All posts by rdtworldofsport@gmail.com

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews ECW November to Remember ’98

November to Remember ‘98
November 1, 1998
New Orleans, LA

There’s nothing special about ECW anymore.

I wrote that last time but it’s truer than ever at this point. Unfortunately for ECW, the WWF has mastered the extreme style and ECW just doesn’t have the talent to keep up. ECW did have enough talent to run good shows though, evident by their last PPV Heatwave ’98. It was easily the best PPV in company history. The momentum from the Taz vs. Shane Douglas feud and the budding popularity of Rob Van Dam has kept ECW afloat.

November to Remember is the Wrestlemania of ECW. Can Paul E. deliver a Wrestlemania-type show?

The Card

New Jack beats the crap out of Jack Victory in a parking lot. I never really liked New Jack outside of hid feuds with the Dudleys.

New Jack gets taken away, I guess he won’t be on the show tonight.

Another good venue choice. The Lakefront Arena looks bigger than the standard ECW arena.

Terry Funk shows up with a graduation cap on. A good surprise so far.

Funk for some reason turns heel by running down Paul E. and Tommy Dreamer. What a bad way to start. I mean what the hell?

He’s apparently angry no one invited him to the show. This sucks.

Super Nova and the Blue Meanie vs. Roadkill and Danny Doring

Doring and Roadkill don’t even get an entrance.

Terry Funk wanders back out here and he’s still bitching. Who thought this was a good idea. Honestly?

Nova and Meanie have a move called the “Super Duper Double Looper”. How about that.

For some reason Terry Funk gets on the apron and slaps Meanie, and Meanie lets him have it.

Funk legdrops himself through a table. WHAT IS GOING ON?!

The Blue Meanie and Super Nova win when Meanie pinned Doring in 10:54. Really fun finish where Nova hits a Frog Splash, Meanie hits the Meaniesault, then they hit the Blue Light Special (DDT/Inverted Powerbomb) for the win. Fun little match here that got a bit screwed up from the Funk thing. Speaking of Funk, he’s back and he takes out Meanie and Nova. Just ugh.

Paul E. comes out and gets Terry away from ringside.

Tracy Smothers vs. Tommy Rogers

Chris Chetti is with Rogers and Ulf Hermann is with Smothers. So this will probably be a tag.

Smothers looks really old for some reason.

This didn’t turn into a tag but since Ulf kept getting involved, Chetti fights him on the outside.

There’s a pin where Rogers’ shoulder is CLEARLY off the mat. What the hell is this?

Tommy Rogers pins Tracy Smothers in 7:51. Tamikaze for the win. Joey Styles makes it a point to explain that the move is the most imitated move in professional wrestling, which is a shot at the WWF’s Christian as it is the same as the Unprettier. Anyway, this was boring and really sloppy.

The Full Blooded Italians tease a break-up, but then Tommy Rogers get attacked.

Suddenly Mabel of all people with a FBI shirt comes out. Huh?

Mabel and Hermann beat the crap out of Chetti before Spike Dudley shows up. Dudley takes both out with Acid Drops, and a ref counts the pin. I guess the fans reacted to Spike.

By the way, if this is the Wrestlemania of ECW, the promotion should have just given up at this point.

Lance Storm vs. Jerry Lynn

Mikey Whipwreck and Tammy Lynn Sytch are our referees.

Part of the story here is that Sytch and Storm’s valet Tammy Lynn Bytch hate one another. Bytch is the future Dawn Marie of course.

Great wrestling sequence to start.

Sytch fast counts Storm of course.

We get a really fast paced solid match…until the gimmick gets involved…

So Bytch and Sytch go at it, to which Sytch strips Bytch. Whipwreck tries to get Bytch out and eventually hits her with a Whippersnapper (which she accidentally no sells, ha!). Then Whipwreck Whippersnaps Lynn, but Storm low blows Whipwreck and shoves him out. Sytch then makes the slowest count in the world for Storm so Lynn can kick out. What a way to screw up a good match.

Lance Storm pins Jerry Lynn in 16:48. The overbooking gets worse. Sytch nails Storm with a Whippersnapper. Whipwreck nails Sytch with a botched Whippersnapper (as Styles says it, it’s because he must have thought she low blowed him earlier). Lynn rolls up Storm, but Mikey reverses it and fast counts Lynn out so Storm can win. What a mess. It was good before all of that.

And now more Terry Funk. I love Funk, but he’s been horribly misused here. He says he’s gone forever and he’s sorry for making an ass out of himself.

ECW World Tag Team Championship
The Dudley Boys© vs. Masato Tanaka and Balls Mahoney

Axl Rotten is hurt, which is why we have Tanaka.

Masato Tanaka hits a nice plancha off of Balls’ back.

Balls heads to the top…then botches the spot by falling off. Mahoney needs to stick to just crawling and fighting.

Bubba Ray Dudley is doing planchas now. Cool I guess.

We get a huge chair showdown, to which Mahoney and Tanaka no sell some chair shots. The Dudleys telegraph the reversal as well and take Roaring Elbows into the chairs into their faces (which looks terrible). Referee Jeff Jones though fakes an injury and doesn’t count the Dudleys out. More overbooked garbage.

Tanaka survives 3D. Shame that spot is wasted here.

D-Von actually botches getting a table into the ring as he brings a wire with it. That was hilarious.

Tanaka and Mahoney win the title in 15:01 via double pin.RVD and Sabu come in and drive the Dudleys through a pair of tables. Man these finishes are a mess. Match was drawn out and bad. Another run-in finish. Just not good all around. Masato Tanaka is pretty much wasted here. They would hold the belts for like a week I believe.

For some reason we get the battle of the Triple Threat promo video a little early, as we have one more match before it. To be fair, Six Man Tag or not, the main event does feel like a big deal.

Justin Credible and Jack Victory vs. Tommy Dreamer and a Mystery Partner

And that mystery is Jake Roberts. In 1998. Yikes.

Jake didn’t even try with his attire. He looks like he’s about to go golfing or something.

We get a decent Dreamer vs. Credible match, then for some reason Credible tags in Jason. Jason isn’t a participant in this match.

Rod Price and One Man Gang run-in! What’s a match on this PPV without some kind of bullshit run in now?

Here we go with New Jack…we get John Kronus too. Usually clusterfuck commences.

Kronus hits the 450 Splash…and the ref was about to count Credible out there. The refs don’t even know what’s going on.

I wonder if Jake looked at all this and wondered what the hell happened to his career.

Mr. Wright flips in and botches the landing. Jake takes him out anyway.

Now we have Nicole Bass in there. Jake drops her with a DDT.

Tommy Dreamer and Jake Roberts win when both pin Credible in 12:26. Jake drops Credible with a DDT on the ladder for the finish. What a mess. What a damn mess. That’s all there is to say really.

God it’s Terry Funk again. He’s mad Dreamer picked Jake Roberts and not him. Awful. Dreamer turns his back on Funk and Funk lays him out. This absolutely sucks.

RVD really wasn’t that bad of a promo guy in ECW.

Taz, Sabu and Rob Van Dam vs. Shane Douglas, Bam Bam Bigelow and Chris Candido

The main part of this story is Taz’s 15 month chase of the ECW World Title held by Douglas. Douglas has been hurt for months and is somehow still the champ. As a side note, RVD, Sabu and Taz have all had their problems.

This definitely was the top three faces against the top heel faction. As I said before, if it delivers it will be a worthy main event.

The Dudleys attack RVD and Sabu on the ramp. I can’t take this anymore. At least it made sense since RVD and Sabu attacked them earlier.

For some reason, Sabu spends the entire match as the face in peril. I have a few issues with this. One, this is a waste of Sabu. We don’t wait for Sabu in the main event to get beat down by three heels in a wrestling manner. Two, Taz is the one who has the real issue with the Triple Threat and the heat should be on him.

RVD makes the tag I think (so much for the hot Taz tag), but then after some brawling Sabu’s getting beat down again. For some reason Chris Candido puts Taz through a table on the outside but we don’t see it.

There are tons of botches here too. Sabu misses a slingshot legdrop that’s supposed to hit. RVD whips Douglas into the corner and Douglas expects to be hit with something and instead RVD attacks Bigelow. There’s a weird rolling spot where Douglas turns before RVD. Tons of bad stuff.

The crowd is dead for when Taz finally gets Douglas in the ring, and then RVD steals the crowd with a flip into the crowd.

Sabu, Rob Van Dam and Taz win when Sabu pinned Douglas in 12:57. Even the finish is botched. Taz locks Douglas in the Taz-Mission, but Sabu comes off the top with the Arabian Facecrusher (and really only hits Taz). He pins Douglas for the win. What a bad main event. Nothing clicked and it was full of botches. The booking set up Taz vs. Sabu in the future, but we haven’t even done Taz vs. Douglas yet. Which by the way, the crowd seems sick of Douglas overall at this point.

That’s the flagship PPV for ECW? Yikes. The Terry Funk stuff was embarrassing. Jake Roberts looked like he didn’t really care to be there. Mabel? Storm vs. Lynn and the opener is just enough to get me away from F. Barely.

Final Grade: D

Pro Wrestling

World Championship Injuries: A History of Injures and a Vacant World Title

With the unfortunate news that Seth Rollins tore his ACL and MCL last night, we have a vacated WWE World Heavyweight Championship. It isn’t the first time that the World Champion was forced to vacate a championship due to injury, and it certainly won’t be the last. Let’s look back at some unfortunate times where the Champ went down. I’m only considering WWE and WCW World Champions for this list.

Shawn Michaels – February 13, 1997

hbkinjury

                Shawn Michaels was in his 2nd reign as WWF Champion after holding onto the title for most of 1996. Michaels had pinned Sid in his hometown of San Antonio at the Royal Rumble. There was tons of controversy surrounding Michaels’ at the time. According to HBK in his book, a doctor told him his knee was damaged beyond repair and he’d need to retire immediately. No one in the locker room, especially Bret Hart, believed Michaels and thought it was HBK’s way of getting out of doing a job, presumably to Bret. To tentative plan was for Bret to extract revenge on Shawn at Wrestlemania XIII for the previous Mania’s loss. When Michaels forfeited the title on Thursday RAW Thursday, the Fatal Four Way Match at the upcoming In Your House PPV turned into a title match. Bret would win that, but drop the title to Sid the next night. HBK would be back in the ring by June.

