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Newsflash: all of the heels outside of Evolution were jokes BEFORE Austin did some skit or angle with them. I can recognize FIVE active heel wrestlers that have gotten the upper-hand on Austin in the past year: Orton, Batista, Triple H, Kane and Chris Jericho. Judging by the angles of the past year, these were the only heels getting a serious push going into Mania. Since you've already mentioned Evolution, we can look at the other heels being taken in a whole new direction since their feud with Austin; Jericho came out of March as a face, and Kane has emerged as a coward at the mercy of the Undertaker. On the other hand, the wrestlers that were upstaged by Austin in the past year (from my recollection; Hardy, Steiner, Test, Conway and Dupree); they were improperly booked going into and out of the angle with SCSA. You can look no further for examples, how other wrestlers out of active competition for a year or more in Rock and Foley made fools out of Conway and Dupree too. ------------ Back to the topic at hand we go... Judging by what Meltzer reported, it's apparent that his girlfriend is fudging the injuries simply for the sake of it. The authorities would take Austin into custody at the slightest hint of abuse, considering he has already run into trouble with SAPD two years ago, probation sentence or not.

Might as well start this up, since I'm already having an interesting Spring Break so far. I entered Vancouver early Tuesday morning, treading out of the country for the first time in my life. I have to say that, so far, this is one of the best cities in the world (from the ones I've seen, naturally). The air is clean, the people are definitely good-spirited, and the age limit on alcohol consumption is to my liking. One of the cool experiences I've had up here since my arrival, would that I was part of an MTV Select taping for MTV Canada. I assume it will be brodcasted on MUCH, with a concrete date of this coming Monday (the 29th). I'm pretty sure that I will not be on camera. The explanation is that I was one of 40 in the studio, along with my college buddy, with some of us sitting on the bleachers to add in applause and such. Look for a guy in a dark blue shirt, VASTLY different from everyone else. On another side note, I missed RAW on Monday, so it was AWESOME to stumble upon a replay of the show on TSN last night (which is a cool treat for Canadians weekly) - for that, TSN will always have a place in my heart. Anyone here from Vancouver or somewhere remotely close in British Columbia, sans SK? I'm staying at the Listel on Robson Street, in case anyone wants to harrass me at the bar or anything. Everyone else, share your stories as your break continues (or unless it was last week, talk about that).

Yes, these shirts are available NOW. The WWE Champion's new shirt... And the World Champion's new apparel... ...and the token Cena item.

FACT: Smackdown-only viewers, and you KNOW there are a bevy of them, will spike RAW's rating this week. I predict a 4.5.

Cool. There's no one match that I would be upset if they left off (sans the Owen tribute match), so everything is really gravy at this point. Realistically, this'll be a double disc set with 6-7 matches.

1. HHH was hurting. 2. HHH couldn't do what he had PLANNED to do because of his ribs and back. 3. HBK joined in, on the grounds that he sees an opportunity to put one of his foes out of commission for the time being with little to no consequence, unlike a moonsault or spot onto a table. Where's the "logic gap" in HBK being in better shape at that point?

That's definitely an objective opinion. Let's rely on past performances by Michaels to judge this match, since you are UNBIASED and OBJECTIVE, right? It was a stiff suplex, which in its velocity could be only be performed by two men. Michaels and Helmsley literally THREW Benoit into the table, which put him out of commission in the fans' eyes. HHH was brawling with Benoit for the time being, while Michaels was recovering from the post shot/bladejob which happened a few minutes earlier. HBK had the most "wind" in him at that point, even though it was evident he hurt the most (he was quickly put out of commission AGAIN by HHH's pedigree and Benoit's suplex.) The fans are trained to see a clean decision by a three count or tap-out submission: the crowd would've farted on "I Quit" being the finish. Tawren's a dumbass.

When will people ever learn what the definition of opinion is? HINT:... The ROH 3-way didn't get 20,000 people in an arena, as well as millions at home, shouting "TAP TAP TAP" at the top of their lungs, though. Dragon/Ki/Daniels is a great display of wrestling; HHH/HBK/Benoit is a display of why we, the fans, STILL watch: the competition, the emotion and the feeling of being "the best" in your profession (WWE title aside).

Watching a 4 1/2 hour show tends to devalue each match and their star rating. Everything that Keith overrated in people's minds (handicap match, World title match, WWE title match) should be watched again in a few days and re-rated, simply because most viewers (including me) were falling asleep by the end of the show. Matter of fact, here's Keith explaining the ratings at the end of his review:

I suggest April 2nd. We need to fill these missing teams soon, though. Let's give this thread a few more days until we give posters a second team.

Take it easy.... The Torch reporters are just covering all of the bases they possibly can, so that they LOOK like a reputable source...

He tells them mere days before the big PPV that he's just packing up his stuff and going home, that's not professional. What's your idea of being professional? He's not quitting - that would be a breach of contract. Vince retains the rights to his contract in professional wrestling, and would probably manuever himself to maintain a cut of Lesnar's contract, if he's going into acting or football (ala Rock). So Taker gets to go over someone else post-Mania, without a future program for Brock - Lesnar leaving doesn't affect ANYONE that matters. Brock signed the long-term contract in 2002, which only matters because the WWE increased the international dates THIS YEAR, which is Brock's main beef with the schedule. It's completely understandable for him to leave under these circumstances, considering Nathan Jones left the company during a hometown tour last December for the same reasons.

He could've refused to drop the title to Guerrero...but he didn't. He could've manuevered the booking to make himself look LEAGUES better than Guerrero, sabotaging Eddie's reign...but he didn't. He could've got up and left in the middle of the buildup to this current feud, leaving a huge hole in this Sunday's show...but he didn't. He's leaving AFTER the PPV, with creative lacking a program for him post-Mania that'll involve putting over "loyalists" UNDER the age of 38.

MOTHERFUCKER!

Suggestions: --remove the Taker picture. --move the "XX" logo to where the WWF logo is right now. --put Benoit in the place where the XX logo is right now. --instead of using a body/tights picture of each worker, try to get a close-up picture that's above their neckline.

I lack a witty comment, so here's a simple "happy birthday" to a good friend. HAPPY BIRTHDAY WEBSTER! EDIT: Enjoy being legal, T®ITEC.

After seeing that hit, my gut tells me that Bertuzzi needs to miss the rest of the season, including the postseason. I can't justify suspending him for NEXT season...yet. Thing is, it was a hit that Moore couldn't have defended against, coupled with the fact that Bertuzzi rode him into the ice, purposely injuring him (and with that, breaking his neck).

Capped the footage in .gif format, directly from DVD...

IIRC, it was against Curt Hennig on the "brand extension draft" edition of RAW - March 25th, 2002, if my dates serve me as well. It was actually against the Godfather on an episode of Jakked Okay, HOW did you know this?

::rubs hands together::

EDIT: The DVD comes out on April 27th.

DVD, because of two things: --University is shady in terms of PPV purchases. --Webcast doesn't seem to be offered on Shopzone (at least not yet).

Monday's tournament finals: CAC (Colonial): Virginia Commonwealth v. George Mason MAAC (Mid-Atlantic): Manhattan v. Niagara MVC (Missouri Valley): Southern Missouri State v. Northern Iowa WCC (West Coast): St. Mary's (CA) v. Gonzaga

IIRC, it was against Curt Hennig on the "brand extension draft" edition of RAW - March 25th, 2002, if my dates serve me as well.