cabbageboy

St. Joes actually had a very high RPI in the top 5 though and had beaten teams like Gonzaga. GW right now has a fairly crappy RPI considering their record, something like 33 I think. When in doubt I'd average out the AP ranking and the RPI to find their seed, which would be something like a 4 or 5 seed. About Northern Iowa, they are better than an 11 seed. RPI of 23, national rankings around 24 or 25. They would be more likely to be the 6 seed on the end of that 6/11 upset. WKU might well end up as an 11, but I wonder...if they are upset in the Sun Belt tourney could they still get an at large bid?

I wish HHH luck in making Cena look like an uber over face. Hell, just last night when confronted with this scenario the fans shit on Cena. Actually, keeping it on Cena at WM would be funny. It also fits fine with my RVD/MITB scenario, as well as the idea that RVD and Cena should form an alliance. RVD could tell him "Look Johnny Boy, I don't wanna be like that fool Edge. If I'm going to challenge you, I'll come right out and do it." Then of course you book it for ONS, RVD wins the title, the ECW crowd REALLY shits on Cena, etc. Then of course you have RVD end up transitioning to HHH at SS. You have thus protected Cena to the nth degree, RVD gets a moment in the sun and a title run, and HHH gets the belt.

Hyper, I think you're being a bit melodramatic here. I know some seem to think Carlito is going to win that MITB but he really makes no sense at the moment. I checked the post WM house shows and it's all just him tagging with Chris Masters against Michaels/Flair or in tag title matches with Kane/Show. Conversely, I took a look at what RVD was doing and it was facing Shelton some and then right before Backlash it was RVD/Edge, leading me to believe that match will happen at Backlash and obviously would be Edge wanting the MITB from RVD. RVD in my view HAS to win the MITB. There's literally no other option that makes one iota of sense. And if he does that, they have to pay it off with some kind of title run, even if it's just a brief one from ONS till SS. Hell, I've been proposing that particular booking idea for a couple of months. I guess my point is this regarding the MITB: Who else besides RVD can win it and believably win the title? I'm sorry but Carlito is not remotely a threat at this point (I think he's more of the Jericho role, the guy who suggests the match but comes up short). In a lot of ways I think Carlito and Masters took the spots of Jericho and Christian. But sorry, Carlito has jobbed too many times to Cena to be believable right now, and there's zero money in HHH/Carlito.

Yeah but for numerous reasons RVD pretty damn near has to win that MITB. I'm assuming that the MITB roster will be thus: RVD, Carlito, Shelton, Masters, and maybe Kane and Show. Of those guys RVD is the only logical winner. No one would buy Carlito winning it since he'd just job out when he used the title shot. I might be one of the few who doesn't think RVD was particularly buried last night. He was massively over with the crowd, he had Big Show beat, and only lost in a screwy manner. Coming back and winning the MITB, then feuding with Edge for a while over it would keep him right on track. As far as RVD in ECW, I don't recall him ever burying his opponents. If anything I thought he made even jobbers like Vito look like a threat to the TV title.

Iggy, that storyline could also happen provided RVD wins the MITB and Cena has the title come ONS. Ha, imagine the way Johnny Boy would get trashed if he showed up at that ECW PPV. It'd be almost worth Cena holding the belt another 4 months to see.

You know, tonight further illustrated an idea I had about Cena and perhaps RVD. Why not have them form some sort of alliance? Let's face it, Van Dam was about 5x more over than Cena tonight. Having an RVD/Cena alliance would be good for both men on a few levels: --RVD is highly popular with older male fans (20 somethings, maybe 30s), the ECW types, etc. He could give Cena a bit of that rub and maybe get those fans to accept him more. --Cena could get the little kids and teenage girls to like RVD a bit more. Van Dam is already over pretty decent with that crowd, but not as over as Cena, know what I mean? It wouldn't really be that hard or out of the way either. They were already semi pals on SD, and the few times they've interacted they've had good segments. As far as that MITB, they have to let RVD win that. If nothing else as a consolation for this bullshit tonight. Jobbing him out is a terrible idea since Raw has a dearth of guys that the fans actually like. Besides, it's pretty obvious HHH is going to win at WM, so after he gets finished with the Cena feud they're going to need a strong RVD.

I can't believe they would job RVD there, when the entire point of having the Big Show in the match tonight was so he could job. At least you would THINK that is the whole point of the Show being in it. 2Gold, I do agree that RVD is going to be in the MITB but he absolutely 100% HAS to win it. This is not an issue. Carlito is more in the Jericho role of the guy who suggests the match but ultimately doesn't win it (who would buy Carlito as a serious title threat right now?). RVD doesn't need the IC title at all, so him vs. Shelton is kinda pointless though it might produce some fun matches. I'll lay out the MITB and beyond booking: RVD wins the MITB. He and Shelton can have some IC matches that end in DQs or whatever since Edge will run in and attack RVD. This can tie into his post WM desire to get the title back, feeling the MITB is his best chance if he can steal it away from RVD. Edge of course ends up jobbing in this feud and after that I'd send him over to SD. At ONS, RVD cashes in the MITB and wins. I can stand HHH getting his tainted win tonight if it would involve returning that favor at ONS, even if he ultimately got the title right back at say SummerSlam.

