cabbageboy

The Saints have 8 dates a year that people have to show up and fill the stands in New Orleans. It's much easier to figure out a deal to keep them over the Hornets. The Hornets have never made a lick of sense being in New Orleans, so if they left to become the new Sonics that's fine. Those who care that much about the NBA in the city can follow the Thunder, much like the OK City fans followed the Hornets.

This Dreamer angle has to be leading somewhere, at least I hope so. As in he'll keep losing until June comes and then whoever the champ is (Swagger?) will jokingly take pity and give him a title shot when his contract is almost up. Then somehow, some way Dreamer will pull out a fluke win. Sure, he can lose the title back almost immediately, but could at least keep his career.

As a stand alone series it's pretty much over. However, if Fox and Warners could work out a deal I'd love to see a Die Hard meets Lethal Weapon crossover with McClane back in L.A. (or maybe Riggs and Murtaugh go to NYC). Given Gibson's anti Semetic rant the ending of Lethal Weapon 4 is hilarious to watch now, with the Rabbi marrying them and all.

It's quite bewildering that some hoops fans downplayed that Dyson injury. That seriously hurt UConn tonight combined with Blair making Thabeet look like a bitch out there. I thought about that potential big man matchup a few weeks ago when UConn trashed U of L, desperately wishing the Cardinals had some big mofo to knock Thabeet around. Blair is the sort that will knock Thabeet down, rough him up, put an armbar on him. Once someone stood up to Thabeet, he lost interest.

1988 was the first full year I actually watched wrestling so by no means is it the worst. The AWA was actually pretty fun if you were watching from a Memphis point of view, which in my area was the case. Got the full effect of Lawler's title win and so forth. Besides in 1988 we had the first ever Royal Rumble, the first SummerSlam, first Clash of the Champions, and so on. The Main Event in Feb. 1988 drew the biggest TV ratings of any wrestling show ever. Kahran, you do have a bit of a point. Some of that WCW stuff with the Dungeon of Doom was comically bad in 1995. It's hard to compare it to 2007 though, since 1995 was more the feeling that the industry was just in horrible shape and needed to do something to improve business. 2007 was more about one twisted individual losing it and souring fans on the product.

Agreed, Piper's promo was a highlight of the show and has me intrigued as to where this is definitively going with Jericho. Ditto HBK/JBL to get to the Taker next week, though they almost have to go with Shawn here. They can't tease Michaels/UT for WM and then not deliver. As far as HHH vs. Orton goes....why would this be so awesome? It's not like we haven't seen these guys feud ad nauseum over the years and I would be hard pressed to think of one above average match they've had. As absurd of a WM main event as Edge/Orton would be, they at least had one excellent Raw match in 2007. That's the comical aspect of this entire storyline on Raw. Orton can put together a wimpy heel faction, win the Rumble, attack Vince, Steph, Shane, etc. But at the end of the day when it comes down to it, he's just going to lose to HHH.

TNA really needs to get out of Orlando and take the show around the country. Or at least around a regional area in the south. Just something besides that same stale arena with annoying fans. Then they can create some buzz if the shows are good. As far as the comparisons to WCW go, bear in mind WCW was tanking horribly well before Russo ever signed. There's a reason why WCW wanted Russo so bad...they sucked.

Wow, certainly a wild and unpredictable PPV. I should have known something was up when the obvious main event (SD EC match) went on first, but I attributed that for a while as them just having that much of a Cena fetish so he had to main event. I actually thought maybe Edge had an injury that no one knew about and thus he had to lose quickly. That was a great opener though, unexpected and interesting aside from the slightly boring Show/Kozlov beating of poor Jeff. The amusing aspect of people joking about Edge vs. Orton being impossible is that the two had a damn good match on Raw in early 2007. That match was easily better than any match Orton has had with HHH, and probably better than most of the matches Edge has had with Cena. But when it comes down to it, what did they really set up tonight? Orton vs. HHH for the 100th time? Cena vs. Edge for the 100th time? The first seems inevitable, but the latter match doesn't actually make much sense considering Cena really wasn't screwed out of the title tonight per se (Jericho and Rey hit finishers on him so he was likely toast regardless). I can see a brief Edge/Kofi feud coming of this, with Rey as well waiting. Those are the two guys Edge royally screwed tonight. JBL/HBK was a boring match until the fun finish, though after all they hype about a DQ does anyone else wonder if JBL will mention that Rebecca slapped him and caused a momentum shift in the match and thus Michaels should have been DQ'd.

