i'm wondering about this.  this question isn't specifically relating to who you'd choose to build a federation around, but who would be more valuable in an already existant federation.  christopher daniels is a tremendous worker who puts on great matches, and can steal the show on any PPV he's got a spot in.

 

ezekial jackson is just a big, nasty dude.  he doesn't have the personality to be a top card draw, and he's not gonna steal any show with his athleticism, but he should be able to pretty consistently manhandle mid card talent.

Poll

who's your man?

60%

big zeke

3 votes

20%

fallen angel

1 votes

20%

bryant gumble

1 votes

5 votes | Poll has closed

well, he is.  this night doesn't prove it, and it probably won't convince anyone of that fact, but it's true. jem can check this if he wants, but i've probably been saying it for longer than it's been true; iggy is not someone who is capable of taking this team to the next level.

 

this team will go only as far as thad takes it.  lou, jrue, carney, kapono, smith, speights, and dalembert (and yes, i'm 1 of 1 who still likes and supports sammy D) are all capable of winning games for this team, but thad is the guy who will turn this team around.

halfway through raw:

CM punk showed us again why he's the best in the business ("straightedge means i'm better than you", "i'm not a chicken; you're a turkey!!")

kofi, sheamus, mizark, malcolm, kkwik, and randy orton have so far qualified for the zero world title battle royale to determine the number 1 contender.

 

'why was randy orton involved', you may ask?  because he's just that good. 

 

 

i think tonight may be the night that priceless turns on orton, but i've been thinking that's overdue for about 6 months. pushing kofi to the main event, and putting orton against priceless would seem to be a great way to build up some new talent. 

 

anything else?  has christian won a world championship yet?

 

 

anyway pissbreak's on now.

card is as follows:

World Heavyweight Champion Undertaker vs. Big Show vs. Chris Jericho
(Triple Threat Match)

WWE Champion John Cena vs. Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels (Triple Threat Match)

Rey Mysterio vs. Batista

Team Kingston vs. Team Orton (Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Tag Team Match)

Team Morrison vs. Team Miz (Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Tag Team Match)

Team Mickie vs. Team Michelle (Traditional Survivor Series Tag Team Elimination Match)

 

 

morrison-miz will steal the show if they let it.  there's a ton of talent on team miz.

1. rodney piper (both his segments were awesome. i mean, really freaking awesome. and i wasn't even alive for his heyday.)

2. chris masters (yeah, i know. i can't believe it either, but khali had it nailed. i want more.)

3. hornswoggle getting kicked. if it means seeing more DX, i guess i'd have to take it, but i think this is a job best suited for cody rhodes.

4. voices. we definitely need more voices.

5. show. we always need more show.

6. unfrozen caveman champion would be nice.

7. a cameo from 'the voice of a new generation' every once in a while would also be awesome.

8. miz on the mic. he nailed the new yorkers tonight. he's like a young, old jericho.

anyone have any thoughts for raw?

show is awesome as always. jericho still is over the hill, but good on the stick, even though he lays it on just a bit too thick.

the diva's suck, as always. i mean, really, if they're not valet's and they're not in stables, and they suck in the ring and on the stick, i just don't at all get why anyone bothers featuring them on the teevee. is that good enough?

did anyone else notice the XX'es on drew mcintyre's chest? it's probably nothing, but at some point, they're gonna have to give punk some muscle for his fights against taker, batista, and the unfrozen caveman champion. also, i don't know how many times i've said it, but punk is easily the best thing going today.

that is all. a a a a q a a a q a a

this game was one he could have stolen for us.

i never really got why tony hunt was given such a short shaft. it can't be because he couldn't catch a pass out of the backfield or because he couldn't block; those are the two things that separated him at PSU and got him the starting job there. i guess there's the thing about him not at all fitting the system, but has andy reid ever really had a problem recognizing and utilizing an offensive player's strengths, instead of focusing on and denigrating his weaknesses?

considering the point we're at in westbrook's career, hunt should have been the golden child. he was a strong, bruising back, who could have taken a hell of a lot of pressure off of westy, and even mcnabb, by picking up 3-5 yards on every first down or second down. maybe that would sap the eagles of their big play ability, but i think it'd do more good than harm, since it would force an opposing safety to come into the box to provide an extra body to stuff the run.

