Basketball

The NBA Injury What-If All Stars

On the heels of the unfortunate news about Derrick Rose, it seems appropriate to revisit some of the greatest NBA players to have injuries derail what was potentially a Hall of Fame (or better) career. Truthfully, a couple of these guys on this What-If All Star team may make the Hall of Fame anyway. The point of this team is strictly injuries that plagued the prime years or more of a player’s career. Other reasons such as attitude or bad personal habits count against a player making this team, as that’s on the player. Also, for the purposes of this article, I am focusing on players from the 90s on. So no Bill Walton or Sidney Moncrief.

First, a list of “cuts”.

Tim Hardaway: He put up three straight years of about 23-10 for the RUN TMC Warriors before a knee injury took out his age 27 season. He lost tons of quickness, but was still quite effective with a 20-9 in his comeback year. Hardaway later was an effective 2nd option for the Miami Heat in the late 90s as well. Why did he miss this list? I have questions about just how good Hardaway really was (Warriors were 34-48 the year before he got hurt, went 50-32 when he was gone when they got Chris Webber, then dropped back to 26-56 the year he came back). I also don’t think his downfall was as big as others. So he was 85% as good as he was.

Chris Webber: Speaking of Webber, injuries seemed to limit Webber’s overall career. It’s debatable what you thought Webber’s ceiling was but I don’t need to get into that. Webber was mostly healthy in his prime years for the Kings. And the truth was he wasn’t as good as Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki or Kevin Garnett at that time either. Nevermind the fact that the Kings often wondered if they were just as good without him.

Alonzo Mourning: Kidney ailments practically ruined Alonzo Mourning’s twilight years starting from age 30. But as good as he was, he wasn’t good enough to carry the Heat to the finals (or usually past the Knicks). He was who he was and had reached his potential as a good offensive player and destructive defensive player. He still made the Hall of Fame.

Amar’e Stoudemire and Tracy McGrady: Both guys started very young in the NBA and were successful right away and both flourished offensively. T-Mac’s issue is this. Comparing them in 2003, Tracy McGrady was a more talented basketball player than Kobe Bryant. But overall Kobe just wanted it more. That’s why Kobe was still an elite guy as late as 2011 and McGrady was a role player in 2008. Sure injuries played a part of it. But so did passion and hard work. Stoudemire’s case is a bit different, as he basically got the most out of someone who focused on just offense. He should have been a better rebounder and should have at least tried on defense. But he didn’t. Also, both guys had pretty much full careers before injuries really took their tolls (Amar’e came back strong from his 2005-2006 injuries as well). If Chris Bosh’s career ends up being over, you could make the same case about having a full career here. You can make it for Alonzo as well.

Vin Baker: Alcoholism is a sad deal for sure. But it won’t count as an injury here.

Gilbert Arenas: Knee injuries hurt his career sure. But bringing guns into the locker room was a lot worse.

Vince Carter: Notably one of the softest players of his generation (knock him down once and no more dunking), but let’s not forget he also outright gave up on Toronto.

Jay Williams and Shaun Livingston: Two lottery picks. Williams ruined his career in a motorcycle accident and while he had some bright spots his rookie year, that’s wasn’t enough for me to think he was a Hall of Famer in waiting (his advanced metrics were quite bad for a rookie too). Livingston blew his knee out in about 10 different places at once, but again, nothing really indicated just how good he would be.

Steve Francis: With Francis, it’s more bad attitude than anything else. Notes about Francis: practically finished off basketball in Vancouver when he didn’t want to go there. Got Jeff Van Gundy tons of praise for inspiring Francis to play any defense. Got suspended in Orlando for conduct detrimental to the team. And there’s a video out there (I’ll post it if I can find it) that shows Francis walking away from an opponent taking a three pointer. It wasn’t just the knee.

Now, your What-If All Stars.

The Bench

Andrew Bynum, C, Lakers, Sixers, Cavs, Pacers

Resume: Peak Year: 19-12-2, 56% FG, .183 WS/48, All Star, NBA All 2nd Team (11-12, 24 Yrs.). Two Time NBA Champion.

Bynum hasn’t played effective basketball since that 2012 season. The Lakers, with amazing timing, traded Bynum for Dwight Howard. Bynum didn’t play the next year at all, then played 26 rough games for the Pacers and Cavs (averaging a 9-6 on 41% shooting) due to deteriorating knees. He hasn’t played since. Sure he was (and is) a hot head, but Bynum was a force for the Lakers through their two title teams and a couple years beyond, and he was only 24 for that 2012 season. Now he’s out of the league at 27.

Greg Oden, C, Portland Trail Blazers, Miami Heat

Resume: Peak Year: 11-9-2 in 24 MPG 21 G, 23.1 PER, .214 WS/48 (09-10, 22 Yrs.)

Seems odd to put Oden here when not including Jay Williams or Shaun Livingston? Well Oden’s advanced metrics were off the charts in his first two seasons…at least for the 82 games he played. He showed significant improvement in his second season (including a 24-12-2 in 27 minutes). But he couldn’t stay on the court. Any reason not to include him on this team would be more of what happened later (domestic violence, sending sexual explicit images to women, alcohol issues, lack of desire to play), but it’s clear that what derailed his career first was the injuries. In fact, a lot of those may have even been caused by the expectation and pressure he was under.

Terrell Brandon, PG, Cavs, Bucks, T-Wolves

Resume: Peak Year: 19-6-2, 46-38-88%s, 25.2 PER, .237 WS/48, 27.6% Usage, All-Star (95-96, 25 Yrs.)

Let’s put it this way: if you agree that Chauncey Billups is a top 50 player of all time (he is), then this is an easy sell. If not, well you probably won’t buy this. His 25.2 PER was 6th that season, behind David Robinson, Michael Jordan, Shaq, Karl Malone and Hakeem, and right ahead of Charles Barkley. Here’s the list of players who had a season of at least 27.6% usage and a 121 offensive rating for one season in the 3 point era: Barkley, Bird, Stephen Curry (so far in 14-15 at least), Adrian Dantley, Durant, LeBron, Jordan, Nowitzki, Amar’e and Kiki Vandeweghe. And Terrell Brandon. Just look at that list! Brandon’s stats for 1996 look a lot like Billups later during the Pistons run in the mid 00s. Not surprisingly Billups’ teams “overachieved”. Brandon dragged a Cavs team that featured Chris Mills, Bobby Phills, Danny Ferry and Michael Cage to 47-35. It’s worth noting that this was Brandon’s first year as a starter and he was very good in 1997 as well. He was the main piece of the haul that the Bucks received for parting with Vin Baker where Cleveland got Shawn Kemp (so Brandon was traded with a 1st that had middling potential for an in his prime Shawn Kemp. Not bad). Knee injuries screwed up Brandon in Milwaukee. Look, he was really damn good and even remained effective after those injuries. Don’t scoff at the 19-6.

Antonio McDyess, PF, Nuggets, Suns, Knicks, Pistons, Spurs

Resume: Peak Year: 21-11-2, All NBA Third Team (1999, 24 Yrs.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1ZLXkRGH_0

You can argue McDyess’ 2000-2001 year is better (21-12). Anyway, McDyess was a high flying power forward known to try to touch the top of the backboard. He had 21-11, 19-9 and 21-12 coming up to his age 28 season. He would rupture his patella tendon, resulting him only playing 10 games in 01-02. Got dealt to the Knicks and while it’s only the pre-season, put up the following lines: 17-17, 13-7 in 17 minutes and a 23-15 before getting injured again with a fractured kneecap. He wouldn’t be the same. It’s one of the forgotten what-ifs for the mid-2000 Knicks.

McDyess was an explosive power forward who was just hitting his prime. It would have only benefitted him playing in the Eastern Conference at that time…the best power forward in the East was Kenyon Martin at that point…and injuries took away his shot at being a top player. He would re-invent himself in Detroit and San Antonio, but would narrowly miss winning a title.

Reggie Lewis, SF, Celtics

Resume: Peak Year: 21-5, 50% FG, 85% FT, All-Star (91-92, 26 Yrs.)

A tough call, but ultimately decided Lewis makes the team for the following reasons.

His cause of death: If it was ruled to be cocaine, I wouldn’t have him here (why I didn’t consider Len Bias). But his heart scarring showed to be inconsistent with cocaine.

While Lewis’ advanced metrics as a whole showed to be rather average, he scored well on a good percentage on a good team and had some good offensive metrics.

He was a crucial part of the post-Bird Celtics. Bird retired…and the Celtics under Lewis in 1992-1993 won 48 games and made the playoffs. He had been handed the keys and all indications pointed to him leading Boston to some more winning seasons. He was just about to hit his prime. But sadly we’ll never know.

Drazen Petrovic, SG, Blazers, Nets

Resume: Peak Year: 22.3 PPG, 52-45-87%s, All NBA Third Team (92-93, 28 Yrs.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLlPtBsGbYo

Drazen’s death potentially set back the immersion of international players in the NBA…but his success ultimately aided that same immersion. Drazen was a dead eye scorer who feared no one. Just watch the highlight reel against the ’93 Rockets (featuring the best defensive player in the world at that point, Hakeem).

He wasn’t happy being benched behind Clyde Drexler in Portland, got a trade to New Jersey and flourished, showing international players CAN succeed in the NBA. For all the talk about Toni Kukoc for Croatia in the 1992 Olympics…Drazen was the true best player on that team. Of the first 14 years that the NBA had a three point line, Drazen had three of the top 17 shooting seasons (2 of those with high enough volume in NJ). He shot 43.7% for his career from the 3 point line (255/583). I mean what?

Maybe it’s a bit of cheating to add someone who was trending upward in his age 28 season, but we had no idea how much better Petrovic was going to get. And when he died in a car crash, we never would know. He also set the stage for Manu, Dragic and all the other international guards that come through the NBA. If anything Drazen was 20 years ahead of his time. He would be a more devastating version of Klay Thompson if he were in the league today.

