lazorbeak

Team basketball is still what wins championships. It's the reason Phil Jackson is the single greatest coach in the history of the NBA. Sure, he has Kobe, but what did Kobe do in the time without Phil? Score 35 points a game and not get out of the first round of the playoffs? I can't get over the fact that Jackson only won coach of the year once. I'm sure he doesn't care with his ten championships and all. He's seriously over .500 in seasons he coaches in when it comes to winning the title. In a league with 29 other teams. I just don't see anybody beating the Lakers. They've got late-game poise with Fish and Kobe, a great unselfish big man in Gasol, , a great defender in Artest, young athletes like Shannon Brown and Bynum, and about four guys whose job is to shoot when they're left unguarded. They have a great, battle-tested roster and the impetus is on the rest of the league to show that they can be beaten. Despite Orlando's hot start, I still don't believe in VC. The guy is not a warrior. How long before we see him on the bench with a towel covering his head? The inside-out offense only works when teams need to double team Dwight constantly and the Cavs won't do that with their bigs. Neither will the Lakers, if the Magic get that far. Speaking as a Spurs fan I don't see the Suns losing: they've finally learned how to play playoff basketball and they have a lot more toughness than the Suns teams from a few years ago. I just don't think the Spurs have the wheels to make a run after last night's collapse. Ginobli and Duncan are both on the downswing and Parker's been hurt. And while I like the Cavs, I don't like some of the Cavs' roster moves. I'm a big fan of hustle role players like Varejao and Delonte West, but do people really think an under-sized forward like Antwan Jamison or a 38 year old Shaquille O'Neal make them a better team? I know they're desperate to win but you don't win by signing high-profile scorers or hall of fame centers who can only give you 20 minutes a night. A big, athletic, defensive-minded forward/center (think Kendrick Perkins) and an athletic swing man who hustles and plays defense (Ronnie Brewer) would be the sort of puzzle pieces that would turn the Cavs into champions for years to come. Instead, if they don't win it this year, they're left with a worst-case scenario where LeBron leaves and the team goes back into obscurity. Best case, they're left trying to stay under the luxury tax as they pay for a bunch of aging former stars.

I thought that terrible contract was his rookie deal with the Saints?

Just watched Raw: great show. Obviously cherry-picking some of the best guys in the company will do that for you. Thoughts, in no particular order: -Daniel Bryan may never be a world champ, but he could definitely be a long-time worker for WWE based on the performance he got out of Batista. That was a really solid TV match. Featuring Batista! -good to see John Morrison will continue to be on TV. That guy's awesome and needs to be in a title picture or doing something of note. He just looks like he should be a champ at all times. -Maryse is still really green in the ring but she's very good at playing her role. She's just a great heel. -I don't watch NXT, but I'm not sold on Barrett based on his match with Cena. The best part of the match was Jericho shouting things like "TALK MORE" at King/Cole. -Miz and Jericho seems like a no-brainer. I'd take the US belt off Miz though as Morrison or Bourne or one of those guys could use it more right now. Mostly though that ending was spectacular. Edge is so much more in his element at playing the neurotic crazy heel, and his promo on Orton was some of his best work ever. From a writing perspective, I loved how Edge kept changing tactics to try to protect himself before Orton's silence drove him to be honest. At first he said he speared Orton just to make a statement, then tried to bargain with Orton to re-form Rated RKO, but finally he had to admit that he was jealous of Orton's success in light of his own failures. Just a phenomenal job by Edge, who I've always been a mark for, getting back into his groove. I think the face turn could have worked given more time, but Edge has been a heel for so much longer at the top and is definitely more comfortable in that situation. Great job by Orton, too. He's done pretty much the textbook definition of the soft babyface turn, keeping the same mannerisms and gimmick. It's great to see a bad-ass, anti-hero babyface that is so much based on the fans cheering for him. I still say down the line he's the one that should turn Cena heel. Orton could RKO Cena next week and get cheered for it.

