RDT Reviews WCW/NWA Starrcade ’87

November 27, 2015 rdtworldofsport@gmail.com

NWA/WCW Starrcade 1987
November 26, 1987
Chicago, IL

The NWA was in trouble at this point, mostly because of Jim Crockett’s heavy spending. The NWA looked to compete with Vince McMahon’s WWF and to do that, decided to finally get on Pay-Per-View. This was the first PPV for the NWA, and there were three huge issues that would eventually deem Starrcade ’87 to be a failure.

Issue #1: They abandoned Greensboro. Ric Flair wrote in his book about how Southern fans, especially in Greensboro, felt betrayed as Starrcade had been held in Greensboro every year. Crocket wanted the NWA to seem “big time”, which is why he wanted to hold the show in a big city like Chicago. Unfortunately, as Flair pointed out, the NWA came off as bush league as they weren’t even in the main arena.

Issue #2: Crockett wanted Flair to win the title at Starrcade. There were no top babyfaces that wanted to win the title from Flair and be that lame duck champion, leading to midcarder Ronnie Garvin getting the victory. While Flair was easily the biggest name that hadn’t graced a WWF ring in North American professional wrestling, Garvin was still a no body.

Issue #3: Vince McMahon pretty much squashed Starrcade before it even happened. At first, Vince decided to create Survivor Series and run it opposite of Starrcade. Obviously, Crockett didn’t want to do that, so he pushed the show up to the afternoon, thinking if fans watched both shows, they’d come to the conclusion the NWA show was better. Good plan, but Vince wasn’t having that either. McMahon told the cable companies if they aired Starrcade, not only would they not be allowed to air Survivor Series, they wouldn’t be allowed to air next year’s Wrestlemania. Cable companies obviously didn’t want to take that risk…Wrestlemania III was a huge money maker…which resulted in only five companies carrying Starrcade. Starrcade was dead in the water.

Did Crockett at least put on a good show? Well, let’s see.

The Card

Sting and the Fabulous Freebirds vs. Rick Steiner, Eddie Gilbert and Larry Zbyszko

At least the crowd is really into this. It’s odd seeing Sting as a midcard act, although it wouldn’t be long until he was on top.

It’s amazing what kind of shape Steiner is in in 1987.

Sting already steals the show with some great high flying stuff. Crowd is super hot for Sting.

It makes sense that Chicago would be hot for the Freebirds too.

The announcer makes it a point to tell us that 7 minutes have expired so far. Unfortunately, that means it’s likely we’re getting a time limit draw.

I know hindsight is 20/20, but watching this I would have guessed that Sting would become a huge star. Easily.

Sigh. This is definitely going toward a time limit draw.

Time Limit Draw in 15:00. Referee pulls up before the bell even rings. Really disappointing finish to the first match here. It seemed like Sting going over Larry Zbyszko made the most sense. Otherwise, the match was fun and the crowd was really into it.

Missy Hyatt nearly forgets her line.

UWF World Championship
Steve Williams © vs. Barry Windham

The UWF had invaded the NWA not too long ago, but this was at the tail end of that.

We get some mat wrestling after a fast start and the fans quickly turn against the match. Seems kind of unfair.

In one of the funniest spots I’ve seen in a while, Dr. Death tries a leapfrog and Windham doesn’t go low enough and heasbutts Williams in the groin. I sense that wasn’t intentional.

This whole “good sportsmanship” deal with Windham really isn’t helping. Bad booking there.

Windham goes flying out of the ring and slams into a ringside table. First exciting spot in the match.

Steve Williams retains by pin in 6:50. Dr. Death gets a cradle for the win. I’m guessing Williams got hurt? Nonetheless, match sucked, and the fans let them know. I have read that the UWF title wasn’t long for the world after this one.

Skywalkers Match
The Rock’N’Roll Express vs. The Midnight Express

A young Big Bubba Rogers and Jim Cornette are on the side of the Midnight Express.

A Skywalkers match is a Scaffold match. Usually, these are awful.

Big Bubba beats the crap out of Ricky Morton right away, and the Midnight Express have a two on one against Robert Gibson up top.

Morton comes back and takes out Bubba with Cornette’s tennis racket, then evens the odds up top. Smart way to get the crowd into this.

This isn’t that bad, but there’s only so much that can be done up on top of a scaffold. There’s just a lot of punching and choking and beating down on one another with the racket.

Stan Lane takes the first bump from under the scaffold. That had to be horrible for his knees.

The Rock’N’Roll Express win in 10:23. Eaton goes flying down afterwards. I mean, it was what it was, but it was good for a Scaffold match. Doesn’t seem like the best way to use the Rock’N’Roll Express though. Crowd was into it, so there’s that. Big Bubba goes up there and faces off with Ricky Morton. Morton takes a shot then runs away. Just an unnecessarily dangerous gimmick match.

For some reason, Jimmy Garvin basically hypes up the rest of the card in his promo. A Steve Williams promo follows and it’s not good.

UWF TV Title vs. NWA TV Title
Terry Taylor (UWF TV Champion) vs. Nikita Koloff (NWA TV Champion)

More from that UWF vs. NWA feud. Odd that this took place after the UWF World Title match.