also, i don't want to hear anything about lesean mccoy being better than hunt. firstly, they do different things, but secondly, shady isn't another westbrook; he hasn't shown anywhere near the explosiveness that westbrook showed in his first season, and while he's a pretty solid every down back, that explosiveness is either there or it's not, and i haven't seen it.

that's about all i have to say about that.

other thoughts:

ezekial jackson needs to be pushed to the moon.

i am still creeped out by young kids cheering for golddust.

zack ryder's tan is awful.

sheamus needs to say 'fella' more often.

it's about time burchill got the pin. this helms guy needs to get got. the finisher sucked, though. where's that curb stomp? where's the C4?

this bragging rights thing is absolutely awful.

captain charisma is worthy of the nickname.

on a side note, where the hell is carlito? shouldn't he be in orton's stable by now?

From PWtorch

For WWE fans who feel that no matter how good an effort Randy Orton and John Cena when wrestling each other, it feels stale and too familiar to be as exciting as it should be, here are the stats to back that up. Cena and Orton have wrestled each other in a PPV match 11 times in the past few years, according to PWTorch columnist (and resident statistician Pat McNeill). That's about one-third of all WWE PPVs.

- Backlash 2007
- Vengeance 2007
- SummerSlam 2007
- Unforgiven 2007
- No Way Out 2008
- WrestleMania 24
- Backlash 2008
- Night of Champions 2009
- SummerSlam 2009
- Breaking Point 2009
- Hell in A Cell 2009

WWE's way of "freshening" up Orton vs. Cena is to move HHH into the mix against one or the other or both. PWTorch VIP member Luke Fleeman posted these stats in the PWTorch VIP Forum today.

In the last four years, whenever two of these three were on the same brand, at least two of the three have wrestled more than 50 percent of the time. In the time frame referenced, there were 51 PPV events with at least two of them on the PPV, and some combination of the three wrestled 28 times on those 51 PPVs. Even worse, during that time , the three of the have missed a combined three years of ring time (I count at least 13 months for Orton, 14 for Triple H, and 7 for Cena), and only two of the three have been on the same brand for three of those five years, and the alternating brand PPVs. So you can imagine what would have happened if they had all been available more, we would have seen more matches between the three.

It's stunning that Orton, Cena, and Triple H have been healthy, they've been matched against one another in some format well over 50 percent of the time considering how often they've been injured.

Continue reading this post »

but it still pisses me off that shawn michaels (and now hhh) have taken the crippler cross face as their own. i first noticed michaels started using it about a year after benoit got made famous, and at the time it really rubbed me the wrong way. as someone who marked out for benoit all throughout the '90s, it just really seemed wrong to me that the move would be brought out.

but seeing it used tonight, i think i might actually be able to say that it's not so much that they're using the move that pisses me off. what's pissing me off now is who is using the move. noone benefits in any way by these two jackasses taking the move as their own. it doesn't advance a storyline, it doesn't give anyone heat, it just kinda has become a nameless, faceless, pointless move.

now, if tyson kidd, on the other hand, was using the crippler crossface as his finisher, that'd be more cringe inducing than anything seen in the WWE in the last 18 months. randy orton, as much as i love him, couldn't do anything near as creepy, near as disturbing as a canadian, draping himself in the flag of canadia, straddling the line between real, true life horror and storyline kayfabe by bringing up that awful moment each and every week.

mick foley productions (teh immortal batman):

• brock lesnar
• jeff hardy
• edge
• mean mark callous
• jay pugh
• mark pugh
• matt sydal
• teddy hart
• Jack Evans
• Karl Malone
• Petey Williams
• Shad Gaspar
• Elijah Burke
• Rikishi
• RVD
• Harry Smith
• Sabu
  
• Billy Kidman
  
• Homicide
  
• Kenny Dykstra
• Ron Killings
  
• Shane Mcmahon
  
• Terry Funk
• HHH

frank mir productions (ty lannister):

• son of sid
• kevin nash
• hornswoggle? (heavyweight champion, i presume)
• frank gotch
• AJ Styles
• Dennis Rodman
• Hulk Hogan
• Bryan Danielson
• Nobuhiko Takada
  