Man, people on this forum are short. Maybe it's a Brit thing? I'm 6'4, which isn't even all that tall for one side of my family. It creates a whole mess of problems shorter people don't have to worry about like: *low-hanging tree branches *shower-heads in hotel rooms and public places *knee surgeries and lots of similar stuff.

Yeah that was a botch and kudos for Trish for being a professional but when they edit out something entirely from a dvd it's a botch and a bad one. And I was using Bret's comment as a supporting example along with specific examples where she put on demonstratively better performances against similar talent within the past year. So unsourced hearsay about people calling Mickie "good or great" really has nothing to do with anything, and since nobody called her garbage, I don't know what you're talking about anyway? There's a lot of things people don't have to do but common courtesy makes them do it anyway. It's hard to have any dialogue when people have to decode what you're trying to say.

I think there's obviously some hyperbole but Perez is criminally underrated: she can work face or heel (though is better suited as a heel), can pull out good matches with abysmal talent, and can put on very entertaining matches when paired up with someone like Beth Phoenix. Mickie is more athletic than Melina? I guess I just don't see it: most of her botches tend to come off aerial moves that she's not athletic enough to pull off.

Why, exactly? I know this is the perception but Melina has managed to have not just good but very good matches with Beth Phoenix, Mickie James, Jillian Hall, and as I said, she had a great match with McCool on the same card where James had a terrible match with an equally green worker. How is she "in no way" better than Mickie? I guess I just don't get it. For me it'd be like somebody saying Lita was a better worker than Molly Holly: yes, maybe Lita was more over, but I could watch Molly Holly matches without being worried she was about to break her own neck. But hey, don't take my word for it: "I think Melina is really creative and imaginative. She’s an innovator and she comes up with some great matches. I love watching her wrestle. In a lot of ways, I think she’s the best wrestler in the world right now.” -Bret Hart.

Yeah, Mickie is NOT a great worker. Like Remi, I'm a fan of women's wrestling, and she's just not all that great. Smarks loved her because she had indy cred, but when she came in and was working with top talent, she was a walking botch-fest. Not that it mattered because WWE were committed to pushing her and to her credit, she did get over, but the biggest match of her career, beating Trish at Wrestlemania, involved a pretty major botch on the finish (although it's edited on the dvd). She did fine when paired up with people more talented than her: Melina and Beth Phoenix especially prolonged her run by being great foils for her, but you can't put her in the ring with the greener divas and get anything other than a train wreck. Remember her performance with Maryse at last year's Night of Champions? It was abysmal, especially since Melina and Michelle McCool of all people had a solid match earlier in the show. That's not to say I hate Mickie James or have any problem with her: I liked her original heel character and she did get over. She's talented, she's got that "girl next door" quality, good for her. But no, she wasn't a great worker.

Wow, I don't know where to begin with that comment. I don't want to deal with it too much so I'll only address one thing. Look I think you're the one not getting something. I get what you like: I absolutely do. Like who you want. Nothing I'm saying is about personal taste, it's about the ability to make money for the promoter, whoever they may be. If you think Brock Lesnar wouldn't have been pushed absolutely ANYWHERE above Shelton Benjamin, then you're not getting what I've been saying over and over. I'll say it again: it's not about personal taste: it's about drawing power. If we're going to talk about personal taste, my favorite worker was Eddie Guerrero. But despite his ridiculous talent, his run as a main event talent was exceedingly brief, and didn't happen at all until he got to that company that loves bodybuilders. Why do you think that is? Yes, this is my point. I knew casual fans that act as though the worst thing WCW ever did was put Rey Mysterio over Kevin Nash. And again, the "Vince loves bodybuilders" is a chicken/egg thing because Vince loves bodybuilders because they can make him more money. WCW at its peak had Ric Flair, Roddy Piper and Randy Savage, three guys under six feet tall who were undeniably stars, but it's not a coincidence that they also had Sting, Luger, Nash, the Giant, Hogan, etc. in the rest of their main event scene. It's not because Bischoff loves bodybuilders, too. Or Ted Turner. Or Jane Fonda. Well, maybe. This is where watching with marks is so helpful. They'll say things like "whoah that guy's ripped" when they see Bobby Lashley or "whoah, that guy is old" when they see Finlay. And since believe it or not the overwhelming majority of wrestling fans think this way, Bobby Lashley main evented pay per views despite being an absolutely terrible wrestler compared to a guy like Finlay. I think it's a shame WWE doesn't do more to find something for guys that are under-sized that actually could draw: right now they have Rey Mysterio pretty much exclusively, but considering the size of WWE's Latino audience in the southwest, they could probably stand to have another Hispanic babyface, especially on Smackdown. Raw has Bourne, and the usually intelligent smarks on EWB whine when he is used to put over Sheamus or Swagger or whoever, but surprisingly enough no one is moon pushing a "little guy" that can't cut a promo. It's true though fans like to cheer for the underdog: everybody loves the Rocky story, where he comes in and fights a good fight. But I think we can all agree Rocky stopped having the same impact the minute Sly shows up as World Champion. By definition, he's not really an underdog any more. As soon as James J. Braddock beats Max Baer, he's not "Cinderella Man" any more, he's just one of the worst world champs ever who got the crap beaten out of him his first major title defense (although to be fair it was against Joe Louis).

