cabbageboy

Well, WM XXII had such a mediocre main event scene on it. In particular SD was utter trash with a placeholder champ (Angle), and the real issue between two guys feuding over a dead man. On Raw we had HHH making fun of Cena for being a crap wrestler. Still though, it's a very good WM with Edge/Foley tearing it up, RVD winning MITB (and yes, Shelton was raw in it), etc. In fact XXI had the same problems....really hot undercard, uninspiring main events. The first MITB, Angle/HBK, and so on while you had a whatever HHH/Batista main event and a really crap Cena/JBL SD title match.

Oh lord, after that ending with Orton tapping I think he's probably retaining at WM....and I am GOING to the show. Good grief, does WWE think people would want to pay 90.00 for a ticket and also the 200.00 or so for plane fare to see Orton retain the belt? Flair and Michaels is easily the best thing on WM. I just hope the match can justify it and that it's a true epic. I mean stuff like Flair kicking out of 5 Sweet Chin Musics, go full blast with the Warrior/Macho booking. Get Patterson on it, he'll deliver the goods.

It's got to be RVD. WWE is desperately in need of someone that is actually over with the fans. The Rock is basically retired and making movies (thus he would be under contract to a studio, etc.). Sid wouldn't draw any money these days and frankly he was a non draw for most of his career.

I agree. I never, ever got the Yokozuna push. Why on earth was he just brought in, mostly unknown unless you gave a crap about late era AWA (and no one did), and then simply given the Rumble win and world title? Yoko was the sort of challenger who could have been amusing during the Hogan era, but guys like Bret Hart didn't really mesh with him. Macho was about 40 years old then, he wasn't ancient or anything. Vince just buried the guy on commentary and then gets pissed when Savage left? They should have done Macho/Bret at WM IX, with Savage passing the torch. Actually it might have been better for Savage to have just kept the belt until then, with Bret getting his first title in memorable fashion. WM XV is a corny and foolish show, but it's certainly not dull. At the time I thought it was garbage, but having watched it on 24/7 not too long ago I was surprisingly entertained. It's not a GOOD show or anything, but it's silly and fun. Austin/Rock as the main eliminates it from any all time worst discussion. And say what you want about the Ministry angle, but you'd be surprised as to how many people have fond memories of it. It drew insane money at the time, and let's not forget it was the last major angle before the HHH Push of Death that is still ongoing. So it is perhaps remembered more fondly than it deserves.

I can't believe those rankings. Who in their right mind would put WM VII and VIII in the bottom 5? Those are 2 of my favorite shows of all time. For all the bashing of Slaughter doing the Iraq gimmick, the actual match with Hogan was in fact pretty good. And Macho/Warrior is an all time classic. Not to mention the Rockers vs. Barbarian/Haku, Harts vs. Nastys, etc.

No. No. No. Everyone keeps thinking of all these elaborate schemes for that Joe/Angle match, but here is the only way this can end and not be a piece of crap: Joe gets Angle in a cage. Joe beats the shit out of Angle for 20 minutes, Angle gets sparing offense. Joe wins belt.

It's odd that they cut out Bulldog/Berserker, but did let Owen squash Skinner in under a minute. I guess they felt since Berserker was going to feud with UT post WM that him getting squashed like that as well was foolish.

Yeah I was highly amused at Dale Brown's appearance plugging LSU in the NCAA tourney. The wild part of that is LSU actually beat Kentucky that very day to make the Final 4. They would go on to lose the next week to Louisville. LSU was an 11 seed and took out UK so that my guys didn't have to play the 1 seed UK. I watch this show mostly for the crazed interviews. Though to be honest, I was never a big NWA fan as a kid, but I started watching wrestling when the NWA was sliding downhill in 1988.

WM IX was coming off too many fun WM shows and it had no real sizzle. The WWF did some timeless TV in 1993 but I never thought that initial Raw excitement translated to the PPVs at all. You know though, I don't think WM XV is as bad as reputed. The main problem with it is that it doesn't really feel like a WM all that much, more just another typical PPV like Backlash or something. At the time I ranted against that show (I think I said the ECW PPV the previous week was better) but it's somewhat silly and enjoyable on the Russo trashy level.

