All posts by rdtworldofsport@gmail.com

Video Games

Ranking the Super Mario 64 Courses

It may be hard to believe, but it has been nineteen years since Nintendo established the 3D adventure platforming model with Super Mario 64. One of the most amazing feats of the game is that despite it being one of (if not the first) of its kind, it managed to put together memorable and awesome worlds. Here is a ranking. While I’m intending to rank these based on what I think is the best, the word best of course is subject to debate. Also, I am only ranking the main courses. No Cap Switch Palaces, no Bowser levels etc. Nonetheless, here we go!

  1. Tiny-Huge Island

mario64tinyhuge

The idea behind Tiny-Huge Island is tremendous. Problem is that it doesn’t quite work in Super Mario 64. When everything is huge the world is a chore to get around, but at least it’s not terrible. But when everything is tiny Tiny-Huge Island is the worst. Tiny Goombas run around like crazy and knock your giant self off the small island. It’s an absolute plan to get through most of the time. The red coin challenge in Wiggler’s Cave also feels awkward, but at least we get some solid platforming out of it. It has some good moments, like Wiggler making an appearance and the Koopa the Quick rematch, but overall as I said before, it’s a pain to get through.

  1. Tall Tall Mountain

mario64talltall

Pretty much the most boring course in the game. Tall Tall Mountain has four notable features: it’s tall, it has a bunch of mushrooms to platform through, it has an annoying monkey and it has a somewhat difficult slide. Only the slide is a positive here. Being tall would be a good challenge, but Tick Tock Clock does the “scale the tall world” thing a lot better.

  1. Dire Dire Docks

mario64diredire

Right up there with Tall Tall Mountain with being boring. Dire Dire Docks is simply two sections of water. It contains the Bowser sub, which unlocks Bowser at the Lava Sea. Problem there is there is next to no challenge upon boarding that sub. There’s also barely 100 coins here (I think 108 total?) so the entire challenge there is making sure you don’t screw up the blue coins. One of its potentially most interesting stars, Collect the Caps, is rendered useless as it’s actually easier to ignore the metal cap here. The only good star is the red coin challenge, as you must jump from one pole to another to collect them. Also has an area that if you get sucked in you end up in the moat outside the castle, which is an unnecessary time waster. It does have awesome music, so there is that.

  1. Shifting Sand Land

mario64sandland

Probably the worst level I would consider good (which means Mario 64’s worlds are 80% good. That’s pretty awesome actually). The outside is a pain, as normal plains are slow moving quicksand traps, so if you stand in place for too long it’s hard to run out if you need to. There are tons of other instant death sandtraps, specifically around pillars you need to land on or the main pyramid. The pillars themselves are annoying to get to the top of as the physics around them are strange, and trying it with a shell, while possible and fun, is probably unnecessarily dangerous. There is a lot of good in the Shifting Sand Land though. Crazy boxes are cool. The pyramid itself is quite fun and there’s a fun little boss battle in there.

  1. Hazy Maze Cave

mario64hazymaze

An interesting course for sure. Being that it’s a maze, it is easy to get lost and not find everything, but there’s nothing wrong with that. For the most part, this course is good. My only issue is that some of the stars seem a bit awkward to obtain. Riding Dorrie’s head is a bit weird. The actual maze with toxic fumes can be tough to navigate with beavers throwing rocks at you. The red coin star can be frustrating. But in the grand scheme of things, no biggie. Hazy Maze Cave is good and enjoyable and an interesting course to explore.

  1. Cool Cool Mountain

mario64coolcoolmount

Cool Cool Mountain has a couple of good things going for it. The slide and penguin race is a lot of fun. The baby penguin star can also be a lot of fun. Wall Kicks will work, also a lot of fun. On the flip side, the snowman lost his head star is a bit weird. Other than that, Cool Cool Mountain is another solid, fun level, but it’s only tenth as other than the slide, there is nothing special about it at all.

  1. Whomp’s Fortress

mario64whomps

One of the most interesting ideas that seemed to get dropped early on in Mario 64 is each world having a theme related to an enemy. The first world was a war between the Bob-ombs. Here we have the fortress of the Whomps (later, we’d have the house of the Boos). Anyway, Whomp’s Fortress is fantastically designed for the most part. Only issue is there’s a piece of the course when you’re platforming on small platforms that don’t really fit in with the rest of the level. Other than that, it’s thoroughly enjoyable and the Whomp King is pretty funny.

  1. Snowman’s Land

mario64snowman

Gets the nod over Whomp’s Fortress as Snowman’s Land has many different interesting sections. Of course, there’s the whole point of the world which is climbing up the big Snowman, which is fine. There’s also an igloo, an ice sculpture you have to jump through, a big bully and some shell shredding. Overall, a really fun course.

  1. Jolly Roger Bay

mario64jolly

This would be where I would start calling the levels great. Jolly Roger Bay may be the first recorderd water level that I really enjoyed in a video game. The music is beautiful (same as Dire Dire Docks…which gets all the credit for some reason as this came first) and provides a peaceful break in between all the platforming you did in Bob-omb Battlefield and Whomp’s Fortress. There is a tricky star where you have to launch yourself to a pillar and jump onto a small alcove in the wall, which gave me a lot of trouble as a kid. There’s also the ship, which leads to another section. Lastly, there’s a small cave that’s some fun as well. It does have one awkward star, the one that you try to take off the tail of the eel, but overall Jolly Roger Bay is great and so much better than Dire Dire Docks.

  1. Bob-omb Battlefield

mario64bomb

One of the best first levels in gaming history. When I first saw that Chain Chomp as a kid I realized that gaming was in a totally different world now. Bob-omb Battlefield is the perfect first world to get used to how Mario works in his new 3D environment. We even get our first tease in regards to the Switch Palaces. There are also some great characters introduced as well, including the Bob-omb King and Koopa the Quick! It would be higher, but flying through the middle of rings of coins is an odd star.

  1. Rainbow Ride

mario64rainbow

There’s so much to do in Rainbow Ride! There’s two different main path ways that you need to ride a magic carpet to get to…as well as a platforming maze and a whole lower level. Rainbow Ride is a fun test of platforming. I specifically liked some of the stars here, such as Tricky Triangles. A real great last test of your platforming abilities near the end of the game.

  1. Lethal Lava Land

mario64lethallava

Really up here for its awesome picture and it’s awesome first section. The first section has a Bowser matching part for 8 coins that is unnecessary but cool nonetheless. Otherwise, you can shell shred the entire world and it may be the most fun part of Super Mario 64 period. The volcano is pretty bland admittedly, but there is some good platforming to be had here.

  1. Tick Tock Clock

mario64ticktock

I would say that this begins the top tier. Easily the most interesting course in Super Mario 64. Tick Tock Clock does the whole “climb a huge level” deal way better than Tall Tall Mountain does. There’s tons of different places to go here with each having a different challenge. Tick Tock Clock is easily the most difficult 100 coin star in the game, with only Rainbow Ride coming close, and yet the challenge of getting all 100 coins is quite satisfying. Really fun. Pretty hard, especially if you don’t know what you are doing. As a bonus, the level reacts differently based on which number you enter the clock in. Great stuff.

  1. Big Boo’s Haunt

mario64boo

Another level with a myriad of places to explore. If Tick Tock Clock is the better Tall Tall Mountain, then Big Boo’s Haunt is the better Hazy Maze Cave. The 100 coin star requires you to interact with the main enemies of the course, which of course are the Boos. There are boos all over the place which is to be expected. I had another crazy childhood moment with that damn piano. Anyone who claims they weren’t at least startled by is lying. Also has a really cool star which requires a cap, a wall jump and some running. Has only small flaw…falling into the basement is a bit of a pain. But whatever, the rest of it is great.

  1. Wet-Dry World

mario64wetdry

Another course that changes based on how you jump into it (the higher you jump…the higher the water level). Wet-Dry World at first seems small until you check out all of its areas. You realize then that his course was just made for platforming. Arrow lift star is cool…even though you can actually avoid it altogether. Getting to the Top of the Town and finding five secrets force you to explore the level. This doesn’t even include the downtown area…another fun platforming level with a fun 8 red coin star and a time based one based on the invisible cap. Wet-Dry World just has no holes. It’s an awesome course in an awesome game.

Football

2015 NFL Season Predictions

We are merely hours away from kickoff for the 2015 NFL Season! For a few years parity has actually been escaping the NFL although no one has seemed to notice or care. The NFL is more popular than ever and if recent events involving Commissioner Roger Goodell doesn’t dent that popularity than nothing will. Back to the parity point, for years many claimed that parity, that any team could win and perhaps go to the Super Bowl any year, was a big reason for the NFL’s popularity. Only the last three years have shown otherwise. The AFC Title game for the past four years have been Patriots-Ravens (2012 postseason), Patriots-Ravens again (2013), Patriots-Broncos (2014) and Patriots-Colts (2015). On the NFC side it has been 49ers-Giants (2012), 49ers-Falcons (2013), 49ers-Seahawks (2014) and Seahawks-Packers (2015). It isn’t even as if the Packers and Colts or even Giants were new to this either. So while another team may surprisingly win the division or even sneak into the Conference Title game, the days of the surprising 1999 Rams or 2003 Panthers seem to be over. That’s fine, as it makes things easier to predict.

With that being said…RDT’s 2015 NFL Predictions.

NFC East

nflpredeli

Giants: 11-5
Cowboys: 10-6
Eagles 9-7
Redskins 6-10

It has been a few years since the Giants last surprised us with a Super Bowl run. While I don’t necessarily think a Super Bowl is in the cards this year this is the first time in a few years where I think the Giants aren’t being talked about enough (and I live in NY!). The Giants were a slightly better team than expected last year (7.5 Pythagorean Wins against 6 actual wins). With Odell Beckham giving Eli Manning his best weapon in his career, Eli just has to hope that whatever’s left of his offensive line can keep him protected. For two years now Eli’s O-Line has been decimated by injuries over the last couple of years and some of that lingers today. If he can get the ball out, Giants will have a chance on that side of the ball. The other thing going in the Giants’ favor is the absolute dysfunction of Washington and Philadelphia. The Redskins had their whole Robert Griffin III drama and now Kirk Cousins is starting, so that’s a mess waiting to happen. Philly has all the talent in the world, but Chip Kelly’s trade for, then lack of faith of, Sam Bradford sounds like a problem waiting to happen. I really think the ship has sailed on Kelly. What seemed revolutionary a couple of years ago now looks like a coach with too much roster power making crazy moves with a gimmick offense. I guess we’ll see. Dallas should be fine…they were arguably a play away from the NFC Title game last year…but I’ve been far past completely trusting Dallas and Tony Romo at this point.

NFC North

nflpredteddy

Vikings: 11-5
Packers: 11-5
Lions: 8-8
Bears: 7-9

It’s not just the return of Adrian Peterson, which may not even work out anyway (2,000 career caries), but that Minnesota is a young team that should only get better. They were 7-9 anyway without their best player. Part of that is Teddy Bridgewater and how well he played in his last six starts last year. According to Grantland, Teddy was 12 in QBR, completed 69% of his passes for 1,440 yards, 10 TDs and 6 INTS. Best of all, it was an improvement over his first six starts. If Bridgewater improves and Peterson is still a monster, that’s suddenly a super dangerous combination. Green Bay is always going to be there as long as Aaron Rodgers plays quarterback, and him alone is enough to make Green Bay a Super Bowl contender (they almost got there last year). While they won’t fall that much, Detroit losing Ndamukong Suh is going to hurt too badly for them to be able to deal with Green Bay or Minnesota. Their offense should be fine unless Calvin Johnson regresses. The Bears should be okay, unless Jay Cutler is completely done.