How did they try to push Shelton? Is this a trick question? An 8 month reign as Intercontinental champion? Wins over guys like Chris Jericho, Ric Flair, and Triple H? Seriously you are not describing what happened at all. Shelton was being pushed, beat Triple H several times, beat Flair at Backlash, and was in the middle of a feud with Orton when he put himself on the shelf through injury in a match with Garrison/Lance Cade. Then he came back and immediately started picking up win after win over Chris Jericho and won the IC title, which he would win again 2 more times between 2004 and 2006. After nostalgia re-team with Charlie Haas #1 failed, he went to ECW, where he was still pushed pretty strongly, then he went to Smackdown where won the US Title from Matt Hardy. I'm still not seeing where anyone buried him. So yeah, while Triple H may have done some damage to a few careers (Jericho, RVD, Booker T), all of those guys ended up winning world titles anyway (or again, in Jericho's case). So it's not the big bad Triple H's fault that Shelton isn't a main eventer, just like it's not Triple H's fault that Shelton's never been comfortable on the mic and struggles to get the fans to care about him as a babyface or a heel.

*Head Explode* It's "completely idiotic" and "not even a valid argument" (also it's evidence, not an argument) to show how a character that won the WWF title less than a year after he debuted the character could only be of a certain size? Do you not read the things I write or do you just not understand? And after I take the time to explain how size and having a look are related but not the same it's just insulting to have you characterize what I said as "big man good."

Yeah, I disagree with you when you talk about people growing star quality or it being connected to how exciting their finisher is. Because that makes no sense. And yeah, being big in itself doesn't automatically make you a superstar. Viscera was not a star. Giant Silva was not a star. Hell, Test ended up not being a star. But if you don't see where the two are related, I don't know what to tell you other than try watching things the way a viewer does and not the way a smark who reads a recap does. A big guy almost always has an easier time getting over. Imagine if you gave the Kane gimmick to somebody six feet tall? All other things being equal, would he be main eventing pay per views inside a year from the character's debut? I seriously doubt it. Again, it's not just size, but size is really the one thing you absolutely cannot teach, and as I've repeated about a million times, in a medium where the appearance of being a bad-ass is more important than actually being a bad-ass, size makes a difference. Seriously how many times have I had to give this same shpiel? Yes, I know the two things aren't synonymous. But they are related, and when people who play a computer game that has a stat specifically for this sort of thing say things like "well it's just because Vince has a hard-on for big guys" or "Sheamus only got pushed because he's Triple H's workout buddy" it makes my head asplode because it shows that some sort of mental block has prevented them from putting 2 and 2 together. And yes, Swagger has a gimmick. The ****y grin, the push-ups, the ring attire, the all-american-american bit? What do you think that is? Do you think he goes around doing that on his days off? Honestly it's great that he doesn't have a "gimmicky" gimmick because it means no matter what type of role he's used in he can still play a similar character and he's the one that gets over, not just the gimmick.

