cabbageboy

It depends on what sort of 14-2 you are. I wouldn't say the 1998 Falcons had much pressure on them since nobody thought they had a hope in hell vs. Minnesota. That same year, let's say the Broncos were 16-0 instead of 14-2...I would think that would magnify the pressure to win it all. They lost a couple of games late in the season and then chilled out, refocused, and won the Super Bowl. The best example I can think of for something like this was UK basketball in 1996. Going into the SEC tourney they had something like a 29 game win streak going. They lost the SEC title game to Miss State (which most in this state believe Pitino deliberately tanked to make a point, and in part to get the huge win streak off their backs). The team refocused and won the national title. I guess there is a certain amount of playing the odds to it. The Patriots dodged a bullet in Indy, dodged a bullet vs. Philly, dodged a big one vs. the Ravens. It's hard to keep doing that.

Yeah, the Bearer stuff heats up a while later but it was puzzling because Bearer does his big promo saying UT killed his parents and that Kane was alive, etc. Then they just ignore this for quite a while due to the Bret/UT feud. In fact I thought originally that they were embarrassed about featuring death in an angle and just dropped the whole thing, but then Kane debuted and cost UT the HIAC match.

I grew up watching USWA/Memphis so of course I'm partial to Russell. Solie does bore the hell out of me though. Russell had a way of being serious but at certain points his vocal inflections would show a certain disdain for a heel's tactics, at times disappointment over someone betraying a tag partner, that sort of thing.

Pretty fun SD tonight. The Edge/Vicki videos were hilarious, as was the whole Noble/McCool date bit. Main event was decent enough as well.

KingPK, I don't think you totally get my point. I'm a believer in the notion that a late loss can shake a team back to reality and get them pissed and focused for the playoffs. It's harder to say that about the NFL since late season losses usually mean nothing since teams rest their starters. Lose one game and you're 15-1 and can simply go out and play football and think about the Super Bowl. Go 16-0 and the pressure to win is all the greater. You can only scrape by for so long.

Oddly enough Vince's best announcing was during the 1970s shows that I've seen on 24/7, where he was going it alone and was much more laid back.

Going 19-0 is so insanely difficult I don't even think a team should set it as a goal. In fact I might recommend the Patriots just rest some people against the Giants and go 15-1, but the dilemma is that they can't do it with such unreal history at stake. At 15-1 they would be a favored team going into the playoffs, but without the unbearable pressure of being 16-0.

Let me clarify the Orton draws X-Pac heat comment. I don't seem to notice Orton ever drawing much in the way of heat on shows at all. When he comes out, it's basically like hearing crickets chirp. He drew heat at times with Cena but that was all Cena and any jabroni could be in the ring with him. So what kind of heat is a guy drawing when he draws no real reactions of his own yet is pushed for whatever reason? Orton has had some good matches this year, like with Edge on Raw or the HHH LMS match. I even like the RVD stretcher match from ONS, though admittedly the finish was a bit silly. Orton almost has to be saved from himself though, cause when left to his own devices he regresses into his headlocks and bullshit.

Oh god, how can anyone miss Vince's announcing? He was such utter, utter complete shit. He was constantly over the top, didn't know any of the moves at all, had his awful phony laugh, did the same cliches like 1-2 he got him..oh wait, and so on. Note that as a show Raw never really became what it could be until he got out of the booth.

I knew that Pitt would stage a comeback when Duke was up big at the half. They are way too tough and physical to be blown out. I think Pitt decided enough of this actually playing basketball crap in the 2nd half....it's time to goon and be thugs again!

Burke just needs to change shows or do something else. Kenny is a problem however since he may never erase the stigma of being in the Spirit Squad. He really should have been yanked from TV for 6 months and then repackaged. I think UT wins the belt at WM from Edge, continues that feud for a while and then MVP will challenge for the world title once he jobs the US to Matt.

If there is one really notable problem I have with these 1997 Raw shows it's that UT is the world champ but for the most part feels like an afterthought. The whole show is Austin vs. the Harts with some HBK tossed in for no good reason. UT is the champ but his various feuds seem undercard.

WCW in 1997 was unbelievably bland and uninspiring. I honestly can't recall any of this stuff up until maybe Aug. 1997 when Luger beat Hogan and they did the last Clash show. WCW in 2000 is wildly insane and hilarious to watch, particularly everything from roughly April until October. In early 2000 WCW sucked really, really bad. And by late 2000 things were actually getting competent again and yet it was sorta sad since it was dying.

Well Orton draws X-Pac heat from me, which is why I mentioned it.

No. 17-1 with a loss to the Colts in the AFC title game. Though the more amusing scenario would be 18-1 with a loss to the Packers, preferrably with Favre throwing a last second TD to win 35-34.

Not only is Starrcade 98 a crappy show, it's also one that is infuriating. Goldberg losing his first match the way he did, Jericho jobbing to Konnan (at least then I knew he was leaving WCW), and especially Bischoff beating Flair under ANY circumstances. I still think WCW would be been okay had they simply put the belt back on Goldberg soon after. Even the Fingerpoke could have worked had they known what to do after it, namely have Goldberg steamroll through the NWO till he go to Hogan and then do the PPV match of it that they didn't do in 1998.