Brandon Roy, SG, Blazers, T-Wolves

Resume: Peak Year: 23-5-5, 48-38-82%s, .223 WS/48, All NBA Second Team (08-09, 24 Yrs.). All NBA Third Team in 2010.

One of the biggest disappointments in recent NBA history in terms of injuries, because there was nothing Roy could do about it. His knees didn’t have any cartilage and it zapped all of his explosiveness and quickness. Roy was the #2 SG in the league behind Kobe and his injuries turned him into a fraction of that player. He injured the knee late in 2010 and he never recovered. He started slowly in 2010-2011, scoring the same but shooting a much lower percentage. He took a month off and came back worse. Other than one throwback game (how sad is it that at 26 he has a throwback game) in the 2011 playoffs against Dallas, Brandon Roy was done. He would attempt one more season a couple of years later, got paid somehow, got everyone excited…and played five pitiful games. One of the most promising careers a half-decade earlier was over.

The ramifications are huge. When LaMarcus Aldridge eventually became a much better player he did it after Roy. Roy and the Aldridge of today teaming up would have made Portland a legit championship contender (and if they made the same Gerald Wallace trade, impossible to say, that could be Aldridge, Roy AND Lillard). We get to miss out on Brandon Roy vs. James Harden battles. It’s a shame all around.

Your Starting Lineup

Danny Manning, PF, Clippers, Hawks, Suns, Bucks, Jazz, Mavericks, Pistons

Resume: Peak Year: 23-6, 51% FG, All-Star (91-92, 25 Yrs.), Two Time All-Star

Manning’s peak year looks pretty disappointing. But he’s here for a totally different reason. Here was one of the great college players of all time coming into his rookie year, averaging 17-6 the first 26 games of the season. And at age 21…he tore his ACL. Manning never regained any of the elite skills he showed at Kansas but to his credit, he still became a very good player. He dragged the Clippers from pretty much hell and took them to the playoffs for the first time in 16 seasons. Got traded for an aging but still All-Star Dominique during his 2nd All Star year…although the Hawks sent a 1st as well. That’s still good company. He left Atlanta but tore up his other knee the next year…and despite being the first player to play in the NBA with both knees surgically reconstructed, he STILL managed to be an effective player. Who knows what happens if he never tears his ACL in his rookie year.

Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway, SG, Magic, Suns, Knicks, Heat

Resume: Peak Year: 22-7-4-2, 51% FG, .229 WS/48, All NBA First Team (95-96, 24 Yrs.). Also made All NBA First Team in 94-95, and Third Team in 96-97. 2nd Best Player on Eastern Conference Champ (’95 Magic)

Penny Hardaway and Shaquille O’Neal were supposed to own the East and the NBA forever. But Penny and Shaq didn’t get along, and Shaq bolted to LA. Penny still looked very good post-Shaq…until knee injuries destroyed his career. Penny made two All NBA First Teams pretty much right away and was Shaq’s original #2 man in the path to the NBA Finals in 1995. They would get close in 1996 as well…but MJ and the ’96 Bulls were too much to handle.

Many said Penny was Magic Johnson 2.0, and there were similarities for sure…but Penny earlier in his career was a better scorer than Magic. Penny wanted that superstar glory for himself. The only thing that could have held him back was his attitude. Otherwise, the Penny vs. Hill battles throughout the early 2000s would have been fascinating. An example of just how devastating Penny could be? Down 0-2 to the Heat in the 1997 playoffs he put together back to back 40 point games and kept Orlando alive (31-6 in the series against a great defensive team). As long as he kept his head on straight and kept his brand in check (lil’ Penny!) and stayed healthy Penny would go down as one of the all time greats.

Penny injured his ACL in a way that was unidentifiable at the time. Penny eventually came back in late ’97, early ’98, clearly not himself. There was controversy in regards to him playing the 1998 All-Star Game…which was made worse when he didn’t play during the rest of the season afterwards (reminds me of Carmelo actually). He was good, but not nearly the same in 1999 and got wrecked by Allen Iverson in the playoffs. He got sent to the Suns…and did okay for a while but then ended up with microfracture surgery and became a shell of his former self. Just read these last two paragraphs again. Penny and Hill’s injuries were major reasons the Eastern Conference was horrible in the early 2000s.

Grant Hill, SF, Pistons, Magic, Suns, Clippers

Resume: Peak Year: 21-9-7-2, 50% FG, .223 WS/48, All NBA First Team (96-97, 24 Yrs.) Other seasons: 20-6-5 (22 Yrs, Rookie), 20-10-7, 21-7-8, 26-5-7. Seven Time All Star. Made four other All NBA Second Teams.

Basically LeBron before LeBron. With the exception of two of those All Star appearances, he accomplished all on his resume before his 28th birthday.

How crazy is that? Grant Hill came into the league and was great right away. He had a killer crossover…yet could play power forward. He was literally the LeBron prototype. After the first six seasons of his career, he had 9,393 points, 3,417 rebounds and 2,720 assists. Only three players in NBA history surpassed those numbers in their first three seasons: Larry Bird, LeBron and Oscar Robertson. Grant Hill was the future. He was traded to Orlando since he planned to sign with them, which netted Detroit Ben Wallace. Some called the deal the most lopsided in NBA history. But it turned out Detroit got the better end when Wallace helped bring a championship to Detriot.

He sprained his ankle late in 2000, but continued to gut it out knowing what he meant to the Pistons organization. He fought hard against the Heat but made the ankle significantly worse (Hill deserves a lot of credit for this considering his impending free agency…although he got max money anyway). He would never fully recover from his ankle injury. Over the next few seasons he barely played for Orlando, his new team, and the following procedure were done: a re-fracturing of his ankle to line it up with his leg…and he also contracted MRSA from that. While he would finally play a near full season and even make one more All-Star team in ’05, he was still a shell of his former self. Hill remained a solid role player throughout the rest of his career.

Remember those Jason Kidd led Nets teams that went to the finals in the early 2000s? Something tells me those don’t happen with a healthy Grant Hill in the league. For his 28, 29, 30 and 31 year old seasons…Hill played 47 games total.

Derrick Rose, PG, Bulls

Resume: Peak Year: 25-8-4, .208 WS/48, NBA MVP, All NBA First Team (10-11, 22 Yrs.) Three Time NBA All-Star. .211 WS/48 in 11-12.

How crazy is it that this may be the end of Derrick Rose’s resume? That MVP is his ONLY All NBA Team and probably will be for the rest of his career (whether or not he deserved the MVP is a different question).

It all began with a serious torn ACL in his left knee in the 2012 playoffs against the Sixers. While in the 90s ACL injuries were huge, these days it should be as bad. But Rose failed to return in 12-13, then managed only 10 games in 13-14 after tearing his meniscus and missing the rest of the season. Rose came back in 14-15…and another tear in the meniscus has put his season in jeopardy. While the meniscus tear is bad…the 18 month recovery time needed from the first ACL injury is a bigger red flag considering he struggled when he came back. Something happened from that first ACL injury that Derrick Rose never got past. Of course, there’s the stats as well: 21-7, 46% FG before the ACL tear in his career…18-5, 40% since.

The good thing for Rose? He’s the only person who can actually play off this team. Good luck Derrick Rose! He’s only 26!

Yao Ming, C, Rockets

Resume: Peak Year: 20-10-2, 54% FG, All NBA Second Team (08-09, 28 Yrs.) .200 CAREER WS/48. Lowest Orating for a season: 110. .220 WS/48, 25-9 in 48 G in 06-07. 8 Time All Star. One other All NBA 2nd Team and three All NBA Third Teams.

Some people called Yao soft. Somewhere in that soft tag was a dominant defensive player, a great offensive player, a legit 20-10 guy who blocked 2 shots a game. Yet in 8 seasons he didn’t even manage to play 500 games. He got through his first three seasons injury free but couldn’t get out of Round 1. Got hurt in April of his 4th season and wouldn’t play another full season until 08-09, where he was great. Without T-Mac, he led the Rockets past Roy and the Blazers and led a shocking upset in Game 1 against the Lakers. While the Rockets would go down 2-1, they would have to press further without Yao as he suffered a hairline fracture. And just like that, it was over. Great secret what-if? Do the Rockets win the series if Yao stays healthy. I mean…they took it to seven anyway.

Yao was a physical freak. Despite all the injuries, his game never wavered. He was pretty much a 20-10 guy since year two. If he stayed healthy, do the Rockets make a Finals? Impossible to say, but I think Yao did have that in him. His stats were good. The advanced metrics were great. He just threw in a “yeah, I’m a great player” performance against the Lakers in Game 1. I think he’s a Hall of Famer anyway.

There they are…your What-If All Stars. Try not to be too sad like me right now. And best of luck to Derrick Rose. And while we are at it…I really hope we don’t see Paul George on this team soon.

NASCAR

2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Preview: 10 Questions

nascar 2015 logo

On the eve of the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship opener: the Daytona 500, fans still wonder about the direction the sport is headed. Last year’s Chase for the Cup Championship, while exiting, took a lot of the authenticy and even legitimacy of the Sprint Cup Championship. We are now far removed from the days where a driver had to be good for 36 straight weeks in order to win a title. We’re even now past the idea of a driver putting together a hot ten weeks, similar to most major league playoff systems, and winning a championship. Now you just have to make it to the end by any means necessary and you can be champion if you outlast three other drivers in one race. I may sound pretty negative on this, but I don’t think the most recent way to decide the Sprint Cup Champion is a bad thing. In fact, the only issue I really have with it is the fact that the title is decided by one race at the end. Three would suffice for me. I understand why it’s like that though, ever since 2011 NASCAR looked to replicate the Tony Stewart vs. Carl Edwards battle for the title. That was the year Stewart barely made the Chase, won five of the ten Chase races and won a points tie with Edwards because of his five wins against Edwards one. Despite Stewart’s lackluster regular season, I was perfectly fine with this. Stewart was good when it mattered over a decent sample size. I would also change the non-winners getting in. I wouldn’t allow any non-winners unless they were the regular season points champion. Win a race if you want to be the champion.