Bret Hart – January 16, 2000

bretinjury

                At Starrcade ’99 Goldberg had kicked Bret Hart in the head, leading to a severe concussion. Bret continued to wrestle for a couple of weeks thinking it wasn’t too bad and he’d be fine. When Bret got himself checked out, the chairman of the NHL injury committee told him his career was over. Bret’s last match (at the time) was on Nitro against Kevin Nash. The WCW World Title wouldn’t gain any stability for a while. Chris Benoit would win the vacant title from Sid in a tournament, but he’d give the title up one day later and jump to the WWF.

Batista – January 13, 2006

batistainjury1

                While he battled through injuries throughout the latter half of his title reign, Batista suffered a torn triceps that forced him to vacate the World Heavyweight Championship that he held since Wrestlemania XXI. This led to a battle royal on Smackdown, where Kurt Angle would begin his last World Title reign, which would in turn lead to the Rey Mysterio World Title run. Batista would be back in mid ’06, and feuded with Mark Henry and Mr. Kennedy.

Edge – July 20, 2007

edgeinjury1

                Earlier in 2007, then-World Champion The Undertaker had a partially torn pectoral which led to the decision to have Edge win Mr. Kennedy’s Money in the Bank contract and cash in. At the time, Vince McMahon did not want Batista to hold the title. During an Edge-Kane program, Kane injured Edge with a chokeslam, leading to a torn pectoral. The decision was made to put the World Title on The Great Khali as he won a 20 Man Battle Royal on Smackdown. Khali would eventually drop the title to Batista. Batista and Undertaker would continue their war when Taker came back, and then Edge would get in the mix again.

John Cena – October 2, 2007

cenainjury

                Cena was in month thirteen of his WWE Championship reign when he tore his pectoral muscle in a match with Mr. Kennedy on the October 1st edition of RAW. The seemingly superhuman Cena’s injury was a shock to many…but he once again became superhuman when he returned quickly at the 2008 Royal Rumble. Unfortunately for Randy Orton, this cut short a feud that finally had Orton reaching that elite level of success he’d failed to achieve since his first World Title reign in 2004. While he didn’t get the clean victory of Cena, he did get a lot of help at No Mercy. The new plan had Orton be handed the title, only for HHH to beat him for it. HHH returned the favor cleanly in a Last Man Standing Match and gave Orton that big win.

Batista – June 9, 2009

batistainjury2

                Just two days after Batista beat Randy Orton for the title he was forced to forfeit the title due to a torn pectoral muscle. Orton would regain the title in a Fatal Four Way Match on RAW against Big Show, John Cena and Triple H. This would lead to Orton and Cena’s biggest rivalry in late 2009. Batista would return later in 2009 and turn on Rey Mysterio, leading to perhaps the most entertaining version of Batista we’d ever get.

Edge – April 12, 2011

edgeinjury2

                While the actual moment his injury occurred is unclear, Edge was forced to retire due to a neck injury. While he does grab his neck on the April 9th edition of Smackdown after he takes out Brodius Clay, Edge has stated that it was probably years of wear and tear on the neck and that was just the straw that broke the camel’s back. Christian would take Edge’s place in a Ladder Match at Backlash against Alberto Del Rio and win his first World Title…only to drop it to Randy Orton two days later (that went over real well with the IWC).

Daniel Bryan – June 9, 2014

bryaninjury

                Looking back, it’s still incredible just how over Daniel Bryan was in the beginning of 2014. While the fans forced WWE management’s hand (in the ring AND backstage) and Bryan got his Wrestlemania moment, it seemed that management (storyline wise AND backstage) wasn’t completely behind him as champion. At Extreme Rules Bryan’s first World Title defense was against a way past his prime Kane. Didn’t matter, Bryan was so good he tore the house down. Bryan would suffer a neck injury shortly afterwards that still plagues him to this day (it forced him to vacate the Intercontinental Championship this year). What a shame. John Cena would win the title in a special Money in the Bank Ladder Match…and then Brock Lesnar destroyed him for it afterwards.

Seth Rollins – November 15, 2015

rollinsinjury

                This leads us to Rollins, who had a hell of a year as World Champion since Wrestlemania. He injured his knee in a match against Kane in Ireland, leading to a tournament at Survivor Series 2015. He was scheduled to face Roman Reigns for the title at that event.

 

 

 

 

Other (DC, Marvel, Disney etc.)

RDT Reviews Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones

Big spoilers here. Of course, any prequel discussion invites comparison to the originals.

One thing that Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones didn’t have to deal with that Episode I did were outrageous expectations. Because Episode I’s reviews were bad to mixed, no one really expected Episode II to be much better. Unfortunately, this showed in the box office as well. I don’t think Episode II is awful or anything, but it has two things that really hold it back: it’s quite boring and Anakin and Padme’s love story.

Yes, Episode II for the most part is boring. All of the criticisms that many used against the prequels I see here. Too much political talk about war. Too much exposition. Not enough action. The title of the film is Attack of the Clones, but we don’t really see this attack until there are twenty minutes left in the film. There are some parts that work, but most of them don’t.

The main plot point of Episode II is that Padme (Queen Amidala) is the target of an assassination attempt. She mentions something about thinking Count Dooku is behind it, although we have no clue who Dooku is. This leads to a split up that’s similar in a way to how The Empire Strikes Back was structured. A grown Anakin Skywalker is left to protect Padme, while Obi-Wan Kenobi tries to find out information about one of the Queen’s attackers. Let’s be clear, the Anakin-Padme side is unbearable. Hayden Christensen is awful here, and Natalie Portman isn’t far behind. It’s not even that the actors do poorly, but the writing is a wreck as well. No one cares about Padme’s first kiss. No one wants to see the future Darth Vader having a picnic. Awful all around.

Obi-Wan’s journey to find out who the Queen’s attacker is does lead to some interesting scenes. When he ends up on the planet Kamino he finds out that the Republic possesses a Clone Army (which is boring), but confronts the bounty hunter Jango Fett (which was pretty cool). But most of Obi-Wan’s side of the adventure either shows the audience about the Jedi Order (where we meet the younglings) or get exposition about Count Dooku and the Emperor’s plan. I will say that the Emperor’s plan is well done, and Christopher Lee’s Count Dooku is a bright spot. Attack of the Clones is a smart film in this regard as Dooku doesn’t make it clear he’s a bad guy, he’s just someone who doesn’t believe in the Republic and even pretends to try to get along with Obi-Wan (which Obi-Wan has none of). All of this though isn’t enough to save the film.

There are three major action scenes. The first is a flying car chase which is fun. When the Clones attack that leads to another good scene. The final lightsaber battle is short and disappointing compared to what happened in Episode I, but seeing Yoda battle was pretty cool. Again, none of this is enough to save the film.

It should be pointed out there is a lot less Jar Jar Binks, which is good, but the return of the C-3PO and R2D2 pairing might have been a nod for old school fans, but it’s not memorable or anything here.

Pros:

+The actual attack of the clones was awesome.

+Christopher Lee as Count Dooku is a great choice.

+Jango Fett is pretty cool.

Cons:

-The attempted love story sucks.

-Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker was awful here.

-Pretty boring overall.

Attack of the Clones is still better than I expected it to be and I don’t think it’s much worse than A New Hope. Then again, I thought this was the worst ever at one time and found there was definitely some good stuff in it. I still wouldn’t go with “good” though.

Grade: C

 

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews WWF InVasion

WWF InVasion
July 22, 2001
Cleveland, OH

When Vince McMahon bought WCW it was obvious wrestling was going to change forever. Fans hoped that it would be in a good way. Afterall, the WWF had been doing amazing business for years behind Vince’s booking and the year 2000 alone received critical acclaim in the ring (compared to ’98 and ’99, where despite the great business there was some horrible wrestling out there).

Now it’s not Vince’s fault that he couldn’t get all of the big players in WCW. Because of the outlandish deals with Ted Turner, there was no Sting, no Goldberg, etc. The biggest names the WWF received were Booker T and Diamond Dallas Page. To be honest, with the WWF hype machine behind each of them both could have been major players and the disappointment of no top WCW guys could have been at least lessened. And while the WWF completely missed with Page with the whole stalker of Undertaker’s wife angle, the WWF actually did a really good job with Booker T for the most part. Booker came in at King of the Ring 2001, dropped Stone Cold on his head through a table (which probably was a big reason he didn’t get the super push, as he legitimately hurt Austin here) and actually looked like a big deal. He was clearly the wrestling leader of this pack. The only thing that went wrong really was that match against Buff Bagwell that was pretty awful. Why they couldn’t just put Booker against someone like Chris Jericho orKurt Angle early on is a mystery to me. We really needed to have “authentic” WCW guys? The failure of the Booker-Bagwell match changed the angle big time, but it should be pointed out that Booker T was the leader of this Alliance team heading into the PPV.

When ECW entered the picture, it seemed really cool for one night until we realized these were all WWF guys sans Rob Van Dam and Tommy Dreamer. For the record, as underrated as Rhyno was at the time, it should have come as no surprise that Rob Van Dam would be crazy over. RVD in the main could have helped. Nonetheless, when Stephanie McMahon was introduced as owner of ECW…well, it should have been obvious that this angle just wasn’t going to be what we were all hoping for.

Still, InVasion posted one of the biggest buyrates in WWF history, so despite the mess of booking, WWF vs. WCW and ECW was the main draw here. So let’s see how it goes.

The Card

Lance Storm and Mike Awesome vs. Edge and Christian

One of the issues with the InVasion: some guys turning when their role was working out so well. Not sure, it looked like an Edge face turn was in the works, but we loved Edge and Christian as a heel team.

Christian nearly kills himself early on by not getting enough height jumping over the top rope onto Storm and Awesome.

One reason J.R. is amazing on commentary: he sees the botch and after explaining how important InVasion is, explains that Edge and Christian have pre-match jitters. Just really smart.

If there was ever someone who had all the physical tools but who’s mic skills held him back, it was Mike Awesome. His frog splash was just incredible.

Christian really works as a face-in-peril.

Edge and Christian win when Edge pinned Awesome in 10:10. Awesome went for an Awesome Bomb on Edge, but Christian speared him and Edge landed on top for the win. Good opener for sure. During the match, Michael Cole and J.R. really put over this match as one of the most important ever due to it being the opener for the InVasion. The effort is great. Problem is, as we’ll see later, those words were very overblown and made Cole and J.R. look stupid.

