cabbageboy

No, they'll have some sort of payoff at the Rumble or something, where Edge cashes it in (he'll be the new IC champ and "on a roll"). Then he'll of course job to whoever has the belt (Cena?) due to some goofy Flair run in or something of that nature. Then at WM Edge will be outraged and want another MITB type contract so they'll do a similar match with all the upper card challengers involved.

Well, point differential isn't necessarily a big deal when it comes to stuff like the Pats in 2001 having +99. One bounce of the ball or so could have gotten them above that magic +100 level. But a +41? If they actually got to the Super Bowl they'd be one of the worst teams to ever make it that far. I know what you mean to some extent though, like trying to say for instance the 1991 Redskins were better than the 1985 Bears since they had a +261 to the Bears +258. Or that the 99 Rams were the best team ever since they had a +284 by beating up on a crappy NFC West.

Oh it's inevitable that his movie is going to tank. First, it probably won't be any good anyway. Second, it's obvious his popularity is rapidly fading which won't = $$ at the box office either. Hell, I bet Kane's movie does better. It's not hard to see why fans are turning on him. He's simply had the belt way too long and there's really no justification for it. I mean shit, just job him for the hell of it and have him regain, at least that keeps a guy fresh. This is not 1984-88 anymore...you can't just keep belts on guys forever.

That Mania card might be one of the worst in history. I mean where are they coming up with this shit? Vince and Michaels? Batista vs. Heatless Randy? Hogan vs. The Big Show? Just wondering but what is UT doing on this show? Is there going to be another #1 contender type match similar to the MITB?

You know who the Patriots are eerily similar to this year? The 1996 Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys had won 3 titles in 4 years as well, but in 96 had some problems and finished 10-6. Their point differential was +36, which is almost dead up the same as the Patriots this year. I think they won a wildcard game and then went quietly in the next round against the Carolina Panthers. Sure, the Pats had a much better win differential in the 2nd half against the Jets and Bills of the world. The only playoff team they had was Tampa Bay, which I just showed is the weakest team in the playoffs with a +26 differential. The actual best team they played in the 2nd half was Kansas City, and they got beat pretty soundly.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned....dear god they actually ARE going with a Batista/Mark Henry feud, aren't they? What is it about the Rumble on Smackdown? At that time of year it seems like they always have some god awful push. This is a lot worse than Bob Holly though. Oh, and anything involving Orlando Jordan getting a push or involving himself with people with any sort of talent is a waste of time. Just wondering but what was this alleged "solid" match with Benoit? The one at GAB was a piece of fucking shit. Jordan can't do anything more complex than an armbar...I felt sorry for Benoit having to attempt to carry someone as worthless as him.

Steve Novak went for like 41 in that game tonight, which has to be a career high. Just what the world needs, another heatless Marquette push from hell. Hopefully Taquan Dean goes nuts for 40 against Nova on Thursday now. U of L can pave the way for Pitt to win the Big East!

Slayer, your stats are misleading however...I just wasted half an hour on NFL.com looking this stuff up. The 1987 Redskins only played 15 games due to a strike or something, so with that extra game if they simply won by 1 TD they are above 100. The 1982 Redskins also had a strike year where only 9 games were played. And the 1970 Colts played 14 back then I'm pretty sure. So really in full 16 game seasons it's narrowed down to the 1980 Raiders, 1988 Niners, and 2001 Patriots. I should point out that the Pats in 2001 most certainly would have gotten above +100 had Brady started the whole year, but with Bledsoe they got their asses kicked a couple of times. Didn't they go 11-3 with Brady after that 0-2 Bledsoe start? I have no idea what happened with the 80 Raiders or the 88 Niners. Did Montana get hurt in 88 or something? The best teams to win the Super Bowl based on this stat are the 99 Rams (+284!), 91 Redskins (261), 85 Bears (+258), 84 Niners (+248), and 96 Packers (+246). The worst teams to make it would have to be the 79 Rams (+14!!!) and the 2003 Panthers (only +21 if you can believe it). The 86 Broncos with Elway and not much else were +51. Then there's perennial jobbers like the 85 Pats and 94 Chargers with +72 and +75 a piece.