Wrestler of the year: John Cena. I simply can't think of anyone else to say, since almost everyone else missed a lot of time this year. Worst wrestler of the year: Snitsky. There isn't a guy who has had a more horrendously boring push than Snitsky despite not being even the slightest bit over. Most Improved Wrestler: MVP. Gotta be him really, everyone else I could say has shown flashes of brilliance in the past. Most Underachieving Wrestler: Kennedy. Should be a runaway winner here. The guy has blown so many chances, gotten hurt at the wrong time, and seemingly regressed as a worker. Best Tag Team: London and Kendrick. This is mostly for their first half of the year, since they've been largely buried since. Miz and Morrison might be 2nd but haven't teamed long enough. Worst Tag Team: Holly and Rhodes. I'm just not feeling these guys teaming at all. It might work if they gave it some actual time on Raw to develop, but as is it just isn't over. Best Heel: Edge. I could say Orton but I think he draws more of an actual hate or X-Pac type heat, whereas Edge draws good heel heat. Best Face: Jeff Hardy. He's really been the only consistently over guy on Raw all year. Best Diva: Beth Phoenix. Not sure of the criteria of this award, but since she has the women's title right now I'll give this to her. Worst Diva: Michelle McCool. Though Noble is currently carrying her in this amusing SD storyline, she has zilch in terms of personality or anything in the ring. Match of the Year: Undertaker vs. Batista from WM. Worst Match of the Year: Candice vs. Beth Phoenix from Raw, where Candice damn near broke her neck. Quote of the Year: Cause Stone Cold said it be so! Best Comeback: Edge. He came back and won the title immediately and is an inspiration to us all. Mark out moment of the year: I'll go with RVD showing up and squashing Santino on the 15 anniversary Raw. Didn't see it coming. Funniest moment of the year: Santino's various raggings on The Condemned. Best brand: Smackdown. Raw has too much Vince and talky bullshit and ECW has largely been trash. Smackdown is the last frontier of sane booking and solid wrestling. Worst brand: ECW. At this point it's nothing but a waste of 1 hour per week. Best PPV: Royal Rumble. Cena/Umaga was good and the Rumble itself was one of the best in recent memory. Worst PPV: No Way Out. Just lame filler to set up WM. Best Feud: MVP vs. Matt, though it really hasn't had a conclusion to it. Worst Feud: Vince and Co. vs. Lashley. Having Vince win the ECW belt pretty much made it clear that the title is a joke. Worst Moment of the Year: Benoit.

I loved on the Raw where the Harts attack some random jobber in the back thinking it is HBK, and then realize it isn't him....then simply kick the guy's ass anyway. I think the next show from May 12 will be the curious RVD debut of sorts where he squashes Jeff Hardy. Allow me to clarify WCW circa 1998. It was actually pretty good stuff for the first 6-7 months of the year, with Jericho/Malenko, Eddie being a prick, Booker/Benoit having their series of matches, Goldberg's rise to the top and his eventual win over Hogan, etc. That was all some pretty solid action that made me ignore the nonsense with the Wolfpac vs. Black & White. However, once it hit roughly August WCW started to suck some shit. You had the Warrior trash all over TV, Bischoff doing his awful Tonight Show skits, and all of the hot angles that had carried the year went by the wayside. By Fall Braw 1998 WCW was utter crap...I mean really bad. Flair's return promo was a bright spot, but given how he was humiliated after that I don't hold much nostalgia for it.

I think WWE will be glad in the long run that they didn't put the belt on Kennedy. His whole gimmick is way too one note to be world champ in my opinion. His schtick of introducing himself was an amusing intro to get him over, but it's still really the only thing he has that is over at all. I've found his actual extended mic work mostly ponderous with a few exceptions. As far as ring work goes, I hadn't noticed so much about him being stiff or overly sloppy. It's more that he's bland as shit in the ring and has no real interesting offense. He had some sorta decent matches during his initial SD run, but it seems like once he got hurt in late 2005 he lost it somehow.

Starrcade 1998 was a disturbing foreshadowing of the whole awful year of 1999 for WCW. After the opening 2 cruiser matches with Kidman, Rey, Eddie, etc. that show really starts sucking. With that said, I still defend Nash going over Goldberg in the main event. That wasn't in and of itself a bad decision....everything they did AFTER that was what sucked.

Yeah and that's why I tend to cut Tenay and West some slack, because they are blatantly reading stuff instead of doing actual announcing with the occasional fed line. Wrestling needs to be scripted to some degree, but more like this: Match 1: Kurt Angle vs. Christian. 15 minutes. We go to a DQ when Tomko and Styles do a run in and beat down Christian. Interview with Borash, Angle, Styles, Tomko. Angle rants about Christian not joining his faction and how he's going to kick his ass. Match 2: Team 3D vs. Shark Boy and Sonjay Dutt. 5 minutes. Team 3D goes over clean with their finisher. See what I mean? A general outline and some points to make during interviews is all that is really needed. Since it's taped they can redo stuff that didn't quite work.

Evans has been doing a lame Sgt. Craig Pittman type army gimmick down in OVW. This would also be while feuding with Justin "The Ox" Larouche (SP?), with Ox doing a really awful and embarrassing blackface skit.

Oh, WCW was terrible about just fucking STARTING a PPV. Halloween Havoc 1998 was a show that ran way over 3 hours and there were all sorts of interviews, Nitro girl dances, and bullshit that they could have cut out to make the show a much more feasible 165m or so.

Yeah but why not save that awesome Hennig/Flair match for WM and then Flair goes out on a big high note? What, was that epic Perfect/Luger match so necessary? They gave away a match on an early Raw that was 10x better than anything actually on WM IX that year. Might have been worth it in a way though, since that match was huge in terms of making Raw a show where important stuff can go down.