• Toshiaki Kawada (managed by a Weekend at Bernie’s Misawa)
• Stevie Ray
• Eric Bischoff
• Robert Evans
• Chad Ochocinco
  
• Volk Han
  
• Lou Ferrigno
• Frank Shamrock
  
• Tazz
  
• Randy Couture
  
• Jushin Lyger
• Scott Steiner
• Dustin Runnels
• Kurt Angle
• Dusty Rhodes

dana white productions (mike garza):

• kimbo slice
• floyd mayweather
• allen coage
• royce gracie
  
• charlie
• mac
• frank
• that other idiot.
• Nick Diaz,
  
• Nate Diaz,
• Kenneth Parcel
  
• Dog The Bounty Hunter.
• Kanye West
  
• Chuck Liddell(drunk)
  
• Jack Bauer
  
• Dr. Gregory House
• Reid Flair
  
• David Sammartino
  
• Eric Angle
  
• Erik Watts
• Shawn Michaels
  
• Bret Hart
  
• Lou Thesz
  
• Zach Gowan

christopher titus promotions (VD11)

• the big show
• CM PUNK
  
• randy orton
• shaq
• christian
• chris jericho
• john morrison
• tyson kidd
• ted dibiase jr.
• samoa joe
• dolph ziggler
• drew mcintyre
• jack swagger
  
• zack ryder
  
• carlito colon
  
• mark henry
  
• frankie kazarian
  
• raven
  
• vladimir kozlov
  
• ezekial jackson
• colin delaney
• stevie richards
• chris sabin
• alex shelley

 

 

Continue reading this post »

order is as follows: 

Continue reading this post »

i think at this point, with 5 guys confirmed, we can go forward and hope to fill the remaining slots later on.

Continue reading this post »

one of my old boards had this idea a while ago, but it never fully bloomed. the idea would be to create 4 dueling promotions, have a draft in which 20 or so wrestlers are allotted to each promotion, have each promotion declare and name their title belts, and then i guess each promoter would write up a monthly PPV in which you'd do it your own way.

 

the first step would seem to be to get 7 other volunteers who'd have an interest in doing this, two for each promotion.

 

 

so, are you game?

this is a simple poll.  there are only two options, and though it might be a false presumption, i think we're entering a year in which it's quite possibly apt.

 

choice A: keep the core together for one more run.  there's always a chance the next year will be THE year, but 4 NFC championship game losses, and one superbowl loss kind of make the point that if it hasn't happened yet, and the 4 best players are past their prime, it just might not happen.

this choice also comes with the potential degradation of key personnel, namely, donovan and westbrook.

 

choice 2: blow it up.  trade donovan, lee toe, and gaither for the best package available, and start over with a new core. 

this choice would cost a likely run after the season, but trading donovan for potentially three first round picks would quite possibly set the team up to make a run in the very near future.  (three first round picks = 1 2009 first round pick, 1 2009 3rd round pick, to be packaged with their 2nd round pick to move into the back of the 1st round, and 1 conditional 2010 pick, which could be as high as the 1st round depending on performance incentives.

Poll

so, which one

80%

choice A - one more run with degrading assets

36 votes

20%

choice B - blow it up and get full value

9 votes

45 votes | Poll has closed

i'm pretty sure that i heard two things during the first half of the clippers game.  the first thing was that the sixers are 27th in the league in scoring.  the second was that both marreese speights and louwill had scored 10 points in each of the first 3 games of the road trip, all of which were losses.

 

i'm on record as saying that this team will only go as far as lou, marreese, and thad will take it, so my question is this:  what would this team lose by starting all three?

 

as far as i can tell, iggy isn't able to carry this team.  andre isn't able to carry this team.  sammy d, good willie, and reggie evans aren't able to carry this team.  since this configuration isn't working, why not hand the reigns over to 3 guys on the rise, each of whom has shown flashes of being very proficient scorers.

his job, head coach of the 2009 philadelphia eagles would be the biggest and most desirable job opening of the decade.  the only three that would come close would be when tony dungee took over the colts, when jon gruden took over the bucs, and when mike tomlin took over the steelers.

you might ask why this job would be the most desirable, and you might ask why is it vital that this switch is made this offseason, and i'd answer by listing the following:

• this team is currently two games over .500 while underachieving terribly - it's not going to take much to turn it around and finish with a 12 win season.
  