Why on earth does everyone think that the Patriots are going to do SHIT? Look they are 10-6 this year, there's no way they are going all that far. Even if they get past Jacksonville they would then have to win at either Indy or Denver the next game and then beat the other team in tha AFC title game. There's like a 5% chance of all that happening. Furthermore, the Pats have the 2nd worse point differential of any team in the playoffs, +41 (the worst being Tampa Bay at +26). Christ, they aren't even really one of the top 6 teams IN THE AFC this year, as the Chiefs were also 10-6 and beat them head to head. Picking the Pats to go to the Super Bowl is like saying the Redkins would make the Super Bowl, which is actually way more feasible since they've already beaten both Seattle and Chicago. In case anyone's wondering here's the point differentials for all the teams in the playoffs, as in the total points scored - points allowed. Indianapolis: +192 Seattle: +181 Denver: +137 Carolina: +132 (this seemed a bit high since they crushed a Falcons team that didn't care in the finale) Pittsburgh: +131 NY Giants: +108 Jacksonville: +92 Cincinnati: +71 (surprising really but their defense sucks) Washington: +66 Chicago: +58 (offense sucks) New England: +41 Tampa Bay: +26 Does anyone have the point differential stats for the past few Super Bowl winners? It seems to me though that anyone under +100 need not apply.

Who exactly is there that qualifies? He's already made Orton look like such a jobber that if Orton now beats him it's going to be "eh, whatever." I think we're all sick of that feud anyway. Quite honestly, is there anyone for UT to really put over?

No I think what that meant was that as Polo he had more success managing the Quebecers than he did wrestling. Which is true. I don't think it was comparing that to his Raven stuff. Badly worded nontheless.

I might consider giving him that one last title run at WM this year. Mainly just to keep his streak intact and also to end Batista's year long run with the belt. After that they can have a rematch where Batista wins it back, or maybe insert Orton back into the picture.

Here's what I don't get: At this point, why are the kids and girls still cheering Cena? After seeing him get roundly booed for the past few months on Raw you'd think it'd become almost a spiral of silence situation where they'd give it up. Cena getting booed this badly is a mess for WWE. In terms of Raw they have put all their eggs in the Cena basket in terms of him being the top face....and he's tanked at that job miserably. Raw is a hugely heel dominated roster already though. Can they afford to do a formal Cena heel turn? And further, if they do turn Cena who in the hell are they going to get to be the top face?

Murdoch is too busy doing his reviews of Brokeback Mountain. As far as this Lawler/Helms thing, I think I figured out why. Recall at Taboo Tuesday they had Coach wrestle so we could hear how Lawler/Styles did. Now we'll have Lawler wrestle so we can hear Coach/Styles. It's a bizarre audition to see whether to go with Coach or Lawler on color, under the guise of a heatless Lawler/Helms feud. Here's what I have to wonder: Is it really appropriate to say Cena is bombing as champ? As in is he failing to draw any money? Sell PPVs or merchandise? I do agree that Cena is accidentally getting the most heel heat in the company, but my god is there any actual heel that has any heat? In fact is there hardly anyone on the roster aside from maybe Batista and Rey that get the sort of reactions that are intended? Raw really needs Van Dam to come back right now. They need someone who is well liked by the crowd in a non ironic "Let's chant he sucks but cheer him during the match" kind of way, or gets iffy reactions due to his past screwjobs of others. What's funny is that some months ago I mentioned that I thought in a Cena/RVD match that RVD would get more of the crowd and people in here thought I was insane.

Hakushi wasn't forgettable in the WWF at all. I remember him quite well. His match with Bret on Raw from 95 is one of the best matches I've seen live. OMG had a decent run in WCW circa 1995-96. I have no idea why he got the US title really, maybe just because they needed to get it off Kensuki Sasaki since he had to go back to Japan and OMG was the only guy available? The sad thing is that the whole Sasaki/OMG/Konnan (pre gangsta) US title division was so insanely heatless that they had to put it on Flair to get the belt back to some level of credibility. Kinda like this year with the IC title.