This show sounds like a case of one totally rotten and offensive angle spoiling what sounds like a solid PPV. I might have to check this show out now if it's on 24/7, since they've had recent PPVs on there of late. I can't really see Benoit and UT for the US title though, seems a bit odd. How about UT vs. JBL since I don't recall a recent UT win over him? Thing is, after the Boogeyman squashed JBL no one would believe he had a shot. Why does everyone seem to think Orton is obviously getting the title at WM? Is he over? No. After tonight they really need to have Rey win that match if it's a 3 way, if nothing else to rebuild his credibility. If there's one good thing about this though, there's no way anyone can ever put that Rumble shot on the line again. Now that someone has actually lost their title shot there's no way someone else would be dumb enough to put it up for grabs.

Dear God, are you telling me CAL might actually win the Pac 10 now? Or that utterly putrid Stanford team that lost to UC Davis? Surely UCLA will somehow end up winning it. Or maybe Washington can sneak in the back door. That said, UCLA has to go high on my list of teams to be upset early in the tourney. Somehow they just have it written all over them.

You know though, if they actually do a 4 way then in my view UT has to win it. I'd rather him not lose his WM streak in some weak ass 4 way encounter, and especially not to Orton. And not after jobbing clean at a lame duck No Way Out show.

I wonder, do you think UT busted his ass hard tonight in an attempt to wow Vince into putting him in the WM main event? And if so, how the hell do you book that? If it is indeed a 4 way would UT's streak be on the line if he himself didn't figure in the decision? Or is it elimination style? Mind you, I'm just going by what has been said here....I haven't seen this PPV. After the past month on SD with this Eddie crap there's no way I'd order this show. In fact I just watched a DVD I got for Christmas of Against All Odds 2005, with Jarrett/Nash and Styles/Daniels.

Count me as someone who wondered why the hell you'd waste UT's title match on a filler lame duck PPV like No Way Out. Let's face it, now Angle has beaten UT CLEAN. Does anyone seriously buy Orton as a realistic threat to Angle after that, and considering his own inept failures against the Taker? Do they not even think of any of this shit? The good thing is that there was no lame Mark Henry run in. I was worried they might do that, but perhaps sanity has at least prevailed in that respect. I'm calling this though: No way in hell does Angle/Orton end up as a 1 on 1 WM main event. That match has literally no marketability, heat, nothing. It'd be like if they let that HHH/Big Show match stand after No Way Out in 2000. Actually it'd be worse, since HHH and Show have had some respectable (albeit not WM main event) outings. I'm also glad others have noticed how flat out shitty Orton has gotten. Not so much before the injury, but since he got back over the summer the guy has simply been the drizzling shits. His matches exist for him to do headlocks for 10 minutes and then if he wins he hits an RKO. At this point he can't even be CARRIED. Watch those 30m long snoozers against Benoit over the past few months....literally 90% of the actual work is being done by Benoit. Orton brings nothing besides his boring restholds to the table. Contrast it to the Benoit/Booker matches where at least Booker is bringing something competent to the table in terms of actual offense and a modicum of excitement. People a month or two ago were saying that Cena is starting to get X-Pac heat. So wrong. Cena at least gets a passionate reaction, be it from those who love him or hate him. Orton is truly the guy getting the X-Pac heat. As in no reactions, nobody gives a shit, just wish he'd get released and/or run over by a truck. That my friends is X-Pac heat.

The MVC wasn't hurt THAT much. UNI got past Bucknell, which was the big one there for the day. I have to admit the SIU loss to La Tech was really bizarre though. Let's be honest though...the MVC is a JTTS type league.

I think what that meant is that Andre had the title of "The Man" or whatever that means. In reality though Hogan had been the WWF champ since Jan. 1984 and was most certainly already the man. Speaking of that angle there was some great stuff on a 1986 Prime Time episode on 24/7. It was a show where Jack Tunney revealed that Andre had been reinstated and then Monsoon grilled Heenan about whether he had gotten Andre reinstated. This would of course lead to Heenan revealing he HAD in fact gotten Andre reinstated and that Andre was now in his stable, thus Andre's heel turn.

Yeah, Austin didn't even actually win the 97 Rumble since he was tossed and came back in illegally. And Vince in 1999...well it was obvious he couldn't main event WM (not to mention he didn't even participate in the Rumble, but mostly did commentary outside the ring). But Rey? There's no reason for him not to main event. In fact I am the only person who is going out on a limb here and predicting Rey to somehow retain his shot at WM, or be in the match in some way.