Eddie Gilbert is at ringside for Taylor.

First five minutes focuses on how intimidating and strong Nikita is. That’s fine, but it’s not that exciting.

Watching Taylor here, my impression is that he’s a homeless man’s Flair. Although that’s really Buddy Landell’s role.

Nikita misses the Sickle and suddenly Taylor is in control. The Sickle is a running clothesline I believe, and Koloff slammed into the corner.

Taylor basically uses every heel move in the book to keep the advantage. Even a Figure Four with Gilbert’s assistance! See, he is the homeless man’s Flair.

Koloff unifies the titles in 18:58. Koloff gets his hands on Gilbert, and Taylor accidentally knocks him off the apron. Koloff nails the Sickle and wins. Match was a bit too long as we didn’t need Koloff to dominate the first 10 minutes. Match definitely picked up when Taylor took control. Not bad overall, but Starrcade really needs a show stealer at this point.

NWA World Tag Team Championship
Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard© vs. The Road Warriors

Hawk and Animal are the hometown team here, and the crowd is hot for them.

The Road Warriors are dominating early on and it’s pretty awesome.

Blanchard comes off the top and Animal catches him perfectly with a slam. Wow.

The Horsemen finally get control when Hawk tries to press Blanchard but Anderson chop blocks him. There’s a similar story here as the last match, only this one is better.

Blanchard really beats down on Hawk’s knee as the Horsemen have found the hole in the Road Warrior armor.

Referee Tommy Young goes flying out of the ring, which was a sick bump.

Doomsday Device! The Road Warriors seemingly win the title as Earl Hebner makes the three count…but…

Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard retain by DQ in 13:27. Turns out Tommy Young saw Hawk toss Arn Anderson over the top rope (which was worthy of a DQ back then), and the Dusty Finish rears its ugly head. The Road Warriors winning the tag belts in their hometown on the biggest show of the year must have made way too much sense eh? Still, we had a good match here, which is something that was desperately needed.

Starrcade ’87 really needs to be carried by its main events.

We get a Nikita Koloff interview that I think is in Russian. Although I hear the words great wrestler. Man that was terrible.

Steel Cage Match: NWA United States Championship vs. Career
Lex Luger© vs. Dusty Rhodes

Luger was a member of the Horsemen here, although that wouldn’t last much longer.

Eh, it’s not really a career threatening match, if he loses Dusty couldn’t wrestle for 90 days. That doesn’t seem that bad and I don’t know why it’s being hyped like Dusty’s career would be over. Strange.

This has started off really slow, highlighted by Luger hilariously missing an elbow drop.

Dusty gets busted open (and obviously blades) after one shot into the cage.

Ugliest dropkick ever from Dusty.

Ugly DDT at the 15 minute mark.

Dusty Rhodes wins the title in 16:28. Luger goes to pick up a chair thrown into the ring by J.J. Dillion, only he stands there for a second so Dusty can DDT him on it. Luger was pretty awful at this point obviously. Half of this match was in an armbar. The blood was unearned and the cage was barely used. I don’t even know why Dillon knocked out the key keeper since he threw the chair over the cage anyway. This was pretty bad, but the crowd popped huge for Dusty.

Steel Cage Match: NWA World Championship
Ronnie Garvin© vs. Ric Flair

Garvin gets booed out of the building during his intro. He looks weird with the big gold belt.

There’s a huge Garvin sucks chant as well. Just like it made sense for Chicago to love the Freebirds, Chicago loves Ric Flair.

Gotta give Flair credit, he’s basically letting Garvin beat the crap out of him.

Two really cool near-falls near the end here, with Flair cheating to win (but Tommy Young catching him) and Garvin nearly stealing it with a roll-up.

Ric Flair wins the title in 17:38. Flair slams Garvin into the post of the cage and gets the pin. Really underwhelming finish. The fans pop huge for Flair. Really, Garvin never had a chance here. Match was decent but nothing special and it wasn’t the amazing main event Starrcade ’87 needed.

Crockett sold not too long after this. He just didn’t have the funds to compete where Ted Turner did. Many stars on this show left for the WWF over the course of the next year (Terry Taylor, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Big Bubba and Garvin come to mind immediately) as the NWA played 2nd fiddle for a while. Starrcade ’87 never had a chance from the beginning, but the card itself didn’t help either. There’s no excuse for an average show with weak finishes, especially when everything is on the line.

Final Grade: C

Other (DC, Marvel, Disney etc.)

RDT Reviews Shaun the Sheep: The Movie

November 25, 2015 rdtworldofsport@gmail.com

I can keep this one mostly spoiler free.

Shaun the Sheep the Movie is a delightful film that hits its main goal, which is to be cute and entertaining. It doesn’t hold back, looking to make the audience laugh at every opportunity and succeeding in that respect. Shaun the Sheep the Movie is a silent film and as a result the visuals tell the story. The film succeeds in this respect as well.

All of the visuals in the film really hit their marks. Each character, from the random people in the city to every animal in the farm is memorable because of how they are portrayed on screen. Every moment on screen has value. This helps the main characters as well. Each main character, from Shaun to Bitzer to even the human main characters all are represented strongly based on how they act. You understand each character’s motivations.

