Legends of Wrestling:Xbox
Well I picked this game up at Blockbuster for $6.99 and was very pleasantly surprised.
I didn't expect much out of this game and really only got it because it was $6.99 and I wanted to use Bret Hart.
First off,graphically it's nothing to brag about.Models of guys like Bret Hart and Ricky Steamboat look fine but guys like Hogan and "Superstar" Billy Graham are far too large and look cartoonish. It's nothing that will kill you to look at but it doesn't come close to RAW for the Xbox.
A positive for this game is it's use of the Soundtrack option. One of the definite bonus features for the Xbox was the custom soundtrack and I like to see it implemented whenever it can be. The lame soundtrack to RAW got incredibly annoying but with Legends I can kick some ass to D.O.A or the U.S. Bombs,which makes it much more enjoyable and is the next best thing to having well planned commentating.But all good things have a downside,the soundtrack has a habit of playing the same 6 or 7 songs over and over out of 30 tracks.I found a remedy by splitting down my soundtracks into seven or eight songs,which was a pain since I have about 180 songs on my hard drive.Also,to switch soundtracks you'll have to save and back out of the career mode.While a hinderance it doesn't take away the good points of the soundtrack option.
While I'm discussing sound,this game supports Dolby Surround which is always good,especially since I just bought a surround sound system for my Xbox. They captured the ambient sounds of a match really well and the grunts and whines of wrestlers are pretty authentic to the wrestlers themselves,specifically Jerry Lawler and Jimmy Hart who are dead on.
While match options on exhibition mode this game is worth it just for the career mode which is indepth and challenging.You begin by traveling between five different territories winning each territories title to unite them.Once united you defend your newly unified U.S. title,and then move on to united the titles of Japan,Canada,Mexico,and the United States into one World title.Difficulty increases as you move up through the game and you receive titles shots as you acheive more popularity which is based on how exciting your matches are.
The gameplay is my favorite for any wrestling game I've ever played.The game is based more on precise timing then button mashing.A bar is display under your name,a marker moves across this bar,if you hit the corresponding button show on the bar when the marker reaches that section of the bar you can reverse and link together moves.The more combos and reversals you can perform the more excited the crowd gets and the more damage you do to your opponent.The game is confusing at first coming off of the button mashing wrestling that I'm used to but was definitely much happier with this system once I figured out the ins and outs of the game.
The most disappointing feature in the game was the create-a-player,overall the choices are just too few. There are very few variations of clothing,body, and face types,the latter only having one choice.The move sets are good enough to mirror the move set of your favorite wrestler but it could still have more variety. You'll have much more difficulty in getting your create-a-wrestler to look right than you will his movements. I created a fairly decent Mr.Perfect but he's a pretty basic looking wrestler,my girlfriend found it impossible to create a convincing Molly Holly.There is one good thing about the create-a-wrestler,the use of custom soundtracks,again you can use any song you want for your create-a-wrestler,allowing you the ability to use their actual themes. Pre-programmed wrestler's themes can also be edited to use their orginal themes.
Overall in my opinion this game beats the pants off of RAW,except for graphically,personally I would much rather have a well designed game with an excellent control system,and an indepth career than a bunch of polygons.
This game may have limited appeal becuase of not having current WWE wrestlers(except Hogan and RVD),but longtime fans should find some entertainment in this game. I'd definetely recommend this to the hardcore wrestling fan.I should have paid fifty dollars for this and $6.99 for RAW (which is now don't to $9.99 at EB games which it's worth just to play when company comes over,and it has nothing to do with this but Shenmue II is also $9.99,don't miss out of this one,well worth $9.99).
Now to an actual column.I know I haven't said much about wrestling lately and there's a perfectly good reason for that,I haven't really watched much lately.I got a new job and have to get up way earlier.So I pretty much fall asleep five minutes into RAW and about an hour after Smackdown comes on.I did attend the Smackdown at freedom hall the tuesday before last,and I have to say that wrestling wise it's the best WWE show I've ever been to.Smackdown is loaded with cruiserweights and I loved it.It was a hell of a line up with Jamie Knoble vs. Rey Mysterio, Shannon Moore vs. Brian Kendrick(which was surprisingly good),Little Guido vs. Taijiri,unfortunately I missed Matt Hardy completely.I've never seen either of the Hardyz wrestle live so I was looking forward to seeing the Twist of Fate.Anyways,A-train came out and it was time to hit the concession stands,I'm standing second in line and I hear A-trains music hit two seconds after I heard it,next thing I know I hear Matt Hardyz theme connecting.My girlfriend says "Isn't that Matt Hardyz music?"
I get pissed then think to myself,they're still taping Velocity,"It's probably just Shannon coming out for a match on Velocity."
By the time we get done at the concession stand(remember I was second in line the whole match,slow bastards) Matts music hits again as we're entering the arena,I'm then shocked to find that it was Matt Hardy.I was pretty pissed,honestly I'm a complete Hardyz mark and was really looking forward to seeing Matt in action but What'chagonnado,right?
The show was great and we cut out for the contract signing since I had completely no interest,and we didn't have to deal with traffic,which is always a plus to an evening.
The excitement level wasn't really there this time though.It seemed like a lot of the crowd was there just because it was something to do and didn't seem real excited about being there.They still got live everytime Hogan was on tyhe screen though,pretty good hype for Brock,and of course extreme heat for Kurt Angle.Sean O'Haire used the Razor's Edge and everybody went nuts.How are they toning down the product by using the Razor's Edge?
Anyways to sum up we had a good time.
Another reason I think I haven't been watching wrestling lately is that I don't really need to,there's no doubt this is going to be a memorable Wrestlemania.The card in my mind is incredible Brock vs. Kurt,the match everyone's been waiting for,a win over Triple H for Booker T would be a plus but I doubt it will happen,the last time a company put themselves behind Booker T it shut down but I think people are really behind Booker now that the Rock has left them,he's an entertainer and I think that's what they should go with now.Vince vs.Hogan is at least historic.Rey vs. Matt will probably be a sleeper hit.The tag division's are in shambles right now I don't think RAW's tag title match will be all that impressive but Benoit and Rhyno vs. Team Angle will be good I'm just not happy with how Benoit is placed at Wrestlemania,I'd much rather have him in a singles match.I'm looking forward to Trish vs. Jazz vs. Victoria,I think this match will top off the best year of women's wrestling in WWF/WWE history.
Finally Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Micheals is the match I'm looking forward to the most.Jericho has been the most impressive wrestler on RAW as of late and getting to see him face Shawn Micheals is a no brainer. People will probably and up talking about Brock vs. Angle more than anything when it's said and done but I think this match will probably end up blowing some socks off.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
I got this game a few weeks back and thought I would share my thoughts on it.
First off,I'm not a big Buffy fan but I used to watch the show quite a bit.Plot wise this game is on par with the regular Buffy story arc.The master has returned once again and he's trying to reincarnate himself,of course Buffy and the "Scooby gang" are all that can stop him.
I was pretty hyped about this game since it was an Xbox exclusive but graphically it looked little better than a PS2 port.I'm not graphics whore though so it wasn't that big of a deal for me.
Gameplay wise the controls are really simple and won't take long to learn.There are numerous moves Buffy can use to defeat the vampires which can keep the fighting interesting but basic punches and kicks can defeat most of your enemies. Interaction with the environment is exceptional since you can break nearly anything and kill vampires with it.
Now to the complaints. My number one complaint is that the level bosses are a bit too easy compared to the levels.It's more of a challenge to get to the bosses than it is to defeat them and to me that's sort of anti-climatic.Honestly,the toughest enemy on the game isn't a final boss it's the sirens that show up on the dock levels.
My second complaint is that it really doesn't take much strategy to get through this game,it's a pure button smasher and while some may like this,it gets a little mundane to me.
Overall I guess I'd give it a B-. It's in no way a bad game but it's not breaking any new ground.If you're a huge Buffy fan you should probably already have it,because as a fan you'll love it.If you're not a fan it might not be for you button if you enjoy button mashing fighting games,the $30 price tag for a new copy makes it well worth it.

Rumble Thoughts and Eroding Freedoms
While most of the Rumble was predictable it was still enjoyable though there was some down spots.
Dawn and Torrie was crap but that was expected.The thing that bugs me about the match is that they've tried to get people to take women's wrestling serious on RAW and then they put this on the PPV.On a side note I never thought that a neckbreaker could be so devastating.
Triple H vs. Steiner-I wasn't disappointed the least in this match becuase it was exactly what I expected.I mean really two guys who have roided to the point that they've thrown their bodies completely out of proportion just shouldn't be expected to deliver a good match.And while HHH was once praised for his in ring work,I can't think of a time where Steiner was.From top to bottom this is what should have been expected.
Dudleyz vs. Regal and Storm-I liked Storm's in ring work other than that this match was just sort of there.Maybe since I haven't been watching RAW it affected how much I enjoyed the match.It seemed like something that could have been done on RAW to me though.
Brock vs. Show-It's amazing watching Brock throw Show around the ring but past that nothing spectacular but as was the case with HHH/Steiner it was what I expected.
Benoit vs. Angle-The pinnacle match of the night,but at this point I think that Benoit and Angle could do spinning toe holds the entire match and people would talk about how great it was.Now the non-smarks watching the Rumble with me were bored by this match.I don't see how either and you could insult them but the truth is the casual fans are there for larger than life personanlities,not technical prowess.I loved it but as much as I'd love to believe that matches like this will bring people back to wrestling,it won't.
The Rumble itself-It was a basic Rumble which to me was a screw up.Here it is the first time the RAW roster faced the Smackdown roster and it wasn't played up at all.If they wanted to continue to build the roster split,their should have been no in-fighing between RAW members as long as there was a Smackdwon member in the ring.Bragging rights as to being the brand that won the Rumble should have been a major booking point but for some reason it wasn't.It just seems like they dropped the ball on it to me.
Like I said I still enjoyed it but to me the Rumble should have been set up like the World Series for the two brands.
Now to the eroding freedoms I point you to the article I'm going to paste below.
ISP ordered to identify Kazaa user
RIAA wins case against Verizon
By Declan McCullagh
Jan. 21 A federal judge on Tuesday ordered Verizon Communications to disclose the identity of an alleged peer-to-peer pirate in a legal decision that could make it easier for the music industry to crack down on file-swapping networks.
IN A 37-PAGE DECISION, U.S. District Judge John Bates said the wording of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act requires Verizon to give the Recording Industry Association of America the name of a Kazaa subscriber who allegedly was sharing more than 600 music recordings. Bates said the court disagrees with Verizons strained reading of the act, which disregards entirely the clear definitional language.
This case represents the entertainment industrys latest legal assault on peer-to-peer piracy. If its invocation of the DMCA is upheld on appeal, music industry investigators would have the power to identify hundreds or thousands of music pirates at a time without going to court first.
The dispute is not about whether the RIAA will be able to force Verizon to reveal the identity of a suspected copyright infringer, but about what legal mechanism copyright holders will be able to use. The RIAA would prefer to rely on the DMCAs turbocharged-subpoena process because it is cheaper and faster than other methods but Verizon and civil liberties groups have said it is not sufficiently privacy-protective.
At issue in the RIAAs request is an obscure part of the DMCA that permits a copyright owner to send a subpoena ordering a service provider to turn over information about a subscriber. Verizon says the DMCA does not apply because the company is only a conduit and is not hosting the material on its servers.Bates said
Verizons proposed solution a lawsuit with a John Doe defendant to be named later is more burdensome and less timely in copyright cases. Bates ordered Verizon to comply with the RIAAs subpoena.
We appreciate the courts decision, which validates our interpretation of the law, Cary Sherman, president of the RIAA, said in a statement. The illegal distribution of music on the Internet is a serious issue for musicians, songwriters and other copyright owners, and the record companies have made great strides in addressing this problem by educating consumers and providing them with legitimate alternatives.
Now I'm not going to get into music pirating.I can see both point of view on the subject,even though I download music occassionally.My main problem is that from day one,one of the internet's major rights was that of privacy and anonimity.If they'll cross that line to please the RIAA,who else will they cross the line for.