The problem with The International is that the trailer makes it clear this is an Evil Bank that is killing people. With all the trouble going on with the economy who wants to see a movie with a premise like that? Wow, Taken is doing tremendous business. A 6% drop off is a great number for a movie that has been out 3 weeks now.

Dama, I'll give it up for OU this year. They've been really top notch and the Big 12 is a bit better than people realize. Kansas has been strong even in a rebuilding year and Mizzou could be a real dark horse. It's really just Texas that is underwhelming. As far as Player of the Year goes though, I'd have to say Jodie Meeks. Maybe it's seeing UK's games locally but this guy is just awesome. Minus Patterson yesterday UK still beat Arkansas by 16 on the road with Meeks going for 45. Without Meeks UK wouldn't beat anyone at all.

I'd be willing to bet that Angle/Owen wasn't anything amazing. I saw Angle face one of the Headbangers in July 1999 at a Raw dark match and it was a typical non televised bout. Check out these results from another show I went to, not the first but it was a Raw taping in 1995. Note that Bret and Shawn TEAMED on this show. WWF @ Louisville, KY - Louisville Gardens - July 24, 1995 (4,181) Monday Night Raw taping: Bam Bam Bigelow defeated Tatanka in a strap match The Undertaker defeated Kama in a casket match WWF IC Champion Shawn Michaels & Bret Hart defeated Jacob & Eli Blu when Bret applied the Sharpshooter for the submission win WWF World Champion Diesel pinned Psycho Sid (w/ Ted Dibiase) in a steel cage match 7/24/95 - featured the first in a series of vignettes promoting the debut of Goldust: WWF IC Champion Shawn Michaels pinned Jimmy Del Ray (w/ Jim Cornette) in a non-title match with the superkick at 5:23; after the bout, Michaels teased stripping in the ring The Smoking Gunns defeated John Faulkner & Rick Stockhauser Waylon Mercy defeated Gary Scott via submission with a sleeper at 2:01 Bret Hart defeated Hakushi (w/ Shinja) via submission with the Sharpshooter at 9:21 after hitting a superplex; after the bout, Bret hit a piledriver on Shinja (Shinja's last TV appearance) 7/31/95 – included Jerry Lawler interviewing Shawn Michaels, with Michaels backstage and appearing on the big screen, in which Michaels challenged Lawler to a match but Lawler hid behind his commentary job as an excuse not to accept the match: King Mabel (w/ Sir Mo) pinned Nick Barberry at 3:12 with a belly to belly suplex Bam Bam Bigelow pinned Bob Cook at 3:21; after the bout, Dean Douglas critiqued Bigelow’s performance in the Report Card Skip (w/ Sunny) pinned Major Yates at 2:20 with a superplex; during the bout, it was announced that Skip would meet Shawn Michaels on the coming week’s edition of Superstars Razor Ramon & Savio Vega defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Owen Hart & Yokozuna (w/ Mr. Fuji & Jim Cornette) via count-out; the finish of the bout was not televised, rather the show went off the air as Razor had Owen up for the Razor's Edge; the challengers originally won the match and titles at 8:45 when Razor pinned Owen with the Razor’s Edge but the bout continued due to Owen being the illegal man in the ring 8/7/95 – included an Isaac Yankem vignette; featured the announcement that WWF President Gorilla Monsoon allowed Jerry Lawler a title shot against WWF IC Champion Shawn Michaels for the following week; included a Goldust vignette: WWF Tag Team Champions Owen Hart & Yokozuna (w/ Mr. Fuji & Jim Cornette) defeated Razor Ramon & Savio Vega at 14:25 when Yoko pinned Savio with a Samoan Drop and legdrop as Razor and Owen fought on the floor; during the bout, it was announced that new WWF President Gorilla Monsoon changed the scheduled Shawn Michaels vs. Psycho Sid match at Summer Slam to Michaels vs. Razor Ramon in a ladder match; after the bout, Dean Douglas graded Razor & Savio’s performance in the Report Card Fatu pinned Tony DeVito at 2:44 with a splash off the top Kama (w/ Ted Dibiase) defeated Tony Haste via submission with an arm bar at 1:24; during the bout, Psycho Sid called in to comment on being taken out of his match with Shawn Michaels at Summer Slam WWF World Champion Diesel pinned Sir Mo with the powerbomb in a non-title match at 8:48; after the match, Shawn Michaels and King Mabel – who came ringside mid-way through the match – involved themselves in the altercation, with Mabel ramming Michaels back-first into the ring post as Jerry Lawler - Michaels' opponent for the following week - looked on from the announce table

