cabbageboy

I don't recall them going below 3.0 at any point in 2003, unless maybe it was a Holiday show. Aside from the occasional nightmare rating like last week WWE's ratings for Raw have been stagnant for the past 5 years.

Oh man, if I am the Big East commish I would be so pissed at Rutgers. This is two years in a row they have wrecked a Big East title contender to basically do jack shit themselves. You forget that last year Rutgers was already beaten by Cincy before that WVU game. For all the blathering about Rutgers last year they really just did about what they were capable of doing and what they were really predicted to do (namely finish 3rd in the conf. and go to something like the Texas Bowl). Last night was a game I could sit back and just watch....I dislike both teams.

Canadafour, who is this Benoit fellow you want to see so badly? As far as those WCW shows from 1999, trust me you don't want to see them. I used to tape Nitro and watch Raw live, but didn't keep any of them past that week. WCW circa 1999 was easily the worst wrestling TV in history. Nothing is close, not even WCW in 2000 (aside from the Sullivan months in 2000). Lushus, if I have a problem with the ECW shows on 24/7 it's that there's just too much talky crap on there for a 1 hour show. I think it was mostly because in 1996 ECW didn't really have the best roster of in ring performers. The shows that really don't hold up though are Nitros from 1997. Call me crazy but I think I preferred the 1995 and early 1996 Nitros that were only 1 hour. At least then they had to focus on what mattered, rather than just tossing out random jobber matches and bullshit. It's jarring to compare the Nitro currently on 24/7 to the Raw....Raw was so much more intense and storyline driven. You feel like you're really seeing something.

U of L gets to put the bitchslap on UConn tomorrow night. If it was being played here I'd be worried, but it's on the road so U of L has a shot. UConn has a pretty favorable schedule since they have U of L, Rutgers, and USF all at home soon. But that said, Cincy and WVU are both on the road and both will be beatdowns.

Well, this wasn't much of a shock tonight. I don't know how to feel about this really. On one hand I do want to see someone viewed as an interloper crash the BCS title game, yet I've thought USF was a bit of a fraud that was getting by on luck (not to mention playing the one top 10 team they have figured out, WVU). That said, just take a look at the insanity the Big East turned into tonight. USF loses to Rutgers, but Rutgers lost to Cincy. U of L beat Cincy, but lost to fucking SYRACUSE...and man does that crap look disturbingly big now. Ah the hell with it, I think WVU still wins the league. They are the best team in the conf. when healthy anyway.

Anyway we'll know more about USF after tonight's game. There's just a feeling to me that this team is a bit...bogus. And it's not like I didn't see the games, I did see the Auburn game and the WVU game. Auburn wasn't exactly on any sort of roll when USF played them, having narrowly escaped Kansas St. and then losing to Miss St. after that USF game. In the Auburn game USF had 4 missed FGs, and you can't tell me that isn't going to cost them at some point. And for all the talk that they dominated WVU...I'm not sure what game people were seeing there. I mostly saw USF punting and playing defense, with WVU having to use a backup QB (Pat White was hurt and ineffective). In fact WVU outgained them by about 200 yards in that game, but seemingly fucked up at EVERY opportunity to the tune of seven turnovers. It was an ugly, ugly game. Right now USF does deserve their ranking based upon their wins, but I guess what I'm saying is that their key wins haven't astounded me in particular. I don't know if Rutgers is the team that can beat them though. If so it will be due to bluff and home field bravado since Rutgers has been almost as big of a flop this year as U of L (they've just lost to better teams at home). Teams with mediocre passing games don't seem to fare that well against USF. Where I see USF having trouble is with teams like Cincy and U of L, teams that actually have a high octane passing attack. In fact Cincy rolled USF last year, and Cincy is a lot better now than then.

This might sound kinda bad but I really don't want to see Oklahoma anywhere near a national title game. After the way they tanked in two national title games in the Jason White era (particularly the USC game) I have zero desire to see OU on that stage. I certainly don't want to see a title game rematch with LSU....the first game was one of the ugliest brawls I've ever seen.