The thing is though, even Vince and Co. realized the Mabel push was a complete disaster and jobbed him to Nash and tried to forget it. It's not referred to as "Mabeling" the KOTR title since they tried to quickly forget that ever happened. As in if Edge brings that up, it only reminds people that yes, Mabel did in fact win KOTR. It's called "Billy Gunning" the KOTR because him winning was originally designed to get him over and maybe launch him as a singles. Thing is, he was essentially heatless and the Rock buried his ass on the mic so bad that they really couldn't push him beyond that. It was hilarious hearing Rock tear into him though.

Much like with Justin Credible in ECW, the Masters main event push is inevitable so you might as well sit back and just let it happen. Then pray it doesn't bankrupt the promotion. The weird thing is, I can kinda see why they aren't jobbing Cena out. He IS actually drawing mega heat. Some from his few remaining supporters, and a lot from people who hate him and want him to lose. The Rock used to draw this sort of heat from the occasional crowd, but this is becoming the standard for Cena.

You know, I seriously hope Jacksonville wins this weekend. It'd be the funniest thing if they did. I recall about 10 years ago they ended the Bills' run, now they can do the same to the Pats. Either way it doesn't matter, I'm thinking Pittsburgh beats Cincy and then gets the Colts the next game. The Pats then go to Denver and I don't really see them winning that one. The other games: I'll take the Giants over the Panthers for no good reason other than I'd like to see the Giants do something and have no interest at all in Carolina going far again. As far as Tampa/Washington, hell I have no idea. That is one of the most heatless playoff games I've ever heard of. That said, when in doubt bet against Chris Simms. I'll take the Skins by 10.

Well, thing is they almost have to job Cena in the EC since if he goes over all 5 guys that leaves him with basically no challengers on the horizon (aside from the dreaded H Man). As far as this Vince/Shawn thing, I'm thinking it all turns out to be a swerve and they are in cahoots. Not even the dumbest mark can buy Shawn feuding with Vince...hell everyone knows Shawn's been his boy for well over a decade. Let's give it up for Kane though...dude has beaten HHH and Shawn in consecutive weeks! He's got his movie coming out...push this man!

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Great American Bash 1996. It was not quite the NWO era, but that show marked the WCW PPV debuts of Hall and Nash, as they attacked Bischoff. The card itself is one of WCW's best ever, but after that Nash powerbomb on Bischoff no one would care about the main event. Thus they had a heatless title match of Giant/Luger, which the entire crowd could have cared less about.

Billy Gunn didn't have any serious heat when he came back in 2000. I remember being flat out sick at my stomach when he beat Eddie for the IC title. Note that they realized what a brainfart that was and had Benoit beat him pronto in a squash. Of all the guys HHH has fucked over, why use Orton as the main example? Look, they gave Orton a major push and while they jobbed him to HHH after 1 month with the belt it was in theory meant to build to a big Orton chase where he would get the title back at WM. It was Orton's own lack of any kind of heat that killed him. Does HHH like Batista a lot more than Orton and was willing to put him over instead? I don't really buy that, it was mostly that they fucked up and turned Orton face and he wasn't worth a damn and tanked. Here are the guys who HHH has truly dicked over: Chris Jericho, Rob Van Dam, Booker T., and to some degree Kane. The Kane stuff was mostly the idiotic Katie Vick angle and losing his mask to HHH without ever getting any real revenge. Jericho was obviously fucked over from the moment he entered the company, from the nonsensical feuds with the dubious likes of X-Pac and Road Dog to jobbing clean to Chyna, to of course the various humiliating jobs to HHH. That's not even going into his flop title run that HHH sabotaged and then treated him like a jobber. How about RVD? In 2001-02 Van Dam was perhaps the freshest, most over guy on the roster. So what does HHH do? Eliminates him from the 2002 Rumble (which drew major boos from the crowd), then has a pseudo feud where Hunter mostly used it to badmouth RVD and say how unfit he was to be in the ring with him....and then have RVD job the IC title and then get the booking changed in the PPV match to where HHH retained. And then saw to it that RVD was buried and used as filler in his neverending Michaels feud, then had him teamed with his partner in burial...Kane. Booker T. While I don't think Booker has ever been massively over in WWE, he did get over enough to have a title program. In this program HHH treated Booker like a joke, made various vaguely racist comments about "his people not being fit to main event," then tossed towels at Booker along with a couple of $$ to humiliate him further...and then have him job at WM 19. So what if HHH puts over Batista or a couple other unready rookies? Take a look at the veteran talent there that he had buried.

