cabbageboy

For the time it was made I'd say The Seventh Victim (1943) is pretty disturbing. It's been on my mind lately since I got the Val Lewton box set. The ending always has stayed with me:

Sure, Brady goes for 300 yards often of late since their running game has been nonexistant. What I meant is that in the ideal Belichick situation Brady is a game manager who does lots of nice, safe passes, doesn't turn it over, but doesn't necessarily do anything great. And otherwise puts the game in the hands of the defense. Brady is rarely in that do or die situation where he's down 6 with 2:00 left and HAS to get that TD. Most of Brady's "epic" drives are when the game is tied and there's no real pressure on him (the Rams SB, the Panthers SB, this year vs. the Steelers, etc.). Just once I'd like to see a big game where Brady has to drive the length of the field and score that big TD, not just move it 30 yards and set up a Vinatieri FG. He needs that big time QB moment, know what I mean?

That's what disgusted me worse about this tonight than the Katie Vick angle. Yeah, that was at that point the worst shit I'd ever seen on Raw, but this thing tonight was even worse. The Katie Vick angle was obvious bullshit from the start, it was hardly a real life situation. The Jim Ross surgery is a very real and serious matter. Maybe I am so angry about this because my dad had a similar colon surgery in 1992 (he had pockets of infection on his colon that burst). It's a very serious and life threatening surgery. It is NOT something to be made fun of on TV.

Well, it's easy to say the HHH necrophilia thing was worse but at least it led to SOMETHING. As in a match on a PPV. That Vince thing tonight was a complete waste of time. It doesn't lead to anything really, other than a roundabout way to set up Austin/Coach at this PPV which is a total waste of Austin's time and should just be a 2 min. squash. Also, the whole Katie Vick storyline was at least a fictional angle....this JR thing is actually real life. Think about this. I actually just defended the Katie Vick angle. I never thought that day would come.

It ain't a finisher until he actually does it to people in matches and WINS the match. That said, am I the only one who really hopes they don't job Foley out to Carlito? It seems like such a waste of time. Foley only has so much rub to give before everyone realizes that anytime he comes back he's just jobbing to someone. I say put Foley over Carlito here and keep him somewhat relevant so he can give the rub to someone actually worth a shit. That Vince hospital thing tonight was the worst thing I've ever seen on Raw. I should mention though that my dad had a similar surgery to what JR had though (I forget the exact medical term). It's a very serious surgery and can be life threatening in a worst case scenario. The beginning of the show was decent, the ending was pretty solid, but man everything else on this show ranks among the worst shit I've ever seen on Raw.

Vitamin X, that isn't what I meant. Yes I know defense wins championships. The thing is, it wasn't until the Ravens in 2000 that teams just said "Fuck offense" and just got a grinding D with jack shit in terms of a QB or anything. Sure, teams like the 85 Bears had awesome D but guess what? They could actually SCORE. For all the hype Tom Brady gets I don't think the public at large views this guy as anything great, mainly because he seems like merely a more talented "game manager" QB along the lines of Trent Dilfer or Brad Johnson. Which is more exciting: A ho hum game manager QB who gets his team in position for a 48 yard FG or a riverboat gambler like Manning or Favre who takes full command and either scores that late TD or goes down in a blaze of glory? Hell, even the Colts this year have gotten away from being a remotely watchable team and had these 10-3 shitfests against the Jags or Browns. Kind of like they said "If you can't beat em, join em." I know that was rambling but there was probably a point in there somewhere.

Just wondering but why is Texas considered such hot shit by these computers? Yeah they beat an Ohio St. team that's really not that likely to win the Big 10. And beat an insanely overrated Texas Tech. Add that to the Big 12 being generally crap this year and why would they even make the BCS title game over an undefeated Va Tech? If Va Tech beats down BC, Miami, and then FSU to run the table in the ACC that's quite the resume. Beating WVU in Morgantown is pretty much the same as Texas over Ohio St (#17 vs. 13 in the BCS...and Va Tech's win was far more dominant). The Big 12 is extremely down this year. There are maybe 2 legit top 25 teams in the conf. (no, Colorado isn't worth a shit). The ACC has 4 teams in the top 15. The SEC has 5 top 25 teams, so if someone goes unbeaten out of that conf. they really should get a reward. I think the SEC's main problem is that most of the games are ugly brawls like that Bama/Tenn game the other day. Not very aesthetically pleasing.