 I don’t know if NASCAR liked the Kevin Harvick vs. Ryan Newman battle from last year…but I bet they are happy Harvick won. Newman of course had merely four top 5s and 0 wins but snuck into the final based off of not making any mistakes and rarely finishing worse than 20th. He finished 2nd at Homestead and could have won the title if Harvick had any issue. It would have the worst champion in the history of the Sprint Cup title as well. Would have been rectified with my win or you’re not in rule.

Anyway, let’s ask 10 pressing questions about the 2015 NASCAR season.

Who’s winning the title?

Could be anyone under this format really. I think Jeff Gordon is a sentimental favorite due to his retirement announcement. But he’s a legit title contender as well and might have gotten there if he didn’t screw up after Brad Keselowski messed up his tire at Texas making a “crazy move”. It’s forgotten that Gordon actually ruined his own chances at winning the title last year by not getting out of pit road in time after the incident with Keselowski which cost him a lap. Gordon ultimately lost to Ryan Newman by one point…a point he surely could have made up at the end of Texas.

RDT predicts these two will be in the hunt for the title
RDT predicts these two will be in the hunt for the title

Anyway, I like keeping Harvick in the final four. I remember laughing when I saw Harvick being listed as the favorite by numerous betting sites before the Chase. Harvick responded with three wins (including the last two races to win the title), six top 5s and nine top 15s. I would not rule out Harvick. I also will include Jimmie Johnson. Johnson had the first “bad” season for him (11th in the standings despite 4 wins, and 20 top 10s…which amazingly tied a career low for him). Yeah, JJ has dominated the Chase races for practically a decade now. It’s still smart money to think he’ll be in the end. I’m not going to pick Gordon. He didn’t get in despite a great season last year. For the other two spots I’ll go with Brad Keselowski, who’s aggressiveness can lead to wins late, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. You may scoff at my adding Junior, but he’s at the top of his game and even won the Martinsville race after he was eliminated. A four win season last year proves he’s ready to go. He might just win the Daytona 500 this year. Also consider when calculating the 2013 Championship with 2014 rules, Dale Jr. actually wins the title in that format (with no wins at that).

I would ultimately pick Johnson to bring home title #7.

What about Tony Stewart?

Tony Stewart is a very interesting dark horse for the Championship considering he’s been known for his hot streaks at the end of the season (see 2011). Stewart didn’t race a full 2013 due to injury, and then the Kevin Ward tragedy ruined any chance Stewart was going to make a late season surge. Has he put that behind him? His he 100% healthy? Can he still handle being a car owner and an elite level NASCAR driver? I don’t know, but if you can get really good odds, I wouldn’t count Tony Stewart out.

What will happen with Kurt and Kyle Busch?

I think we may finally be at the point of Kurt Busch’s top level NASCAR career being over. He’s only been employed due to his talent (which won a title in 2004). But I mean it was questionable that he was going to be picked up by anyone during his previous incidents…and now we are throwing domestic violence on top of that. Domestic violence is unfortunately a hot topic as top tier athletes in other sports (Adrian Peterson, Ray Rice) have had notably incidents and didn’t play their respective seasons. I think at minimum we’ll see Kurt Busch at that level.

Kyle’s situation is a shame but we still need more information. He was injured in the Xfinity series opener at Daytona today and will miss the 500. But if he can get back on track and win one race he can still get in the Chase, which isn’t far-fetched at all (Denny Hamlin did this last year and made the final four). I think it’s a good sign that Kyle is scaling back his non-Sprint Cup obligations. He’s one of the most talented drivers in the sport and just needs to focus. He’s only 29 and can still be the future of Sprint Cup if he sets his mind to it.

Who is someone not named Kyle Larson or Tony Stewart who makes the Chase this year that didn’t last year?

Stewart isn’t a fair answer and Larson would be the obvious answer, so let’s ignore those two. I think Jamie McMurray has the best chance. Both Clint Bowyer and Martin Truex Jr. both haven’t gotten past the 2013 Richmond incident, in Bowyer’s case losing support and in Truex’s case losing his whole ride and I don’t like either here. Austin Dillon has a chance so we’ll see. I pick McMurray because he is one of the best superspeedway guys and could easily win a Daytona or Talladega to get in.

Which driver takes a big step back this season?

For sure it’s Ryan Newman. Before last season Newman never even finished in the top 5 in the standings. Zero wins, five top 5s and 16 top 10s is fringe top 10 in the standings stats…and most of the time even worse. I don’t know if he’ll drop out completely though if he keeps up the avoidance of bad finishes.

Is this the year of Danica?

No…but don’t be surprise if she finally strings something decent together. I say she contends for a top 20 standings spot. Unless she keeps getting into arguments with guys like Hamlin.

Danica needs to get into thew news by winning and not arguing
Danica needs to get into the news by winning and not arguing

Will NASCAR keep qualifying like this?

Probably. Old qualifying was an absolute bore to watch and at least this provides excitement. They had to change some of the rules at Daytona though and I assume they’ll apply at Talladega too after the embarrassing situation that cost Ricky Stenhouse Jr. a starting spot last year.

Will Roush Racing make a comeback?

Roush Racing is no longer one of the elite teams in NASCAR and a big reason why Carl Edwards bolted for the crazily stacked Gibbs (I might want to re-do my top 4). Greg Biffle will always be a threat to win a race or two. Hopefully Stenhouse improves from a massively disappointing 2014 season. Trevor Bayne shoots for Rookie of the Year honors this season and of course won the Daytona 500 in one of the biggest upsets in NASCAR history in 2011. Does that mean he’ll win another one? Well…probably not. Best bet is on Biffle having a good season for Roush to be relevant here.

Gibbs is stacked…so why don’t you have any of them in your final four?

One of the big things about NASCAR is that roster wise, this is the probably the most competitive the Sprint Cup Series has ever been. It’s been like this for quite a while now (a big reason why Jimmie Johnson’s six titles in eight years is probably way more impressive than anything Dale Earnhardt or Richard Petty has done). Gibbs has 03 champ Matt Kenseth, Edwards (runner up in ’08 and ’11), Hamlin (runner up in ’10) and Kyle Busch (29 career wins, 4th in 2013). I haven’t even mentioned some top guys from other teams like Joey Logano (made the final four last year). Any of these guys could win the championship in addition to Stewart, Gordon and the four I mentioned in question #1. That’s 11 guys right there. It’s crazy.

Joe Gibbs Racing is stacked this season
Joe Gibbs Racing is stacked this season

Defining story of the season?

I think we’ll see Jeff Gordon put together one hell of a season for his swan song. It’s amazing that Gordon won four Cups in his first nine years then was never that good again. Sure he could have won in 2004, 2007 and last year, but he didn’t. It’s easy to forget just how dominant Gordon was in the 90s. From the 1995 season (his first title season) through the 2001 season (his last) he won 56 races. That’s more than legends such as Rusty Wallace throughout their whole career. He won 33 times in 1996, 1997 and 1998, a three season span. His dominance was insane. He won the first Brickyard, multiple Daytona 500s and was always a very good driver at his worst. He’s a big reason NASCAR reached the popularity levels it did in the 90s and early 2000s. I don’t think he’ll get to 100 (although I wouldn’t completely rule out an 8 win season from him), but three wins, and ending up in the 5th-8th spot of the championship wouldn’t be out of the question. And if Kasey Kahne falls apart this season…don’t be surprised to see Hendrick begging Gordon for one last run in 2016.

Pro Wrestling

The Fastlane to Wrestlemania

FastLane replaces the Elimination Chamber
FastLane replaces the Elimination Chamber

WWE Fastlane replaces the Elimination Chamber Pay-Per-View (rumored to be done later in the year) as the penultimate PPV stop on the Road to Wrestlemania. After a lackluster Royal Rumble, WWE has created one of the least exciting atmospheres on the Road to Wrestlemania in recent memory. While a lot of this has to do with the Royal Rumble winner Roman Reigns, it moreso is the issue of new talent not being pushed properly, popular talent being made fools of (see Ambrose, Dean) and a thin roster overall. The most interesting rivalries are HHH vs. Sting, Bray Wyatt against whomever he is talking about, presumably The Undertaker and Daniel Bryan vs. Reigns, which seemingly has a forced narrative after Reigns was booed out of Philadelphia at the Royal Rumble. Three of the six of those matches have legendary guys that don’t (or rarely) wrestle on any of the other PPVs, one is Wyatt, who while interesting, is interesting despite of the booking crew. Bryan of course should be the top guy in the company right now no question, and Reigns is the guy WWE wants to be the top guy.

Fans want Bryan at the top
Fans want Bryan at the top

This forced push of Roman Reigns has led to WWE spinning their wheels. Roman Reigns has an amazing look and a ton of charisma, and is even a bit underrated as a worker (not different than Kevin Nash in 1995 really) but his monster push has turned fans against him. WWE might be turning him heel here…in the long run him fighting Bryan is only going to lead to a heel turn where WWE intended it or not. This is the best route though. If Reigns beats Bryan at Fastlane and gets his WWE Title shot against Brock Lesnar, Lesnar would be just fine as a face. The strength of Lesnar’s character is that for all intents and purposes what you see is what you get. Lesnar is a prize fighter who doesn’t really care about the business and is out to make his money. He doesn’t pretend to like anyone. He is true to himself. And honestly, while the reasoning is quite heelish, as a fan I can cheer that. I want to see Lesnar destroy the “WWE’s golden boy” Roman Reigns. Roman Reigns would be better off doing the same in being true to himself, and aligning himself with the Authority.

