cabbageboy

Samuel just so blatantly cashes the paycheck I actually kind of admire it. I mean watch something like Twisted sometime, he's barely in it at all (it's an Ashley Judd vehicle mainly) but he occasionally shows up to do something cool and remind you that "Yes, I am here and I am getting paid."

Double post for some reason.

Bret and Shawn most definitely feuded in 1992. Hell, it was all over the house show circuit back then, post WM and lasted pretty much until Summerslam. It was mentioned on TV a lot too, it was the main IC title program going, with guys like Martel getting the odd shot. I bet if you looked at the career record Bret is something like 150-2 vs. Shawn lifetime. The Survivor Series 92 match was actually a PPV payoff to the already existing Bret/Shawn feud that had gone on most of the year, but hadn't until that point had a TV payoff.

Bobby Lashley has been getting over gangbusters on OVW during his angle where he's gradually turning on Bolin Services, especially Ken Doane. See, he isn't wrestling all that much on OVW but is obviously perceived as this huge dude that's a mega threat, thus the fans all want to see him finally turn on Doane and beat the holy hell out of him. Eddie was awesome tonight. The whole goofy angle played out way better than I thought it would. And I have to admit: I marked for fruitbooty. How sad is it I now want them to bring back Stevie Ray and actually think of some decent stuff he could do? Given Sharmell's pushing of her husband we might as well start calling her Lady McBook.

That isn't the point. My point is that next year they might not have to worry about Smackdown period. As in it'll get cancelled and won't exist unless they can find a new network. I know it'll of course be awful to lose the money the show brings. I still say Cena/Hogan has no real ring to it, although I can't hate on it too much since I did say in another thread this idea makes more sense than Hogan/Austin. At least the idea here is to put Cena over (at least I would HOPE so), whereas Hogan/Austin would be two old guys jerking each other off.

Hey, around here I'll likely get to see Florida assrape UK....by half I'll be begging for Washington/ND.

The reason I put the Orioles below the White Sox is that I don't think much of anyone figured the Orioles to finish higher than 3rd anyway. The White Sox might have played over their heads but there were some people thinking they could win the division...I mean hell, it's the AL Central, which has been one of the worst divisions in baseball the past few years (though now with the White Sox, Indians, and Twins all over .500 it's solid).

Well, put Masters and Carlito in a tag team and let them win the tag belts...we'd never hear from them again. I actually wonder....does Vince or anyone else even WATCH OVW? Do they not see who is actually over down here, or who can wrestle, etc.?

Do you seriously think HHH is going to drop down to the IC division? Remember the hell that caused in 2002 when they DARED to suggest to HHH that he hold the IC on Raw as the main title? I don't think you guys have to worry about the split for too much longer. It was never going to work permanently and the death knell in my view was how badly Smackdown came out in the draft last year. They are just playing out the string on UPN and then next year the show is going to be history unless a new network is found. The biggest problem with Smackdown of late is that there is simply no credible heel on the roster: --JBL. It's over for him, and it looks like he's being put in a midcard comedy role now. --Orton. Zero heat whatsoever, and feuding with UT won't help him any. --Eddie. Jobbed the entire year to Rey and now soon to be jobbing to Batista. --Orlando Jordan. Nuff said. --Christian. Been jobbed out so much and buried that he seeminly isn't allowed to get over. Basically the only heel I think is showing signs of life on Smackdown is Ken Kennedy. He's the only heel on the roster who hasn't been jobbed out and embarrassed.

Well, as far as collapses go that were mentioned I'd go: 1. Palmeiro. The guy swore to Congress he never took steroids, then tests positive...then tries to implicate his (so far) innocent teammate. 2. White Sox. I put this #2 because they haven't yet totally fucked up. If they hang on, this is no biggie. Even then they can still get the wild card so not as big of a deal. 3. Orioles. This is mostly due to the obvious Palmeiro distraction. I don't think anyone seriously thought they'd hang on to the division lead anyway. 4. Red Sox. It's no big shock that the Yankees made a run on them. I don't think this is really much of a collapse as much as inevitability. 5. Nationals. This can't be considered a collapse since they are actually a lot better than anyone expected. Besides, did anyone think they could hold on and fend off the Braves (or anyone else)?

I believe it is Terry Crews playing his dad on the show, right? He's great in the stuff I've seen him in...hell, I thought he was easily the bright spot in White Chicks and his cheeseburger schtick got some laughs in Longest Yard.

