cabbageboy

I'd say RVD was as good or better during his early (2001-02) WWE run as he was in ECW. What's funny is that he's been dicking around in pointless tag teams the past 2 years, with Kane, Booker, and Rey Rey. The irony is that the only one of those teams that had any chemistry was the one with Rey because Rey took on the role of Sabu in several spots. So even his best tag stint in WWE was a watered down form of his ECW work. The irony is now the Raw tag scene is so shitty that they really have to push RVD as a singles again. Raw's face side is the drizzling shits....it's just Cena and the old dudes. And let's just say a recently semi heel Shawn and Flair (where most people subconsciously await the heel turn) isn't a real long term solution on the face side.

Oh God, going back to that Pitt point...these guys CANNOT under any circumstances be in contention for a BCS bid again. No. Under no circumstances. It was a complete joke they got in the BCS last year, but this year?? After losing to OHIO?

Did Spike ever take such an interest in WWE programs? Or did they just bend over for Vince and let him do whatever he wanted? I dunno. I mean I don't mind a network holding a promotion accountable for whatever crap they might put on TV, but they shouldn't interfere with actual booking in terms of who gets what title. USA getting pissed over the Austin/Pillman angle? Fine. USA getting pissed over Sid beating Michaels (same time period)...not so good. Here's the problem with Jarrett and has been for 10 years: He's a shitty heel. Always has been. He simply isn't a threat physically and is too much of a slack jawed yokel to come across as a brilliant mastermind. I'm telling you guys, Jarrett's best career work was done in Memphis for daddy when he was a soft spoken good old boy babyface. I'm not sure if this act would have made it in the WWF but had he gone to WCW instead Jarrett would have been a very popular face. I wasn't pissed in 2002 or 2003 when Jarrett would get the title. His dad ran the promotion, and it's not like the NWA was a REAL promotion or anything (just a hick league out of Nashville...the USWA with a PPV deal). Thing is, apparently Jarrett can't grasp that for TNA to ever go national the promotion can't be a vehicle used to get himself over. NWA: TNA shouldn't rely on ANY of these retread bums in my view. Seeing Jarrett, the Road Dogg, Billy Gunn, Hardy, whoever on a 2nd rate promotion only shows that these guys have hit hard times. They desperately need to push their own stars until they get over.

Tough to argue about 2004 having the 2 best too though considering that it was the 2nd place Red Sox vs. the Cardinals. See, the WC I thought originally was for the rare team like the Giants in 1993 who had the 2nd best record in all of baseball (I think? Or at least the NL) and yet lost out on the playoffs by 1 game to the Braves. The Wild Card is not to let in some slightly above average team like the Marlins in 2003 or the Angels in 2002 only to see them win the World Series. Did the Mets REALLY deserve to be in the World Series in 2000? They mostly got lucky the Cardinals upset the Braves 1st round. I guess I just look at it differently than the NBA, where teams seeded #2 or 3 often get to the Finals. Maybe because even the NBA realizes its regular season is tedious and the players themselves dog it from time to time until the playoffs start?

I'll let the Hakushi comment go because I at least saw him vs. Bret in person and that match rocked. For the most part though he didn't do a whole lot, so it's tough to say he's better than Shawn. And The Rock circa 1997? Dear God. Green as grass. Cena's wigger rap gimmick makes for a better heel persona than face, it's that simple. I commented on it earlier, Cena has lost most of what made him interesting to begin with. Take a look at him 2 years ago with the old throwback jerseys, the scathing pre match raps...he seemed dangerous, mean spirited, and you wanted to beat the shit out of him (while deep down felt entertained by his schtick). As a face though? He still does the same gay comments about his opponents, and hell even rips off RICK STEINER of all people with the "You want some, come get some" phrase. It also doesn't help when they show a cheesy video of him chilling at a picnic and at home in the oh so street cred filled area of West Newbury, MA. Compare this to say Ron Killings, who has been screwed over in his career, and is much more believable doing the rap gimmick. It's all a matter of real recognizing real.

Taz was more dominant as TV champ I think. And frankly, as world champ he didn't do much that he hadn't already done (beat up Douglas and Sabu) and after that was just messing around with the Dudleys, Steve Corino, Tajiri, etc. (guys no one thought had a shot). Besides, when Taz was world champ RVD was also the TV champ and RVD was clearly the bigger draw.

Orton didn't really get over as a face going against HHH. In fact aside from the past couple of WMs who has really gotten over as a face going against HHH? I'd say Batista got over pretty well, but Benoit really had no overall career advancement from feuding with HHH. That's the problem with all these HHH feuds: There's never any doubt about whether he'll get the title back. Even when he jobs, people just count down the days till he gets it back, so it makes basically everyone a lame duck transition guy unless they get the hell off Raw (like Batista).