Pretty funny promo with Vince and William Regal as Vince wants Regal to be like the Americans during the Revolutionary War. Not only is it funny on the surface because Regal is British, but it’s also funny because the idea that the WWF is the underdog here is ridiculous.

Nick Patrick vs. Earl Hebner
Mick Foley is the Special Guest Referee

Vince had access to so much talent now that we needed referees to wrestle. Great.

In all those wrestling magazines, how many “dream WWF vs. WCW card” articles had Patrick vs. Hebner on there?

We get an referee brawl on the outside! Foley throws the WCW referees out.

Earl Hebner pins Nick Patrick in 2:50. Patrick argues with Foley, allowing Hebner to tackle him for the three. This was awful but at least short. What was Vince thinking here?! 2-0 WWF. Foley blasts Patrick afterward and gets Mr. Socko on him.

Tough Enough commercial! Weird that the first one was 14 years ago.

Ugh, stalker DDP was so awful.

Sara (Taker’s wife) calls Taker Mark when talking to Debra. That was pretty unexpected.

The APA vs. Sean O’Haire and Chuck Palumbo

WWF vs. WCW Tag Champs here. I do like how the APA were like the midcard leaders on-screen. O’Haire and Palumbo were only the tag champs in WCW as WCW was finally trying to use their younger talent. They definitely had potential though.

Fun fact: Faarooq is a former WCW World Champion. I thought that could have been a fun little turn during the InVasion storyline.

The APA win when Bradshaw pins Chuck Palumbo in 7:17. Clothesline From Hell takes out Palumbo after Palumbo “hit” Faarooq with a superkick. This was okay I guess. I do think the wrong team won, but then again the WWF never went with Palumbo and O’Haire. 3-0 WWF, which seems ridiculous at this point.

Billy Kidman vs. X-Pac

Kidman was the WCW Cruiserweight Champion and X-Pac was the WWF Lightheavyweight Champion.

X-Pac is booed out of the building. And you know, that’s a good example of the WWF NOT changing someone’s alignment just because they’re team WWF. Not that they could at this point anyway.

It should be pointed out that it was a really good idea for the WWF to put the WCW Cruiserweight Title on Kidman. I considered Kidman to be in the top tier of WCW Cruiserweights, and in fact he was the last guy to get to that point in 1998.

Weird dynamic here as I think the fans want to cheer for Kidman…but can’t quite bring themselves to do it because he’s a WCW guy.

Another weird dynamic: X-Pac’s trying to wrestle a riskier, high flying style but can’t quite do it (he had stopped after his neck injury in the mid 90s). It really makes for a mess of a match unfortunately.

Billy Kidman pins X-Pac in 7:12. Kidman hits the Shooting Star Press and the fans pop. And rightfully so, that move is awesome. So much for not cheering Kidman. Give X-Pac credit too, he let Kidman kickout of an X-Factor and jobbed to Kidman’s best move. Still not a good match though.

3-1 WWF! The Alliance is on board!

DDP quote: “Debra is sweet but she’s no Sara.” Yeah, like we don’t know DDP is married to Kimberly. Come on now.

Torrie Wilson and Stacy Keibler feel disappointed for the fans that they’ll have to settle for seeing Trish and Lita in their panties. I mean, it’s win-win either way, but I do agree Torrie and Stacy are hotter.

William Regal vs. Raven

Before watching this I could predict that this would be a huge clash of styles.

And that’s exactly what we get. Face Regal wasn’t really working either.

The timing for everything is just off. A clothesline from Raven is timed incorrectly. A bulldog from Raven, same thing. It’s not actively bad, but it is noticeable. Crowd is completely quiet as well.

Raven pins Regal in 6:34. Tazz runs in and hits a T-Bone Suplex to Regal…and Raven hits a sloppy Evenflow DDT for the win. 3-2 WCW.

Big Show, Billy Gunn and Albert vs. Sean Stasiak, Kanyon and Hugh Morrus

I know the WWF was quite low on Big Show at this point, but Show on the WCW team would have made a lot of sense and helped the star power issue.

Nice Meat chants for Stasiak.

Morrus, Stasiak and Kanyon win when Morrus pins Gunn in 4:23. Match can be described this way: WWF guys destroy WCW guys, WCW gets a cheap win. What a joke. Also, the Big Show destroys the WCW guys after the match too. Real waste of Kanyon here too. But we’re tied!

Oh, sorry, WCW/ECW is up 4-3 now. Apparently Chavo Guerrero Jr’s victory over Scotty 2 Hotty counts. Way to ignore than when the WWF was up 3-0.

Tazz vs. Tajiri

Tazz is ECW, Tajiri is WWF. Isn’t it crazy how just two years prior this was an ECW PPV World Title Match?

By the way, I would have put Tajiri in X-Pac’s spot here.

Tajiri pins Tazz in 5:44. Tajiri gets the Green Mist and kicks Tazz in the face for the win. Fun little match here where Tajiri took a lot of Tazz’s offense. Too bad it wasn’t longer. 4-4.

RVD takes Matt Hardy out with a chair right in Jeff Hardy’s face. Pretty awesome segment.

Hardcore Holly berates a WCW fan at WWF New York. Also a funny segment.

WWF Hardcore Championship
Jeff Hardy© vs. Rob Van Dam

Really…the first match on this card that really makes of sense. RVD vs. Jeff Hardy in a battle of the daredevils.

I wish after RVD just took Matt Hardy out that Jeff ran down to take out RVD.

HUGE RVD chants.

A really creative start, including Jeff legdropping RVD in a way where RVD ends up crunched like an accordion.

With all the hotdogging he’s doing, I can’t help but think RVD would have made for an awesome WWF heel. Of course, he’d be cheered, but who cares!

Seeing RVD in the WWF for the “first” time was crazy. All these crazy moves that worked in ECW…worked in the WWF too! For example…a moonsault off the barricade in the crowd. This was true for Tajiri as well, but it really got RVD over big time.

Spinning heel kick off the apron onto a hanging Jeff Hardy on the barricade. Years later people would complain it was the same old shit with RVD, but in 2001 on a global stage: holy shit.

Jeff Hardy with a sunset flip powerbomb from the ring onto the floor! RVD just gets slammed on the floor. Sick spot.

In one of my favorite spots ever, Jeff beats RVD down with a chair, leading RVD to beg from his knees for Jeff to stop. In a split second, RVD hops to his feet and hits the Van Daminator and sends off flying off the stage. Just wow.

RVD takes a DDT and a German Suplex and sells it the only way RVD can. Great stuff here.

RVD pins Jeff Hardy to win the title in 12:24. Jeff misses the Swanton…and RVD hits the Five Star Frog Splash for the win. A really fun spotfest that seemed revolutionary at the time. Great match. The first (and ultimately, only) match on this supercard that really felt it belonged.

5-4 WCW/ECW!

Bra and Panties Match
Trish Stratus and Lita vs. Torrie Wilson and Stacy Keibler

In the funniest moment of the entire event Mick Foley comes out to referee. That was pretty good.

There’s a pretty good story surrounding this: Torrie and Stacy tried to seduce the Hardyz.

Lita and Trish win in 5:03. There’s actually some decent fighting in this, although clearly that’s not the purpose. Fun of course. Oh and we’re tied!

The Inaugural Brawl
Team Alliance (Booker T, Diamond Dallas Page, Rhyno and the Dudley Boyz) vs. Team WWF (Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Undertaker, Kane, Kurt Angle and Chris Jericho)

One of the big selling points of this match was that the old Stone Cold was coming to InVasion. After being a cowardly heel for four months, Austin’s return to being a bad ass was nothing short of amazing. Just listen to that crowd reaction on RAW. It’s crazy. Honestly, if you told me that really sold the show instead of the actual InVasion I actually might agree.

Obviously Austin’s pop is amazing, but Angle gets a big one too. One positive of the InVasion: Kurt Angle getting to that next level.

I can’t help but think that this InVasion could have worked with DDP as the top heel. He’s getting great reactions and he’s a huge name of course.

The match is about 20 minutes of back and forth and while it isn’t bad it is pretty boring overall. Crowd is really into it though.

The match takes a strange turn to get to the finish. Kurt Angle is your Team WWF member in peril, but oddly he’d never make the hot tag as Undertaker just runs in to attack Page. A huge ten man brawl breaks out from that.

Stone Cold hurt his knee! Oh no! Also, everyone else gets taken out somehow. Angle suddenly begins to kick serious ass and the crowd is electric for him.

Team Alliance wins when Booker T pinned Kurt Angle in 29:30. Angle has Booker T locked in the Ankle Lock and tapping, but Stone Cold comes in and hits Angle with a Stunner and turns on the WWF. Booker gets the pin, but it’s Austin who celebrates with Shane, Stephanie and Heyman. Man what a stupid decision that turned out to be for the storyline and Austin’s career (although it helped make Kurt Angle). Match was good I suppose, but it seemed a bit boring at times and the finish sucked.

The angle really could have worked if they went with Booker vs. Rock and Page vs. Austin, but Page apparently pissed too many people off, including Undertaker and it never worked out for him. Booker did go on to fight Rock but after getting beat twice he dropped to the midcard. As for Austin, this was his last chance to regain that babyface level only he and Hogan (and I guess Rock) ever reached, only it was thrown away with this re-turn. When Austin turns face again in December the crowd reaction for him isn’t the same as it once was.

As for this show, I feel like only one match really delivered and that was RVD vs. Jeff Hardy. Yes the opener was good and the Bra and Panties Match was fun, but everything else really left you disappointed. What a shame.

Final Grade: C

Basketball

NBA Predictions 15-16

                It’s almost time for another season of NBA basketball. The Pre-Season is usually the last time fans can have a realistic outlook for how their team will perform. While the NBA has traditionally lacked parity, several roster changes and several young stars making the leap allowed a Final Four involving four teams that hadn’t made a Final Four in years (Cleveland last made the Eastern Conference Finals in 2009 thanks to the return of LeBron, Atlanta has to go back to 1970 before they were that close to the Finals, Golden State’s last Conference Finals was way back in 1976, and the emergence of Stephen Curry was a big reason why, and Houston last got to the WCF in 1997, led by the emerging James Harden). Once again the off-season had big pieces moving all around. That, combined with the emergence of some new stars (read: Anthony Davis) plus the return of some others (Kevin Durant) makes this another unpredictable NBA season…

Right?

