cabbageboy

Thoughts on the Rumble from beginning to end: --I actually thought Matt/Swagger was the best match up until Jeff/Edge. Nothing special but at least Swagger did some okay arm work and kept it moving. The finish of it was rendered pointless by the events later in the show though (or maybe the finish led to Matt's heel turn?). --Women's match was sloppy but Beth's sick half crab/anklelock while beating Melina in the head was nuts. The point of a title change here with no Rosa Mendez appearance eludes me. --JBL/Cena was more of an angle than a match, which was good since the actual match itself was pretty bad. Why Shawn didn't just grab the original ref and toss him in to make the 3 count I don't know. Hopefully they blow off this JBL/HBK stuff somehow at No Way Out and do something decent at WM like HBK/UT since they semi teased it backstage earlier on this PPV. --Jeff/Edge was a very good match since these guys can practically wrestle each other in their sleep by this point. I thought Hardy had hurt himself during the table spot on Chavo. They made a mistake in turning Matt heel here though and I'll explain why. First, sure everyone thought Christian was the culprit but him being the culprit is the better idea. Matt vs. Jeff was a mediocre match when they tried it in 2001...will it be any better now? Second, Christian could put this over vastly better on the mic. Matt will cut some crappy promo on Jeff like his promo on Edge in 2005 when he returned to Raw, then this angle will die a quick death. Either that or he'll just become another Edge lackey in the Chavo vein. All that to swerve people who thought Christian would show up tonight? --The Rumble. I popped for Orton kicking Vince's ass on Raw, but it didn't mean I wanted him to win this thing. Truth be told I wasn't thrilled with either Orton or HHH winning it. There were perhaps too many major names in it in the first half of the Rumble, thus preventing the fun "clearing the ring" spots we usually get. Rey lasted way too long in it this year, Knox should have tossed him in quick fashion once he hit the ring. Santino and Ziggler's quick tosses were also really funny stuff. The RVD guest spot ruled big time. The greatness of these RVD cameos is that he picks times when no one is really suspecting anything and shows up to get a massive pop. In fact I was seriously hoping that RVD had signed a new deal and thus was going to take this thing in his homestate. Can anyone argue that Van Dam was the most over guy in the ring for the time he was in it? I wish he'd come back full time, though he probably would end up doing nothing. As far as the aftermath goes, who knows what will happen with Orton. So in that respect this show did work. I doubt the WM main event ends up being Cena/Orton, so who knows. Maybe Orton ends up in the EC next month, or someone else wins the title there and goes on to face Orton at WM. With both titles on the line in EC matches they almost have to change one of the titles.

The difference is SNME used to be on at 11:30 at night, so putting a main eventer on early made sense. But a typical Raw? It went from 9 to 10, so it's not like a match airing at 9:45 is all that late. In fact Prime Time used to build to a main event that lasted until 11:00. Savage was a hideous commentator and I don't blame him at all for going to WCW. The guy was about 40-41 at the time, so it's not like he had zilch left in the tank.

U of L humbled the Orange today in Syracuse 67-57. Big win to keep up with Marquette at the top of the Big East. Now another likely beatdown of USF before WVU comes to town next Saturday. Anyone think there was a bizarre lack of hype for that Louisville/Syracuse game today considering it involved two top 10 (or 15) teams?

I can't see Arnold being involved for some reason, maybe a brief cameo but not a featured role. But wow, Sandra Bullock in a movie like this? I would assume this is her paying Stallone back for her early role in Demolition Man that boosted her career circa 1993. This does look really fun though. The world needs another "Mercenaries overthrow a dictator" flick. They do need Chuck Norris though, just seems like the sort of flick he would have done circa 1980. Maybe get Tom Berenger too.