Is He still alive?
Yes, I still exist,though it has been a long time since I posted,and it's not just out of laziness. I decided to switch my phone service and things just got screwed up,so I didn't have phone service for a month.Honestly, I could do without the phone since I hate the damn thing but until I get broadband I need the phone line.At least I only have to pay half the price I was paying before.
I wouldn't really have much to write about anyways since I didn't watch much wrestling during December.For some reason the Bluejackets games seemed to keep coniciding with Smackdown, and I refuse to watch RAW until the Ratings Assasin drops the title. I hate not seeing Jericho and Booker T but I just can't waste time being pissed off that they never get to move up the ranks.
The Royal Rumble is Sunday and I'm excited,frankly the Rumble has always been my favorite pay per view of the year.Sure it's just a clusterfuck,but I enjoy.I'll be back to let everyone know what I thought about the show but for now it's my predictions.
Dudleyz vs. Regal and Lance-I don't know the why or herefores of how the Dudleyz lost the titles but it didn't seem to be such a hot idea.The crowd was hot for their reunion and they should have just run with them as tag champions for awhile,since they're just going to give them the titles back this Sunday. Regal and Lance just don't seem to be able to draw any real heat and I don't seem them hanging around much longer.
Torrie Wilson vs. Dawn Marie-Who really cares?Torrie Wilson wins.
Big Show vs. Brock Lesnar-Lesnar is obvioulsy going to win this one and is my choice for this year's Rumble winner but if there's one thing the WWE has proven in the last couple of years is that they really know how to shoot themselves in the nuts.I'm going with Brock but wouldn't be shocked if they screwed it up and gave it to the Big Show.
Scott Steiner vs. Triple H-I've read about all their little challenges of late,and really they should have had a "Who's balls have shrunk the most from 'Roid use contest?" Their's no chance of this match being entertaining.I'm sorry but this going to be just tedious to watch and the worst part will be when Triple H wins again.Yes,it makes sense to let Steiner pick up the win but it's just not going to happen.So the heat killer wins again and even more TV sets fail to tune into RAW on Monday.
Chris Benoint vs. Kurt Angle-This to me is really a coin toss.I know it seems like they're building toward Brock vs. Angle at Wrestlemania and it would seem like Angle would keep the title until then,but I could see them having Benoit pick up the win and then dropping the title back to Angle at No Way Out.Personally,I'd love to see Benoit win but not if he's going to just keep the title for a month.So since it's the most illogical move I'm picking Benoit.
The Royal Rumble-Like I said my choice is Brock,thus leading to Brock vs. Angle at Wrestlemania. The only bad thing is I'm expecting Brock to face Big Show yet again at No Way Out.It's a damn shame that they don't know any better than to do with Brock what they did with Edge.They had Edge wrestle quality wrestlers and he himself has become a good wrestler.Use this same formula with Brock and you've got a monster that can't be stopped.But instead they have him working with Big Show and gAy-Train.
Here's hoping that with the first pay per view of the new year the WWE will start to use some basic logic and begin to look more like the WWF of old.The downswing can only last so long,right?Right?

Just Some thoughts:
Raw has been decent the last couple of weeks.If you didn't enjoy the Dudley/Jericho & Christian segments you're not going to enjoy anything.I still think HHH needs to be moved out of the main event because I and everybody else are tired of him.Still RAW is way better than it was.RAW is finally on the right track and should continue as is. The ratings are not going to flood in though.It's part of the cycle and the WWE just needs to accept that.Wait 2-5 years and change your business plan.The hardcore fans are what you're shooting for right now and that's all you'll get,so accepts it and get on with and get it.The "fans for now" are gone and won't be around awhile,trust me,I listen to punk rock, They'll be back when Britney Spears has pissed them off.
Brock may be nothing more than a transtition champion but it's much better than Big Show.They won't lose any fans becuase we expect Brock to win back the title,but let's face it Shawn Micheals wasn't on top when ratings were.
I don't care if The Dudleys were in the position that Booker T and Goldust were supposed to be on Mondau Night.I'd much rather see Booker T in the position that RVD was.If he was in WCW or not Booker T deserves the push.He's the closes thing to the Rock that the WWE has right now. Smackdonw is fine right now but you can only do the Angle & Benoit vs. Edge & Rey vs. Eddie & Chavo things for so long. Yes,people will be talking about this for years from now but they're ready for something else right now.To me Edge is a better champion than Big Show.Did I mention that Big Show as champion is the worst idea ever?
What the hell do you people want?You never let me know so how am I supposed to know?
You obviuosly want the government to follow every transaction you make electronically or you'd be protesting the National Defense Act like I am?Look into what it says before it's too late! For you christians,letting government conrtrol take place doesn't mean an automatic seat in heaven.Saving the Earth from the tyrannical control of the U.S. is more important than your personal comfort is more important.Go to http://www.centrexnews.com to see what I'm talking about.
As a final note I'm getting married June 14th.Jared e-mail me for full details.Congratulate or curse me.All I know is that children and death are the final parts to the equation so I'm almost there.That's all from under the 1999 Bluejackets cap this week.Happy Thanksgiving,and remember what those first pilgrims were fighting for.

Night and Day
That's the way a lot of people describe Raw and Smackdown as right now,but sometimes I wonder if it's just RAW making Smackdown look better.I watched RAW tonight and I just don't know why I even bothered.There were some highlights I suppose.I thought Jericho was really on tonight and Christian's "You ain't not no sucka" line was pretty good. I thought Ivory and Trish's match was pretty good, I don't like the pairing of Victoria and Ivory.All the women are heels but Trish,I think Ivory as a face semi-mentor figure to Trish would have worked better.Trish just seems like it's her versus the world in that women's division,she could use someone to run with that's not Bubba Dudley.
What's up with Dave Batista?I mean Dave?They run these promos trying to make him look like a bad ass so he can overcome the Deacon Batista fiasco and they call him DAVE? I gues Batista didn't have the same zing to it without throwing DAVE in front of it?That's a stupid mistake,plain and simple.
Of course my biggest complaint is what makes the difference between Smackdown and RAW,the focus.I think primarily Smackdown focuses on six guys Brock,Angle,Benoit,Edge,Rey, and to a lesser extent Eddie.RAW focuses on Triple H,look at the dreaded Elimination Chamber match,oooh.Shawn is back for revenge,Booker T wants that title,Kane still has a score to settle with Triple H,Jericho's just biding time until the PPV,and RVD's off wrestling Chrisitian and is more an afterthought in the match.On top of that it looks like Eric Bischoff is not only stacking the cards against him but may also be fooling around with his ex-wife.I mean every show is dedicated to the perils of Triple H.By the way I don't see Triple H losing the first ever Elimination Chamber match.Looks like another month of ratings drops for RAW.
Reading some different stuff on the 'net this week and came across this
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2388339.stm
It's about a killer flu epidimic that could be hitting Europe in a few years.It was ironic that I read this the same week after I began to read Stephen King's The Stand again.If you've never read it I recommend it.It's a lengthy book about 1100 pages but it's well worth the time.I'm not much a fan of Stephen King myself,he's got diarheaa of the typewriter but it works for this book.There's also a movie it's six hours long so if you want to save yourself some time you could watch it but as they say the books always better.
My Columbus Blue Jackets have a .500 win percentage.Nobody would have believed it possible last year.The off season trades really seem to be paying off,especially Andrew Cassels,he and Geoff Sanderson have made a really good pairing as of late.Denis has been stellar in goal for a man who's getting his first chance at leading a team, 11 straight starts with only one sub by J.F. Labbe (vs. St.Louis) is impressive.We probably won't be making the playoffs this year but finsihing in the top 20 is good for a team who was 29th last year.

This weeks thoughts and Terrence Garvin?
I thought the pay per view was solid.It really seemed like Smackdown was carrying most of the work load though. Thank God Jericho was doing the missile dropkick instead of the lionsault when the rope broke.Of course,people probably would have come back for awhile.I'm sure Vince could do a wonderful angle with that.By far the best RAW match on the pay per view,and overall I thought it was pretty basic,nothing outstanding but it didn't bore me either.
Torrie and Dawn was what it was,you can't really expect much out of these two but they tried so I'll give them that.Dawn just doesn't look as good standing next to Torrie Wilson,as she did standing next to Francine.
I really couldn't get into Flair and RVD.RVD's promo was awful,it just made me care even less than before.This feud probably could have been done right but it just wasn't.I mean Flair screwed RVD out of a title reign,and Flair's a Damn legend.Maybe if Flair had gotten some more mic time and actually had some reasoning behind the attack other than he was acting as HHH's bitch.In the ring it was about as much as I expected from these two,and maybe it would have been more enjoyable if it had had some build up.
Another improper build up was Noble and Taijiri.They pretty much just threw it on the card.These two were garnering some heat near the end.They had drawn people in by the end.With a proper build up they would have been into it from the begining and grown even more supportive at the end.I enjoyed it of course,but I'm a mark for crusiserweights.
HHH vs. Kane-Who cares?HHH won,what a surprise?Kane looked sort of out of it.
Another incredible showing to the Smackdown dynamos Edge,Rey Mysterio,Benoit,and Angle.Great match,but I prefer one on one battles to the tag team battles that are the trend now,a trend that I'm sure won't be ending since the tag titles are the only titles available to the majority of the roster.
I expected a little more out of Trish and Victoria but for a first of a contniouing series it wasn't bad.Molly and Trish's first match was probably at about the same level as this match.I'm sure they'll get better as they go along.They have the chance to really turn Victoria into a monster and the main reason is that she reminds everyone of Chyna.Don't make her a copy but capitalize on your previous brainwashing that muscular women with long black hair are monsters.
The Hell in the Cell was good.I was actually happy that they didn't do a big fall spot.They need to scale back the Hell in the Cell anyways so it could be built back up for the next jack ass that wants to take the chance in falling off.Taker bled like a bastard.Ding Dong Taker's Gone.And a spot opens up.
The guy I watch wrestling with,Tom,invited his old next door neighbor,Terrence Garvin.Don't confuse him with the now deceased TERRY GARVIN. Terrence wrestled in the mid-south territories in the 70's and 80's.Most of you probably have never seen him but I remember him from his days in CWA and USWA.Anyways,I thought I'd pass along some of the stuff he said.He could be bullshitting,and I'm guessing he is,but who knows?So here goes.
#1. Jerry Lawler? He can be sort of an asshole,if he thought you were below him,but we got along great.We made a lot of money together.
#2.Undertaker: He didn't care for King when they were with the USWA so one time he shit in his crown.Jack(Mick Foley)was just sitting there egging him on.
#3.X-Pac:They made me job to him one time,he's just like his character a snotty little punk.
#4.Benoit:He's the best wrestler I've ever seen.
#5.Steroids:Vince always had the best stuff.
That's about all I can remember.I was pretty stoned the whole night so I'm lucky I remembered any of it.Honestly,I couldn't stand the guy.He'd sit there and try and point out what the guys were saying to each other(he was usually wrong).He was just an annoying never was drunk redneck wrestler.Also he brought along his skanky rink rat girlfriend.They got pretty perverted a couple of times and it made me want to puke.It truly was a special night,the night I met wrestling legend,Terrence,not Terry, Garvin.
Last and definitely least RAW.I haven't been able to really watch RAW since the hockey season started,Bluejackets representn' yo, so this was my first full show in a couple of weeks,well almost full show.They barely had me paying attention and then HHH came on dressed as Kane.I watched about five minutes of that crap and it was over.Someone needs to talk to Vince about his crack problem,maybe they can get Marion Berry to host an intervention.

A Look At The Hardy Boyz
Jared requested it so here it comes.What's funny is I started to write this piece about a month or two ago when I was watching Matt on heat.
The Hardy Boyz were the ones who got me back into wrestling. I had watched CWA,USWA, and WWF through out my child hood.My dad liked wrestling back then and he got me into it.Around 17 I started really partying a lot and just lost interest in everything else. Around 1999 my brother started watching wrestling again,he brought over a copy of No Mercy one night when we were getting stoned and I haven't missed too many episodes since.The Hardyz and Christian and Edge had hooked me back in again.
That's where I think the Hardyz popularity really came from after that match. People who had never seen wrestling and those who hadn't watched in awhile,like myself, saw these guys throwing themselves around the ring,and it was like nothing some of us had ever seen.I didn't know anything about Japanese wrestling,ECW,or the WCW crusierweights.I believe I was more along the lines of the standard wrestling demographic at that time,guys who had watched the wrestling in the past but had forgotten about it along the way,we watched now and it was like a totally different thing compared to what we viewed in our childhood.The Hardyz represented the new age of wrestling,low in psychology but lots of fast paced action and high spots.
Nobody and I mean nobody knows lack of psychology and lots of high spots like Jeff Hardy. In the beginning this was Jeff's biggest strength. He could preform like no other,back in the day,Jeff made moves into works of art.The athlesticism involved in the things he did was amazing. He could even make other people's moves look more devestating than anyone else,and he did a lot of it.After the first ladder match the Hardyz did job after job after job picked up a win over the Dudleyz,and then jobbed and jobbed and jobbed.The whole time Jeff was throwing himself around full force in every match compounding small injury after small injury with no big pay off and no real development. Jeff was the high spot machine in the Hardy Boyz.He got the hot tags,he hit the senton,wrestlers kicked out and he took the pin.Everyone screamed about his potential,the next Shawn Micheals and such,but Jeff really never devoloped the potential much.He seemed perfectly happy in being the high spot guy the problem is the high spot guys get hurt and the fans don't get the same impact from their high spots.Now if the business had continued to grow Jeff would have probably continued to stay over thriving on the new fans who had never seen him before,if it wasn't for the compounded injuries.Jeff is a shadow of his former self now as his body has continued to fall apart.Jeff went the quick route to popularity,and while he still maintains a fan base,unless he develops into a well rounded wrestler,and gives his body a much needed rest,their will never be any justification to move him up any higher than where he stands right now.
None of this really surprises me with Jeff.About a year and a half ago I told my brother Eric while watching a pay per view that I didn't think Jeff would last more than six years,based simply on the injury factor.Another problem though is his lack of development.There's really no difference between a Jeff Hardy match in 1999 and a match in 2002.
Matt Hardy traveled a different route.Sure he did his part in the Hardyz,I wouldn't discount that fact for a minute but Matt picked his spots.He did the big stuff on pay per views occassionally but the highest Matt Hardy ever climbed night in and night out was the second rope for the leg drop. Like Jeff he jobbed night in and night out for about two years but where Jeff strived for the spotlight Matt sat back and bided his time absorbing the business as he did. Even in early intereviews Matt seemed to have a need to learn the business from top to bottom. Triple H always talk about eating and sleeping the business,Matt Hardy seems to do the same.
Matt was always developing,slowly but developing.When it came time for promos early on Matt did most of the speaking,when it came match time,Matt was in their carrying the match while Jeff waited for the hot tag.Matt was the brains behind the Hardyz,a perfect example is their ill fated break up match. Matt calls the whole match and it can be reflected in the fact that it was an attempt at a more technical match,less high flying more ground.Matt knew that high flying could get you to the game but technical wrestling could sustain your spot.He seemed to be trying to prove that he could do something more.Of course,this got them removed from television and cut the split up angle altogether.
Matt and Jeff were never really seemed the same after this.The crowd didn't seem to trust Matt anymore,they seemed to think that the break up was just around the corner and it seemed like they wanted Jeff and Lita to break away from Matt.Keeping them together really kind of killed the Hardyz.
After the draft,it wasn't long before Matt ended up on Heat.
Most guys go to Heat and give up.Matt started to work harder.He adjusted his move set experimented with things.He was doing the Version 1 thing for a month before left for Smackdown.Matt was getting mic time on Heat,and slowly developed on the mic.Of course,he eventually went to Smackdown,and the Mattitude Era began.
Honestly,I expected Matt to eventually become an Intercontinental contender mainstay. Sort of the area Jeff Jarrett was in before he left for WCW.At this point though I could see Matt hovering around the lower main event,sort of the stage Edge is in right now.
The basic difference between Matt and Jeff is that Jeff loves the crowd,but Matt loves the business.While Jeff absorbs the crowd heat,Matt absorbs the knowledge surrounding him.
AS far as the future goes,I don't see Jeff being around much longer,I'll be surprised if he makes it two years,especially if he doesn't take some sort of a break soon.Matt on the other hand I think will be around for years to come,I wouldn't be surprised to seem him remain with the WWF even after his wrestling career has ended in some sort of office position.
No matter how long either of their careers last,I'll always remember that they were the ones that reminded me of how good wrestling can be,and I'll always respect them for that.