In what works and works against the film is that Shaun the Sheep is quite simple. There’s not much of a lesson to be learned or moral. On one hand that’s good to have a simple movie. On the other, Shaun the Sheep doesn’t have much long term value.

Pros:

+Innocent and fun.

+Great visuals.

+Fun characters.

+Quite funny overall.

Cons:

-Very simple film.

-Some unnecessary music tracks in what was otherwise a really good silent film.

Grade: B+

NASCAR

The 2015 NASCAR Chase For Cup Finale…and a Good Bye to Jeff Gordon

November 22, 2015 rdtworldofsport@gmail.com

And then there were four. Four drivers, each with a tremendous storyline attached to them that makes the 2015 NASCAR season finale enthralling. Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick each have a legitimate chance at the Championship. Let’s look at these four Championship contenders and how they got here.

Martin Truex Jr.: Truex is easily the least accomplished of the four. With only three career victories to his name, the idea of Truex being a Championship contender is surprising. Hell, no one really had him even in the Chase much less in the Final Four. Furniture Row racing was a low budget team that came to the forefront when Kurt Busch had nearly worn out his welcome with NASCAR. Busch was able to give Furniture Row a good season which got them on the map. Busch bolted, and an at the time disgraced Truex joined. Truex of course was involved in the Clint Bowyer-Jeff Gordon-Ryan Newman Chase dilemma where Bowyer purposely spun out to give Truex a spot (which was overturned). Truex had a bad year in 2014, finishing 24^th in points. He shockingly started with 14 top 10s out of 15 races this year and won at Pocono. He got to the Chase with pure consistency: 13^th, 8^th, 11^th in Round 1, 3^rd, 15^th and 7^th in Round 2 and 6^th, 8^th, 14^th in Round 3. Fortunately for Truex, he’s done quite well at Homestead in his career, with 3 Top 5s, 7 Top 10s (8 Top 11s) in 10 starts there. If things go wrong for the other contenders a solid 5^th can win the title. I don’t think he will, but expect him to finish as a runner-up in the standings. If you like underdogs, Truex is your pick.

Kyle Busch: What a wild ride for Kyle Busch. He started the season with a broken leg, came back 12 races later and had to manage to both get a top 30 points finish and win a race. He won 4 races and got in the top 30 with races to spare. Unlike in the past, Busch did well enough in the Chase to have a shot at the end. 9^th, 37^th and 2^nd in Round 1. 20^th, 5^th and 11^th in Round 2. Finally, a strong 5^th, 4^th and 4^th in Round 3. Kyle’s never really run well at Homestead, he has one top 5 in 10 starts (a 4^th in 2012). But, I think this is Kyle’s time. Expect Kyle to be in the hunt as he’s starting third. He should be up front almost all day and might even take the whole race down. There has been a lot of inconsistent frustration with Kyle, but he’s put it all together this time. He’s my pick to win the Championship.

Kevin Harvick: Seemingly the favorite for sure. Harvick of course won Phoenix and then this race last year to win the title. Harvick’s been great all year; 27 Top 10s is a pretty great number, but I can’t help but feel that his Chase that been a bit disappointing. He had to win at Dover to get into Round 2 (42^nd, 21^st and 1^st), he outright caused a wreck at Talladega that if it has been three seconds later he’d miss the next round (as Dale Earnhardt Jr. would have probably won and took Harvick’s spot) with a 2^nd, 16^th and 15^th.He did have a strong last round with an 8^th, 3^rd and 2^nd. Still, I like Kyle’s momentum better for whatever reason. Harvick has been consistently great at Homestead throughout his career. A win, five Top 3s, 6 Top 5s, 12 Top 10s in 14 starts. So maybe I’m crazy for not picking him. Anyway, if you like the start of a potentially new dynasty, Harvick is your guy.

Jeff Gordon: Like him or hate him, it is absolutely incredible that the great Jeff Gordon’s last race allows him to race for a Championship. It hasn’t been Gordon’s greatest season (far from it really), but he’s pulled the rich man’s Ryan Newman from last year with a 14^th, 7^th and 12^th, followed by an 8^th, 10^th and 3^rd. He outright won Martinsville and followed that with a 9^th and a 6^th. So he’s running well. I think we’re getting an 8^th place which probably doesn’t win the title though. Gordon does have some Homestead credentials though. He won here in 2012, has 7 Top 5s, and 12 Top 10s in 16 starts. He’s the sentimental favorite, and a Championship win to cap off an amazing career where he’s arguably a top 3 NASCAR driver of all time (I could see arguments for 1^st honestly) would be incredible.

I think Kyle Busch finishes 2^nd, Truex 4th, Harvick 5th and Gordon 8^th . Before the Chase I picked Harvick to win this race, but I don’t quite feel it. I think Jimmie Johnson makes a statement with a win here.

