cabbageboy

Yeah this was a good SD from what I saw, since it was delayed here due to UK's loss to VMI (ha!). Jeff vs. UT was a really fun main event and it will be interesting to see if Hardy gets into the title scene again, and if he does if they actually pull the trigger and give him the title.

I recall thinking that during that late 1997 era the WWF seemed like they were just reeling, while WCW was clicking as much as they could have been. The WWF had someone die during this period (Pillman) and then had their world champion leave and get "screwed" out of the title (Bret). Not to mention Austin being hurt and largely unable to wrestle. Meanwhile WCW was building to their biggest PPV ever with Sting/Hogan and had signed away Bret Hart. They had a chance to put the WWF away, but Starrcade 97 sucked and the WWF rebounded with Austin in 1998.

Really exciting game tonight and thankfully the Jets managed to win it. Shouldn't have ever been in OT to begin with, but of course coaches and teams insist on doing a friggin prevent defense. Teams need to be more like the Giants in that Steelers game, where they were up 7 late and just kept sending the house to crush Roethlisberger.

Honky's IC title run was something that can't be duplicated now since there's no way fans would stand for a man constantly getting himself DQed or counted out on every show. What drew money back then would be almost business killing now. While I'll admit that this angle worked and drew money back then, that doesn't mean I have to enjoy it. This sort of angle is better used with a nothing belt, something like the WCW TV title when Regal had it and did nothing but time limit draws. It served a purpose, but allowed more relevant titles to stay feasible. As far as Savage goes, Honky was wrong to not want to job to him but the end result was better. Savage was well past being IC champ by 1988 and was ready for the world title.

I have to admit...I like the Main Event Mafia better than anything going in WWE right now. Who knows how long this will stay interesting since the MEM are vastly more interesting than the jobberific TNA Originals, and in theory those guys need to get some heat back. The Christian segment was effective but also quite odd. If he is in fact leaving I wonder why they would write him out in this fashion, when it seems like he would want revenge on all of those guys. If he's staying, then this segment makes sense and will lead to future matches. If he really is going, then I don't get it. Why not just have him challenge Booker one last time and say "If I win, I stay here in TNA as my own man...if I lose, I'm gone for good."

Eddie/Ohtani was pretty good stuff, I'll have to check it out again. Something about that Starrcade 95 always rubbed me the wrong way though...maybe it was that all the big name WCW guys got the wins (Sting, Savage, etc.) while the younger guys all jobbed to the Japanese (Eddie, Benoit, etc.). No shock to see Flair/Dusty on there. Probably the best match I've seen from them, though the goofy Dusty Finish hurts it. In fact there are several matches on these shows with crappy finishes. Haven't seen the Sting/Dusty vs. LOD match. Sting/Vader is the best of the matches on this set though. That one is a tremendous match that holds up fine today. In fact Starrcade 92 has had a couple of knockout matches on here, with the Steamboat/Douglas vs. Pillman/Windham match on as well.

If Detroit gets a win it would likely be against Minnesota the 2nd time around. The problem with picking upset against New Orleans, Indy, whoever is that those teams actually have QBs that can put up yards and points. Minnesota is a team that can struggle to score at times and thus is a bit more vulnerable to lose 14-10. I'm torn on whether to consider Carolina a bit of a fraud or not. They do have some solid wins on the season but those have all been at home (Chicago by 3, Arizona by 4, roughed up Atlanta the first time). Not sure if beating San Diego is a great win, but it's decent. Looking at the schedule I think they can win out at home against Detroit, get a payback win over Tampa, and also beat Denver. However, the road games are pretty tough the rest of the way: Atlanta, Green Bay, NYG, and New Orleans. At the end Carolina seems like an 11-5 type team, about what they were in 2003 and 05. The sort of team that might get the #2 seed and a bye, but then get waxed in the NFC title game.

I bought that Supertape with Tues. in Texas on it years and years ago from a rental store. Know what's sad? The tape was ruined in a flood in 1997 and since it's a rare tape now I've never been able to replace it. Tuesday in Texas isn't a bad PPV though. Bret/Skinner is pretty good, and Bulldog/Warlord was certainly better than the WM match.

It didn't help that seemingly every match on Nitro in the last half of the show had a run in or DQ finish. DDP/Hogan was actually pretty good too, which was a nice surprise. But then DDP and Hogan had another fun match in 1999, where they destroyed the Nitro set to make way for the new logo. It's hard to care about some of the stuff on these recent Raw shows, stuff like The Nation vs. Harts. Since we know what happens to Bret in a few weeks we know there isn't any sort of blowoff to this Nation angle, so it's tough to care. Taker isn't on TV during this period, selling the Kane angle while Mankind takes the beatdown. In fact aside from Montreal the whole last 2 months of 1997 were basically a wash for the WWF. Once January 1998 hit though they started building to the Rumble and then to WM and that produced some timeless wrestling TV.