Why Hasn't the WWE Signed Scott Steiner?
I just read a column on 1wrestling by Buck Woodard.Jared will enjoy this as he can't stand Buck.Anyways,Buck stated that he believed Triple H may be the one responsible for Steiner not being hired.He's reasoning was solid ,Triple H is threatened by Steiner's physical size because it might steal some of his heat.Buck figures that Steiner is the only one who can threaten HHH.Like,I said it's possible but I doubt it.Triple H has drawn better numbers as champion than Steiner could ever hope for.He's definitely made more money in buy rates and merchandise for the WWE than Steiner ever made for WCW.When he wants to be Triple H is better in the ring than Steiner.Lastly,he's doing the bosses daughter so no one is really a threat to Triple H,except Triple H,if he pisses off the bosses daughter.
So why hasn't the WWE hired Steiner?
One answer really is pretty simple,other than Hogan,none of the other WCW heavyweights(which would exclude Rey Mysterio) have paid off,so why should Steiner.Granted poor storylines haven't helped any of the WCW hevyweights but even the cream rises through bad creative direction.Booker T is proof of this,he continues to be the blunt of bad booking but still rises but it took Booker over a year to get to where he is now. For the high price Steiner is probably going to want the WWE can't afford for it to take Steiner over a year to get over.Of course if they brought Steiner in with the same amount of fan fare they used with Rey Mysterio they would probably not have these problems,but they'd probably have to deal with ego issues then.For some reason the smaller guys can handle the ups and downs of the business better than the heavyweights like Triple H and Undertaker.
Secondly, Steiner is old and already has a list of injuries and soft spots. Again as a matter of finances the WWE can't have Steiner coming in a getting injured only to pay him to sit at home.They're already harnessing the burden of Kevin Nash sitting on the side lines.At Steiner's size one wrong bump could put him on the sidelines for an extended amount of time.I believe Nash's contract was for $500,000,if Steiner got paid the same and both were injured that's a million dollar loss for the WWE a year.A million dollars isn't really chump change to the WWE now like it was back in 1999.At this point every penny counts in Connetticut.Why hire Steiner when you can develop guys like Brock and Batista at a much cheaper price,and possibly get more years of service out of them.
It's not that I don't believe that Steiner could be a draw but the risk that he wouldn't be is pretty high.Sure he was over in WCW but things just went downhill when he was champion and booking had nothing to do with Steiner because WCW was full ahead behind him.He was the man that went into the last Nitro as champion,so he obviously wasn't enough to save that ship,so why would he save the S.S. WWE.

Just some RAW thoughts
I thought RAW was ok overall this week,but that was simply because of the amount of ring time.Jeff Hardy needs a sabbatical of some kind,there's no use in him destroying himself in front of us.There's money to be made there but not with the shape his body is in,or will be if he continues as is.Plus,what's the use in the quick payback on the debilitating injury he could receive when it involves Big Show.
It's ridiculous what they did to Booker T last night.Much as the case was in the end of WCW the fans are tired of the same old same old,time for some fresh blood holding the title,once again that man is Booker T. Booker should be the one facing Triple H at No Mercy,and he should be the man to defeat Triple H.But maybe WWE realizes the mirroring of the two incidents and realizes what happened the last time Booker lead a promotion.
I never really cared much for Tommy Dreamer but he's got a sort of class about him that makes him stand out.Maybe a reignition of his feud with Raven could help get both of them over,it's done so in the past.
If nothing else can be said for Kane,you have to say he's earned the chance to face Triple H,and probably even earned the win,but I seriously doubt he will,which makes no sense when he and the Hurricane really had a chance to get over huge,then the fans would be clamoring for Kane as champion.
I don't like the fact that they're getting tid of the IC title.There's way to much history there to just get rid of it. But I guess with fewer titles they'll be able to make them more important.
I wonder if they can pull off the wheel of fortune bit next Monday,which I'm sure is what they hoped for.
Lastly,it's embarassing what they've done to Lance and Christian.Both are solid all around performers and I can't believe they can't find a way to use them properly.I've got nothing against Randy Orton but this is too much too soon in my eyes.He could have beat one or the other,and that would have been fine,but both of them wasn't necessary.Any win that Randy Orton picks up will be impressive at this stage so there's no reason to have him beat your former tag team champions.
A lot of shots towards competing programs last night. I guess since they've lost their wrestling competition they decided to take shots at the competition,but I doubt any of the shots will be returned. Hell,Ray Romano probably doesn't even realize that RAW is on at the same time but if they think that'll get fans more interested why not try it.It's not going to affect the program that much,so why not?
Lastly,is it just me or does it seem like randy Orton has become JR's pet project?


Defending American Women's Wrestling
The idea for this column first came a few weeks ago when Eric Bischoff made the statement that no one cared about women's wrestling and that the divas were there only for eye candy.In truth he's pretty much right.Most fans of wrestling are close minded white males who care as much about women displaying any kind of initiative or physical prowess as the do a gay duo tying the knot.Compounded upon Bischoff's statement was a poll taken by 1wrestling.com on whether there should be a women's title for RAW and Smackdown.The choices in the poll were yes,no,and no one cares about women's wrestling.The last thing to fuel the fire was a comment made by fellow column writer Ehren,who I hope doesn't take this as a personal attack,just an observation,when he said they should do away with the women's division.
It's true that the women's matches do not measure up to most of the men's matches.Trish Stratus and Molly Holly are no Benoit and Jericho,and there's no way I would argue that they are but Trish and Molly didn't have the Dynamite Kid or Bret Hart to look up to.
Honestly it wasn't until the mid-90s that people began to respect male wrestlers for their athletic ability.To the casual fan wrestling was fake from top to bottom.Sure they were getting drop on every area of the body imaginable but they were feeling no pain,wrestling was fake.It took guys like Mick Foley for people to realize that their was some physical endurance and conditioning and guys like HBK to make them realize that athleticism had it's place in wrestling.Before that most people looked at wrestlers as if they were just body builders with good tans,never realizing that it took a little more than that to make it in the ring.
The american women wrestlers of today are the first to really advance the sport for women,and their progress has advanced pretty rapidly.Go back just three years ago to matches with Ivory,Jacqueline,and Tori.Those matches are all hair tosses and banging each others heads on the mat.In three years women's wrestling has gone from the basic cat fights to very simple matches.In a way it all started with Chyna and to a lesser extent Sable.
These two were the first to really break the mold of the standard valet role for women in modern wrestling.They made the first step toward receiving respect based on more than just their looks,which is of course the only way Chyna could have gained any respect with the mug on her.
Women like Trish,Molly,Lita,and Jazz are the first generation to really begin to cut loose and the first role models for a new generation of women wrestlers yet to come.By killing off the current women's division your destroying the chances of women's wrestling to truly develop to a point where it can be respected as much as the men. If todays women fans have nothing more to look up to than Staci,Torrie,and Terri then there will never be any women's matches that will be respected in America.So the next time you're watching Trish vs. Molly,or Molly vs. Ivory,and you wish they would avoid getting in the ring all together,rememver you could always be watching Undertaker vs. Test,and could be cheating yourself out of seeing the female Benoits and Jerichos of the future.
RAW IS DEAD and an explanation to Jim Ross
As soon as Bischoff handed Triple H the title last night I changed the channel, I'd rather be forced to turn the TV to Everybody Loves Raymond than continue to watch the crap that the WWE was turning out last night. I've had enough.The placating of Triple H's ego has gone too far, I can't continue to support the WWE's blatant favoritism and oversaturation of Triple H.I'm going to miss seeing Jericho,RVD,and Booker T,but I'm not going to miss seeing the contiued humiliation of Jericho,and what looks to be the future humiliation of RVD and Booker T.They're both getting over so I'm sure Triple H will find a way to kill their heat.The combination of mixing family and business(Vince and Stephanie) and realtionships and business(Stephanie and Triple H) is killing the WWE,it's time for the Vince to realize that business is business,and he needs to do what's right for the business.So for now Raw is dead to me.Thank God Triple H can't get to the Smackdown roster,at least not yet,and that Stephanie isn't a wrestler,or else the entire business would be ruined.
This week in the Ross Report,Ross said the following:
"When is, or what will it take, for D'Lo Brown to "break through"? Same for Raven."
Well Ross I can tell you what it won't take.It won't take condemning both of them only to heat.It won't take putting one of them behind an announcing booth(D'Lo) and the other jobbing to people on heat(Raven).
In the case of D'Lo it won't take removing him for TV for some unnamed reason for a year,even when his fans our signing petitions to get him back.It won't take eventually bringing him back in a tag team with Chaz,managed by Tiger Ali Singh,and forcing them to wear turbins that fall apart during their matches.It won't take not having D'Lo wrestle.I'm not a fan of his work but many people are and it seems he can get over just by being on TV,and with the current state of RAW it wouldn't be that difficult to get him over.
In the case of Raven,it won't take giving him the hardcore title and allowing him to give some credibility to it and at the same time slowly rebuilding his fan base,and then put him in a feud against Big Show and Kane,where you book him as an invisible member that's obviously only there to drop the hardcore title.It won't take having him be humiliated in the middle of the ring by one of the main eventers during what should have been the most important angle in the history of wreslting.It won't take putting him behind an announcer desk and then banning him to heat because he wants to wrestle instead of announce.I mean imagine that a wrestler wanting to wrestle.
Quit asking stupid questions that you know the answer to and never do anything about.