One more thing. All NASCAR fans, whether they loved or hated Jeff Gordon, has to thank and respect him for what he did. He did in the late 90s with Tiger Woods did for golf, what Magic, Bird and Jordan did for the NBA. NASCAR became a huge deal because of Jeff Gordon. Gordon’s late 90s run was up there with the most impressive dynasties in any professional sport (Gordon from 1994 through 2001: 58 victories, four Championships (’95, ’97, ’98, ’01), a runner up (’96), three Brickyard 400s (’94, ’98, ’01) and Two Daytona 500s (’97, ’99). He ended up with a staggering 93 victories, added the 2005 Daytona 500, 2004 and 2014 Brickyard 400s. And maybe, just maybe he adds the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup. I know I’ll be rooting for him. Thank you Jeff Gordon.

Basketball

Top 100 Greatest Basketball Players Of All-Time: #40-#31

November 14, 2015 rdtworldofsport@gmail.com

#40: Jason Kidd

Resume

NBA All-1^st Team: 5x (’99, ’00, ’01, ’02, ‘04)

NBA All-2^nd Team: 1x (’03)

NBA All-Defensive 1^st Team: 4x (’99, ’01, ’02, ’06)

NBA All-Defensive 2^nd Team: 5x (’00, ’03, ’04, ’05, ’07)

NBA Rookie of the Year: 1x (’95)

NBA All Rookie 1^st Team: 1x (’95)

NBA All-Star: 10x (’96, ’98, ’00, ’01, ’02, ’03, ’04, ’07, ’08, ‘10)

NBA Assists Leader: 3x (’99, ’01, ’03)

NBA Steals Leader: 1x (’02)

NBA Top 10 Assists: 16x (’95, ’96, ’98, ’99, ’00, ’01, ’02, ’03, ’04, ’05, ’06, ’07, ’08, ’09, ’10, ‘11)

NBA Top 10 Steals: 12x (’95, ’96, ’98, ’99, ’01, ’02, ’03, ’06, ’08, ’09, ’10, ‘11)

NBA Top 10 Defensive Rating: 3x (’02, ’03, ’06)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 2x (’99, ’03)

NBA Top 10 Defensive Win Shares: (’00, ’01, ’02, ’03, ’06)

NBA Career Assists: 2^nd

NBA Career Steals: 2^nd

NBA Career Defensive Win Shares: 12^th

NBA Career Win Shares: 30th

Starter for One NBA Champion: ’11 Mavericks

Best Player on Two Runner-Ups: ’02 Nets, ’03 Nets

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 43rd

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 28th

There’s a pretty lengthy plus/minus list for Jason Kidd.

Plusses: Regarded as one of the best defensive point guards in NBA history. Made everyone around him ridiculously better during his prime (see Kenyon Martin). His trade to the New Jersey Nets for Stephen Marbury turned the Nets into an Eastern Conference Champion (not a real title contender, as we’ll get to). One of the greatest passers in NBA history. His impressive steal and assist numbers are only second to John Stockton, and Kidd got the assists in an era that was pretty bad for offense (and he didn’t have a Karl Malone either).

Minuses: His defensive accolades somewhat overrated him on that end. It doesn’t mean he wasn’t really really good, but you never really heard the words “let’s put Jason Kidd on him to lock him down” like you would with Gary Payton. His defensive reputation carried him through the later 00s (although he still got a lot of steals). One of the worst outside shooters in NBA history, which is what held him back as a true top tier player. If it wasn’t for one of the weakest stretches of talent in NBA history and especially in the Eastern Conference, Kidd’s Nets would have never even sniffed the NBA Finals. Surprisingly not a big Advanced Metrics guy, although that’s because of his bad shooting. Lastly, was horribly outplayed by Chauncey Billups in Game 7 of the 2004 Semi-Finals against the Pistons (22 PTS, 7 AST for Billups, 0 PTS, 7 AST for Kidd). It also can’t be forgotten how badly Chris Paul embarrassed him in the 2008 First Round either.

Still, Kidd was pretty much the best point guard of the early 2000s. He was a selfless point guard who made everyone around him better at a time where it seemed no one was doing that, and he got to two Finals as a result. That’s good enough for the Top 40.

#39. Paul Pierce

Resume

NBA Finals MVP: 1x (’08)

NBA All-2^nd Team: 1x (‘09)

NBA All-3^rd Team: 3x (’02, ’03, ’08)

NBA All-Rookie 1^st Team: 1x (’99)

NBA All-Star: 10x (’02, ’03, ’04, ’05, ’06, ’08. ’09, ’10, ’11, ‘12)

NBA Points Leader: 1x (’02)

NBA Top 10 Points: 5x (’01, ’02, ’03, ’04, ‘06)

NBA Top 10 Steals: 5x (’00, ’01, ’02, ’03, ’05)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 4x (’02, ’05, ’08, ‘11)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: 1x (‘08)

NBA Career Points: 16th

NBA Career Steals: 11th

NBA Career Win Shares: 21st

2^nd Best Player on One Champion: ’08 Celtics

2^nd Best Player on One Runner-Up: ’10 Celtcs

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 47th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 77th

Pierce is a tricky player to place. He never seemed to be iconic or anything, but was still good enough to nearly get a dreadful Celtics team to the NBA Finals in 2002, and later re-invented his game in order to co-exist with Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to win his first NBA Title. Pierce went from being what seemed to be a selfish 25 PPG a game guy to someone who gave up shots and became a decent defensive player to win a title. Isn’t that what it’s all about?

