cabbageboy

Speaking of the Hogan family, wasn't there also a sign in the front row by the entrance that said "The Hogan Family = White Trash?" It was the same people who had the pro Flair signs.

They made a mistake in this booking tonight by having Batista win. Batista has had so many shots at belts to the point that if a champ can't retain against him on some 2nd rate PPV it makes the guy look bad. I figured Kane was out there for one of two reasons: 1. He was going to win the match and get his yearly lame duck title shot. 2. He was going to job. I figured there would be some badmouthing of guys like Snitsky being on the show tonight but there is a method to it. Right now Raw has a world champ and IC champ that need solid wins to get over with the fans. This is basically like watching late 1992/early 1993 WWF with Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels as the champions. Tonight with Punk beating Snitsky soundly is the equivalent of Bret beating The Berserker on Prime Time Wrestling, or Kamala, or Papa Shango on SNME. Beat the monster heels with wrestling. Same thing with Kofi. The guy just needs wins. They put him over Haas tonight clean in the center. If you want to get a guy over, that's what you do. Week after week, clean wins. As far as Punk/Batista goes, I'm not sure what you do with it. I'd have gone with Kane instead and done his freak out at the PPV after the loss to Punk. Put JBL/Batista/Cena in a 3 way #1 contender match. But at the Bash? Punk needs some sort of win there, probably a Bret vs. Diesel type deal where Batista beats the hell out of him but Punk gets a small package.

Yeah Golden is Bunkhouse Buck. If you've seen the AWA shows on ESPN Classic of late the Stud Stable has been on there a few times in the Memphis shows. Golden looked much different back then, just typical blue trunks and what not instead of the bearded redneck look.

A bit more insight into Atlas: It's been noted that he got over with fans in OVW, but here's how it sorta started. I mentioned on a previous page a guy named Daniel Rodimer (who briefly worked WWE house shows as Dan Rodman), well Atlas Dabone had a feud with him. Rodimer was such an unbelievable black hole of suck that fans shit on him every time he picked up a mic. Since Atlas at least had a unique look and wasn't as horrendous as Rodimer fans started cheering the guy. Combine that with OVW booking him strongly and he gave off the illusion of being a rising star.

Guillermo Del Toro is a really good director but I don't know if most of the material he has done has matched his actual talent. And yes I know Pan's Labyrinth got massive acclaim, but I have to admit I wasn't terribly into it. Bob, as far as Meet Dave goes, I can't see that doing anything. It just has the look of an Eddie Murphy flop. With Journey I have some questions: Is this in 2D as well as 3D, or is it with everything showing you get the glasses? Further, is it in IMAX?

I mostly made the Hellboy 2 vs. Hancock comparison due to it being the superhero genre. I'm not really sure how Hellboy will do vs. Journey to the Center of the Earth. It's possible that they will both make similar money. Anyone else find the placement of Hellboy 2's release a bit peculiar? It's being released 1 week after Hancock and the week before Dark Knight. Wouldn't it have a better chance if it was released in the fall? Hellboy seems more like a fall/winter movie to me.

Yeah we won't ever see the 97 Wargames because seeing Benoit in an 8 or 10 man match will make us all evil psychos or something. I do want to see that 1994 Wargames when it comes on though. I actually have quite enjoyed that Dustin vs. Stud Stable feud from seeing various shows from 1994 on 24/7. The problem is that the match was booked during that era when Hogan had just entered the company and they were toning down the vicious brutality that could have put that feud over gangbusters. You have the Rhodes family and the Nasty Boys going against Memphis vets like Fuller, Golden, etc. and there's no blood and violence? Bah. Even if WCW had booked the match in early 94 it would have been vicious at least, like the various Cactus/Whoever vs. Nastys matches.

Yeah in fact I recall going to my friend's house to watch this PPV. I probably still have the tape of it somewhere. This show was the week before WM and when I saw WM the next week I couldn't help but think that it paled in comparison to the action on this PPV.

The key to Hancock is what it does in the next couple of weeks. It will face direct competition next week from Hellboy 2 (which is probably a better movie), and then on the 18th The Dark Knight will destroy everything in its path.

Yeah Tajiri was semi repackaged in the Summer of 1999 when he turned heel and joined Corino, then feuded with Taz a bit. The RVD/Lynn series has more distinct matches than given credit for. The LD match is the one with the goofy time limit draw, the HH99 match has Lynn damn near having his brains beaten out, and the HH2000 match was marred by outside interference and the Anton heel turn. The GAC 01 (last ECW PPV) match has Lynn as the heel in it. The best RVD/Lynn match though? I think it was the Sept. TNN match where Lynn had broken ribs and kept fighting.

The downfall of Wargames was that Bischoff wanted to go in a more family friendly direction circa 1993-94. Why exactly they did Wargames at all during this time period I don't know, since it would be handicapped from the start due to the no blading rules. The 1996 version was at least pretty good from a storyline perspective with the whole "Whose side is Sting on?" bit.

