RavishingRickRudo

"Why are they rolling around the ground?" "Man, why isn't he punching him?" "Fuck his legs, kick his head!" "What the hell was that? Why'd he quit?" "Bruce Lee would fuck these guys up at the time." These are the kinds of things the majority of the population still asks during MMA matches, and that's not including those who refuse to give it a chance in the first place. And even given answers, many will still not find it their cup of tea. I just don't think MMA is at a level in the US that the hip-hop world would bother to pay much attention to it. That's what EVERY new comer to MMA says. The job of the hip hop guys isn't to educate the public, it's to get their attention and interest. There isn't a promotional scheme in existance that can satisfactorily explain the nuances of MMA. The UFC is trying to move away from that anyways and favour guys who can throw rather than guys who can roll. Chuck Liddell is their biggest star not because he's a great talker. In the end it is always "two guys fighting" and the crowd will always go wild for a knockout and a slugfest, and I think the mentality of hip hop guys - the notion of being the best, of being the toughest, the baddest, the sense of danger they try to create - can be translated to a fight club.

I don't follow boxing all that much, but it isn't as "team" oriented as MMA is. If hip hop was all about individualism, that would be applicable, but right now it's all about having your own group, which is much better financially as the popularity is spread. Would The Game be as popular if he wasn't associated with 50cent? Would 50cent be as popular if he wasn't associated with Eminem? Would Eminem be as popular if he wasn't associated with Dr Dre? MMA is similar. When you see a Chute Boxe fighter, even if you don't know who the fuck he is, you pay a lot more attention than you would a fighter under a no-name team. The concepts cross-over a lot easier with MMA. MMA can be as over-the-top as wrestling and as "simple" as boxing. "What is the UFC" "It's two guys fighting" How do you get any simpler?

You are not getting it. Does the UFC pay Team Punishment a ton of money? Do they pay MFS a ton of money? Do they pay Team QUEST a ton of money? Does PRIDE pay Chute Boxe or BTT or Red Devil a ton of money? Unless I'm missing something or if there's a contractual agreement, the fight teams get paid dick-all by the fight promotions and get a cut of the fighters paycheck for management and training fees. This would be the case. To continue with the example, the G-Unit Fight Team would be independent of the UFC, and the UFC would pay their fighters to appear on their show. Let's say, Yves Edwards, Pete Spratt, Bobby Southworth, and Quinton Jackson were all signed to fight under the G-Unit team. The fighters, in turn, give G-Unit management a cut of their pay. Why would the UFC want a G-Unit fighter? Because 50cent is the hottest act going on the music chart and his name attached to fighters fighting in the UFC could attract more people to watch it. If other hip hop groups like Bad Boy, BWS, Murder Inc., Def Jam, Shady and D12, got involved, then the rap wars wouldn't just be on the pages of Source and on BET, but in the ring as well. Why would G-Unit want to get into MMA? Because hip hop today is all about expansion into new territories, be it clothing, cars, drinks, etc. Because fighting and hiphop has already been explored to some success (Def Jam Vendeta). Because it enhances their "street cred" because hip hop is all about being a tough motherfucker. Why would the fighters want to fight under G-Unit? They get branded in things other than fighting. Why would fans want it? Because the sport gets recognized on a mainstream level and it doesn't mess with the in-ring aspects of the sport.

I can't believe I missed that. ECW was drawing their biggest houses in 2000; I was at (from what I hear) their biggest. ECW was very popular in 2000, that their ratings on TNN friday nights and their PPV's in a time when there was a PPV almost every single week were low isn't of much relevance, considering they were drawing sold out shows for those tapings and ppvs in areas that went from 2000-5000 fans. They went belly-up despite a large fanbase. ...the right wing is the minority?

Completely different environment than the No Limit Soldiers and WCW.

Random Thought: I think that the Hip Hop World needs to get invovled in MMA. Like, have the G-Unit fight team. Have a bunch of fighters, have 50cent endorse and sponsor them, and get a cut of their earnings. Have some G-Unit guys rap them down to ringside, get em featured in videos, etc. Then have the Hip Hop gang wars explode in the cage.

I think Christian could get over on stooging-alone, like a Ric Flair, rather than offensive moves. Just have him get beat up alot, then go in close on his face everytime he gets hit to see his overblown reactions, and then have him win by luck. He'd be the Harrison Ford of the WWE.