Predictions: Elimination Chamber for the World Heavyweight Championship: John Cena © vs. Chris Jericho vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Kane vs. Mike Knox vs. Kofi Kingston This match is the closest thing to filler an EC match has ever been. The one guy anyone would buy at all winning the title is Jericho and he's got this Flair/Rourke thing going. Cena will retain, though who he faces at WM is yet to be determined. Elimination Chamber for the WWE Championship: Edge © vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Triple H vs. The Big Show vs. Vald Kozlov vs. The Undertaker This is a much tougher call. The odds of both champs retaining are slim it would seem, so that would indicate a title change. Putting it on Show makes no sense and wouldn't be any good. Kozlov...bleh. Jeff is feuding with Matt, so no. UT just doesn't feel like a guy who goes to WM with the belt. So that leaves HHH. ECW Championship: Jack Swagger © vs. Finlay This match is mostly on the card to feature Swagger. He'll win clean and Christian likely will at least show up to do something just to let people know he is in fact back. "All or Nothing" Freedom vs. Paid Slavery match: Shawn Michaels vs. JBL There is a school of thought that JBL should win here and HBK will win a final blowoff at WM, but it doesn't make much sense to do this match now and then again at WM. WWE, do the logical thing here and simply let Michaels win and celebrate with his wife, then go on to face Taker at WM. No-Holds Barred Match: Randy Orton vs. Shane McMahon Whoever loses, I win. Obviously Orton needs to go over here and Shane will take some sort of sick bump. Some may ponder a Steph heel turn but if she joins Legacy what exactly does that even mean? As in where do they go with it? Would Orton be nailing her or would it be another lame Jericho 2002 "We're business associates" angle? It's easier to let Orton smear Shane, Steph freaks out and HHH comes to her aid.

The problem is TNA is such a scorched earth talent wise that it's hard to know where to begin if you're a new booker. As I mentioned earlier in the thread, TNA has to find someone that isn't totally buried among the younger guys and pull the trigger. Hernandez struck me as someone that hasn't lost a ton of matches or been in a dumb angle lately, so go with him.

I don't see how he was buried all that bad. It was an odd way to do it if that was the case. Sure, he had the polka dots and was a goof but they put him over HTM, Savage, Bossman, etc. This wasn't a case like DDP where he was totally buried and humiliated, did a terrible gimmick as a stalker, lost to Taker's wife.

Mellow, I marked out big time for Jannetty when he came back at that Oct. TV taping. Had no idea he was going to be there.