I agree that Sabu has looked so much better than he did during his waning days in ECW and especially that awful XPW run. Last night he was hitting all of his stuff and was terrific. I'll give my match ratings, and bear in mind I quite enjoy a bloody hardcore brawl. The 4 way opener: ***1/2. Not a great classic exactly but a real fun opener and one of the better matches of the night. Samoa Joe/Liger: **1/2. Pretty much an extended squash and didn't have anything notable about it. Beating Liger in the US doesn't mean that much anyway, hell I remember him jobbing to Juventud during the Russo era after being hit with a bottle of booze. Diamonds in the Rough vs. Siaki, etc: **. I always mark for Shark Boy biting someone's ass, but otherwise I don't see the purpose of even having this match on the show. Monty Brown/Hoyt: *1/2. Mostly a squash. I've never gotten into Brown or seen anything in him to be honest. And I already mentioned Hoyt's gay tat. Team Canada/3 Live Kru: *. Mainly an angle advancement match. The Canadians all suck ass and have zero personality by the way...and their manager D'Amore? That guy is awful. Ultimate X: **1/2. Misfire here. At least the right guy went over, in that Petey is the only one of the Canadians who stands out and has a sweet finish (that we didn't even see). Can't rate it highly for the obvious screwups though, and Bentley drags anything down that he's involved with. AMW/Naturals: **3/4. Fun little tag match and nice to see AMW working in a heel style. I might have been more outraged at the finish if I knew who the Naturals were but I haven't watched TNA much since they've been on the show. Monster's Ball: ****1/4. Loved this. Jeff brought his game and busted out some crazy shit. Sabu was on his game and hit his spots. I only deduct here due to the non use of the tacks and the finish was a bit bizarre and didn't seem like a 3 count. Iron Man: ***3/4. Slight misfire. I run hot and cold on Iron Man matches and would have like to have seen a balls to the walls 30 mins. rather than a slow first half. Finish was excellent however. Gauntlet: **. Just a vehicle for determining the challenger. Rhino/Jarrett: *. Not much of an actual match, but it was surprising. I dunno, maybe I overrated the Monster's Ball but I'm into senseless violence.

Why did anyone think Monster's Ball would suck? Hell that was the match I was most looking forward to. It was the only surefire, can't miss match on the show. Iron Man matches tend to be hit or miss, so I thought that might be up in the air (it turned out to be pretty decent but hardly a MOTY). I thought the Ultimate X might not be too great since I've never liked the gimmick in the past. But Monster's Ball? Hell yeah. Put 3 vicious psychos and 1 insane Hardy in a violent hardcore brawl...how could it miss? And Curry I am glad you mentioned Hoyt's lower back tat. I saw that and was like "What the fuck? I've only seen girls with a tattoo on the lower back." Seeing that in fact actually distracted from the match, haha.

I really didn't see that much from Samoa Joe last night. I knew he would beat Liger going in but the match was only mediocre and a bit short. After hearing so much about Joe I expected....more? I said it in previous threads but what they need is to focus on guys that are new to the first time viewer. Most people don't know Monty Brown, use that to your advantage. He's big, he's black, he destroys people. If he'd drop the idiotic Serengeti stuff he'd be quite marketable. Few people know Abyss outside of TNA circles....use that advantage. These guys don't have any baggage (unlike Jarrett and Rhino, who are retreads that right or wrong carry a stigma of sorts). It's easier to convince people that a guy is great when they've never even seen him before than it is to take career midcarders and try to put world titles on them.