NFC South

nflprednewton

Panthers: 10-6
Saints: 8-8
Falcons: 7-9
Buccaneers: 4-12

This division is still a mess and really any of the four teams can take it. I like Carolina because despite not being the most talented team, Coach Ron Rivera’s transformation into “Riverboat Ron” (leading to taking chances on 4th down and such) and Cam Newton’s play gives Carolina a shot to win any game. Atlanta may be more talented, and who knows, perhaps the Matt Ryan-Julio Jones connection will be unstoppable this year, but I’ve never truly believed in Matt Ryan as a top tier quarterback. He always seemed like the guy with every single weapon at his disposal (Jones, Tony Gonzalez, Roddy White, Michael Turner). Their defense was horrid last year as well. Atlanta’s just going to have to prove it to me. I also think I’m over the Saints. I love Drew Brees, but losing Graham is going to hurt and I think their peak is over. And let’s give Jameis Winston a year to see what he’s got first.

NFC West

nflpredsherman

Seahawks: 12-4
Rams: 6-10
Cardinals: 5-11
49ers: 4-12

Even though I think Seattle is slowly on the way down they could easily be just fine and their division is weak anyway. I can’t find a powerhouse in the NFC that’s going take the regular season crown away from them. The Rams are a fun choice I guess, but I’m not going to believe in Nick Foles at QB. While they upset Seattle last year and have a good defense I need to see more before I go in with them. The Cardinals are a prime example of a team to fall apart. Without Carson Palmer they couldn’t score a point, and now we’re getting back a 35 year old Palmer coming off a torn ACL. Palmer’s been done as a top tier QB for years and I think 2014 was just an outlier. Then again, perhaps Arizona just needs him to be merely average. We’ll find out. I assume two people retired from the 49ers as I was writing this. I’m not putting any stock whatsoever in them. You don’t drop Jim Harbaugh and get better.

I just can’t find a way to bet against Seattle making the Super Bowl again. Unless there’s a crazy Giants team (don’t rule this out…happens every few years apparently) or Aaron Rodgers really is the GOAT (don’t rule this out either, although losing Jordy Nelson makes it so much harder on him) I’m going to have to pick Seattle here. Even if they are getting hit with “The Disease of More”.

AFC East

nflpredbrady

Patriots: 12-4
Bills: 9-7
Dolphins: 7-9
Jets: 6-10

An angry Patriots team is a scary Patriots team. While some key losses may seem to hurt them (Revis), you’re going to have to find a really good argument to convince me that New England isn’t going to make at least their fifth straight AFC Title game.  Remember how well Brady played after there were jokes that he was done and Jimmy Garoppolo was going to start? How did that turn out for the NFL? The Bills will be decent because Rex Ryan can get the best out of a smashmouth football team, but he’s still in the wrong era and Buffalo’s QB situation is appallingly bad. Miami seems to be a popular choice to surprise, but they have no secondary and Ryan Tannenhill is their quarterback. The Jets have Ryan Fitzpatrick running their offense. So unless the defense wants to carry them like they did for Geno, it’s just not going to happen.

AFC North

nflpredflacco

Ravens: 11-5
Steelers: 9-7
Bengals: 6-10
Browns: 3-13

The Ravens have some red flags…mainly their only legit WR is an aging Steve Smith and the running game looks like it has a lot to be desired. That’s okay though, their defense should carry them to at least the 9-7 range alone, and I’m more of a Joe Flacco fan than not at the moment. I think the Steelers are a bit weaker overall (and have a tough schedule…they play teams like the Colts where Baltimore doesn’t). The Bengals run of one and dones are going to end eventually, and until they move on from Andy Dalton I’m going to pick this season for that. You can’t help but feel bad for the Browns. Josh McCown and Johnny Manziel? Maybe Manziel figures it out. Don’t sleep on the Ravens though…you always have to give a real chance to well coached teams.

AFC South

nflpredluck

Colts: 12-4
Texans: 6-10
Titans: 5-11
Jaguars: 3-13

This is simple to figure out. The Jaguars are still a mess. Unless Mariotta is great right away the Titans will be bad once again, and the Texans somehow downgraded from Ryan Fitzpatrick at QB (although it wouldn’t surprise me if J.J. Watt somehow won 10 games by himself at this point). That leaves the Andrew Luck Colts. I don’t think the Colts are as good as everyone says…they’re right now a popular Super Bowl pick. People are forgetting that the only reason the Colts got by Denver in the playoffs last year was because Peyton Manning was hurt. Otherwise you had a Denver-NE rematch going. Colts will be fine, Luck might be better (which is why their record doesn’t fall), but they’re still behind New England and Denver.

AFC West

nflpredcharles

Chiefs: 11-5
Chargers: 11-5
Broncos: 10-6
Raiders: 6-10

Put a big asterisk here, because we don’t know what Peyton Manning we are getting. Is he healthy? Is he still hurt from last year? I think that fear combined with the changes made coaching wise will hurt Denver a bit…although a 10-6 Broncos team can absolutely make the Super Bowl.  The Chiefs are a stereotypical Andy Reid team. They’ll probably win the division and lose in the opening round to Denver. I’ve always been a bit of a Philip Rivers fan and thought he played well the last two years. I think this may be San Diego’s last shot at anything. Remember last year they started 5-1 and just had a rough schedule down the stretch.

Ultimately I see a rematch in the Super Bowl. While there are some teams that I think can threaten Seattle and New England, I feel there are too many flaws out there for them to overcome their weaknesses. I think Seattle wins this time though.

 

 

 

 

 

Basketball

Top 100 Basketball Players Ever: #60-#51

#60: Bernard King

top100king

Resume

All-NBA 1st Team: 2x (’84, ‘85)

All-NBA 2nd Team: 1x (’82)

All-NBA 3rd Team: 1x (’91)

All-NBA Rookie 1st Team: (’78)

NBA All-Star: 4x (’82, ’84, ’85, ‘91)

NBA PPG Leader (55 G): 1x (’85)

NBA Top 10 Points: 4x (’78, ’81, ’82, ’84)

NBA Top 5 Win Shares: 1x (’84)

NBA Top 2 WS/48: 1x  (’84)

NBA Top 10 PER: 2x (’81, ’82)

NBA Career Points: 42nd

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 58th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 69th

I’ll admit to being a little skeptical overall of King, considering that his resume is quite short. With one (major) exception, it looked like King had one of the unluckiest careers in NBA history regarding injuries and style clashing. Bill Simmons described King as unstoppable from 1983-1985. This seems relevant as that’s part of one of the toughest eras in professional basketball history. This didn’t matter to King, the lone blue chipper for the early 80s Knicks, as he put together two NBA 1st teams and led the Knicks to the playoffs a couple of those years as well. In 1985, while leading the league in scoring he blew out his knee and never was the same. That, combined with King being stuck in Hubie Brown’s slowdown style, limited King to what he could have been.

Of course, King’s career is also hampered by cocaine use early in his career. His drug use limited him just as much as his later injuries would, I mean, isn’t it odd that King took so many years to peak, and when he did he was downright unstoppable in a tough era? Those King years at the top represent the player we wanted Carmelo Anthony to become, only it never quite happened for Melo (and probably isn’t at this point).

And then there’s this. Despite the injuries and such, King came back in 1991 and randomly put up a 28.4 PPG season at age 34. Combine that with his reputation, his long standing record of 60 points at MSG (which Kobe broke when Wilson Chandler couldn’t guard him) and that he was so good that his 55 game 1985 season still got him All-1st Team honors over Michael Jordan, and well I’ll have to push my skepticism to the side.

 #59: Elvin Hayes

top100hayes

Resume

All-NBA 1st Team: 3x (’75, ’77, ‘79)

All-NBA 2nd Team: 3x (’73, ’74, ‘76)

All-NBA Defensive 2nd Team: (’73, ’74)

All-NBA Rookie 1st Team: (’69)

NBA All-Star: 12x (’69, ’70, ’71, ’72, ’73, ’74, ’75, ’76, ’77, ’78, ’79, ‘80)

NBA Points Leader: 1x (’69)

NBA Rebounds Leader: 2x (’70, ’74)

NBA Defensive Rating Leader: 1x (’75)

NBA Defensive Win Shares Leader: 3x (’71, ’74, ’75)

NBA Top 10 Points: 7x (’69, ’70, ’71, ’72, ’75, ’77, ‘80)

NBA Top 10 Rebounds: 13x (’69, ’70, ’71, ’72, ’73, ’74, ’75, ’76, ’77, ’78, ’79, ’80, ’81)

NBA Top 10 Blocks: 8x (’74, ’75, ’76, ’77, ’78, ’79, ’80, ’81)

NBA Top 10 Steals: 1x (’75)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 3x (’74, ’75, ‘77)

NBA Top 10 Defensive Win Shares: 12x (’69, ’70, ’71, ’72, ’73, ’74, ’75, ’76, ’77, ’78, ’79, ’80, ’81)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: 1x (’75)

NBA Top 10 PER: 2x (’81, ’82)

NBA Career Points: 9th

NBA Career Rebounds: 4th

NBA Career Blocks: 22nd

Best Player on One NBA Champion: ’78 Bullets

Best Player on Two Runner-Ups: ’75 Bullets, ’79 Bullets

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 51st

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 23rd

Looking at the resume you’re likely to side with Slam’s ranking of Hayes than Simmons. Here are the following quotes about Hayes from various publications and sportswriters at the time:

“During his four years with the Rockets, Hayes was variously considered a ball hog, a rotten apple, a dumbbell and a guaranteed loser.” –Sports Illustrated, 1974

“Individualism overcame Elvin in yet another big contest.”

“Hayes once more disappeared in the moments of crisis.”

“It’s imperative for the Bullets that their only real name player and 10 year All-Star justify his status by not dissolving at the end of the seventh game [of the Finals].” – Curry Kirkpatrick, Sports Illustrated, 1978

“You stay away from that no-good fucking prick.” – Rockets’ Coach Bill Fitch, on what he reportedly told rookie Ralph Sampson when Hayes said he wanted to mentor him.

Now, being a jerk and being hated by the sports media doesn’t mean you’re a bad player (although, it’s a good sign that you’re a terrible teammate and a potential locker room cancer), so let’s go with a couple of game related stories.

Hayes may be the worst “best player on a title team ever”, and it’s debated about whether or not he really was the best player on that 1978 title team (Unseld). The defining story? After scoring a total of 19 fourth quarter points in six Finals games in 1978, and calls for him to step up in Game 7, Hayes fouled out with 10 minutes to go in the fourth quarter of that Game 7. The Bullets, on the road, managed to win the title without him as Unseld won Finals MVP. Not exactly MJ against Utah. Speaking of Utah, in terms of clutchness Hayes is regarded as the poor man’s Karl Malone. That’s not a compliment. All of this combined with that he peaked during a weak era of pro basketball, the 1970s, and his lowish ranking starts to make some sense.

#58: Paul Arizin

top100arizin

Resume

All-NBA 1st Team: 3x (’52, ’56, ‘57)

All-NBA 2nd Team: 1x (’59)

NBA All-Star: 10x (’51, ’52, ’55, ’56, ’57, ’58, ’59, ’60, ’61, ‘62)

NBA Points Leader: 2x (’52, ’57)

NBA Win Share Leader: 1x (’52)

NBA Offensive Win Share Leader: 1x (’52)

NBA Top 10 Points: 9x (’51, ’52,’55, ’56, ’57, ’58, ’59, ’60, ’61)

NBA Top 10 Rebounds: 2x (’51, ’52)

NBA Top 10 PER: 4x (’52, ’56, ’57, ’59)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 8x: (’51, ’52, ’55, ’56, ’57, ’59, ’60, ’61)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: (’52, ’56, ’57, ’59)

First Player to average 20+PPG for Nine Straight Seasons

Best Player on One NBA Champion: ’56 Warriors

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 56th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 71st

The first player to ever use a jump shot, which seems important from a historical point of view. Arizin was the best player on the last pre-Russell NBA Champs, the ’56 Warriors. He had a killer post-season that year (29-8, .262 WS/48). Would have probably had more All-Stars, but in ’53 and ’54 he was forced into military duty and didn’t play. He ended his career on a high note, averaging a 23-7 for the Sixers as they almost beat the ’62 Celtics. Arizin is one of the top examples that Wilt Chamberlain in fact had great players as teammates too.