Rollins made himself a star at the Rumble
Rollins made himself a star at the Rumble

My favorite scenario for Wrestlemania? Lesnar vs. Reigns vs. Bryan vs. Money in the Bank Winner Seth Rollins. Lesnar is the champ. Having both Reigns and Bryan there make sense given their storyline at the moment. Rollins would be a great guy to say “hey, I almost beat Lesnar and Cena at the Rumble. I deserve to be in the main event at Wrestlemania and I’ll force my way in”. Also make this an elimination match. If Lesnar is leaving, you can still have Reigns Superman punch him to take him out of the match and give him that rub. Let Bryan and Rollins steal the show. Put the belt on Bryan and have Rollins and Reigns chase him, then Wyatt and Rusev afterwards. And don’t tell me there isn’t money in another Bryan vs. Cena match.

The other matches at Fastlane don’t quite excite me. Tyson Kidd and Cesaro hopefully will get a nice run with the tag titles. They remind me a little bit of Razor Ramon and the 1-2-3 Kid. I really don’t care about The Bella Twins anymore and I’m one of the few who isn’t a huge Paige fan, although her appearance on Total Divas is making me one. Rusev vs. Cena is interesting in the sense that Wrestlemania won’t be the beginning of their feud, and hopefully will end it. I’m fine with Cena ending Rusev’s undefeated streak for sure, but I want Rusev to come out on top at the end. Bad Bews Barrett I think is a little past the point of where I really care about him. It’s a shame as I wanted Barrett to be the World Champ every year through 2013. Ambrose, good as he is, just hasn’t been the same since the Shield broke up. That’s another booking disaster. I can’t say I care about the Dust Brother feud. I like them both and as a face team I enjoyed them. This is the closest they’ll get to that dream feud Goldust wanted between him and his brother years ago at Wrestlemania. I assume Sting shows up and I hope they fix that music. At the end of the night, we’ll know where we are at for Wrestlemania. I just hope it’s a good place.

Basketball

NBA “Midseason” Award Winners

               It’s the main event of NBA’s unofficial midseason: the All-Star Game. All-Star Weekend itself often has tons of storylines. For example, who were the biggest snubs? At first it looked like it would be Damian Lillard and DeMarcus Cousins, but both for in due to injuries from other players. After Dirk Nowitzki (who is still having a good season, but has slipped a bit) got in, my thought now is that DeAndre Jordan is actually the biggest snub left. He’s been having a Tyson Chandler like season, only he’s a much better rebounder than Chandler ever was. His presence in the middle really might make a difference in April…unless these first 54 games from him was just a fluke. Other storylines involved a stacked three point contest (won by Stephen Curry) and Zach LaVine leaving Dr. J’s jaw on the ground after one of his dunks. It’s been a fun All-Star Weekend for sure.

               Now that we’re at the “midseason”, it’s time to see who our front runners are for the regular season awards.

Most Improved Player

Butler has led the Bulls without an elite Derrick Rose
Butler has led the Bulls without an elite Derrick Rose

Jimmy Butler, SF Bulls

               Normally I’d be all “of course it’s Jimmy Butler, who else could it be?!”, but Klay Thompson could easily win this award as well. I have to give the edge to Butler though, because this season he’s shown to be someone we didn’t know he could be. We knew Thompson was a very good shooter at least. I mean the Warriors wouldn’t part ways with him for Kevin Love (a genius move, I was sure wrong about that one) and he and Curry already had the “Splash Bros.” nickname going. But we already knew Thompson was good. Yes he’s even a better shooter than we thought, and yes he’s improved on defense quite a bit. And yes, he did score 37 points in one quarter.

               But what did we really think of Butler before this season? He was an okay to good (depending on the night) wing that wasn’t a difference maker of any kind. The Bulls spent all summer trying to land Carmelo Anthony. Butler shot under 40% last season with 13 PPG and 5 RPG. Not really inspiring stuff. He had a PER of 13.5 (below average), a WS48 of .131 (solid rotation guy) and an offensive rating of 108 on 17% usage (good roleplayer). This year? 46% shooting, 20.4 PPG, 6 RPG, PER of 21.3, 123 ORtg on 21.5% usage. Those are some crazy jumps. He’s doing all this without an effective Derrick Rose no less. And Bulls fans don’t really seem to be talking about Carmelo anymore.

Sixth Man of the Year

Lou has helped the Raptors stay near the top of the East
Lou has helped the Raptors stay near the top of the East

Lou Williams, SG, Raptors

This comes down to three players for me so far. Williams, Jamal Crawford and Isaiah Thomas. I should probably rule out Crawford as this has been his worst LA Clipper year so far. He’s not quite the offensive sparkplug he was even last year, and if he’s not going to be a very good offensive guy then his horrid defense becomes a bigger problem. I’m in on Williams as he’s been part of a team that hasn’t had any chemistry problems since adding him and Toronto’s been near the top of the East for the entire year. Thomas and Williams are pretty close to the same player statwise (Thomas has a small edge), but trade rumors have been abundant in Phoenix ever since the idea of playing three guards came about. Sure, Goran Dragic’s contract is up soon, but you don’t see the Suns actively trying to keep him either.

Rookie of the Year

Wiggins looks like the real deal
Wiggins looks like the real deal

Andrew Wiggins, SG, Timberwolves

He started slow…played Cleveland in December and caught fire ever since. Since that game against Cleveland on 12/23, he’s averaged 18.3 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 2.5 APG and only 1.9 TPG on nearly 47% shooting. And he didn’t have Ricky Rubio for most of it. That’s….pretty good. Once Jabari Parker went down all Wiggins had to do was play well to win the award…and he has.

Defensive Player of the Year

Green has led the best defense in the NBA
Green has led the best defense in the NBA

Draymond Green, SF, Warriors

It’s not every day that a swingman has the lowest defensive rating in the league, but when one does it would be pretty hard for him not to win the Defensive Player of the Year award. The Warriors boast the best defensive team in basketball despite playing in the loaded West with an offensive first point guard in a point guard heavy league. Green manages to guard three different spots on the court effectively. Paul Millsap would be my 2nd choice here, followed by Anthony Davis.

Coach of the Year

No one had the Hawks at 43-11
No one had the Hawks at 43-11

Mike Budenholzer, Hawks

Yeah, I don’t even think the city of Atlanta had the Hawks winning 43 games by the All-Star break. In fact, 43 games total was a realistic total. Another Gregg Popovich assistant of course. Budenholzer has some competition though. Steve Kerr of course deserves credit for taking the Warriors to the next level, and Jason Kidd went from the ousted laughing stock rookie head coach of the Nets to somehow having the Bucks…without Jabari Parker…in the midst of the playoffs.

               Still though, the Hawks are 43-11. What?

Most Valuable Player

Harden is doing as well as Curry without a lot less to work with
Harden is doing as well as Curry without a lot less to work with

James Harden, SG, Rockets

There are four cases to make for the MVP this season so far: Harden, Stephen Curry, LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

Let’s start with Curry, as to be him and Harden are 1a and 1b here. Curry has obviously been stupid good this seas. He’s shooting lights out (48-40-90%), he’s distributing the ball (7.9 APG), he’s leading the league in steals (2.2). He has a great MVP level WS/48 this season (.283, tied for the 18th highest in the 3 point shooting era with Shaq’s 2000 season). He’s on the best team in the toughest conference. So why didn’t I pick him? Harden’s close to him in most of these #s, better in some advanced metrics and is clearly working with a hell of a lot less. Curry has Thompson, Green, even Kerr as a coach. Harden has a banged up Dwight Howard who isn’t Dwight Howard anymore, Josh Smith who even when he is Josh Smith it’s not guaranteed it’s a good thing.

LeBron’s case seems dubious as this is arguably his worst season since his rookie year. But then you see the following:

Cavs With LeBron: 31-14

Cavs Without LeBron: 2-8

               That’s a big difference. I won’t count him out as if he has a monster last 27 games where the Cavs win 22 or 23 of them, voters will notice and forget about November and December.

               Anthony Davis’s case is insane. Despite what we mentioned about Curry’s WS/48…Davis actually has a higher one of .291 right now. That would be good for 12th in the 3 Point era. Only players above him? Lebron (’13, ’09, ’10, ’12), Jordan (’91, ’96, ’88, ’89), David Robinson (’94), Durant (’14), and Chris Paul (’09). That’s the list. It’s interesting to look at Robinson when thinking about Davis here. He too put up a lot of “holy shit” stats. But he only brought home one MVP as his teams were never really the best. In this case, the 27-26 Pelicans have to be better for Davis to win the MVP. Even if he has a record breaking PER. Yeah, it’s amazing that a team with Tyreke Evans, Jrue Holiday and Eric Gordon (three black hole All-Stars for sure) as their 2, 3 and 4 scorers is even remotely in the Western Conference playoff hunt. But that’s not enough.

               So James Harden. He too has a ridiculous WS/48 (.275). He actually has the highest offensive win shares of anyone in the league. He’s carrying this Rockets team. Dwight Howard isn’t a great player anymore. He’s on a team where only two guys have higher than a 16 PER (him and Howard). Yet this team is 36-17. He’s leading the league in scoring. He’s averaging a 27-6-7 with 2 steals a game. He is your MVP.

Football

Super Bowl XLIX Prediction

super-bowl-xlix

We are now 9-1 for the playoffs (you know, the Steelers are my only loss here AND knocked me out of my Survivor pool earlier this season, shrug) with a chance for double digits! Personally, I dislike both teams for a multitude of reasons. New England because I’m a Jets fans and their two Giants Super Bowl wins made us Jets fans even feel worse. The Seahawks because of Pete Carroll, and their rumored P.E.D. use over the years. New England has had their big “cheating” scandal as well over the past two weeks with “Deflategate”. To be honest, it’s been overblown. Is it really shocking that the Patriots pushed the limits with the rules once again? The only thing that really made me wonder was the fumble data analysis. I’m not really here to write about the cheating scandals though…that can be for another entry. I don’t like either of these teams so all bias is out the window. Let’s get to win #10.

