JHawk

People voted for Nunzio over Abyss and Booker T got almost no support against Matt Hardy. Anything can happen in TSM Mat Madness II! [/Vince McMahon mode]

Here are the final results. A few of you missed voting on a match or two here, which explains the different vote totals. Winners are in bold. Northeast Region 1 Eddy Guerrero 33 16 Kensuke Sasaki 1 8 Juventud Guerrera 29 9 Funaki 5 4 Raven 15 13 Jushin "Thunder" Liger 19 5 Ultimo Dragon 26 12 Yuji Nagata 8 3 Rey Misterio Jr. 31 14 Elix Skipper 3 6 Rob Van Dam 23 11 Jeff Jarrett 10 2 CM Punk 29 15 CIMA 5 7 Low Ki 24 10 Teddy Hart 10 Northwest Region 1 AJ Styles 29 16 Kenta Kobashi 5 8 Rey Bucanero 13 9 Ultimo Guerrero 16 4 John Cena 23 13 Nick Dinsmore 11 5 Tajiri 32 12 Val Venis 2 3 Shawn Michaels 28 14 Rico 6 6 Booker T 7 11 Matt Hardy 27 2 Kurt Angle 31 15 Doug Williams 3 7 Ric Flair 31 10 Hulk Hogan 3 Southeast Region 1 Shelton Benjamin 27 16 Toshiaki Kawada 7 8 La Parka 15 9 Chris Sabin 19 4 American Dragon 28 13 Chuck Palumbo 6 5 Charlie Haas 17 (via my tiebreaker vote) 12 Jerry Lynn 17 3 Chavo Guerrero Jr. 29 14 Steve Corino 5 6 Triple H 23 11 The Undertaker 11 2 Brock Lesnar 27 15 Jody Fleisch 6 7 Nunzio 19 10 Abyss 15 Southwest Region 1 Chris Jericho 30 16 Magnum Tokyo 3 8 Big Show 16 9 Samoa Joe 17 4 Jamie Noble 25 13 Satoshi Kojima 9 5 Spanky 20 12 Christian 13 3 Paul London 28 14 Billy Kidman 5 6 Chris Hero 17 11 Kane 16 2 Christopher Daniels 31 15 Jonny Storm 1 7 Trent Acid 15 10 Homicide 18 Voting for the next round starts as soon as I can post the matchups.

SmackDown from JHawk's Beak (4/1/2004) No matter what I think, somebody will disagree, so here's where you can voice that disagreement. Agreements are welcome too.

Does it matter?

"May your lives be like toilet paper...long and useful."

This coming from a guy who has a bad picture of Lita in his sig. Then again, since my favorite has been called "skinny bitch" among the nicest of her detractors, I probably shouldn't say too much. To each their own. Some men like bigger women. Some men like thinner women. My only requirement is that I find them attractive, and the hell with what anybody else thinks. By the way, Molly Holly + blonde hair = homina homina homina.

I'll have to remember that for next year, as that's a hell of an idea. And to the person who questioned the seedings, they were determined by the number of nominations received in the nomination thread (with ties broken up by the PWI 500 since that was the easiest way to break up 50+ nominations of one vote). Still a few days left guys, so keep 'em coming.

Raw from JHawk's Beak (3/29/2004) Once in a while, they even surprise me.

Does anybody know if there was any back story to Magnum T.A.'s first US Title victory over Wahoo McDaniel (3/23/1985)? The match was in a cage, but as far as I can tell Magnum had worked a handful of TV matches (all squash victories) and then just got thrown into this cage match to win the US Title.

The number one seeds (in no particular order): Eddy Guerrero Chris Jericho Shelton Benjamin AJ Styles And now for the #64 vs. #65 play-in (winner moves on to face Eddy Guerrero); #64 Mr. Niebla #65 Kensuke Sasaki The battle of the automatic bids that nobody nominated! Voting ends Sunday.

SmackDown from JHawk's Beak (3.25.2004) You know the drill.

Considering the fans had already been turning against Hogan anyway, I don't think Hogan going over anybody would have made a lick of sense. And although I trust Meltzer more often than not, I have a hard time believing Hogan vs. Flair wasn't drawing, as even people I knew who were getting away from wrestling wanted to see that match, and they were getting some pretty good crowds for the Flair-Piper matches at the same time period. Hogan vs. Flair at WMVIII would have shattered any PPV records at the time, especially if fans thought that either man could win.