#57: Dolph Schayes

top100schayes

Resume

All-NBA 1st Team: 6x (’52, ’53, ’54, ’55, ’57, ’58)

All-NBA 2nd Team: 6x (’50, ’51, ’56, ’59, ’60, ’61)

NBA All-Star: 12x (’51, ’52, ’53, ’54, ’55, ’56, ’57, ’58, ’59, ’60, ’61, ‘62)

NBA Rebounds Leader: 1x (’51)

NBA FT% Leader: 3x (’58, ’60, 62)

NBA Win Share Leader: 1x (’58)

NBA WS/48 Leader: 1x (’54)

NBA Defensive Win Share Leader: 1x (’55)

NBA Top 10 Points: 11x (’51, ’53, ’54, ’55, ’56, ’57, ’58, ’59, ’60, ’61, ‘62)

NBA Top 10 Rebounds: 12x (’51, ’52, ’53, ’54, ’55, ’56, ’57, ’58, ’59, ’60, ’61, ‘62)

NBA Top 10 Assists: 3x (’50, ’51, ’57)

NBA Top 3 FT%: 10x: (’53, ’54, ’55, ’56, ’57, ’58, ’59, ’60, ’61, ‘62)

NBA Top 10 PER: 10x: (’53, ’54, ’55, ’56, ’57, ’58, ’59, ’60, ’61, ‘62)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 11x: (’50, ’51, ’52, ’53, ’54, ’55, ’56, ’57, ’58, ’59, ’60)

NBA Career Rebounds: 26th

Best Player on One NBA Champion: ’55 Nationals

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 52nd

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 35th

Like Hayes, an outstanding resume that merits Schayes being ranked higher. Schayes issue is the era he played in: the 1950s. Before Bill Russell showed up Schayes was one of the best players in the early NBA along with George Mikan (who we’ll get to). After Russell (and others), Schayes stopped winning in the playoffs. That’s fine. The total weight of his resume gives him a decent amount of credit, and I put him above Hayes as Schayes defining story (playing a full season with a broken arm and just switching his main hand) is a lot better than Hayes.

It’s always going to be tough to rank the 1950s guys. They will always take a hit (half of Dolph’s career was even before the shot clock existed) ranking wise. Dolph’s resume was too good to drop outside the Top 60.

#56: Dominique Wilkins

top100wilkins

Resume

All-NBA 1st Team: 1x (‘86)

All-NBA 2nd Team: 4x (’87, ’88, ’91, ’93)

All-NBA 3rd Team: 2x (’89, ’94)

NBA All-Star: 9x (’86, ’87, ’88, ’89, ’90, ’91, ’92, ’93, ’94)

NBA PPG Leader: 1x (’86)

NBA Top 10 Points: 9x (’85, ’86, ’87, ’88, ’89, ’90, ’91, ’93, ’94)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 2x: (’86, ‘87)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: (’87, ’93)

NBA Career Points: 12th

NBA Career Steals: 56th

NBA Career Offensive Rebounds: 31st

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 55th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 43rd

If you’re siding with Dominique to be 15-20 spots higher, you’re rewarding individual and arguably selfish play over team ball. You can look at the fact that ‘Nique never got past round 2 in two ways: he clashed against the Bad Boy Pistons, Bird’s Celtics and Jordan’s Bulls…or you can come to the conclusion that a self-absorbed  all O and no D scorer who did nothing to make his teammates better couldn’t will his teams to the finish line.

It doesn’t mean that Dominique wasn’t a great player. His Hawks teams routinely made the playoffs and even won 50+ games from ’86-’89 (peaking at 57 in 1987) and he didn’t have that much of a supporting cast (Kevin Willis and Doc Rivers were his best teammates). So he has to get credit for that. He had one chance to get to the Conference Finals, but his 47 wasn’t enough (Bird scored 20 in the 4th and Boston won by 2). But again, his defense was a problem for the Hawks in that game as well. How far can a no defense guy get in the playoffs without a strong defensive unit around him or a top shot blocking center? Not far enough it seems.

#55: Chris Paul

top100paul

Resume

NBA Rookie of the Year: ‘06

All-NBA 1st Team: 4x (’08, ’12, ’13, ‘14)

All-NBA 2nd Team: 2x (’09, ‘15)

All-NBA 3rd Team: 1x (‘11)

All-NBA Defensive 1st Team: 5x (’09, ’12, ’13, ’14, ’15)

All-NBA Defensive 2nd Team: 1x (’08)

All-NBA Rookie 1st Team: ‘06

NBA All-Star Game MVP: 1x (’13)

NBA All-Star: 8x (’08, ’09, ’10, ’11, ’12, ’13, ’14, ‘15)

NBA Assists Leader: 3x (’08, ’09, ’15)

NBA Steals Leader: 5x (’06, ’08, ’09, ’11, ’12)

NBA Win Shares Leader: 1x (’08)

NBA Offensive Win Shares Leader: 3x (’08, ’12, ’15)

NBA WS/48 Leader: 1x (’08)

NBA Top 10 Points: 2x (’09, ‘15)

NBA Top 10 Assists: 10x (’06, ’07, ’08, ’09, ’10, ’11, ’12, ’13, ’14, ’15)

NBA Top 3 Steals: 8x (’06, ’08, ’09, ’11, ’12, ’13, ’14, ’15)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 7x (’08, ’09, ’11, ’12, ’13, ’14, ’15)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: 8x (’08, ’09, ’10, ’11, ’12, ’13, ’14, ’15)

NBA Top 10 PER: 8x (’08, ’09, ’10, ’11, ’12, ’13, ’14, ’15)

NBA Top 10 Offensive Rating: 8x (’08, ’09, ’10, ’11, ’12, ’13, ’14, ’15)

NBA Career Assists: 16th

NBA Career Steals: 26th

NBA Career APG: 3rd

NBA Career SPG: 4th

NBA Career Offensive Rating: 1st

NBA Career Win Shares: 32nd

NBA Career WS/48: 3rd

NBA Career PER: 6th

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 90th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 107th

On paper, CP3 is already one of the greatest basketball players ever. He either holds or is on pace to hold many different records (both traditional and advanced). He would hold a spot on the starting five best two way players in the NBA right now, and would even have a chance at an all-time version. He was absolutely robbed of the MVP in 2008 (sorry Kobe fans) where he put up 21.1 PPG, 11.6 APG, 4 RPG and 2.7 SPG while only having 2.5 turnovers a game for a 56 win Hornets team. Only players in NBA history to put up 20 PPG, 11 APG and 2 SPG in a season are CP3 and Isiah…although CP3 did it with less turnovers and shot a higher percentage.

So what holds CP3 back from a higher ranking? For some reason or another he also can’t get past round 2 of the playoffs. Twice he’s gotten to Game 7 of the 2nd round and once to a super close Game 6, and each time he fell short. In 2008 a 22 year old Paul has been dominating the playoffs and had a 3-2 lead on the Spurs…but the Spurs shocked the Hornets in Game 7 as Paul was “held” to a 18-14-8-5. He was masterful for the most part in the six game loss to the Thunder in 2014, averaging 22-12-4 and 2 and a half steals for the series, but Durant and Westbrook were too good and the Thunder prevailed. Both of those losses though could be justified. What wasn’t justified was the Clippers blowing their series against Houston last year. Putting that together with the up 3-2 against the Spurs and the Thunder series (famously lost Game 5 despite being up 7 with 50 seconds to go) one has to wonder why Chris Paul teams keep blowing huge games (even in round 1 last year against the Spurs, a series that the Clippers won and Paul was masterful in Game 7 in, there were several blunders along the way, especially in Game 2, which made you question the toughness of the Clippers). Until he can rectify this, I don’t know if he’ll ever crack the top 40.

But I think he’ll do it eventually. He’s 30 years old now and should still have 3-4 elite years left. The talent is there. The coaching is there. They have beaten great teams (like the Spurs last year). Is Chris Paul the leader we all think he is? Or is there a little bit of Oscar Robinson in him…someone who’s teammates play in fear of him and as a result screw up in the clutch? We’ll find out.

#54: Billy Cunningham

top100cunningham

Resume

ABA MVP: 1x (’73)

All-NBA 1st Team: 3x (’69, ’70, ‘71)

All-NBA 2nd Team: 1x (’72)

All-ABA 1st Team: 1x (’73)

All-NBA Rookie 1st Team: ‘66

ABA Steals Leader: 1x (’73)

NBA All-Star: 4x (’69, ’70, ’71, ’72)

ABA All-Star: 1x (’73)

ABA Steals Leader: 1x (’73)

NBA Top 10 Points: 3x (’69, ’70, ’71)

ABA Top 5 Points: 1x (’73)

NBA Top 10 Assists: 1x (’75)

ABA Top 3 Assists: 1x (’73)

NBA Top 10 Rebounds: 2x (’69, ’70)

ABA Top 5 Rebounds: 1x (’73)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 1x (’70)

ABA Top 3 Win Shares: 1x (’73)

Sixth Man For One Champion: ’67 Sixers

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 49th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 41st

At first it doesn’t feel like he has the resume, although both Simmons and Slam rank him quite highly. His ABA MVP year is nothing to sneeze at: 24-12-6 with 2 and a half steals per game. Ranked in the top 5 in points, top 3 in assists and top 5 in rebounds while leading the ABA in steals during his MVP year. Simmons thought he was good enough to be the 1969 MVP (22-11-3). He’s regarded as the best small forward for a five year stretch. He’s another example that Wilt played with great players during his career, and Cunningham was a solid 6th man (15 PPG) for that ’67 Sixers team that won the title (in regards to his playstyle, he’s compared to Manu).

#53: Hal Greer

top100greer

Resume

All-NBA 2nd Team: 7x (’63, ’64, ’65, ’66, ’67, ’68, ‘69)

NBA All-Star Game MVP: 1x (’68)

NBA All-Star: 10x (’61, ’62, ’63, ’64, ’65, ’66, ’67, ’68, ’69, ‘70)

NBA Top 10 Points: 6x (’63, ’64, ’65, ’66, ’67, ’68)

NBA Top 10 Assists: 4x (’64, ’65, ’66, ’68)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 3x (’63, ’66, 68)

2nd Best Player on One Championship Team: ’67 Sixers

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 48th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 59th

Another not quite impressive resume…but Greer gets ranked this high for being Wilt’s 2nd banana (scoring 27.7 PPG in the ’67 playoffs where the Sixers won the title) as well as for his consistency year in and year out. There’s not much else to say about Greer. Players from his era respected his work ethic and thought he had a beautiful jump shot. He also shot free throws with his jumper. Nonetheless, season after season of 20 PPG as primarily a 2nd banana with a Championship is nothing to sneeze at. More proof Wilt played with great players.

