva is sweet. BUSHIDO 7: This is when they start to perfect their Bushidos. Hell, I'd say it was worth watching *just* for Charles Bennetts pre fight, fight, and post fight antics. Made me an instant fan. Great knockouts throughout. One has a stunning high kick finish. Lots of people liked Baroni/Minowa. Gomi/Azeredo is really good. PRIDE CC 05: Kharitonov delivers, Rua/Nog is a FOTYC, action packed and goes everywhere, Arona/Sak is kinda disturbing. BUSHIDO 8: Thomson is awesome, Kang/Semenov was good, HANSEN~!!! DEBUTS~!!! Better knee than the one on UNO!~, Kawajiris second fight, starts weak finishes strong, Gomi/Silva is one-sided but fun, Gomi shows how good he is here. PRIDE FC 05: Fedor/Cro Cop. This is something that, like Fedor/Nog, needs to be viewed with historical perspective. I really, really, REALLY enjoyed this show. Mainly cause my favourites won. Shogun rules. BUSHIDO THE TOURNAMENT: I am slowly rewatching this, and I don't care, I am still going to splooge all over this. Best show I've ever, ever, ever, ever seen. A must-have. Everything just works (cept Minowa/Baroni). The production is tremendous, I love the way they do the pre-fight interviews which are full of quotables and personality, Mauro and Bas are GOOD? This show is STACKED.

My Bushido: The tournament, review CONTINUES. I should note that the production on this show is first-rate. The Black and White UFC-style interview is done really well, and the background music gives the words weight. So many good promos - Baronis is great, Pulvers is great, HANSENS is awesome. I remember watching Hendo/Chonan at the time with LOTC and I say "look for the Big Right Hand and Hendo DElivers. GOODnight. **1/2 I watch Baronis promo several times, I don't watch the match. Great promo, not so great match. Busta/Suda was quick, but explosive. Suda lands a spinning back fist/forearm/elbow which knocks Busta down, but he recovers and breaks Sudas arm. Fuck yeah. **3/4 Mishima/Bennett is great. Fucking great. I love this. Bennett cuts the creepiest promo you will ever hear. Awesome stuff. Bennett/Mishima face off with Krazyhorse mugging for the camera, right before they break, Mishima mugs and the crowd laughs. The crowd chants Mishima and Bennett does the typical Gaijin move by cupping his ear and letting them cheer on, and Mishima follows in-kind and panders to the audience. Awesome awesome awesome. Very active fight, Mishima out-grapples Bennett but Bennett fairs well and manages to slam Mishima rampage style. He taps to a heel hook shortly after. Very fun. *** Sakurai/Pulver - Pulver gives a great babyface promo beforehand, which leads into Sakurai destroying him with kicks. Sakurai dominates, but Pulver manages to get in a few good shots which stuns Sakurai. Finish was from a combination leading to some poundage on the ground for a ref stoppage. Fast paced, really freakin good. **** Hansen cuts a promo about his... GLORY... man, I'm loving this. To be continued.

Takada had great stand up... in UWF-i. Vale Tudo in Brazil has been going on for decades, but I haven't seen or heard much on it.

If you're interested in Judo, you should watch Karo Parisyan fight The guy tries to bust out a throw or two in his matches. I am not 100% sure on the details of what differs Japanese Jiu Jitsu from Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, or more accurately Gracie Jiu Jitsu, but I'll speak on it nonetheless . Gracie Jiu Jitsu is founded on the principle of being either smaller or weaker than your opponent, but using your opponents power and leverage against him. Ah fuck it, here's a link... http://bjj.org/rma-faq.html http://bjj.org/ in general is a good site for information, techniques and pictures.

I think Royce proved he could kick the shit out of any everyman, and even high skilled guys in different disciplines. I would also venture to say that Royces stand up is better than most, if not all, of the guys here given the technique in his stand up against Sakuraba. Royce just doesn't have the frame to deliver any meaningful powershots. Let's not start thinking anyone here is of a high level calibre of MMA fighter or even in anyones league. Royce is a BJJ black belt, he'd school everyone here. But me, of course. I'd clinch and destroy him with my knees. He'd try to trip me but my balance is Fedor-like and I'd pivot and get side control, work my elbows as I hold position, and then finish him with Silva style stomps. No. SHOGUN style stomps.

