JHawk

Oh God, what about those red uniforms the Indians wore? They're known as the "blood clot" uniforms because Boog Powell used to look like a blood clott running to first base.

And people forget that Tony Fernandez had one hell of a World Series up until that point. Jose Mesa crumbling to the pressure did far more to cost Cleveland that WS than that one play did.

Raw from JHawk's Beak (4/12/2004) So the question is: Did this make you want to see Backlash?

Here you go. Voting ends next Sunday. The results from the previous round are in that voting thread, and as you'll see by some of those results, every single vote counts. Northeast Region 1 Eddy Guerrero 8 Juventud Guerrera 13 Jushin "Thunder" Liger 5 Ultimo Dragon 3 Rey Misterio Jr. 6 Rob Van Dam 2 CM Punk 7 Low Ki Northwest Region 1 AJ Styles 9 Ultimo Guerrero 4 John Cena 5 Tajiri 3 Shawn Michaels 11 Matt Hardy 2 Kurt Angle 7 Ric Flair Southeast Region 1 Shelton Benjamin 9 Chris Sabin 4 American Dragon 5 Charlie Haas 3 Chavo Guerrero Jr. 6 Triple H 2 Brock Lesnar 7 Nunzio Southwest Region 1 Chris Jericho 9 Samoa Joe 4 Jamie Noble 5 Spanky 3 Paul London 6 Chris Hero 2 Christopher Daniels 10 Homicide

Why didn't Tori get to graduate with everybody else? And how did she never meet Kelly and Jessie? OK, the real-life thing was the contracts running out, but they couldn't they at least have tied everything together?

Even without Daniels and Styles, those still look like a couple of amazing shows.

Here are the results, and two or three of these literally came down to the final vote. Northeast Region 1 Eddy Guerrero 28 8 Juventud Guerrera 3 13 Jushin "Thunder" Liger 15 5 Ultimo Dragon 16 3 Rey Misterio Jr. 23 6 Rob Van Dam 8 2 CM Punk 16 7 Low Ki 15 Northwest Region 1 AJ Styles 27 9 Ultimo Guerrero 4 4 John Cena 11 5 Tajiri 20 -- Gotta call that a minor upset 3 Shawn Michaels 17 11 Matt Hardy 14 2 Kurt Angle 18 7 Ric Flair 15 Southeast Region 1 Shelton Benjamin 28 9 Chris Sabin 3 4 American Dragon 21 5 Charlie Haas 10 3 Chavo Guerrero Jr. 16 -- if we had a "major upset", this is probably it 6 Triple H 15 2 Brock Lesnar 20 7 Nunzio 11 Southwest Region 1 Chris Jericho 24 9 Samoa Joe 7 4 Jamie Noble 17 5 Spanky 14 3 Paul London 27 6 Chris Hero 4 2 Christopher Daniels 30 -- Figured this one would be close 10 Homicide 1 Sweet 16 voting starts momentarily

Kensuke Sasaki gets the win in the play-in and get to be the sacrificial lamb for...er, I mean, gets to meet the top #1 seed. The full brackets are below. It's easier for me if you put the winners in bold, but just listing the winners' names is acceptable. My vote only counts in case of a tie. Northeast Region 1 Eddy Guerrero 16 Kensuke Sasaki 8 Juventud Guerrera 9 Funaki 4 Raven 13 Jushin "Thunder" Liger 5 Ultimo Dragon 12 Yuji Nagata 3 Rey Misterio Jr. 14 Elix Skipper 6 Rob Van Dam 11 Jeff Jarrett 2 CM Punk 15 CIMA 7 Low Ki 10 Teddy Hart Northwest Region 1 AJ Styles 16 Kenta Kobashi 8 Rey Bucanero 9 Ultimo Guerrero 4 John Cena 13 Nick Dinsmore 5 Tajiri 12 Val Venis 3 Shawn Michaels 14 Rico 6 Booker T 11 Matt Hardy 2 Kurt Angle 15 Doug Williams 7 Ric Flair 10 Hulk Hogan Southeast Region 1 Shelton Benjamin 16 Toshiaki Kawada 8 La Parka 9 Chris Sabin 4 American Dragon 13 Chuck Palumbo 5 Charlie Haas 12 Jerry Lynn 3 Chavo Guerrero Jr. 14 Steve Corino 6 Triple H 11 The Undertaker 2 Brock Lesnar 15 Jody Fleisch 7 Nunzio 10 Abyss Southwest Region 1 Chris Jericho 16 Magnum Tokyo 8 Big Show 9 Samoa Joe 4 Jamie Noble 13 Satoshi Kojima 5 Spanky 12 Christian 3 Paul London 14 Billy Kidman 6 Chris Hero 11 Kane 2 Christopher Daniels 15 Jonny Storm 7 Trent Acid 10 Homicide Voting ends around this time next Sunday.

