ISportsFan

All of last summer Kane wasn't in the main event -- HHH, Kevin Nash, and Goldberg were for the Raw brand. He headlined Armageddon with HHH and Goldberg, and that got less buys than Backlash did. Jason

It should be like No Way Out 2001, where the huge rivalry match gets the middle of the card main event (Austin/HHH 2/3 falls, HHH/HBK Cell). Then, the title match gets the main event slot (like it should). Jason

But that was a triple threat match. By HHH/HBK logic, Jericho should have still gotten another title match. Jason

A-Train and Chuck Palumbo haven't been introduced on TV. Shawn Michaels and Chris Benoit can't be in it for obvious reasons. The only ones, according to the RAW superstars page, are Eugene, Rodney Mack (who I believe is injured), the Coach (who won a match against Tajiri), Al Snow, Chris Nowinski (who is injured), Jerry Lawler, Jim Ross, Mark Henry (injured), Tyson Tomko, Test (injured?), The Rock (in Hollywood), Maven (injured?), Mick Foley (not here), Goldberg (no way), Brian Christopher (fired), and women. Jason

Meltzer said in his update today that he was fired when he showed up to the taping. Does this mean they fired him, THEN they put his image on the battle royal screenshot? Someone should have noticed that and done a switch before the shot was put on the air. Jason

That's really sad, since I have always liked Tenta. He was never a good worker by any means, but he always seemed to work hard. It's also really sad because he's a human being and I hate it when humans get sick like this. Hopefully he can pull through. I'll be praying for him. To Arnold_OldSchool: Next time, when you post on this board, you might as well have put Tenta's name in the subject line. It's not a spoiler, and it's not going to make people click on it more or less when you don't list who it is. Especially when it's a sensitive subject like cancer, that subject line makes it seem like you care more about getting people to click on your topic than getting news out that Tenta has a sickness. Just saying, is all, because I take cancer and illnesses such as this very seriously, and something like this subject line seems to make it like you are just looking for the satisfaction of getting people to click inside to get the latest scoop. Sorry for veering off topic for that, especially because this is such a sad story so far, but it's something I can't stand when illnesses and such are being discussed. Once again, get well John. Jason

I've seen this before, so I have no problem with it, but there is a battle royal next week and this could possibly be considered a spoiler with regard to the World title match. I don't know how strict we're getting on the spoiler issue, I'm just warning you somebody might get mad. Anyway, back on topic, I still would absolutely hate Kane getting the World title match. I think it makes no sense, and he's still got an issue with Lita and Matt Hardy. Jericho has nothing to do, so he should get the title shot. Plus, it would be a better match. Michaels and HHH there's no way around. They're fighting for the 29715 time on PPV whether we like it or not. I think Benjamin should win the IC title from Orton, and then make Orton the next challenger to Benoit for the "month between" big Raw show. Jason

Pettingill was also pretty good in the Hart/Austin recap before WrestleMania XIII. Jason

Hart Foundation v. Nasty Boys wasn't a classic, or even great. But, it wasn't horrid at all. It was much better than it had any right to be considering three of the four in the match were awful workers. Jason

Put in the clips of the match on the main program -- it puts the winning of the world title on the DVD while not giving us something that (most of the wrestling-watching world) already owns on DVD. Jason

Putting the recent PPV matches on DVD is just stupid, since they're already on DVD for the actual PPV shows. Jason

I would hate that because it's already on the Rumble DVD itself. If they want, they can include clips in the main feature. I think that PPV matches shouldn't be on the DVD and only TV matches that aren't on DVD yet. Jason

That's a heckuva lot of matches. I'll make it more realistic and basically chop everything in half (3 Japan, 3 WCW, 2 ECW, 5 WWE), although I'd love for there to actually be that many matches on the DVD. Of course, this is assuming they can get the footage from Japan since J.R. called Japan's wrestling pond water-sucking lately. This is also assuming Bret Hart's DVD comes out this year, and that the Benoit/Hart match from Kansas City is on that one. Japan Sasuke/Black Tiger vs Pegasus Kid/Ohtani (Junior Tag League finals, 1994) Benoit v. Great Sasuke (J Cup 1994) Benoit v. El Samurai (Top of the Super Juniors IV, 1993) ECW Benoit v. Al Snow (Feb 1995, Double Tables) Sabu/Taz v. Benoit/Malenko (Feb 1995, Return of the Funker) WCW Benoit v. Kevin Sullivan (GAB 1996) Benoit v. Raven (Souled Out 1998) Benoit/Malenko v. Raven/Saturn (Spring Stampede 1999) WWE Benoit/Saturn/Malenko/HHH/X-Pac v. Cactus/Too Cool/Rock/Rikishi (RAW 2/7/00) Benoit v. Rock (RAW 2/14/00) Benoit/Jericho v. Austin/HHH (RAW 5/21/01) Benoit v. Austin (Smackdown 5/31/01) Either Benoit/Brock from Smackdown or a Smackdown 6 match that ruled. Jason Edit: After thinking about it more, I'd take out the Rock match from Valentine's Day and throw in the Angle cage match from RAW during the Austin storyline. The Smackdown 6 match I'd be thinking about would be something along the lines of the 2/3 falls tag title match with Benoit/Angle v. Mysterio/Edge, or a tag match against Los Guerreros.

