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Wasn't there a Great Sasuke missile dropkick to Liger from the 94 J Cup? I remember him making contact and then just falling unceremoniously to the floor. It look like it hurt Sasuke 900% more than Liger.

Well, that looked painful.

I think one of the best parts about David Foster Wallace is that there is a very good chance he did that on purpose. My favorite thing he wrote was when he went to the Adult Entertainment Expo. Putting someone who thinks like him into a place where thinking is strongly discouraged makes for a very entertaining read.

I don't know if there are issues per se, or if it seems to reach it's apex at an 8 instead of climbing to a 10. I wrote most of that a few months ago, and rewatched it directly after the Rockers vs. Orient Express match. That Rockers match is one of my favorite matches of all time, and I could be nitpicking it because I like that match so much better than Hart vs. Perfect. I just felt like it was a good match that didn't jump into great territory. Me too. I think Hase had all the charisma of Chono but better workrate. Most Chono matches to me are a lot of charisma, a lot of yakuza kicks, and not much else. Him getting injured early probably had a lot to do with that though, I mean Mutoh was adding different moves and varying his match style years after his peak. Maybe if Chono had injured his knees instead of his neck? Quote of the Day I really need to see almost all of these matches like, yesterday. Your reviews remind one of all the shit they've missed out on, thanx man. Seriously, it has been fun and I've found some really good matches that I would have probably never watched otherwise. Thanks for reading them guys, I honestly didn't know if anyone was reading these or not. I think the best part of doing is this is just the huge variety of matches(other than the never ending AJPW six man tags, which are great by the way), and rediscovering matches from my childhood. It hasn't become a chore yet, and I enjoy watching these much more than current WWE, so maybe I'll try to get them out a little faster.