I used to watch the VHS rentals of all WWF PPVs but believe it or not the first one I ever got live was SummerSlam 1998. I saw WM XIV at a friend's house, then toyed with the notion of getting Unforgiven 98 and KOTR 98. I think it was Mankind's fall off the HIAC that finally got me to beg my parents to get SS that year. The build was amazing for that PPV. The only PPV I've ever seen in person was Judgment Day 2000 with the HHH vs. Rock Iron Man. UT's comeback on the cycle at the end drew the biggest pop I've ever heard in my life.

Now that the games are over a quick check of my bracket reveals that my picks overall really sucked. I only ended up with 7 out of 16 teams. I overthought a bunch of these picks. The ones I did have were UNC, U of L, Kansas, Memphis, Stanford, Texas, and UCLA. The screwups? In the East I had Notre Dame instead of Washington St., Butler instead of Tennessee (which was a tough pick, OT game). The Midwest was a fiasco aside from KU, since I didn't have either Siena or Nova going anywhere (I had Vandy...ugh). I had Kansas St. over Wisconsin more as wishful thinking, but at least Davidson beat G'Town to prevent the nightmare game that would have been Wisc/G'Town. Even in the rare moment of brilliance in predicting the G'Town loss, I had Gonzaga beating them instead of Davidson (which is a pick I regretted when I found out Dav/Zaga was a noon tip). The South was the only bracket I got mostly right, but Pitt managed to pull their usual tourney swoon and I had them over Michigan St. The West was another debacle, as I didn't have WKU (had UConn instead). I had Purdue instead of Xavier, and Duke instead of WVU. I almost put that WVU upset of Duke, but I just wasn't sold on Huggins in the tourney. I should have had more faith in WKU. Thing is, I didn't think they could possibly beat UConn, but SD took care of that problem. I was hoping A & M could have held off UCLA, since obviously WKU would have more of a chance there than against UCLA. It's wild but WKU hasn't lost to anyone but South Alabama in 2008.

WKU baby! I was cringing when the Hilltoppers coughed up yet another lead to SD, but once they got behind by 1 they turned it on big time and put this thing to bed. Now it's on to UCLA. You have no idea how bad I want to see Western upset UCLA. At least it is in Phoenix and not right there in S. CA, though UCLA will of course have way more fans. I think I said time and time again on various threads that I thought Georgetown was complete bullshit all year. That once they got outside the Big East and didn't get every call known to man that they were in serious trouble. It's so hilarious that a couple of G'Town's screwjob victims are in the Sweet 16 (WVU, Nova) while they are now going home. Good for Davidson, it's just a shame I didn't have them beating the Hoyas (I had Gonzaga).

I don't think I can take watching another 4 games of UCLA doing that crap. I know they snuck out with the win, but scoring 53 points isn't going to win national titles. Nor is getting behind constantly and having to rally. At some point someone won't choke. A potential UCLA vs. WVU regional rinal would put me in a very odd position, namely having to actually side with Bob Huggins. Aside from WVU the Big East really showed its ass today. Marquette couldn't beat Stanford even after Trent Johnson was ejected in the 1st half. ND just got beat down big time by Washington St. And Pitt showed why they are never a real good tourney bet.

Oh lord, that Nova/Clemson game was comedy gold. Clemson looked so incredibly shitty in that 2nd half, yet Nova kept dicking around to keep them in it late. Clemson had to shoot about 10% in the 2nd half and yet were within reach until the last minute or so.

I certainly had WKU winning but I have mentioned in the past on here that my parents went to WKU so I flat out had to pick them. Hell, my dad has them in the FF, haha. He had them vs. UCLA in the Sweet 16 and stunned me by picking Western to win that, then beat WVU in the Elite 8. Man, I'm glad WKU somehow won that game though. It was justice prevailing since the officiating was unbelievable in that game. Drake had to have a FT advantage of 40 attempts to 10 or so for WKU. Add that to the no call on the grabbing of the rim, or the horrendous change call on WKU in the last 20 seconds and I was at wit's end. Now WKU has San Diego, the UK and UConn slayers. I'd enjoy seeing UCLA vs. WKU in the Sweet 16. That would have been a dream game....in 1971.

I think they were waiting for the whole Benoit/Woman/Sullivan storyline to finish before putting Benoit back on a show. Seeing him with Woman on TV might be a bit creepy now, so on that level I can see why they cut that stuff.