I can’t state enough with how much the 2008 NBA Playoffs helped Pierce here. With LeBron singlehandedly looking to defend his Eastern Conference crown and shock the 66 win Celtics in Round 2 (LeBron Game 7: 45-5-6), Pierce went toe to toe with him scoring 41 of his own. Pierce later helped in shutting down Kobe and won Finals MVP. Yeah, Garnett was the best player on the team, but Pierce willed them there.

The rest of his resume is pretty decent as well. Some good scoring years (at one time Kobe, McGrady and Pierce could be spoken about in the same breath) early on and now some good veteran years (Pierce’s shot against Atlanta in the playoffs last year was sick…too bad Nene can’t rebound). 39 might seem high, but Pierce’s career seems to be what basketball is all about.

#38: Allen Iverson

Resume

NBA MVP: 1x (’01)

NBA All-1^st Team: 3x (’99, ’01, ‘05)

NBA All-2^nd Team: 3x (’00, ’02, ‘03)

NBA All-3^rd Team: 1x (’06)

NBA Rookie of the Year: 1x (’97)

NBA All-Star Game MVP: 2x (’01, ’05)

NBA All-Star: 11x (’00, ’01, ’02, ’03, ’04, ’05, ’06, ’07, ’08, ’09, ‘10)

NBA Points Leader: 1x (’05)

NBA Steals Leader: 2x (’03, ‘05)

NBA Top 10 Points: 11x (’97, ’98, ’99, ’00, ’01, ’02, ’03, ’05, ’06, ’07, ‘08)

NBA Top 10 Steals: 10x (’97, ’98, ’99, ’00, ’01, ’02, ’03, ’05, ’06, ’08)

NBA Top 10 Assists: 3x (’05, ’06, ’08)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 3x (’99, ’01, ‘08)

NBA Career Points: 28th

NBA Career Steals: 12^th

NBA Career Assists: 43rd

Best Player on One Runner-Ups: ’01 76ers

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 37th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 40^th

There’s generally two thoughts about Iverson. Either he’s an overrated shoot first/low percentage volume scorer or he’s perhaps the greatest and toughest (and fastest) guy ever to be on the basketball court. I generally go with the latter with a dash of the former. Like Kidd, Iverson peaked at a time where complex offensive schemes were at an all-time low in the NBA. Iverson was able to master hero ball and while his Advanced stats didn’t show it, the 76ers seemed to be a lot worse without him. His 2001 MVP case is a bit weak…it should probably be Shaq’s, but he proved he was at least somewhat worthy by dragging his crappy team to the 2001 NBA Finals (although they probably should have lost to Milwaukee). His Game 1 performance in those Finals give his career extra weight (48 PTS, leading the Sixers to the only playoff win against the 2001 Lakers) and the Sixers at least hung around in some of those games.

Like Kidd, Iverson probably maximized his potential and took advantage of his era. And like Kidd, when that era ended his usefulness as a top star did too.

#37: Gary Payton

Resume

NBA All-1^st Team: 2x (’98, ’00)

NBA All-2^nd Team: 5x (’95, ’96, ’97, ’99, ‘02)

NBA All-3^rd Team: 2x (’94, ’01)

NBA Defensive Player of the Year: 1x (’96)

NBA All-Defensive 1^st Team: 9x (’94, ’95, ’96, ’97, ’98, ’99, ’00, ’01, ’02)

NBA All-Star: 9x (’94, ’95, ’96, ’97, ’98, ’00, ’01, ’02, ‘03)

NBA Assists Leader: 1x (’00)

NBA Steals Leader: 1x (‘96)

NBA Top 10 Points: 4x (’97, ’99, ’00, ‘02)

NBA Top 10 Steals: 9x (’91, ’93, ’94, ’95, ’96, ’97, ’98, ’99, ‘00)

NBA Top 10 Assists: 9x (’96, ’97, ’98, ’99, ’00, ’01, ’02, ‘03)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 7x (’95, ’96, ’97, ’98, ’99, ’00, ‘02)

Top 10 WS/48: 2x (’98, ’00)

NBA Career Points: 30th

NBA Career Steals: 4th

NBA Career Assists: 8^th

Role Player on One Champion: ’06 Heat

Best Player on One Runner-Up: ’96 Sonics

Starter on One Runner-Up: ’04 Lakers

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 41st

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 39^th

A great What-If for Payton: What if George Karl switched Payton onto Michael Jordan earlier in the 1996 NBA Finals? Once that switch was made, the Sonics took two straight from the Bulls and had chances to get to Game 7. Not surprisingly, it’s Jordan’s worst Finals performance.

Unlike Kidd, Gary Payton with a destructive defensive player. He absolutely wrecked John Stockton in the ’96 Conference Finals. He slowed Jordan down significantly. He was one of the few non big men to win Defensive Player of the Year. If you made me make an all-time Defensive Team, Payton would be my point guard hands down.

He was a great offensive player as well, although he was exposed for needing a system that tailored to his game when he ended up on the 2004 Lakers (and had to “share” with Kobe). In a sense, he’s like Iverson that way.

