Kahran Ramsus

Shouldn't it be Shrek 2? Everybody and their grandmother seems to be praising it. A lot of critics consider Shrek 2 as merely good, with some flaws.

Face challenges heel to a title match. Heel authority figure says that this match is too important for INSERT CITY HERE. Match made for some point in future. INSERT CITY HERE gets lame tag team main event.

The leadership and toughness of Brett Favre with the athleticism of Michael Vick. That's pretty much the ultimate football player right there.

Chavo vs. Edge, one-on-one, is the weakest combination from the Smackdown 6. Even it should have been pretty good.

Storyline-wise, the Angle Lock is devastating in terms of pain, but quite easy to escape from. The best use of it I have seen in the WWF was at Royal Rumble 2003 where Benoit kept escaping so Angle had to alter it a bit and get the submission.

Ultimate has smoked the regualar comics for awhile now, so that's probably a good thing. Add in Shadowcat too.

Funny isn't something that will draw in crowds, and his ECW work is extremely overrated. At some point he has to play a serious character in order to be World Champion, and I have not seem him do it successfully. There is little indication that he is capable of it. And like I said, Benoit gets a free pass because of his ring work. RVD doesn't have that luxury.

Formally, I would call Jericho, Angle, etc. great wrestlers. Benoit & Eddy are elite. Clearly above everyone else in the company. I agree with Loss here, just differ on the terms.

Fair enough. I wish they would put him against Benoit or Trips so we could know for sure.

I am curious what you have to go on here. I really don't care for the Jericho/Christian matches too much. Jericho had a much better match in 2001 with RVD of all people. He had a couple of bad matches with Austin, but they never seemed to click. He was even better in 2000, he seemed to get lazy/hurt for awhile in the summer of 2001 before turning it on at the end of the year. He carried Chyna to a couple of decent matches back then (late 1999, when he wasn't even at his peak). I really don't see him being able to do that now. The high-point of Jericho's career wrestling-wise seems to be Summerslam 2000. After that he got involved with losers like X-Pac & Kane, and never really got back to his old level. His stuff with Rock in 2001 was great though, as well as his IC Title reign in early 2001.

RVD's mic skills are even worse than Benoit's though. And Benoit is merely passable even now. If not for his years of putting on fantastic matches he would be dead in the water outside of Canada. He's the guy who acts pissed off and kicks ass, and he can play that role well. The problem with RVD is that he is too laid back. If he acts like he doesn't care about the outcome, neither will the audience. Jeff Hardy had the exact same problem, and he was never taken seriously as a World Title contender either. I disagree about the heel turn too. RVD's appeal is in his flashy moves, which excites the crowd. If I am wrong and he does have a future as the World Champion it will be as a face. A heel Eddy and face RVD feud would be better than the other way around.

No, they aren't. Even Benoit isn't as good as he was then because of the extra year and half of wear and tear on his body. He's still the best wrestler in the company, but he has begun his decline. Furthermore, Eddy, Angle & Rey were better than anybody now besides Benoit. Edge was better than Christian or post-injury Edge. Christian is not a good wrestler. His offense is really weak, especially for a heel, and he uses too many restholds. Great character, but in the ring Edge is a step above him. Jericho at his peak could hang with the likes of Angle & Rey, but he hasn't been at that level since the Rock feud in 2001. Trip would fall in after the Fab Four as well. Smackdown wins this battle.

I think the entire 500 level is $9 this year. Better bring your binoculars.

Bra&Panties/Evening Dress/Bikini/Lingerie/Whatever type matches, especially with Lawler announcing. Six years have passed since they started them and not only have we seen it all before, but most of the audience from back then that was interested in them to begin with has moved on to porn.

RVD's had two great matches in his entire career, vs. Jericho at Unforgiven 2001, and vs. Eddy at Judgment Day 2002. As for comparing his skills with Ultimate Warrior, RVD in his entire CAREER, has never had a match as good as Warrior/Savage from Wrestlemania VII. I suppose that makes Warrior a great worker too since bad workers can't have good matches. Sure RVD is a better athlete than Benoit, but he's not a better wrestler. And despite being a great athlete (although I would consider those that I mentioned early better than him), if he got into a shootfight with someone like Meng, he would be lighting up in the emergency room. Athleticism can be an asset, but it is hardly the end all of professional wrestling. But time to get the topic back on track. This is a discussion of RVD's drawing power, not about his talent. It is pretty much agreed, except for a few misguided ECW fans, even by big RVD fans like bps21, that he is not a good worker. His drawing power is something that can be debated a lot more easily.

Agreed. But if you are willing to drive a little ways, Frankie Tomatoe's in the north end is even better. It is up on Woodbine Ave near Markham. Best restaurant I've ever been to. The OSF is on Front Street near the O'Keefe Centre (or whatever it is called now, Hummingbird Centre I think). Never eat at the Dome itself. The vendors outside will have food that is much better and at a third the cost. As for the seats, it depends on what you are looking for. In terms of view, the best is the old Club seats on the 200 level behind homeplate. If you are looking for something close to the action, you want something along the bases in the 100 level, as low a row as you can get. I was in Row 7 along the first base side against Jays/Sox last week. Treble has a point except I wouldn't do it for either the Yanks or Sox. Those are the two biggest draws and usually the 100 level is pretty sold out for them.

Within 2 months, Smackdown lost Benoit, Angle, Lesnar & Benjamin, four of the best wrestlers in the company. That is a big turn around. I agree with Goodear, I think that an RVD World Title run would have been a complete disaster, at least in early 2002. He simply doesn't have a personality that connects with the mainstream audience. Benoit doesn't either, but it is still moreso than RVD, and the real reason for Benoit's popularity is that he has become almost legendary for his in-ring ability. 10 years ago, before the legacy, Benoit would be nowhere near the main event. 2002 was a flop with an infinitely more marketable champ in Jericho as it was. I really don't see that RVD would have done much. The real chance to put the belt on him was at Unforgiven 2002. He could have aborted the disasterous HHH title run, and by that point there was a brand extension and thus he wouldn't be exposed as badly. I think it might have worked then, at least for a short while. Of course, this is all speculation, and I won't deny that he was extremely over in the last days of the Invasion. At the same time I remember another extremely over wrestler given a chance despite a lack of talent at a time of slight business decline and then went on and had a disasterous title run. I really think that given a title run, RVD would have been this generations Ultimate Warrior. As for the best athletes never to win the WWE Title, there are several that would come to mind before Van Dam. Mike Rotundo, Scott Steiner ('93 era), Ken Shamrock, Steamboat, and Curt Hennig are the guys that I would think of immediately.

The Amazing Race. I've wanted to go on a race around the world since I was 4 years old. It is a dream of mine.

It resembles the Red Sox bullpen of last season. Also did you ever share your thoughts anywhere on your experience of going to Skydome and seeing Pedro/Halladay III? I had a great time. They actually won for once, and the atmosphere is much better at the Dome with the roof open.

I really REALLY hate the Jays bullpen.

Fatigue. For most players, if you run them out every day, their performance will suffer. Many players do play every day, or damn well near it (like Delgado). Usually the guys who need breaks either aren't good enough to play every day, are aging players who no longer have the stamina to do it (like Sosa), or are catchers.

I could beat anybody with ease, including Super Macho Man, but I never once made it out of the first round against Tyson. I was pummelled for years against him, and still can't do anything to this day.

Magus And not too suprisingly, the two tweeners make it to the end.

CWM is 100% right. And now we have to pay a lot more for it thanks to Dalton McFibby.

Kane certainly drew last summer, that's plainly obvious. I'm not so sure he is still a good draw, but it is certainly worth checking out.