Kahran Ramsus

HHH is definitely winning now.

How long before Benoit gets the shit kicked out of him?

Criminally short. Their match from the US Title Tournament was much better.

Both of these guys should be on Smackdown.

I don't know why he's at Mania either. Batista & Orton may not be the best, but at least they are actual wrestlers. I don't know if I can say the same for Flair these days. special attraction who actually can keep and maintain heat for more then 11 seconds like Botchtistia and Orton. He can do that outside the ring. Bobby Heenan did for years with slugs like the Barbarian.

I don't know why he's at Mania either. Batista & Orton may not be the best, but at least they are actual wrestlers. I don't know if I can say the same for Flair these days.

Eddy/Angle is well-built at least. Can't say the same for the RAW title match.

The build to X-seven was the worst...thank God the event ruled Yeah, it was pretty bad, but anything beats the World Champion picking up dog shit.

Jindrak/Cade are my prediction for Sunday too. It would be the dumbest move, but Vince seems to like these two goofs.

The build-up to X8 was much worse than this one.

X-Wing would be great as a serial/TV series format. I personally enjoy Allston's Wraith Squadron better than Stackpole's Rogue Squadron, but either could work.

Angle/Guerrero. I am also interested in Goldberg/Lesnar (just to see Lesnar beat him), Taker/Kane & Cena/Show.

HBK & HHH > Bret & Savage & Rocky?

I wish I could see these games too. Rios did really well today (3 Hits, 3 RBIs, 1 HR) in Toronto's 6-5 victory.

You are more optimistic than I am about this. I didn't think he stood a chance from the beginning. The real issue was always between HHH & HBK, and with HBK injured that leaves only one man. HHH will convincingly retain at Wrestlemania. You can count it.

Boy, I'm glad I didn't draft him.

Winning at Mania is what will be remembered 20 years from now. If it means Benoit has to job it back to HHH in his hometown, I am willing to make that sacrifice. Three-way or not, Sunday is when Benoit needs to win.

Yeah, I heard that too.

The media also loves flashy passing games so that means the Rams, Colts & Vikings get way more love than they deserve.

I don't care about his personal life, I care about his professional life. In it, I have seen Tyson get his ass handed to him by anyone who's even remotely good. Thus, he's a loser. Send him to the retirement home with Hulk Hogan & Ricky Henderson and other former greats who are just embarrasing themselves. Tell him to take George Foreman with him.

Righty starter: Mark Prior, Chicago Cubs Despite this latest setback, he is younger and healthier than Pedro. Lefty starter: Mark Mulder, Oakland As The old man just doesn't have it anymore, and with rightys dominating the charts, Mulder almost wins this by default. Catcher: Ivan Rodriguez, Detroit Tigers He's probably only the third best catcher offensively these days, but he's much better defensively than either Piazza or Posada. Piazza is moving to first base to boot. When all is said and done, as far as catchers are concerned there will be Bench & Pudge and everybody else. First: Albert Pujols, St Louis Cardinals (Or Todd Helton if you consider Pujols a LF) Pujols is the best young player in the game bar none. It is just an issue of where he is starting. Two years from now it will be A-Rod who? as long as Pujols stays healthy. Second: Bret Boone, Seattle Mariners Soriano will lose as many games with his poor fielding and plate discipline than he will win with his gaudy numbers. In fantasy baseball, Soriano is one the best players in the league. In real life he isn't as good as Boone or probably even Giles. Third: Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees Duh. Shortstop: Nomar Garciaparra, Boston Red Sox He must give his thanks to A-Rod for leaving the position. Left field: Barry Bonds, San Francisco Giants Steroids and old age or not, nobody can dominate a game like him. The best player in MLB for my money. Center: Carlos Beltran, Kansas City Royals My pick for the AL MVP, as long as he doesn't get traded. He can do it all. Right field: Vladimir Guerrero, Anahem Angels MY pick for the AL MVP, as long as Beltran gets traded. He will take the Angels back to the World Series in 2004. DH: Jason Giambi, New York Yankees It will take about two weeks of him blowing it in the field before he's back here full time. Closer: Eric Gagne, Los Angelas Dodgers He is the first closer since Eckersley that makes a strong case that he is the #1 player in all of baseball.

I: Hulk Hogan & Mr T vs. Roddy Piper & Mr. Wonderful II: Tito Santana & JYD vs. The Funk Brothers III: Intercontinental Championship: Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat IV: Bobby Heenan & Islanders vs. Koko B Ware & British Bulldogs V: Bushwhackers vs. Fabulous Rougeaus VI: Ted Dibiase vs. Jake "The Snake" Roberts VII: Undertaker vs. Jimmy Snuka VIII: Tatanka vs. Rick Martel IX: Mr. Perfect vs. Lex Luger X: Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart XI: Lawrence Taylor vs. Bam Bam Bigelow XII: HHH vs. Ultimate Warrior XIII: Ahmed Johnson & LOD vs. NOD XIV: Taka Michinoku vs. Mr. Aguilla XV: Shane McMahon vs. X-Pac XVI: Tag Team Championship: Triangle Ladder Match XVII: WWF Championship: The Rock vs. Steve Austin XVIII: Kurt Angle vs. Kane XIX: Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels

Neither Rock/Shamrock nor Owen/HHH were worth much (although Owen/HHH ended up being a pretty good match). Rock didn't really start to get over until after Summerslam, Owen already had his heat crushed by politics, Shamrock had done nothing of note since his title match with Shawn at DX, and HHH was the sidekick for the lame duck champion. As for DX they were cheap heat machines (ala Godfather). They couldn't draw flies, which is why HHH dumped the gimmick as soon as he could at WM XV. As for Taker/Mankind, this was something that had been pretty much building since 1990. Mankind was the first real threat to the Undertaker in like ever, and there was an issue at the time about Paul Bearer's allegiance. Taker/Mankind reached its peak at Summerslam (people were sick of it by Buried Alive). You have overrated Taker/Kane as well. Austin/Taker was THE money match of 1998, and Kane was simply a way to get there. Both Taker/Kane & Taker/Mankind were at about the same level. Bulldog/Sid was basically to be the next big title contender, so you are underrating it as well. The Main Event makes the show. We have seen it again from Hogan/Andre to Austin/Rock. For example, compare No Way Out 2000 which was based entirely around one match, with Judgement Day 2001 which had a poor main event, but a heavily hyped undercard. Austin was over following KOTR. Austin/Bret didn't set the world on fire ratings wise true, but 1997 was surely an improvement from 1996 with Shawn on top. Taker & Kane were main eventers so they don't count. Of the others, they are at or around the same level as those listed for 1996. Owen didn't mean any more in 1998 than he did in 1996. He was far more over in 1997 during the Hart Foundation angle than he ever was in the Nation. D'Lo, X-Pac, etc. didn't mean squat. Bret wasn't the one who was champ when buyrates went from the 1.0 range to the 0.5 range. Bret also was the one who raised it back up for Royal Rumble and IYH 5. It was moreso than It's Time. It's Time is probably the worst PPV in WWF history as far as the amount of effort put into the show. Even This Tuesday In Texas was promoted better. Show me where they main evented those shows and you've got a point. Seems to me they were in the middle of the card. You want another example of main events being what draws. SS 1996 is a great example with a stacked card (Hart/Austin, Taker/Mankind, Special Surprise in Team NOD/Team Yoko) with a crap main event that drew flies, thus the card suffered. Also, using that logic. Shawn & Austin are to blame for KOTR 1997's crappy buyrate. Not Undertaker or Faarooq. Ok. That explains how Shawn drew the lowest Royal Rumble buyrate ever and the lowest Summerslam buyrate ever and the second lowest Survivor Series buyrate ever and the second lowest King of the Ring buyrate ever. Could it be because all of the highest quarter-hour ratings from 1997-1999 all had Austin in them, including the most watched match in WWF history (Austin/Taker from after KOTR)? And Austin's merchandise outselling DX merchandise by a wide margin? And DX's PPV being a huge flop? So some dumb teenies are the world's most foremost authority on the wrestling business. These were probably the same guys that bumped the buyrates into the stratusphere for Austin's returns at Backlash 2000 and Unforgiven 2000. What did Shawn's big return get again? One show where he was still on the rise. Chances are Over the Edge, not the other 10 shows that year where Austin drew good buyrates is the fluke. At the same time, Shawn's PPV buyrates tend to follow this pattern: 0.5 0.6 0.45 0.5 2.3 0.55 0.6 0.5 Chances are it is the 2.3 which is the fluke. People got sick of Shawn after 9 months at the latest (numbers will show that they were tired of him by Beware of Dog). People weren't sick of Hogan until 1992, and Rock was superover from late 1998-2001 without the backlash (and that was largely because Austin was back). So Shawn was a better draw than Faarooq (who was never WWF Champion so shouldn't even be mentioned because we are discussing guys who actually got a shot, not that I think Faarooq would have been successful) and Sid (the lowest drawing WWF Champion ever)? That isn't hard work. Shawn fought three main events against Taker. Ignore the buyrate for Cold Day in Hell when Austin was still a midcarder. Shawn's buyrates are absolutely terrible compared to what Austin would get against Taker later. When Bret lost the belt in 1996, ratings were higher than when he won it. When Shawn lost the belt in 1996, ratings were much lower than when he won it. There was no 'rise of Shawn' because ratings tailed off early into his run after a brief boost. During the 'rise of Austin' ratings kept going up on average until after Wrestlemania X-7. He had help in 2000 because Rock was also one of those rare exceptions that just captivate the audience, like Austin & Hogan were. Wrestlemania XII was better than Wrestlemania XV. Survivor Series 1996 was better than Survivor Series 1998. Yet the 1998 ones drew much better. Austin was the difference. Shawn was better than Diesel & Sid, not as good as Taker or Bret. And why do you have to throw out 1996 and 1997? Like I said before, if Shawn drew ten 0.5s and one 2.3, chances are 2.3 is the fluke. Especially when there are two things in that main event (Austin, Tyson) who are proven draws (Tyson then, Austin in retrospect) and were creating a huge stir at the time. I didn't see Shawn doing the talk show circuit prior to Wrestlemania XIV, but I sure saw a lot of Austin & Tyson. Bret didn't main event WM 13, Cold Day in Hell or Revenge of the Taker. Shawn didn't main event NWO 98 so I didn't include it. And I'm not throwing out the others. If you saw my calculations on the last page, they were certainly there (not Over the Edge, because I didn't do Austin, but still). Even with those (as well as WM XIV), Shawn still did much poorer than Bret Hart. If he did worse than Bret Hart, then he would get massacred by Austin's numbers. Was Bret Hart a good draw? Absolutely not. But Shawn was an abysmal draw. To even compare his drawing power on the same level of Austin's or Rock's is ludicrous.

If Stalin got off scot free, then why should we have stopped Hitler? You fit the punishment to the crime, not based on what other people got. The school shooters should have gotten at least life in prison and so should Tate. Now we will have 2 murderers on the streets instead of 1. If you don't start doing something about it, nothing will change.

Bulldogs/Dream Team is good.