You'll forgive me if I continue to call it a backbreaker drop since I can spell that.

Thoughts: Do this on cable and satellite rather than strictly the internet. Then you could cater to an even wider audience. But until then, I'll take it however I can get it. Unless that proposed Mark Henry week actually happens. ::cringes::

I think the guy wanted serious suggestions. Which I have none. None that won't end the relationship, at any rate.

OK everybody, no more nominations please. I'm tallying things up now to figure out the seedings and will be posting the #1 seeds and the play-in match sometime tonight (hopefully in the next hour).

It's post-WrestleMania, which means it's once again time for me to start the TSM Mat Madness tournament. Last year, we took 65 of the world's greatest and put them in an NCAA-type tournament, and your votes made Chris Benoit the winner. Who will join Benoit in the Mat Madness Hall of Fame? That is up to you. This thread is for nominations, and your nominations will determine the seedings for the tournament. Here's how it will work. 1. All wrestlers who wrestled at least one match between the day after WrestleMania XIX (March 31, 2003) and the day of WrestleMania XX (March 14, 2004) are eligible. 2. You may vote for as few as one wrestler or as many as ten wrestlers. The criteria is entirely up to you. Just pick your ten favorites. 3. Deceased wrestlers are NOT eligible to prevent sympathy votes. Not that there would be any this year, but last year's was so close to Curt Hennig's death that I felt this rule might be a necessity. 4. Multiple nominations are encouraged. The only way to have real seedings is for some guys to be selected by more than one poster. 5. The top four vote getters all get #1 seeds, the next four get #2 seeds, etc. 6. In the event that we don't get 65 wrestlers nominated, I will use the latest PWI 500 to fill out the remaining seeds. 7. The following champions get automatic bids regardless of the voting, although you still need to vote for them in this thread to improve their seeding (NOTE: WWE Raw World Champion Chris Benoit is retired from this and future tournaments due to last year's victory): WWE SmackDown Champion: Eddy Guerrero NWA World Champion: Jeff Jarrett Ring of Honor Champion: Samoa Joe Ohio Valley Wrestling Champion: Nick Dinsmore IWGP Heavyweight Champion: Kensuke Sasaki AJPW Triple Crown Champion: Toshiaki Kawada Global Honored Crown Champion: Kenta Kobashi CMLL Champion: Mr. Niebla If my info on the current champions is inaccurate, let me know, but those are courtesy of Wrestling-Titles.com 8. There will be a "play-in" between the #64 and #65 seeds. 9. I will only vote in the tournament to break ties. 10. Voting timetable: Nominations/seeding until Tuesday evening. Play-in round: Tuesday evening/Wednesday morning through Sunday All other rounds will be given a full week (give or take a few hours each way depending on when I'm online). So start nominating. You have until Tuesday evening.

Raw from JHawk's Beak (3/22/2004) Only with WWE can I enjoy a show and still feel the end is near.