Liberating Non-Criminals

I don't know how many of you have even heard but this November Nevada citizens will have the chance to become the first state to legalize marijuana use and possession for adults.The basic legislation would make it legal for adults over the age of 21 to possess up to three ounces of marijuana.It would still remain illegal to distribute to minors,driving under the influence,and toking in public.As in any other debate of this type both sides will say whatever it takes to convince the public that they are right.I'm going to try and expose a little bit of neutral truth to the forray.Before I begin though I'd like to make it perfectly clear that I myself love weed and hope that it's eventually legalized by the entire United States.My two main reasons for this are that it's hypocrytical to maintain alcohol as legal and not weed,and I'm tired of paying outrageously high prices for marijuana.
The biggest argument by anti-legalization pundits is that marijuana is a gateway drug.According to them after a person takes that first lungful of the sweet cheba,they have an almost instant craving from everything from acid to ecstacy.There is a semi-bit of truth to this argument.After smoking weed I became more open to trying other drugs.I myself have taken shrooms,acid,snorted coke,and smoke opium and hash.Sounds like I'm damn near a junky right,wrong.Over the past 8 years of drug use I've used shrooms 3 times,I like them but they're almost impossible to get a hold of and are really only effective from time to time,I snorted coke once and walked away not enjoying and wondering how the hell anyone could get addicted to it,and I've smoked hash and opium a couple times a piece and in both cases it was small amounts in laced joints,I liked both but much like shrooms they're a pain in the ass to get a hold of and really not worth all the trouble.Now with acid I did sort of go through a one to one and a half year phase of dosing,it sounds bad but acid seems to have a time limit on it's shelf life with drug users.When you first start doing it it's the most fun you'll ever have but each dose is a little bit weaker and the fun wears out.Plus,acid has a major downside to it.After coming off of the trip you go through about a six hour period of complete boredom.Every person I've ever known,minus one,who's done acid eventually swears off of it because it's not worth the "hangover" attributed to it.Now I did all of this after I tried marijuana but I only tried marijuana after what,drumroll please,alcohol.So what's the real "gateway" drug?
The anit-marijuan group also always has their ace in the hole,their concern with the poor little children.This is their most insane argument to me because when I was in high school there was a hell of a lot more kids that drank than smoked pot.I used to know a couple of guys who would sware that marijuana was bad for you,while polishing off a fifth of whiskey.A fifth of whiskey definetely is definetley worse than a joint.The pro-marijuana lot likes to claim that by legalizing and regulating marijuana it'll be easier to keep out of kids hands,this is also a silly argument.Kids are going to do what they want to do.If they want to drink,they're going to drink,if they want to smoke cigs,they're going to,if they want to smoke weed,snort coke,shoot heroin,they're going to.Legal or not teenagers are going to do whatever they want because they think they're always right and that adults are idiots.That's how teenagers have always been and always will be.
Anti-marijuana campaigns third argument is that if you legalize weed more people will use it.Again this seems to show the anti-marijuana crews lack of understanding of how much weed is really out there.If someone wants to smoke pot,it's not that hard for them to do.It's just as easy for me to go get a baggie as it is for me to go buy a fifth.THe people who want to smoke weed are going to smoke weed whether it's legal or not,and the people who aren't interested in smoking weed aren't going to smoke it.It's pretty much that simple.
The last reason the anti-marijuanaites use is that legalizing pot will have more potheads driving dangerously on the highway.First off,unless that person is smoking in their car,which most experienced pot users are smart enough no to do,they will never drive.Why?Because pot makes you lazy as hell and until the buzz wears off you'll find most potheads either watching bad Frasier re-runs or mesmerized by a video game.Just like alcohol though you'll have that select group of assholes who'll go out and drive.There is no comparison between how pot affects your driving and how alcohol affects it.The worst that happens when a stoner gets behind the wheel is that they slow down traffic because they don't break the 45 mph limit.Also when you're stoned it's almost impossible to break your attention to the road,if you've ever smoked you know what I'm talking about.
They pro-marijuana camp has some good reasoning involved with it's campaign.First off you erase the black market,I personally can't wait to put my dealer out of business after all of the times he's ass raped me,figuratively,for a half-quarter.Second, it'll be taxable.This seems profitable but the government would actually lose money between the losses of cheap prison labor and property seizures,which I think is their main motivation for keeping it illegal.At the same time though they have reasons that legalization would help society,the potheads main reason for legaliztion is to save their own asses from prosecution,and to lower prices.
Which I'm all for and hopefully the citzens of Nevada will get the ball rolling for the end of prohibition of marijuana.


NWA:TNA the First Impression

Well,last night I got my first look at NWA:TNA.We finally got the cable hooked up last
week and I decided to give this fledgling promotion a chance.Overall,most of these
guys(AJ Styles,Lo-Ki,the Flying Elvis) were new to me,while others I was familiar
with and had enjoyed in the past(Jeff Jarrett,the Truth a.k.a K Kwik,Jerry Lynn)and
those I never really cared much for (Ron Harris,Malice,Disco Inferno).
For a my first time watching I was impressed,especially by the guys in the X-division.
AJ and Lo-Ki,specifically Lo-Ki, lived up to all of the hype surrounding them and as
usual Jerry Lynn was quite impressive.The personal investment of money and time
is well worth it for the guys in the X-Division alone.Every guy busted his ass,even
Elix Skipper who I had only regarded as mediocre at best really put it all on the line.
You can really tell that the guys in the X-Division are really into not only getting
themselves over but every one else in the division and the promotion at large.
Other than Jeff Jarrett and Scott Hall,I really didn't have a lot of interest in the
heavyweights.The single Flying Elvis I saw,I can't remember his name,didn't really
impress me much and really made NWA look bush league with his forced Rock
impersonation. The heavyweight division in general really needs some work,but I'm
sure it will come along in time.
My main complaint with the promotion though was some of the profanity usage.I really
don't see the need for the use of the word "shit" ever.I can understand the occassional
use of the word "damn" but to me that's the worse the language should get.Disco's
use of the phrase "dumb bitch" was also completely unneccessary.The level of implied
sexism is already high in wrestling,and I'm just as guilty as the rest when it comes
to enjoying the T and A of wrestling,but the verbal sexism Disco was using is again
unneccessary.
NWA is not the WWE and you can tell that from just watching one show.They are a
true alterantive to the current WWE product.Their wrestling is of higher caliber
and the match predictability is much lower.This promotion is going to have a long road
ahead of them but once they can establish some more star power and get a TV deal
they could definitely become some competition for the WWE.

I don't have cable

That's right I'm one of the few americans left that doesn't subscribe to cable or own a satellite dish.No more 100+
channels (of mostly crap) now it's just 4 to 5,depending on wind speed,of channels(of, again, mostly crap).What
the do I do now you ask?How can you watch wrestling? First off,I still get Smackdown,which I watch less and less
of lately,not that it doesn't have it's bright spotsfor me(Hurricane/Knoble,Edge,Kurt Angle,Jericho),I just can't stand
watching Hogan and HHH,I really can't stand watching HHH, and when either of these two appear I find myself
instantly changin the channel,they really are just killing wrestling for me. I also get Afterburn.If it were on any other
time of the day than it's current time slot of 3:05 am I probably wouldn't watch it but since I'm usually up anyways
I watch it.I have to say it does an excellent job of recaping the entire week while still including some match time
within the small one hour time frame.

Anymore the only thing I go out of my way to watch is the news,it's the one thing I have to watch everyday,usually
one hour local and one hour of national.So what do I do now instead of watching the hours of television I was once
addicted to.

At first,I went through a withdrawal period where I went back and watched nearly every video I had,movies,wrestling,
old episodes of Friends,anything I could find but eventually I ran out of things,so then I switched over to video games.I
know own 5 games and 3 demo discs,it's the most video games I've owned since my nintendo.I've found that I'm just
not a video game person.I just can't get into it all that much,but that's not to say I don't love video games,I probably
couldn't live without my copy of NHL 2002,at least until NHL 2k3 comes out. Lately though I've found myself recessing
into the two main hobbies I had as a child,reading and card collecting.

When I was a kid I went through books and magazines almost as fast as I went through boxes of cereal.If it was handed
to me I read it.There's something to be said about allowing your imagination to take control. Your "vision" of what
a book looks like is completely yours alone,no two peoples interpretation of the characters,places,or ideas(the Bible
is a perfect example of this) are ever the same.This is the thing I've always like about books.Everyone knows that
books are always better than their movie adaptions but that's mostly because someone elses "vision" of the book,
especially on the limited scale,in comparison to the imagination, of the silver screen.

On to the card collecting.When I started collecting as a kid I collected baseball cards,mainly because they were the
most accessible and that's what all my friends collected.Eventually I became a huge hockey fan and I started collecting
hockey,which is a little more difficult to do when you live in Kentucky. I re-ignited my love of hockey this past season
when I started watching the Columbus Bluejackets,certainly not the best team in the NHL but I get to see nearly all
of their games and they're a damn entertaining team and within in the next five years I'm sure they're going to be
seeing some playoff time.Since the off season started I've been missing hockey. I haven't seen the Bluejackets play
since April and I only watched the actual finals during the Stanley Cup Playoff.I find that I miss it more than wrestling
but that's another issue.

Anyways,since the off season started I've been collecting hockey cards again,specifically Bluejackets cards.I'm
currently trying to get a minor league,a rookie,and a current issue card of each member that played for the
2001-02 Bluejackets.It's been pretty challenging,I'm about a quarter of the way done, but it's really reminded me
how fun it was to collect in the first place.When I get this collection done it probably won't be worth much,and in the
long run only Rostislav Klesla and possibly Ray Whitney's cards will probe to be worth anything,but it's not about
that anyway.It's about hunting for that Czechlasovakian minor league card of Jaroslav Spacek,and finally getting it
in a trade with someone half way around the world,that's right around the world.Trading has come along way since
I was a kid,there's sites out their to trade any type of card you can think of.I can now trade for things that I wouldn't
even had known existed as a kid.It's that upgrade to collecting and my original joy of hunting for the current
"holy grail" of cards that has brought me back.

So you're thinking I've babbled on longer than a HHH promo,and it's time to get to the damn point already,and I agree.
The point is think back to the simple things that entertained you as a child and give those things a chance to
entertain you again when you find yourself watching the re-run of the "Masterbation" episode of Seinfeld for the 50th time.
Keep it simple.

OXM #9

What's up ramblers? I'd love to talk wrestling but I really can't comment on something I haven't really seen in weeks,
I have watched WWE's Afterburn recap show a couple of times,I love the way they're using Hurricane and I have to
say Nidia has really stepped up to the plate,her work in OVW was rather lackluster and I was surprosed how well
she has performed thus far. Lance Storm's current tirade against the company and America is probably my favorite
thing.I enjoy heels who get heat by telling the truth.With the currnet trend of nationalism,which does seem to be waning,
I think it takes a lot of balls for Lance to go out and cut some of the promos he has. Other then that I'm not impressed.

Anyways, as you've seen lately when I can't write about wrestling I've done game reviews so here's my new filler article
concept.I've got a subscription to Xbox Magazine and each issue includes a demo disc so I'll be giving you my thoughts
on the games included. Of course, a demo may not really give a totally fair view of a game,but I think it gives insight
to it's playability and general promise.So let's go.

Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller:
This was probably my favorite games on this month's disc.I usually hate racing games, basically because I wreck
and lose a lot,but this game was really entertaining.I thought the overall handling of the car was a lot better than any
racing game I've played in the past. I also enjoyed the basic story of picking up customers and dropping them off for
more points than the usual racing in circles type game. The music track on the demo was rockin' and at the same time
highlighted the overall all goofiness of a game where you pick up everything from baseball players to clowns.
A major problem I could see is that if this game doesn't have a story mode,which it had no indication that it did,or
multiplayer mode,then someone could just get the demo and get the same amount of enojyment as they would the
$50 full version.Basically,it's a possibility that I might buy it,once the price drops around the $20 range,but it's more
likely that I'll just play the demo until I'm sick of it.

Hunter:The Reckoning:
I'm sure you've heard some hype about this game and I'd say most of it is well founded. I've loved horror/survival
games since I first played Resident Evil,but this game blows out anything I've played in the past which is too bad
since I have major issues with the camera.To me it's poorly situated altogether.It's not adjustable whatsoever in
multiplayer mode,and you're only able to zoom in in single player mode which just makes things worse.It something
I'm sure I could probably get used to but I'd rather it had been done different now.
There's three sample rounds on the demo,it has a pretty basic storyline,Zombies and monsters have invaded and
only the four characters on the game know that they're monsters.Everyone else believes that it's just a riot. The multiplayer
mode is a blast and a lot more enjoyabl becuase this game throws a multitude of enemies at you and the blood bath
fans will love the slaughtering before them.The graphics are excellent, the game is dark but not so dark that you can't
see,which I thought was a problem in Silent Hill at times.
Is this game worth buying,it's probably the next game I buy and the multiplayer is probably the main reason,I just hope
that they fix the camera if they want me to buy the sequel.

Outlaw Golf:
I hate golf,it's slow and boring,and I'll tell you now that I won't be buying this game.That's not to say this is a bad game,
if golf is your bag then you'd probably love this game.The gameplay is simple and it just takes sitting down to be
able to play it,but that's not to say you won't be playing for hours before you master it. The game has Adam Sandler
level humor,and also has a fight mode which I'm sure was influenced by Happy Gilmore.For a golf game this was
pretty entertaining and if your a golf fan I'd definetly recommend it but I won't be buying it,though my girlfriend has
said that she may.

Street Hoops:
Real street ball with real street players on real street courts. I'm not a big basketball fan but since I my family has
always been I do enjoy it occassionally. As far as the game it pretty fun and has basic basketball game controls,
I can pretty much gurantee I'll never buy it but that's just because I can get my fill of basketball from playing the demo.
Just as I said about Outlaw Golf though,if your a basketball fan,you might enjoy it.The basic idea is that you take
your team to different courts and bet on games and then win to become the biggest money making team. It seems
to me that this game will only appeal to a very small fan base,as their are no well known players,but if you like
playing basketball without the encumberment off rules and constant foul calls,this is for you.