Yeah there was no real storyline here, just a last minute panic decision due to Lawler's rape allegation (which happened right here in Louisville actually, I believe after a USWA show at the Gardens). Shawn was coming back, he was the only logical opponent since he'd wrestled Bret before. It's really weird going back and hearing the phrase "Shawn Michaels and his knights" however.

Would it really matter if the White Sox made the playoffs if they somehow choke and don't win the division? Do you honestly think they'll be remotely ready to play after something like that? They're a 3-0 sweep waiting to happen.

I'm not sure I understand the marketing strategy of pushing a guy with a title that has no exact meaning (the X title) over whoever is the world champion. Having watched quite a bit of NWA: TNA I never 100% grasped what the X division even is. I assumed it was cruiserweight spotfests, but there are a few heavyweight guys involved. I liked the matches and certainly think AJ Styles is a quality performer, but I just don't know what the exact value of the X title is. Like it or not, the world champion should be the focal point of a show. I don't agree with putting it on Jarrett, but he does have it.

JBL never really "turned it around" or anything. The guy was just flat out given the mega push out of the clear blue. He did nothing to deserve it, and there really aren't many decent matches (not to mention money drawn) that justify his agonizing push. Yes, JBL has had a couple of good bloodbath brawls (The I Quit match, maybe the bloody brawl with Eddie) but I can't think of a decent Bradshaw match that was a standard match.

I'm not sure what the Braves are doing but they act like they have already clinched when in fact it's very much still a race in the NL East. What are they, up 4 with 9 to play? It'd take a major choke but they should at least try to win a few.

Nah, Nick Nemeth isn't remotely big enough to squash much of anyone. He looks bigger than he is in that pic, if that makes sense.

My friend Ian rented Dracula 3000 recently and he had the same thoughts on it. As in, it sucks BAD.

The biggest problem Masters has is that they have done such a job getting the Master Lock over as a finisher that it's going to seriously backfire. Let's face it, hardly anyone in the upper card is going to sell a friggin full nelson. I can just see Michaels being approached about jobbing to the Master Lock: "You want me to go down to a full nelson? Are you out of your fucking minds?" The simple fact is that after a certain level no one is going to job to the move. Sure it's fine when challenging people and having them sit down to apply the move, but I have yet to see Masters effectively do the move against very many guys in the context of a match. Know why? Cause it's a fucking FULL NELSON and no one is going to sell it or job to it.

The White Sox extra innings win last night may have saved them for the time being, but man the Indians are just crushing people right now. The White Sox can at least feel somewhat safe knowing that they won't have to face these guys in the 1st round.

I have not seen House of the Dead, mainly because I did rent Alone in the Dark. Good God that movie was just BAD, and most of the time not even so bad it was funny. Incoherent, inept, terrible. Ed Wood's actual ideas weren't really that bad...he just didn't have any $$ to work with and thus rushed through everything just to get things done. I mean let's face it, a mad scientist living in the Louisiana swamps and keeping a pet octopus, while striving to create atomic supermen is a pretty cool plot.

I can't really say the same. I had no internet back in 1995 and no insider knowledge, but even I knew something was truly screwy behind the scenes. I think the main reason is stuff like Diesel getting the title pretty much out of nowhere, despite not remotely being popular enough for it. And of course Michaels being pushed down everyone's throats. Hell, my dad and I used to joke back then about Shawn maybe being Vince's gay lover in order to get pushed. Combine this with WCW pushing old WWF retreads constantly rather than the guys I associated as being WCW guys during the 1992-93 time period and it wasn't a real great time to be a fan. There was no ECW in my area until 1996, SMW wasn't shown either, but there was always USWA to keep me amused.

That's all well and good about Austin but the thing is....no one had the torch. I mean he didn't really have to take it from anyone, there was no one in the WWF then who HAD it. I'd seen Kennedy (or Anderson rather) on OVW a few times, mostly introducing Puder and running his mouth. I found the schtick amusing but it wasn't till seeing him on Smackdown that I realized how effective this is in a real arena and not the closed in Davis Arena of OVW. I think he'll be US Champ by year's end.

In regards to the Jindrak, Jordan, and Miles call ups....I'm fairly sure they called Miles up mostly due to Tough Enough and wanting to keep her sorta around on TV to justify the contract. With Jindrak, they may have figured since he'd been on TV with WCW (and frankly wasn't that bad there) that he might be more ready than advertised. Jordan however....I have no idea. I guess it was a favor to the Rock's dad? Perhaps they use reverse psychology? As in they think Cornette intentionally downplays some guys to keep them down in OVW on his shows.

I don't have a problem with most of those ratings really. He might overrate Matt/Edge a slight bit, it's more like ****.