New England Patriots (14-4) vs. Seattle Seahawks (14-4)

My gut and betting lines seem to be favoring New England just a little bit. I assume this is because of their dominance over Indianapolis while Seattle had to pull off a comeback of epic proportions. If Packer coach Mike McCarthy knew what he was doing Green Bay would have won…and probably would have won easily. But he doesn’t and they didn’t. The thing is, we aren’t getting a horrible Russell Wilson game like that again. If anything, last week’s comeback was the kick in the ass Seattle needed.

Whether or not Seattle is as good as last year, I still think they are better than everyone else and it’s not as close as people think. Yes Green Bay took them to the limit, but think about it. Seattle turned the ball over five times and STILL managed to win the game. Russell Wilson had the worst three quarters of his career, and still Seattle found a way to win.

Interestingly, this Super Bowl is also a battle between teams with many eff-U edges. Marshawn Lynch is trying to prove that all the talk that Seattle may release him at the end of the season is ridiculous (he’s succeeded). Discussions after Week 4 centered around Tom Brady being benched for a 2nd rounder (Jimmy Garoppolo). New England has faced this “Deflategate” debacle. Richard Sherman always has a chip on his shoulder. I could go on and on here. Everyone has something to prove.

It comes down to this though. Seattle can stop 37 year old Tom Brady.

I don’t think New England can stop Marshawn Lynch.

Seahawks 29, Patriots 17

Pro Wrestling

Ranting About What the Hell Happened At the 2015 Royal Rumble

Does WWE hate their audience?

               I seriously don’t get it.

               How does it make any sense to put Roman Reigns over in the Royal Rumble?

           This isn’t the same thing as 2003 Triple H and his reign of terror over the RAW roster. Whether fans liked it or didn’t, HHH was an established top guy. There was logic there.

            This isn’t the same thing even as HHH beating CM Punk during the Summer of Punk (although that was pretty bad anyway).

         This isn’t even the same thing as last year’s Royal Rumble, where Batista infamously won the Royal Rumble and Daniel Bryan, the clear crowd favorite, wasn’t even in the match. At least you can argue Batista being the returning star with a movie and all.

     This is, for all intents of purposes, outright ignoring your audience. There’s no argument here. There’s just no way could anyone think, at the moment of the 2015 Royal Rumble, that Roman Reigns going over was the way to go. Nothing has led to a point where this would be a remotely good idea. Let’s be clear though, there is money in Roman Reigns…he’s just not READY yet. And there is someone who is more than ready. Someone who is perhaps the most popular wrestler since Stone Cold and The Rock. That person is Daniel Bryan. He is practically a license to print money. The fans CLEARLY want him up top. I mean 2014 pretty much showed that Daniel Bryan should be the future of this company if he was healthy. Even if he isn’t healthy for the long term that’s fine. Let him be the top guy when Roman gets ready. Roman Reigns could be, and if he improves should be the face of Wrestlemania 32. Reigns’ 2015 should be similar to John Cena’s 2004.

     Let’s talk about the Rumble match itself. When Daniel Bryan came in at #10 I was sold that he was winning. When he starting doing all of his risky moves, I was sold he was winning. Obviously Bryan, the former World Champion who never lost the belt, who made a big retirement tease to come back and enter the Rumble, who is the MOST POPULAR PROFESSIONAL WRESTLER IN THE WORLD, was going to be there at the end. It seemed logical that Bryan being #10 meant he was going to be in there in the long run. And if WWE thought he had a long match in him, that could only be a positive thing.

 Daniel Bryan lasted only 10 minutes and 11 seconds. He was eliminated in such a boring manner as well, just being knocked off the apron by Bray Wyatt. It’s gotta be one of the most surprising moments I’ve ever seen as a wrestling fan. If Bryan wasn’t winning, I still fully expected him in the final four. I mean why wouldn’t we? HE’S THE MOST POPULAR WRESTLER IN THE PROMOTION! HE IS THE FORMER WORLD CHAMPION WHO DIDN’T LOSE THE TITLE IN THE RING! I mean what the hell?

      The Royal Rumble was dead at that moment. It’s a shame because it was quite fun up until that point. Still…there was hope. Dean Ambrose or Dolph Ziggler. The fans could buy one of those two. Especially Ziggler. But two men were set to ruin that.

              Look. It’s 2015. Enough with the Big Show and Kane. I’m sorry but we have to move on at some point. I wrote on a message board last year that WWE has to move on and stop with all the part timers. The time has passed. It really has. Kane debuted in 1997 and Glenn Jacobs actually start in 1995. That’s 20 years! Big Show debuted in 1999. Enough! How are we ever going to truly care about this generation and future generations when we can’t get past the Kane and Big Shows of the world? I can understand The Undertaker. I can understand The Rock and Triple H. Those three need to stop too, but at least they were the cream of the crop. But we need to move on. The wrestling business needs to move on. It just has to. I mean there’s more time between Kane’s debut and today than Hulk Hogan’s first World Title and his DEPARTURE from WCW. That’s insane. In no way should I be seeing The Rock beat up Big Show and Kane on a Pay-Per-View in 2015. Those three were in the final four of the Royal Rumble FIFTEEN YEARS ago.

   Let’s talk about our winner. Roman Reigns. Now, I have no problem with Reigns, and as recently as Summerslam I was all for him getting a push. I’m still for him getting a push. He’s got a great look. I can see him becoming a great promo guy (despite the comedy we have now). He should be feuding with the likes of Luke Harper, Bad News Barrett, Cesaro and all of those guys for the IC Title in the next 10 months. Instead he’s jackhammered down our throats. It’s crazy. It’s one thing to force someone down our throats. But at least some fans take to it. Lex Luger still got cheered in 1993 (and when he got booed at the Rumble, Bret Hart got the belt). Diesel was still cheered in 1995. No one is cheering Roman Reigns. No one!

          If you have to get The Rock to help you not get booed out of the building and you still get booed, you shouldn’t be in the main event of Wrestlemania.

          If you cause the fans to cheer for a guy whose gimmick is that he worships Vladimir Putin, you shouldn’t be in the main event of Wrestlemania.

         I don’t get it. Anyone watching the Royal Rumble. From a neutral standpoint. Tell me how Roman Reigns was a better choice than Daniel Bryan. Because I don’t get it. I just don’t.

Pro Wrestling

2015 WWE Royal Rumble Preview

royalrumble2015

The 2015 Royal Rumble is upon us. I will be attending the event, my 2nd Rumble (2008 in MSG), even though my interest in the current state of the WWE is at an all-time low. A great Royal Rumble though and all of that can change. To be honest, we haven’t had a real crowd pleasing winner of the Royal Rumble since 2010 when Edge returned from a seven month neck injury and won. In 2011 Alberto Del Rio won, opened Wrestlemania, lost to Edge and won Money in the Bank. In 2012 Sheamus surprisingly outlasted Chris Jericho, beat Daniel Bryan in 18 seconds at Wrestlemania and has had his career take a nosedive since. John Cena won the 2013 version just to set-up a rematch with The Rock at Wrestlemania XXIX. Batista made his return to the ring in 2014 to win the Rumble match, and pissed off the entire WWE Universe in the process. Fun fact here is that two of these Royal Rumble results cemented Daniel Bryan as a top guy, and yet he wasn’t apart of either of them (2012 because of what happened at Wrestlemania and 2014, which we will get to).

Let’s talk about the 2014 Royal Rumble. First, we’ll compare it to a scenario to a previous Royal Rumble: the 1998 version.

In 1998 there was clearly one man who was to win the Royal Rumble: Stone Cold Steve Austin. Any other situation would have made absolutely no sense. Business wise, logic wise, any of it. No sense whatsoever. Austin had to win. This was because of his anti-authority attitude that had been in place all the way back to the 1997 Royal Rumble. Austin was the most popular wrestler (really, in both major promotions at that time) in the WWF and a showdown with Shawn Michaels was where the obvious money was.

Daniel Bryan is perhaps the most popular wrestler since John Cena himself in 2005. The crowd has connected with him in an insane way that even CM Punk couldn’t accomplish in his 2011 run (matches in Chicago notwithstanding…and really this whole thing wasn’t his fault anyway). Bryan pretty much got his 2013 Summerslam World Title match because of his crowd reactions, and promptly beat Cena clean for the title. This led to a feud with The Authority when Triple H pedigreed Bryan and Randy Orton cashed in Money in the Bank to steal the title from him. Bryan would get close, but fail at regaining the title (except for one day) throughout the rest of 2013. The feud was clearly designed for Bryan to win the Royal Rumble and get one last shot at Orton, where he would ultimately win the title. Sometimes the obvious route is the best one.

Going back to 1998, imagine if The Ultimate Warrior returned and won that Royal Rumble while Stone Cold wasn’t in it? That would pretty much suck, wouldn’t it? Well we got the same thing in 2014 with Batista. And surprise surprise…it sucked. It did make it seem that there was a star in the making (who was already being pushed hard anyway) in Roman Reigns, as Reigns broke the elimination record and finished runner up to Batista. Still, the WWF had to rectify the situation, and Bryan got his World Title victory at Mania. And it was pretty awesome at that.

Austin vs. McMahon made the '98 Rumble obvious.
Austin vs. McMahon made the ’98 Rumble obvious.

