Big Z

For the stat people, Richardson was fifth in RB elusiveness last year and leads the league this year in elusiveness according to Pro Football Focus. I know, shocking that teams stacked the line and committed to stopping Richardson and let Brandon Weeden attempt to beat them. Playing with a respected quarterback will do wonders for him, and I think he has a Shaun Alexander type of career for the Colts.

Here are two of Austin's slightly less heralded WCW matches: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1k7k8_steve-austin-vs-ricky-steamboat_sport http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1k8i6_steve-austin-vs-brian-pillman_sport

When thinking of Daniel Bryan comps the other day, I harkened back to Austin's WWE career (seeing that Daniel Bryan is a hipster Steve Austin character). As fondly as Austin is remembered, I think he would have been thought of as a Flair/Hart/Guerrero level of worker if not for the neck injury. He was awesome from 1992 on in WCW and had a good number of strong WWE matches pre-injury. He still had strong matches post-injury due to his storytelling, but could not move like he used to and it limited his work range. Still, match quality wise, there is a definitely what if factor in his career evaluation.

Lawler was much better as a heel at the national level because his act was so in tune with Memphis. His AWA matches as a face were technically solid, but lacked the emotion of Memphis. On the other hand, his heel work in World Class was awesome, and his initial WWE run and Bret feud was really good. He has since had strong matches as a veteran face in WWE (King's matches with The Miz are arguably Miz's best save Daniel Bryan series), but his best national work was as a heel. However, very few smart fans do not enjoy Lawler as a face in Memphis.

That list is missing both SuperBrawl II and SuperBrawl III, even if I am admittedly partial to that era WCW. SuperBrawl II had the awesome Pillman/Liger and Austin/Zbyszko vs. Rhodes/Windham matches, a good Rude/Steamboat and shocking good Z-Man/Van Hammer vs. Ricky Morton/Vinnie Vegas match, plus a decent 10 minute Sting/Luger match. SuperBrawl III is probably better, at least from a match quality perspective, with every feature match save Dustin Rhodes/Maxx Payne and Windham/Muta being well above average. Besides the awesome Sting/Vader strap match, you have the fun Cactus Jack/Paul Orndorff street fight, the excellent Scorpio/Benoit match, the fun Hollywood Blonds vs. Bagwell/Watts match with the crowd cheering the heels, and a great old school southern tag with Rock 'N Roll against Lane/Pritchard. I actually like the Bulldog in WCW, and his extended squash against Bill Irwin was a perfectly fine showcase. Both cards are ton of fun, and proof that WCW existed pre-Hogan and frankly was better for it.

This is a really good ten minute match between Rude and Bagwell from Worldwide in early 1994 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OrSCUpXm3k

It is probably too far gone, but I would like Jesse and Walt reunited and triumphant. I watched the entire series in one sitting this summer before watching this current run in real time, and still root for Walt even after his total descent into pure evil.

Jerry Lawler was awesome as the hometown hero King of Memphis. If you want unlikeable 1980's faces, go no farther then the Von Erichs in Texas.

New England Atlanta Baltimore Carolina Chicago Green Bay Houston Miami Philadelphia Kansas City Arizona New Orleans Oakland Denver Seattle Cincinnati Tiebreakers 1. 59 2. 6 3. 63

That entire Clash is good, but that MVC vs Steiners match is awesome. If I'm not mistaken, the PPV rematch shortly after that is even better. The backstory was that this was a tournament for the brand new NWA World Tag Team Championship (the Steiners were the WCW Champs). Doc & Gordy drew the Australian team in the first round, which were a father & son team - the O'Deas. If you enjoy violent squashes, then this one is for you, as Doc absolutely murdered old man O'Dea with a backdrop driver. Doc & Gordy advanced to face the winner of Steiners/"Los Boricuas" farther down the line. However, tragedy befell, and someone mauled Los Boricuas backstage, and the Steiners advanced by forfeit. Bill Watts didn't want to deprive the fans of a Steiner match, so he booked the tournament match for that night! The Clash 19 match was awesome, but the Beach Blast '92 match sucked (relative to the match they should have had, not trading mat holds in a badly telegraphed 30 minute broadway). Absolutely love the Steiners, but their 1992 was badly uneven. Along with Beach Blast borefest, you had the disappointing Anderson/Eaton match at SuperBrawl. On the flipside, I loved Wrestle War match against Fujinami and Iizuka. They never seemed to totally mesh with Watts style/booking, and this was easily their worst year stateside during their peak 1989-1994 run. To add a match of my own, here is Pillman and Liger against Koloff and Steamboat from Great American Bash 1992: http://www.tunesbaby.com/dm/?x=x3enz1 http://www.tunesbaby.com/dm/?x=x3eobc

I had very little grasp on this year's NFL compared to most seasons, but one of things I counted on were that the Chargers and Raiders would be god awful. Well, Chargers look reenergized and the Raiders gave Colts everything they wanted in a close loss (not that I think that the Colts will be any good either). Only the Jaguars look truly impotent, though Chad Henne could lead them to a couple of wins once they finally throw in the towel on Gabbert. I think injury luck will determine a lot of the NFL happenings this season, even more then normal.

I think I am fairly objective on this, and I would rate Orton a hair better (now in fairness to HHH, Orton never had an awful quad injury midway through his career to sap a significant amount of athletic ability that HHH never fully recovered from). When Orton is focused and motivated, he holds his own against anyone and a surprising amount of really strong matches with a wide array of opponents (RVD, Foley, Benoit, Undertaker, Mysterio, Edge, Cena, Punk, Christian. Bryan).