Yeah this is just so lame. When I first heard about it I thought immediately that the Yankees made him some lowball offer just to say they tried and not to look entirely like the bad guys here. As in they didn't just fire Torre, but really didn't want him back either.

Nearly all of the NWO's interesting stuff was during the first 6 months of the angle. As anyone who has 24/7 can attest, once it hits 1997 those Nitros start to really suck ass. More memorable stuff from that era: --Scott Hall's initial debut. --Obviously Nash, with H & N both attacking everyone in sight. --Hogan and the NWO beating Macho up with a Slim Jim and spray painting him yellow. --The NWO attacking Piper and beating his artificial hip. I actually think WCW was quite a bit better in the first half of 1998, when the midcard guys at least had some direction. Cause on these 1997 shows it doesn't seem like ANYONE has any direction.

I'd rather they just put Jericho on Raw rather than at the PPV. I have little interest in this PPV, never being a fan of the voting stuff on Taboo Tuesday and Cyber Sunday.

OSU also has 5 top 50 opponents left on their schedule, so they may well lose to someone. I can't help but think this is like a 1995 and 96 era OSU team where they will run the table and get to Michigan and then lose that final game.

Just wondering but who is Anna Elizabeth Anderson?

I'm torn on this. On one hand if the show is cancelled then I would initially think "Good riddance" but yet I find myself watching ECW most weeks. It's an easy show to dismiss but if you watch it then it's not that bad. Hopefully they will move the guys over to SD and continue the fun storylines like Balls/Kelly, maybe let veterans like Dreamer work with the young guys. Dreamer has been on a roll lately.

I can't help but feel mild upset tonight with Rutgers over USF. I'm not sure that I want to see it though. A part of me would like USF to be unbeaten and #1 or 2 when U of L heads down to Tampa. This Arizona St. stuff is sheer nonsense for a couple of reasons: 1. No way are they going undefeated. As noted they have USC, Cal, and Oregon left and AZ St. just isn't good enough to run the table. 2. If USF and OSU both run the table there's really no way for Arizona St. to leap those teams. ASU would end up like Auburn in 2004.

Of course they have to show the ambulance show. They better anyway, it's one of the most famous and timeless Raws ever in my opinion. Sid was right to just leave at that point. He jobbed to UT, and there was really nothing in his future but jobbing to Bret and doing jack shit. He wasn't getting the belt again.

I think so but who knows. The match was a foolish powder keg to book in the first place, given HBK's diva behavior and the potential for pissing off the UK fans. In theory Bulldog was supposed to go over, but in all honesty that booking made little sense itself with Michaels scheduled to face UT in the HIAC match. Anyway, Bulldog dedicated the match to his dying sister that had cancer and Shawn refused to go along with the planned booking. So Bulldog ends up passing out in a figure 4 after a DX run in and Michaels wins the European title, a belt he had zero use for. The punchline is that the other main event on that show was Bret/UT, which had a DQ itself because they weren't changing the title there and UT was scheduled to face HBK in the HIAC. In other words they didn't want to book TWO DQs in the major matches. Personally I would have done it anyway, since I doubt fans in the UK would have minded Bulldog winning by DQ. Michaels and DX still come off strong if they leave him laying, they could have jobbed Bulldog to HHH back in the States if it was apparent Davey Boy wanted to leave with Bret (this would save burying the title in that HHH/HBK "match"), and it doesn't run the risk of infuriating the British fans.

It's a matter of semantics really. Cena was starting to become notable throughout 2003 but to me being over = having credibility with the audience. Cena was amusing on the mic with his raps and such, but was he really credible when he was mainly jobbing to Brock and UT?

I thought that part was odd too. Why have Cornette review the decision if he was just going to affirm Angle as champ? Is there a point?

I actually agree with Lushus about MMA fights being boring. Mind you I haven't watched an insane amount of it, but the fights I see all have the same stuff in them: Two guys spar a bit, one takes the other down eventually, then beats the shit out of him, either the guy gets out of it or he taps.