Yes. Royce would fuck us all up. Cept me. I'd fucking crush him. No lie. Tito beat Wanderlei Silva, Yuki Kondo, Evan Tanner, Elvis Sinosic (after tapping out Jeremy Horn) and Vladimir Matyushenko in succession. His performances, especially the dominating ones over Kondo, Tanner, and Sinosic, were strong enough to put him at the top of the heap. 2000 and 2001 were very good years for Ortiz. After the Matyushenko fight, things really started to slow down.

Was that before or after the Dana Carvey sketch?

I was watching up until the musical guest, then I changed the channel and forgot about it (I think Blast from the Past was on TBS~!). "To this day I get old ladies asking me about my schwetty balls, and half the the time they're talking about the skit" *rim shot* I like how they foreshadowed some of the skits in the opening monologue. Baldwin fondling Phoelers boobies in the face transplant skit, making out with another guy in the Brokeback Goldmine. Though that sorta had a Indecent Falconer feel where they were trying to be vulgar, but didn't quite go over board. Has there been a gay-themed sketch in every SNL episode so far in the past, let's say, 15 years?

You have no idea how close TSM was from becoming "The JossMarks". So as not to completely steer this convo away from LOST... Pseudo Sites~! Dharma http://www.dharmaindustries.com http://www.dharmainitiative.com http://www.dharmasecrets.com http://www.marvincandle.com http://www.thedharmainitiative.info http://thedharmainitiative.org Driveshaft http://www.driveshaftband.com Hanso Foundation http://www.thehansofoundation.org http://emri.perception.net/ King Cross State Police http://www.kingcrossstatepolice.com Mega Lotto Jackpot http://megalottojackpot.com Mr. Clucks Chicken Shack http://www.mrclucks.com Oceanic Airlines http://www.oceanic-air.com http://www.oceanicairlines.com http://oceanicworldair.com PB-Sales http://www.pb-sales.com

Any reason why Hanks hasn't come back?

They should bring Chuck Norris back.

So you're not familiar with the horrors/wonders of the Angel/Buffy threads? Well over 200 pages there. So much ~!. *sniff*

When was the last time Tom Hanks hosted the show? Or John Goodman? No Canteen Boy reference in their history piece?

Kimo was the first one to show that Gracie was human. After Gracie won that fight, he couldn't continue in the tournament and had to be helped out of the ring by his family. Shamrock claims victory over Gracie because in Kens world, if you can't beat him, he beat you. Plus he got off a punch or two which busted up Gracies face. I'll take Royce tapping Kenny out at UFC 1 as an indicator of who the better fighter was I am a shameless Royce Gracie fan, btw. Royces first actual loss in MMA was against Kazushi Sakuraba at the Pride openweight GP in 2000. That fight was composed of unlimited 15 minute time limits. It went 6 rounds. Yeah, a 90 minute fight. It was freakin awesome. And fuck anyone who writes off Royce as someone who could only fight worthless hacks, cause Royce looked good in the inital stages of that fight. Royce is still badass. Fuck the haters. He fights just about every year now, during New Years Eve. Last year he beat Akebono, who was well over twice his size (and an awful fighter, but still...) and Royce tapped him with a wristlock/omaplata style submission move. He had two fights against Hidehiko Yoshida, a Judo Gold Medalist. Their first fight ended in controversy as Yoshida had a choke on Gracie, and the position was that you couldn't see Royces face, Yoshida told the ref that Gracie was out-cold and the ref stopped the fight. Royce wasn't out, though. The Gracies fought the decision, since Royce fights under modified rules and one of those rules states that the ref can't stop the fight. Yoshida, however, was the better fighter that night, so it is still hard to argue that fight in Royces favour. Their second fight ended up a draw (as per Gracie rules), but since Royce would have one had it gone to the judges, the Gracies essentially claimed a moral victory even if they didn't get a technical one.