The whole notion of the heels winning the coin toss is such a staple of Wargames that I was in utter shock the one time I saw the faces win the toss (TNA did this earlier in the year). Usually the heels winning has to happen so that the faces have to overcome the odds of being a man down most of the match. If the faces had the advantage, it puts a bizarre sort of sympathy on the heels. Still, I think the faces should have won the coin toss about 1/4 of the time just to keep it from looking too obvious. Though 1991 isn't up yet I think it and 1992 are the best Wargames. 1992 is certainly the best, just 25m or so of unmitigated hatred, violence, and blood.

Statham is the one guy who was actually pretty good in an Uwe Boll movie. Speaking of Statham, I need to see The Bank Job when it comes out on DVD later this month. Hancock's various strengths and weaknesses have been discussed elsewhere (namely the first half is really fun, 2nd goes off the rails), but allow me to bring up something I haven't seen mentioned. Is it just me or is Hancock a ripoff of the Valiant comics character Armstrong? For instance: This isn't to say Hancock and Armstrong are the exact same character, but you can't make me believe the writers here never read any Archer and Armstrong or Eternal Warrior comics.

When it comes to basketball in Memphis their college team will always be #1 in that area, and truth be told Memphis isn't really the most properous town in the country. Memphis had money in the right places (Fed Ex) and thus stuff like an arena wasn't a big problem. There are various reasons why NBA fans are sickened by this Sonics move. It's no knock on OKC or the people, but it seems like a backwards move. A lot of people still remember the Sonics from their 1990s peak years, and probably think that OKC should have just shared the Hornets with New Orleans. Seattle will have to wait a few years, but eventually they will get either a new team or some disgruntled team will leave for Seattle.

Edge right now is so far above anyone else in WWE that it isn't even funny. The amusing aspect is that even if HHH wanted to bury the guy it would come across more like a bastard heel getting his just desserts, which serves to add more heat to Edge rather than bury him. This was a pretty good show tonight, but I have to ponder something about Jeff's matches of late. It seems like he is wrestling the same "Macho Man circa 1995 in WCW" style match where he has a decent opening, then gets his ass kicked for 90% of it, then hits a couple moves and a finisher and wins.

Yeah it was dumb, but was Survivor Series 1990 a debacle or anything? Not really. It's not there wasn't a big debut on that show other than the Gooker.

The first one got by on some really cool characters and a great look....the plot was a bit bizarre if you aren't a fan of the comic. Is there any villain in this one that will be as awesome as Karl Ruprecht Kroenen?

I bet they have shown SS 92 about 6 times on 24/7 since I've had the service. It's one of my favorite shows ever, but I do now have a DVD of it so let's have some different stuff here. SS 90 is a choice, eh? I wouldn't mind seeing that one again.

Yeah the Shockmaster stuff was hilarious on that show, but they spent too much time on the Gooker. Is the Gooker really all that historic? It's just a stupid Thanksgiving turkey gimmick that vanished soon after and had little to do with anything. The Shockmaster actually main evented some shows, haha.

RVD/Lynn is still a great match but it still is one of the dumbest booked matches of all time. I know Heyman was spoofing the Holyfield/Lewis fight with the whole "ref gives the belt to Lynn on a time limit draw" idea, but it's still idiotic. Probably one of my favorite ECW shows though.

I have to say....I don't get this Roode/Storm push, or at least the mechanics of it. These guys formed a few weeks ago and haven't won a single match yet are getting a tag title shot on PPV? Tonight alone they lost to the MCMG and then came back and lost to Joe and Nash in the main event, two guys who are close to feuding. What should make me want to order a PPV to see these guys lose again to LAX?

In regards to the Diamondbacks, is it really shocking to see them fall back to earth? Last year they had one of the all time fluke seasons, finishing 90-72 while being outscored by their opponents. Their Pythagorean W/L was more like 79-83, so they'll probably end up a .500 team this year. It's funny but some time ago I caught hell in a thread when I suggested that MLB (and the media) put all their eggs in that Red Sox/Yankees basket, making it tough for others to draw casual interest. I know it's a much different era but the rating for the 1985 World Series (KC vs. STL) was an overall 25.3. Another Cardinals WS in 1987 did a 23.8 (vs. Twins). The 2006 WS with the Cardinals vs. Tigers? 10.1. That's for two well known teams too.

Speaking of the Kong angle, isn't it curious that TNA is all but admitting these chicks are actual trained wrestlers and not just fans?

Oh, I actually have Fall Brawl 2000 on tape (yes I got that PPV). In fact now that I think about it I actually got nearly all of WCW's PPVs from 2000 aside from Souled Out (which I now regret) and that god awful SuperBrawl that I saw at the sports bar. WCW went under, but they couldn't blame me for not supporting their dubious efforts.

I'm surprised at the negative reaction this Favre story is getting. I never wanted Favre to retire at all, so I am certainly hoping he wants to come back. It's also amusing to hear this talk of "OMG, what about Aaron Rodgers?!" Who cares about Aaron Rodgers? Bring Favre back but this time make it 100% clear this is his last year, a farewell tour. If Rodgers doesn't like it, cut him or trade him and then turn the reigns over to Brian Brohm once Favre retires.