I guess I'm not clear on what you're saying... if you're saying he probably would've have been a main eventer anyway I tend to agree, but I'm not sure how you can argue drug and alcohol abuse didn't negatively effect his career since it essentially took him off television during some of the most profitable years in the business' history. He was fired from WCW in '98 and then made limited appearances for WWF before checking into rehab and getting fired again, and when he finally came back to WCW he was used mostly as an enhancement talent, culminating in him losing a career vs. title match against Hacksaw freaking Duggan. Maybe if Regal didn't have these issues he still wouldn't have been a top star but I have to believe he would've been bigger then that.

In TEW terms what you're describing is charisma. If a casual fan sees Regal in the ring their immediate reaction is "that guy is old and fat," and that directly opposes any desire to watch the show or pay to see him at a later time. I agree Regal has great charisma but between his age and his personal demons he's never going to be a top guy. Also I don't know what you mean by Sheamus lacking size compared to other main eventers: he's bigger than everyone on the roster that isn't a "monster" and he has the kind of athleticism that anybody over 6'6 is going to struggle with. And yeah, having a unique look that is both unusual and marketable does work. When he turns babyface the Celtic Cross is already in his iconography so it'll easily sell t-shirts to the 90% of the population in the US that thinks they're Irish. Star quality has absolutely zero to do with how exciting your moves or your finisher are. Again, Swagger is physically bigger and in better shape than every single guy in the IC/US leagues that isn't the current IC champion. He was groomed as a superstar in waiting from the moment he appeared: could you give the same gimmick/push to a guy like Zach Ryder or even Dolph Ziggler? But yeah, "star quality" isn't a thing that tends to increase with age, barring rampant steroid use.

Well there's this thing called "star quality." Sheamus (especially) and Swagger have it, Primo (an extreme example) does not. All other things being equal, who is the casual fan going to pay money to see? A 6'6 guy that looks like a beast and has distinguishing features, or an out of shape 35 year old who looks like your burnout uncle?

Yeah seriously WWE is going to go down the crapper because they released a guy who couldn't get over despite working with nearly every future main event talent on the roster and a diva who is on-screen maybe 5 minutes a week? Honestly I hope TNA doesn't take Shelton because I don't think he is anything special and the WWE machine actually hid some of his weaknesses. He's a decent worker and an excellent athlete, but at his age and with his charisma he really shouldn't be main eventing anywhere. He's never been able to get the fans really behind him face or heel, so even with all his athletic ability I don't think he'd do much for TNA, a company that is already paying too many cast-aways who struggle to come up with their own material. All the ideas I've heard about him are nostalgia based, and come on, is there that much nostalgia for WGTT or Team Angle?

I would guess a lot of this is just not having roster room post-ECW. I wouldn't be surprised if there aren't a few more releases after the draft.

Heyman's done nothing but a garbage promotion 10 years ago? Whaaaaaa? His run on Smackdown was phenomenal. Yes, he was dealing with a pretty loaded roster but he made Chris Benoit a main eventer, helped re-introduce John Cena in a wildly successful gimmick, and made Brock Lesnar one of the biggest names in the sport.... all on a #2 show. He booked CM Punk in OVW where he won the title, then when Heyman came back to book ECW, he helped establish Punk, re-invigorated the careers of guys like Hardcore Holly, Test and the Big Show, and the list goes on. Honestly the biggest problem Heyman faced in the ECW return was all the aging smarks that wanted non-stop nostalgia. Unlike some guys, who repeat the same ideas again and again and hope they eventually work, Heyman actually seems to have a grasp on what people will respond to and gives them that, based on the resources he has. I don't know that there's a better booker at making everyone on the roster serve a purpose or creating bona fide stars, two areas where TNA is sorely lacking.

I'm "getting at" the fact that Undertaker's entrance requires a huge production headache and the taped aspect of Smackdown helps protect the gimmick when and if things go wrong. It wasn't for no reason that Undertaker hasn't been on the Raw roster in what, 7 years? And the last time he was a regular on the Raw roster he didn't have an entrance that required fake lightning, smoke machines, pyros, etc. Didn't Batista just get traded off Raw a few months back? Doesn't he appear on the show on a weekly basis anyway?