With Murdoch, perhaps someone had an attack of sanity and thought "Jesus, we can't have TREVOR FUCKING MURDOCH with our #2 title on the show."

Hey, at least Duke squashed the semi jobber. Having watched UK this year it's easier to appreciate Duke maiming a sorta ok team. Duke would likely beat teams like Iona or Ohio by 30...UK staggers past them by 6-8.

Ok here are the games and predictions for the final week of the reg. season. Saturday: Denver at San Diego. Denver has things wrapped up as much as possible, SD's playing everyone. Thus the Chargers will win by 10 or so. NY Giants at Oakland. Giants have no excuse not to win this against the crappy Raiders, and I don't care if Kerry Collins wants revenge. Giants by 14. Sunday: Arizona at Indianapolis. Colts need to get well here. Play the starters the first half and squash the Cardinals, then put in Sorgi and Co. and relax. Colts by 10. Baltimore at Cleveland. Two jobbers. The Ravens played well this past week, the Browns got waxed 41-0, so of course I'll take the Browns here by about 6. Carolina at Atlanta. Very interesting game. Falcons are eliminated but will they just fold the tent or will they do what the Saints did and eliminate the Panthers? I think they will pull this one off in a thrilling game. Falcons by 3, putting the Panthers out. Cincinnati vs. Kansas City. Chiefs DO still have some life left, so they'll be ready here. Bengals had a hideous loss last week and I think they'll lose here too by about 10, thus knocking them to the 4 seed. Detroit vs. Pittsburgh. The no brainer of the week. The pitiful Lions against the now mighty Men of Steel. Steelers in an absolute assbeating by 20+, they're in the playoffs. Miami vs. New England. One thing I like about Belichick is that he doesn't do this wuss crap of resting the starters. Of course when guys like Tedy Bruschi get hurt maybe he should. Regardless, the Pats should fend off a tough effort from the resurgent Dolphins (by about 7) and finish 11-5. Pats get the #3 seed. New Orleans at Tampa Bay. The 2nd no brainer as the sad sack Saints likely get their asses kicked by the Bucs, who need this to win the division and make the playoffs. Tampa by 14. Seattle vs. Green Bay. Mike Holmgren will just be resting guys here, so the Pack wins by 9 or so. Seattle still has homefield at 13-3. Buffalo vs. NY Jets. Buffalo had a big win last week so how do they finish the year? By losing on the road to the Jets. NY by 4. Houston vs. San Francisco. The so called Reggie Bush Bowl. Niners have won a couple of baffling games, so I'll take them here by 7. Tennessee vs. Jacksonville. I'm not sure if the Jags are resting people, but they might well since they are the #5 seed and can go no higher. If so, Titans by 7. I predicted weeks ago that the Jags would finish about 11-5. Chicago vs. Minnesota. Bears are locked in as the 2 seed, but will they rest guys? It IS a division rival after all. Vikings are done anyway, so this will be the ho hum hangover game of the day. Bears by 6, something like 16-10. Washington vs. Philadelphia. Skins are on a roll, and I don't care if Brunell is out. Like Mike McMahon is THAT much better than Patrick Ramsey? Skins by 7 to make the playoffs. St. Louis vs. Dallas. People seem to think the Cowboys are done, but all they have to do is beat the mediocre Rams and get a Carolina/Washington loss and they are in. Cowboys by 10.

Batista was not a clear cut face at the Rumble however, still technically being in Evolution. Honestly, I don't think there will be an IC title match at WM at all. At this point they like to cram a million guys into matches to get everyone on the show. Which is why I said just do another MITB scenario and cram Edge, RVD, Carlito, Masters, Shelton et al. into the PPV. Shelton had the IC last year going into that match.