• this team has two first round draft picks - any coach who takes over in 2009 will immediately be able to imprint his face with these selections.  
• this team has 2 franchise quarterbacks -  someone is gonna have to choose which one will be the face of the future for THIS franchise, and someone is gonna have to take the reins and decide how to deal with the other guy.
• this team has two high valued assets under favorable contracts who want out.  maybe a new coach could bring lito or omar back under the tent, but if not, either could bring a nice haul of draft picks without really losing any production.

with all of this, there has not been a better situation for any coach to walk into and succeed in this entire decade. 

 

now is the time for a move to be made.

andre miller looks oid. 

andre iguodala looks fat.

and i think the following succinctly sums up where we are right now; the worst player in the starting lineup is the first man taken out of the game when he is replaced by the worst player on the team. 

there it is. 

 

 

i think royal ivey needs to start at the 2 for no reason other than he's hungry.  iggy needs to refocus and find a role where he can positively contribute. 

oh, and someone needs to tell elton, thad, and marreese that until further notice, no shot they take is a bad shot.

i love andre miller.  he's been the catalyst for this team's turnaround, and he's easily been their best player since getting here.  he's done everything that's been needed, whether it be scoring, selling out on defense, or playing SG alongside louwill, he's done it. 

 

but he's slowed.  he's not as quick to jump out and get a hand in the face of a shooter.  he's not as quick to get past a perimeter defender and into the lane.

 

i hope that it's just early season apathy, but miller has struggled with back pain in the past, and he is...shit, he's only 32.   he's in his walk year, so even if his career is now on the downside, he's just a $10 million expiring contract.

 

 

this team goes as andre goes, so i'm hoping he bounces back, but if he's not healthy, or if he's just in decline, i'd like to see louwill given a chance to start, preferably sooner, rather than later, so as to have a clearer picture of what this team will look like should miller decide to play somewhere else.

what we know:

• he can catch the ball out of the backfield
• he can run around the tackle and break a big gainer
  
• he's fast.  really fast

what we want to know?

• can his 190 lb. body hold up over 23 games
• how good is his route running?  if he can't get in and out of breaks, he'll be pretty useless against a good safety.
  
• where will he make his impact? he's already been demoted from the KR, and he's been less than impressive in the preseason out of the backfield
  
• will he fall forward when hit?

what we learned (so far):

• he does not fall forward.  his legs are as scrawny as a fowl's, and he actually pulls a torry holt anytime it looks like he might get hit.
• his impact so far has been made at left bench.  from what i've seen though, he gets the water bottles onto the field as fast as anyone i've ever seen in a time out.

 

 

before the season, i made a point of saying that any touches given to booker could most certainly be better allocated, and he hasn;t done anything to convince me i'm wrong, at least not yet. he's got an opportunity to earn some playing time, so the book is still open.

 

anyone have something good to say about him?  of the two runningbacks on the current depth chart, he ranks second.  does anyone think that's a good thing?

 

 

i've had enough of the texas ratfucks around here.

 

we all pretty much know and accept the circumstances around this game.  both teams have very good quarterbacks, they have tremendous offensive weapons, and they have untested defenses that have ranged from acceptable to great over the last 3 years.

Continue reading this post »

what we know:

• dude's fast, quick, and shifty.  he's gonna be a lot of fun to watch in open space because of this
• dude knows his shit.  he might not have scored a 40 on the wonderlich, but he knows how to read the field and find daylight.  and his quick reads of his blockers in the punt return game makes him extremely dangerous anytime the opposition goes 3 and out.
• he's short.  that makes him a hard target for opposing defenders but it also makes him a hard target for his own QB.
• he's being given the job out of the gate.  it's in his hands to make sure he plays all year.
• one last thing, he's cocky.  as good as he might be, he thinks he's already there.  that's a dangerous attitude if you can't back it up.

what we want to know:

• about the only thing left is whether he can replicate his preseason performance in a regular season setting.  

 

 

 

and just one more time, i want to eat the fact that i wanted malcolm kelly.  i'm pretty damn happy right now that they didn't.

Poll

over/under desean jackson TDs

34%

5 or fewer

15 votes

65%

6 or more

28 votes

43 votes | Poll has closed

worst case scenario, but there;s no guarantee that he'll come back to hurt the eagles.

