cabbageboy

Yeah but we all know what they're liable to panic and book next week: UT vs. Batista, either Batista wins and is beat to hell, or UT somehow retains....then Kennedy comes out and cashes in his MITB and wins. If Kennedy actually does wait till WM to cash it in is there some chance he might do a face turn? It's just kind of a weird dynamic having a guy that's a heel cashing in his MITB at WM and building to some sort of cathartic title win. As last night's show illustrated Kennedy could be an amusing vulnerable champion, since he really doesn't have that much credibility and has lost a few times to Matt Hardy. That would be a silly world title feud though quite honestly, because nobody in their right mind would think they'd put the title on Matt. Not to mention it'd make the SD world title look even more B list than it already is.

Yeah in all fairness to Muraco most people didn't really watch WWF until well after he had lost the belt. And to be honest, Muraco's most well known stuff isn't really his IC title reign (it'd have to be the silly skits with Fuji, haha). The Snuka feud, Morales, etc. It's just that most people aren't that aware of his work, and frankly from what I've seen a lot of his matches are a bit plodding.

I don't recall Angle ever getting the guys together and saying "Hey look, I'm the leader and best chance of unseating Christian, so let me take the pin." It's his own fault anyway. If he desperately wanted to win, why would he leave the cage and dick around with AJ on the top of the cage? He can't exactly win up there and there's a good chance a pin could occur while he's up there. What IS Angle? Is TNA trying to invent some new type of character with him? He's not a face exactly, but he's feuding with the heels. And he's not really a tweener either.

Phoenix 100% must win that series. It's not that I even necessarily think they will win, but as someone who has followed the Suns for about 15 years I'm sick of them having playoff meltdowns. Predictions: Phoenix over San Antonio (4-3). It'll take every bit of 7 games, but the Suns have to break through eventually. Detroit over Chicago (4-2). The Bulls are improving and might contend seriously next year, but I can't see them winning this series. Cleveland over New Jersey (4-2). The Nets are an unpleasant reminder of the East at its absolute 2002-03 nadir. If they somehow won this series it'd only produce a crap Eastern finals, since either Detroit or Chicago would own them. I'm not sure yet regarding Golden St.'s series. If they play Houston I think the Rockets will that series in 5 or 6, but if they play Utah I think Golden St. wins in 7.

The odd thing about wasting Venom here is that Venom is probably the only character in the Spidey series that you could feasibly do a spinoff movie with. From what I'm hearing it sounds like he's used worse here than Bane was in Batman and Robin. I say this because Bane was more plot device than interesting character in the Batman books, and he really had no lasting impact once the Knightfall storyline was over. Venom however? He's a very popular character, actually has a bit of depth to him (as in he's heelish but in his own conflicted mind believes he's the hero), and looks cool as hell. At the least he's worth being a main heel in a Spider-Man movie.

Here is what I don't get about this main event angle. Why are we supposed to go along with this notion that Angle has been screwed out of a title shot in some way? He whines about it, Christian agrees with him, the announcers put this over. But why? Angle did jack shit at that PPV to earn a title shot. Sting and Jarrett were the only guys in the ring to win the match, while Angle was busy knocking Styles off the cage. My point is that I don't see where Angle has a beef, or why anyone should agree with him. If Angle had been in the ring, Jarrett uses the guitar, Angle goes for a cover, but then Sting tosses him and takes the pin...then Angle might have a point. Angle is becoming almost Ortonesque in his ability to annoy everyone and place himself in main event angles where he isn't wanted.

Jason, thing is with a typical comic you can just skim the Peter/Mary Jane stuff if it's boring and get to the Doc Ock stuff you care about. Sitting in the theater though? You gotta put up with it. It's like the anti Batman series, which focus entirely too much on the heels and Batman is the afterthought. There are a select few superhero movies that strike the right balance of hero development and villains. Batman Begins is good in that regard, X2, etc.

Thing is, it's just the friggin Sandman. Thomas Haden Church may well be great in it and they might do the character as well as possible, but the dude is still a 3rd tier jobber heel. It'd be like having The Shocker or something. Or Scorpion. Honestly I thought Venom would be THE major villain in a movie since he's such a great character. Bah. I'll still go see it, but I'm going in with crossed fingers. Arnold was hilarious as Mr. Freeze by the way. I mean yeah the way it was written was horrible and completely opposite of the way Freeze is, but Arnold was doing his best.