Support for Steve Austin

In a matter of a week all of us have gotten the chance to see the true wrath of
the wrestling industry.One night you're one of the top wrestling stars in the world
and literally the next night you're unemployed.On top of all of that by the beinning of
the next week you're an accused wife beater.
Now there's no way I can support Austin if he has beaten his wife Debra, let's
face it,only a real asshole hits a woman,or any human being for that matter.In this
country though we are all supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. I personally
don't believe that is true anymore. One only has to look to the "Patriotic Act",which
congress pushed through very quickly,during a time when most of the country was
still in shock from the 9-11 attacks. If you're supescted of terrorism in this country
they can hold you for as many as seven days, with out ever pressing charges,
allowing you to speak with a lawyer,or allowing you the chance to defend yourself
before any court of law. There is a more corrupt court than that of the United States
judicial system though,and that's the United States Court of Public Opinion.
All too often,the American public is given one side of the story by the media and
base their entire opinion upon it.The catholic priest scandal is a perfect example,
none of the priests have been to a court yet,and only one that I know of has settled
out of court for an exhorbant amount of money,which screams guilty, but the media
has painted these accused priests as evil, and the American people have to. The
wrestling media is no different.
I've read over and over on the 'net about how Steve Austin no-showing was
unforgivable and he deserved what he had coming. I haven't seen any defense for
Austin whatsoever. I've decided to take on the task.
First,is that even at my job they can't fire me for just anything. As a teamster though
if I "no called,no showed" twice,as Austin did, I could be fired but not before I went
through a grievance hearing.I've been to grievance hearings before,basically you
go in they tell you what you've done wrong,you discuss it,work it out amongst
yourselves,and then you're punished.I was given a six month working probabtion,
basically if I call in or "no show" again I can be fired. Now I was still punished and it
was one I earned but at least I was given a chance to defend myself and discuss
the reasons for my absence,and I believe that my supervisors have worked some
to remove the reasons I had for not showing up,though my main reason was laziness
which they have no way of correcting.
These wrestlers are treated like endutured servants, constantly used and thrown
away whenever the companies feel like it. Just look at the Montreal Screwjob,
the Hogan-WCW situation,and now the WWE-Austin situation. Each of these guys
worked for years making these companies billions of dollars but when each of them
made a complaint,in whatever fashion they chose,they were thrown away like trash.
I lift boxes for a living,and also make billions of money a year for a corporation but
they can't just fire me for making a grievance against the company. In this day and
age,thanks to Enron, corporations are looked at as evil exploitars of the working
class but for some reason we don't react the same way to the WWE corporation
that provides us with entertainment. I guess since wrestlers are compensated more
than we are,we believe they shouldn't receive the same protection that most of us
receive at our menial jobs.
My second defense for Austin comes from a more creative stance. If the record
company told Fred Dirsch that he had to make a country album no one would
blame him for refusing to.Limp Bizcrap fans everywhere would be up in arms in
his defense.If Fred Dirsch's performance is considered art,than there's no doubt
that Steve Austin's wrestling performance is an art form. Just as no one would
expect Fred Dirsch,a really bad example, to compromise his artistic vision,neither
should Steve Austin. It's highly speculated on the 'net that the reason Austin walked
out is because they asked him to job to Brock Lesnar.Perhaps, Austin just didn't
want to job to Brock but maybe Austin just realized that it was a really bad idea.
I mean Austin's supposed to just job to Brock,out of nowhere, right when he's in
the middle of a program with Eddie Guerrero,it simply makes no sense and would
not have worked.Wouldn't it have made more sense,and have helped the product
more, if they had finished the Austin-Guerrero feud,and then built,notice I said built,
an Austin-Lesnar feud with the eventual Brock victory. If you want to see artistic
compromise,all you have to do is turn on the WWE four times a week.
Basically,all I'm saying is wait until you've heard both sides of the story until you
make your decision,not only in the Austin situation but in your everyday life.I'd like
to end this with a quote from a Crimpshrine song:
Question everything
You except things without thinking
make sure you have a basis
for what you believe in




Azurik: Rise of Perathia

Before I begin,I want to let everyone know that this is my first RPG. I've played some Zelda and Dragon Warrior on Nintendo, and I've beaten both Pokemon Blue and Gold which I guess count as RPG's but not quite comparable to the types of RPGs that come out on today's console systems. I'm am familiar with both Chrono games(Trigger and Cross) from watching my brother play them some.Basically,if you're a hardcore RPG fan you might not agree with my review,so this is pointed more to people,who like me,are new to RPG's.
First off the graphics are wonderful of course and the environment is expansive,in fact I've very easily lost my way because I just can't remember everywhere I've been.
Fighting wise I'd say this game reminds me a lot of the original Zelda on nintendo,by which I mean you walk around freely fighting.I personally prefer this style over the method used on Chrono Cross where you bump into the enemies and take turns hitting each other.
One of the major benefits to this game is that loading times are virtually non-existent and the very few there are last no more than 5 seconds. I find that this helps me stay more into the game, pretty much addicted to it.
This game has been a hell of a challange for me,which I believe is partially because I'm new to RPGs. Falling off of cliffs and getting lost definitely causes a lot of frustration,so if you get angry easily this might not be the game for you.In fact, I'd have to say that if you aren't a very patient person you'll definitely hate this game.
Overall,for the markdown price of $29.99, and if you're like me and that's all you can afford, I'd say that this game is well worth the money.

Screw You X-Pac
So, I was checking my usual newsite http://www.1wrestling.com and in the lariat I believe was on Tuesday,Scherer reported that X-Pac walked out and threatened to quit because he didn't like the way he was being booked.
Now, on RAW Monday X-Pac's job was to lay down to the Hardyz. It appears to me that X-Pac truly beleives that he
is a main eventer and that he's too good to job to the Hardy Boyz,well f*#k him. When Road Dogg and X-Pac teamed up who jobbed to them first to help get them over, the Hardy Boyz. When the "main eventer" headlined his "supergroup",X-Factor, and they needed to get over who jobbed to them first,the Hardy Boyz. When they decided to concentrate on the Lightheavyweight Division by putting the title on X-Pac,who did he win it from,Jeff Hardy.
As a Hardyz fan I've sat back and watched them job to every piecemeal tag team that the WWE has thrown at them.I've watched as Jeff and Matt were layed out staring at the ceiling as the T&As,DXs,and X-Factors of the WWE celebrated and eventually dissapated because they could not sustain any heat.
The last two years of continous jobbing has put quite a dent in the Hardyz heat but they still seem to stay over because
of their workrate and suicidal style, and that's a testament to the Hardy Boyz. Hey, I pretty much know that every time
Matt and Jeff hit the ring,they're going to lose,but I cheer for them anyways because I know they're going to bust their
asses to entertain me. I pretty much beleive that with the slightest of push the Hardyz would be more popular than ever.
How a guy like X-Pac,a guy who has benefited from the Hardyz winless streak, a guy who only gets heat because people really just don't like him not because he's talented,could threaten to quit because he didn't want to job to them astonishs me.
Now,is not the time in wrestling to pander to guys like X-Pac. Ratings are way down, and it's going to take an overall team effort to dig themselves out of this hole.If a guy like X-Pac doesn't want to be a team player get rid of him, there's already too many people on the roster and guys that have developmental contracts, to placate this ratings killer.
In closing I'd just like to say, f*** you X-Pac.



WWF RAW for the Xbox Review:

Last weekend I got WWF Raw for the Xbox so I thought I'd do a quick review. If you've read reviews for the game it's gotten a really bad rap but I'd still like to start with the negative aspects of the game.
First off,match types are really limited. It has one on one,tag team,triple threat,and four way matches. Also,the matches can be changed from regular to hardcore. If you look at the list above it's easy to see that their are no cage matches,table matches, or ladder matches. I really didn't mind not having cage matches because most of the time,as in both Smackdown games,climbing out of the cage is a real pain in the ass on the player but relatively easy for the computer. Table matches,as in the match ends when the someone is put through the table is also not on the game,but in hardcore mode tables are available and table spots can be performed.The hardcore setting also has ladders,which come in handy if your doing say a spinebuster onto the ladder on your opponent,but you can't climb the ladder and perform any aerial tactics.
Another downside is the like of a season/career mode with storylines.While I would have enjoyed this option,I have to admint that on both versions of Smackdown I only played the career mode long enough to unlock characters and then I played whatever matches I felt like.
The last downside is the lack of post WCW buyout wrestlers. The most recent addition to this game is Taijiri, so it lacks such prominent additions as RVD, Booker T, the Hurricane,etc. Now let's move onto the postitive aspects.
First off,the graphics are absolutely beautiful.The video sequences and entrances are as impressive as the real life influence. The wrestlers look almost lifelike,the only one that I can think of off hand that looks a little funny is William Regal and it's mainly just his waving hand,which is highly disproportianate,but nothing's perfect.
Next are the controls.I've seen a lot of other reviews where people complain that the controls are too difficult. While they are a bit difficult I see this as a plus because it actually takes practice to win.If you've ever played Smackdown you know that basically anyone that can pick up a controller can win at Smackdown,even if they're playing someone who's played 754 matches.
Next,the create a player on this game is excellent. I've created convincing versions of RVD, Booker T,Hurricane Helms,Mr. Perfect, Owen and Bret Hart,Hulk Hogan,DDP, etc. with ease. I would have to say thought that the create a player is a little more difficult to use than the one on Smackdown,but still produces better wrestlers. Another bonus in the create a player is being able to design the entrances for each individual wrestler. THe entrance creator is extensive, it covers ramp lights, spotlights,ring lights,and much more.
The last plus is the fact that dominating this game takes time and practice. To win the WWF title you have to win 12 matches in a row, with only three losses along the way,it sounds easy but it's more difficult than it sounds. The other day I was wrestling for the European title and after beating Matt Hardy,Eddie Guerrero, and Perry Saturn in about eight minutes combined in the first three matches, William Regal (who is one of the better wrestlers on the game) beat three times in a row destroying my chances at the Euro title.
Basically,the game's not good enough to go out and buy an Xbox just to play and the passing wrestling fan probably wouldn't enjoy it but if you own and Xbox and love wrestling I think WWF Raw will fill the spot until the next wresling game comes out. If this intial release is any sign there's great things to come for wrestling games on the Xbox.
[Edit]



Backlash 2002

Well,another pay per view has come and gone. The first in the new price hike to $35 was also the first to lower it's standards in providing a good solid pay per view. I guess I'm gonna take the time to review it since I have absolutely nothing else to do.(I'm moving soon and most of my other forms of entertainment are packed up.) If I forget something you'll have to forgive my memory. Like most people who have been through traumatic events,I am trying to suppress the memories rather than work through them.I'm sure I'll follow the long list of gun toting disgruntled employees and while they'll find other reasons it will be the suppressed memory of Backlash 2002,and the fans reaction to it that will finally push me over the edge.
I got up this morning and thought I'd jump on the 'net and hear the cries of wrestling fans everywhere that again the WWF had failed, instead here's a few things I read.

"It's great to see Hogan on top of the mountain once again. I've waited 9 long years to see this. I thought it couldn't get any better than his return to the WWF and the red and yellow. I was wrong. This was the "icing on the cake". However, what would make this more complete is a return to the "Real American". That's all that is missing. Imagine hearing that again and seeing Hogan do all his old mannerisms while wearing the belt around his waist. That would be so cool."

First things first.I don't know why but this country is on a total nostalgia trip lately. Suddenly the eighties are cool again, the Transformers and G.I. Joe are back on with updated cartoons, the rock bands of today (actually I should say this week since most people will buy whatever the record labels are telling them to) are nothing more than hair bands with better distortion pedals and less technical guitar ability, teen comedy's in the John Hughes vain (i.e. Pretty in Pink,Sixteen Candles) come out every Friday, and Hulk Hogan as the above quote put it is "on top of the mountain once again." Obviously, in the turbulent times we live in, the children of the 80's are finally coming into full adulthood and have this need to return to simpler times. The problem is the simpler 80's were only simple for us because we were children and had no world perspective. The problems of today were there in the 80's we just weren't old enough to comprehend them. Apparentely, some of us (see above quote) still aren't old enough to comprehend them. Let me get all the pro-Hogan quotes out of the way right now so we can deal with something else.

"Hogan's win would have been that much more special if they played his old school music."

(Hogan's win would have been more special if he'd actually learned a couple of wrestling moves along the way.Don't give me the "he's older now" crap, Ric Flair wrestled Undertaker at wrestlemania and actually made it entertaining.Let me repeat that he wrestled the Undertaker and actually made it entertaining. If Flair can get out there and wrestle at his age why can't Hogan.Because Hogan has never learned how to wrestle.)

"But in the end when Hogan won, we popped for him and you can't take anything away from him, he worked hard and sold as well as he could. Anyone who says Hogan doesn't deserve one last run with the title isn't looking at the big picture and remembering what Hogan did for all of us as wrestling fans"

(What Hogan did for us was hold down talent that could have easily been "the Babe Ruth of wrestling" for example Ted DiBiase,Randy Savage,Ricky Steamboat, and Ric Flair. Saying that because Hogan sold a lot of tickets and T-shirts in the eighties means I should respect him is the same as saying I should respect Motley Crue for selling a lot of Tshirts and tickets.)

"hulk rules 4 life ..........he should be champion till he decides to retire"

(obviously an Oxford graduate)

"I still believe he made the WWF what it is today. He paved the road and showed all future superstars how to entertain, even as a heel!

I was hoping he would win the title and I am glad he did! He deserves it! People are cheering him because they remember.