 

 

unfortunately, mcdougle will have plenty of chances to do it, and with both starting tackles well past their 20s, it's possible he'll be lining against herremens or justice.

 

1 year, 1 million.

 

anyone know how much he stood to make with the eagles if he hadn't have gotten cut?

that's about all there is to say, but i need to hit the word limit

 

linkage to follow.

 

what we know:

• dude's big
• dude can dominate 3rd stringers

what we want to know:

• does his dominance over lesser players translate into adequacy against good ones?
• can he catch a bullet pass over the middle from mcnabb?  it takes most every receiver the eagles bring in a year or two to get in the right frame of mind to have his hands up every play.  gasperson's been around that long, but i don't think he's ever really played with mcnabb, so it's still a question
• where does he fit in with the offense?  he's shown good rapport with kolb as a deep threat, but that would seem like a huge waste of his size if that's the role he's expected to play. 
  
• how could he be expected to play as a 3rd TE, when most times the formation is used, he'll be expected to block a DE, LB, or S.

more questions than answers right now, and if he's on the roster, but mcdougle is cut, i think it'll be easy to turn on him, but i did like what i've seen of him, and i think he'd help the team out a lot more than greg lewis could. 

i'll keep this simple, but i'll try to hit the minimum requirement without 1 line of filler.

 

why the fuck would anyone think of moving hunt to fullback, where he has absolutely no incentive to play well.  if he does it, he's got concussions, spinal fusions, knee surgery, and cortisone shots to look forward to all season.  plus, when he'll hit free agency in two years, he'd do so as a situational fullback.  yipee, he'll be the fourth highest paid player in his new team's backfield.

 

on the downside, if he fails to adjust to playing fullback, he'll get cut and become ryan grant.

 

 

*EDIT* i should add that i don't think that there is any intention on the eagles part to cut hunt, and if that was made clear, and the choice for hunt would be 4th tailback or starting fullback, that makes it a much easier sell.

 

 

hey assholes.  these bullets aren't supposed to be taken for fact.  the point of this is to generate disscussion, not for you to nod your head in agreement and then go on to the next thread.  for fucks sake, discu

 

what we know:

• dude's physically gifted.  he's big, strong, fast, and while it's nice to have some semblance of football skills, there is no substitute for raw tools.
• dude has some semblance of football skills.  he might not have ever shown it over a full season, but he's a pretty natural defensive end.
• the eagles traded up in the first round to get him.  with their drafting history, that's a pretty big endorsement.
• he's 30 years old. 
• if he gets cut by the eagles, he will sign with the giants, and he will von oelhoffen mcnabb's knee.

what we want to know:

• what role is he best suited to play on this team?  on passing downs, cole, clemons, and parker seem to have the inside track, but with clemons not being able to get on the field, and parker not being anything special, this might be the role he'd need to break in with.
• will he get a fair chance to win playing time?  darren howard, juqua parker, chris clemons, victor abiamiri, and bryan smith aren't exactly all pro competition.  they're nice players, but none ever projected to have more potential than mcdougle, and if mcdougle can realize that potential, he should be the starter.

what we know:

• he can catch the ball out of the backfield
• he can run around the tackle and break a big gainer
  
• he's fast.  really fast

what we want to know?

• can his 190 lb. body hold up over 23 games
• how good is his route running?  if he can't get in and out of breaks, he'll be pretty useless against a good safety.
  
• where will he make his impact? he's already been demoted from the KR, and he's been less than impressive in the preseason out of the backfield
  
• will he fall forward when hit?

 

i'm not a huge fan of booker.  i'm much more partial to the ground and pound philosophy that tony hunt represents, and i think any touches that booker gets would be better served if given to jackson, buckhalter, and hunt. 

 

where does everyone around here come down on the issue?

 

 

what do we know?

• dude can run routes
• dude's got good hands
• dude can jump
• dude's physical and likes to get his hands dirty in run support.
• dude's got some resistance in him, still being in the league 3 years after going undrafted
• dude's not fast, but he can make a big play

what do we want to know?

• is he fast enough to get some respect from corners around the league, or will they just sit on the short routes, and jam him each play
• will he make the most of his opportunity
• izzy goodenough?