There are two reasons why Payton never won a title as the top guy on his team. The first has to do with him. He was a coach killer and routinely sold players out. The second was bad luck, as his Shawn Kemp lost his mind and Vin Baker ended up as an alcoholic. Those are the only elite low post threats Payton ever had in his prime. If Kemp didn’t lose his marbles and Baker stayed healthy, perhaps the Sonics get back into the Finals and win a title. But we’ll never know.

#36. Patrick Ewing

Resume

NBA All-1^st Team: 1x (‘90)

NBA All-2^nd Team: 6x (’88, ’89, 91, ’92, ’93, ‘97)

NBA All-Defensive 2nd Team: 3x (’88, ’89, ‘92)

NBA Rookie of the Year: 1x (’86)

NBA All-Rookie 1^st Team: 1x (’86)

NBA All-Star: 11x (’86, ’88, ’89, ’90, ’91, ’92, ’93, ’94, ’95, ’96, ‘97)

NBA Defensive Rating Leader: 2x (’93, ’94)

NBA Defensive Win Share Leader: 3x (’93, ’94, ’97)

NBA Top 10 Points: 8x (’90, ’91, ’92, ’93, ’94, ’95, ’96, ’97)

NBA Top 10 Rebounds: 8x (’90, ’91, ’92, ’93, ’94, ’95, ’96, ’97)

NBA Top 10 Blocks: 11x (’88, ’89, ’90, ’91, ’92, ’93, ’94, ’95, ’96, ’97, ‘99)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 5x (’89, ’90, ’92, ’93, ‘94)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: 2x (’90, ‘94)

NBA Top 10 Defensive Rating: 11x (’88, ’90, ’91, ’92, ’93, ’94, ’95, ’96, ’97, ’98, ’99, ’00)

NBA Career Points: 21st

NBA Career Rebounds: 24th

NBA Career Blocks: 7^th

NBA Career Win Shares: 35th

NBA Career Defensive Win Shares: 9^th

NBA Career Defensive Rating: 20th

Best Player on Two Runner-Ups: ’94 Knicks, ’99 Knicks

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 40th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 37th

Arguably exhibit A for “player denied a Championship because of Michael Jordan”. Ewing was both overrated and underrated in different ways. He was overrated because at one time fans put him in that upper tier of NBA players, up there with Jordan, Olajuwon, Malone, Barkley etc., and he was never quite there. He was a good but not great offensive force, capable of putting up the occasional big game (like his 44-13-5-7 game against Boston in Round 1 of the 1990 playoffs…or even his 45-13 against Detroit one round later) but never consistently able to do it. He couldn’t pass well and although his rebounding totals are good, he was never great at that either. To be fair, Ewing lost his peak athleticism early in his career (hence the kneepads). Ewing was a very good player who was never great offensively. But you could build a title contender around him for sure. He was “New York popular”.

What’s forgotten about Ewing was that he was a destructive defensive player that happened to come at a time where Dikembe Mutombo, Hakeem Olajuwon and David Robinson all transcended what being a defensive center meant. As a result Ewing doesn’t have the gaudy all-Defensive team nods. But if his career were a few years earlier, he would have done well dealing with Moses and Kareem (just like Olajuwon did in 1986).

But if it weren’t for Michael and Hakeem, Ewing would have captured the title at least once. Jordan’s Bulls took out Ewing’s Knicks in 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1996. In 1992 and 1993, the Knicks gave Jordan all he could handle (a seven game series in 1992 and a six gamer that the Knicks led 2-0 in 1993) and could have won the title (definitely in 1992). Of course, Ewing had his chance in ’94, but Olajuwon destroyed him, so there’s that (although if John Starks didn’t play horribly, the Knicks still win the title with Ewing).

There’s always the Bill SImmons “Ewing Theory”. The theory Is that the Knicks played better without Ewing than with him. And while that was definitely true in 1999 (when he got hurt and the Marcus Camby addition got them to the Finals), I doubt it’s true earlier. The idea behind it is that a star player gets a lot of extraordinary attention without winning anything and then someone leaves the team in some way. Everyone expects the team to fall apart, but instead they play even better. See TIki Barber for the 2007 Giants or even the Linsanity era for Carmelo Anthony (or that the Nuggets went 59-23 the next year without him). That fit Ewing perfectly. It’s a shame because it’s easy to forget that Patrick Ewing was really good.

#35. Kevin Durant

Resume

NBA MVP: 1x (’14)

NBA All-1st Team: 5x (’10, ’11, ’12, ’13, ‘14)

NBA Rookie of the Year: 1x (’08)

NBA All-Rookie 1^st Team: 1x (’08)

NBA All-Star: 6x (’10, ’11, ’12, ’13, ’14, ’15)

NBA Points Leader: 5x (’10, ’11, ’12, ’13, ’14)

NBA Win Share Leader: 1x (‘14)

NBA WS/48 Leader: 1x (’14)

NBA PER Leader: 1x (’14)

NBA Top 5 Points: 6x (’09, ’10, ’11, ’12, ’13, ’14)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 5x (’10, ’11, ’12, ’13, ’14)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: 4x (’10, ’12, ’13, ‘14)

Best Player on One Runner-Ups: ’12 Thunder

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): Not Ranked

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): Not Ranked

It’s not even close to too early yet for Durant. Durant’s already an offensive savant, efficiently leading the league in scoring for five years. His 2014 MVP campaign would be considered the 9^th best via WS/48 in the three point era, only behind LeBron, Jordan and David Robinson. The 2012 Thunder were so good led by Durant that I thought there was a legitimate chance they were winning the title…and then Durant dropped 36 in his first Finals game and the Thunder stole Game 1. Durant’s 2012 Finals stats: 30.6 PPG, 6 RPG, 54.8% FG.