So this is the tenth installment of my review of every match Dave Meltzer has ranked 4*s or better, and I'm about a 3rd of a way through 1991. I turned 10 years old in 1991, so most of these matches have been new to me or part of a distant memory. So I have to say, this project has been pretty rewarding. 11/19/91 - Anderson/Zbyszko vs. Dustin/Steamboat (WCW) ****1/4 This match has a lot in common with the last match I reviewed…three guys I love to watch and a fourth that isn't exactly a weak link. Anderson could be the best tag wrestler ever, Rhodes might be the best active tag wrestler on the planet, Steamboat is an absolute legend, and Zbyszko is a crafty veteran who knows exactly what to do in the ring at all times. Zbyszko and Anderson could teach a master class on how to work as a heel tag team. There heat segment of this match starts with one of the best blind tag sequences I've ever seen. It wasn't even really cheating, as much as it was taking advantage of the babyface fire that the crowd loves so much. Zybyszko slaps Steamboat and then bails to the outside, Steamboat being the fiery babyface chases him around the heel corner back into the ring where he doesn't see Arn Anderson get the tag only to have Zybyszko go back to the outside and around again allowing Arn, the new legal man to hit Steamboat in the back when they get back into the ring. That one sequence illustrates why this match is great, it is four really smart workers working a really well put together match. This is almost like a Pixar movie, it is just smart storytelling put in a concise easy to digest package. This might be a little underrated at ****1/4 this is a really good southern tag match worked by four masters of that particular form of match. There just isn't much more you could ask for from these guys. 3/23/91 - Misawa/Kobashi/Kikuchi vs. Tsuruta/Taue/Fuchi (AJPW) ****1/4 I wouldn't go as far as to say that I'm tired of watching these matches, but I'm thoroughly tired of writing about them. If it is OK with you guys, I'm going to skip this one. Honestly it is becoming too hard to figure out new ways to describe the greatness of these matches. Just know that Misawa, Kobashi, and Tsuruta are three of the best wrestlers ever and you won't be disappointed in any matches from this feud. 3/24/91 - Warrior vs. Savage (WWF) ****1/4 I don't think I need to give a play-by-play for this match, because this is one of the most talked about matches for an entire generation of wrestling fans. This is not Savage's best match, but this very well may be his best performance. He bumps around and makes The Ultimate Warrior look like a million bucks, while also wrestling with a sense of desperation fitting a man who is fighting for his career. Savage is my all-time favorite wrestler, mostly because he can equally be the toughest, baddest, motherfucker on the planet, and the most sympathetic, scrappy, underdog. This match is him switching from one to the other in a blink of an eye and the crowd eating up his every action with a spoon. Warrior carries his weight here for the most part, but The Sensational Queen Sherri goes above, below, around, and beyond the call of duty. First of all her dress is ridiculous, her makeup is absurd, and her mannerisms make her the most loveably loathsome woman on earth. This match is 60% worse without Sherri, she is absolutely perfect in her role. The storytelling in this match is outstanding, both guys wrestle as if this is their last match. Savage hits 5 elbow drops, Warrior hits 4 diving shoulder blocks, and Sherri avoids having a titty pop out at least 3 different times. The post match angle is everything you could ask for as an ending to Savage's career in the WWF. People are literally crying as Savage and Liz reunite. ****1/4 is way too low, this is basically everything anyone could ask for from this particular match. This also is the beginning of one of the best years of a single wrestler has ever had. Starting here and ending with the Flair match, I can't think of a single wrestler who was in more compelling storylines over a single year than Randy Savage. He went to reuniting with his ex, to getting married, to having a cobra bite him on national television, to getting his revenge, to winning the title from a man who threatened to leak nudie pictures of his wife. That is a hell of a year, and I was 10 years old watching it all, and loving every second of it. As an aside, Savage did understand that he didn't have to dive head first into the safety rail when he missed his double axe handle to the floor right? 4/18/91 - Williams/Gordy vs. Hansen/Spivey (AJPW) ****1/4 I've watched an embarrassingly small number of Hansen matches, but I'm sure this list is going to remedy that. From the introductions this looks like it is going to be the ultimate hoss tag match, as these four dude's the total combined weight is roughly equal to weight of an Angus Steer. The beginning of the match is clipped, and we're joined with Hansen in control. The momentum quickly swings, and Hansen plays hoss in peril for a good long while, as Gordy and Williams give his ass a miracle whipping(see what I did there?) Hot tag to Spivey who comes in and immediately hits a powerbomb. He then hits a back elbow drop that very well may have crushed Terry Gordy's orbital socket. Gordy gets the tag to Doc, and a pretty unique bit of tag psychology takes over for the rest of the match. Hansen gets a blind tag, and Gordy blindsides him knocking him out of the ring before the ref acknowledges the tag. Doc continues to beat the living shit out of Spivey as Gordy and Hansen brawl in, out, and around the ring. The ref, Doc, and Spivey are all clueless about what is going on and they are basically going on with the match with Spivey as the legal man. Every time Doc is about to end Spivey's night Hansen just makes it in time to break up the pin or submission. Then…matter of fact, don't read another word, YouTube this match and watch the best tag team finishing sequence I've ever seen. Seriously, it is the most insane, ridiculous, out of the box finish, that still makes perfect sense when it all wraps up. This is easily ****1/4, and I'm tempted to rate it higher. This is like a pretty good movie with an all time great ending. If it was the ending of a bad movie, you might be tempted to say the movie was good, but if it is the ending of a pretty good movie I don't know if it takes it to a higher level. I've watched more wrestling than probably 85% of wrestling fans, and it is rare that I see something brand new to me. The ending to this match was something I've never really seen before, and I absolutely loved it. 1/15/91 - Taue vs. Kawada (AJPW) ****1/4 If you've been paying attention, you'd know that the biggest feud in All Japan Pro Wrestling in 1991 was Misawa's army vs. Jumbo's Army. The feud within that feud between Taue and Kawada has been just as hot, and probably twice as mean spirited. Misawa and Jumbo are wrestlers who want to prove they are the best, Kawada and Taue are bad asses who want to beat the shit out of each other. The Jumbo/Misawa fights seem like big time main event wrestling matches, this seems like a straight up fight. This is a really good break from the epic six man tags that have dominated so much of 1991. Sometimes a good ol' slobberknocker is what you need to break up the monotony . I'd say ****1/4 is just about right, but then again a match where Kawada and Taue get to beat the shit out of each other is right up my alley. 