1. In the long run, do you think Sable and his ensuing feud with her (the in-ring one) helped or hurt his career? Basically it killed his career. He did nothing after it and due to his marriage/association with Sable then he was released soon after her lawsuit. 2. Let's play the "What if" card. What if Marc Mero wasn't plagued with consistant injury problems through out his WWF stint? Would he have reached similar heights as the men he had joined WWF alongside; Mankind and Mick Foley (remember Mero was perhaps the most hyped of the three when they entered the company in the first part of '96)? Would he have maintained the mid-card position he had in late '96/early '97? Mero just wasn't a main eventer. Foley was a crazy psycho even in WCW...Austin a serious wrestler turned bad ass. Mero was a Little Richard impersonator. It's tough to get past that gimmick in order to main event. He was solid, but more in a way of "This guy is pretty good" and not clear cut main eventer type good. Nowhere near as bad as Foley portrays him though. 3. What was best; the WCW run as Johnny B. Badd or the WWF run as Wild Man/Marvelous Marc Mero? I'm assuming no one will consider his XWF or TNA runs the highlight of his career. I would say the WCW run but then I couldn't remember much he really DID aside from just being a fixture on TV. So I'll say his WWF run in 1996-98. 4. In twenty years, what will he be best remembered for? His in-ring career or his role as a straight shooting media gadfly (and the list of guys he wrestled who died) after the Benoit murders-suicide? He'll be remembered as the guy who was once married to Sable, if people even remember her. Nobody cares about his various media appearances since nothing he said mattered in the long run. 5. Now the obligatory final question; Favorite matches, moments, etc. Austin KOTR 96 semi was a good match. IC run in 1996 was decent. And of all things in WCW I recall a goofy boxing match he had with Scotty Flamingo on a Clash, haha.

I checked out that 1994 Raw. Wow. After a really hot 1993 debut year for the show they really hit the wall once the novelty wore off. 1994 and 95 were both bleh years for Raw with few standout moments on there. As far as this show goes, why not have Luger/Bigelow as the main event? The show opens with that match and then the rest of it is Lawler doing a lame midget bit, as well as squash matches. Why not open with Lawler's bit (or not do it), do the squash matches, build to Luger/Bigelow.

HHH's constant jobbing at WMs is one reason I think people are tired of him main eventing the show. It's like he keeps hogging that top spot, only to lose all the time. As far as the show tomorrow, if HBK ends up in the Rumble I'll take him to win it. If not, I'm not exactly sure. Either Orton or HHH.

Scaia was more like one of the Wrestleline guys who wrote columns and such back in the day. Maybe TV reports at times too? BUTT, I cracked up at your "thumbs in the middle" comment since that was a frequent criticism of Scaia's reviews, that he never took a firm stand on a match or PPV. He does have a point somewhere in all that ranting though. The IWC lost a lot of influence in a post MNW and ECW world. WWE was more willing to listen to online rants when they were really competing with other feds. But now? Why bother?

Rourke being involved at WM is an interesting idea. In that movie he looks pretty ripped so I would actually believe him wrestling in a match if they wanted to do it.

I bought Saw V on DVD this week and will check it out fairly soon. As far as the end of the series goes, they need to bring back Cary Elwes and pay off what exactly did happen to Dr. Gordon at the end of the first Saw. It's easy to say "He just died" but why not show his body to close out that storyline?

Or how about some of 1999 as well with Big Show, Jericho, Dudleys, Taz (sort of, debuted early 2000 but signed in 99). 1996 is the winner here. I'd like to argue the 2001 era but too many guys from WCW got buried during that time.

Thing is, Taxi Driver was one of a few ultra bleak films nominated in 1976. Network was also nominated, All the President's Men as well I think. Rocky was the lone feel good flick that stood out from the others. Chicago over Gangs of New York....how about over Two Towers as well? But then a similar argument could be made for A Beautiful Mind over the first LOTR. Just wondering but is this a thread for predictions or is it just to discuss the nominees?

A couple of points on those awards. How is TNA a worse promotion than Elite XC when that group actually went under? Second, I fail to see how a harmless comedy gimmick like Khali doing the Kiss Cam is nearly as destructive as Samoa Joe's horrendous booking as TNA champion.

Hogan's injury in April 1999 was a problem for the NWO. The group never really recovered from it and a bunch of others just sputtered around doing nothing.

Now that I think of it, RVD lost all momentum in the last year of ECW. He gave up the TV title due to injury, came back and finally jobbed to Lynn (with a Scotty Anton heel turn). Then he dicked around feuding with Anton in the Summer of 2000, mostly notable for introducing the Van Terminator. After that he failed to get back the TV title from Rhino, and then basically left the company by late 2000 due to not being paid. That RVD injury in March 2000 was really the death knell on ECW. It's like things snowballed from there and Heyman just did bad move after bad move, from bringing back Taz to beat Awesome only to see Taz get buried on WWF TV with the ECW belt, to Justin Credible's flop of a title run, to not doing much with RVD once he got back from injury.