It's what I call the Ravenization of the NFL. Believe me, the Ravens winning the Super Bowl with their particular style of ugly play hurt the league immensely. Now everyone just loads up on defense and nobody can score, nobody can do shit. And the result are such anti classics as that Cowboys/Seahawks game today, or the Ravens/Bears. That said, the NY/Denver game today was chillling. At least the finish was. It was the sort of finish that goes a long way in defining Eli's career. Watching it I had no doubt he was going to lead them to that comeback win. At least I got to see the finish...till then they were showing that god awful Bears/Ravens game that was 10-6.

My issue with Rhino winning isn't that he's not credible. I mean I can totally believe he could kick Jeff Jarrett's ass, but the problem I had with it is that he's not remotely the guy for that sort of plucky underdog role. The guy during his career has been a vicious heel bastard 90% of the time and on this show alone was shown tormenting Raven (who had already gained sympathy as a guy being screwed over by the system and denied title shots). Someone else made the comment that I agree with about the crowd. I think they are almost too smarkish for their own good. Christ, I don't even recall in ECW the crowd doing dueling chants during almost EVERY match. Can't they come to a consensus on who to cheer and who to boo? It doesn't help that most of the roster doesn't especially play either a heel or face during a match. There are far too many guys who are just faceless white boy cruiserweights; bland, no persona, no mic work. I enjoy stuff like that opening 4 way but none of the guys in it work a heel or face style so it's really just an exercise in seeing who can do cool stuff. No real vested interest in who actually wins or loses. It's funny that this promotion is hell bent on moving away from the old style Memphis/Jerry Jarrett booking, yet what they actually need is a bit more of it. AMW tonight impressed me even though it wasn't one of their better matches. They at least showed an aptitude for cheating like mofos, and at least worked a discernable heel style that differed from their previous face work. Even ECW fans at a core level knew there were certain guys you were supposed to cheer, and certain guys you were supposed to hate. The NWA TNA wrestlers ALL seem to want to be accepted and cheered.

Rhino winning tonight seemed just so....arbitrary to me. Going in to the Monster's Ball he was the guy I paid ZERO attention to. I gave him no shot at actually winning for whatever reason. I figured Abyss would win that since he's the lone actual TNA type star in it. Or I thought they might have Sabu win it since he'd be the most experienced in such violent mayhem. Or I thought they'd be retards and have Jeff win it due to his "star power." But Rhino? The dude has never done shit for me. And yes, the way this was done was beautiful....if it was someone other than Rhino. Someone the fans actually like in that gutsy underdog who overcomes the odds role. Rhino is a vicious bastard heel, he's hardly someone who can gain sympathy on a whim. Let's say they did that same exact booking with Jeff tonight. I know some would be sickened that they'd put the title on Jeff Hardy but he at least can engender sympathy in a way Rhino cannot. Or hell, have Sabu win it. Of the guys in that battle royal at the end he's the guy who best walks the line of "Vicious badass who can gain sympathy." I'm not sure what I thought of this show. I'd say the Monster's Ball was really the only thing that lived up to the hype, it was an enjoyable ECW style brawl. Iron Man was a bit slow going for an X division match, which is an inherent problem with the X division. People expect insane, nonstop spotfests so when two guys take to the mat it causes a "WTF?" reaction. And I'm sorry but that Ultimate X match is just fucking retarded. I didn't like it the first time I saw it when they had all sorts of technical screwups, and it doesn't seem like they have fixed it all that well. Was Petey Williams even supposed to win that? In the end though this PPV will be judged on "Will I buy another TNA PPV?" Not really. It wasn't so good that I'd justify spending an extra 30.00 a month.

Hell, E-Town is only being received with lukewarm reviews from people in Louisville and the E-Town area. Sure, people like me who went to U of L will mark out when seeing the big "UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE" on the silos near campus (this is when Bloom arrives here in the film) but if you're not from the area the film will be a bit ponderous.

Does anyone on here actually use the V Chip? Personally I think it's been a major waste of time. Maybe it's changed but I remember in a Children and TV class in college hearing something like the majority of newer TVs have a V Chip but no one bothers to use it.