9/7/91 - Kobashi/Kawada vs. Taue/Fuchi (AJPW) ****1/4 So this is a match between those two teams without those two guys. Fuchi looks like a PE teacher who thinks he's tough because he torments 4th graders for a living. He is clearly at a lower level than the rest of these guys, but that just makes his smarmy behavior that much better. He gets very little offense that isn't set up by Taue, and he gets to do the vast majority of the cheating. It is heel work that makes Kobashi and Kawada look like killers when they're on offense, and gets Taue over as big time muscle in this ongoing feud. The match is very focused on continuing the Kawada/Taue conflict as Taue tries to kill Kawada with a suplex and a chokeslam on the floor. Taue comes off as a ruthless bad ass who does not give a single solitary fuck about Kawada and is trying to end his career. Kawada is laid out for a long ass time, until that bitch Fuchi comes over and just starts kicking him in the head. After a long face in peril segment, Kawada kills Fuchi with a lariat leading to the go home stretch of the match. Of course they bring it home with Kawada getting even with Taue for trying to publicly kill him, and this was pretty damn fun. This is a match that is clearly made to push a feud forward, and it does its job well. Kawada and Taue hate each other, and this match made them hate each other more. This is like that scene in The Wire when Omar robs Marlo, and Marlo looks at him and says, "This ain't over." This relationship has clearly gone south and it is going to get worse before it gets better. ****1/4 is right on point for this match. 1/19/91 - Rockers vs. Orient (WWF) **** This match happening in 1991 WWF is kind of like putting LeBron James in a game against the George Mikan Lakers. They were essentially playing a different game than everyone else in the company at the time. WWF just plain didn't do matches like this at the time. The WWF at the time was a big man territory that was much more focused on storylines and angles than great wrestling. The Rockers were a team that wouldn't have been out of place 10 years later, and this match is one of my all time favorites. There are stereo topes, stereo planchas, a moonsault, and about 94 other super fun things that you didn't see in the WWF until the late 90s early 2000s. If you have never watched this match, stop reading this bullshit and put it on. Make sure you stay tuned for the super uncomfortable angle featuring Sherri and Ultimate Warrior. **** is too low for this match. This is the best WWF match of 1991, and probably in the top 10 tag matches in WWF history. 8/26/91 - Bret vs. Perfect (WWF) **** This match is pretty highly touted, and based on the participants I'm not surprised. This is kind of a funny duo, because Bret was always came off as super serious, and Perfect is always goofy. Hart controls early with a series of headlocks, and Perfect can even sell a side headlock goofy. They feel each other out for a while and Hart is controlling everything. Perfect takes a powder and decides to take an early exit, but Bret goes out and damn near rips his singlet off. There is a 3-man booth with Gorilla, Piper and The Brain, and it is a perfect illustration of if something isn't broke, don't fix it. Piper is obnoxious and is just talking over Gorilla and Brain, which sucks because Brain and Gorilla have really good chemistry. Piper is really like that last drink that takes you from having fun, with a good buzz to crazed and out of control drunk. His energy is on 24552554522145562141652% and it is grating. The match is really good by the way. Perfect is a great heel, he bumps around like a goof, but really knows how to turn up the mean when he's on offense. He kicks the shit out of Bret with his usual spots and eventually just gets sick of Bret and throws him across the ring by his hair. Bret is also really good here, but that is expected. I think Bret's biggest strength is that he never really does anything he isn't really good at. I know he gets shit for his five moves of death, but everyone has their signature spots. He's not the most exciting worker, but you know you're going to get quality when you watch a Bret Hart match. This wrapped up with Perfect trying to drop a low blow leg drop on Bret, but he catches the leg, and hooks up the Sharpshooter, and wins the Intercontinental Championship. This may be the very definition of a **** match. There is a whole lot to like with a couple of problems that stop it from being an all time great match. This is the type of match that could very easily be someone's favorite match, but they'd admit they've seen better matches. 3/14/91 - Hase/Sasaki vs. Koshinaka/Iizuka (NJPW) ****1/4 This is from a handheld so the video quality isn't great, but it's watchable. I imagine I've watched somewhere between 75-100 matches since I've started this project, and most of the video quality has been very good. The amount of wrestling available on the internet between YouTube, WWE Network and NJPW World has made this project easy and enjoyable. Of course there have been matches I couldn't find, but for the most part I've had very little trouble finding these matches. This one I downloaded from our ol' buddy Ditch's site, which has bailed me out a couple of times so far. Hase and Sasaki, who have been in a few really good matches here in 1991, are squaring off against Koshinaka and Iizuka, who I've never seen(So it turns out I have seen Iizuka, he's the crazy guy who always beats up the announcer. He is a completely different character here and pretty much unrecognizable. Fun fact, Koshinaka is the first IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion. Thank you Wiki.). Hase and Sasaki dominate the first 5 minutes of this match in a way that seems excessive, but the match picks up and picks up fast as soon as Koshinaka tags in Iizuka(I hope I'm calling them the correct names, but all I really have to go on is the prematch introduction). Koshinaka and Iizuka's offense is kind of shoot style lite which works well as a contrast to Hase and Sasaki's traditional puro style offense. Hase and Sasaki are also working like full-blown dick head heels, which I didn't expect. Hase is particularly good at being a dastardly heel. I'll never know why he wasn't as big of a star as Mutoh, Chono, and Hashimoto. I like almost every Hase match I've seen better than any Chono matches I've seen, but maybe this project will open my eyes to more good Chono matches. Hase is a great fiery babyface, and he proves here that he is more than capable of being an asshole as a heel. For a match that New Japan didn't even bother to tape, this shit is fucking good. Hase and Sasaki control the vast majority of the match, but Koshinaka and Iizuka's comebacks are all really good. Hase and Sasaki kick all types of ass here, but not so much that Koshinaka and Iizuka are totally squashed. This is a fun match, but I wouldn't call it essential. ****1/4 might be slightly too high, but it's not a complete waste of time.