Watcha gonna do, when Hulk Hogan goes down as the biggest Sports Entertainment superstar of all time?!?"

(Actually Hogan did not make the WWF what it is today.It was the wrestlers of the attitude era who made it what it is today.What Hogan made was Doink the Clown and the Gobbeldygooker.)

"The highlight of the night was Hogan winning, in 20 years of watching wrestling, last night was the first time I've ever jumped out of my seat and yelled, I think it was the first time Hogans been the true underdog and I didnt expect him to win."

(Starting to reach for the shotgun now)

Vince the fans have spoken, and they want repetition.

Anyways on to the rest of the PPV. The following matches were crap and I'm not wasting too much if any time on them:
Billy & Chuck vs. Al Snow & Maven
Bradshaw vs. Scott Hall
Austin vs. Undertaker (Undetaker wins and now we get 1990 again)

RVD vs. Eddie Guerrero - I don't know what happened in this match,is was a decent match but I guess I expected a little more from these two.My cable did go out for about a minute and a half,so it's hard for me to fairly judge this.What I do find interesting is the message that the WWF seems to be sending to the back.Apparentely you're more apt to get a push if you take time off to get drunk and pop some pills than you do for working your ass of in the ring. I love Eddie Guerrero but for him to come back out of no where and win the IC title from RVD just seems to send the message to younger guys that it's not how hard you work but how many people have got you back in the office.

Taijiri vs. Billy Kidman - This was another match I expected maybe a little too much out of. I thought the match started really rough for the first couple of minutes but the two seemed to iron out whatever was going on after that. My main problem with this match though was the fact that it seemed like Taijiri was just killing Kidman almost the whole match.If they're trying to push Kidman,which maybe there not, having him basically get crushed by Taijiri,who they've depushed the hell out of for the last few months, isn't going to help.

Jeff Hardy vs. Brock Lesnar- Jeff got squashed which is basically what everyone expected. Who said the era of the big man in wrestling was over? Paul is definetly the most entertaining point of this storyline,my he and Rico can re-open the door for male managers.

Trish vs. Jazz- For the last six months it seems as if the WWF Women's division has improved immensely.Yes,the still have some of their T&A,bikini,bra & panties matches,but I also think that Trish,Jazz,Molly,Lita and Ivory have all put on some really solid matches and have really,at least to me, have been some of the most entertaining matches on the cards. I was a bit disappointed that Jazz won but I was in no way disappointed in the match.My only problem is that if they're are intent on pushing Jazz in a Chyna like role than perhaps she should start putting on just a bit more muscle mass.Maybe Triple H and Vince could share some of their special formula metacuts with her.

Finally the diamond of the pay per view Kurt Angle vs. Edge. Up until last night I had been complaining that I had seen enough of Kurt Angle and Edge.They had wrestled each other so much over the last few months that I didn't think they could really go any further,but again Kurt Angle comes through. Kurt just seems to be able to have a good match with just about anyone and when you put him in the ring with some as talented as Edge he can deliver a great match.I applaud both of these guys,even if I believe that no matter how hard the work they're going to be held down.

Overall,Backlash was a real crapfest.Vince was one-third right when he said the NWO was poison.



Turning to the Bible For Answers

In the Old Testament of the Bible, God makes provisions on how to help the poor and destitute. God tells us that we should set apart a fifth of what we have to help those that are less fortunate than ourselves.I took the time to sit down and see if this could actually be a viable option for society today. Of course, I took into account that in today's society that there would be no way everyone would agree to just hand out a fifth of their hard earned cash and hand it to the people at the bottom of the economic ladder.
I based this system on the current tax levels that our government has established.Currently, tax levels are seperated as follows; the Top 1%,the Top 5%, the Top 10%,the Top 25%,the Top 50%,and the bottom 50%. All of my information was taken directly from the IRS website and our based on the adjusted gross incomes of each level.
So let's get started with the Top 1%,or the what's considered the filthy rich.The Top 1% is populated by 1,260,090 people. The total income for those 1,260,090 is $779,935,065,367, while the average income for each person is $646,707. The total one-fifth contribution from the Top 1%,which would be handed down to the Top 5% below them,would be $155,987,013,073. This would knock the average income for each person down to $495,161,which accounts for a loss of $151,547 per person.While the Top 1% takes a loss,there's no way anyone can argue that $495,161 isn't a totally livable income,in fact there's no way they can argue that it's a gross amount of excess.
The Top 5% of the United States is populated by 6,300,449. The total income amongst the Top 5% is $1,305,022,001,370 and their average earnings are $207,130. Their one-fifth contribution to the Top 10% below them would be $261,004,400,274, or a loss per person of $16,667 which takes their average earnings down to $190,462. Thanks to the Top 1% each individual on the Top 5% would receive a conribution of around $24,000,so inactuality each person would gain a little bit under $8,000 a piece.
The Top 10% of Americans is populated by 12,600,897 and their total income is $1,313,813,624,360. Their average annual income is $104,264. A fifth of their total income is $262,762,724,872. The Top 10% takes the softest hit from the one-fifth rule as their average earnings would drop to $104,124,a loss of a measely $140,while at the same time they would gain $20,000 per individual from the Top 5%.
The total income of the Top 25%,or what's considered the upper-middle class,is $2,215,332,204,812 coming from a population of 31,502,244 people. The average earnings for the Top 25% is $70,323. Their contribution would be $443,066,460,962 and would lower each persons average earnings to $57,815.This would account for a loss of $12,508 and they would receive around $8,000 per person from the Top 10%.Obviously they would be losing money on this system but hey their the ones that are always hit hardest by taxes so what's new.
The Top 50% of the nation,or the middle class, is populated by 63,004,487 and their total combined income is $2,500,848,089,030. Their average earnings are $39,690.Their contribution,which would go to the Bottom 50%,would be $500,169,617,806. The new average earnings of the middle class would be $38,791 costing each person $899. Each person would receive $6,000 from the Top 25% which means each member of the middle class,or what most consider the backbone of America,would gain a little over $5,000 a piece.
The Bottom 50% would be the only group who would not be forced to contribute a fifth of their incomes because they are obviously the lower class,or what are government considers the poor. In America their are 155,393,026 people considered to be poor.The total income of these people amounts to $2,041,275,694,522 with an average yearly income of $13,207. Thanks to the contribution from the Top 50% their total income would be raised to $2,541,445,312,328 and their average income would rise to $16,354. This would be a difference of $3,147 per person.For someone who has absolutely nothing $3,147 would give them the chance to get off of the streets and rebuild their lives.
In this instance the Bible,which a lot people consider outdated and unable to pertain to the problems of today, has an answer that could help American society as a whole. Now most would consider this plan socialism but other than the Top 1% and the Top 25% no money is taken from anyone but gained by everyone.It also allows each group extra capital to help themselves move up to different class levels,so that they could eventually give back what they had taken before.
Now their is obviously one group that is not being affected by this plan at all and that is corporate industry.Their are two reasons they were left out.The first one is that I couldn't find the statistics on the earnings for the major corporations of this country but my original plan had been for them to contribute to the Top 1%.My second reason for not including them was simply that if forced to conrtibute they would do nothing more than add the cost of the contributions to the products they make,insuring that they would still make as much or more than they did before this plan.



America:Land of the Free(to kill anyone we feel necessary)

It's been six months since the 9-11 tragedy and my view points have been on
a roller coaster ride since then. Before 9-11 I was completely
anti-government,it seemed like all they did was protect the rich at the
expense of the poor,who they exploited unmercifully. Shortly after 9-11
though,for the first time in my life, I actually had pride for the ol' US
of A.Like everyone else I believed we were the divine right that had to set
things straight,to take vengeance for the victims of the WTC and
Pentagon,and protect future victims.Much like everything else I wanted
nothing more than to kill Osama.
Lately though,I've returned to my old (and better) ways. I am no longer
supporting the war on terrorism,because we are the terrorists. I'm sure
some of you reading this are already calling me a nazi,or various
expletives that I won't type here.
If you're still reading this and haven't decided that I'm just some
anti-American communist let me pose just a few questions to you. Why is it that days after the attack
Osama was
wanted Dead or Alive but now our government says that finding him isn't
that important? What proof has the government ever shown you that Saddam
Hussein is connected to 9-11? Why are we about to start a war with Iraq for
building weapons of destruction when we ourselves are working on producing
tactical nuclear weapons to destroy their country? Why is it that when people died
in the attacks of the WTC it was a tragedy but when we kill innocent Afghani citizens
it's considered retribution?Why is it our government's intelligence
agencies have proof that Suddam Hussein is producing
chemical,biological,and nuclear weapons but they had no idea that the
attacks on 9-11 were coming? If Suddam Hussein is such an evil man,which he is of course, then why did we
help put him in power and fund his war on Iran?
The truth is the only thing that the countries that we claim are
anti-freedom are really guilty of is being anti-capitalism.They refuse to
accept the (supposedly) free market that the United States has full control
over.
I've posed a few questions to you and you can do one of two things with
them.You can go out and find answers for yourself and begin to question
what your government is up to do and really face the truth of what the oh
so holy America is really all about,or like the citizens of Nazi Germany
you can turn a blind eye while your country committs genocide.



Best and Worst of 2001:The Last 2001 Recap You'll Read

Well as everyone knows this year American wrestling showed incredible promise and fell falt on it's face.Potential
is a wonderful thing but if you don't make good use of it you might as well not have it at all.In 2000 everyone bitched
and moaned about how awful WCW and ECW was,at this point I think 2001 would have been better if at least one
of the two had continued to exist. Anyways everyone keep in mind that these are my personal favorites and my
prejudices will weigh into my decision.So let's get on with the list.

Match of the Year:Kurt Angle vs. Steve Austin(SummerSlam) -I've got to admit that at first I was hardly even looking forward to this
match but by the end like everyone who was watching this match I was completely enthralled.Up to the point of this
match Austin had been playing the pussy heel but he went into this match with the savagery that always lays inside
of Stone Cold.Angle of course played the perfect hero,never giving up,doing his best to combat the evil before him.
The only hinderance to this match of course was the ending even though honestly Nick Patrick made the right call,I
still would like to have seen a clean finish.
Runner Up:Steve Austin vs. Chris Benoit (RAW is War)-This match followed right on the tails of Angle vs. Austin and I think either
one deserves to be Match of the Year,but I just enjoyed Angle vs. Austin a little bit more.

Worst Match of the Year:Anything with Justin Credible.I'd rather watch the Rock than this pile of sh** and if you knew
me you'd know that that is a really strong statement.

Wrestler of the Year:Steve Austin-I don't think there's any question as to why I picked Austin.His comeback in my opinion started
a little shaky but this year Austin turned the volume up to 10.He was out there full force busting his ass and I don't
think anyone came close to having the intensity of Steve Austin.

Worst Wrestler of the Year:The Rock-As usual Rock continued to rely on his mic skills and charisma and continued
to make any effort to improve his matches.He completely killed Booker T,turning him into a total bore.Of course,
Booker T feuds with Austin and they instantly become the most interesting angle on WWF television.

Feud of the Year:Steve Austin & Triple H vs. Chris Benoit & Chris Jericho-The basic story of this feud was the most
intriguing thing last year.Of course,the injury of Triple H and the subsequent surgery of Chris Benoit cut it short but
let's look at the overall premise.The two top dogs of the company are running over everybody,and even running out
the #1 hero of the company(the Rock). Who should come along as the saviors of the company but two former rivals.
Two up and comers who have had to sit back and watch as the same was done before but they've had enough.Where
others have hidden in fear they stand in the face of evil.Like I said before Triple H's injury hurt the storyling.It was obvious
it was building toward seperate matches one betweeen Triple H and Jericho and one between Austin & Benoit.
Instead we got Austin vs. Jericho vs. Benoit,which was a poor match,one because of Benoit's ailing kneck and two
because Jericho wasn't really at the top of his game.If Benoit and Triple H had not been put on the shelf,this
storyline may have been strong enough to run through the summer.

Worst Feud of the Year-The Rock vs. Booker T-Rock comes back and completely destroy Booker match after match
which killed any interest in Booker T whatsoever.After wrestling the Rock,Booker could have come out with Jesus Christ
as his partner and no one would have cared,instead he got Test.Personally I find that the better feuds are the ones
where both wrestlers get over,and in the case of the Rock that rarely happens.If he's not wrestling someone such
as Austin or Triple H,the Rock doesn't get anyone over.

Gimmick of the Year-Hurricane Helms-I remember watching Shane Helms in WCW.I saw him give his first solo
promo and instantly decided that he didn't have a chance in hell,luckily I was wrong.True the gimmick is a tad bit
goofy and eventually it will run it's couse but I'm picking the gimmick of the year not the century.

Worst gimmick of the Year-The Hip Hop Hippo Albert-The WWF has this incredibly strong wrestler,a guy who can
bench press Kane with ease and they've got him acting like a total jack ass.Yes the crowd will laugh at him now
but it''' be harder for them to take him serious as a bad ass later on which is what a guy with his size and strength
will eventually have to become.

So there's my recap probably the thousandth one you've read in the last couple of weeks but hopefully this is the last
one you'll have to read.So until this time next year,you won't have to see me resort to this unimaginitiive type of
colum.