AFC East: New England AFC North: Cincinnati AFC South: Houston AFC West: Denver Wild Cards: Miami and Baltimore NFC East: NY Giants NFC North: Green Bay NFC South: New Orleans NFC West: Seattle Wild Cards: San Francisco and St. Louis MVP, Offensive Player of the Year: Peyton Manning Defensive Player of the Year: Chris Long Offensive Rookie of the Year: DeAndre Hopkins Defensive Rookie of the Year: Dee Milliner Coach of the Year: Sean Payton Biggest Turnaround Losses to Wins: Kansas City Biggest Turnaround Wins to Losses: Atlanta Super Bowl: Denver over Seattle (Had Cincinnati here, but I think Welker adds another dimension to that offense and defense looked good without Bailey and Miller and they should be back in the playoffs).

For the people complaining about same old shit, Bryan finally overcame and outsmarted The Shield. Drops his guard down for a half a second, and then Orton strikes with the cheap shot. Awesome dick move, and a logical next twist to the angle. Bryan likely gets the upper hand for the night on Monday, then is screwed at Night of Champions. And as much as I'd love to see Bryan win at Night of Champions, it makes no damn sense story wise for it happen. The money is in the chase then conquer after the chase, and this angle can go logically till Mania at a minimum (and while Bryan will get the title before Mania in all likelihood, it can even wait till then).

That was terribly idiotic from Jozy. Johannsson should have started today, and I hope he starts ahead of one of the golden boys (Dempsey or Donovan) on Tuesday.

Doing a weekly picks pool with a co-worker, so I will try to get in on this every week Denver Tampa Pittsburgh New Orleans New England Seattle Chicago Kansas City Detroit Indianapolis Miami San Francisco St. Louis NY Giants Washington Houston Tiebreakers 4 310 130

Of course, Bryan will not lose the belt six days later once he wins it and then never sniff the top title again. Lex deserved a much longer run, but Sting also had to go over Hogan for the title as well. Luger probably should have won back at Starrcade or SuperBrawl, then dropped the title back to Hogan a few months later so Sting can still go over at Starrcade.

Quick note, despite the AWA ring, just read that is was primarily a Central States promoted crowd and they borrowed the AWA ring. Still an awesome random match.

A 30 minute broadway between Rock and Roll Express and the British Bulldogs, with Bulldogs heeling it up and Rock and Roll fighting fire with fire. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUT_sw0SaVs&feature=em-subs_digest-vrecs

Luger got his ass kicked by the nWo every week, begging the company's real "hero" to help him, then won the title for 5 days and eventually turned heel and joined the nWo. I have a little higher expectations for Daniel Bryan than that. Bryan will never be as big as 97 Luger. Who was pretty much the top active face in wrestling during a huge year. You can say Austin, but WWF was still second place. I am as big of a Luger fan as anyone here, and his title win on Nitro is still probably a top 5 wrestling moment for me, but Daniel Bryan already has a better long term legacy already and his career is just starting to elevate. I think when it is all said and done, Daniel Bryan will position himself somewhere in between the Bret Hart/Shawn Michaels level and the tippy top Austin/Rock/Hogan/Flair level. Time has actually helped Luger, as many of his colleagues who unfairly crapped on him have now moved on with their lives. Luger's vastly underrated library from 1988-1991 and some of 1995-1997 has stood strong, and I would hope that someday Vince will bury the hatchet and put in the Hall of Fame (as his legacy is far greater then many men already elected). I think Luger was one of the better overall performers of his generation, but Daniel Bryan is poised to be the leader of his generation and has the potential to be biggest star in this industry in over a decade.

First Bowman move I have hated, and shocked he gave that contract to a non-star goalie. Got to hope that the cap keeps going up to prevent that contract from being a huge albatross.

To continue this, it surprises me then that Vince never turned him face. He is just trying to protect the honest people.

It would be funny to see Orton/HHH go over a Punk/Bryan team on a PPV just for badly it would break the internet wrestling world. I want Punk/Heyman to remain separated from the top story for awhile, but the problem is that both stories almost need to be booked the same way (outside interference from a surprise guy screwing both Punk and Bryan as they are about to get their revenge). Therefore, the stories could fold together easily (not to mention the history between Punk and HHH coming back into play is very logical).

This is an excellent point, and something HHH/WWE must have come to a realization to in recent months. You had three faces consistently over at the top of the card (Cena, Punk, Bryan) and one of the three is out for a few months. The other one is isolated in a long-term angle with his former manager (which has remained very hot away from the main storyline). Of the next two most pushed faces, one (Sheamus) is also out long-term with an injury and the other one (Orton) turned to become the top heel wrestler. Therefore, this storyline needs to prop up other figures to flesh out a good part of the card. I have no confidence in Show, and begrudgingly agree with Johnny Sorrow's initial theory that he needs to turn heel even though that has been overplayed in the past (and have Bryan go over him in one or both of the October PPV's). I still think Cody Rhodes has potential and this angle could be just what he needs to get over as a face. Dolph has remained over despite uneven booking, and this storyline could help boost him as he likely takes the world title back later in year from Del Rio. Also, while I think the Miz is stale, other people have pointed out that it is understandable why WWE keeps trying to push him and this could be what takes with him as a face (though personally I'd like to have him turn instead of Show and then have Bryan go over him on PPV).

Honestly, a lot of the fans bitching and moaning here really should not be watching. Of course, they would likely become complete bitches about it like Rev, and still inundate the threads with their bullshit. Also, I do not want to here their ideas about how to book angles, because I have zero interest in their idea of pro wrestling. Last night's show was off a level from the last two, but a transition show in Des Moines, Iowa will rarely be a great show. The only guy it may have damaged short or long term is Big Show, and I honestly do not care if he is ever on my television again. It still advanced the angle and built more tension on Randy Orton and HHH.