I've mentioned this before in another thread, but check out the first show I went to in Oct. 1992. It was literally the night after Shawn beat the Bulldog for the IC title and it shocked me to find he was the new IC champ. WWF @ Louisville, KY - Louisville Gardens - October 28, 1992 (4,500; sell out) Wrestling Challenge taping: In a segment which was only televised on USWA TV in Feb. 1993, Howard Finkel attempted to introduce Kamala but was yelled at by Harvey Whippleman, with Kamala chopping Finkel and splashing him twice; Finkel was then taken from ringside on a stretcher and twice fell off it Nailz defeated the Big Bossman Herman the German defeated Louie Spicolli Jim Powers defeated Brian Lee Razor Ramon defeated Mark Morgan The Berzerker pinned John Paul Papa Shango defeated Jim Powers Jeff Jarrett defeated Rick Martel (sub. for the Mountie) Davey Boy Smith defeated Barry Horowitz Davey Boy Smith defeated the Berzerker Terry Taylor defeated Jim Brunzell Razor Ramon defeated Randy Savage via count-out Crush defeated Kevin Krueger via submission with the head vice Marty Jannetty defeated Spike Jones Rick Martel defeated Gary Jackson WWF World Champion Bret Hart pinned Kamala (w/ Harvey Wippleman & Kimchee) with a roll up at 8:50 after the challenger accidentally knocked Kimchee off the ring apron; after the bout, Wippleman & Kimchee held Hart down for Kamala to splash the champion but Hart pulled Wippleman into the splash and then clotheslined Kamala to the floor (Smack'em Whack'em) The Ultimate Warrior pinned Nailz (sub. for Ric Flair) Prime Time Wrestling - 11/30/92: Tatanka defeated Papa Shango via disqualification at 5:54 after Shango attempted to use his voodoo stick to shoot Tatanka in the face with (UK Fan Favorites 93) Prime Time Wrestling - 11/30/92: WWF IC Champion Shawn Michaels pinned Virgil at 7:09 with the side suplex after the challenger hit the corner knee-first (Bashed in the USA, Wrestlefest 93, Best of the WWF: Battle of the WWF Superstars) Prime Time Wrestling - 11/30/92: Yokozuna (w/ Mr. Fuji) pinned Mitch Bishop with the Bonzai Drop Prime Time Wrestling - 12/7/92: Bob Backlund pinned Repo Man at 5:20 with a roll up into a bridge Prime Time Wrestling - 12/14/92: Lance Cassidy pinned Skinner at 5:29 with a clothesline off the top 11/22/92 - included an opening segment showing footage from the previous Monday's Prime Time Wrestling of Randy Savage choosing Mr. Perfect to be his new partner at the Survivor Series, replacing the Ultimate Warrior, with Gene Okerlund then interviewing both men to discuss the match; featured a 'Special Report' segment focusing on new WWF IC Champion Shawn Michaels; included footage of the Undertaker and Paul Bearer in their workshop, showing the completed casket to be used for Kamala at the Survivor Series, with Okerlund then interviewing Kamala, Harvey Whippleman, and Kimchee about the match; featured the announcement High Energy vs. the Headshrinkers and Yokozuna vs. Virgil would take place at the Survivor Series: Jerry Saggs pinned Beau Beverly (w/ the Genius) at 4:39 with the flying elbowsmash; after the bout, Saggs attacked the Genius and gave him the pit stop in the ring The Berzerker (w/ Mr. Fuji) pinned John Paul at 2:46 after picking his opponent up and dropping him to the mat; during the bout, Doink the Clown was shown in the audience Bob Backlund pinned Brian Costello at 2:44 with a three-quarter nelson Nailz defeated Gary Jackson via submission at 2:25 with a choke Tatanka pinned Tom Stone at 2:38 with the Samoan Drop 11/29/92 - featured Gene Okerlund conducting a podium interview with WWF IC Champion Shawn Michaels regarding Marty Jannetty, with Michaels noting Jannetty intentionally hit Sensational Sherri with his full length mirror a few weeks ago; Michaels then said he would get in touch with Sherri soon when he gets a chance; included a 'Special Report' segment showing footage of Ric Flair & Razor Ramon leaving the Richfield Coliseum after Survivor Series, with both men cutting a promo on Mr. Perfect; featured a promo from Reverend Slick: WWF Tag Team Champions Ted Dibiase & IRS (w/ Jimmy Hart) defeated Rock Werner & George Anderson at 2:11 when IRS pinned Werner with the Write Off clothesline Papa Shango pinned Jim Powers at 2:59 with the reverse shoulderbreaker; after the bout, Doink the Clown was shown in the audience Crush defeated Brian Costello via submission with the head vice at 2:34 Yokozuna (w/ Mr. Fuji) pinned Buck Zumhoff at 1:55 with the Bonzai Drop Lance Cassidy pinned the Brooklyn Brawler at 3:08 with a clothesline off the top Max Moon pinned WT Jones at 2:15 with a reverse crossbody off the top Razor Ramon pinned Mark Morgan at 2:26 with the Razor's Edge 12/6/92 - featured an opening segment showing highlights of WWF World Champion Bret Hart's recent title defences against the Berzerker, Papa Shango, and Virgil; included Gene Okerlund conducting an interview with Ric Flair in a restaurant in which Flair discussed his plans to regain the WWF World Title from Hart; included the Bam Bam Bigelow / Jerry Fox match from the previous week's WWF Superstars, shown in full; featured a promo from Reverend Slick; included a vignette, originally aired in 1988, showing Mr. Perfect playing different sports: Crush defeated Kevin Kruger via submission at 2:06 with the head vice The Headshrinkers (w/ Afa) defeated Dan Robbins & John Lars at 2:48 when Robbins submitted to Samu's modified STF following a double Russian legsweep; during the bout, Doink the Clown was shown in the audience Virgil pinned Mike Kramer at 1:53 with a reverse Russian leg sweep Damien Demento pinned Jim Brunzell at 1:55 with a kneedrop Marty Jannetty pinned Spike Jones at 2:27 with the flying fistdrop Rick Martel defeated Gary Jackson via submission at 2:22 with the Boston Crab; during the bout, Doink the Clown was shown in the entranceway

SD is so much better than Raw right now it's not even funny. All the guys tonight in the EC match were hyped as having a shot at winning it (okay maybe not Kozlov). Compare that to Raw where that EC match is booked basically as "John Cena and the 5 Jabronis." I honestly don't know who is going to win this match.