But... ...Christian is taller.

The majority of Masato Tanaka matches were better than the stuff WWF was putting out at the time; his stuff against Ballz Mahoney in 2000 was great, as was his stuff against Awesome. A lot of people will throw "overrated" at these matches, but I think it's getting to the point to where they're being underrated now. I'd put that stuff above 99% of ECW's past matches, and the majority of WWF/WCW stuff at the time. The RVD/Lynn/Tajiri/Psicosis stuff, while overdone, when it was done right it was awesome (more so Tajiri than RVD). The Tajiri/Psi match was way too smooth and well-timed not to be considered a top match at the time. Nothing in NA was coming close to what they were doing. Credible/Corino/Lynn had fantastic chemistry. Though Credible/Corino were "solid" workers at best and were pushed without really earning it, they did have charisma and IMO their matches together exceeded their individual ability. One match in particular, 9/9/00, between the 3 was one of the best 3 way dances I have ever seen. Corino/Lynn tends to get labelled just for the "DIE" spot but the match itself had tons of neat stuff in it (Corino working the crowd, in particular), which surprised me when I saw it. I think Corinos work in this period is largely overlooked, because he worked the crowd almost better than anyone else _in the ring_ at this time. In terms of the tag division, as you mentioned before, the Tajiri/Mikey team did some great stuff, and I think Doring/Roadkill were good enough to have some high-end matches, and did so on one or two occasions. Their match against the FBI on 9/9/00 was very well worked and thought-out. Which I think is a big strength to the later ECW matches; they were more structured and better executed than the earlier stuff. The earlier stuff may have been more inspired, but they didn't have the ability at the time to pull it off. The FBI, along with Simon and Swinger, Nova/Chetti, were "solid" teams, and looking back -and this may not be a huge compliment- were doing better than the tag division is today. Unfortunately, the WWF tag division was raising the bar with the TLC's and whatnot, and ECW didn't really have enough to compete. Too many thrown together teams, and no cohesive storyline to join them together... hmm, sounds familiar... I enjoyed Rhino in small doses, much like Taz, and the longer the match went the more apparent his flaws were. I wouldn't call him awful, though, especially in comparison to the slugs pushed in the earlier days of ECW. But then again, I like the garbled, fuck-laced, promos and crazy antics with table breaking. Which explains why I liked Mike Awesome so much during that time. In the end, I'd watch ECW in 2000 over both the WWF in 2000, and ECW in the mid-90's. Maybe that is just personal preference, but I think history hasn't been too kind to that period of time for the WWF and I find the majority of mid-90's ECW stuff to be hackish. Though they didn't have the names they once had, or the buzz that they once had, I thought ECW in 2000 was a lot more polished than it used to be and tends to get disregarded because he didn't have the buzz or the names.

I think DEAN just left because there wasn't a lot of respondage to his posts.

Santanas WWF career was unremarkable and that stretch of time of releative relevancy was about 1 year. Greg Valentines WWF career actually managed to be even more uneventful. The only thing they had going for them was being in a Wrestlemania and holding a WWF title.

I wish DEAN still posted here and shared his talents. I look more forward to Smackdown in comic form than I do the actual show. I kid, I kid. I don't look forward to Smackdown at all.

ECW in late 1999 / 2000 is largely underrated. Though it didn't have the "revolutionary angles" that the earlier, more well-known, ECW had, and they had less "names", the in-ring stuff was much more polished and certainly on-par with what WWF was doing at the time. I was disappointed by mid-90's ECW ring work; it was largely very sloppy, it lacked format and pacing, and you'd be lucky to find 1 good match on a card, let alone a great match. I'll put Hardcore Heaven 2000 and AR 99 against anything ECW did in its "prime" and it wouldn't be a contest. People just don't jerk off to it like the mid-90's stuff because ECW lost its "buzz". And yes, Psi/Tajiri REALLY was that good. In terms of flow, form, and execution of moves, it was high-end stuff.

Anyone? Cpl. Kirshner? Buddy Rose? George Wells? -=Mike SD Jones? Doink? Christy Hemme? Doink was actually an insanely cool gimmick as a heel. -=Mike ...The Sultan? How 'bout David Sammartino? So it's just a coincidence that all the HOF'ers this year were in WM I? And that Greg Valentine and Tito Santana got in by holding secondary titles?