One of the biggest factors in throwing a football accurately is grip strength so an easier to grip ball makes passing easier. One of the first things to go in a aging quarterback is loss of grip strength. The Patriots quarterback is 38-years-old, and has been noticeably worse on deep balls over the years. Having a ball that is easier to grip helps their passing game in a very real way. Have you been watching Peyton Manning since his neck injury where grip strength is a known side effect? How many tight spirals do you see? How many accurate deep balls do you see? Did you watch the Super Bowl last year where the Seahawks dared him to throw deep? If that game was to turn into a shoot out where Tom Brady was going to have to try to compete pass for pass with 25-year-old Andrew Luck, having an easier to grip ball would have been helpful to their aging quarterback. It makes a difference.

I could watch Steve Austin hold back from choking someone for their terrible taste in wrestling on an endless loop. If he's not the host, they shouldn't even do the show.

There are like 10 X-Men comics right now, there is literally no way they decide to push them to the background. The comic readers and movie watchers are kind of like MMA fans and wrestling fans, there is some crossover, but neither group really wants either genre to change. If they think that minimizing the X-Men will affect Fox's movies negatively they are insane. Those characters have 50+ years of history and are part of the culture in a way that isn't really going to go away no matter what they do. They don't have Spider-Man movies, but they've clearly put a lot of focus on Spider-Man over the last year or so. X-Men are tied to Marvel comics tighter than any other characters not named Peter Parker, doing something to hurt the X-men brand is cutting off their nose to spite their face.

This doesn't even take into consideration the fact that the NFL threatened to eject Marshawn Lynch for wearing the wrong shoes or how they punished the Cowboys and Redskins for not respecting a salary cap that didn't even exist during the lockout. The NFL loves to be heavy handed with punishments, so if they slap the Patriots on the wrist I'll be calling bullshit as well.