#52: Nate Thurmond

top100thurmond

Resume

All-NBA Defensive 1st Team: 2x (’69, ’71)

All-NBA Defensive 2nd Team: (’72, ’73, ’74)

All-NBA Rookie 1st Team: ‘64

NBA All-Star: 7x (’65, ’66, ’67, ’68, ’70, ’73, ‘74)

NBA Top 10 Rebounds: 8x (’65, ’66, ’67, ’68, ’69, ’71, ’72, ‘73)

NBA Top 10 Blocks: 2x (’74, ‘75)

NBA Top 5 Defensive Rating: 1x (’75)

NBA Top 10 Defensive Win Shares: 8x (’65, ’66, ’67, ’68, ’69, ’72, ’73, ’75)

NBA Career Rebounds: 10th

2nd Best Player on One Runner-Up: (’67 Warriors)

Starter on One Runner-Up: (’64 Warriors)

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 45th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 34th

Probably in the starting lineup for the all-time underrated team. He mad no All-NBA teams but for a very good reason: his career coincided with Wilt, Russell, Kareem and Reed (and there was no Third Team back then). Regarded as the 2nd best defensive center in the league after Russell. Recorded 2.9 BPG when he was washed up in ’74…it was the first year the NBA recorded blocks. Had the first recorded quadruple double (22 PTS, 14 REB, 13 AST, 12 BLK) in 1974.

His lack of championship success was because of two things. One, he was ridiculously unlucky as Rick Barry bolted the Warriors for the ABA. Had he stayed, some of those early 70s titles probably go to the Warriors. When Barry came back the Warriors traded him to Chicago to save money…and Thurmond almost made them pay as the Bulls took the Warriors to 7 games in the Western Finals.

The second part was what kept him off of all those All-NBA teams. He wasn’t getting past Russell, Wilt or Kareem. Kareem and Wilt both said Thurmond was their toughest defender in the early 70s. Just think of the rich man’s Dikembe Mutombo here.

#51: Wes Unseld

top100unseld

Resume

NBA MVP: 1x (’69)

NBA Finals MVP: 1x (’78)

NBA All-1st Team: 1x (’69)

All-NBA Rookie 1st Team: ‘69

NBA All-Star: 5x (’69, ’71, ’72, ’73, ‘75)

NBA Top 10 Rebounds: 10x (’69, ’70, ’71, ’72, ’73, ’75, ’76, ’77, ’78, ’80)

NBA Top 3 Offensive Rating: 1x (’79)

NBA Top 10 Defensive Rating: 2x (’75, ’76)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 5x (’69, ’70, ’73, ’75, ’76)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: 2x (’69, ’75)

NBA Top 10 Defensive Win Shares: 8x (’69, ’70, ’71, ’73, ’75, ’76, ’77, ‘78)

NBA Career Rebounds: 12th

2nd Best Player on One NBA Champion: ’78 Bullets

2nd Best Player on Three Runner-Ups: ’71 Bullets, ’74 Bullets, ’79 Bullets

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 42nd

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 33rd

A strange resume that you’ll have to ignore statistics to appreciate. Defensively, Unseld wasn’t a shot blocker…yet put up some really good defensive rating and defensive win shares numbers. He wasn’t a scorer, yet was really efficient offensively. He was arguably the best player (I know we said Hayes, but ugh) on that ’78 Bullets team for doing all the dirty work (screens, rebounding) and for being the greatest outlet passer in NBA history (Red Auerbach said that perhaps only Russell was better). So it’s just going to be impossible to capture the impact Unseld had through awards and statistics.

Here’s the thing. Back in the 60s and early 70s…the players voted on the league MVP. Sure they got carried away with it and Unseld wasn’t the correct choice…but it’s something that he did win MVP, no? His opponents thought he was that difficult to deal with playing against him. And Unseld showed it was at least somewhat of a worthy accolade as he’d win the ’78 Finals MVP. So there’s more evidence that he’s a great player than not. What a tough player to rank.

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews WCW Fall Brawl ’95

WCW Fall Brawl ‘95
September 17, 1995
Asheville, NC

The War is on! WCW Nitro had launched two weeks prior to this show and had surprised everyone by being competitive in the ratings with WWF Raw. WCW hit the WWF right where it hurt when they stole Lex Luger away and he made a surprise appearance on the first Nitro. The WWF, with taped shows already in the can, couldn’t do anything to stop WCW early on. WCW also had the first PPV since the Monday Night Wars started, and here it is. The main event here is a bit questionable…we have the four big faces (Sting, Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage and Lex Luger) against a heel group without remotely the star power to match the face team (The Dungeon of Doom) so you know who’s winning here. Should WCW just went for the kill right away with Luger and Sting vs. Hogan and Savage? We’ll never know.

Still, a good PPV here and the WWF would really be in trouble. Could WCW pull it off?

The Card

#1 Contender for the United States Championship
Flyin’ Brian vs. Johnny B. Badd

Badd looks exactly like he would a year later as “Wildman” Marc Mero when he was the IC Champ, red outfit and all.

Hilarious first moment. Badd tries to throw a Frisbee into the crowd, but accidentally hits the ringpost and it goes nowhere, getting a noticeable groan from the crowd.

Michael Buffer is announcing the opener. How confusing.

Pretty slow start here. Most notable moment in the first five minutes was a double dropkick.

Beautiful bridge trap by Pillman for a two count.

About eight minutes in Pillman starts to bring out the heel stuff. I expect this to pick up now.

Great variation of the surfboard from Badd. So far this is the best Mero match I’ve ever seen.

Buffer says five minutes remaining…so we know where this is going.

Thing really pick up at this point though. Badd starts to fly with a plancha onto the floor!

Pillman takes out Badd with an awesome dropkick as Badd comes off the top! Only two for that.

The big moves are coming! Powerbomb from Badd gets two, Tombstone from Pillman also gets two!

Badd counters the Tornado DDT from the top!
Ugh. Badd goes into a hold, which doesn’t make sense at this point. There’s only two minutes left!

We get to the time limit, but the referee declares that there has to be a winner considering they need a #1 contender…so overtime!

Great elevation on a top rope sunset flip from Badd. I woulda bought that as a 1995 finish for sure.

Top rope hurricanrana…but Pillman still kicks out.

Pillman hits the Tornado DDT this time…but Badd survives! Great idea for OT not to last a mere 2 minutes or something.

Badd throws Pillman off the top rope onto the guardrail! Ouch!

Pillman hits a suicide dive through the ropes and gets a lot of distance. Announcers claim Pillman didn’t really hit it, which is a shame because it looked awesome.

Johnny B. Badd pins Flyin’ Brian in 29:17. Double crossbody, and despite Pillman landing on top they make it seem like Badd got the best of it and he makes the cover for the win. Pretty disappointing finish considering everything else. I thought this was a great 20 minute match masquerading as a 30 minute match, but that doesn’t change that it was very good overall. Interestingly, both Badd and Pillman would be gone from WCW within six months. Easily the best Badd match I’ve ever seen.

Ric Flair on the mic and he really knows how to sell something special. He talks about the broken families he and Arn Anderson had went through and you can’t help but feel the damaged friendship between them.

Sgt. Craig Pittman vs. Cobra

I have no idea what this feud is about. Looks like a military vs. military thing or something.

Some random soldier comes down to distract Cobra as Pittman comes from the ceiling. Pittman chokes him out with his ammo belt.

Craig Pittman makes Cobra submit in 1:22. Code Red armbreaker for the win. At least this was short. Why was this on the PPV anyway? What was the point?

We get a video of Mr. Wonderful angrily doubting himself in the back. Some psychic tries to talk to him and get him back on track. Uh…Orndorff retired shortly after this. I don’t blame him, this was awful.

WCW Television Championship
The Renegade© vs. Diamond Dallas Page

The Renegade is an Ultimate Warrior ripoff.

Pretty funny how far DDP would come in the next 18 months. He looks ridiculous here.

DDP runs into the ring post by himself then takes a bump over the guardrail. That was strange for sure.

This was a time that Page and Kimberly weren’t getting along because Page treated her like crap. Page does manage to get all the heat here with no help at all from the Renegade.

Renegade’s comeback was pretty decent actually.

Diamond Dallas Page wins the title by pin in 8:07. Maxx Muscle holds Renegade’s foot, and DDP hits a pretty bad Diamond Cutter for the win. Nothing really to say here, although this could have been a lot worse.

WCW World Tag Team Championship
Bunkhouse Buck and Dick Slater© vs. Harlem Heat

The real point of this feud is that there’s some strange relationship deal with Sherri and Col. Robert Parker, which sounds awful just typing it.

Bobby Heenan reciting a poem is the highlight so far. Otherwise, we’ve just had a few minutes of punching and kicking so far.

The crowd is dead quiet here.

Terrible atomic drop from Slater.

Booker gets trapped in there and we get one of the most boring heat segments I’ve ever seen in a major tag team match. Were Slater and Buck just going through the motions here?

In the 2nd ring Sherri starts crawling toward Parker and they start making out…

Harlem Heat win the title when Booker pins Buck in 16:49. The Nasty Boys come out and take out Buck with a boot shot to the heat for Harlem Heat’s win. Parker would move onto co-manage Harlem Heat with Sherri…but they’d lose the belts to The American Males the next night. Anyway, this was awful. Seventeen minutes of just about nothing.

Ric Flair vs. Arn Anderson

Flair and Double A had been as close as brothers, but things began to go wrong thanks to Vader. The story pushes that Flair hasn’t been the same for a year since he lost the World title to Hogan. Anderson wanted to see Flair be the best again. Flair blamed Anderson for not helping him at crucial spots.

I love Double A’s demeanor throughout the opening sequence. Just straight out seriousness with the occasional mocking of Flair.

Smart booking decision to have Anderson dominate the early going. If there was anyone who thought Anderson wasn’t on Flair’s level, this would be showing them otherwise.

Commentators do a great job explaining why Anderson’s armbars hurt so much. That’s something that’s just missed in today’s wrestling.

Flair takes total control. Once again, the commentary is great, and now its question about whether or not Double A can hang with Flair. You really want Anderson to pull this one out.

Anderson blocks the Figure Four by holding Flair’s leg when he tried to come down with it. Can’t say I’ve seen that one before.

Crowd erupts when Anderson reverses the Figure Four. Hell, crowd goes nuts for each false finish here.

Arn Anderson pins Ric Flair in 22:37. Brian Pillman climbs onto the apron when Flair has Anderson down and kicks Flair in the head. Double A drops Flair with a DDT and gets the upset. Crowd ultimately was mixed on the finish (I think they were into the match…but this is still Flair country…nevermind that it wasn’t clean). All of this would lead to the reunion of the Horsemen, although I don’t remember how it played out.

War Games
Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Lex Luger and Sting vs. Kamala, The Shark, The Zodiac and Meng

If the Hulkamaniacs win, Hogan gets five minutes with The Taskmaster.

This was a cartoonish feud that didn’t really jive with the rest of what WCW was doing at this point. Kevin Sullivan’s pre-match promo/video is just laughable.

A side story to this is the debut of The Giant, who was being promoted as Andre’s son.

This has to be one of the most unbalanced multi-man tag team matches in wrestling history. There’s literally no way the Dungeon of Doom can win no matter how much the “can the good guys trust one another” story is shoved down our throats.

The Hulkamaniacs are in camouflage and have an American flag. Uh…is Kevin Sullivan not from the US or something?

Dungeon of Goom. Really Hogan?

Beefcake looks ridiculous, even for him, as the Zodiac.

We start off with Sting and the Shark.

Entertaining start, with Sting diving over both top ropes and taking out the Shark.

No idea if this was planned, but the Shark tries the same over both top ropes dive that Sting did earlier, but gets caught up on the ropes. I like John Tenta, but he shouldn’t be trying anything like that for sure.

Not a bad opening period. Of course the heels win the coin toss and here comes the Zodiac.

Things have slowed down since the Zodiac got in. Randy Savage comes in to save Sting from an uninspiring two on one beat down.

Kamala is next and this has just turned into a sloppy brawl.

Luger comes and evens the odds are again. Only decent part so far has been Sting-Shark and even that wasn’t that great.

Luger and Savage accidentally hit another and go at it…at least something interesting happens. Here comes Meng.

Luger sells a kick from Meng that doesn’t even remotely hit.