That team was so bad that they played something like 87 straight road games to finish off the season because nobody wanted to see them play. I'd say we have a winner here.

Television tapings and house show attendance are up - ratings mean NOTHING at this point in time (without competition, of course). Yes they do. ADVERTISEMENT. Only during sweeps, and I'd expect them to pull out all the stops in May for that reason. And I'd say any ratings drops would have more to do with the supporting cast than with Eddy since it isn't Eddy who's making the shows suck lately.

Granted, I'm not a lawyer, but doesn't TNA have to allow the ROH talent to finish their contracted dates? I was under the impression that the contracts only banned working for WWE.

That Sunday morning slot could be perfect for a WWE Classics show. Just start with whatever the oldest edition of WWF Championship Wrestling they still have is and show them all in order (with the mention of "WWF" conveniently muted out, of course).

SmackDown from JHawk's Beak (4/8/2004) I almost called this the worst SmackDown ever until I remembered that I didn't see any McMahons on my screen at all.

Well, that was a shitty ending to an otherwise awesome game.

I just want to know where the hell you found a copy of this match.

Chavo and Noble better get at least ten minutes or this entire show is a wash. Maybe I'll go bowling tomorrow night and do the report off the tape after the fact so I can spread the crap out. This lineup looks absolutely awful.

Raw from JHawk's Beak (4/5/2004) La la la la la...

You act as thought those who can cure terminal diseases are poorly paid. It's a matter of economics, not emotion that ball players make more than doctors. Ball players, in theory put asses in seats and bring in more money for the team. Doctors can only perform so many operations in a year and the money they bring in is far less than the ball players. Plus when was the last time you heard baout a hot free agent doctor? I'm sure there actually are some, though. Figure that the president of the United States, as much as some people (including myself) hate him, makes around $240,000 a year for running one of the largest nations in the country. ARod makes something like 200 times that much to swing a stick. Not that it's easy to do, but somehow I think George W. Bush has the more difficult job. Anyway, my point is more based on economics anyway. Of course New York has more money than anybody else...they have a larger population to draw from. The Yankees could sell out even if they suck because even without the fair weather fan, there are so many people in the area that the diehards are bound to still outnumber some markets' entire populations.

Didn't Styles turn down a WWE deal a couple of years ago? Having only seen a few Prince Nana matches, and none of them any good, might I ask what people see in this guy?

Good. Then children will know that vodka tastes like shit and not know how good the buzz feels, so they won't drink it when they're older. The only losers are those in vodka industry.

Goddamn it! The Indians blew another late lead! The bullpen didn't start off this badly last year with talent in the goddamn thing!

Fill me in. What is a salary floor? I thought this was funny. That is all. An Anglesault idea based on the fact that owners, either for lack of money or lack of want to spend it, do not invest in their team to make it competitive. So in contrast to the NFL limiting how much you can have on the payroll, a salary floor would mean you'd have a minimum amount of money you're putting into your team. He, as a fan of a baseball team that spends exorbitant amounts of money to win, supports it. I, as a fan hockey team that sits on exorbitant amounts of money because there's no incentive to win, supports it. I would support a floor if there was also a salary cap. I understand the idea in theory that you need to spend so much money to be competitive. But when you start getting into instances where one player can make more money than some entire teams bring in every year, something has to be done to prevent that. The whole idea of "We need money to compete" is why a family of four has to pay over $100 to go to a baseball game if they don't want to sit in the upper deck. But I'm also of the theory that people who do things like cure terminal diseases should make more money than a guy who can hit a round object with a three foot stick.

When were Flair & Randy Savage fighting at Wrestlemania XIII?! BAH!!!!!!!! I meant VIII The V and the X ... so close on the keyboard. I'm HOPING you knew what I meant. I know, I just forgot to add the sarcasm tag to it. Sadly, by WM XIII, Falir/Savage were still main eventing in WCW. (shiver) And I still would have rather seen that than anything that actually made the WM13 card with the exception of Bret-Austin.

The Flair-Savage title change was at the Hersheypark Arena in Hershey, Pennsylvania, wasn't it? As far as that match went, it was good but didn't have anywhere near the same intensity that the WrestleMania VIII match did.

Benjamin's facial expressions are part of the reason I've been saying he'll be a major star within two years. If he learns to do a good promo, then he's gold!