I’d rather have five elite years from Durant than 8 or 9 very good years from someone like Ewing.

#34. Dave Cowens

Resume

NBA MVP: 1x (’73)

NBA All-2nd Team: 3x (’73, ’75, ‘76)

NBA All-Defensive 1^st Team: 1x (’76)

NBA All-Defensive 2^nd Team: 2x (’75, ’80)

NBA Rookie of the Year: 1x (’71)

NBA All-Rookie 1^st Team: 1x (’71)

NBA All-Star Game MVP: 1x (’73)

NBA All-Star: 8x (’72, ’73, ’74, ’75, ’76, ’77, ’78, ’79, ‘80)

NBA Defensive Win Share Leader: 1x (’73)

NBA Top 10 Rebounds: 7x (’71, ’72, ’73, ’74, ’75, ’76, ’78)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 3x (’73, ’76, ’78)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: 2x (’75, ’76)

NBA Top 10 Defensive Win Shares: 7x (’71, ’72, ’73, ’74, ’75, ’76, ’78)

Best Player on Two Champions: ’74 Celtics, ’76 Celtics

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 31st

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 44th

The big arguments in favor of Cowens are that he was the best guy on two title teams (and he had to beat Kareem for one of them) and his 1973 MVP (which probably should have been Kareem’s). Cowens of course had to contend with Kareem and Walton for any All-NBA nods, which is why he doesn’t have many of them. He bridged the Celtics from the Russell era to the Bird era, won a couple of championship and became one of the most popular Celtics of all time (although, he’s largely forgotten for whatever reason to anyone else). I can’t put him much higher than this as despite the two titles, it wasn’t like he got them by himself (Havilcek) and he wasn’t really in the best center of the 70s discussion.

#33. Steve Nash

Resume

NBA MVP: 2x (’05, ’06)

NBA All-1^st Team: 3x (’05, ’06, ’07)

NBA All-2nd Team: 2x (’08, ‘10)

NBA All-3^rd Team: (‘’02, ’03)

NBA All-Star: 8x (’02, ’03, ’05, ’06, ’07, ’08, ’10, ‘12)

NBA Assists Leader: 6x (’05, ’06, ’07, ’10, ’11)

NBA FT% Leader: 2x (’06, ’10)

NBA Top 10 Assists: 11x (’02, ’03, ’04, ’05, ’06, ’07, ’08, ’09, ’10, ’11, ‘12)

NBA Top 6 FT%: 13x (’01, ’02, ’03, ’04, ’05, ’06, ’07, ’08, ’09, ’10, ’11, ’12)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 3x (’03, ’06, ‘07)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: 4x (’03, ’05, ’06, ‘07)

NBA Top 10 Offensive Win Shares: 9x (’02, ’03, ’04, ’05, ’06, ’07, ’08, ’09, ‘10)

NBA Top 10 Offensive Rating: 8x (’01, ’02, ’03, ’04, ’05, ’06, ’07, ’10)

NBA Career Assists: 3^rd

NBA Career FT%: 1^st

NBA Career 3P%: 10^th

NBA Career Offensive Rating: 10^th

NBA Career Offensive Win Shares: 14th

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 36th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 50th

Of anyone that benefitted from the 2004-2005 rule changes that barred hand-checking, Nash was #1. This rule transformed him from a very good point guard to league MVP. Had Mark Cuban and the Mavericks had the foresight to realize this, Dallas might have had a late 2000s dynasty (although Nash’s defense was always an issue).

How do we justify Nash being as high as 33^rd? Here’s a lengthy pro-con list for Nash.

Pros:

Was the 2^nd best player on teams that won 53, 57, 60 and 52 games. Now if you want to give all the credit to Dirk Nowitzki that’s fine. But then he transformed the Suns and was the best player on teams that won 62, 54 (after losing Amar’e Stoudemire), 61, 55, 46, and 54 games. That’s pretty impressive. Before the 62-20 season, the Suns were 29-53.

Won two straight MVPs, and there’s a good argument to be made that he should have been the 2007 MVP over Nowitzki.

Dragged the 2010 Suns to the Conference Finals and was two games away from the Finals. The 2010 Suns were not considered a good team.

His style of play turned out to be the prototype for Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors.

Cons:

Could never get to the NBA Finals. While he wasn’t beating the Spurs in 2005, he had legitimate shots in 2006 (lost to Dallas in the WCF), 2007 (Robert Horry checked him into a table, which led to several Suns suspensions and is a classic Donaghy game) and 2010 (where the Lakers couldn’t stop him…but his team wasn’t talented enough).

On the all-time worst defensive players team.