I think honestly enough there's only one thing that could seriously hype this PPV, and that would be Rob Van Dam going after the WWE title in front of "his" fans. They did the authority figure and various jobbers invading storyline, so this is the angle that could really sell this show. The PPV worked last year as a nostalgia trip, so the match situations didn't need to be heated. Most of them don't HAVE to be this year either, but there does need to be a main event hook that last year's show didn't have.

What is this shit with fucking Marquette? Of the CUSA teams coming to the Big East, they were one I thought would end up as utter shit. They lost Diener (finally) and I figured at long last they would go something like 4-12 in conf. Now here they are at 8-5 after beating G'Town and Pitt this week. And no, I wouldn't call either of those upsets since both were at Quette. Perhaps I'm just venting since I am so frustrated with U of L's season. Another loss tonight, this one to Cuse. It seems like we can't win on the road, and the games at home are all against Nova, Pitt, UConn....doesn't leave many winnable games.

The 92 Rumble did have a decent New Foundation/Orients match and I also think Piper's IC title win was a blast. So there were some other things on that PPV.

Just because Candice is on a couple of Super Bowl commercials doesn't mean she's KNOWN or anything. To most people she's just the random skank in those Go Daddy ads, if anyone even IDs her for that. At least Stacy has some actual notoriety.

The entire purpose of that 3 way next week is to put HHH over while keeping RVD strong. I was hoping they wouldn't just bury RVD again vs. HHH, which is probably what would have happened in a 1 on 1 match. Now HHH can beat the Big Show next week, Van Dam likely won't figure in the decision. Ok, I don't get this....how precisely did Foley cost Edge the title tonight? If anything Foley being bumped hurt Cena's pin attempt. Otherwise I didn't see how Foley screwed Edge.

Chaosrage, I have NEVER ever seen that RVD/Sabu time limit draw from Hardcore TV in 1999. During that time period my local station was having some problems with Heyman or something and thus they showed repeats a lot, so I missed that episode. I also remember this Hardcore TV episode from Aug. 98 where RVD faced Lynn (maybe the first match?) and survived somehow, even with a piece of broken table damn near costing him an eye. Then Van Dam had to come back and face the Dudleys in the main event of the show in essentially a handicapped match (Sabu was hurt but showed up for the last 2 mins)....and won that match too! The reason I say that the RVD/Lynn match from Sept. 99 TNN should be more known is that it's a much more razor sharp match than stuff like the Hardcore Heaven 99 match. Lynn's broken ribs lend a purpose to a lot of RVD's moves that target the rib area to begin with. Besides, the heat for that one was insane. The only regret there is that I think Lynn should have won the TV title there, then they could have moved RVD to the world title instead of doing the whole Mike Awesome debacle.

Haws, it's funny you mention the "knowledgable staff" of Suncoast and Sam Goody. I'm not so sure about Sam Goody since I never went in there much, but Suncoast? Biggest retards I've ever dealt with. Here are the 3 crowning moments of idiocy from my trips to Suncoast: --I called asking about the old horror movie Murders in the Zoo (which had just come out on video that week). They had no clue, never heard of it. So I go to the store anyway and sure enough it's right there in the NEW RELEASE section! If I hadn't gone down there, I'd have gone somewhere else for it and they would have lost a sale. --At another Suncoast I remembered seeing a highly rare VHS tape of Gold Diggers of 1933. Long out of print. So I called them and asked, they had no clue about it, hadn't heard of it. So I went to THAT store and of course went to the exact place I remember and sure enough there it was. --The crowning moment: Once I was looking at DVDs at Suncoast and asked about a particular movie, I forget what. Maybe just Last Boy Scout or something. The guy said "We don't get so much of the older titles, such as the original Scarface with AL PACINO." I mean what the fuck?

Is this really all that surprising? Let's face it, Suncoast has been a joke for the past few years now. I used to go there all the time in order to pick up old movies or other less notable flicks that regular mainstream stores didn't carry. For some idiotic reason Suncoast decided not to carry as much older or obscure stuff, thus 90% of what they sold was just new DVDs at much higher prices than you can get at Wal Mart, Target, Best Buy, etc. In short, they managed to kill whatever interest I had in them by selling essentially the same stuff that can be found anywhere else, and selling it for more $$$.

I actually quite liked that RVD/Regal opener, but maybe that was because I'd spent the previous 4 months seeing those truly hideous Regal/Edge fiascos and was glad to see RVD overcome the Power of the Punch and win the IC title. WM 18 isn't as good as 17, but I sure like it a lot more than I do WM 19. WM 19 is a show that for some reason to me just has zero pizzazz going for it. To me that show is all about Brock fucking up the shooting star, HHH burying Booker T., Michaels burying Jericho, and Hogan and Vince jerking each other off.

This purely comes down to "What match meant more to me as a fan?" And to me it's of course the SS 92 match. It's my favorite match. This is not to say I don't also like the IYH match, but I think it was a violent match for the sake of pleasing the ECW goofs that were in the PA crowd. I suppose that there were some highly innovative spots in the IYH match, but at the end of the day I can't help but go with the epic pageantry of Wembley stadium and 80,000 people.