Kenny definitely was enjoyable in OVW. I quite enjoyed his feud with Brent Albright over the TV title as well as the slow burn with Lashley getting fed up with Bolin Services and challenging Doane. That said, how many people were exposed to that stuff, and how many people view him as a jobber from the Spirit Squad? Some guys can survive a cheesy gimmick, but an all time bad gimmick that was used as main event fodder? That's tough to overcome.

Wow, I bet I haven't seen this show in 15 years or so. I would have preferred 1988 or 89, but I'll take this one too. I remember the opener being a fun match with a strange ending and of course UT vs. Hogan was a shocking match at the time. Otherwise I don't recall much about the show.

There are a couple of major reasons why the BCS sucks 1. Quite literally every bowl aside from the BCS title game is an irrelevant exhibition. There are quite a few great games during bowl season, but do they truly matter in the long run? Not really. At least under the screwed up old bowl system you could follow Florida/FSU in the Sugar Bowl and then also check the Rose Bowl with Arizona State/OSU and this all matters when it comes to the national title. 2. This is the big one: Teams can go undefeated and not even get a chance to play for the title. What kind of unethical, immoral sport doesn't even pretend to allow an equal playing field? This year there may well be 3 teams that go undefeated and have no real shot to even play for the title (Utah, Boise St., Ball St.). I mean hell, I recall in women's basketball some small conf. team like Liberty went unbeaten and at least earned the right to be a #16 seed and get squashed by Tennessee. They at least got a chance. How can a team like Florida be an undisputed national champion in 2006 when Boise State was the only undefeated team in the nation and won a major bowl? Or USC in 2004? How were they truly legit champs when Auburn and Utah were both undefeated after the bowls?

Just wondering but what is supposed to be Booker's "country" anyway? Is he supposed to be Jamaican now? An African of some sort? That must be it: Booker is now from the great country of Africa. It all ties in to the possible Palin appearance. It wouldn't shock me if she showed up to this PPV, as long as she happened to be anywhere in that area of the country at the time. If they wanted to 100% make sure I didn't want to see the next PPV, having a Sarah Palin appearance is the way to go about it.

One of the biggest WWF shows ever was an outdoor event: SummerSlam 1992. Not to mention that Big Event show from 1986 with Hogan/Orndorff. Outdoor shows are a great idea if the weather permits, so maybe the best idea is to do these at retractable roof stadiums. How about a WM at the new stadium in Indianapolis? Indy hasn't had a WM since WM XIII and I would certainly try and go.

Yeah after hearing those announced matches for the next PPV they don't have to worry about me checking it out. Add in a possible Sarah Palin appearance and that is practically must miss TV.

I've never entirely understood why Goldberg felt he was misused in WWE. He signed for 1 year and that was it, so he couldn't get some lengthy run with a world title. I didn't care for the slight change in his music but I think that was a rights issue. The Goldust wig skit was forgettable and hardly did any lasting damage to him. Aside from that? They put him over The Rock out of the gate, put him over Jericho after that, and while he may have lost the EC match he did beat HHH numerous times after that match. And they also thought a little better of him than they did Lesnar at WM 20, so he got a win on the way out.

WWE likely has realized that Kozlov just isn't over enough to get a 1 on 1 title shot. Since HHH isn't jobbing and Jeff has jobbed too much to both guys of late, gotta think it will be Kozlov that will take the fall in this one. But would they really put the title on Hardy? And if so, would he keep it any length of time?

Iggy, here's something I find truly baffling as to why it hasn't been more widely reported. Right now USC wouldn't even make the Rose Bowl, let alone play for the national title. Is everyone simply assuming Oregon St. will lose and that USC will easily win out? OR St. does have a fairly tough road to go (Cal, Arizona, Oregon) but if they can win those then the Beavers would in fact win the Pac 10.

A must win game is one where if a team wants to have ANY sort of chance to make the playoffs or go anywhere, they better win that game. Aren't the Packers facing a must win against the Bears this weekend? If Chicago wins then they are up 2 games in that division on Green Bay, with the Packers yet to visit Soldier Field. Ditto Dallas/Washington...if the Cowboys can't win that they fall to 5-5 and likely last place. They would be screwed.