Hogan comes in and throws powder in everyone’s eyes. And he’s the top good guy!

Zodiac oversells some Hogan punches. That was embarrassing.

The Hulkamaniacs win when Hogan makes Zodiac submit in 18:47.

We get a terrible Camel Clutch (called a reverse chinlock) for the win. It’s not like Sting and Luger have finishers that are submission holds afterall. Hogan didn’t take one move, it was all offense and that was it for the Dungeon of Doom. Absolutely horrible all around here with a shit finish. Second worst War Games in the history of the match (’98 is worse for sure).

Hogan then beats up Sullivan for a while, before the Giant comes in and chokes Hogan and injures his neck. Even in getting beat down, Hogan doesn’t take a bump. What an embarrassment.

Two really good matches but a whole lot of garbage inbetween. WCW needed to move past this Dungeon of Doom thing, but really wouldn’t until mid-96 when Scott Hall showed up.

A least the Nitros have been good so far.

Final Grade: C

Pro Wrestling

RAW vs. NITRO Week 2 (9/11/95)

Week 2

Posted Image

Nitro: 9/11/95
Miami, FL

We’ve got a big name World Title match tonight, Hulk Hogan vs. Lex Luger!

I think it’s awesome that Bischoff put Luger in a Nitro main event immediately. Luger was all over WWF TV just two weeks prior.

This is the go home PPV for Fall Brawl ’95.

Mongo looks ridiculous with glasses.

Bischoff says that Vader has gown AWOL. I think Vader was just fired. Anyway, he’s out of the War Games match.

Sabu vs. Alex Wright

We’re not in ECW are we anymore Sabu?

Sabu takes Wright over the top with a frankensteiner.

Sabu uses a chair as a springboard…but Wright moves and Sabu leg lariats the railing!

Awesome backflip off the top from Wright…which transitions into a German Suplex.

Sabu gets the three on Alex Wright after a top rope victory roll…but Sabu continues the attack and drives Wright through a table!

Alex Wright wins by DQ in 3:58. Ref reverses the decision. Pretty fun 4 minute match with nice spots. Good showing off of Sabu and Wright.

Here comes Ric Flair!

Flair compares himself to Joe Montana and Arn Anderson to Lawrence Taylor. Uh…

Lex Luger comes out to tell Flair “he’s too much” and leaves. Ok?

What an odd segment that was. I mean the interview was fine…but the Luger cameo was what?

Sting vs. VK Wallstreet

Wallstreet is an absolute Million Dollar Man ripoff here.

Bischoff says that “Shawn Michaels beat the big guy with a superkick!” I’m sure Vince McMahon had a heart attack right there. HBK vs. Sid was the main event on RAW…which was taped on August 28th, 1995.

Bischoff says of Wallstreet: “It’s all about power, it’s all about money, and that’s why he’s in WCW”. You think Hogan said that about his contract negotiation?

A very heavy anti-WWF segment here. Bischoff points out Luger was wrestling for the WWF nine days ago but left because he wanted competition. Ouch.

Sting pins Wallstreet in 4:13. Crossbody off the top for the win. Too short for my tastes, but it was fine and the crowd was into it.

Bischoff makes sure that we watch Saturday Night for the debut of Disco Inferno!

Scott Norton vs. Randy Savage

Norton was treated as a big deal early on. No one remembers his debut on the first Nitro…and by this time next year he’d be wrestling Ice Train.

Savage is selling like a million bucks for Norton at least.

Randy Savage pins Scott Norton in 5:39. The Dungeon of Doom hit the ring, and Norton and The Shark bump heads and Shark falls on Norton’s legs. This let’s Savage drop the big elbow for the win. Pretty weird finish. Dungeon of Doom attack Savage as a precursor to War Games. Weird to build up Norton to have him lose right away though.

WCW World Championship: Hulk Hogan© vs. Lex Luger

Hogan does put Luger over like a million bucks here. Well, right until he survives the Torture Rack.

We get the Hulk Up as well. Crowd kinda died during it.

Hulk Hogan wins by DQ in 5:28. Dungeon of Doom ruins this one too. Hogan of course legdropped Luger…so much for putting him over.

Sting and Savage run in, but the DOD don’t attack Luger! Now Hogan doesn’t trust him. This would set up the untruthworthy Luger deal. Sting defends him. How didn’t this lead to the Megapowers vs. Sting and Luger?

Luger will be Vader’s replacement this Sunday! Well, at least that’s what Sting wants. Savage is against him. Hogan, the deciding vote, says yes. Savage is brilliant here.

A solid outing for Nitro again, but I thought some things missed this time around. I liked Sabu vs. Wright…but the reverse decision blows. I don’t think anyone thought Wallstreet was beating Sting…and the announcers decided to use that time to talk about the WWF anyway. Flair’s interview was there. Scott Norton was put over in losing, but he wasn’t really the right guy to draw anyway. Hogan vs. Luger…booked as a dream match and all, went a mere 5 minutes. I feel like they could have cut Sting vs. Wallstreet here. It may have been the best quality match involving a big name, but also the least important.

That being said…we still got a show full of nonstop action, and Hogan put on his working boots for Luger for 4 minutes and 45 seconds. Savage did too. It’s also a good sign that the Nitro rating barely moved…even though it was up against RAW this week.

For the record I am all for Bischoff giving away the RAW results.

TV Rating: 2.4 (-0.1)
Grade: B+

Posted Image

RAW: 9/11/95
Canton, Ohio

Now that Vince saw what the competition was offering it was time to outshine them and own Monday Nights.

Oh wait…the show is taped.

Yes, taped back in August. Next week’s show is as well. Fun fact that Lex Luger was in a the dark match for this show.

The WWF is coming off a pretty awful Summerslam (a one match care if there ever was one, although The Kid vs. Hakushi was fine too). Now they’ve lost one of their main players, how will Vince respond? Despite a pretty good talent roster, somehow this meant more pushing for Mabel. No idea why.

The main event here is a match that was originally scheduled for Summerslam: HBK vs. Sid for the IC Title. Watching Nitro first though…Bischoff told us how that would turn out.

We have The Bulldog vs. Razor too. Two pretty big matches!

No idea why the WWF went to this terrible intro in 1995…especially when the classic RAW theme outright owned.

Razor Ramon vs. The British Bulldog

The Bulldog just turned heel on Diesel. Ramon just lost the IC title Ladder Match…and also had problems with Dean Douglas.

The Bulldog cutting his hair short was a great look for him.

This has been a solid back and forth contest so far. Good heat for Davey Boy.

Accidental ref bump…leads to Douglas attacking Ramon after Ramon had hit the Razor’s Edge.

Kid makes the save…and takes an awesome bump off the apron!

British Bulldog wins by DQ in 7:10. Kid comes off the top, but misses the Bulldog and hits Razor. Shouldn’t Razor win by DQ? Anyway, pretty good opening segment.

Vince interviews Kid and Razor, and it turns into an argument with Kid and Ramon when Vince says Kid cost Razor the match. Kid says last week (during tennis?) Razor cost him the match. He challenges Razor to a match for next week! He makes sure to point out he beat Razor the first time. Ramon accepts.

Weird poem from Todd Pettengill. Anyway, Yokozuna and Owen vs. Mabel and Mo next week I guess?

The Smokin’ Gunns vs. Rad Radford and The Brooklyn Brawler

No idea who’s winning this one.

Smokin’ Gunns win when Bart Gunn pins The Brawler in 2:46. It was an action packed 3 minutes at least. Did the Gunns ever name that sidewalk slam flying legdrop combo?

Goldust promo. No idea what he’s talking about…but who cares. It owns. References The Undertaker here, interestingly enough. The Goldust character is brilliant.

I like that they use the helicopter stock footage that would appear in The Rock’s 2003 heel titantron.

D.D.S. Isaac Yank’em vs. Scott Taylor

Two Attitude wrestlers here!

Awful chokeslam there. Funny what a long way that move has come for the future Kane.

Yank’em pins Taylor in 2:14. He wins with the DDS…which yes…is a DDT. How many people switched to Savage vs. Norton here?

In Your House hype. All the matches set already it looks like. It doesn’t look too bad!

WWF Intercontinental Championship
Shawn Michaels© vs. Sycho Sid

No one knows how to get a solid match out of Sid like Shawn does.

Shawn makes Sid look amazing here.

Awesome nip up from Sid, which led to a chokeslam.

Shawn Michaels pins Sid in 7:21. Three superkicks…one of them a real superkick, gets Shawn the win. Shawn bumps everywhere for Sid, and it leads to a very good match…even if it’s a bit short.

In retrospect, it’s odd that Vince allowed Shawn to do a striptease in the middle of the ring.

One last backstage interview with Diesel and HBK before we call it a night.

The show had a very good beginning and end, but it’s hard to care about any of that stuff in the middle. Thanks to Nitro, RAW squash matches would begin to be phased out. Unless you thought people were sticking around for The Brooklyn Brawler and Scott Taylor.

That along hurts the show enough. The 5 minute In Your House commercial is bothersome too. Nothing is built up (on RAW at least) yet a whole card is set already? Should I be watching Superstars instead?

Again…the opener and main were good.

TV Rating: 2.5
Grade: B

Weekly Review

Watching Nitro made me feel like WCW had so much talent they had to get in on the show. Watching RAW made me wonder why the WWF didn’t use all their top guys. Now that Nitro set that standard, RAW would have to catch up.

Even though Shawn vs. Sid was the better match in terms quality, Hogan vs. Luger was a huge deal with the WCW World Title on the line and everything. Nitro had an action packed show from top to bottom. RAW had a good start and good ending with stuff no one cared about in the middle.

Plus, Bischoff told you what would happen anyway…

Great start for Nitro ratings wise. First week of competition and they lose by merely 0.1. Not bad at all.

TV Ratings Score: 1-0 RAW

Grade Score: 1-0 Nitro

Pro Wrestling

RAW vs. NITRO Week 1 (9/4/95)

Reviewed 9/3/14

September 1995 Background

The latest…and biggest shot has been fired.

The WWF had been the major player in wrestling for a solid decade at this point. The NWA and WCW were always a distant second place until about 1994. Before then it was the WWF’s big gimmicky promotions against the top tier wrestling of WCW (note, each would have a little of the opposite in them). In 1994 though the tides had changed in a big way. The WWF had moved to becoming a more athletic wrestling show led by Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. WCW signed Hulk Hogan to an insane deal and suddenly looked gimmicky all around (and a lot like the old WWF). WCW would continue to sign away big talent from the WWF through 1994 and 1995, with men such as Hogan, Randy Savage and others all jumping ship.

And for some reason, Vince gave up on the athletic type and went back to the superman big man. 1995 this didn’t work. ”Big Daddy Cool” Diesel turned out to be the worst drawing WWF Champion of all time (not all his fault to be fair). WCW also kept the pressure on, running 10 PPV events in 1995 and forcing Vince to run an “In Your House” event each month. Reviews on the IYH events ranged from mixed to poor. 1995 was just a bad year for the WWF. Bad booking, competition on the way, and stars leaving to WCW.

WCW meanwhile hit some big peaks in 1994 when Hogan showed up. Hogan’s popularity did plateau rather quickly though. But with bigger star power overall (Flair, Sting, Savage, Hogan vs. Michaels, Bret, Diesel) Ted Turner famously asked Eric Bischoff “Hey Eric, what would it take to compete with WWF?” Bischoff joking said Monday Night primetime. And Turner gave it to him. The Monday Night War had begun.

For September, we would see that WCW smartly began on a date that the WWF would be pre-empted. WCW would hit upon some big moments right away and immediately change how each show would be booked.

Note, the show that has the best review the week prior will go first in the post, as insignificant as that actually is.

Week 1

Posted Image

Nitro: 9/4/95
Minneapolis, MN

It should be pointed out that Nitro debuted at a time where RAW was pre-empted for two weeks. Pretty smart right off the bat.