Hang on, which Knicks/Heat series are we talking about here? I was referring more to the 1999 series that the Knicks won that was the 1/8 matchup, but really seemed like a fairly even matchup to me. It wasn't as notable as either the 1997 series or 1998 though. The 1997 series is what everyone is mentioning here, that had the huge brawl with the Knicks getting suspended while up 3-1. The 1998 series had Alonzo kicking the crap out of Van Gundy, haha.

I'll probably go see this over the weekend, likely on Sunday since Saturday is Derby Day here. I have to admit I'm not especially looking forward to it, since I guess I'm one of maybe 10 people who didn't care for Spider-Man 2 much at all (can someone explain why it's supposed to be so much better than #1, cause I just don't see it). From reading this it sounds like they waste Venom here to push The Sandman?? What the hell is Raimi thinking? Maybe it'll turn out to be good, but the villain rally aspect is starting to seem a bit like the Batman sequels or perhaps the various Universal horror movies of the 40s that had all the major characters, although I like most of those Universal movies anyway.

It's hard to really call this a shocking series, despite the records. It's actually pretty disturbing in the grand scheme of the playoffs now because at this point someone fairly mediocre is going to get to the conf. finals. The Warriors may well have a shot at winning the next round too, since neither Houston or Utah have shown much resembling decent play in this series. You know a series is a clunker when it's going 7 games and no one has scored 100 the entire series. Congrats to the Warriors though. They played their asses off in this series and Dallas flat out didn't bother to show up. Is this the biggest upset in NBA history though? I don't know. It's not like Golden St. didn't own Dallas in the reg. season, or the Mavs former coach wasn't now with Golden St. and had their number. I'd probably rank it #2 behind Seattle/Denver in 1994, since that was the first time a 1 seed lost to an 8. I never thought the Knicks over the Heat in 1999 was a big upset though. It was a lockout year and let's face it, it's the Knicks and Heat doing their usual brawl.

Oh hell I got Last Boy Scout soon after that but had to order from Amazon. As usual I couldn't find it anywhere when I WANTED the movie, but once I got it I found it at every store. And yeah, I knew Scarface (1932) was out with that box set but I meant as a solo release it's coming out May 22. I'm glad since it's such a great movie and deserves its own separate release. My comment on Citizen Kane brought on some interesting comments. And truth be told, I agree (I just mentioned some all time classic movie, tossing a title out there). I've honestly never really found the characters or story very compelling. Taking a look at that IMDB top 250 I can make a case for a lot of this stuff being overrated. I enjoy The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly as much as the next guy, but is it honestly the 4th best movie of all time? Or on the Leone front, I don't think I'd put Once Upon a Time in the West as high as it is either (#21). Again, this isn't to say I don't think those are good movies, but it's kind of deranged that revisionist spaghetti westerns with dubbed voices are ahead of the best John Wayne westerns (Searchers, Red River, etc.).

How could I not remember to list Lost in Translation? Here is one that also might piss people off: Shawshank Redemption. This is because I consider it a bit overrated. I even think it's a good movie, but I think people have gone off the deep end regarding this flick. On imdb.com it is #2 of all time. I mean shit is there anyone who actually thinks The Shawshank Redemption is the 2nd best movie ever made? I mean if it was in the top 250 somewhere that would be fine, like maybe #134 or something with an 8.2 rating. But #2? That is supposed to be where stuff like Citizen Kane, Casablanca, and Godfather reside.

If anything I'd consider HTM one of the worst IC champs ever. I suppose his reign was a draw on a certain lesser level, but the guy had no good matches and retained 95% of the time by getting DQed or counted out. You can pick most anyone out of the usual suspects here: 1. Savage 2. Bret 3. Razor Ramon 4. Hennig 5. Warrior. I can't in good conscience put Shawn on this list. Frankly the guy never jobbed the belt in the ring, being stripped of it in late 1993, being stripped of it again in 1995, etc. Some guys like Jericho and RVD had an insane amount of IC title wins, but it's hard to pinpoint a real good single run with the belt (and in RVD's case he is more known for another secondary title run with the ECW TV title). Other's like Orton had a pointless run with the IC that meant nothing and only served as a prop for a feud that required no belt (like the Foley feud). I don't recall hardly any defenses Orton had aside from against Foley. The Rock as well...mostly had a series of goofy Dusty Finish type matches vs. Shamrock while IC champ.