Just because someone didn't have to cheat, doesn't excuse them from actually cheating. If Mike Tyson started every fight by kicking his opponent in the nuts, when he eventually would have knocked them out any way doesn't mean he shouldn't kick people in the nuts. The issue isn't that it had any bearing on the outcome of the game, the issue is that they tried to do something illegal to help them in case the game was close. There is no way that 11 out of their 12 balls were under inflated on accident, especially when we know that none of the Colts balls were under inflated. Someone decided to deflate those balls, and thankfully it had no bearing on the outcome of the game. That does not mean that it wasn't wrong. The problem with your argument is that if I kicked you in the nuts the chance of me knocking you out is significantly greater. There is no proof that deflated the balls actually help the Patriots in the game. It doesn't make the Colts tackle worse. It doesn't make defending the run harder. In fact it has been proven that when the balls were "fixed" in the 2nd half that the Patriots dominated the Colts even more. So this "cheating" actually hurt their own team. Unless you have some brilliant proof that the Colts would have led 7-0 at halftime which still would have made the final score 28-7 Listen if you want to treat the the spitter in baseball or doing something to the tarp on a wet day to make the field muddy then fine but the idea that we are going to punish Brady and/or Coach Hoodie in the same way as the Saints and Sean Payton is just embarrassing to me. I guess it is more like cheating on a test only to find out you already knew the answers. Either way they still cheated on the test. At this point they got caught robbing a bank and are trying to give the money back on some no harm no foul nonsense. There is far more proof that the Patriots actually broke a rule than there was for Payton and the Saints. The Bountygate scandal was not based on much actual fact, when there is concrete evidence of cheating here. If Payton got suspended for a year based on something that very well may not have even happened, why is it so embarrassing to think that Coach Hoodie could be punished for something that we know for a fact happened.

Just because someone didn't have to cheat, doesn't excuse them from actually cheating. If Mike Tyson started every fight by kicking his opponent in the nuts, when he eventually would have knocked them out any way doesn't mean he shouldn't kick people in the nuts. The issue isn't that it had any bearing on the outcome of the game, the issue is that they tried to do something illegal to help them in case the game was close. There is no way that 11 out of their 12 balls were under inflated on accident, especially when we know that none of the Colts balls were under inflated. Someone decided to deflate those balls, and thankfully it had no bearing on the outcome of the game. That does not mean that it wasn't wrong.

Not that this is at that level, but what would they do if they did figure out someone actually won a game by nefarious means?

I know we have March Madness, but couldn't we do the DVDVR Awards? Maybe do a different tournament every month to give out a particular award. March could stay wrestler of the year, but every month could have a different tournament for whatever award. We all look at these and think half of them are ridiculous, but if we actually put them to a vote how would they really turn out? I don't think AJ Styles is going to win March Madness, but I do think he could make the final four. He had an insane 2014 with a couple of MOTY contenders, but then again he literally broke 2 people's necks. Couldn't Shouldn't we decide these awards for ourselves?

Is this the most ridiculous year in the history of any sport? How much shit could happen to one league over the course of one season? Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson, Fucking Goodell weaving lies and telling tales, and now deflated balls, this is just an amazingly ridiculous string of events.

I think the biggest part of this story is that there really isn't a way this could be coincidence. One team had 12 balls and 11 of them are a couple pounds under inflated, and the other team had 12 and none of them are under inflated. The odds of that being an accident are minimal at best. It doesn't matter that it didn't affect the game, because it was done before they knew the final score. Add to the fact that the Patriots have a reputation for bending rules to gain an advantage, you have a really big issue. I can't say for sure who decided to deflate the balls, but someone clearly decided to deflate those footballs. There are a couple of real life reasons that they could make the decision to deflate the balls too. They've benched a couple of runningbacks recently for fumbling, deflating footballs helps hold onto the football. The biggest reason is that aging quarterbacks lose control on their deep balls mostly because of loss of grip strength. The thing people always point to about Peyton Manning's comeback after the neck injury is he doesn't have the same grip that he did before the injury. The Seahawks won that Super Bowl last year because they dared the Broncos to beat them deep and the Broncos just plain couldn't do it. The Patriots deep passing game is basically non-existent and if they were to end up in a shoot out with Luck and the Colts deflating the footballs could have helped Brady throw deep. We are looking at a game that wasn't very competitive after the fact, but those balls weren't deflated after the game. They were deflated before they knew how the game would go, and were hedging their bets just in case. That isn't a non-issue.