Fast forward to 2015. We have a new obstacle in Bryan’s way, Diesel Power 2K15. I’ll explain in a moment, but first let’s go over why Daniel Bryan should be winning this match. For one, he’s still the most popular wrestler in the promotion. Now he has the injury comeback going for him. Bryan broke his neck and there were even retirement rumors for him throughout 2014, cutting short his title reign. How could there be any more money made than Bryan coming back in the Rumble and winning it outright? It’s a storyline that’s worked one way or another in 2001 with Austin, 2002 with Triple H, 2008 with Cena and 2010 with Edge. Once again Daniel Bryan is the clear path to an awesome Wrestlemania main event, where he could face Brock Lesnar for the WWE Title in a version of the Wrestlemania X Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna title match. We even have our Lex Luger in Roman Reigns.

I have no issues with Reigns, but the writing team has screwed him over a ton. He still doesn’t have the workrate down pat either. He had his Diesel Power moment at Summerslam when he kicked out of Randy Orton’s super RKO. The Diesel Power moment refers to Diesel strongly kicking out of Shawn Michaels’ superkick at Wrestlemania XI. He’s just not ready yet. I do think Roman Reigns has the tools to be a huge star down the line. He’s just not there yet. WWE has constantly blown top face runs by pushing them way too fast. Best example is Sheamus beating Bryan in 18 seconds. There’s big money in Reigns, but if he’s pushed way too fast too soon, he will fall. The best thing for Reigns to do is to fight someone like Big Show at Wrestlemania. It worked for Cena didn’t it? If Roman Reigns wins the 2015 Royal Rumble…he will be booed out of the building as fans chant “NO! NO! NO!” They want Bryan. He’s the logical choice once again.

Fans did not want Batista to win the Rumble
Fans did not want Batista to win the Rumble

The other key component of the Royal Rumble is the WWE World Title Match itself. There’s an argument for any of Cena, Lesnar or Seth Rollins to win the title. I’m pretty much the only person in the world who isn’t a huge fan of Rollins and I don’t think he’s quite earned the right to defend the WWE Title at Wrestlemania yet (he too can get there one day though. I just think he won MITB because Bad News Barrett got hurt). I don’t see Seth Rollins having the name value needed to main event a Wrestlemania in a World Title match yet (this is one of the drawbacks of having only one world title, although it’s still better that way). That leaves Cena and Lesnar. If Bryan wins the Rumble, either one of these winning the title will be fine. Cena vs. Bryan II would be awesome, and I already outline why Lesnar and Bryan would be awesome.

The other matches on the card don’t have huge implications. Mizdow seem to be breaking up soon, so I assume they aren’t winning the titles back from the Usos. I don’t even know why The Bellas are back together and I really don’t care. It’s a shame as I was a fan of the Bellas right up until Nikki turned on Brie. The New Age Outlaws being back last year and winning the tag titles was good for nostalgia, but hopefully The Ascension gets the win they need as they’ve been treated like a joke since their call up to WWE. I think the Outlaws are going to steal a Mania payday though. I’m not sure how Tyson Kidd, Cesaro and Adam Rose became a trio, but their match against The New Day seems irrelevant.

As for surprise Rumble entrants, I’ve heard about a couple but I’m trying to keep this spoiler free. I’ll just write for those I am hoping for that in no way have been confirmed or I’ve heard about. RVD (I’m a RVD mark and its Philly), The Sandman, Raven, The Dudley Boyz (all ECW talents. Raven is by far the least likely and Sandman isn’t likely either. The Dudleyz wouldn’t shock me now that they are free from TNA.), and someone totally out of nowhere, like Flash Funk (he was from Philly, right? He also has a Philly ECW rep).

But none of this matters unless Daniel Bryan wins at the end. Do the ring thing WWE.

Football

NFL 2014-2015 Conference Title Game Predictions

Nailed all four games last week, even though it made me sad to see my prediction of Peyton Manning ring true. 7-1 this playoff season…only missing the opening round contest with Baltimore and Pittsburgh.

Indianapolis Colts (13-5) @ New England Patriots (13-4)

It has been a great season for the Colts and the future is brighter than ever for Andrew Luck. But the problems Denver had last week just aren’t going to show up here. The Patriots seem ready to go and pulled out a classic against Baltimore last week. Tom Brady is ready. The Patriots do have two things that disappeared in the divisional round: a pass rush and a running game. As a result of the latter the Colts will score points. But it won’t be enough. I’m sensing pure statement game here as The Pats look for ring #4 and the 1st in 10 years.

This game reminds me a little bit of the 1996 NFC Conference Title game, with the Colts playing the Packers and the Patriots playing the Cowboys (with the added Broncos playing the 49ers). The Packers, led by young upstart QB Brett Favre, upset the 49ers the week before as Steve Young struggled. The Packers had all the momentum, but were taken down by the experienced Cowboys. Luck and the Colts are close…but they aren’t there yet.

Patriots 35, Colts 24

Green Bay Packers (13-4) @ Seattle Seahawks (13-4)

As I said last week, the Seahawks are football’s best team. I have another comparison to make here in regards to how I feel about this game, although it doesn’t work nearly as well as the previous comparison. First though, some history between these two teams: the Seahawks thumped Green Bay 36-16 in the opener this season. Seattle has been on a tear defensively for the last two months. The Panthers’ 17 points were the most by a Seahawks opponent since November 17. Seattle is really good and are the defending champions. This will be no walk in the park. Seattle is in top form.

The Packers barely survived Dallas last week in Lambeau. While the Dez Bryant non-catch hurt a lot, it didn’t necessarily mean Dallas was winning this game (Green Bay only has to score 3 at home with minutes to go? Okay). Still, as the national lovefest for Aaron Rodgers continues (not that its unwarranted) we keep being told how courageous and incredible it is that Rodgers is playing with an injured calf. And that is true! It’s also going to be a big reason why Seattle wrecks him this Sunday. The Dallas defense and Seattle defense are very different. Seattle is going to go after him. I don’t see an injured Rodgers beating this Seattle team. I don’t see Green Bay stopping Marshawn Lynch either after DeMarco Murray piled up 123 yards last week. Too many red flags here.

As for the comparison. This game feels a lot like the 2006 NFC Championship game. Seattle would be the Bears here. Packers would be like the Saints. A top flight offense led by a lights out QB against a great defense and running game. And while Aaron Rodgers is better than Drew Brees, the Seahawks as a whole are better than the Bears. Green Bay will keep this close for a while, but Seattle’s really too good right now.

Seahawks 38, Packers 21

 

Football

2014-2015 NFL Divisional Round Predictions!

Went 3-1 last week. That Ravens-Steelers game was always going to be the toughest to call.

Anyway, Divisional Round, let’s do it!

Baltimore Ravens (11-6) @ New England Patriots (12-4)

The Ravens won a frigid game in Pittsburgh where they shut down the Steeler run game (that was missing La’Veon Bell) and had Joe Flacco continue his run as one of the best postseason quarterbacks of all time (how crazy does that sound?)

Does that mean they are beating New England? Maybe…

The Patriots and Ravens have arguably been the two most successful NFL franchises of the past 15 years. The first notable battle between the two though actually took place during the regular season of the Patriots perfect run. The Ravens got close to being the only team to beat the Patriots during that regular season. Two years later the Ravens shocked the Patriots in Foxboro by beating up Tom Brady and having Ray Rice run all over them. If you told me the Bill Belichick-Brady era was over right there I would have believed you. That’s how bad it looked. Two years after that the Patriots and Ravens met again in the AFC Title game, where a missed field goal made the difference for New England. The very next year they met in the AFC Title game again, but this time took care of business and won the Super Bowl a couple of weeks afterwards.

You’ve got two of the best (if not the best) coaches in the NFL in Belichick and John Harbaugh. A surefire Hall of Fame Quarterback in Brady against one of the best playoff QBs there is in Flacco. And you have two teams that have a genuine rivalry going at it once again. It’s going to be a tough game of course, and it will help the Ravens that the weather will just be like it was in Pittsburgh last week.

Forget all the stats though. I think a fire was lit under New England’s ass this season after week 4. I think something happened to Belichick when he got asked if Tom Brady was going to be benched. I think something got to Brady. I don’t see this Patriots team going quietly. That and this is the best Patriots D we’ve seen in some time as well. Close as always, but I can’t help but feel New England is out for blood.

Patriots 24, Ravens 17

Carolina Panthers (8-8-1) @ Seattle Seahawks (12-4)

This is going to be short.

Don’t let the midseason distractions fool you. The Seahawks are still football’s best team. They were absolutely rolling at the end of the season. Once in their last six games did a team manage to score double digits against them (Eagles, 14). The Seahawks also have some wins against legitimately good teams: they beat Green Bay and Denver early on. They had a top 10 ranked offense and the best defense in football by traditional means. DVOA wise, they were top 5 in both. Seattle is the team to beat. Period.

The Panthers didn’t even look that great last week. Somehow the Ryan Lindley led Cardinals actually hung in the game for a while, even though they were led by Ryan Lindley. The Panthers are an okay team. Seattle is a great team.

I think Seattle wants to make a statement too.

Seahawks 45, Panthers 10

Dallas Cowboys (13-4) @ Green Bay Packers (12-4)

One of the more interesting statistics here: Dallas was 8-0 on the road this season, Green Bay was 8-0 at home.

I wrote last week that this is Dallas’ best team in years due to some convincing wins and overall great play from Tony Romo and DeMarco Murray. Officiating controversies aside, I thought it was impressive Dallas won last week against Detroit with Murray being held to 75 yards and a 3.75 average.

The thing is, Green Bay is just better than Detroit. Aaron Rodgers might have locked up a MVP award this season and his gutsy performance against Detroit in Week 17 just showed he’s at the top of his game. Overall the Packers are better offensively and defensively than Dallas, although neither has a particularly strong defense. Could Dallas rack up some points on Green Bay? Sure. But I think there’s a better chance Green Bay racks up points on the Cowboys.

