Kahran Ramsus

Thank the Lord! I felt sick picking Houston, Tennessee & Oakland.

The announcers absolutely buried Ultimate Warrior when he left the WWF in 1996, since due to the taped nature of RAW back then he was gone by the time they aired his final match.

I hate these weeks picks, so I expect to lose my third straight. Ugh.

Of course. They're British! Do you expect them to look good?

It is a good thing that Vince doesn't care. Whenever he does and attempts to 'fix' the brand, the quality of the show goes down the toilet.

That was what I seem to recall as well. I always noticed how in his days as manager the other wrestlers were very protective of him and he never took any serious bumps.

At least we won't go 0-16. Now as long as Favre passes Marino in TDs (which is doable) this year, it will be worth it for him coming back.

Eddy/Rey in WWE. None of their matches came close to the stuff they were doing in WCW. The Edge vs. Christian feud was really disappointing. The best match was probably the Cage Match and even then I expected better from these two. Speaking of Christian, Christian vs. Jericho vs. RVD from Unforgiven a couple of years back should have been great, but ended up being one of the most boring matches of the year. In WCW, the king of disappointments is Sting/Hogan from Starrcade 1997. Now I didn't expect much in terms of style from those two, but it still should have been fun and enjoyable with the NWO finally getting what was coming to them and the whole thing ended up being a disaster.

Yes! Smackdown lately has had the best announcing we've seen in years from WWE. Certainly since the JR/Heyman team in 2001.

Was that the one he used on SummerSlam 92? It looked quite different, true, but that's the only time I've ever seen him wearing it. I THINK he also wore them at WM9 in the tag title match with IRS against Hogan/Beefcake...I can't quite remember. The suit was white that he wore, but the ring attire was his black ring attire. I've seen him wear them at another show, and I think it was Survivor Series 92 against the Nasty Boys & Natural Disasters, but it has been 10 years since I've seen that show so I can't be certain.

I wouldn't mind that. You gotta make him a monster again though. He needs to go out every week and destroy people. Everyone, both faces and heels. Exactly. He was doing great in 2003 right after losing the mask by doing just this, and as stupid as the House Arrest thing seems on paper, it made for a great visual and made people excited about his matches. He was certainly over enough for a main event push and was actually drawing ratings as well. But that wouldn't have been good for HHH & Nash, so he got stuck in a dead-end feud with Shane McMahon and had his heat killed. It might be too late now, but it is worth a shot. I can see Umaga working as a Cena opponent for a show with another major selling point on it (like the Royal Rumble), but a long feud between him and Cena wouldn't be able to hold the interest of the audience. I agree. There are plenty of ways for long feuds to work, not the least of which is a series of inconclusive finishes. An underdog face getting screwed over by a heel champion only to win clean in the end is another classic feud. The problem, as you pointed out, is that we get a blowoff, and yet the feud continues anyways. Cena has beaten Edge several times, and has clearly proven that he is the better wrestler (in the storyline) at this point. Feuds should continue as long as the issue is still up in the air, but this one has been resolved several times over at this point.

Speaking of the other feud, when did McMahon/Michaels start anyways? I want to say soon after Shawn got done with Hogan at Summerslam, but I don't watch RAW on a regular basis, and don't watch it much at all during the MNF season so I can't remember.

Good point. Their respective World Title matches at PPV this year. RAW New Year's Revolution - John Cena vs. Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Carlito vs. Kane vs. Chris Masters followed by John Cena vs. Edge Royal Rumble - John Cena vs. Edge Wrestlemania - John Cena vs. HHH Backlash - John Cena vs. HHH vs. Edge One Night Stand - John Cena vs. RVD Vengeance - RVD vs. Edge Summerslam - John Cena vs. Edge Unforgiven - John Cena vs. Edge Out of 8 PPVS, some form of John Cena vs. Edge has been the World Title match on five. I know Rock & HHH had four PPV Main Events in four months in 2000 (and were opponents in two other multi-man matches later in the year where the focus was on other feuds), but they had twice as many PPVs to work with since that was before the brand-split. The Cena/Edge feud has lasted over twice as long. Smackdown Royal Rumble - Kurt Angle vs. Mark Henry No Way Out - Kurt Angle vs. Undertaker Wrestlemania - Kurt Angle vs. Rey Misterio vs. Randy Orton Judgment Day - Rey Misterio vs. JBL One Night Stand - Rey Misterio vs. Sabu Great American Bash - Rey Misterio vs. King Booker Summerslam - King Booker vs. Batista Booked for No Mercy - King Booker vs. Bobby Lashley No two men have been in the same ring twice. Smackdown may not have the depth that RAW has, but the bookers are making a far better use out of the roster they've got. RAW was horrible in 2002, but it wasn't because it was stale. It was because Vince tried throwing every piece of shit at the wall and hoping it sticked.

The only guy in the last five years to come along with that type of potential was Brock Lesnar, and he was already a star by the time he hit Wrestlemania. Maybe Cena, but he got over on his own. He wasn't big enough to be put over by Taker in 2004, and by 2005 he was main-eventing and no longer needed the rub. Putting some chump like Orton over Taker isn't going to do anything, as Orton isn't good enough to take advantage of the win. Orton could end winning streaks for the next ten years and he still wouldn't get over because he sucks, has an attitude problem, and is injury-prone. Of those, the only one I could see working is Kennedy, and that's if he gets a steady push between now and Mania and big wins afterwards to continue his momentum (probably winning the World Title in the process). Even then, I have some doubts over whether Kennedy is able to handle that type of a push. He's good, but not a can't-miss prospect by any stretch of the imagination. The others are either damaged goods (Benjamin) or aren't good enough to get that kind of rub (Carlito, Nitro, Lashley). You can't just take some random midcarder, have him end the streak, and make a big star out of him. It would be forgotten in a month. It has to be somebody worthy of it.

Not only do I agree with you on this, but I don't think he should lose at Wrestlemania. There are very few truly special things in wrestling anymore, and this is one of them. The only reason Taker should lose is if Taker himself is basically demanding that he put someone over, and I don't see that happening. I'm all for Benoit/Taker, but Taker should win.

Looks like a lot of blowouts this week.

Excuse me.

He did just fine with Eddy Guerrero last fall. The latter is the bigger concern here. Batista not only had his momentum stopped with the injury, but he doesn't seem to be the same guy he was before. Kind of like HHH in 2002. King Booker is the best thing happening on Smackdown. The problem is that he doesn't have a good face opponent to play off of.

The Pats didn't lose in 2001 either, so I don't know why we are even talking about them.

No offense, but you're a moron. Most pro wrestlers are probably the guy who fucked all the hot girls in school. That has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he's an untalented douchebag. Pretty much. We don't dislike him because he's this generation's Shawn Michaels. We dislike him because he's this generation's Lex Luger instead. If he had the talent, nobody would complain. Getting squashed by Hulk Hogan is great for a career! He definitely needs to watch himself though. He was basically kicked off Smackdown because he pissed off the lockerroom (notably Undertaker & JBL). If he keeps this up, he's going to find himself in the same situation as Angle.

Two guys on a message board.

Ric Flair: vs. Ricky Steamboat, Clash of the Champions Bret Hart: vs. Steve Austin, Wrestlemania XIII

I figured the Dolphins were about 10-6 if things went well and not much has changed now. Culpepper has me worried, but I never really expected him to even be playing now so call it a push. I never understood the Super Bowl picks for Miami. They are probably only the 3rd best team in their state.

At least they haven't started copying popular genres of the times recently like they did with Live and Let Die, Moonraker & Licence to Kill.

Damn straight!