Nitro intro video is pretty cool even today. Theme is great too.

Very odd that Nitro is coming live from the Mall of America.

Nitro already puts something on that was pretty unique and cool, which is the opening match.

Steve McMichael calls Bobby Heenan “Bobby the Stain” for the whole show. Ugh.

Jushin “Thunder” Liger vs. Flyin’ Brian

Cool cartwheel kick to start. Bischoff on commentary is really pumping Nitro up as something never seen before in big league wrestling.

Pretty bad timing as Jushin Liger climbs up to the top rope and Pillman just stands there and takes the moonsault.

Wooo, surfboard!

Decent high flying stuff from Liger, including a somersault off the apron. Maybe it hasn’t aged great, but it was pretty cool stuff for its time, even if the 1-2-3 Kid was doing just as good stuff.

Pillman gets a perfect dropkick on Liger coming from the top.

Top rope hurricanrana from Liger!

Tornado DDT from Pillman! Maybe it’s just a bunch of spots, but it’s a fun match.

Brian Pillman pins Jushin Liger. Pillman gets a victory roll from the win. A fun little 6 minute match that wouldn’t be great if it was on PPV, but just fine for a TV show. Bischoff went right ahead in trying to get a good start for Nitro with something unique and he succeeded.

Sting promo. He’s gonna lock Flair in the Scorpion!

Hulk Hogan is promoting PASTAMANIA in the Mall of America! He hypes up the WCW Title match later in the show. PASTAMANIA is gonna run wild on Big Bubba brother!

WCW United States Championship
Sting© vs. Ric Flair

I’d almost be upset this wasn’t main eventing, but it makes sense as Hogan is Hogan.

One of the most historic moments in the entire war happens in the first show as Lex Luger walks down the aisle. Luger had just appeared at WWF Summerslam eight nights prior. No one in the WWF locker room knew it was happening. Want to complain about WWF no-competes these days, it was moments like this that caused them. This was absolutely brilliant from Bischoff.

Of course, Sting and Flair give him a look, since that’s who had history with Luger when he left in 1992. Another great thing about this moment is the less is more approach. All Luger did was just walk down the aisle. That was it. Big Luger chants too.

We get some typical Sting-Flair stuff, which is always great. Of course, it’s the shortened version, but that’s okay.

WCW’s star power was pretty much on display here. While the WWF did have big matches on RAW before this, you never really saw two top guys go at it (say, Bret vs. Shawn on RAW). Here, WCW could afford to do Sting vs. Flair since the roster was deep.

Arn Anderson is down here. This was a time that Anderson and Flair were not getting along.

I like how a great wrestler like Ric Flair had a finish that always seemed to get broken.

Sting retains by DQ. Arn Anderson just walks into the ring and breaks up the Figure Four. He proceeds to beat the crap out of Ric Flair. Good match, and it furthered the story for Anderson and Flair. Anderson got a huge reaction.

Scott “Flash” Norton confronts Bischoff, but is cut off by Randy Savage. Fans pop huge for this, I didn’t even remember this Norton moment to be fair. Savage wants to go right now, but it doesn’t happen. Still, really cool and another moment that showed anything could happen.

We get a Sabu hype video! Interesting Sabu didn’t get over in WCW. Probably cause he bought Mr. JL and Alex Wright every week. Still cool though.

We get some WCW Saturday Night hype. Then some Fall Brawl hype!

Michael Wallstreet debut promo. “I’m sure the IRS is going to be watching me real close.” Brilliant!

WCW World Championship
Hulk Hogan© vs. Big Bubba Rogers

Hogan vs. Bossman in 1995! It works though.

Hogan had actually been champion for some 13 months at this point.

We do get the announcement of Savage vs. Norton next week on Nitro! I’m actually excited for that one even though Norton would become a midcard guy.

Hogan looks better here than he did in WWF 1993, if that matters.

Oddly Hogan and the ref exchange words after Hogan gets his hair pulled by the ref. Interesting.

I always wondered how Hogan got away with heel moves like the double elbow foot eye rake deal.

The crowd is actually pretty dead for the Hulk Up.

Hulk Hogan retains by pin. But the pop huge for the pin. By the numbers Hogan match, but the Bossman sold for Hogan like a million bucks. Good main event considering who’s involved.
The Dungeon of Doom run in and attack Hogan…and Lex Luger runs in to fight them off! Hogan and Luger come back to back and nearly come to blows.

Luger challenges Hogan for a WCW World Title match, deriding the WWF in the process. He says some questionably true statements (“I’VE BEATEN WHO YOU’VE BEATEN”) and Hogan gives him credit…then offers him the title shot for next week’s Nitro! Sure, some words went wrong there (“I’ll shake your stinky palm” from Hogan and “you don’t have to wait till next week”, also from Hogan), but the whole segment was really effective.

This show was very good, and EXACTLY what WCW needed to kick off the Monday Night War. Vince probably watched this show and shit his pants, especially when Luger showed up. Now Vince had to go up against Hogan vs. Luger for the WCW Title next week. Serves Vince right for wasting Luger after he didn’t get over as the top guy in 93-94.

Not the best show, but a very good one that showcased a lot of great stuff for WCW. Historically, it’s one of the most important dates in pro wrestling history, and it laid the groundwork for RAWs you even see today, as this would be the end of squash matches against nobodies on Monday Night. Of course…that matters.

TV Rating: 2.5
Grade: A+

Weekly Review

RAW was pre-empted by the US Open and in fact had already taped all of their shows for the next two weeks. Nitro being live each week would put some serious pressure on the WWF to step up their game. The last RAW on August 21st, 1995 had MOM vs. two jobbers, the 1-2-3 Kid vs. The Brooklyn Brawler, The Undertaker vs. Tatanka, Jean-Pierre LaFitte vs. Scott Taylor (a nobody at this point) and Diesel and the British Bulldog vs. MOM. This show had Sting vs. Flair, Pillman vs. Liger and Hogan vs. the former Big Bossman. I mean…which show is the minor leagues again?

Nitro’s rating was also quite impressive. RAW had done (I am missing a source though) mid 2s to low 3s, so for Nitro to put up a rating in that range right off the bat was impressive.

The score remains tied at 0-0 here as there was no heads up battle…but next week will be a bigger story.

TV Ratings Score: 0-0

Grade Score: 0-0

Uncategorized

RDT Reviews Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

Big spoilers here…are you even reading this if you haven’t seen the film. Also, all Star Wars films have to invite comparison to the prequels…because inevitably any discussion of the Star Wars films invites such comparisons.

For years I thought this might have been the weakest Star Wars film of them all. Watching it again though, Return of the Jedi finally gives us the hero we’ve been waiting for in regards to Luke Skywalker and the result is a satisfying conclusion to the original Star Wars trilogy.

We start off right where we left off in Empire Strikes Back, with Luke, Leia, Chewy, Lando, R2 and 3PO heading to Tatooine to save Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt. Return of the Jedi is practically a two part act, with this being the first act. It’s quite an effective act as it establishes that this is now the established, prepared and most importantly confident Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker (despite what Yoda says later) who is ready to take down the Empire. Luke makes pretty quick work of the Hutts (random awesome point, it was cool to see Leia find an opening and take down Jabba herself instead of being rescued). It’s exciting to see Luke as the confident hero as in the previous two installments I wasn’t completely buying it (similar to the popular opinion about Anakin Skywalker becoming Vader in the prequels actually). Here, I buy it. There’s no whining or anything. It is as if the battle and loss to Vader hardened him. I don’t completely buy the path of how he got to this point, but now that he’s here it’s great to see. We tie another loose end as Luke visits Yoda, and Yoda confirms what Vader told Luke about being his father. Overall this is a brilliant first act that I just completely overlooked years ago watching this film.

I do think the film goes slightly downhill the rest of the way. The story is that the Emperor has coming to oversee the creation of the 2nd Death Star. He tells Vader, who unfortunately has been neutered as an amazing bad ass villain here that only together can they convert Luke to the dark side. The Rebels meanwhile have received information about the Death Star that gives them one last shot to destroy the Empire once and for all. Little do they know the Emperor is setting a trap to end the Rebellion once and for all. The second half here breaks up into two parts: Luke’s confrontation with the Emperor and Vader, and the battle on Endor. Before this we get the revelation that Luke and Leia are brother and sister, one of the weakest plot points in the entire saga and something that takes away from Luke a bit. In fact, pretty much everything that happens on Endor is weak and underwhelming (other than “god” C3PO. That was hilarious). The Ewoks taking out the Empire’s best troops takes a huge suspension of disbelief to get behind and I can’t do it, even if the Ewoks are supposed to be warriors. Just compare this conclusion to A New Hope’s and you’ll realize the seriousness is just gone.

But Vader and Luke’s confrontation? It’s great. While yes it is disappointing that Vader isn’t the monster he was in Empire, it is at least understandable here. He’s about to do a face turn (turning into a good guy) and the focus of evil needs to be on the Emperor. Since the Emperor is awesome himself, this is still perfectly fine. We finally get that emotion from Luke Skywalker I’ve waiting three films for when Vader threatens to convert his sister to the Dark Side. While I never once believed that Luke was going to turn, the entire sequence is well done.

There’s a lot of good in Return of the Jedi. It was a lot better than I remembered and tied up a lot of the loose ends from the first two films.

Pros:

+Luke Skywalker finally comes into his own and becomes the hero this franchise was sorely missing.

+A fitting conclusion to the saga. The story tied up quite nicely.

+The Emperor is awesome.

+”God” C3PO is awesome.

Cons:

-While the Emperor is awesome, it was disappointing to see Vader as basically a sidekick.

-95% of what happens on Endor is disappointing and underwhelming.

-Ewoks are terrible.

-The Luke-Leia brother-sister relationship was forced and put a value on the love for one another. I’d be more interested in Vader threatening to turn Luke’s friends to the Darkside as opposed to forcing a sibling narrative.

Overall, very good.

Grade: B+

 

Other (DC, Marvel, Disney etc.)

Remembering Wes Craven

If you are looking for a face that isn’t burned or a hockey mask that represents an icon of the 80s slasher genre, look no further than the great Wes Craven. There were three slasher-style horror franchises thoughout the 1980s, but A Nightmare on Elm Street stood out. While Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers hacked and killed anyone in their path, there was more to Freddy Krueger. Wes Craven created a character that killed you in your dreams. It’s a genius concept that helped Nightmare differentiate itself from Halloween and Friday the 13th. It’s one thing to look around the corner and find yourself at the mercy of a psychotic mad man…but it’s another to have no control of your dreams and subsequently be killed in them. Craven’s original Nightmare on Elm Street left many awake at night, and with good reason.

You could stop there and there would still be loyal Wes Craven fans who would praise Nightmare at every moment. But Craven wasn’t done. After Nightmare and Freddy were turned into what seemed to be pure comedy (Nightmare VI: Freddy’s Dead is a tough one to watch) Craven came back with what could be considered the true sequel to the original film: New Nightmare. When Craven turned Freddy to what seemed to be a real person (Freddy’s credited as himself in the credits), he arguably made Freddy the greatest horror icon of all time, surpassing Jason or Myers. Craven still wasn’t done, as the idea of bringing Freddy into “the real world” serves as a prelude to the Scream franchise. Of course, Craven was the director of Scream and saved the dying slasher genre.

It was a sad day on Elm Street for sure when Craven passed a few days ago. We’ll love Craven not for the memories or for the great horror icons he created…but for the fact that he kept everyone awake at night while we hoped that Freddy wasn’t coming for us. RIP Wes Craven.