The thing about DC is that the idea was good, it just was executed so fucking poorly. Batman was/is great, Wonder Woman was pretty damn good, the middle part of Green Arrow was outstanding, and everything else was kind of just blah. Apparently they were making money hand over fist those first couple of months, but they didn't really give their readers insentive to stick around. They should have taken more chances, and pushed more boudaries to keep readers interested, but they basically reset at #1 and kept telling the same ol' stories. Hopefully Marvel learns from this and pushes their entire universe in a more creative direction. I've really liked a lot of the Marvel Now stuff, and a lot of the newer solo books for their more minor characters. Over the last few years they've hit more than they've missed on their more controversial storylines. Superior Spider-Man, was shat upon when it was announced, but it was a great series that readers loved. All-New X-Men has taken a downturn lately, but was great for the first 12 issues or so. I've enjoyed the new Thor and Captain America books, but they are too new to judge as a whole. If this is an opportunity to make more creative choices like these, I'm all for it and I'm not going to shit on it before I find out.

Yeah I came away from that episode thinking, every single one of these people are going to die.

Jose Aldo post fight.

I say this as someone with both systems. I think the biggest issue is that the Xbox has a better acheivement/trophy system. Every time I turn on my Xbox I can see who is playing what, what their gamerscore is and how much of an increase they've had over the last 30 days. I found myself getting competitive with a couple of my friends and when I had to decide which system to buy a game for it was the one that allowed me to keep up with my friends. The trophy system just doesn't keep me coming back to compete with my friends because it isn't readily apparent who is doing better than who.

What we are saying isn't very far apart. The biggest difference between what we are saying is basically semantic. The discussion started because people acted like Meltzer's statement about how Jon Jones hate could be based on race was completely unfounded. It isn't unfounded because prize fighting as an industry has cashed in on racial pride/hate. Me saying almost every black fighter makes their money on people wanting to see him get his arrogant ass kicked is hyperbole, but isn't that far off. It is a trope that is repeated too many times for it to be accidental. Big time prize fights work best if there is a villain, and when all things are equal the black dude will most likely be the villain. It is honestly the smart play for the promoter. Being young, black, successful and humble only gets you so far as a fighter. Being young, black, successful, and "arrogant" gets you way farther as far as pay days go. That is my point. Not that every black black dude cashes in on being a villain, but the majority of the most successful black prize fighters cash in on being a villain. Mike Tyson was the most popular, and celebrated boxer in the world before he became a felon, but he was a much more financially viable boxer after he became a felon. Pretty Boy Floyd Mayweather made significantly less per fight than Floyd "Money" Mayweather. Mayweather made a decision at some point in his career to become a villain, and it was a brilliant promotional move. Floyd Mayweather looked at guys like Roy Jones and Pernell Whitaker who were all-time great fighters but never draws, and he looked at Muhammed Ali and Mike Tyson and realized that is how to make money in prize fighting. That is how this game works, that is how it has always worked, and most likely that is how it always will work. I honestly didn't think it was a statement, it seems clear as day to me.

This will never stop being funny.

Woah woah woah, back up here - you went from "Almost every black fighter since Jack Johnson has made his money based on people wanting to see him get their arrogant asses kicked" to " what black fighter became a big money draw made their money without either playing the villain or fighting against the villain". You went from saying all black prizefighters were playing the heel to saying they were all playing the heel OR THE FACE. Well shit, that really makes you need to thread the needle don't it? Your point is well taken, but most big money prize fights featuring black fighters have been based on the black villain. My point is that big money prize fights are one of the few places where it is deemed acceptable to play racial politics in public. In these fights the money is made on the black villain. Ali/Frazier was all about the brash, cocky, Ali and the quiet, workman like Frazier that was supposed to shut him up. Tyson/Holyfield was about the righteous Holyfield vanquishing the monster Mike Tyson. I'm not saying that it something that happens in 100% of prize fights with 100% of black fighters, but the history of prize fighting in the United States has basically been promoted on the basis of race. Black fighters, more than any other race get pushed as villains. It is a product of how society views young black dudes. That is something that is based on the history of the United States, and like it or not it works every single time. It is basically the same exact tactic of the conquering Mexican hero, or the spunky Italian underdog. Those are the roles that have been pushed forward in the sport from the beginning, and probably always will. Whether it was Jack Johnson, Rocky Marciano, Ricky Hatton, or Manny Pacquiao, their race and/or nationality has been their calling card and how they've been promoted.