Looking Elsewhere For New Writers

Let's face it lately the WWF writing hasn't been as enticing as it has been in the past,that's not to say
that the shows have been bad.In fact,for the rather weak storylines as of late,I think the wrestling talent themselves
have done their best to keep things interesting.While I myself prefer the focus to be on the actual in ring wrestling
let's face it most fans are brought in by the soap opera. The WWF has been looking for writers but have concentrated
on writers already within the television field,which brings me to my suggestion,comic book writers. Somebody
reading this right now is thinking "Oh great,a federation full of Hurricane Helms," but I'm here to tell you that in the
last twenty years the comic book genre has moved far from the days of strictly superheroes books.Now every
writing genre you can name has a comic book that can coincide with any of them,and often times can contain
multiple genres over several issues.So here's some suggestions of some talented writers that I believe would add
some spice to the WWF.

1.Sam Kieth
Best Known Work:The Maxx(self-published),The Incredible Hulk,Sandman
Pros: Sam Kieth has the art of characterization down. His characters,specifically those found in the Maxx, are
completely believable and well rounded. While the Maxx was the title of his most well known work the superhero
of the same name was hardly the star of the book.Each character in this incredible comic,from his love interest
Julier,to his arch villian Mr.Gone, had an integral role in the over all story of the book.This is an important asset that
is currently missing from the WWF product.While the main event players are in semi-thought out storylines,the
undercard is completely devoid of any personality at all.
Kieth also has creative dialog that leaves an impression on you once it's been read.He once did an
entire issue of the Maxx in a Dr.Seuss nursery rhyme style.While this may seem gimmicky,not once did it take
away from the overall story but instead added more depth.
Last but not least,Kieth has past work in developing film scripts, and also helped in the production of
an MTV cartoon series of the Maxx.
Cons: Kieth's main problem would be that in the past he has had some deadline problems.While,most of his
hardcore Maxx fan's could stand to wait a little longer for a new issue,Kieth lost a lot of readers when his release
schedule became eradict.In the WWF,he would be working in a team setting,where as on Maxx he not only wrote
the comic but penciled and lettered it himself,so there may be a possible remedy to his problem.
Secondly,his imagination takes his stories pretty far out there.For example,the Maxx is a bum who thinks
he's a superhero in the real world and in his "outback" he believes he's the protector of the jungle queen. That
one sentence probably confused some of you and I would go into more detail but that would take up the whole
column so if you want to know more buy a couple issues and it might clear things up.Notice I said it might,which
strenghtens my point.Kieth would need someone there to keep him inline with what is possible in wrestling.
Wrestler who I believe would benefit:Raven(his work on the Maxx dealt with dark,urban characters) & Perry Saturn
(He'd have a ball with Saturn's goofball character)

2. Sarah Dyer
Best Known Work: Action Girl Comics,Superman Adventures,Adventures in the DC Universe
Pros: Sarah would bring in lighthearted humor,strong female characters,and insight on popular culture.She also
has previous television work having written episodes of both the Superman Cartoon and the Batman cartoon.
Cons:She's a feminist and there's no way in hell she'd work for the WWF with the way they treat eye candy.
Wrestlers who would benefit:the entire women's division

3.Frank Miller
Best Known Work:Batman:The Dark Knight Returns,Daredevil,Sin City
Pros:Frank Miller is considered by some to be the best writer in comic book history.He has the ability to turn
these superheroes into real people,and unreal situations into something that's seems a little more believable.
He's basically credited with saving both the Batman line of comics and Daredevil in the 80's,and his own book
Sin City broke ground for other writers and artists to publish on their own.He also has previous work with script
development and was one of the writers on the Robocop Sequels(yeah I know that's nothing to brag about but at
least he knows the basics.)
Cons:Miller has a very,very dark style of writing and if someone wasn't there to remind him to keep it light wrestling
fans everywhere may start killing themselves after they finish watching RAW.Another major problem would be
that he usually has full control over whatever project he's working on and having to answer to a team of writers or
Vince may not appeal to him.
Wrestlers who would benefit the most:Billy Kidman(Miller loves proving that size doesn't matter),Chris Benoit
(Miller's characters always seem to talk more with their actions than their words) ,Raven(he gravitates toward
darker characters)

4.Dan Jurgens
Best Known Work:Superman(writer of the infamous Death of Superman storyline),Justice League of America,X-men
Pros:Jurgens is an expert at working with multiple characters at once,which is necessary in the WWF. When
working with the JLA books Jurgens had the ability to keep all of the characters interesting while but at the same
time there was never any question as to who the big guns were,specifically Superman and Batman. Jurgens also
had a way of making sure to keep the drama and comedy working together instead of overpowering to much on
either side.
Cons:Jurgens has worked strictly with superheroes and hasn't shown the range to work on much else.He also has
no previous television work unlike the first three writers on this list.
Wrestlers who would benefit the most:Chris Jericho(Jurgens mix of comedy and drama would work perfectly with
Jericho's character),Hurricane Helms(Jurgen's knows superheroes),Molly Holly(same as Hurricane)

5.Mike Allred
Best Known Work:Madman,Rocket 7,X-Force
Pros: Allred is highly imaginative,and has a defenite cutting edge style.His work on Madman was pure genius and
he has the understanding of working with multiple characters from his work on X-Force. Critics love the guy and he's
shown that he can work a wide range of styles including drama,mystery,comedy,horror,romance,and so on.
Cons:He sometimes gets a little campy and this wouldn't work with the majority of the talent. Also,as in the case
with Frank Miller,Allred is used to having full control of his projects and would be hard pressed to answer to the
writing team and Vince,though I think he'd be a little more agreeable than Miller.
Wrestlers who would benefit the most: Lita(Allred creates really strong female characters even when they don't have
superpowers),the Rock(Allred understands how to make someone average seem super,with the help of the Rock's
natural charisma he could make the Rock seems even more invincible)Triple H(it would work best if Triple H
was heel because Allred's villians are a fowl lot.)

These of course are just my main suggestions as the comic book industry is filled with a whole lot of talent right
now.Not only that,but I guarantee that a writing job with the WWF pays a hell of a lot more than comic books.I think
most of the writers on this list,except Sarah Dyer and possibly Frank Miller,would be open to the creative challenge.
It wouldn't hurt to give one of them a try,I mean really when you break it all down aren't wrestlers just real life
superheroes.


As the Minutemen use to sing-Take our test,Take our test
Times change.It's a basic fact.As times have changed so has the wrestling industry,and most of all so
have the fans. No longer can the fans be split into the two main groups,smarts and marks.Now it seems that
wrestling fans fall into different levels between smart and mark.I have compiled a test to let you see for yourself
whether you are a smart,a mark,or a smart-mark.Now there are different grades of each but to me these our the
three basci types of fans currently watching wrestling.So let's see where you fall.

1. Your favorite Undertaker persona is...
a)the American Bad Ass
b)the Deadman,he's a sellout for changing
c)You're embarrassed that you ever cheered for the Undertaker

2.When Kurt Angle turned heel last month you...
a)couldn't believe he would do that to America.
b)knew it was coming anyways so you didn't care
c)it didn't really matter as long as he remained in the spotlight

3.You've been an ECW fan since...
a)I didn't really see or know anything about ECW until the Alliance angle.
b)the beginning,I was watching ECW while everyone else was buying Vince's crap
c)I was never a huge ECW,Heyman had some decent ideas but it takes more than going through a table to be
a good wrestler

4.When you were a kid your favorite wrestler was...
a)Hulk Hogan
b)Shawn Micheals
c)Randy Savage

5.When your friends and yourself are talking about Steve Austin you say...
a)What?
b)I liked him back when he was the Ringmaster,then he won the King of the Ring and everyone else jumped on
the bandwagon
c)He's had an incredible comeback since kneck surgery.

6.You think Jeff Hardy is...
a)Supercute(if you're a girl) a faggot(if you're a guy)
b)is the next Shawn Micheals
c)is entertaining but still needs some seasoning

7.You're favorite female wrestler is..
a)Lita
b)women are nothing more than eye candy
c)Ivory

8.What is Kane's real name?
a)I don't know
b)Glen Jacobs,I bet you didn't know he used to be Isaac Yankem DDS and the "New" Diesel
c)Glen Jacobs

9. When you watch Rob Van Dam you...
a)do the R-V-D thumb gimmick
b)don't take your eyes off of the television set because he's the best wrestler in the world
c)realize that you like him less each time you watch him

10. How long have you like the Rock?
a)I just started watching wrestling a year and half ago but you've like the Rock since then.
b)You liked him since he was Rocky Maivia and just knew he was something special.
c)You still chant "Die,Rocky,Die" but you've got to admit the guy bring's in the fans

Know let's tally the score.
For every time you answered "a" give yourself 1 point
For every time you answered "b" give yourself 2 points
For every time you answered "c" give yourself 3 points

What's your grade?
If you got between 1 to 15 points you're a mark.Now don't let this upset you,as DDP would say "It's not a bad thing
it's a good thing."So what if you can't see that the Rock's just going through the motions,and you don't know Kane's
real name,at least you enjoy the show without any behind the scenes interruption.Plus you get surprised by all of
the surprises (i.e. Ric Flair's re-debut,Jerry Lawler's return) without every internet wrestling sight speculating
about it for two weeks prior.

If you got between 16-25 points or answered "b" to question number 9 you're a Smart-Mark.Now this is a bad
thing.You're a jackass.Just because you know more facts and trivia about wrestling than your peers it doesn't
make you better than them. Being the world's biggest ECW fan,or lying and saying you liked Steve Austin when
he was the Ringmaster,isn't going to make you cooler than the High School Jock's who beat the crap out of
you and your Dungeons and Dragons buddy,and it's not going to get the head cheerleader to pay attention to you.
She still wouldn't piss on your face even if it would cure your chronic acne.You only have one hope,get a life NOW.
Get off your computer this very minute and get a girlfriend.

If you get between 26-30 points your a Smart.You love every aspect of wrestling and you can view it from many
different angles,almost turning it into a philosophy sometimes.When the day ends though you realize it's just
entertainment and that there's more to life than wrestling.Be aware though you're one step to the left or right from
being a smart-mark and if you're not careful you'll find yourself discussing why the WWF is holding down RVD
on 40 different wrestling message boards on the internet.


Excuses,Excuses,Excuses

Hey teens,it's been a while but I'm back with a new column. Now,as to why I haven't written a column lately.My first reason was that I was tired of whining about the WWF,things are getting better with them by the way but before everyone starts kissing their ass two good epsiodes does not make an entire show great. I do commend them on their efforts this week though and hope that they continue in this direction.

Second, I've been busy promoting this website and trying to find ways to promote this website.Hopefully, my work will yield some results. If anybody has any ideas on good ways to promote a website,without banner ads, send me an e-mail.

For some defense on my part thought it's not like I haven't been working on the website at all.I've begone covering OVW's show every week. This was a task that I originally thought would be easy but has turned out to be a bit time consuming.They've got a good federation going,which I'll talk about more in depth soon,so if you are in the viewing area check it out.It comes on WBKI 34 on local TV,and channel WBKI 7 on Insight Cable,11:00 p.m. Saturdays.

My last reason for not updating my column is a my slacker reason,I've been busy playing a video game. The game is called Federation Online.I came upon it on accident last weekend and I haven't been able to stop playing it. Now the graphics on the game aren't the best,they fall between Nintendo and SuperNintendo,but the concept makes it a blast.In the game you're the promoter of a fledgling wrestling federation.You start with a ring and 12 wrestlers,and your goal is to become the #1 television show on the air.The wrestlers are made up of professionals such as Steve Austin,Bret Hart,Triple H,Shawn Micheals,The Rock, Rob Van Dam,and the Ultimate Warrior(?).The other five wrestlers are unknowns that you build or job as you see fit.

Along the way your production team can produce everything from lights,to an announcing booth,to exploding bombs. Only one thing item can be produced at a time and each item takes from one day to three days to produce.

Various things stand in your way on the way to the top.Your main enemy is the network. They can do various things to hinder you from reaching your goal from banning the use of tables,to banning the use of finishing maneuvers,to completely removing your show off of televeision.Luckily,you can produce a group of city slickin' lawyers to talk the network into reversing their decisions.

Your other enemy is the wrestlers themselves. Much like real life some develop egos and refuse to wrestle,or demand title shots.They go off to produce movies,attack fans,and get injured.Between the wrestlers and the network it seems you'll never be able to beat such fabulous programming as Pokemon,Friends,Monday Night RAW, and major league baseball.

If you don't get hung up on graphics and want a wrestling video game challenge,Federation Online is a totally free download.Just point and click to mdickie.com and begin the fun.Until next time,ride the big one.