I agree on Punk not really being a notable wrestler. I have not seen his ROH work, but the times I saw him on TNA he did little to impress along side guys like AJ Styles, Lo Ki, Jerry Lynn, etc. To get over in WWE it takes either a really different style that makes people stand up and take notice (RVD) or a fun schtick on the mic that establishes a guy's character (Ken Kennedy currently on Smackdown).

What, no Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal? Sure that was cheesy but the angle with Sting on WCW was really good leading up to that. This DVD looks pretty crappy.

Oh for the love of God. When I read this I felt a really sick, sinking feeling in my stomach. Debuting with fucking Jeff Jarrett as your world champion is so totally the wrong move to make. He tested well with the audience because most fans at least know who he is, that's pretty much the only reason. NWA: TNA cannot exist on pushing retreads like Jarrett and whoever else. I could see Raven because I don't think many people really remember his WWE stint, but moreso his ECW or WCW runs. Jarrett is someone who I actually used to really LIKE back in the day on the USWA, but that's the point. The USWA was a redneck Tennessee league, so stuff like Jerry Jarrett pushing his son and Lawler pushing his son wasn't really a big deal (it was a mom and pop promotion). But if TNA is serious about going national they can't have Jarrett on top. They'd do better having an unknown as champ, because that guy wouldn't carry this kind of baggage: --Jarrett for longtime fans is a guy who mostly got pushed in the USWA due to daddy. This is the BEST aspect of his career, bear in mind. --To WWF fans Jarrett is a career midcarder who never got past the IC level and was a bland, Honky Tonk Man wannabe heel....or maybe a guy who went around beating up old women. --To WCW fans Jarrett is the guy who was on top in the last year when they were going under. Just wondering but what kind of political power does Jarrett have now? I thought his dad was basically forced out?

The whole Wild Card thing has added a bit of excitement but I think it's been a largely negative thing when it comes to the actual playoffs. Baseball is 162 games long, having a team that finishes 2nd in their division win the World Series is a sick joke. Then again, I think they ought to just take the two best teams from the AL and NL and do the World Series. Yeah it wouldn't give a lot of incentive for several teams that aren't going to catch the Cardinals in the NL. And frankly, after a 162 game season I mostly just want it over with...having to follow 3 rounds of playoffs is just a bit much in my view.

The weird thing is that I saw Punk vs. Val Venis on Heat a while back and thought that match was pretty good for a typical Heat match. I'm thinking Punk might be one of those guys who has to get into a groove out there, go 30m or so. I saw him on a few TNA show a couple years ago and thought nothing of him really. One thing though...the guy needs a new name or gimmick. CM Punk sounds like a jobber name, it just does.

You guys misunderstood what Ross said about Valentine and Steamboat. He never said Valentine was better overall, just that he used more ground stuff. The amusing thing is that Valentine wasn't even that much of a hoss...what was he, maybe 15 lbs. bigger than Steamboat?

Despite the money involved I think going to TNN was a big mistake. I just took a look at the ratings and from Aug. 21 to 28 in 2000 they went from a 6.2 to a 4.9...all due to the move to TNN. They flirted with 5.7 at most on TNN but for the most part after the move they never got near a 6.0 again and certainly nowhere near a 7.0. I also think USA helped behind the scenes more than people think. Mind you, I'm not sure exactly how but it seemed like WWE was held more accountable on USA.

In a way I'm hoping someone picks them up because combining the brands won't serve as much beyond burying most of the talent further than they already are.

Well I guess the basis of this is UK is a bit uncertain with Randolph Morris's status being up in the air and also Azabuike's goofy decision to turn pro. Thing is, UK didn't really have anyone all that amazing that couldn't be replaced. I mean let's face it, Morris was averaging 8 pts and 4 rebounds, hardly big numbers to replace. I'd say Alleyne and Obrzut combined will suffice in the middle even if Morris is ineligible. Azabuike was a semi star and technically the leading scorer, but he would vanish as often as not. Joe Crawford can step up and they'll be fine, or Ramel Bradley can get more PT. I'll have to see this Duke bunch win it all to believe it. I think at this point the book is out on them: Force Redick into bad shots or pressure him and he'll choke...get Williams in foul trouble and you can kill them inside. Hell, Michigan St. did this simple strategy in the tourney and beat Duke without a huge amount of trouble.