If no one has answered this by tomorrow, I'll look in my RAW X magazine where Vince thanks the production team for making the videos and stuff and names names. But until then, this might help... http://www.apple.com/pro/video/wwe/

Ortiz appeared on the last UFC show. He is going to be a coach on TUF3 along with Ken Shamrock. He has a 3 fight deal, one fight against Forrest Griffin, one fight against Shamrock, and one against whoever is champion (depending on his success in the first two fights). There is a video interview with him on UFC.tv. Before that, he and Dana White were in a bitter rivalry since Tito was asking for more money than the UFC and Zuffa were willing to spend (They notoriously underpay fighters). It got to the point to where, when Tito was affiliated with Ivan Salaverry, White barred Tito from cornering Salaverry and didn't allow Salaverry to be sponsored by Titos clothing company - Punishment Athletics. To get to your first question, UFC's sorta come in different phases. UFC 1-5 was the Royce Gracie era. This era didn't have time limits or many rules and MMA was still very much in its infancy. Style vs. Style, usually 1 sided fights. UFC 2 is worth getting just for the mind-blowing brutality. UFC 1, 3, 4 and 5 have their moments (UFC 1s awful commentary, 3 has Kimo vs. Gracie which doesn't stand up too well but is historic none-the-less considering Kimo *still* makes a living off that performance, UFC 4 has Dan Severns debut which is impressive, and 5 has Gracie/Shamrock which was notable for several reasons, most notable for being horrifically boring). No really "great" fights, just great moments. UFC 6-11/Ultimate Ultimate 96 represents the rise of wrestlers, of more rules, and the beginning of multi-skilled fighters (I won't say cross-trained just yet). Plus you get guys like Tank Abbott, Mark Coleman, Don Frye, Marco Ruas, Gary Goodridge all debuting during this time. These were the last days of the full on tournament. Fights got better, a little more even. Guys were starting to be a lil more developed. UFC 12-Ultimate Brazil era is what I call the Vitor Belfort Era, or the Bronze Age of MMA. This is when MMA, at least in America and the UFC, really started to take form. A BJJ fighter who knocks guys out with quick hands, a Greco Roman wrestler submitting guys, a Kickboxer effectively using the guard - this was the birth of the crosstrained fighter. Guys who were single-disciplined fighters, but began to train specifically for MMA. You have guys like Mark Kerr, Vitor Belfort, Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz, Mo Smith, TK, Frank Shamrock, Kazushi Sakuraba, Pedro Rizzo, Pat Miletich, Carlos Newton, Dan Henderson, Wanderlei Silva fighting on these cards. Unlike the first 12 UFC's, you don't have one specific style dominating, it's wide-open. These events were typically very fun to watch and you can really start to see connections to todays fighting. Lots of changes, weight divisions and titles, time limits and rounds and rules and stuff. UFC 18-28 was pretty much the dark ages. You can find up to 20 on tape, but after that you won't be very successful cept for maybe UFC 22. There weren't a lot of great matches on these shows as the UFCs owners SEG didn't have a lot of money to spend. But by 28, they had Couture returning and winning the heavyweight title, and Ortiz was their middleweight champion. Zuffa soon came and bought the company, changed up the divisions, and started to rebuild the company off the backs of both Couture and Ortiz. Cards got a lot better, but there were ups and downs and they were still trying to find their rhythm. The round system became initiated during this time. Which pretty much leads us to the last 3 years.

http://www.ufc.tv/index.cfm?fa=MultiMedia.Detail&gid=1925 This one? Totally agreed. I think its the best hype video they've done so far.

And he's not very good and works really like, which doesn't complement his style very well. That's a bit of a problem.

**Updated** 12/10/2005 Vera-Eilers Added to UFC 57 By Thomas Gerbasi Heavyweight prospect Brandon ‘The Truth’ Vera will look to keep his unbeaten record intact when he battles former title challenger Justin Eilers on February 4th’s UFC 57 show at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. UFC 57, which is headlined by the light heavyweight title showdown between Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture, will be available on pay-per-view, and tickets are on sale now. San Diego’s Vera made his UFC debut in October, halting Fabiano Scherner with a devastating attack of knees in the second round of their Ultimate Fight Night bout. The 27-year-old Eilers is looking to regain the form he showed in knocking out Mike Kyle at UFC 49 in August of 2004. In his last bout, on June 4th’s UFC 53 show, the Idaho native fell short in his challenge of heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski, getting stopped in the opening round after suffering a knee injury.

The Chuck Liddell finger-under-the-nose wipe.

...and the more you CAN'T.