BOSTON, MA - APRIL 03: Isaiah Thomas #4 of the Boston Celtics carries the ball against the Milwaukee Bucks during the first quarter at TD Garden on April 3, 2015 in Boston, Massachusetts. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

Atlantic Division
Celtics: 46-36 (5)
Nets: 35-47
Raptors: 34-48
Knicks 32-50
76ers: 21-61

                I swear each year this division gets worse and worse. There are two intriguing teams here. First we have who I predict will win the division, the Boston Celtics. The Celtics honestly are primed for another dynasty with a bunch of Brooklyn Nets picks and even a Dallas Mavericks 1st too. Isaiah Thomas’ trade to Boston last year led to a 21-4 season finish and a playoff berth. Adding David Lee will only help the offense. The Raptors had made the playoffs  two straight years and bring back potentially a more dangerous team than the last two years (adding DeMarre Carroll) but there was a lot of doubt in Coach Dwane Casey after a disappointing playoff exit and I think the Raptors go downhill until there’s a switch. The Nets are a mess, the Knicks need a huge Carmelo year and really I think they’re going to trade him anyway as he got his money, and the 76ers are like a PS2 Madden Franchise hoarding picks all over the place. Problem is, unlike Madden, those picks haven’t been guaranteed to be anything yet.

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Central Division
Bulls: 54-28 (1)
Cavaliers: 52-30 (2)
Pacers: 44-38 (7)
Bucks: 38-44 (8)
Pistons: 35-47

                Derrick Rose problems aside, I think the Bulls will improve from the coaching switch. Tom Thibodeau tired players throughout the season and played a defensive heavy system. Fred Hoiberg should open up the offense and rest guys appropriately. It’s like the poor man’s version of The Warriors switching from Mark Jackson to Steve Kerr last season. I expect Jimmy Butler to have a huge season as well. The only thing that will derail the Bulls will be if Rose and Butler have issues. The Cavs are the Cavs…which is a great thing for them. Irving’s injuries and the need to rest LeBron a bit will cost them some wins, but at this point it’s clear it doesn’t really matter as long as LeBron is good for the playoffs. The Pacers lost tons of pieces and even added Monta Ellis, but Paul George returning should be enough for 44 wins in the East, even if he plays the 4. The Bucks might be better than 38-44, but I think adding Greg Monroe will clog the pain and actually add problems for Jabari Parker. As long as Reggie Jackson starts at point guard for Detriot, the longer they’ll be stuck in mediocrity unless Andre Drummond goes off (and don’t rule that out).

Miami Heat's Chris Bosh shoots a free throw during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Memphis Grizzlies in Memphis, Tenn., Sunday, Nov. 11, 2012. The Grizzlies won 104-86. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)

Southeast Division
Heat: 49-33 (3)
Hawks: 48-34 (4)
Wizards: 45-37 (6)
Hornets: 35-47
Magic: 29-53

                Miami should be able to reach the expectations they had last year post-LeBron. As long as Hassan Whiteside wasn’t a fluke, Chris Bosh is healthy, Dwyane Wade realizes he’s not who he once was and Goran Dragic gets to play his game they should be good. The Hawks lost Carroll but should be fine. 60 wins was a bit on the luck side last year. Washington has yet to tell me why they’ll be improving, and losing a veteran like Paul Pierce is only going to hurt. Could John Wall and Bradley Beal bring their games to the next level? Maybe, but I think they both actually have limited upsides and we’re close to them already. The Hornets would be a lot worse if they weren’t in the East. Orlando has a lot of young talent but has a long ways to go.

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Northwest Division
Thunder: 51-31 (5)
Utah Jazz: 44-38 (8)
Trail Blazers: 31-51
Nuggets: 29-53
Timberwolves: 18-64

                Of course, the return of a healthy Kevin Durant will be a huge deal, and Russell Westbrook played like a MVP candidate last year, but I sense that won’t work out too great here. 51-31 isn’t a bad record, but all the fears fans had in the past about Westbrook taking too many shots and Durant not taking enough will manifest this season now that Westbrook experienced the year he had last year. Yes Westbrook led the league in scoring last year. Yes he was ridiculous. But he’s not Kevin Durant. The Thunder have serious depth problems with Dion Waiters potentially in a starting role as well. My pick for the young team to improve is Utah. The Stifle Tower and Derrick Favors were pretty good last year. They were 19-10 after the All-Star Break. I think Damian Lillard is a dark horse for leading the league in scoring this year…to go along with 40% shooting. Denver’s pretty much a mess and will probably trade off all of their pieces, and Minnesota needs a couple of years still.

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Pacific Division
Clippers: 62-20 (1)
Warriors: 59-23 (3)
Suns: 33-49
Kings: 33-49
Lakers: 30-52

                My big prediction: this is the year the Clippers have a dominant regular season, and Chris Paul actually wins his first MVP trophy. When Stephen Curry (rightfully) won the ’15 MVP with a 23-7, that opened up the doors for someone like Paul. Golden State will be right there of course, unless Curry gets hurt. The Suns added Tyson Chandler, which made little sense at Phoenix is a team that needs to rebuild and won’t be contending. I see more George Karl-DeMarcus Cousins problems in Sacramento. Let’s be honest, the Lakers need to rebuild at this point. I think D’Angelo Russell is my Rookie of the Year pick though, unless Kobe never lets him touch the ball.

hardennba2k16

Southwest Division
Rockets: 60-22 (2)
Spurs: 52-30 (4)
Grizzlies: 48-34 (6)
Pelicans: 45-37 (7)
Mavericks: 38-44

                James Harden should only get better (and he was actually my MVP pick last year) and Dwight Howard has somehow become underrated. The Ty Lawson upgrade, as long as his head is on straight, is going to be huge for Houston. Everyone seems to think the Spurs are going to control the league with LaMarcus Aldridge joining, but in reality it’s going to take some time for him to get used to the Spurs system after being the go to in Portland. Still…I think it works out by April. The Grizzlies are the same team they are every year. Anthony Davis is amazing, but the reality is his team is awful around him and guys like Tyreke Evans only looked better last year because of Davis’ presence. Davis is going to be in that Davis Robinson position for a while. As much as I love Dirk Nowitzki…Dallas just lost too much with Chandler and who knows what Chandler Parsons will be like this year.

                But I did mention that I think the Spurs figure it out by April, and when they do they’ll get through this as tough as ever West and defeat Cleveland to win the franchise’s sixth Championship.

SAN ANTONIO, TX - JUNE 15: TIm Duncan #21 of the San Antonio Spurs poses for a portrait with the Larry O'Brien Trophy after defeating the Miami Heat in Game Five of the 2014 NBA Finals on June 15, 2014 at AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2014 NBAE (Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images)

Other (DC, Marvel, Disney etc.)

RDT Reviews Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)

Big spoilers here. Of course, any prequel discussion invites comparison to the originals.

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace had expectations that were just impossible to meet. The first Star Wars film in sixteen years has the challenge of bringing in new fans as well as satisfying those who were loyal to the brand (which isn’t much different than the upcoming The Force Awakens). Unfortunately, the Phantom Menace disappointed pretty much all of the Star Wars loyalists, and really it’s a shame because this film is brilliant.

Our story places Jedi Knights Qui-Gon Jinn and a young Obi-Wan Kenobi in the middle of a dispute between the Trade Federation and the planet Naboo. It turns out the Trade Federation is dealing with Darth Sideous and is about to start a war to occupy Naboo. Queen Amidala escapes the Federation invasion with the two Jedi and they end up traveling to Corusant in order to plead their case to the Republic. On the way they pick up a very young Anakin Skywalker during a stop at Tatooine, a planet chosen because it was hidden from the Federation and their ship needed help. Palpatine…who anyone who saw the originals know is Sidious, is causing all kinds of chaos in the Galactic Senate in order to gain power for himself. He uses the Naboo-Federation dispute to his advantage…but seems surprised when Amidala wants to return to Naboo to fight. Ultimately, our protagonists  come out victorious in Naboo, although victory comes at a price as Qui-Gonn is killed by Sidious’ apprentice Darth Maul. The Phantom Menace introduces a ton of characters at viewers to establish a story that would lead us to A New Hope. It mostly does a good job.

Let’s talk about the worst part of this film. Jar Jar Binks. Binks is a character that Qui-Gon and Ob-Wan run into early, and Jar Jar joins them on their adventure. He’s annoying and clearly there for the kids. He’s a terrible character overall, and while the film would do best without him (which is what The Phantom Edit did), he doesn’t ov’rshadow the rest of the film. Liam Neeson’s Qui-Gon does a great job often playing the straight man in any “comedy” Jar Jar is a part of, and he’s pretty great at it. It’s almost as if Neeson knew how ridiculous the Jar Jar character was and decided to make it look bad at every opportunity. Somehow, it works.

The other part old school fans didn’t like was child Anakin. I really don’t understand this one. I thought Jake Lloyd  did a great job showing just how innocent Anakin once was, which in turn really puts over just how strong the Darkside of the Force really is.

As a character, Palpatine is awesome. He’s just so evil and the way he manipulates everything and everyone provides a brilliant character arc. Obi-Wan Kenobi is pretty good here too. I don’t care for Amidala or Padme, and to be honest Natalie Portman seemed pretty bland here, but it could have been a lot worse.

Something that seems to never come up when someone talks about The Phantom Menace is just how much emotion is in this film. First off, Anakin loses not only his mother, but a father figure in Qui-Gon as well all in a short period of time. The scene where he leaves his mother is one of the strongest in the entire saga. Obi-Wan Kenobi loses his mentor as well. There’s a lot our main characters have to go through. It’s a shame that in future installments we don’t really hear about what Qui-Gon meant to Anakin.

I also liked the Gungans and how they helped the Naboo. One of my biggest problems with the Ewoks in Return of the Jedi is that they pretty much own “the empire’s best troops”. Here, the Gungans know they’re getting slaughtered and that their role is to just kill time. It’s a very smart decision that helps the end of the film. Speaking of the end of the film, the Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon vs. Darth Maul lightsaber battle is incredible. There has to be some extra credit as this was the first lightsaber scene since Return of the Jedi, and really, it puts all of those lightsaber battles to shame. Darth Maul’s appearance and the double lightsaber reveal is also one of the best moments in the saga.