I wouldn't mind the Indians vs. Rockies at all. We have Colorado on a psycho run that no one has ever seen before going for their first WS title. Then there's Cleveland going for their first WS title since 1948. Let's face it, once the Red Sox won it all in 2004 seeing them back in the Series just doesn't hold the same intrigue if you aren't from New England.

SUN, OCT 21 Tennessee at Houston 1:00 PM CBS: Tennessee is coming off a tough loss and who knows what Young's condition is yet. I'll take Houston by 4. Baltimore at Buffalo 1:00 PM CBS: The Ravens are back to being manly, even with the callow Boller perhaps starting. Ravens by 6. Minnesota at Dallas 1:00 PM Fox: Vikings aren't THAT terrible but Dallas is going to be pissed. Cowboys by 14. Tampa Bay at Detroit 1:00 PM Fox: Tampa is iffy on the road against a decent team, but I'm not sure if Detroit is that decent. I'll still go with the Lions by 3. Arizona at Washington 1:00 PM Fox: Cardinals are just a tough luck team, now without Warner. Redskins should get back on track by 9. San Francisco at NY Giants 1:00 PM Fox: Giants are now playing badass, Niners blow pretty hard. NYG by 10. Atlanta at New Orleans 1:00 PM Fox: The Falcons really, really suck. The Saints aren't as bad as their record, so I'll say New Orleans by 7. New England at Miami 1:00 PM CBS: Okay, I know the Pats suck in Miami but surely not this time. Not against this crappy Dolphins team. NE by 14. Kansas City at Oakland 4:05 PM CBS: Chiefs are hard to figure, as are the Raiders. I'll go with Oakland at home, but very close. Raiders by 1. NY Jets at Cincinnati 4:05 PM CBS: This is like the blind meeting the blind. I have no idea. Since it is in Cincy, I'll take the Bengals by 6. Chicago at Philadelphia 4:15 PM Fox: Now this is a curious game of two struggling teams. I'm really, really bored with the Eagles though...just enough please. Bears by 3. St. Louis at Seattle 4:15 PM Fox: Rams are just a mess this year with all the injuries. Seattle is a very dubious team, but they should win here. Seahawks by 10. Pittsburgh at Denver 8:15 PM NBC: I think Denver will show up here and play with pride. And still lose. Steelers by 7. MON, OCT 22 Indianapolis at Jacksonville 8:30 PM ESPN: Oh man this is going to be tough to call. The Jags can really shake up the AFC with a win here, but the Colts are coming off a bye week and everyone should be back healthy. I'll say Indy by 7.

That Shango/Berserker vs. UT/Warrior match was of course from 1992, probably July of that year and not 1995. In fact I think I have seen that before on some old Coliseum tape.

I actually think the feud that got Cena over was the tantalizing and brief Eddie angle. Remember that, where Cena laid out Eddie in El Paso and stole his hubcaps...this drew massive heel heat. Then they had the parking lot match, which is still to me one of Cena's best matches. Cena actually jobbed in that match too, but Eddie made him out like a threat and it got Cena over. He turned face soon after. The UT angle didn't do shit for Cena. He just jobbed in it. You could say his title match with Brock at Backlash got him over using that criteria.

Okay, let's review the bullshit TNA has done here. 1. At BFG Joe beats Christian and hands Christian his first loss in TNA. The next night, Joe just jobs right back. 2. Sting beats Angle for the belt at BFG. Then tonight he jobs it right back. Talk about making your PPV utterly meaningless within 2 days. Also, this crap of having the belt in a tag match is some bizarre Nash fetish. There was a WWF IYH PPV in 1995 with him teaming with HBK against Owen/Yokozuna (but really Bulldog). Then the big debacle in WCW with him teaming with Sting against Macho/Sid. Why do various promotions keep doing that shitty concept when it clearly sucks?

So is it your feeling that the Rockies can keep contending for years to come? Cause to be honest while I'm digging this team they do seem like a team on the fluke jobber roll of a lifetime. The best case scenario for them is to end up like the NL version of the Angels, whose 2002 run was slightly similar (albeit not as unexpected or dominant). As in not getting to the WS every year but at least in the playoffs.