The Pacino Scarface is also a lesser remake of an actual classic (which is coming out on DVD on the 22nd at long last). Speaking of Scarface one of the moments that foreshadowed the demise of Suncoast to me was when I went there asking for The Last Boy Scout and they didn't have it. Then the idiot employee stated "Yeah we don't have that many old movies. People come in sometimes asking for the original Scarface with Al Pacino, but we don't have it." After that statement I felt like never going into a Suncoast again. Wanna know overrated? How about The Exorcist? I have never found that movie scary in the least, in fact I find it comically bad. And the stuff that doesn't involve the actual exorcism and Linda Blair being crazy is a crashing bore. I'm bound to get some shit over this but I have never especially cared for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Around the time where Jim Carrey starts trying to hide from the procedure I stopped caring.

Thing is, the current US title is certainly not the same thing as the real US title. I'm a bit iffy on even counting the goofy 2001 US title stuff in the WWF, since Kanyon was awarded the belt for no good reason and its lineage was finished once they did the US vs. IC title match at Survivor Series 2001. The 2003 tourney that Eddie won was for a totally new belt in my opinion. As far as the IC title goes, it was killed off during the Katie Vick fiasco since that Kane vs. HHH match was IC vs. World title and the IC was unified with the World title. So the battle royale for it in 2003 was to me also for a totally new belt with no real ties to the original lineage, other than being called the IC title. Here's one thing about the WWE and World titles. The WWE title on Raw is never referred to as being the "Unified" or "Undisputed" title anymore. That would imply that the World title on SD (originally on Raw in 2002) is the same belt as the one the Rock held in 2001 and that the unification was separated once Lesnar left Raw. Another thing to ponder is this. Will anyone who held the ECW title in 2006-07 be considered an actual world champion when all is said and done? I personally think it'll be considered something phony along the lines of the WCW International World title in 1993-94. So really Rob Van Dam will always be considered a former WWE champion, but to me never really held the REAL ECW belt. This is headache inducing.

This may not really fit the topic quite right, but am I the only one who thinks Spider-Man 1 is a lot better than Spider-Man 2? I think the first film does a much better job balancing out the Peter Parker stuff with Spidey and the Goblin, and keeps a brisk pace throughout. The 2nd movie is wildly praised but I don't get it. It's way too maudlin and focuses too much on the Peter/Mary Jane crap for my taste, has entirely too much preachy stuff about being a hero, and Doc Ock is treated as an after thought for much of the film. The movie's focus should be Spider-Man stopping Doc Ock with the sideplot of his personal life. It should NOT be his personal life and romance bullshit first, then his actual crime fighting 2nd. X2...now there's a sequel that does improve on a fairly solid original.

Am I the only one who finds those Florida shows to be dull as dishwater, despite Mike Graham's hyperbole? It doesn't help that they are shown totally out of order, skipping from 1985 to 83, to 82 with no rhyme or reason. If Kevin Sullivan isn't out doing his rambling satanist interviews that show is pretty boring. Definitely the weakest old show on there when you compare to old NWA, WCCW, the MNW shows, Prime Time. Where's the AWA lately?

Blake: The Great White Hope. Can't help but think he might win this thing, or at the very least make the finals and lose to Melinda perhaps. These black chicks will all be fighting for that same piece of the pie.

It's funny people mention Airheads. I think that movie didn't do especially well since it was a very pro metal or 80s rock type movie (the various Van Halen, Lemmy stuff that was mentioned for instance) but was made in 1994 when rock music was more about grunge and punk. It was made roughly 5 years too late. I mean Brendan Fraser was trying to get his cheesy metal band signed circa 1994?? Good luck pal. With Metallica well between albums at that point the only mainstream metal band I can recall was Pantera. Maybe Megadeth too I guess. Now, End of Days. I had one major problem with this movie. Why exactly did Satan adhere to this prophecy about getting a bride at a certain time, place, etc.? The dude is SATAN for crying out loud. Wouldn't Satan just say "Fuck this, I'll get a bride whenever I want one."