I didn’t even get to pod racing and how fun and awesome that is. Shame that didn’t get brought back in later installments either.

Pros:

+A lot of emotion that really sets up our main characters in the future.

+Some great moments (Anakin leaves his mother, Darth Maul reveal).

+A lot of awesome characters here. Palpatine and Qui-Gon are especially strong characters. Darth Maul is just cool.

+Appearances from some of our older characters, like C3PO and R2D2 are very fun.

+Music and visuals are both top notch, although the visuals do look dated now.

Cons:

-Jar Jar Binks is pretty bad.

-Some characters are boring, like Padme.

The Phantom Menace may have not been what fans expected, but it shouldn’t have taken them away from what turned out to be a great start to the prequel trilogy. Unfortunately, it did.

Grade: A-

 

Video Games

Ranking the Nintendo 64 Legend of Zelda Temples

To this day the two Legend of Zelda titles for the Nintendo 64 rank among the greatest games of all time. A big reason is because of tremendous level design for the temples that make up each game’s core. But which ones are the best? Here it is, a ranking of each of the main Nintendo 64 Legend of Zelda dungeons. To be clear, there are no side dungeons on here, which means no Ice Cavern, no Bottom of the Well etc.

  1. Great Bay Temple – Majora’s Mask

greatbay

For the record, I only dislike two of the N64 main temples, and here is one of them. While I appreciate Great Bay Temple’s difficulty, it’s a pure pain to get through with its strong water currents. There are times that if you miss a certain jump, you’ll have to swim around just to get back to where you need to be. The music surprisingly misses as well, with a mechanical, mysterious theme that feels out of place. Definitely the weakest part of Majora’s Mask. The boss, Gyrog, is pretty cool but feels pretty cheap as well. I believe they changed the battle for the 3DS version as a result.

  1. Inside Jabu Jabu’s Belly – OOT

jabujabu

Jabu Jabu’s Belly has one thing going for it, you get the boomerang here. Otherwise this is probably the most boring temple in the N64 era. Most of the time you’re just hitting tentacles with the boomerang. You’re also carrying Princess Ruto around and that’s quite annoying as well. The sub-boss here isn’t designed well, as you need to run in a circle to avoid a big Octorok, but you have to avoid some spikes in the middle. Barinade is an okay boss though.

  1. Inside the Deku Tree – OOT

dekutree

Ten good dungeons out of twelve isn’t bad. Inside the Deku Tree is a fun opening temple that allows players to get used to all of Link’s brand new 3D controls. The puzzles are simple, yet rewarding. Queen Gohma is an iconic boss, easy as she is. While playing this, you had to know OOT was going to be a great game.

  1. Woodfall Temple – Majora’s Mask

woodfall

Woodfall ‘s difficulty quickly shows that Majora’s Mask is probably going to be a tougher game than Ocarina of Time. Admittedly Woodfall is a bit plain, but I think it does a great job establishing the tone we’re going to get in Majora’s Mask. It’s darker, it’s creepier. You hear the spirits in the theme song that probably belong to Odolwa. There’s a lot to like here.

  1. Fire Temple – OOT

Flare-Dancer

The Fire Temple is a standard straight forward dungeon, but it has a great sub and main boss. The Flare Dancer is an interesting sub-boss that might not do a whole not, but it’s better than a random Lizalfo (although we get that too). Volvagia is awesome as a main boss of course. There’s a nice story in the Fire Temple as well, as you’re looking to rescue all of the Gorons imprisoned. Megaton Hammer is a great item pick-up as well, even if it’s underused throughout the game.

  1. Shadow Temple – OOT

Shadow_Temple_Bird

Unfortunately for the Shadow Temple, the creepiness vibe that it gives off pales in comparison to the Forest Temple. It’s still a good dungeon in its own right. It uses the Lens of Truth well and the end with the ship and the maze of Wall Masters is pretty cool. Bongo Bongo is quite the let down as far as bosses go though.

  1. Water Temple – OOT

darklink

As a kid, the Water Temple halted my progress for months because of one key. While it’s not really that difficult looking back at it, the challenge it can provide new gamers is a major plus and I remember being very disappointed with the Master Quest version as a result. The Water Temple has probably the worst boss in OOT though in Morphia. Even more puzzling is that it has probably the best sub-boss as well: Dark Link. So the question here is…why wasn’t Dark Link the main boss? The Water Temple also has an awesome theme.

  1. Snowhead Temple – Majora’s Mask

snowhead

A really fun dungeon that goes upwards, which was a nice touch that we only saw in the Fire Temple in OOT. Snowhead does it a lot better though. There’s a lot of Fire Arrow action, a lot of Goron Link action and just a good time to be had all around. Wizzrobe is also a fun sub-boss, and Snowhead’s main boss, Goht, may be the most fun N64 Zelda boss of them all. Unless you do it the Fire Arrow way…

  1. Dodongo’s Cavern – OOT

dodongo

There’s no bad part of Dodongo’s Cavern really. It’s just a straight up get through this dungeon and have fun doing it kind of experience. Beat down some dodongos, light some torches, blow up some statues and just have a good time. It also has a great main boss too in King Dodongo, a boss that is a heck of a lot easier with the Hylian Shield (one of the two times that whole “get the Hylian Shield” thing actually mattered). Dodongo’s Cavern also does a couple of things really well. First, it teases the boss really early on with that really cool dragon (dodongo) head in the main room, and it uses the item you get in the dungeon, bombs, very well. Bonus points for the need to come back here as an adult to get some extras.

  1. Spirit Temple – OOT

spirittemple

It’s time for the top tier of Zelda 64 Temples. The Spirit Temple I do think is a distant third, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that it’s pretty awesome. It has the second best boss in the game in Twinrova (we are getting there), has a really cool story (Child Link meets Nabooru, saves her seven years later) and is really fun to get through. We get to face off with a couple Iron Knuckles as well. To top it off, the music is absolutely awesome as well. Really gets bonus points for having a child and adult section and connecting them well.

  1. Stone Tower – Majora’s Mask

stonetower

What a tough choice between the top two! I would have sworn that the Stone Tower would have been number one, but there was one deciding factor which I’ll get to. Anyway, the Stone Tower owns in pretty much every way. To even get to the main part of the tower you need to figure out some puzzles with the Elegy of Emptiness. Once you get to the top, you enter the main part of the Tower which is where the fun really begins. The creepiness of Majora’s Mask really sets in when in the Stone Tower, as the music, in my opinion the best Zelda has to offer, really sets the mood and tone.  The best part about the Stone Tower is that you have to use all your forms at some point, which is a great trait for a final Temple. You also have a bunch of mini-bosses you’ll have to contend with: Wizzrobe, the Garo Master and Gomess. Light Arrows and the Giant’s Mask are also acquired here. By the way, once you get through it…you’ll have to spin the Tower upside-down and climb through it again. It’s awesome how a treasure chest you found when it’s right-side up turns out to be a crucial hookshot spot later! Awesome design. It’s too bad the main boss kinda sucks.

  1. Forest Temple – OOT

phantom ganon

While there were a few moments beforehand, to me the Forest Temple is the part of OOT that says “okay, now it’s time to take things seriously”. Before as a child you had Zelda talking some nonsense about an evil man and a prophecy. Now? Now she’s disappeared and all the places that were full of fun as a kid have turned into places full of monsters. What’s the first thing you do as an adult? Call Saria and find out where she is. It’s a brilliant storyline and a perfect set-up. Suddenly, the temple right next to your home may be the creepiest place you’ll ever go, with ghosts, twisting hallways, wallmasters and wolves everywhere. Skulltulas climb the vines. The Forest Temple does such a tremendous job at being creepy that it unintentionally undermines the Shadow Temple later. The music is fantastic, the deisgn is fantastic, and in the deciding choice between this and the Stone Tower…the main boss is the best in all of Zelda 64. Phantom Ganon is awesome. Amazing all around.

 

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews WWE Hell In a Cell 2009

WWE Hell in a Cell 2009
October 4, 2009
Newark, NJ

In 2009 WWE decided to brand their PPVs after match titles. As a result, No Way Out became Elimination Chamber, No Mercy became Hell in a Cell and Armageddon became TLC. Unfortunately, and especially in the Hell in a Cell case, this forced WWE to use these match types at these respective events. Instead of organically having a feud that led to a Hell in a Cell match, fans would expect a feud that began in August or September to have a Hell in a Cell match in October. Also, this ruled out having Hell in a Cell matches at any other point in time, taking away a potentially exciting twist for feuds that take place during any other part of the year. (This led to tons of excitement when HHH-Taker at Mania XXVIII became a Cell match, since it was absolutely unexpected).

The other issue with this was that WWE had become PG. Now, WWE had become PG about 15 months earlier and Edge and Undertaker had a great Hell in a Cell match anyway, so all hope wasn’t lost. The idea of three HIAC matches on one show had fans salivating at the possibilities of what could happen.

The Card

World Heavyweight Championship: Hell in a Cell
CM Punk© vs. The Undertaker

We had another Montreal Screwjob at Breaking Point, where Teddy Long turned heel and called for the bell when Punk had Taker in the Anaconda Vise. Taker captured Teddy and this forced Teddy to make Punk vs Taker at Hell in a Cell (first point to make about the PPV title…of course we knew this was happening already because the next PPV was Hell in a Cell). So here we are.

This is a surprising opener for sure. Being there live this was the match I was most looking forward to. I was really getting into Punk’s character here…and the Undertaker is the Undertaker.

Match starts fun enough with Taker throwing Punk into the cage.

Taker shoves Punk off the ring apron into the cage. Again, really fun start.

Suicide dive from Punk into Taker and the cage!

Legit shocked at a Punk chair shot to the head to Undertaker. When were headshots banned? I forgot.

The Undertaker pins CM Punk to win the title in 10:24. We get a really fun back and forth for five minutes…then Taker finishes Punk. Man, this was a really fun match that just gets cut off. Give this 6-7 more minutes and you potentially have a classic. Despite the good match, it’s still pretty disappointing in the name of Hell in a Cell. At least at the time it was.

Intercontinental Championship
John Morrison © vs. Dolph Ziggler

At the time Morrison seemingly looked like the future while Ziggler was just a midcard guy. Funny how that’d change over the next two years.