Here’s what Dallas needs to bank on. Aaron Rodgers has a calf injury stemming from the game against Detroit in Week 17. It’s a cold weather game, which won’t help Rodgers. If Dallas can get to Rodgers, they may be able to turn this one in their favor. On their side, Murray needs to run the ball right through Green Bay’s defense. And Tony Romo just can’t make any big mistakes.

This would be a good game plan…but I think Aaron Rodgers is too tough to lose that way. Sure the calf is torn…but it was injured against Detroit too, right?

Packers 31, Cowboys 23

Indianapolis Colts (12-5) @ Denver Broncos (12-4) 

Come on, we all knew Andrew the Giant was taking care of business against the Bengals. There’s nothing else really to say about the Colts. I know football is a team sport, but if there was one guy in the NFL right now that is carrying his team it is Andrew Luck. I can’t imagine the Colts being a playoff team without Luck. They have by far the worst rushing attack in football. Their defense is suspect. And a lot of it doesn’t matter because of Luck.

The Colts got smacked in a similar Divisional Round game last year when Brady (and really, LaGarrett Blount) and the Patriots scored 43 and beat down the Colts before they had a chance to make anything happen. Same idea here right? The Colts are up against an aging but still great and legendary quarterback in Peyton Manning, and a running back that seemingly came out of nowhere in C.J. Anderson. The difference is that per DVOA, the Broncos were top 5 on both sides of the ball. Everything for this game points to Denver winning this one with ease.

But…

Well, what’s with Denver’s offense change? How are the Denver Broncos, with one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time who was throwing 400 yard games with no problem earlier in the season, suddenly taking a rush first approach with C.J. Anderson? I understand that Anderson was looked nice…but what in the world? I think something’s wrong with Peyton. It might have just been a moment. We’ve all read the stories of his arm being weak. He’s 38 years old. He had serious neck surgery a few years ago. I can’t explain why the Broncos on offense are suddenly relying so much on C.J. Anderson. Maybe it was to rest Peyton. I don’t know. Combine this with the fact that Peyton Manning is one of the most inconsistent big game playoff QBs ever, and suddenly I think a real upset is in the making.

This is one of those perfect scenarios in sports. Peyton against his old team. His successor lighting the league up. I think we remember this game as the day Andrew Luck truly arrived and we know Peyton’s true best is behind him. Bold I know. But I think it’s time.

Colts 24, Broncos 21

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews the WWE 2003 Royal Rumble

Royal_Rumble_2003

WWE Royal Rumble 2003
January 19, 2003
Boston, MA

The Brand Extension is in full force.

The WWE has established their monopoly of pro wrestling in the United States at this point (TNA was still pretty new…although they’d never be a real threat anyway). Vince McMahon decided he needed to instill competition into the product and the Brand Extension was born. The Brand Extension allowed WWE to push new talent, although it would be shown a lot of them weren’t ready for the challenge.

One of them that looked more than ready was Brock Lesnar. Lesnar, who just dropped the WWE Title at Survivor Series was on his way to the massive face push that would make him the WWE’s top guy (Lesnar would be the Hogan on Smackdown, where HHH would be the Flair on RAW). In a post Austin and full time Rock world, WWE needed to create some megastars on top in the babyface mold. HHH showed he was a lot better off as a heel. Undertaker would never fit that mold. Austin was gone, Rock was basically gone. Goldberg wasn’t here yet. Angle was a heel at the time (although he got a shot at the face run later) and Benoit would never have the charisma to be that guy, although he got a shot later.

Still, the early days of Brand Extension provided interesting content on both sides for sure. Returning legends (HBK, Hogan, Flair), guys way too talented not to be in the main event but somehow not in it (Jericho, Benoit, Booker T), top guys who weren’t ready to leave the top (Taker, HHH) and top newcomers (Lesnar) were just some of the elements out there. I mean in that group I didn’t even mention Angle or Big Show.

Let’s see how the first Brand Extension Royal Rumble plays out.

The Card

Winner Gets in the Royal Rumble
Brock Lesnar vs. Big Show

Story here: Lesnar dropped the WWE Title (and was pinned for the first time) to Big Show at Survivor Series when Paul Heyman turned on him. In actuality two things caused that change: Lesnar had injured ribs that WWE wasn’t sure of the extent of, and WWE was planning Lesnar vs. Angle at Mania and decided to switch the face/heel alignments, so had to make Lesnar a face. Of course, face Angle had to beat heel Big Show for the belt, which led to a weird Angle heel turn, but I guess that was the best way to make this happen. Angle would JOIN Heyman afterwards, and for some reason this didn’t turn Big Show face.

Back to the story, Lesnar then cost Big Show the title at Armageddon against Angle. So we got this match. I’m usually not a big fan of these type matches, as for a storyline like this it’s obvious Lesnar is winning this match AND the Rumble. There was one other option for the Rumble winner, which I’ll get into when we get there.

The way Lesnar would just suplex Big Show all over the place was ridiculous.

The way Show would throw Lesnar around was also ridiculous. While he obviously could, no one else did anything like that to Brock up to this point.

Big Show does a great, if not hilarious shocked face when Lesnar kicks out of the chokeslam.

Brock Lesnar pins Big Show in 6:29. Lesnar escapes a 2nd chokeslam attempt, and gets the F5! That’s so damn impressive and the crowd pops huge. Lesnar gets the pin and is in the Rumble. Good match, if only for how smooth Lesnar is in throwing around Big Show. These two had a strange chemistry.

Terri interviews Chris Jericho. She asks him about Jericho choosing #2 when he had the choice to pick any number. Jericho says because HBK was #1 Jericho HAD to be #2. This was setting up the Jericho-HBK feud.

Jericho sure got A LOT of mileage out of beating Austin and Rock the same night to become Undisputed Champion (as he should have).

RAW World Tag Team Championship
William Regal and Lance Storm vs. The Dudley Boyz

This would be the third Rumble in a row that the Dudleyz were in the World Tag Title slot. They are already 15 Time World Tag Team Champions at this point.

Regal and Storm were what was left of the UnAmericans. Test started being advertised by male genitalia. Christian became Jericho’s sidekick.

Regal still had the brass knuckles gimmick going at this point as well.

The Dudleyz actually weren’t stale here, as they were split up throughout most of 2002 due to the Brand Extension (that led to Reverend D-Von!). D-Von was part of the Big Show to Smackdown trade and immediately rejoined Bubba at Survivor Series.

One of the problems with the Dudley reunion was they didn’t change anything up at all. They literally acted like the same team they always did, moves and all.

Chief Morley comes out to argue about something, and Regal has Brass Knucks!

The Dudley Boyz wins the title when D-Von pinned Storm in 7:24. Regal has the Knucks…but gets the 3D anyway. D-Von picks up the knucks and nails Storm for the win. A good pop for the Dudley title win. This is a waste of Storm and Regal though. Match wasn’t anything special and pretty boring.

Nathan Jones promo! He escaped from prison in Tasmania! It’s like Nailz all over again.

Stepmother vs. Stepdaughter
Torrie Wilson vs. Dawn Marie

Oh god. This storyline was Wrestlecrap from the get go. Dawn Marie fell in love with Torrie Wilson’s father, Al Wilson. This at first seemed like an attempt to have a fling with Torrie, which was “shown” at Armageddon. Dawn and Al continued their relationship and got married, but Al died on the honeymoon because of a heart attack as a result of too much sex or something. Then Torrie and Dawn fought at the wake. It was actually worse than it sounds.

I mean who the hell thought any of that was a good idea?

Torrie doesn’t fall on the Dawn Marie armbar. That could have been a broken arm right there.

Dawn Marie with a springboard clothesline! How about that. It didn’t look great though.

Torrie Wilson pins Dawn Marie in 3:36. Swinging neckbreaker for the win. Torrie and Dawn are not really wrestlers, so to expect anything more than a bad match would be unrealistic. We got that springboard clothesline so there’s that at least? At least this was short. Storyline is still horrid.

Stephanie McMahon and Eric Bischoff meet backstage (where Bischoff was speaking to a still rookie Randy Orton). Steph tells Bischoff good bye, as Vince had given Bischoff 30 days to turn RAW around. Bischoff said he had a bombshell to save his job (which turned out to be Austin). Stephanie said she had a bombshell of her own (which turned out to be Hogan).

Sean O’Haire vignette! I still think he would have worked out if not for Roddy Piper’s involvement in the angle.

World Heavyweight Championship
Triple H© vs. Scott Steiner

Story: Steiner debuted at Survivor Series (as a face no less. Pretty sure that was the opposite of what the Big Poppa Pump character was about) and decided on RAW as his home. A part of the agreement was he gets a World Title shot.

The match actually has a solid start. Hard hitting from Steiner followed by a gorilla press slam. It would get worse though…

I hate Boston Crabs where the guy doesn’t sit on the back. That’s the point Steiner!

Steiner with a belly to belly suplex! He goes for the Recliner but Flair pulls HHH out.

Steiner is breathing HEAVY. He’s already exhausted.

Another belly to belly (kinda) from Steiner.

We get a weird Tombstone reversal sequence which ends with a botched HHH neckbreaker.

Steiner catches HHH coming off the top…for another belly to belly suplex.

Fans begin turning on Steiner….there’s ANOTHER belly to belly.

Another belly to belly. It’s clear Steiner has nothing else. Fans booing.

A sixth belly to belly.

Steiner goes for a double underhook suplex, and Steiner FALLS before the move is finished. Yikes.

HHH gets busted open by the leather part of the World Title.

ANOTHER BELLY TO BELLY.

Steiner doing his push-up taunt is like a NFL defensive lineman celebrating a sack when his team is down 30 points.

HHH tries to get counted out and DQed, but Earl Hebner won’t allow it. Steiner throws in yet another belly to belly while he’s at it.