I doubt it, as the live nature of Raw doesn't really gel with Undertaker's entrance, and I don't think he'd spike ratings if he showed up on Raw every week. Besides, isn't he due for another 3 month vacation coming up here? It just doesn't make much sense to move him, since he's in a great position where he's at.

Yeah, you're a little out of date then. Heck, she appeared on TNA TV a few months back on the Knockouts show. She retired a few years back, but unretired in 2009. But as Remi said, at this point, she's probably older than WWE would like. As for why she wasn't brought in 8 years ago, I can only guess that WWE didn't know what they'd do with her? She was green as a wrestler but is far better looking than Chyna and probably could've played a somewhat similar role, given her size. And yeah, she was teaming with Talia/Velvet Sky doing a similar shtick to the Beautiful People a few years back.

WWE is pretty notoriously protective of avoiding brand confusion by not having guys with the same name. The best example is probably Shane Helms becoming Gregory Helms to avoid confusion with Shane McMahon. 2010's SWF roster pays some tribute to that by recognizing that having Jungle Jack, Jack Giedroyc, and Jack Bruce would be too many guys named Jack on one roster.

Yeah Rayna is pretty hot, but I'm surprised she's being looked at already. I'd think Jennifer Blake would get looked at by WWE first based on her look. Maybe there's a limit on blonde Canadians?

Having watched most of the Raws from 1998, I've moved into 1999, and let me tell you... it's really, really bad. For those that don't remember, not only did we have Austin vs. McMahon dragging all the way to WM XV for Austin's match with the Rock, (in what was probably the only match worth watching), we also had the (heel) ministry of darkness targeting Stephanie McMahon, heel Shane McMahon feuding with X-Pac. So Vince is involved in two storylines, one as the babyface dad and one as the evil boss, meaning he's getting more screen-time than any other guy on the roster, including Austin and Rock. Also the Ministry of Darkness Angle earns special "what were they thinking" points for the revelation, after months of targeting McMahon, that the "higher power" that Undertaker was following was Vince McMahon, meaning the entire angle was a bait & switch that accomplished nothing. It was also a banner time for senseless "well I haven't turned in a few months" turns that saw Kane essentially get turned by the crowd for being such a bad-ass, then join the Corporation then turn his back on the Corporation in a span of less than six months. Sable was technically a heel but she was still massively over and getting a babyface reaction, which isn't surprising since she was feuding with a complete unknown and her whole grinding routine was getting babyface pops. Chyna turns heel on Triple H for no reason to join the Corporation, and then Triple H follows suit by turning heel on X-Pac for no reason at WM. I certainly don't have any problem with turns, but WWF really fell in love with the "swerve" turn where one day Triple H hates the Corporation, has had huge confrontations with the Rock, who is now champ, then Chyna turns on him, costing him a title shot and hitting him in the balls, and his reaction is to join up by helping Shane McMahon, of course. Big Show debuted and was immediately wasted, joining the Corporation, getting beaten almost immediately by Austin, then turning babyface. He was never treated as anything special, which is even more baffling considering he had already been promised a title reign when he jumped ship, and WWF proceeded to book him like a midcarder. If it wasn't for the admittedly great stuff involving Austin and Rock, WWF would've been unwatchable in early 1999.

No, Deadpool's humor has absolutely nothing to do with Ryan Reynolds. At all. Ryan Reynolds wasn't even on TV until 1998. By that point, Deadpool was a regular in X-Force and limited series' for over half a decade playing up the goofy, 4th-wall breaking humor before anyone ever heard of Ryan Reynolds. Seriously saying Reynolds influenced Deadpool is like saying John Byrne's She-Hulk was inspired by 30 Rock. Also, for being "mad over," his series was canceled twice for flagging sales, and for several years he and Cable were both featured in a team-up book because neither could sustain a title on their own. And no amount of examples is going to change the fact that no matter how over Lady Gaga is for being a bisexual female pop star, that is not going to generate interest in a bisexual male wrestler. It just isn't going to happen.