Predictions~! Thursday night game no one can watch NY Jets at New England: This is insanely tough to call. For whatever reason though I can't see the Jets getting swept by the Patriots this year. NYJ by 4. Early Denver at Atlanta: Denver looks like bullshit quite honestly, leading the AFC West with a -27 differential. Matt Ryan will have a field day on that D. Falcons by 14. Houston at Indianapolis: Colts are still in must win mode and I expect them to beat the Texans a bit easier this time. Colts by 8. Tennessee at Jacksonville: Who knows with Jacksonville. They have the ability to hand the Titans their first loss, but until the Titans show otherwise I'll pick them. Titans by 7. Oakland at Miami: Miami staggered to a win over Seattle last week and I think the Raiders will keep it semi close. Dolphins by 6. Baltimore at NY Giants: Ravens are playing great right now but so are the Giants and since it's at NYG I'll take the G-Men by 10. Detroit at Carolina: Oakland? Detroit? Carolina is getting a beneficial schedule here. Delhomme will play better this week though. Carolina by 17. Philadelphia at Cincinnati: The Eagles are a puzzling team but surely they can stomp the Bengals even in Cincy. Philly by 13. Chicago at Green Bay: Not sure if Orton or Grossman will be starting but either way the Packers simply can't afford to lose this one at home. Green Bay by 3. New Orleans at Kansas City: The Chiefs are getting closer and closer to winning and I think this is the week they finally get it done against a struggling Saints team. KC by 2. Minnesota at Tampa Bay: For whatever reason I am just not buying the Vikings. Tampa will limit Peterson a bit and Frerotte will panic and start throwing INTs. Tampa by 8. Late St. Louis at San Francisco: Niners got insanely close to winning at Arizona and this is a good time to get Singletary that first win. SF by 10. Arizona at Seattle: The Cardinals flat out need to win this game given the hard ones they have left. Warner will go for another 300 yards and 3 TDs. Arizona by 12. San Diego at Pittsburgh: This one looked better on paper at the beginning of the season. Chargers don't seem to fare all that well on the road this year, so I'll take the Steelers to figure out a way to win here by 7. SNF Dallas at Washington: Toughest game of the week to call, since who knows what Romo will be like coming back from injury. Dallas is in flat out must win territory and to be honest the Redskins just seem vaguely fradulent to me. Cowboys by 3. Football on Monday night Cleveland at Buffalo: Okay, the Bills have tanked badly once division play started but since this game isn't in the division they'll probably win. Buffalo by 5.

Burke's problem in the ring besides being sloppy at times is that WWE gave his matches too much time and he wasn't over enough or compelling enough as a worker to fill it. I recall a PPV match he had with CM Punk that got seemingly 15-20 minutes, which was too long for what it was. Some of his TV matches were fun because they kept him under 10 minutes and he had enough spots to fill that amount of time.

Here's what I don't get. What did Christian expect in TNA? They put the world title on him a couple of times, gave him the biggest push of his career, had him go undefeated for nearly 2 years, etc. What more did he want? If anything based on the talent they had in TNA and his previous spot in WWE one could make the case that TNA overpushed him.

I'm torn on what this game means tonight. On one hand I'm tempted to say the Cardinals proved they could win a game while not playing anywhere near their best. Yet on the other hand they struggled like hell to beat the crappy Niners. As far as the best teams go, obviously right now the Titans are easily the best in the AFC. That said, they aren't really a dominant team most of the time. I could see the Patriots beating them in the playoffs, Ravens obviously could in a rematch (they led most of that game), I might even take the Colts over the Titans if they could get in the playoffs. As solid as Kerry Collins has been this year I can't help but think he's going to have some sort of meltdown in a critical playoff game. In the NFC the Giants are clearly the best. Carolina might be 7-2, but they just seem....eh. One week they look dominant and crush someone, the next week Delhomme throws 4 INTs and they scrape by against Oakland. Redskins reek of being a fraud, Dallas is banged up with injuries, Tampa can't play worth a crap on the road, and Arizona is also puzzling. Eagles will always manage to blow it in a tough game. Right now I'd almost say the Falcons are the 2nd best team in the NFC, as wild as that sounds.

Thing is why would the Mafia kick Sting out if he still has the belt? He would almost have to lose it to a younger guy and then they get pissed at him, then he gets heaved. Christian has accomplished about all he's going to in TNA, so I hope he goes back to WWE. I doubt he'll get the TNA title again so why not see what WWE will do with him the 2nd time around.

I still wonder if they will simply put the IC back on Santino once they get back to the US. Though I must say if Curt Hennig was still alive he would probably take offense at being lumped in with the Honky Tonk Man and The Mountie among IC champions. Jericho/Michaels was fun stuff for free TV and at least they finally blew off the Kane/Rey feud. So the show had that much going for it. The Orton/Cody/Manu stuff though....I don't get it. I don't see why these guys are interacting. Sure, it will end with Orton leading these guys as a faction, but the way it is right now I don't see why they just don't leave Orton alone and vice versa.