His 2005 MVP should have gone to Shaquille O’Neal. His 2006 MVP can go back and forth. It was impressive that the Suns were just as good without Ama’re. But still, Kobe Bryant had an 81 point game, a 62 point game and dragged a horrid Lakers team to the Western playoffs. LeBron is also a solid choice for 2006 MVP.

While the Suns got a lot better when Nash joined…the Mavericks also seemingly got better, making the Finals just two seasons later.

For me, re-inventing the game from the point guard position is going to justify his high ranking. Yeah, he couldn’t beat Duncan, he couldn’t beat Kobe, he couldn’t beat Nowitzki. But he was really really good.

#32. Kevin McHale

Resume

NBA Sixth Man of the Year: 2x (’84, ’85)

NBA All-1^st Team: 1x (‘87)

NBA All-Defensive 1^st Team: 3x (’86, ’87, ’88)

NBA All-Defensive 2^nd Team: 3x (’83, ’89, ’90)

NBA All-Rookie 1^st Team: 1x (’81)

NBA All-Star: 7x (’84, ’86, ’87, ’88, ’89, ’90, ’91)

NBA FG% Leader: 2x (’87, ‘88)

NBA Offensive Rating Leader: 1x (’88)

NBA Top 10 Points: 1x (’87)

NBA Top 10 Blocks: 4x (’81, ’82, ’83, ’87)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 5x (’84, ’85, ’86, ’87, ’88)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: 5x (’84, ’85, ’86, ’87, ’88)

NBA Career Blocks: 26th

NBA Career FG%: 12^th

2^nd Best Player on One Champion: ’86 Celtics

6^th Man For Two Champions: ’81 Celtics, ’84 Celtics

2^nd Best Player on Two Runner-Ups: ’85 Celtics, ’87 Celtics

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 35th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 26th

Probably the 3^rd greatest second banana of all-time behind Scottie Pippen and young Kobe. What makes McHale great is that he took a page out of the Chris Bosh and Pau Gasol playbook (well, they took a page out of his really) and gladly played a supporting role to a clear alpha dog in Larry Bird. His 1987 season showed that he could have been a legitimate 1^st team guy year in and year out (Bird even thought McHale might have been the MVP that year), but he wasn’t wired that way and was glad to take a backseat to Bird (which frustrated Bird to no end).

McHale is probably the greatest post player of all time as well. 60% FG on just crazy different post combinations. In addition to that, he was one of the best defensive players of his era and a possible starter on the all-time defense team.

#31. Walt Frazier

Resume

NBA All-1^st Team: 4x (’70, ’72, ’74, ’75)

NBA All-2^nd Team: 2x (’71, ’73)

NBA All-Defensive 1^st Team: 7x (’69, ’70, ’71, ’72, ’73, ’74, ‘75)

NBA All-Rookie 1^st Team: 1x (’68)

NBA All-Star Game MVP: 1x (’75)

NBA All-Star: 7x (’70, ’71, ’72, ’73, ’74, ’75, ’76)

NBA WS/48 Leader: 1x (’70)

NBA Top 10 Assists: 6x (’69, ’70, ’71, ’72, ’74, ‘75)

NBA Top 10 Steals: 2x (’74, ‘75)

NBA Top 7 Win Shares: 7x (’69, ’70, ’71, ’72, ’73, ’74, ‘75)

NBA Top 6 WS/48: 5x (’69, ’70, ’71, ’72, ‘73)

Best Player on One Champion: ’73 Knicks

2^nd Best Player on One Champion: ’70 Knicks

Best Player on One Runner-Up: ’72 Knicks

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 32nd

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 36^th

Regarded as one of the best defensive guards of all time. Also regarded as one of the best big game guards of all time (many would put him in the class with Jordan). In Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals he put up 36 points, 19 assists, 7 rebounds and 5 steals against Jerry West and the Lakers. Also can’t be forgotten Willis Reed was hurt for that game (“Here Comes Willis!”).

Why is Frazier this low then? Wasn’t a great shooter so the lack of a three point line in his era helped. His career was pretty short as a top guy.

Still, of all the New York Knicks of all time, Frazier is probably the favorite and the player where fans knew they could win the title with him. And they did twice.

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews ECW November to Remember ’98

November 7, 2015 rdtworldofsport@gmail.com

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

November 6, 2015 rdtworldofsport@gmail.com

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

Shawn Michaels was in his 2^nd 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

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

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

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

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 1^st 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

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

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 9^th 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

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

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

November 1, 2015 rdtworldofsport@gmail.com

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

October 31, 2015 rdtworldofsport@gmail.com

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.

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

October 27, 2015 rdtworldofsport@gmail.com

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?

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 1^st 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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

Other (DC, Marvel, Disney etc.)

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

October 19, 2015 rdtworldofsport@gmail.com

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-

RDT World of Sport

RDT Reviews WCW/NWA Starrcade ’87

RDT Reviews Shaun the Sheep: The Movie

The 2015 NASCAR Chase For Cup Finale…and a Good Bye to Jeff Gordon

Top 100 Greatest Basketball Players Of All-Time: #40-#31

RDT Reviews ECW November to Remember ’98

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

RDT Reviews Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones

RDT Reviews WWF InVasion

NBA Predictions 15-16

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

And Games….And All Fun Stuff!