Man I was so going to mention Batman and Robin but was beaten to it. Anyway, that is a movie that I hated at the time for the various reasons anyone can surmise, but strangely enough I can watch that damn thing almost any time nowdays. I think I am amused mostly because of Arnold in it. He was the right choice for Mr. Freeze, but the role was written so horribly that it's beyond comprehension (to be honest, even in the cartoons Freeze is a bit of a one dimensional heel, every show was him doing crimes for his comotose wife). Arnold had so many hysterically awful one liners about ice that I can't help but watch and revel in the crappiness. Who else could ever get away with saying "GO! Kill the heroes!" without a hint of irony? One point of contention was the portrayal of Bane, and it's certainly true. That said, Bane is pretty much a juiced up bitch and in Knightfall once Azrael/Batman cut his venom tubes he was a total punk. Nobody wants to admit this but it's really The Joker and Scarecrow that carry the villain side in Knightfall. Bane and his gang are really not all that interesting, they merely set the story in motion and watch it unfold. Batman Forever though? Ugh. I almost prefer B & R to it now, which is odd because I remember quite enjoying this one at the time. Time has certainly not been kind to it though, especially the horrendous villain performances from Carrey and Jones. The Riddler's origin was okay enough in the movie, but Two Face has such a great origin tale and yet none of it is ever delved into. Two Face is probably the worst villain in the entire series, which is sad since Tommy Lee Jones would have been an ideal choice if the role had been written seriously. There are some positives in Forever I guess. I enjoyed (initially) the addition of Robin, and I've been a Kilmer fan for years. And what more needs to be said about Nicole Kidman in that movie? Top 5 in the world level hot.

I might consider voting for Revenge of the Taker, since I have never seen that PPV all the way through (just the UT/Mankind match from UT's DVD, which is an underrated, brutal classic). ONS 05 is the obvious winner though since they are doing that PPV in June, but hell I'd imagine everyone has that by now. SuperBrawl III was actually on 24/7 last year and I got a DVD recording of it so it's all good. That was a really good PPV too, and yes there was an SMW tag match with the RNR vs. The Heavenly Bodies.

Here's an odd idea: What if Kennedy wins the title somehow, but retains his MITB? Then at some point he might lose it but still have his iron clad rematch anytime he wanted. Or is that a bit convoluted?

I just watched Con Air last night. Seriously one of the guiltiest of all guilty pleasures and what a rogue's gallery of villains in it. How about virtually every Michael Bay movie from Bad Boys until Bad Boys 2? In regards to Costner's more dubious efforts, yeah I actually think stuff like Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and Waterworld are trashed for a reason. As in they really, really suck. Robin Hood is especially dreadful whenever Rickman isn't onscreen, and it reeks of all sorts of crappy early 90s political correctness that makes it a relic of that era (Morgan Freeman in medieval England....WTF? Little John's wife having a baby and then demanding to go out and fight). All that was missing was Will Scarlett giving a speech about protecting the trees in Sherwood Forest. Waterworld is mostly just a lame movie, and I still don't know why he had gills. I guess it has a couple of things going for it, like drinking the recycled piss. And Jeanne Tripplehorn is just all kinds of hot.

What makes any of you guys think there is some grand scheme with Vince vs. RVD that will last beyond RVD jobbing and being humiliated next week? Of course Van Dam will dominate most of the match...Vince has no real wrestling talent. In other words this angle will go down along with David Flair as US Champ in terms of being embarrassing. The absolute best case scenario for next week is the match not being Extreme Rules and everyone runs in for a DQ. The real reality here? Vince is likely thinking "Okay, pot head. You don't want to re-sign? Fine. Not only will I job you to guys like the New Breed that have zero credibility, but on the way out you can job to ME in an ECW title match!" The fact that Vince mentioned giving Lashley a rematch last night indicates that next week's RVD match is mainly to embarrass RVD in order to build to the Lashley rematch that few people want to see aside from WWE creative. I honestly don't think sending RVD home last July would have hurt his career at all. If anything he'd have been ultra fresh for TNA since he last would have been seen as a dual WWE/ECW champion and wouldn't have spent another year jobbing. I've never understood the notion of jobbing constantly while riding out a contract. It doesn't do anyone any good really, since fans know the guy is being jobbed out so the wins over him mean nothing, and it hurts the guy's value elsewhere since he's been jobbing. Taz was never quite the same after he dropped the ECW title and then spent his last few months in ECW jobbing to Sabu and RVD, Awesome, etc. But really, unless something major changes RVD isn't signing with WWE and from all accounts he turned down their "final offer." So next week I'd fully expect him to job to Vince, the Originals will get destroyed by Umaga, Shane, and Co., and Vince will all but piss on Van Dam in the center of the ring.