Ziggler starts with some solid mat wrestling, which is something he should do more of honestly.

Match has mostly been Ziggler, but it’s turning into a fun back and forth.

John Morrison retains by pin in 15:41. Starship Pain for the win. Really good match here, but I have to question this going five minutes longer than the opening World Title match. Match did tell a good story in regards to Ziggler getting close but not close enough. I don’t remember what the led to though.

Mysterio and Batista interview. Does a great job with Mysterio referencing his past with Chris Jericho and even hints a little bit about Batista’s future heel turn.

Diva’s Championship
Mickie James © vs. Alicia Fox

Michael Cole mentions…with no hint of irony…that many are shocked Fox is the #1 contender this early in her career. I love Alicia now, but she was awful back then.

This is pretty solid to start, although sometime you can tell Fox’s timing is off (like when she takes the neckbreaker).

Mickie James retains by pin in 5:20. Mickie hits a Tornado DDT that Alicia doesn’t take correctly, and while it looks devastating you have to fear for Alicia there. Anyway, this didn’t seem bad at all, but it was pretty boring and the crowd was dead for it.

World Tag Team Championship
Chris Jericho and Big Show© vs. Batista and Rey Mysterio

It should be noted that Chris Jericho pretty much saved rescued the tag division in the latter half of 2009. He also helped a floundering Big Show, who despite being in a World Title match at Mania and a feud with Cena, had been regulated to fighting Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne before Jericho’s 1st partner, Edge got injured.

With these four top guys contending for the tag belts, it really feels like the Tag belts matter.

Big Show is just killing Rey and it’s awesome. Brutal slap that sends Mysterio to the floor!

Jericho and Show’s beatdown of Mysterio is fantastic. What a good match so far.

Tornado DDT from Rey to Big Show! Wow!

Great sequence where Big Show gets 619ed, then Jericho gets dumped on him. Show catches him, but Batista takes them both down.

Big Show and Jericho retain when Show pinned Rey in 13:41. Rey goes for a springboard, but Show punches him right in the face as he comes down to win it. KO Punch was just getting established here, but it was working for sure. Awesome match. Jericho, Show, Batista and Rey just have awesome chemistry together. It was the perfect finish too, Big Show pinning Rey doesn’t hurt Rey and further established Big Show.

WWE Championship: Hell in a Cell
John Cena© vs. Randy Orton

Orton beat Cena at Summerslam, but Cena got Orton in an “I Quit” match at Breaking Point. Rubber Match time.

Shocked this isn’t the main event. I think that’s a problem too. Either Punk-Taker or Cena-Orton should be main eventing this.

Cena and Orton also went to the top of the Cell on RAW. It was good build for sure.

Here’s the problem with this match. There’s nothing here that’s done to really use Hell in a Cell. It’s just a regular match inside the Cell. I mean what’s the point?

Randy Orton pins John Cena to win the title in 21:24. Orton traps Cena in the ropes and chokes him out…and then finishes with the Punt to regain the title. I liked the finish and Orton’s mannerisms were spot on. He really became an awesome heel in 2008-2009. I still am quite disappointed in the match though.

R-Truth vs. Drew McIntyre

McIntyre is new, and there’s a respect problem between the two. R-Truth has a pretty good promo before the match.

McIntyre still had generic rock music here too. That didn’t help him at all.

No be honest, no one cares. Boring chant breaks out. McIntyre would never make it as a high level guy either…although he definitely had the potential for sure.

Drew McIntyre pins R-Truth in 4:38. Future Shock DDT. If this was designed for the crowd to take a break after Orton-Cena, it succeeded.

Orton tells Dibiase and Rhodes that once you enter Hell in a Cell, you don’t just walk out. I’d take him more seriously if he actually used the Cell in the match.

United States Championship
Kofi Kingston© vs. Jack Swagger vs. The Miz

Miz hilariously runs down Newark. What the heck happened to him? He was so good on the mic.

Miz and Swagger double team Kofi for most of it, but Miz betrays him.

Crowd is dead for this too.

We get some fun three-way spots at least. Kofi’s putting a show on out there.

Kofi Kingston retains when he pinned Miz in 7:53. Swagger hits Miz with the Swagger Bomb, but Kofi knocks him out with Trouble in Paradise. I enjoyed this for the most part, but again, crowd really wasn’t into it and seemed burned out.

Hell in a Cell: Legacy vs. DX

For all that’s said about HHH and HBK holding people down and whatnot, they made Legacy look like stars throughout this feud.

Great booking decision here: Legacy attacks DX during their entrance.

Great brawl to start outside of the ring. Legacy take out Triple H, then slam the cage door on Michaels’ knee. Again, brilliant booking in this one.

In more brilliant booking, Legacy traps HBK in the Cell and lock HHH out!

Legacy proceeds to beat the living crap out of Shawn in the Cell with HHH trying to find ways to get in.

A Million Dollar Dream and a Figure Four around the ringpost at the same time is a pretty awesome double submission. HHH makes his way back in.

DX now trap Dibiase outside of the Cell. Poor Cody.

DX win when HBK pins Rhodes in 18:02. Cody gets a Sweet Chin Sledgehammer, and it’s over. Fantastic booking. I remember being disappointed when I first saw this, but I really don’t know why. This was fun and different, and actually used the HIAC in a unique way. Also, Legacy controlled most of the match, and even in losing looked like future stars. Of course, only Cody would take advantage of that.

Hell in a Cell is an interesting show that promises one thing, but you get something totally different. Sure Taker vs. Punk and Orton vs. Cena were good, but given expectations both fell short. The main event at least did something totally different. The second half of the card also falls off a cliff, as the US Title match and McIntyre-Truth just kills the crowd. IC Title match was fun and Tag Title match stole the show.

Sadly, CM Punk would get pushed down the card for some reason after this (well, after Survivor Series), but everything else storyline wise would progress nicely.

It’s a fine show, but I just can’t get past the expectations of what three Hell in a Cell matches were supposed to be. This was the beginning of WWE watering down its ultimate feud ender.

Final Grade: B-

Basketball

Top 100 Greatest Basketball Players Ever: #50-#41

#50: James Worthy

top100worthy

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NBA Finals MVP: 1x (’88)

NBA All-3rd Team: 2x (’90, ’91)

All-NBA Rookie 1st Team: ‘83

NBA All-Star: 7x (’86, ’87, ’88, ’89, ’90, ’91, ‘92)

NBA Top 10 FG%: 5x (’83,’85, ’86, ’89, ’90)

NBA Top 10 Offensive Rating: 1x (’86)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: 1x (’86)

2nd Best Player on Two Champions: ’87 Lakers, ’88 Lakers

3rd Best Player on One Champion: ’85 Lakers

2nd Best Player on Two Runner-Ups: ’89 Lakers, ’91 Lakers

3rd Best Player on One Runner-Up: ’84 Lakers

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 50th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 58th

A really tough career to project since he was Magic’s wingman for virtually his whole career. Simmons compares Worthy to Tom Chambers, and Chambers barely made the top 100 without the help of a Magic Johnson, so there’s that. Reason why he couldn’t drop lower than the Top 50? He was “Big Game” James. In the 1984 Finals, Worthy put up games of 29 PTS on 11/12 shooting, 30 points on 14/17 and three other 50%+ FG 20 point games in a tough loss to the Celtics. He made up for that by putting up 29 on 12/22, 33 on 13/17 and 28 on 11/15 in Boston, all wins for LA, in the 1985 Finals. He opened the 1987 Finals with a 33-10-9. He finished off the Bad Boy Pistons in 1988 with a 36-16-10 in Game 7…and even dropped 40 in the deciding game when they lost the next year (with no Magic). More evidence points to Worthy being great than not.

#49: Dennis Johnson

top100djohnson

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NBA Finals MVP: 1x (’79)

NBA All-1st Team: 1x (’81)

NBA All-2nd Team: 1x (‘80)

NBA All-Defensive 1st Team: 6x (’79, ’80, ’81, ’82, ’83, ’87)

NBA All-Defensive 2nd Team: 3x (’84, ’85, ’86)

NBA All-Star: 5x (’79, ’80, ’81, ’82, ’85)

NBA Top 10 Defensive Win Shares: 1x (’80)

NBA Career Assists: 45th

NBA Career Steals: 43rd

3rd Best Player on One Champion: ’79 Sonics

Starter on Two Champions: ’84 Celtics, ’86 Celtics

2nd Best Player on One Runner-Up: ’78 Sonics

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

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 54th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 53rd

DJ gets the nod over Worthy for a few reasons. For one, we don’t know how Worthy’s career projects without Magic Johnson…but we do know Johnson could thrive without Bird since he did in Seattle. Also, Worthy’s main attribute was big game scoring. DJ’s was big game defense and he could score as well. Big difference. In an All-Time defensive team, DJ fits right in there with Jordan, Payton, Moncreif in the greatest defensive guards before 2000 conversation (and maybe of all time as well). He hounded Magic in the ’84 Finals and also shut down Andrew Toney (Toney gave Boston tons of trouble in the early 80s and was a big reason the Sixers made the Finals in ’83). DJ was the best guard on teams that won 47, 52, 56, 57, 46, 53, 62, 63, 67 games.

#48: Bill Walton

top100walton

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NBA MVP: 1x (’78)

NBA Finals MVP: 1x (’77)

NBA All-1st Team: 1x (’78)

NBA All-2nd Team: 1x (‘77)

NBA All-Defensive 1st Team: 2x (’77, ‘78)

NBA All-Star: 2x (’77, ‘78)

NBA Defensive Rating Leader: 2x (’78, ’86)

NBA Top 5 Rebounds: 1x (’77)

NBA Top 10 Blocks: 2x (’77, ’78)

NBA Top 3 WS/48: 2x (’77, ’78)

NBA Top 10 Defensive Rating: 5x (’76, ’77, ’78, ’85, ’86)

Best Player on One Champion: ’77 Blazers

Sixth Man on One Champion: ’86 Celtics

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 27th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 74th

Bill Simmons’ asks whether or not you would want two and a half transcendent years and twelve other years full of injuries or fourteen quality years. He took the two and a half, a big reason why he had Walton so high up (he compared him to David Robinson) in his pyramid. At one time I agreed, but looking at it now Walton’s peak came in the messy late seventies. Theoretically the league was full of talent, but teams still weren’t able to figure out styles and such after the merger. When Walton went down in 1978 (he was so good that year he rightly won MVP after playing only 58 of 60 games anyway…Portland was 50-10 at the time) Portland went down with him, failing to even win one playoff series.