I think I'd put UCLA a bit higher on the list since they are undefeated thus far. With Stanford, Zona, and ASU up they very well could be 10-0 going into the USC game. Incidentally what's up with Stanford? Ever since that UC Davis debacle they've been playing quite well in the Pac 10. Speaks volumes about the Pac 10 really.

Not sure I've seen a TNA gauntlet match. I'm guessing if this is a 10 man affair it would involve putting Jarrett over the entire roster, correct?

If anyone knew the answer to the million dollar question "Why does Vince listen to Shawn?" it would explain pretty damn near every decision they made from 1994 to today.

It's called a bitchslap. You may have heard of it. Iggy, cheering for U of L is worse than cheering for Washington St. Let's face it, the Cougars are supposed to be jobbers in the Pac 10. Whenever they actually do something like during the Ryan Leaf Era, it's gravy. But U of L? Picked by 24/25 writers to waltz through the Big East undefeated. And today I picked up the sports page to see the Cards behind fucking Rutgers and Pitt in the standings, two teams deep down I know we can beat by about 40 pts. I mean honestly, U of L has one of the better young QBs in college football (Brohm), an awesome running game with Michael Bush, and maybe the best defensive lineman (Dumervil) in college football. It takes real talent to find ways to lose games when you have vastly superior talent.

Is anyone else remembering Nash's chest pains/heart attack/whatever right before Starrcade 97? He was supposed to job to the Giant on that show and got out of that. And bear in mind that was WCW's biggest PPV ever.

KNK, U of L also sucks at sucking. Now that we lost to WVU and the season is for all intents and purposes over watch U of L squash everyone else on the schedule. Just wondering but who starts the conference schedule with 3 straight road games? It's just so infuriating to look at the standings and see total jobbers like Rutgers ahead of U of L. We get them in a couple of weeks here and I can assure everyone it'll be a flat out 55-14 type assrape. Before that however there's a squash of Pitt, or at least I'd hope so. With Dama being more rational about OU I think I'm now the most bitter, grumpy bastard on this forum.

I dunno, this show tonight had this odd Russo vibe to it. Everyone sure he's no longer booking this show? I mean we had a tainted title win via a bottle of booze, ten run ins on every match but the Joe squash, a Team Canada heel faction all over the show, Jeff Jarrett with the title. Might as well be 2000 WCW. I'm probably going to the get the PPV tomorrow though. Lineup sounds good, though I have a feeling all the wrong guys will go over. I bet anyone that Jeff Hardy goes over in the Monster's Ball (even though Abyss should be the obvious winner, since he's the one actual TNA guy in a match with two ECW guys and a WWF guy). I also bet that Michael Shane/Matt Bentley or whoever he is now wins the Ultimate X, mainly because they have this baffling hardon for the guy. The guy's entire employment and push is seemingly due to "Hey I'm Shawn Michaels' cousin! I have to be good, right?" Has anyone ever understood the push for Bentley? It's like he's getting a nepotism push when his famous relative isn't even IN the promotion.

It was never promoted as a one time event. In fact I recall Vince saying he on Raw he hoped the show was successful and that it would be the first of several ECW themed PPVs. I think for people to care as much this time there needs to be an actual main event with an issue in addition to the ECW reunion stuff. I've got a fun storyline idea that could be used if anyone is interested.

Vyce, I remember a match on Raw during the draft...I think right after Cena joined Raw. It was Cena/Jericho vs. Tomko/Christian (maybe where Jericho did the heel turn?). I swear Tomko missed damn near every spot in the match, even simple stuff like Jericho throwing him to the ropes. It wasn't quite Gayda level bad but for a male (allegedly) trained wrestler it was pretty sad. Besides, the guy does the fucking BOOT as his finish. One more definition of a jobber: "He who is so incompetent he does the boot as a finish without the legdrop. See also Martin, Andrew."

That was a man's game. To be honest I think Texas would fare quite a bit better than OU did vs. USC last year. Christ, could they possibly fare much worse than 55-19? Besides, I don't think USC is quite as strong as they were last year, at least on D they aren't. After that Tenn/Bama game just now I have a sick desire to see USC go against Bama. Has USC really had to play anyone with suffocating defense of late?