Pro Wrestling

Brock Lesnar vs. The Undertaker: Five Reasons Why Each Should Win

Despite the fact that their Wrestlemania XXX match did not live up to the hype (well, the match itself didn’t, but the finish absolutely did), tonight’s Brock Lesnar vs. The Undertaker match at Summerslam has given the event a supercard feel. With Jon Stewart hosting (sure beats The Miz from a couple years ago), Stephen Amell in a match and our big name main event, Summerslam feels closer to Wrestlemania than it does to the rest of the WWE Network Special Schedule. Unlike Wrestlemania XXX, were it seemed to be a foregone conclusion that Undertaker was beating Brock (which of course led to the shock value of the finish), this year’s encounter can go either way. Here now are five reasons on why each competitor  should win tonight.

Five Reasons Brock Lesnar Should Win at Summerslam

  1. Brock Lesnar as a main attraction requires him to be an invincible monster.

Interestingly, by the time Taker and Lesnar locked up at Mania XXX, Brock Lesnar has lost most of his appeal as a major attraction. He will still very over, but it wasn’t the same as two years prior when he first showed up and confronted John Cena. He had suffered a couple of losses (to Cena and Triple H) and no one gave him a chance against the legendary Streak. When Lesnar ended the streak…a brilliant booking decision…it put him back in that special attraction slot. WWE smartly booked him to be an unstoppable monster from that point forward. He destroyed Cena. Cena seemingly almost got him back, but Lesnar still left with the title. He beat both Cena and Seth Rollins. He looked like a monster even as Roman Reigns fought him to a draw, and lost his title without being pinned. He destroyed Champ Rollins before Taker returned. All of this gets added to the numerous segments where Lesnar wrecked everyone and everything (like the RAW after Mania). Losing to the Undertaker undoes most of this, and there is still a lot of money left in the Brock Lesnar is a monster story.

  1. Brock Lesnar needs the win more than Undertaker.

With Wrestlemania XXXII on the horizon and WWE looking to break all kinds of attendance records, Brock Lesnar needs to be at the peak of his drawing power. There’s no Streak to conquer in the future to re-establish Lesnar as a special attraction. We can’t be wasting losses on the Undertaker.

  1. A loss means Lesnar vs. Undertaker III.

A route that WWE should not take is Lesnar-Taker III at Wrestlemania XXXII. But if Lesnar loses here, we probably need a rubber match between the two, and to be honest that’s not the best match possible for Mania. Really, the only Taker match out there that needs to happen is against Sting. Let Lesnar move on. It might be time to throw all the money in the world at The Rock for Lesnar vs. Rock…unless Vince thinks he is getting Stone Cold or HBK.

  1. Brock Lesnar just signed a new WWE contract.

As a result, there is no reason for WWE to not get the maximum out of Lesnar’s drawing power. If WWE resigned Lesnar just to lose to Undertaker and whomever, it’ll be a colossal waste. Someone beating Brock Lesnar will give a huge rub (one that almost went to Roman Reigns). WWE would be smart to maximize that.

  1. It’s not believable that Brock Lesnar would lose to Undertaker.

It would be one thing if this was in his prime Undertaker, but this is old man Undertaker and UFC ass kicker Brock Lesnar. After what happened at Wrestlemania XXX, would anyone buy the Undertaker still pulling the John Wayne and taking down the big bad guy at this point?

Five Reasons The Undertaker Should Win at Summerslam

  1. Undertaker needs momentum for his retirement match at Wrestlemania XXXII.

Like Lesnar, we don’t want to lose the specialness of Undertaker’s draw and character. A lot of that was taken away at Wrestlemania XXX when he lost the Streak. A lot of people didn’t care about Taker beating Bray Wyatt. If he loses again, will anyone really care about him come Wrestlemania XXXII?

  1. Undertaker has never beaten Brock Lesnar in a 1 vs. 1 PPV Match.

Undertaker currently sports a 0-3-1 record against Lesnar in PPV Matches (losses at No Mercy ’02, No Mercy ’03 and Mania XXX. The lone draw was at Unforgiven ’02). To complete his legacy, a win over Lesnar may be necessary.

  1. Undertaker’s Last Non-Wrestlemania PPV win was five and a half years ago.

The last time Undertaker won a PPV match that wasn’t a Wrestlemania? Royal Rumble 2010 against Rey Mysterio. How crazy is that? It’s also been nearly five years since he’s even wrestled on a non-Mania PPV. Wouldn’t it be disappointing for him to lose in his first Summerslam match since 2008?

  1. Undertaker needs to avenge his Wrestlemania XXX loss.

We all remember the aftermath of Taker vs. Lesnar at Mania XXX. Shocked fans. A concussed Undertaker slowly walking to the back. Like Cena when he came back on RAW after Lesnar destroyed him at Summerslam last year (and some kids felt that their hero was still alive), Undertaker’s fans need to see that the Deadman isn’t done. The fans need that closure.

  1. The Undertaker might not be as done as we think.

Raise your hand if you had the Undertaker wrestling at Summerslam this year. Who’s to say we aren’t getting a Survivor Series or Royal Rumble match this year leading up to the retirement match at Wrestlemania XXXII? Hell, who says he’s retiring at Wrestlemania XXXII? He’s “only” 50. Everyone saw how badly he was beat up at Wrestlemania XXX and assumed he was done. Well, when you get concussed, that’s how things go. He looked better at Wrestlemania XXXI against Wyatt. How do we know he doesn’t have five years left of this?

In the end, as much as I love the Undertaker…the smart business decision is to let Brock go over. He’s the big draw. People are going to watch Taker vs. Sting at Wrestlemania XXXII (or Cena, I guess) no matter what happens at Summerslam. Don’t screw up Lesnar again WWE.

Basketball

Top 100 Basketball Players Ever: #70-#61

#70: Adrian Dantley

top100dantley

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NBA Rookie of the Year: (’77)

All-NBA 2nd Team: 2x (’81, ‘84)

All-NBA Rookie 1st Team: (’77)

NBA All-Star: 6x (’80, ’81, ’82, ’84, ’85, ‘86)

NBA Leader Points: 2x (’81, ’84)

NBA Leader PER: 1x (’84)

NBA Win Shares Leader: 1x (’84)

NBA WS/48 Leader: 1x (’84)

NBA Offensive Rating Leader: 2x (’78, ’84)

NBA Offensive Win Shares Leader: 4x (’81, ’82, ’84, ’86)

NBA Top 10 Points: 5x (’80, ’81, ’82, ’84, ’86)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 6x (’78, ’80, ’81, ’82, ’84, ’86)

Career NBA Points: 27th

Career NBA Offensive Rating: 119.8 (8th)

Career NBA Win Shares: 134.2 (30th)

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 66th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 83rd

It’s easy to look at Dantley’s Advanced Metrics and conclude he’s one of the most underrated players in the history of the game. His Advanced States, especially compared to the player one spot higher than him on this list (and on Slam and Simmons lists as well). Dantley was a great offensive player in an era where offense was rampant. His style wouldn’t translate to today’s game as he was primarily a post-up player at 6’3”. You know how some like to dismiss the 1980s because “everyone was skinny and small”. Well, Dantley would actually be negatively affected by that difference because of the way he played the game.

There’s a second part about Dantley that hurts his ranking considerably. From all accounts he sounds like a bad teammate and someone that coaches and other players just didn’t want on their team. He was traded some five times in his prime (are great players traded that often?) often on 50 cents for the dollar. The Lakers pre-Magic dumped Dantley to Utah for a washed up Spencer Haywood. He’d average more points (28) than Utah had wins that season (24) while the Lakers won the title. Utah would follow with 28 wins the next season and 25 after that. Interestingly in 1983 they would go up to 30 wins…and Dantley only played 22 games that season. It look Dantley’s excellent 1984 season to get Utah to the playoffs finally. Three straight playoff seasons in the 40-45 win range seemed to help Dantley…except Utah sent him away for Kelly Tripucka (a scoring no defense forward) and continued on their 40+ win playoff streak (and better as the Malone-Stockton era began). Dantley got to play for a contender with the Pistons…and then he was traded for Mark Aguirre as he clashed with Isiah. Unsurprisingly, Detroit would win two straight titles. There’s too many negatives here to rank Dantley any higher, but he needs to be given credit for his great offensive numbers.

#69: Alex English

top100english

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All-NBA 2nd Team: 3x (’82, ’83, ‘86)

NBA All-Star: 8x (’82, ’83, ’84, ’85, ’86, ’87, ’88, ‘89)

NBA Leader Points: 2x (’83, ‘86)

NBA Top 10 PER: 3x (’83, ’84, ‘86)

NBA Win Shares Leader: 1x (’84)

NBA Top 10 Offensive Win Shares: 4x (’82, ’83, ’84, ‘86)

Career NBA Points: 17th

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 65th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 82nd

English was a lot more consistent than Dantley and his teams did better as well. Sure, it’s luck that English had less talent around him, but a big part of that is their attitude and being able to co-exist with their teammates and coaches. English was often part of one of the more potent offensive teams in the league: the 80s Nuggets.

English had a lot more success than Dantley as well, leading the Nuggets to the Western Conference Championship against the Lakers in ’85. In terms of pure statistics, English would be Carmelo Anthony’s end of career projection…although English has done better in the playoffs than Anthony.

#68: Bob Mcadoo

top100mcadoo

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NBA MVP: 1x (’75)

NBA Rookie of the Year: (’73)

All-NBA 1st Team: 1x (’75)

All-NBA 2nd Team: 1x (‘74)

All-NBA Rookie 1st Team: (’73)

NBA All-Star: 5x (’74, ’75, ’76, ’77, ‘78)

NBA Leader Points: 3x (’74, ’75, ‘76)

NBA Rebounds Leader: 1x (’75)

NBA Win Shares Leader: 1x (’75)

NBA WS/48 Leader: 1x (’75)

NBA Offensive Win Shares Leader: 2x (’74, ‘75)

NBA Top 10 Points: 5x (’74, ’75, ’76, ’77, ‘78)

NBA Top 10 Rebounds: (’74, ’75, ’76, ’77, ‘78)

NBA Top 10 Blocks: (’74, ’75, ’76)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 4x (’74, ’75, ’76, ‘78)

Role Player for two NBA Champions: (’82 Lakers, ’85 Lakers)

Role Player for one Runner-Up: (’84 Lakers)

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 61st

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 46th

For a three year stretch, Bob McAdoo was the 2nd best player in the league behind Kareem. Interestingly his play fell off after injuries and he was never the same after 1978. McAdoo gets a bit of a bonus over other offense only players for two reasons: his MVP Award and his success as a role player on the Lakers in the 1980s.

McAdoo was simply unlucky. If he was able to play at full strength in the early 1980s he probably would have been a force.

#67: Tom Heinsohn

top100heihnson

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NBA Rookie of the Year: (’57)

All-NBA 2nd Team: 4x (’61, ’62, ’63, ’64)

NBA All-Star: 6x (’57, ’61, ’62, ’63, ’64, ‘65)

NBA Top 10 Points: 1x (’60)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 1x (’62)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: 1x (’62)

NBA Top 10 Defensive Win Shares: 9x (’57, ’58, ’59, ’60, ’61, ’62, ’63, ’64, ‘65)

Either the 3rd or 4th Best Player on Eight Championship Teams: (’57 Celtics, ’59 Celtics, ’60 Celtics, ’61 Celtics, ’62 Celtics, ’63 Celtics, ’64 Celtics, ’65 Celtics)

Either the 3rd or 4th Best Player on one Runner Up: (’58 Celtics)

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 57th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 68th

One of the primary exhibits in the “Russell played with a billion Hall of Famers” argument. In terms of what Simmons wrote about him, he sounds like this generations Manu Ginobili in regards to being someone who seems to be a great chemistry guy…but once in a while goes against the grain (which is why Pop gets on Manu…and apparently Auerbach got on Heinshon).