In regards to Hernandez I thought Foley reinstated his title shot due to the bogus way it all went down? Or am I imagining things?

TNA has problems in terms of pushing too many old guys and not building their own stars up, but is this really something that will bankrupt them? Perhaps in a few years, maybe 2011 or so. And really who is to say that some other rich guy or company won't put money into TNA if Panda drops them. Losing Spike TV would be a much bigger problem. That's what TNA needs to do, keep Spike happy.

Perhaps Homicide is waiting until that Ultimate X match is over to cash in and get the title? As far as this show goes....it will the typical TNA silliness. It moves fast and is amusing enough while it lasts, but it's hard to really retain much of it the next day.

Yeah do we really need another Rock/Austin match at WM? Weren't the previous three sufficient? In fact Austin wrestling anyone really won't be productive since he does nothing but attack people, bury opponents, and certainly won't do the job. Seriously, I can't imagine Austin putting over Orton at a WM in Texas.

The thing is Roode has basically proven to be, well, a tag wrestler. His singles work is average at best and awful at its worst (Eric Young feud anyone?). He's perfect for the role he's in now, since his size and ability quite honestly aren't main event stuff.

TNA has so utterly buried everyone aside from the ultra top level guys that they may never recover. After all the stuff Samoa Joe has been through I asked myself "Do I want to see this guy get revenge on Kevin Nash or Steiner?" And the answer comes back "Nah, not really." I still don't know what Styles is doing on the show other than dick around with Booker over a quite literally useless belt. In regards to PPVs, TNA reminds me a lot of the WWF circa 1995-97. They have a few PPVs that stand out as the main shows like Lockdown, Slammiversary, Bound For Glory, and maybe something else I'm forgetting. Say what you will about Dusty Rhodes but at least he gets the notion that you need to build to some key shows to blow off vicious feuds. The rest of these PPVs are essentially filler with 6 man tags and aimless stuff underneath. It's like the old IYH shows that you could just skip, knowing nothing useful would be on the PPV. TNA's most unsettling aspect though? The old guys are actually LESS stale than the younger guys they should be trying to get over. In all the time I've watched wrestling I've never seen something else remotely like this. In WCW you could at least think that the NWO guys or the old guys were stale as hell and needed to move aside for the younger wrestlers. In this case however the younger guys have been there longer than the MEM and are the ones who are stale. Someone like AJ Styles is in a real bind: He can either stay in TNA and be stale as hell, or he can go to WWE and be a redneck comedy act like Jamie Noble. Samoa Joe can stay in TNA and be buried...or he could go to WWE and be another Samoan savage gimmick (actually that might be a step up). Guys like Abyss and have long since worn out their welcome, which is why it baffles me that TNA would job out a potential rising star like Matt Morgan to the played out Abyss. Jay Lethal was fun for quite a long time as Black Machismo, but after a point a guy doing a silly comedy tribute wears thin. Sonjay Dutt is drifting along aimless, the whole Machismo/So Cal Val angle basically killing his heat. Right now TNA needs to take a chance on someone and go with it. Hernandez has a Feast or Fired shot, so the hell with it. Have him cash in with a serious match vs. Sting and beat the piss out of the icon and leave him laying with a Border Toss, then have Sting put him over on the mic as being the younger and better man. Pull the trigger on SOMEONE. Create a star instead of signing washed up old ones. And if guys like Angle, Nash, etc. don't want to play ball to get someone over, send them packing.

TNT was one of those shows that got better the more I watched it. When I first saw it the reaction was like "A talk show with wrestlers...ugh." But then I watched more and it was a lot of fun since you get to see different sides of these guys in unscripted segments (or at least only moderately scripted bits). The heels got cheered because they showed a different side than they would in a typical promo. Sure, Sheik was from Iran but if you watch these interviews how can anyone hate the guy? Or Volkoff either? They were so goofy and ingratiating that I doubt I'd ever boo them after seeing this stuff.

Dear God that was just awful tonight. That game was the perfect storm of crap. All year U of L has gotten by with stellar D and zero offense, but tonight was the typical hideous shooting effort combined with ND just going nuts and hitting everything. Bottom line is this: The next two games are must wins (DePaul and Providence). Losing either at home is scary indeed.