Views from the Floor or My Night at Raw:

Last night I attended the October 29th edition of Raw Is War and have a few
things I'd like to share with you all.
First and foremost,when buying tickets go for the thirty dollar tickets
because overall floor seats suck.The floor is filled with an abundance of idiots who's
reason for being there is A) getting on TV so they can brag to their friends and B)drink
beer and act like morons. I basically paid forty bucks last night to watch RAW on the
titantron,it's pretty sad when you have to stand up to see the Big Show in the ring.That's
not to say I went just to see Big Show but when sitting on the floor I should be able
to see,at least,the 7' 2",500 lb. Big Show.
Second,if you go to RAW to actually see wrestling you'll see most of it
before RAW ever starts. To me the best matches I saw last night were as follows.
Randy Orton vs. Kanyon. I've kept up with Orton on OVW and the guy is getting better
all the time,and when you put him in the ring with a guy like Kanyon he really did shine.
Prototype & Rico Constantino vs. the Minnesota Stretching Crew.This was a solid
tag match that saw the Minnesota Stretching Crew winning the Southern Tag Team
Titles.Now, a lot on the 'net had already been said about Brock Lesnar but this match
was held together by Constantino and Sheldon Benjamin.Last but not least was Jeff
Hardy vs. Billy Kidman.This match is why I paid forty dollars.Two talented cruiser
weights battling it out.Jeff Hardy still has a ways to go but if he keeps working with
guys like Kidman he'll get there a little quicker.
Next,the place was half empty,literally.They had one half of the arena cut
off.When I went to Judgement Day in 2000 the only seats that were cut off were the
seats behind the Titantron and they cut out as few of those as possible.Going to a
live event will really give you the chance to see how big of a downhill turn wrestling's
popularity has gone.
Crowd heat becomes entertwined on television.When the Rock came out
about a fourth of the audience was booing.Of course,you can't tell it on tv because
the other 3/4 of the audience are cheering but again at Judgement Day 2000 I could
only hear three people jeering the Rock and that was the group of people I was with.
This time the majority of our section broke out into "Rocky Sucks" chants.One
woman tried to defend the people's champion but was quickly destroyed by our
deluge of chants.In fact,I'd have to say the most over man in the building was Stone
Cold Steve Austin.The fans still love the guy,and really he's hardly a heel anyways,
the only thing the fans hate about him is that he's involved with WCW.
Lastly,everyone in the crowd assumed that the traitor was Jericho.Even
with the WWF playing up the 'Taker,they still believed it was Jericho.Thankfully,it
was Kurt Angle,which is what my brother and I figured,I mean really they're just
rehashing what they did with Sgt. Slaughter during Desert Storm.An American
traitor gets over more than an american hero.Let's face it American's are filled
more with hate than they are love.
So to finish let's recap.Buy thrity dollar seats instead of forty. If you're
going for wrestling then just tell people you paid forty dollars to watch Jakked. When
you go the place will be half empty or more.Just because someone's over on TV
doesn't mean they're over in real life.American's are hateful.


No Mercy:Living Up to Low Expectations

To start off with as proof to the WWF's lack of drawing power,this time last year when we had the pay per view at my apartment anywhere from 6 to 8 people would show up,this year it was just me and my brother.To be honest this doesn't
surprise me,what surprises me is that the WWF seems to be making no real attempts to bring people back in.Anyway,onto my match by match ppv thoughts.

The Hardy Boyz vs. Lance Storm & Hurricane Helms-For the lack of build up this match got it was a good opener.There were a coupler of missed spots,the most noticeable being the Hardyz twist of fate/swanton set-up.The quick fast paced
action was enjoyable though.My one question is that why doesn't the WWF use these guys to help build their lightheavyweight division.To me personally singles titles are a little more important than tag team titles,and with these four guys contending for the lightheavyweight title the division would earn the respect it lacks from the fans.

Test vs. Kane - A boring big man match with two guys who I have to watch simply because they're big.Piss break match.

Torrie Wilson vs. Stacy Keibler-Thank You WWF for this one and thank you Stacy for bringing a cat of nine tails to the ring.Great T & A action which was all that was intended for this match.

Edge vs. Christian(Ladder Match)-Good ladder match.My main problem was that it seemed Christian was taking all of the dangerous bumps.Edge's splach onto Christian who was on a ladder and the way Christian fell between the ladders at
the end were both particularly brutal.I felt the WWF did a good job building Christian within the match and I can see this feud continuing with possibly more heat than before.

The Dudley Boyz vs. Big Show & Tajiri-The Dudleyz are masters of tag team wrestling and always seem to deliver.I also like the team of Big Show and Tajiri,the big man/little man formula works and these two seem to have a sort of
underlying chemistry between them.It seems as if the WWF is going to back to Big Show & Little Spike but I personally would fly with Big Show/Tajiri.

Undertaker vs. Booker T-Booker T continues to be buried by the WWF,plain and simple.It does seem the spinarooni is gaining some popularity though.

Chris Jericho vs. The Rock-I'd have to say that this match was the one I was looking forward to most and it delivered.I found it fascinating that Jericho recieved only face heat after defeating the Rock.I actually have two theorys on
why.One is that really any one with any intelligence could see that the Rock seemed more like a heel than Jericho.The second is that the ratings are dropping and the people leaving are the Rock's people.The Rock's main reason for being over is his mic work,a place where Jericho himself excels.Jericho on the other hand has the Rock easily beat when it comes to in ring work.The gives Jericho the ability to draw fans across the board where as the Rock only really draws marks.It will be interesting to see if Jericho can take the #1 face spot if ratings continue to drop.

Stone Cold vs. Kurt Angle vs. Rob Van Dam-This match went pretty much as expected.I'm pretty pissed off the way they handled Kurt Angle's involvement in this match. They made it seemed that Kurt wouldn't make a difference if he showed up or not.Vince McMahon's involvement brought nothing to the match,and I'm really not that excited about what will happen after this match.

My expectations for this pay per view were extremely low,except for the Rock & Jericho and Edge vs. Christian,and they pretty muched lived up to my expectations.That,of course,doesn't mean it was a good pay per view.The lack of
push for the undercard severely hurt the excitement of the pay per view,and anything with Kane or the Undertaker hurts the pay per views in my view.I'm pretty definite that other than Jericho vs. the Rock,this one will go in the "never watch again" list.




What I miss about WCW.

Let me start off by explaining that I have never been a big fan of WCW.When I was a kid their were only two federations in my mind,USWA and the WWF.If you tried to get me to watch anything else my basic reply was that there was no Jerry Lawler,who thanks to my dad I was a huge fan of,and there was no Randy Savage. WCW was a joke to me, I hated Ric Flair and Sting was an idiot with face paint,and he still is. Things were different in 1999. I hadn't watched wrestling since mid-97 when my brother got me back into the WWF. I fell in love with wrestling again and couldn't get enough of it,so I turned to WCW. Unfortunately, I started
watching WCW much too late.The WWF was killing them and of course eventually conquered them,and continue to kill them to this day.I watch the WWF now and wish I had Nitro to change the channel to because now when I see the letters WCW,I don't see any of the things that WCW had made me consider them equal to the WWF.Here's just a few
of those things.

1. Jeff Jarrett - When I was a kid watching USWA there was one wrestler I hated more than any other and that was the babyface punk Jeff Jarrett. I carried that hate with me until I started watching wrestling again in 1999. During his feud with Chyna Jeff Jarrett forced me to change my mind about him. Seriously,you have to respect anybody who can make Chyna half interesting.It was Jeff Jarret's that got
me to tune into WCW,when he joined their team I became a fan. WCW gave Double J the chance that the WWF never would,a chance that he rightfully deserved.He had busted his ass for years and not only did he benefit but so did we the fans.Not to mention that he introduced "slapnut" to the lexicon of wrestling pop culture. Unfortunately, he
doesn't quite have all the stroke that he bragged about
because it doesn't look like we'll ever see him in the WWF. The fact that he can make someone who hated him nearly their entire life one of his fans is a testament to his talent.

2.Rey Mysterio Jr.- How the WWF couldn't pick this guy up I'll never know. Night in and night out Rey went out their to entertain. Sure he's not the biggest guy in the business but he was definetely one of the most fun to watch.Not only that he signified one of the best things about WCW...

3...the Cruiserweight Division- One of the most important things that WCW had that set them apart from the WWF was their handling of Crusierweights. WCW didn't pull a Jim Ross and consistently remind us that these guys were smaller. The WWF has some kind of asinine policy where they like to keep crusierweights down by constantly reminding us that they're smaller,thus they may be good wrestlers but they'll never go anywhere because they're too small. WCW let the Cruiserweights do what they did best which was put
on fast paced,exciting matches. With the WWF in control now it seems like the Crusiserweight alternative will be dead in America for a long time.

4. Vampiro- To start off the way WCW handled Vampiro was awful. Sting's not putting him over and his pairing with the Misfits,who are a band I love but would rather not see them wrestle,and ICP,a band I hate and would rather not see or hear at anytime,killed what was a very good basic gimmick. It was no surprise to me that Vampiro eventually grew too frustrated with the ridiculous they handled him to continue on. He delivered great promos and good matches,and was probably one of the more intriguing charatcers on WCW's
roster.

5. Team Canada- Again this is another thing WCW screwed up on but in it's beginning Team Canada was great. Lance fit the leadership role perfectly and made it beleivable that a guy like Elix Skipper could win matches with his instruction. The gimmick got over well and it wasn't long before Team Canada signs popped up in 3/4 empty arenas everywhere. While I hated the fact that they had to feud with the MIA,paricularly Lance and Hugh Morrus', they at
least made things interesting.

6. The Natural Born Thrillers- Sure most of the guys were green but in a way that's what made them interesting.Here were a group of young punks who had barely even been trained and they were expecting to be given everything on a silver platter.Let's face it that's exactly how a lot of us feel in our early 20's and it was something I beleive in a way I indentified with.There is one thing in particular
that I miss most about the Natural Born Thrillers...

7...Mike Sanders-This guy could cut a promo.I popped everytime they handed this guy the mic because I knew he could deliver. Sure he could use some in ring work but I honestly don't beleive that the WWF will even invest time into this guy. As the voice of the Natural Born Thrillers,Mike Sanders was a competent leader with a defenite goal. The one thing that I loved most about Mike Sanders was when they paired him with Ric Flair.There was something about the two that just clicked with Flair as the teacher and Sanders as the student. It was something that seemed to advance his character naturally.He may have been a big mouth punk who felt that things were owed to him but he had also realized that maybe some advice from the dirtiest player in the game could advance him far above average quicker.

8. Three Count-Most thought this gimmick was goofy but I loved it. Let's face it the majority of your wrestling fans hate boy bands and to have these guys portray that was ingenious.In paricular I loved when Tank Abbott became their biggest fan and kicking anybodys ass who disrupted their music. These guys also came out and busted their asses
in the ring every week to entertain dismal crowds
with very little respect. I'm happy that Shane Helms has found a niche in the WWF,but sometimes I wished he'd pull the out dot out from under the ring and be joined once again by his tag team partners.

I know a lot of people would probably disagree with this list,and probably beleive that were better off without these guys but at least if WCW was still around we'd all have the choice to live without them.




Heel Turn Baby:Why Chris Jericho's heel turn stole the show for me.

Before I get to the column I thought I'd start off with an introduction of myself.I'm Tim Norris and I'll be writing columns for the purotapes site,hopefully on a weekly basis but to be honest,I'm a slacker and weekly might be a bit much.Hell,I'm so lazy that it takes intiative for me to shower once a week much less write a column for a bunch of holier than thou smarts on the'net. Anyways here goes.

Last night we saw the "biggest" RAW ever,of course until the next "biggest" RAW ever comes up and I was happy with the show overall.While I'm sure the WWF's main priority for the show was the Angle vs. Austin match,what I enjoyed most
about the show was Chris Jericho's heel turn.I have never looked forward to a heel turn more.

First off,let me say that I'm a Jericho mark, I appreciate the job the guy goes out at does night in and night out,but to be honest he had become boring.I prayed nearly every night before RAW, Smackdown, and Pay Per View that I would never, EEEVER have to see Jericho and Stephanie's nightly banter again.Maybe now God has decided that my simple request was more important than world hunger,peace, and homelessness.

Jericho's face turn was not the decision of the WWF but one of the fans.In late 1999 Jericho was feuding with Chyna and as happens more the not the cream of the crop rose in the fans eyes.It was obvious to anyone who watched the feud
that Jericho was ten times the talent Chyna was. Jericho got over quick,even without the marketing machine that is the WWF. So the WWF turned him face and did what they could to keep Chyna face by tying her around Jericho's neck. Even
with Chyna's uselessness on his shoulder's Jericho remained over.

Over the next two years Jericho delivered a lot of laughter to the fans but not a lot of ass kicking.While Benoit and Angle got the nod and moved up the ladder,Jericho stayed on the show as a mouthpiece for the fans hate of Stephanie
McMahon.While at first entertaining,after two years of this nonsense I had started to believe that Jericho would be remembered like Rick Rude, a guy that had everything to become a main eventer but never made it.

Now things have changed.In a main event already overloaded with faces,The Rock,Kurt Angle,Undertaker,and Rob Van Dam, Jericho will get the chance to finally stand out and shine on his own. Hopefully he'll no longer be just comedic relief, or the curtain jerker who gets pops at the beginning of the show but a viable threat to all those he sets his eyes on.

To end this I want to say thank you to the WWF for finally handed Jericho the ball but I'd also like to ask them to give him the chance and not just kick him in the face and take the ball back like they have the last couple of
years.Jericho's a heel and there's really only one question left,"Are you ready?"