I don’t see how I can put him any higher. He was a big part of the Celtics dynasty with a bunch of all NBA 2nd Teams during the reign. Tough call. Russell thinks that he would be better than Bob Pettit if he had his head always in the game (we haven’t reached Pettit on this list yet). That’s pretty high praise, although it’s coming from a teammate. I’ll just go with a very good player that added to a great team and won a lot of titles.

#66: Tiny Archibald

top100archibald

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All-NBA 1st Team: 3x (’73, ’75, ’76)

All-NBA 2nd Team: 2x (’72, ‘81)

NBA All-Star Game MVP: 1x (’81)

NBA All-Star: 6x (’73, ’75, ’76, ’80, ’81, ‘82)

NBA Points Leader: 1x (’73)

NBA Assists Leader: 1x (’73)

Only player to lead NBA in Points and Assists in same season.

NBA Top 3 Points: 4x (’72, ’73 ’75, ’76)

NBA Top 10 Assists: 7x (’71, ’72, ’73, ’75, ’76, ’80, ’81)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 3x (’72, ’73, ’75)

NBA Top 2 Offensive Win Shares: 3x (’72, ’73, ’75)

NBA Top 10 PER: 4x (’72, ’73, ’75, ’76)

NBA Career Assists: 21st

Starter for one Champion: 1981 Celtics

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 60th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 52nd

Famously known for his 1973 season, where he lead the league in points and assists (and didn’t win MVP). While it’s an amazing feat and definitely notable, Tiny’s Kings were only 36-46 that year. Tiny gets a bonus because, like McAdoo, he was an excellent top player (the prototype for 2008 Chris Paul) early on and then his career went downhill. Only Tiny was still a very good player on his late Celtic years and even snagged an All-Star Game MVP.

His presence mattered a lot for those early 80s Celtic teams. The Celtics in 1982 had an 18 game winning streak that season and looked posed to at least make the Finals for the 2nd straight year. Tiny went down, and so did the Celtics.

#65: Pau Gasol

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Resume

NBA Rookie of the Year: (’02)

All-NBA 2nd Team: 2x (’11, ‘15)

All-NBA 3rd Team: 2x (’09, ’10)

All-NBA Rookie 1st Team: (’02)

NBA All-Star Game MVP: 1x (’81)

NBA All-Star: 5x (’06, ’09, ’10, ’11, ‘15)

NBA Top 10 Rebounds: 4x (’09, ’10, ’11, ‘15)

NBA Top 10 Blocks: 3x (’02, ’06, ’15)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 5x (’09, ’10, ’11, ’12, ‘15)

NBA Top 5 WS/48: 3x (’09, ’10, ’11)

NBA Top 10 Offensive Win Shares: 2x (’09, ‘11)

NBA Top 10 Defensive Win Shares: 3x (’06, ’11, ’15)

NBA Top 10 PER: 2x (’07, ‘10)

NBA Career Blocks: 28th

2nd Best Player on Two Champions: 2009 Lakers, 2010 Lakers

2nd Best Player on One Runner Up: 2008 Lakers

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): Not Ranked

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 96th

It’s easy to look at Gasol’s All-NBA Teams and not be impressed. It’s just as easy to forget that he played his entire career in the same league with Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett and Dirk Nowitzki. He was THE reason that the Memphis Grizzlies gained any relevance whatsoever, and was quite unlucky early on in his career as the Grizzlies had a 50-50 shot at the #1 pick in the 2003 draft (LeBron). Gasol and LeBron playing with one another in their early years would have been absolutely ridiculous and is one of the great What-Ifs of all time.

Why is Gasol this high? For one he’s one of the few players who could happily co-exist as Kobe Bryant’s 2nd banana. Gasol thrived in the role and arguably became the top big man in the league from 2009 through 2011 (it’s forgotten now, but Kobe had a slow start in 2010 and everyone stated that Gasol was the best player on the team at that point, as well as a top 5 guy). It should be noted that post-Shaq Kobe never won a playoff series without Gasol. That’s shows Gasol’s importance. And then there is this. When the Lakers got Gasol for “nothing” (Marc Gasol turned out to be pretty good) the entire league, especially Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich started a shitstorm over it. Great coaches like Pop don’t complain unless the player involved is great. And even at that point, he knew Pau Gasol was great.

His 2015 resurgence in Chicago only helped his case. Also helping Gasol is obviously his ridiculous Advanced Metrics during the Laker title runs, as well as the fact that he was a better defensive player than anyone gave him credit for.

#64: Reggie Miller

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Resume

All-NBA 3rd Team: 3x (’95, ’96, ‘98)

NBA All-Star: 5x (’90, ’95, ’96, ’98, ‘00)

NBA Top 10 Points: 3x (’90, ’91, ’97)

NBA 3PTFG Leader: 2x (’93, ’97)

NBA Offensive Rating Leader: 3x (’91, ’93, ’94)

NBA Top 10 Offensive Rating: 14x (’90, ’91, ’92, ’93, ’94, ’95, ’97, ’98, ’99, ’00, ’01, ’02, ’03, ’04)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 7x (’90, ’91, ’93, ’94, ’95, ’97, ‘98)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: 5x (’91, ’94, ’95, ’97, ‘98)

NBA Top 10 Offensive Win Shares: 11x (’90, ’91, ’92, ’93, ’94, ’95, ’96, ’97, ’98, ’99, ‘00)

NBA Career Points: 18th

NBA Career 3PFG: 2nd

NBA Career Win Shares: 14th

NBA Career WS/48: 45th

NBA Career Offensive Win Shares: 7th

NBA Career Offensive Rating: 2nd

Best Player on One Runner Up: 2000 Pacers

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 63rd

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 54th

Reggie Miller is the perfect example of two things. Number one, he did one thing great (outside shooting that complimented his overall offense) and didn’t try to so anything he couldn’t. That thing was so transcendent that it offset the fact he wasn’t a good defensive player, wasn’t a good passer, or really wasn’t a good much of anything. Since Miller’s three pointer and outside shooting was so great though, he ended up being perhaps the most efficient offensive player in NBA History. This ties into #2. In the 90s, no one was talking about advanced metrics or efficiency. Other than his three point shooting, all of his stats appeared rather pedestrian. His peak year he put up a 24-4-4. For the most part he was a 20-3-3 guy. There’s no surprise that he only made a few all-3rd NBA teams when the league was weaker and only made sporadic All-Star game appearances. If he played today, we’d all be raving about how he might be the one of, if not the best offensive player in the game.

His teams did moderately well considering their best players throughout Miller’s first 11 years were Rik Smits (a quality center who didn’t sniff my Top 100), Jalen Rose (never an All-Star), Mark Jackson (a one-time All Star in the late 80s), Dale Davis (one time All-Star), Antonio Davis (a one time All-Star after his time in Indy) and washed up Chris Mullin. His late 90s/2000 teams were well built despite the lack of star power (Rose, Smits, Dale and Antonio Davis, Jackson at least gave tem depth), but it wasn’t exactly a murderers row. It didn’t matter to Miller as he managed to overachieve in the playoffs year in and year out. In 1995 he ripped the Knicks heart out with his famous 8 points in 9 seconds. He would lead the Pacers to a Game 7 loss against the Penny-Shaq Magic (although he didn’t play well in that Game 7). Miller’s Pacers would make the Conference Finals again in 1998 against MJ’s Bulls. This series is the closest Jordan came to losing in any of his six peak years. Miller hit 43% of his three pointers in a tight seven game series (including a winning three in Game 4) as the Pacers just fell short. Miller’s Pacers would make the Conference Finals again in 1999 and reach the NBA Finals in 2000. He almost led the 2002 Pacers to an upset over the 2002 Nets (the eventual Eastern Conference Champions). For someone without the “superstar resume”, Reggie Miller teams seemed to do pretty well. He wasn’t good enough to be the best guy on a title team, but give him on elite guy in his prime and who knows. Just look how close he got in 1998.

#63: Bill Sharman

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Resume

All-NBA 1st Team: 4x (’56, ’57, ’58, ‘59)

All-NBA 2nd Team: 3x (’53, ’55, ‘60)

NBA All-Star: 8x (’53, ’54, ’55, ’56, ’57, ’58, ’59, ‘60)

NBA Top 10 Points: 7x (’53, ’54, ’55, ’56, ’57, ’58, ’59)

NBA Top 10 Assists: 3x (’55, ’56, ‘57)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 4x (’53, ’54, ’56, ‘57)

NBA Top 10 Offensive Win Shares: 5x (’53, ’54, ’55, ’56, ’57)

Career Playoff FT%: 1st

Starter on Four NBA Champions: ’57 Celtics, ’59 Celtics, ’60 Celtics, ’61 Celtics

Starter on One Runner ’58 Celtics

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 53rd

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 70th

One of the tougher calls because his prime was in the 50s and he didn’t start winning until Russell showed up. He’s regarded as the first great shooting guard, and the best in the league until Jerry West showed up.  He was the first guy to really hit above 40% from the field consistently and 90% from the FT line. Being a part of multiple championship teams with his resume and the fact that he was the prototype statistically for shooting guards gets him 63rd. It’s a tough ranking to make, but it has to work for now.

#62: Dave DeBusschere

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Resume

All-NBA 2nd Team: 1x (’69)

NBA All Rookie 1st Team: (’63)

NBA All-Defensive 1st Team: 6x (’69, ’70, ’71, ’72, ’73, ’74)

NBA All-Star: 8x (’66, ’67, ’68, ’70, ’71, ’72, ’73, ’74)

NBA Top 10 Rebounds: 3x (’66, ’67, ’68)

NBA Career Rebounds: 40th

3rd Best Player on Two NBA Champions: ’70 Knicks, ’73 Knicks

3rd Best Player on One Runner ’72 Knicks

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 46th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 76th

In terms of usefulness to a championship team, he’s a superior, tougher 70s version of 2010s Chris Bosh (and enough to get the nod over him despite the 70s thing). Only made six All-Defensive 1st teams because they didn’t start recording them until 1969. Was regarded as perhaps the toughest guy in his era and was a huge reason the Knicks won two championships in the 70s. Was a bit unlucky as well, as DeBusschere regularly took and made shots that would have given him three points ten years later.

#61: Robert Parish

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Resume

All-NBA 2nd Team: 1x (’82)

All-NBA 3rd Team: 1x (’89)

NBA All-Star: 9x (’81, ’82, ’83, ’84, ’85, ’86, ’87, ’90, ’91)

NBA Defensive Rating Leader: 1x (’79)

NBA Top 10 Rebounds: 8x (’79, ’82, ’84, ’86, ’87, ’89, ’90, ’91)

NBA Top 5 Blocks: 3x (’79, ’81, ‘82)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 3x (’81, ’83, ’84)

NBA Top 10 Defensive Rating: 7x (’78, ’79, ’81, ’82, ’83, ’84, ’86)

NBA Career Points: 26th

NBA Career Rebounds: 7th

NBA Career Blocks: 10th

NBA Career Games Played: 1st

Starter on Three NBA Champions: ’81 Celtics, ’84 Celtics, ’86 Celtics

Bench Player on One NBA Champion: ’97 Bulls

Starter on Two Runner-Ups: ’85 Celtics, ’87 Celtics

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 59th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 67th

“Chief” was the reliable, solid big man for the 80s Celtics. Parish’s career is tough to rank as well, considering he was always good to very good but never great. He knew his role for the 80s Celtics team and played accordingly. He shot 54% for every Boston season in the 80s. He provided very good defense year in and year out. He also brought it when it counted, coming up with a 23-19 in Game 7 vs. Milwaukee in 1987, and even put up a throwback performance in Game 5 against Indiana with a 21-8.

His consistency was eerie, putting up a 15-9 twelve times in his career, then getting close to that another three times. You could call him the poor man’s Tim Duncan in that respect.