An idea of how good Walton was? He averaged 19-19-5-4 in the ’77 Finals where Portland won, including a 20-23-8-7 in the deciding game. He had pretty much no supporting cast (Mo Lucas, Bobby Gross, Lionel Hollins?) and it didn’t matter. As a bonus, he was an iconic sixth man on the ’86 Celtics. If he doesn’t get hurt, Walton probably gets into the Top 15.

#47: Stephen Curry

top100curry

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NBA MVP: 1x (’15)

NBA All-1st Team: 1x (’15)

NBA All-2nd Team: 1x (‘14)

NBA Rookie 1st Team: 1x (‘10)

NBA All-Star: 2x (’14, ‘15)

NBA Steals Leader: 1x (’15)

NBA 3 PT FG Leader: 3x (’13, ’14, ’15)

NBA FT% Leader: 2x (’11, ’15)

NBA WS/48 Leader: 1x (’15)

NBA Top 10 Points: 3x (’13, ’14, ’15)

NBA Top 5 Assists: 4x (’10, ’13, ’14, ‘15)

NBA Top 2 Steals: 2x (’14, ’15)

NBA Top 5 WS/48: 2x (’14, ‘15)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 3x (’13, ’14, ’15)

NBA Top 10 PER: 2x (’14, ’15)

NBA Career Offensive Rating: 50th

Best Player on One Champion: ’15 Warriors

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): Not Ranked

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): Not Ranked

Obviously not ranked on Simmons or Slam due to the fact that Curry began peaking in 2014. Gets the nod over Walton because his peak took place in an extremely talented time in the NBA (won MVP over LeBron for example). It’s absolutely terrifying to watch Curry if he’s playing against your team. A League MVP, a great WS/48 season and best player on a title team status? That’s good enough for top 50.

The difference between Curry and Derrick Rose is that Curry’s MVP doesn’t really have any doubt attached to it. Yeah, you can consider James Harden, but no one actually thinks Harden was robbed. In 2011, Rose was probably the third best player in the league that year, behind LeBron and Dwight Howard. And LeBron destroyed him in the Eastern Conference Finals. Curry had so such issues (although he did luck out as opposing PGs got hurt).

#46: Ray Allen

top100allen

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NBA All-2nd Team: 1x (’05)

NBA All-3rd Team: 1x (‘01)

NBA Rookie 2nd Team: 1x (‘97)

NBA All-Star: 10x (’00, ’01, ’02, ’04, ’05, ’06, ’07, ’08, ’09, ‘11)

NBA 3 PT FG Leader: 1x (‘06)

NBA Offensive Win Share Leader: 1x (’01)

NBA Top 10 Points: 2x (’05, ‘06)

NBA Top 10 3 PT FG: 11x (’98, ’00, ’01, ’02, ’03, ’05, ’06, ’07, ’08, ’09, ’11)

NBA Top 10 FT%: 14x (’98, ’99, ’00, ’01, ’03, ’04, ’05, ’06, ’07, ’08, ’09, ’10, ’11, ’12, ’13)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 2x (’01, ’09)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: 1x (‘01)

NBA Top 10 Offensive Rating: 4x (’00, ’01, ’06, ’09)

NBA Career 3 PT FG: 1st

NBA Career FT%: 7th

Third Best Player on One Champion: ’08 Celtics

Role Player on One Champion: ’13 Heat

Third Best Player on One Runner-Up: ’10 Celtics

Role Player on One Runner-Up: ’14 Heat

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 62nd

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 79th

Pretty much Reggie Miller with a better post-season resume. Allen was very close (and probably deserved to be) the best player on a runner-up with the 2001 Bucks. He was clutch in the 2008 Finals against the Lakers. Everyone remembers the big comeback in Game 4…but somehow Allen playing all 48 minutes and closing the game out by driving past Sasha Vujacic in crunch time is forgotten. He was kinda robbed of Finals MVP in that series as well (50-50-90% shooting, 20 PPG). He hit a game winning three with no time left against Chicago in Round 1 in 2009, and also had a 51 point game later in the series. He also set a record with 8 threes in Game 2 against the Lakers in the Finals…although he fell apart later in that series. Of course he cemented his legacy as a clutch three point shooter, possibly surpassing Reggie as the best ever with his dagger of a three that saved LeBron’s legacy and the 2013 Miami Heat season. Most of that is just the late stage of his career. He was the top guy for a very good Bucks and a very good Sonics team (a Sonics team that gave the 2005 Champ Spurs a nice six game scare).

 #45: Chauncey Billups

top100billups

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NBA Finals MVP: 1x (’04)

NBA All-2nd Team: 1x (’06)

NBA All-3rd Team: 2x (’07, ‘09)

NBA All-Defensive 2nd Team: 2x (’05, ‘06)

NBA All-Star: 5x (’06, ’07, ’08, ’09, ‘10)

NBA Offensive Rating Leader: 1x (’06)

NBA Top 10 Assists: 2x (’06, ’07)

NBA Top 10 FT%: 11x (’99, ’02, ’03, ’04, ’05, ’06, ’07, ’08, ’09, ’10, ‘11)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 5x (’04, ’05, ’06, ’07, ’08)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: 6x (’03, ’04, ’05, ’06, ’07, ‘08)

NBA Top 10 Offensive Rating: 5x (’05, ’06, ’07, ’08, ‘09)

NBA Career FT%: 5th

NBA Career 3P FG: 7th

NBA Career Offensive Rating: 18th

Best Player on One Champion: ’04 Pistons

Best Player on One Runner-Up: ’05 Pistons

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): Not Ranked

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 124th

Easily the most underrated player of all time and it’s all due to perception. So let’s get to those perceptions and debunk them.

Number 1: The starting five for the 2004 Pistons were all equal…they were a real team and that’s why they won the title. Now defensively, I give Ben Wallace all the credit in the world and he did receive some consideration for my Top 100 due to his performance on the defensive end for the 2004 and 2005 Pistons. But offensively? Rasheed Wallace was a nice mid-season addition for a Pistons team that had already made a Conference Finals the year before with Billups. All I know is in Phil Jackson’s book The Last Season, he thinks about the Finals and starts off by thinking they are a team of equals…only to come to the conclusion that Billups was the key all along. That and when Chauncey left in 2008 the entire team fell apart. Rip Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince have done nothing of note since Chauncey left them. Not true for Chauncey…leading us too…

Number 2: Carmelo Anthony led the Nuggets to the 2009 Conference Finals. Let the record show that Carmelo had the worst season of his early career in 2009 (.105 WS/48, 45% FG, 23 PPG, didn’t make the All-Star team), although he played great in the playoffs) and the Nuggets didn’t fall off at all. The Nuggets with Carmelo also made it past the first round for the first time…Chauncey had a 135 offensive rating in the playoffs. Detroit meanwhile fell out in Round 1. The difference was Chauncey.

Number 3: Chauncey was only good because of the slow it down style of the Pistons. Of course, this makes no sense as he succeeded with the Nuggets too.

Number 4: The Pistons era was overrated because the East was bad all those years. Of course, this isn’t fair to Chauncey as others have gotten this benefit too (and he got to the Conference Finals in the West anyway). Being the best player on a team that made seven straight Conference Finals is impressive no matter what the situation. His Pistons ended the Kidd era Nets, ended the Shaq-Kobe Lakers, nearly upset Duncan at his peak and even knocked LeBron down once. Sounds good enough for me.

In addition to all of that, Chauncey has great advanced numbers and a few All-NBA teams. He’s a great player.

#44: George Gervin

top100gervin

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NBA All-1st Team: 5x (’78, ’79, ’80, ’81, ’82)

NBA All-2nd Team: 2x (’77, ‘83)

ABA All-2nd Team: 2x (’75, ’76)

ABA All-Rookie 1st Team: 1x (’73)

NBA All-Star: 9x (’78, ’79, ’80, ’81, ’82, ’83, ’84, ‘85)

ABA All-Star: 3x (’74, ’75, ’76)

NBA Points Leader: 4x (’78, ’79, ’80, ’82)

NBA Top 6 Points: 8x (’77, ’78, ’79, ’80, ’81, ’82, ’83, ’84)

ABA Top 7 Points: 3x (’74, ’75, ’76)

ABA Top 10 Blocks: 3x (’74, ’75, ’76)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 6x (’77, ’78, ’79, ’80, ’81, ’82)

ABA Top 10 Win Shares: 3x (’74, ’75, ’76)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: 3x (’77, ’78, ’79)

ABA Top 10 WS/48: 1x (76)

NBA Top 10 PER: 6x ( ’77, ’78, ’79, ’80, ’81, ’82)

ABA Top 10 PER: 3x (’74, ’75, ’76)

NBA+ABA Career Points: 15th

ABA Career Blocks: 9th

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 34th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 45th

The Iceman was one of the all-time great scorers…and that’s about it. Horrible defensive player and seemingly only cared about scoring points. But he was great at it, and in the late 70s where everything was screwed up roster wise, that was good enough to be one of the best players in the league. It never got him to the Finals though as he failed to get past those Unseld-Hayes Bullets teams. And once Magic and Bird came along, Gervin was never seeing the Finals.

Recently, his record of 33 points in a quarter was broken, but it tells you just what kind of scorer he was. His peak was too good to leave out of the Top 50.

#43: Sam Jones

top100jones

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NBA All-2nd Team: 3x (’65, ’66, ‘67)

NBA All-Star: 5x (’62, ’64, ’65, ’66, ‘68)

NBA Top 10 Points: 2x (’65, ‘66)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 5x (’62, ’63, ’64, ’65, ‘66)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: 10x (’59, ’60, ’61, ’62, ’63, ’64, ’65, ’66, ’67, ‘68)

2nd or 3rd Best Player on Six Champions, Won Ten Championships Overall (’59 Celtics, ’60 Celtics, ’61 Celtics, ’62 Celtics, ’63 Celtics, ’64 Celtics, ’65 Celtics, ’66 Celtics, ’68 Celtics, ’69 Celtics)

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 33rd

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 65th

Simmons gave the nod to Jones over Gervin because of the teammate aspect, the fact that Bill Russell praises Jones as his crunch time scorer. While I can’t say I’ve seen much of Sam Jones other than some Youtube highlights, but I have seen Gervin and I know he’s a me-first guy and probably the biggest reason the Spurs didn’t win a title. So I’ll take Simmons word on this.