In my next column, I mention Jeremy Reed. He's hitting 317/390/404 in Charlotte right now, and is heir apparent to the center fielder's job. Yeah, diehard Sox fans like me have been waiting for him for quite a while now. Plus, another problem is the starting pitching beyond #4 -- Danny Wright got optioned to AAA and we have no 5th starter. We don't need one until after the Baltimore series (which ends Thursday next week), but after that we'll have to find a 5th starter that is preferably not Wright. Basically, it's a dogfight down in AAA for the 5th spot from what I've read. Jason

The White Sox can't keep on winning close games, because we're simply not good enough to do it. 11-2 in 1 run games is amazing, but Koch isn't a good enough closer to get it done consistently. The hitting isn't going steady yet, either. What's impressive to me, though, is how truly good the Sox record is for the talent level on the roster. They have the fire and energy to get things done, and a couple of key acquisitions around midseason will get us to the playoffs, I think. Jason

Only by not hitting the ball. Jason

HHH/Austin v. Jericho/Benoit from Raw on May 21, 2001. Benoit v. Austin from the Edmonton Smackdown, aired May 31, 2001. WrestleMania XX's triple threat with HHH, Michaels, and Benoit. Eddie's win over Brock at No Way Out 2004. Survivor Series 1997's main event. I almost cried (I was in 7th grade, sue me). That's enough for now. Jason

Whatever this is, this whole centering thing, it greatly annoys me. Jason

I think it's still Smackdown. Vengeance - Smackdown SummerSlam - Joint Unforgiven - Raw No Mercy - Smackdown Tuesday night PPV - Raw Survivor Series - Joint Armageddon - Raw I believe that's the schedule for the rest of the year. Jason

Do a ton of the TNA guys count? Jason

That's not really a positive, for sure thing -- once AOL and Time Warner merged, didn't the guy who took over the Turner networks absolutely despise wrestling and cancelled Thunder and Nitro, essentially meaning Fusient couldn't buy the thing anyway? So, even if they were booking everything correctly and making money (and good ratings) it might not have been good enough to stay on TNT and TBS. Jason

280,000 isn't a bad number. This is the first Backlash that was split brand, and it did only 70,000 less than Rock/Goldberg with a full roster. That isn't bad at all, if you ask me. Jason

The End. Jason

How can Chavo go after the US or WWE title if he just lost to a woman who hasn't been on TV in months? It's one thing if it's a new wrestler they're debuting, but this is entirely another, since Jacky is plain horrible and this will ruin the division even more. Chavo runs over every CW the company has, then a woman comes in and beats him in 2 minutes. I fail to see the logic. Jason

That's the thing. I don't think it's a big win at all. When Edge beat Kane last month, did anyone even remember it the next night? I did, but that's because I'm a freak and care about wrestling to an unhealthy point. Did the average fan care if Kane lost? No, because it happens with great regularity these days. Benoit will benefit way more from a great match that has the fans going nuts and getting a clean win than defeating a "monster" cleanly. Plus, Kane doesn't even make sense. He hasn't expressed even a slight interest in the belt; he wants to be a girl stealing heartless scumbag who can destroy midcarders at will, and claim that he destroyed their souls. Or something. He's in a serious angle that is being acted so poorly it's nothing but comedy (with Lita, it can't be very good), and now he's supposed to be a title threat? I'm not buying it at all. At least with Jericho, he expressed an interest on the Highlight Reel, is in a serious feud with Christian that has the crowd not rolling their eyes in a "why am I watching this garbage" way (like Kane's current angle), but instead cheering wildly and caring for the participants. But, I still think this is all really stupid and Benoit should face Michaels with a no interference stipulation, since we still don't have a clear winner in that series. Jason