As Dave Chappelle would say, "I'm back, bitch!" I hadn't forgotten about this project, but my work schedule prevented me from doing too much with it. I'll continue updating as much as possible. April 26, 2004 Signings: Heels: Johnny Swinger OSW Superstar Challenge (May 1, 2004) live from the Mid-Hudson Civic Center (Poughkeepsie, NY) :00-:01 Gordon Solie congratulates AJ Styles on his title victory. :01-:44 Tag Team Battle Royal to determine the teams and seeds for the World Tag Team Title Tournament Participants: America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris/James Storm) Black Gordman/Gran Goliath Bobo Brazil/Mark Lewin Johnny Valentine/Ted DiBiase Luis Martinez/Spanky Nikolai Volkoff/Kurt Von Hess The Basham Brothers (Doug Basham/Danny Basham) The Wild Samoans (Afa/Sika) The rules: It's a standard tag team battle royal. Elimination occurs when you're tossed over the top rope and both feet hit the floor, and when one man is eliminated, his partner is also eliminated. The winning team will be the number one seed in the tournament, the first team eliminated will be the number eight seed, and the order of elimination will determine the rest of the seeding. As is the norm in a battle royal, the action is hard to follow. Bobo Brazil nearly eliminates Nikolai Volkoff, but Volkoff pulls himself in...only to be eliminated by a Luis Martinez clothesine (4:27). Action continues. Bobo Brazil sets Black Gordman up for a Coco BUTT, but Gordman stops it with a kick below the belt. Afa comes over and helps Gordman toss a stunned Brazil over the top rope (7:36). Gordman and Afa then brawl with each other until other competitors intervene. Afa eventually tosses James Storm over, but he stops on the apron...just long enough for Afa to knee him in the back for the elimination (10:37). A few close calls, as both Sika and Martinez keep themselves from elimination. Sika nearly eliminates Johnny Valentine following a Samoan drop, but Valentine slips in under the bottom rope. Spanky lands on the apron when Danny Basham tries to eliminate, and Spanky comes back in by hitting Danny with a springboard swinging DDT. Gordon Solie puts over how much the titles and tourney seedings mean as we hit the 20-minute mark. Sika tries to eliminate Gordman, but Gran Goliath makes the save. After a lull, Goliath charges Martinez, who belly-to-bellys Goliath over the top rope (31:22). Martinez charges Afa, but meets a backdrop for the fifth elimination (33:56). Doug Basham immediately tries to eliminate an off-balance Afa, but Sika makes the save. Danny Basham soon charges both Samoans for a double clothesline, but they backdrop Danny over for the elimination (37:43). We're down to two teams, and we get several minutes of back-and-forth brawling between them. Sika tackles DiBiase, and they both fall through the ropes to the outside. Valentine then clotheslines Afa, who falls over the top rope but hangs on and slides back in. Valentine turns and charges, but is backdropped over the top rope (39:54). The winners and #1 seeds: The Wild Samoans. ***3/4 :44-:46 COMMERCIAL BREAK :46-:47 Gordon Solie shows us the brackets for the tourney: #1 The Wild Samoans vs. #8 Nikolai Volkoff/Kurt Von Hess #4 Luis Martinez/Spanky vs. #5 Black Gordman/Gran Goliath #3 The Basham Brothers vs. #6 America's Most Wanted #2 Johnny Valentine/Ted DiBiase vs. #7 Bobo Brazil/Mark Lewin :47-:49 COMMERCIAL BREAK :49-:55 Standby match (one fall to curfew): Johnny Swinger vs. Buddy Landell Landell hits a flying forearm for an early near fall. An Irish whip, but he telegraphs a backdrop, and Swinger gets a fisherman suplex for 2. Swinger gets a spinebuster for 2. Landell reverses a corner whip and connects with a shoulderblock, and Landell is in complete control. Landell misses with a flying legdrop though, and Swinger hits the Swinger Stinger for the pin at 3:19. **1/2 :55-:57 COMMERCIAL BREAK :57-1:00 Gordon Solie interviews Johnny Valentine and Ted DiBiase, who hope the Samoans make the tournament final so they can avenge the battle royal elimination. End of show.

Thanks for the responses so far, everybody, as this tournament should kick last year's tournament's ass. Last year I only had about 40 names or so nominated, and already I'm up to around 75-80 names for this year's tournament. Plus, this year the seedings aren't nearly as predictable as last year's were, so there should be some interesting matchups. There are still two days remaining in the voting period, so if you haven't voted yet and want to see your favorite get a higher seed, make your nominations before around 9:30pm Eastern Tuesday.

He DID mean it. I think in the interview he did recently (or news I read) he said he was really annoyed with how the crowd was acting. Had he waited until after WrestleMania to tell anybody (or at the very least given proper notice), the crowd probably would have been indifferent toward it. That crowd brought back memories of ECW... ::sniff::

You're all forgetting the Fabulous Freebirds. Tell me that Badstreet USA didn't help keep them over everywhere they went. The one place they didn't use it was their two month WWF run in 1984, and nobody remembers they had a two month WWF run in 1984 as a result.

SmackDown from JHawk's Beak (3/18/2004) I like having good shows to review.

Three more weeks before Dames has his own place? Then more time after that to get the internet hookup? That means I have at least three more weeks of covering both shows. ... ... For the love of God, hurry back! ... ::thinks about the draft lottery and how SmackDown might suck after Monday night:: ... Eh, hurry back anyway. We miss ya, man.

If they're having a tournament for the World Tag Team Titles, then what the hell was the point of the three previous AJ Styles-Abyss matches?