I’ll also provide the list of great playoff games Jones had that Simmons provided, which was more than enough to sway me.

Hit a game winner in the Eastern Conference Finals vs. ’62 Sixers in Game 7, scored 27…Scored 35 against the ’62 Lakers in the Finals…scored 27 in Game 7 of the ’62 Finals vs. the Lakers…scored 47 against Oscar and the Royals in another Game 7…37 in Game 7 of the ’65 Sixers series…34 Points in Game 5 of the ’65 Royals series…hit a game winner in Game 4 of the ’69 Lakers series. That’s not all of them…but you get the point.

#42: Clyde Drexler

PLEASE NOTE THIS IMAGE IS FOR USE VIA THE CONSUMER POD SITE ONLY. PORTLAND, OR - JANUARY 1: Clyde Drexler #22 of the Portland Trail Blazers dunks during a game on January 1, 1989 in Portland, Oregon. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory copyright notice: Copyright NBAE 1989 (Photo by Mike Powell/NBAE/Getty Images)

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NBA All-1st Team: 1x (‘92)

NBA All-2nd Team: 2x (’88, ‘91)

NBA All-3rd Team: 2x (’88, ‘95)

NBA All-Star: 10x (’86, ’88, ’89, ’90, ’91, ’92, ’93, ’94, ’96, ‘97)

NBA Top 10 Points: 3x (’88, ’89, ‘92)

NBA Top 10 Assists: 1x (’86)

NBA Top 10 Steals: 6x (’85, ’86, ’87, ’88, ’89, ’95)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 6x (’88, ’89, ’90, ’91, ’92, ‘95)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: 6x (’88, ’89, ’90, ’91, ’92, ‘95)

NBA Top 10 PER: 4x (’88, ’89, ’92, ‘95)

NBA Career Points: 29th

NBA Career Steals: 7th

2nd Best Player on one Champion: ’95 Rockets

Best Player on Two Runner-Ups: ’90 Blazers, ’92 Blazers

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 44th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 42nd

I’ll just start off with saying I agree with Michael Jordan…that Drexler was a poor man’s Michael Jordan.

It may not seem completely fair, but that’s what he was. Primarily an inside drive guy with a shaky outside shot…only Drexler wasn’t remotely a good three point shooter either. His peak in the late 80s and early 90s was impressive…he got to the Finals before Jordan did…but he failed at that level and then was destroyed by Jordan in ’92. Amazingly, he begins to decline at age 30 in 1993 in what only could be described as a player who’s confidence was destroyed.

 There’s not much else to say about Drexler. He was a really good player, sometimes great, that couldn’t get his teams to the finish line. His career was swallowed up by Jordan. It goes farther than the ’92 Finals. Remember, Portland didn’t pick Jordan because they had Drexler. And of course, Drexler’s ring came in the 2nd of Jordan’s baseball years.

And of course…there was the 1992 Finals. Poor Drexler.

#41: George Mikan

George Mikan, right, honored earlier this year as one of the 50 greatest NBA players of all-time, led the Minneapolis Lakers basketball team to six championships. This photo is from a game against Rochester at the old Minneapolis Auditorium on March 29, 1954. Star Tribune file photo.

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NBA All-1st Team: 6x (’49, ’50, ’51, ’52, ’53, ’54)

NBA All-Star: 4x (’51, ’52, ’53, ’54)

NBA Points Leader: 3x (’49, ’50, ’51)

NBA Rebounds Leader: 1x (’53)

NBA PER Leader: 3x (’52, ’53, ’54)

NBA Offensive Win Share Leader: 2x (’49, ’51)

NBA Defensive Win Share Leader: 5x (’50, ’51, ’52, ’53, ’54)

NBA Win Share Leader: 3x (’49, ’50, ’51)

NBA WS/48 Leader: 1x (’53)

NBA Top 4 Points: 6x (’49, ’50, ’51, ’52, ’53, ’54)

NBA Top 10 Assists: 1x (’49)

NBA Top 3 Rebounds: 4x (’51, ’52, ’53, ‘54)

NBA Top 4 Win Shares: 6x (’49, ’50, ’51, ’52, ’53, ’54)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: 3x (’52, ’53, ‘54)

Best Player on Five Champions: ’49 Lakers, ’50 Lakers, ’52 Lakers, ’53 Lakers, ’54 Lakers

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 38th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 29th

Obviously a product of his era. Once the shot clock and bigger lane came into play, Mikan was done. He absolutely dominated the early NBA and even the NBL. He was basketball’s first great player and dominated the league. That has to count for something.

NASCAR

Predicting the 2015 Chase for the Cup

First let’s look at our sixteen Chase drivers.

1. Jimmie Johnson (4 W, 11 T5, 17 T10): It is impossible to ever count out Jimmie Johnson in any Chase scenario and to me, he’s probably the second favorite this year. Jimmie has 25 career Chase wins in the 11 years the Chase has been run. That’s more than double 2nd place (Tony Stewart, 11). Jimmie won at Texas, Dover and Kansas this year and all three are Chase races.

2. Kyle Busch (4 W, 6 T5, 9 T10): Kyle put up those statistics in merely 15 starts, so you can argue he’s in fact been the best driver on the circuit this year. Here’s why I’m not counting Kyle as a Championship contender just yet: He’s historically been a disappointment come Chase time. He has one victory in the Chase and that happened early in his career when he wasn’t a Chase participant. He’s had huge regular seasons before and came up way short (like in 2008). Prove it to me Kyle.

3. Matt Kenseth (4 W, 10 T5, 16 T10): The class of the Gibbs cars that on paper look to be dominating this season. Kenseth got hot late this season and is obviously a contender…but unlike Johnson all of his victories came at tracks that aren’t in the Chase. I wouldn’t count him out though.

4. Joey Logano (3 W, 16 T5, 20 T10): Sliced Bread just keeps getting better, posting a ridiculous a great 8.6 average finish this season. Logano is right up there with Johnson for me in terms of being the second favorite. He almost won this thing last year and won at New Hampshire and Kansas. Wouldn’t be surprised to see him in the final four again.

5. Kevin Harvick (2 W, 18 T5, 22 T10): Easily the favorite. Has twelve top 2 finishes this season, which is insane. Harvick’s season so far has reflected the poor man’s version of Jeff Gordon’s 1998 season. He had three wins in the Chase alone last year, including the last two races. Make no mistake, he’s the driver to beat.

6. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2 W, 12 T5, 17 T10): A real dark horse to win it all this year. He has Talladega where he’s the favorite to win and is a cut off race. He won the Martinsville race after he was eliminated last year. He’s won at Texas and Phoenix in his career. I can’t say he’s a true contender though and he’s been historically subpar at Homestead though.

7. Kurt Busch (2 W, 8 T5, 14 T10): Probably a favorite to land somewhere in the 5th through 8th range. He’s had hot streaks in the late races before, but that was a long time ago.

8. Carl Edwards (2 W, 3 T5, 9 T10): Picked up a fuel mileage win at Charlotte that no one really took seriously, but then proved critics wrong with his win at Darlington. Nonetheless, he’ll need to be more consistent to have a shot at Homestead. I don’t see it.

9. Brad Keselowski (1 W, 6 T5, 18 T10): Keselowski seems like the guy who knows what he has to do in order to advance in this thing…I was probably the only fan who thought the way he drove last year was the right way to do it. He’s been more consistent this year, and perhaps maybe that’s his plan to get to the end? We’ll see.

10. Martin Truex Jr. (1 W, 7 T5, 17 T10): Kudos to Truex for having what seems to be the best season of his career. He peaked way too early with his top 10 streak and has fallen apart since then. My pick for the driver to have a Ryan Newman in 2014 type run.

11. Denny Hamlin (1 W, 9 T5, 13 T10): Another darkhorse to win it all. Hamlin’s had strong Chase runs before and was in the final four last year. As for his torn ACL, I recall him winning a few years ago with a broken leg or something, no? Always a threat at Martinsville (won there in the Spring), to which if he’s alive and wins there he’ll be in the final 4 again.

12. Jamie McMurray (2 T5, 7 T10): Finally! McMurray makes his first Chase. And while I’m counting him out as his resume is a good reason we need to slightly limit the Chase, McMurray does have an outside chance of doing something here. He absolutely can win Talladega (won there in 2009 and 2013). So we’ll see.

13. Jeff Gordon (3 T5, 13 T10): The sentimental favorite, and of course you can’t count out someone like Jeff Gordon, but it will be an uphill climb for him. Nonetheless he’s a threat to win everywhere and with solid finishes he could find himself at the end.

14. Ryan Newman (4 T5, 12 T10): Ultimately his big point penalty didn’t mean anything. I guess he could “Newman” the Chase again. He finished 2nd at Homestead last year so if he somehow gets there he has a legit shot to win it all.

15. Paul Menard (2 T5, 4 T10): Let’s be clear, if Menard wins the format needs to be revamped again.

16. Clint Bowyer ( 2 T5, 11 T10): Has the talent to make something happen in the Chase. Definitely a Talladega threat. Not sure how much his team has left though.

This is how I see the Chase breaking down.

Harvick makes a point and wins Chicagoland, Logano takes New Hampshire and Kurt Busch proves he’s a contender and wins Dover. He lose Menard, McMurray, Bowyer and Edwards. Jeff Gordon shows he’s not done and wins Charlotte, Kansas goes to Johnson and McMurray wins Talladega, although it’s too late for him. We lose Newman, Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Keselowski, who never got it going. Dale Jr. repeats at Martinsville, Johnson wins at Texas and Harvick takes Phoenix. Gordon, Kenseth, Kurt Busch and Truex Jr. go out. This leaves Dale Jr., Johnson, Logano and Harvick. Harvick outright wins again, taking home a 2nd straight title while Logano finishes in the top 5 (and 2nd in the standings), Johnson ends up about 10th and Dale Jr. ends up in the 20s.

It probably won’t shake out this way…but that’s how I’m calling it! Let’s hope we get an entertaining Chase!