Tell me how that's relevant in a post-SS97 WWE. Okay?

Anyone who wrestled in a Wrestlemania is qualified to be in the WWE HOF. Owen wrestled in 4 or 5 of em. Bret Hart being offered something by the WWE isn't big news - the guy is instant money and the only sure thing left in the business. When he accepts the offer, then its news.

Sayid: I say we take the airplane, and crash it into the hatch. Locke: That's a good idea, Sayid. Jack: I think it might work. Kate: Anything is worth a try. Sawyer: OH COME ON!

Willow, at no point during the shows run, was ever hotter than Illyria.

Sayid did it for the woman he loved, he told his buddy to leave, and then stayed after to bury him. HE WAS A GOOD GUY.

I prefer "Paula Grabtool".

I love this show, but fuck them for doing this off-on bullshit. They deserve the backlash for those moves alone. This episode was never meant to be a blow-away episode, positioning-wise. Right now they are building towards the blow-away season finale, so why would you risk upstaging it? It was a transition episode meant to further some things along, and to wrap some things up; the mistake was they had it after a month-long wait and after a kick ass episode w. lots of shit happening. Looking back, they should have had this episode a month ago and leave the cliff-hanger as Sayid asking Locke to take him to the hatch.

Yeah, the preview was more eventful than this weeks episode I hated that they tried to make Sayid into a "good guy workin for the CIA against the terrorists", just like they made Jin "a good guy reluctantly working for Suns pop". I mean FUCK, have some balls and make someone genuinely bad in their previous life. They don't all have to be understandable. Jin and Michael fucking rule as a team. I can't believe they made those 2 a good team. I don't like how Sun is becoming all Kate-like, trying to put her nose in things.

Fuck yer. That was fucking amazing.

Wow, talk about a transition episode. I don't really have anything to say, kinda uneventful.

I just finished watching Superbrawl III, WOW! (Jan 97) Pat Miletich vs. Jason Nicholsen - This was a good fight, though Miletich dominated throughout. Lots of chain wrestling and changing positions. Pat kept going for the rear naked choke and Nicholsen had some really good defense on the ground which made it pretty active, but also pretty repetitive. Ray Cooper vs. Taro Obata - Cooper was a monster in this, pounding the shit out of Obata. Good for what it was. Doug Murphy vs. Duke Pa'aaina - This was awesome! Duke is a fisherman and is toooootally the greatest fighter to have ever fought once. Just balls-out all the way through, neither guy holding back or displaying a ton of technique. Short but sweet. Pete Williams vs. John Renfroe - I think a big distinction at this point in time in MMA between the skilled and the unskilled is shown here with Petey. The skilled will not only get the position, but hold it and make good use of it, whereas the unskilled will get it almost by luck and quickly lose it. Granted, the latter makes for funner fights, but the former makes for better fighters. Gotta take yer time in there. Today, the great fighters are able to get and hold the position, but be quicker in the execution of their technique. Not all that exciting of a fight, but Petey showed good technique. He goes on to win the heavyweight tournament since Murphy was injured and couldn't compete. Ray Cooper vs. Jason Nicholsen - Pat was injured and Nicholsen took his place. Cooper ran right through him and the towel was thrown in. Danny Bennett vs. Jay R. Palmer - YES YES YES!!!! OH. MY. GOD! One of the greatest knockouts EVAR~! JR Palmer was hyped as an undefeated fighter who got his wins like Wanderlei Silva, through stomping the shit out of his opponents. Danny Boy wasn't given much of a chance. There were some slow spots, and there were some really, really fun spots. And then there was the knockout. They were standing, JR was tired and hunched over and had his hands down. Danny Boy calmly walks up to him and KABLOOOOOOOOOOEY~! a right highkick to the chops and JR DOWN~! and OUT! Overall, a tremendous fight. John Lober vs. Frank Shamrock - Like the last fight, this one had some slow spots, but overall it was a really good fight. Shamrock showed some amazing technique on the ground but little standing as he got caught about 3 times by Lober and went down. Lober started off slow and boring, just trying to neutralize Shamrock and weather the storm. Shamrock kept going for a heel hook/leg bar/anklelock, but couldn't get it (he went for it like 6 or 7 times) and Lober did some damage in the meantime. Lots of stuff going on, and the crowd actually turns on Shamrock with a "Shamrock Sucks" chant.