Here is one thing about RVD that the crowd accusing him of being a bad worker never bother to answer: If the guy is such crap, why is it that he seemingly had the match of the night on virtually every Raw in 2001-02? Why is it even with the hugely babyface hating crowd in WM in Chicago RVD was one of the most over guys on the show? Why does every match have to "tell a story" or have great psychology? Hell, most of the story driven matches are a result of the bookers, not the actual wrestlers. If Van Dam had a history of forgetting key moments of booking in a match or not conveying what the booker wanted, I can see this point. The only real weakness with psychology RVD has is when someone works his legs, since he has to use his legs to do a lot of moves.

Yeah that was crap. I was hoping for the Belmont win even though it would totally wreck my bracket. My bracket is already nearly screwed anyway, what with wrong picks on 8/9 games and some upsets like UGA that didn't quite pan out. I agree somewhat on UCLA but I still just don't think they consistently score enough points to win it all. You know, with the lame bracket they are in though I think WVU is the only scary team they could play. WVU did beat them in 2006 and 07, but I don't know if I trust Bob Huggins to get that far. Huggins does at least have some actual ballplayers leftover from the Beilein era, rather than his usual array of misfits and thugs.

I won't concede it at all. If he truly blows it again and flops then I think he will be gone. As far as Kristy Lee's hotness, she might not be the hottest girl on earth but she's still hotter than Amanda.

I read that Mates column as well and comparing the initial ideas to what actually happened is truly sad in terms of what could have been. To think, we could have been spared the whole Katie Vick angle, the HHH/Steiner crap, HHH burying Booker in that race baiting feud. What does it say about HHH's 2002-03 title run that his best feud over that time period was against a washed up Kevin Nash? Instead we could have had RVD defending in quality matches vs. HBK, HHH, Jericho, etc. And call me crazy, but I've always wanted to see an RVD vs. Goldberg match.

Well, if you watch it there's really no feasible way to edit him out. You can't get rid of the whole crucial Piper/Flair segment in the ring or the Horsemen beatdown of Piper that followed. Once I see a Benoit match on 24/7, I'll figure that they aren't editing him anymore.

Thing is, this isn't 1995 and WWE's roster isn't so incredibly lame. I mean aside from Diesel/Shawn there really wasn't anything else worth attempting to main event on that PPV. There's absolutely no way they should main event a match with a boxer over the actual wrestlers on the roster. Flair/HBK is a mid show main event type match or near the end....but it's not a title match so it really can't go on last. The Raw 3 way is such a dreary "been there, done that" type match that I don't want to see it go on last even with a title change. That leaves UT vs. Edge, which is at least 1 on 1, has a title and streak at stake, and should main event.

Aw crap, knowing that time now for Gonzaga/Davidson I wish I could change my brackets with CBS and other places. Why is it I somehow knew that game was going to be the noon game? They really stuck it to Gonzaga with that one.

Candice is someone sent out to the ring after practicing a few key spots to hit in a match and have her opponent attempt to carry the rest without anyone screwing up too badly. Someone like Trish at least learned some fundamentals of how to work, and also was much more athletic than Candice. As far as Rey goes, he's just at the tail end of his career and his body is breaking down.

There's nothing about Butler that would suggest a 7 seed though. Not their national ranking, RPI, etc. At worst they should have been a 5 seed like last year. The positive thing for them though is that I haven't heard anyone in the program whine about the seed. I'd be more inclined to pick South Alabama in that game (in Birmingham) if they hadn't just lost in Mobile to Middle TN. For some reason I'm not thrilled with some of my FF picks. UNC is an obvious pick since they basically get to play at home, I am fine with my pick of Texas (they would get to play in Houston and San Antonio), but Kansas and UCLA worry me. Quite a few experts are picking UCLA despite them only scoring about 74 points a game, which is low for a national champion in the 3 point era. Though I have them in the FF, I can see UConn or someone upsetting them. Thing is, that West bracket is such dreck that there was no one in particular I felt had a good shot vs. UCLA. Kansas? Let's face it, they are always an iffy bet...the only variable is the round that the tankjob comes in. Their biggest problem I think is in the Sweet 16 round against either Vandy or Clemson. Of course Vandy has been bleh away from home, but at least they have a star player in Shan Foster, and at least can do basic stuff like make FTs (which worries me with Clemson). I didn't pick either team to upset Kansas, but it wouldn't shock me if it happened.