No. Not to get into a contentious arguement, but what part of this do you disagree with? For clarification, I'm talking about the big money prize fighters over the last 100 or so years. Other than Joe Louis and Sugar Ray Leonard, what black fighter became a big money draw made their money without either playing the villain or fighting against the villain? On a wrestling board I thought it would be obvious how much of the prize fighting game is based on making the champ a heel and building up underdog babyfaces to take him down. The biggest boxing PPV of all time is the Oscar De La Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather Cinco de Mayo fight, which was basically 100% race based promotion. I'm not saying that everyone thinks these things, but the fights are promoted so that the people who do think these things will get riled up. Do you think the whole Ricky Hatton hype was based on him being a great fighter, or was it essentially a new age "Great White Hope?" I'd imagine the average hardcore fight fan watches fights to see good fights, but these promotions are to get people who aren't invested into the sport to watch. The easiest way to get people who normally don't care about fights is to make it an us against them story, and like it or not race is the way it is done. Just look at Mike Tyson's Punch Out, it is not an accident that every fighter in the game is a racial stereotype, that is how boxing has always been promoted.

By always landing on his neck/head? Exactly what I thought. I watched that and said to myself, how is he still alive? It legit looked like he decided to keep flipping until he hit something hard enough to stop his momentum. That is completely and totally reckless, and based on what I've seen of him, he does it all of the time.

People booed her because our culture doesn't like women we perceive to be "stepping out of line". I think it has much more to do with people not giving a fuck about what the establishment thinks. Rousey, Jones, and a lot of other people that get painted as villains are generally great at what they do and are unapologetic about it. Race and sex have a great deal to do with how people are perceived in our society. If you are a large black man, who can literally kick everyone's ass, a lot of people aren't going to like you if you carry yourself like Jon Jones. Ronda Rousey, who I love by the way, basically carries herself like we say we want our athletes to carry themselves. How many times have you heard people talk about how they don't like when their favorite athlete or team is being too friendly with their opponent? She is someone who goes into the cage to win fights and is focused 100% on destroying her opponent. She's not trying to make friends, and isn't going to pretend she likes or respects someone she doesn't like or respect. That is something that would rub some people the wrong way no matter who does it. Ronda Rousey, in a sport that a lot of people still don't think women should be allowed to compete in, behaving like she behaves takes a brush fire and turns it into a forest fire. The distaste for a lot of behaviors is multipled when applied to women and minorities in most cases. The fact that someone who isn't in the "majority" decides to step out of line, and even when there is a backlash decide to keep doing it makes a lot of people uncomfortable. Add the fact that she is legit the best in the world at what she does, adds fuel to the fire. There is a reason she is the #1 draw in the sport, and it's because everyone is waiting for her to get her ass kicked. The same reason that Ali, Tyson, Mayweather, and Rousey are big draws are because for everyone who would pay to see them win there were two who would pay to see them lose. The entire fight game is built on finding the most polarizing person and pushing their ethnicity to the forefront. It isn't an accident that Rousey is either seen looking like she is going to rip someone's head off or in an evening gown, it is the same game that all fight promoters play. Take someone and push why they're different from the norm in order to have the like minded people root for them and have everyone else hate them. She is essentially a white woman being pushed like a black man, she is the big bad wolf of womens MMA. She looks mean, kicks ass, and doesn't apologize for beating the living shit out of everyone.