Scott Steiner wins by DQ in 18:14. HHH finally uses the sledgehammer, forcing the DQ. Post match, Steiner destroys HHH and locks him in the Recliner. Crowd is dead for it. Match was historically bad, and has an argument for being the worst PPV World Title match ever. Scott Steiner was dreadful. There’s a reason he was a midcarder after this (although he did get a HHH rematch at No Way Out).

WWE World Championship
Kurt Angle© vs. Chris Benoit

We covered Angle’s story earlier. We’ll add here that this feud also involved the debut of Team Angle, Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas, which owned.

Benoit actually turned amidst all this as well, and became the #1 contender after being Big Show on Smackdown. Angle and Benoit were reluctant Smackdown Tag Team Champions back in October, and even had a match at Unforgiven as well. This was the end of Benoit the heel, as this face run would go through the rest of his career.

So, as all Benoit vs. Angle feuds go, it comes down to who’s the better wrestler?

Team Angle gets ejected quickly for trying to hold Benoit back.

Watching this match makes me feel that Steiner and HHH was in slow motion.

Benoit DDTs Angle on the apron! Nice.

Angle’s belly to belly suplexes are about 100 times better than Steiner’s.

This has been a non-stop action packed match from the get go.

Rolling Germans from Benoit…but Angle counters into his own!

Benoit re-counters!

I never got why Benoit did that snot thing.

Angle tosses Benoit off the top rope with a belly to belly!

Angle Slam attempt turns into the Crossface! Crowd is very into it. Angle survives though.

Benoit locks Angle into the Ankle Lock…but Angle reverses into his own Ankle Lock! THAT gets turned into the Crossface!

Angle counters a Crossface with an Angle Slam! Wow!

Another great false finish with Benoit countering a German with a victory roll.

Benoit gets a German…only it turns into an overhead release German where Angle lands face first!

Flying Headbutt 3/4th of the ring away!

Angle drops Benoit face first on the turnbuckles leading to another Angle Slam…but Benoit survives THAT too.

Kurt Angle retains by submission in 19:50. Angle counters another Crossface into the Ankle Lock. Benoit tries to escape, but Angle hangs on. Benoit does an amazing sell job here, screaming in pain. Angle grapevines the leg and Benoit is trapped, and taps out (makes you wonder why Angle didn’t always do that). I was blown away the first time I saw this 12 years ago, but it holds up today as well. Incredible match. This match was the match that showed Benoit could play an incredible underdog babyface, and he rode that all the way to winning the title at Mania XX (well, there was a haphazard team with Rhino in there). Just an amazing match. Benoit gets a standing ovation afterwards.

Kane and Rob Van Dam talk about how it’s every man for himself. This leads to a good spot later.

The Royal Rumble

#1 is Shawn Michaels. Jericho is supposed to be #2, but for some reason Christian shows up in the entrance way. Jericho attacks HBK from behind and beats the holy hell out of him. Jericho lays HBK out with a chair and HBK sells it like a million bucks. Chris Nowinski is #3, but he waits on the outside. Jericho beats on HBK a bit more then dumps him, to the horror of the crowd.

#4 is Rey Mysterio, and he owns Jericho for a bit. Nowinski finally gets in there to attack Rey from behind.

Edge is #5. Edge and Rey had been a team, so they natural work together. They eventually go at it though and there’s a false elimination that I think gets screwed up. I think Edge’s feet do hit the floor. No biggie though.

Christian is #6, for real this time. He tries to get on Edge’s good side to double team Mysterio. Edge spears him though.

Rey and Edge hit a double dropkick off the top to Nowinski, but the timing is off and I think Nowinski got hurt here as Edge’s leg lands on his face.

#7 is Chavo Guerrero. Good workrate early on for sure. Rey gets Nowinski out. Jericho gets out Rey. Great heat for Jericho eliminating HBK and Rey so far.

#8 is Tajiri. Crazy airplane spin on Chavo.

#9 is Bill DeMott. What a random push this was.

#10 is Tommy Dreamer. It’s Hardcore Rumble II! Dreamer accidentally legit cracks Jericho in the eye with a kendo stick, busting him open bad.

Con-garbage can lid-to on Dreamer! He’s gone by Jericho and Christian.

#11 is B2. Too lazy to super script here. He’s injured as John Cena turned on him on Smackdown. He lasts about 30 seconds. Jericho gets rid of Tajiri. Edge gets rid of Chavo. Jericho gets rid of Edge and Christian. Jericho is alone in the ring.

#12 is Rob Van Dam! A great near-elimination is in there, where Jericho barely hangs on.

Matt Strongly Dislikes Mustard. #13 is Matt Hardy! Hardy and Jericho double team RVD. Jericho takes a Five Star Frog Splash!

#14 is Eddie Guerrero. No reaction for Eddie…but boy would that change over the next year.

Eddie with a kinda botched Frog Splash there. Matt turns right on him and hits a Twist of Fate. Just in time for…

Jeff Hardy at #15! The Hardys did not get along at this point.

Shannon Moore tries to push Matt back into the ring with his feet. He then takes a Swanton for Matt! Shannon Moore was a great sidekick.

#16 is Rosey. Out goes the workrate.

#17 is Test. The Testicle marketing was just weird.

#18 is John Cena, and we get a whole rap on his way to the ring. He rhymes explain to ya and Wrestlemania. So there’s that. We get Latrell Sprewell and Mike Tyson references as well.

#19 is Team Angle’s Charlie Haas

RVD gets rid of Jeff when Jeff went to the top rope and RVD shoved him off.

#20 is Rikishi. Apparently he’s been in more Royal Rumbles than anyone else in history at this point. RIkishi’s spinning sell of the clothesline was already pretty good.

#21 is Jamal. Both members of Three Minute Warning are in there.

#22 is Kane. JR mentions no one has come close to Kane’s 11 man elimination record…even though the previous record was 10. He gets rid of Rosey on cue.

#23 is Shelton Benjamin. Both members of Team Angle in there now.

#24 is Booker T. This is the other possible winner I mentioned earlier. There were rumors he would win (which made sense since he eventually got the World Title slot at Mania against HHH), but Lesnar was the “safe choice”. In retrospect you had to do Lesnar for the story. But Booker was the dark horse.

Booker dumps Eddie!

#25 is A-Train. He immediately derails Cena, a precursor to the Tensai-Cena feud nine years later surely.

Shawn Michaels runs in and attacks Jericho, and it’s enough of a distraction for Test to eliminate Jericho. While this set up Jericho vs. HBK…what the hell was Test eliminating Jericho for? Weird choice there.

#26 is Maven. Not much to say here.

#27 is Goldust. It was pretty crazy Goldust actually got a full time run in 2002, but he wouldn’t last that much longer. He’d come back a lot later though. Charlie Haas eliminates him after about 40 seconds.

Team Angle surprisingly eliminates Booker T. Odd choice there too.

#28 is Batista with awesome music. He gets rid of Test and Rikishi.

#29 is Brock Lesnar! Team Angle double teams, but Lesnar sends them both out. Matt Hardy is F5ed onto them as well.

A-Train kills both Batista and Lesnar in one sequence. How weird does that seem now.

#30 is Undertaker. While the crowd pops, this was a pretty big disappointment. There were several promo videos about Taker coming back at the Rumble, but the first one hinted he could be the Deadman, and the second mentioned the Ministry. So there was hope he would be back in the Deadman character here.

Taker is the only man to have three #30 Rumble appearances I believe, ’97, ’03 and ’07.

Taker gets rid of Cena and Jamal. A great spot follows though, as Maven dropkicks Taker and immediately celebrates. Maven shocking eliminated Taker in this manner in 2002. Taker sends Maven out.

RVD, A-Train, Kane, Lesnar, Batista and Taker left. All the workrate didn’t make it.

RVD and Kane work together to get rid of A-Train. Then another great moment: Kane goes to slam RVD on Batista…only to toss RVD out instead! They foreshadowed this in their promo earlier.

Batista, Lesnar, Taker and Kane are your final four. Crazy final four considering what Batista would become later.

Lesnar and Taker almost mess up a hangman, and Taker almost goes over the top rope. Lesnar noticeably saves him.

Interestingly, Taker tombstones Lesnar here, but Lesnar’s head is obviously too high up. It’s interesting because the same thing happens at Wrestlemania XXX.

Taker clotheslines Batista out, then tries to convince Kane to double team Lesnar. Taker turns on Kane immediately (not a big fan of that either) and tosses him. Batista runs in with a chair but Taker takes him out and whacks him with the chair.

Brock Lesnar wins the Royal Rumble in 53:41, last eliminating the Undertaker. Taker says something to Batista, and Lesnar sneaks up behind him and dumps him. Taker shakes his head in disbelief and gives Lesnar props. I am not a big fan of this ending though and this only fueled the idea that HHH and Taker were holding people down (I’ve come to think Taker wasn’t really doing this though). Taker took out Batista twice, outsmarted his brother, and Lesnar could only beat him by a sneak attack? While there are certainly some good moments, the outcome was never in doubt and the Rumble itself, while fine, is mostly forgettable.

It’s rare that a Royal Rumble PPV is known more for the title matches than the Rumble match itself, but that is what happened here. HHH vs. Steiner is remembered for all the wrong reasons. Benoit vs. Angle for all the right ones. Having one of the worst World Title matches and best World Title matches back to back is quite the oddity. Steiner didn’t last too long as a main eventer and was a midcarder by Mania (and wasn’t on the Mania card!). Benoit eventually got to the top. So at least something went right there. The Lesnar win was expected obviously, but the finish was pretty weak. I love Undertaker, but that whole return was pretty weak as well, and there was no need to make everyone look bad there.

I’ll give this show a historical bonus though. Cena Royal Rumble debut. Randy Orton on PPV (his first time maybe? His first PPV match wasn’t until Summerslam I know that). Batista with his first top 4 Rumble finish (in fact, in every Rumble Batista has been in he ended up in the top 4). The Lesnar victory. These were small building blocks to the future.

Final Grade: B