The WCCW/USWA deal is more clear cut. As in there was a match with Eric Embry vs. PY Chu Hi where if Embry won then WCCW was no more and the promotion became the USWA. What does it say about the devalued World Class name that the fans popped for the promotion being taken over? I would assume from that point forward whatever footage from Dallas that is USWA is lumped in with the Memphis USWA footage, whereas the stuff before 1989 is in the WWE's World Class footage.

Yeah I was thinking Cena/UT as well, have been for a while if Cena isn't in the title match. There just isn't a compelling title match for Cena at WM against the various guys on Raw. Nothing we haven't seen a dozen times. I have to hand it to Orton. Tonight was the first time I've ever marked out for the guy. His rant on Steph in the back was something a lot of fans have felt for years, and him beating the crap out of Vince was shocking and cool. Where does Jericho fit into any of this though? No idea.

Yeah tough to call the Rams in 1999 an underdog. They were favored in all of their playoff games and were favored by 7 over the Titans. As far as the Cardinals go, I compared them to the 1979 Rams but after taking a look at the records I'm not sure that is a good comparison. The Rams had contended in the NFC for most of the 1970s and made the playoffs with regularity, so the Cardinals now are more of a surprise.

I'm trying to figure out what could come of a Vince/Steph feud on Raw. I'm assuming Jericho will be involved on some level, but who would he be facing in all of this?

Yeah, I have been dead wrong about the Cardinals this entire postseason, picking them to lose big in each of these 3 games. It's been hard to get over Arizona's complete non effort the last month of the season starting with that Philly game on Thanksgiving. Philly's defense struggling today isn't really a big shock though. Their D isn't shut down type good, not like Steelers or Ravens level. The Cowboys put up 41 on them this year, Giants put up 36 in the first game. Philly gave the illusion of having a great defense since they played the offensively inept Vikings with Tavaris Jackson and a Giants team minus Plaxico. Come to think of it, the Steelers might have some trouble with Arizona. The Steelers have looked great on defense when playing against offensively challenged teams like the Ravens, but really Phillip Rivers put up numbers on them without a viable running game or especially good WRs.

This game reminds me a lot of the 1979 season's Super Bowl with a 12-4 Steelers team going against an NFC West opponent with a 9-7 record (Rams then, Cardinals now). I didn't have either of these teams winning today, but this actually is an interesting game. But in the end this game should go much like that game did, with the underdogs playing hard for 3 quarters until reality sets in. I'll even take the same exact score: 31-19 Steelers.

RVD wouldn't have given up the TV belt though. Bear in mind he had the TV and tag belts at the same time and was fine with defending both. It was in his whole character to want both the world title and TV belt. So he would have needed to lose the TV at some point. Maybe he could win the world title and then Lynn could finally beat him for the TV? But why would Lynn want a TV title shot instead of a world title shot? I know! RVD must defend both belts in one night. He loses the TV title to Lynn early in a show, but then comes back to retain the world title in a main event against Lance Storm or whomever.

I just got the graphic novel this week since I wanted to read it before seeing the movie. Wow, if this isn't screwed up it could end up being the Citizen Kane of comic book movies. I have no idea how they will handle the disturbing ending though, since it will either be very upsetting or seem like a copout.

To clarify my position on the Fingerpoke....of course it was terrible. I was incredibly pissed off when it happened. In fact I recall reading on Scoops weeks before Starrcade 98 that they might do such an angle and dismissed it, feeling no one would be that stupid. I'm just saying that they could have minimized the damage done. As in Nash's main event career would be over, but they could at least go with Goldberg trying to challenge the NWO to get to Hogan. That aspect was a decent idea, they just tried to get to that point in the worst way imaginable.

Meeks has just recently started this barrage, as in this year. He was hurt most of last year, so perhaps NBA scouts want to see a bit more of a body of work. Still, if he comes out surely he would get drafted with the kind of crazy numbers he's putting up. U of L 69, Pitt 63. Man, I was going nuts over that one, as in "Man, we can't beat these guys....oh, wait maybe we can....crap, they stopped our run....yes, we've got em!" Now it's the Cards and Marquette at the top of the Big East. Two C-USA teams left unbeaten in the Big East, who would believe that?