Oh for the life of me I don't understand the handling of Booker once Angle was traded. I thought that feud was meant to put Booker over strongly and give him a renewed push....and now he's jobbing to a rookie like Ken Kennedy? I like Kennedy but this is curious treatment for poor Booker. The Masters and Orton pushes aren't really comparable since Masters hasn't really gone over much of anyone notable in a match yet and I think even they realize pushing him is a filler thing to do until they get back to USA. As far as Matt goes, I think I brought up all these inconsistencies before they even hired him back. It was bound to be a car wreck that wrecked 6 months of storylines. It would have been better for those involved if they hadn't hired Matt back. He wouldn't be getting buried like this, storylines would have remained intact, and after some point the whole Lita/Edge thing would blow over.

I don't really think the Ultimate Warrior was buried by Hogan at all, at least not in that match at WM 6. It was Warrior's own inability to get over once champ and a lack of decent feuds that did him in. Hogan's always been odd in his choices of who he wants to put over. Warrior yes, UT in 91 (albeit in screwy fashion), Yokozuna in 93.

Well, therein lies the dilemma. What exactly is Angle going to do if he doesn't win the title against Cena? Really, what is there on the horizon for him? The face side on Raw is horrible and there isn't much for him to do. Besides Cena you have the old guys (Michaels, Flair) and Angle vs. Michaels is over for now. Angle's already squashed Shelton. Who else is there? Van Dam when he gets back?

Alabama is bullshit. Didn't they lose a bunch of guys who were either seniors or ill advised jumps to the pros? Take out UK from this past year (eyelash of the Final 4) and check out what the SEC did: Florida: Staggered past a jobber 1st round, got waxed by Nova 2nd round. Bama: Bitchslapped 1st round by....Wisc.-Milwaukee??? LSU: Got owned by a JTTS C-USA team in UAB. This is most embarrassing in my view since LSU looked strong going in and had a totally idiotic gameplan that involved running and gunning with the ultra speedy Blazers. Miss St: They did at least give Duke a fairly tough game 2nd round, but they lost. Anyway, as far as Duke goes yeah they should be stacked in the coming year. The thing is, for some reason I just cannot see J.J. Redick winning a national title. He'll choke, Sheldon Williams will get in foul trouble (he's still there, right?), and Duke will be history.

Oh, if you think about it this Matt/Edge thing has killed the careers of virtually everyone involved, even on a periphery level. Kane? Matt threw him under the bus by saying his whole marriage to Lita was fake...not sure what they can do with him once he gets back. Edge himself? Hot heel with a skank girlfriend, was getting serious heat and looked to cash in the MITB shot and possibly get the title. But now? He's got no momentum and nobody would give him a shot at winning the title. Matt is of course being buried. Hell, even Gene Snitsky had his whole baby killer "It's not my fault" gimmick killed by this angle. As far as someone like RVD goes, I don't think he would have ever been as big as Hogan or Austin. Over enough to headline? Sure. But he's too much of a cult figure to be a massive mainstream celeb.

I forget but how many buys does it take to get to a 1.0 buyrate? Was it 400,000?

Yeah the Jones promos were cool...he himself was pretty bad though. The 2003 Rumble isn't one of the best really. I always dislike a Rumble where a guy with a # like 29 wins it. It makes total sense that Lesnar at 29 would be fresh and would win, but it doesn't really have that one guy you rally behind to win it. Jericho was the best shot at that but as others have said, TEST eliminated him.

Rudo, just wondering but did you watch WCW circa early 2000? As in the Kevin Sullivan lame duck booking era. Because that's what this stuff is like right now, total lame duck tanked shows. Thing is, it hasn't been like this in a very long while...not since the days of King Mabel have such awful, low caliber wrestlers gotten pushed so hard (Masters, Carlito, even Tomko). They are blatantly holding the big name talent off the show until moving back to USA and just pushing whatever jobber assholes they can think of to get by until then. That is what I mean about them tanking the shows. Maybe that isn't what they are meaning to do, rather the intent is to feature some newer talent, but the end result is that it looks like they are tanking it. And yes, I do actually think the initial move to TNN marked the decline in WWE quality.

I'll watch most any wrestling, by all means PM me or whatever if you've got some rare US stuff (SMW, old school Memphis, ECW 95 stuff, etc) or even some Japanese stuff. The reason I haven't bothered with much puro before is that, well, I just haven't. There's a huge amount of older WCW PPVs I haven't seen, I haven't seen much of ECW's stuff from 1995 or so, haven't seen many of the IYH WWF shows from the mid 90s either. Hell I haven't seen a couple of Summerslams (1995 and 2003). I'd want to fill in the gaps there before bothering with foreign stuff, and even then I'd probably want some recent TNA and ROH stuff before that.