The Critic

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Jul 8, 2006 -> 07:31 AM) Vince McMahon is awful. Is there really any other word for this? He insists on running a modified Stone Cold Steve Austin angle with every wrestler he decides NEEDS to feud with HIM. The only time Smackdown was bearable to me was when Heyman was in charge of it, but that didn't last long because McMahon is a fool. I can't believe what's happening with ECW. You know, I wouldn't mind having SOME WWE wrestlers in ECW. Carlito, for one, could do an excellent amount of work in ECW, I think -- at least, in real ECW, with Heyman controlling angles and working things. But Test, the Bashams, this is such bulls***. And, hell, it could work, theoretically, if Heyman were in charge. He can work about anything. But with McMahon serving as the chief, there's no way that those jobbing suckbags can do anything. And ECW needs TWO HOURS, not one. Bah. The current WWECW suckfest doesn't need ANY MORE TV time. And I think 2 hours is too much for any wrestling program. If TNA could convince SpikeTV to give them 90 minutes, I think that's the perfect length for a weekly wrestling program. It's enough time to develop storylines and characters, but short enough to prevent throwaway spots like arm-wrestling contests, contract signings and anything involving Konnan and/or Kevin Nash.

QUOTE(MHizzle85 @ Jul 7, 2006 -> 12:27 PM) well when i heard about this angle, i thought it had the chance to be something entertaining, but once i heard hogan has full creative control over his angles and matches...i dont even have to waste my money on the ppv or the disk space for the torrent. Yeah, the "full creative control" thing prevents Hogan from ever being entertaining.

QUOTE(MHizzle85 @ Jul 6, 2006 -> 11:12 PM) this'll show if the WWE is serious or not...if he doesn't get punished, then all hell should break loose In true Vince McMahon double-standard fashion, Orton's not getting suspended. He has to have some sort of "handler" trail him for the time being, but Vince kissed Hulk Hogan's ass and didn't suspend Orton. Y'know, because that Orton/Hogan angle where Randy lusts after an 18-year-old girl and her Daddy comes to her rescue in a pathetic attempt to prop up that tone-deaf dope's manufactured recording career MUST come first. :puke x 1000

QUOTE(tealeafreaderii @ Jul 7, 2006 -> 12:16 AM) So what do you recommend? Death?. Hey, man, do whatcha gotta do.....

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Jim Thome is a f***ing MONSTER. THANK YOU, Ken Williams, for getting that man for the Sox!!!!!

I haven't watched one episode of Big Brother, but my wife watches it. Just not my kind of show, from what she tells me about it.

QUOTE(Maverick0984 @ Jul 6, 2006 -> 08:27 PM) he was out pretty good...i don't think any partiular slide instead of maybe a plow would have changed that play. i feel bad for Crede not making the allstar team even with Ozzie there. The throw was high, so if Joe plants his foot directly into Hernandez's, he's safe with room to spare IMO. Ramon didn't have his weight firmly planted because he had to reach up for the throw. Either way, I think it was a fair gamble by Joey - most LFs would have tried to get the throw to home themselves, but Conine made a smart throw to Mora. Gotta give credit where it's due.

Call me crazy, but I still believe he's going to win some big games for the Sox. He's a more than decent 4th/5th starter in my opinion, despite not pitching particularly well lately.

If Crede puts his foot into Hernandez's shoe he's safe easy. You're not going to get your hand past a shinguard.

QUOTE(SoxFan76 @ Jul 6, 2006 -> 02:40 PM) Wow, people still can't get over the fact that larger wrestlers draw more? Back when I was big into wrestling and would go on the message boards, people would always push for Benoit or the other smaller more technical wrestlers to be champions. Well when they would get the belt, there would be no reaction. I remember hearing crickets when Benoit would come down the aisle. It's a shame, because he's a great wrestler. But the reality of the situation is big guys draw. The crappiest wrestlers draw. It annoys me so much when the internet wrestling community always wants your Paul London's, Chris Benoit's, Rey Mysterio, etc. to be pushed. For as long as pro wrestling has been around, the main guys haven't been the greatest wrestlers (with a few exceptions). Hulk Hogan? The Rock? Triple H? Andre the Giant? Foley? Some of the worst, yet most successful, wrestlers of all time. It's sports entertainment. It's acting. It's about personality. Another thing. People who hate everyone who becomes popular. Cena is very entertaining to watch, but all the internet fans hate him. The internet ruined wrestling for me. It sucked the fun right out of it. Rant over. You make a solid point, but for the sake of counterpoint I will say that for every Hulk Hogan you usually have 10 guys like Albert, Giant Gonzalez, the Great Khali, Dave Batista, Test, and so on. Guys who have zero personality and can't lead anyone to a watchable match. I'd say the percentage is about the same with the littler guys, too, but the fact is (as you pointed out as well) that the "hosses" seem to draw better than the smaller guys. As for Benoit, I always enjoyed his work, because he was able to make his matches seem more "real" than a lot of other guys. Quick opinions: Paul London is unwatchable, Cena is average at best, and Rey Mysterio is good in small doses. QUOTE(LowerCaseRepublican @ Jul 6, 2006 -> 02:26 PM) And we've got a new logo too Now THAT's funny!!!

QUOTE(LowerCaseRepublican @ Jul 6, 2006 -> 01:00 AM) And Critic -- we gotta add something to the warning...We forgot Kevin "Vampire moth attracted to the stadium lights" Fertig in there that shows up every damn week. And also the Sandman caning some lame ass gimmick wasting yet more time of the show. Maybe we can just sum it up with this warning before the show: "WARNING: The following program is REALLY gonna f***ing suck. Any similarities between this WWECW product and the ECW programming you fondly remember is purely and totally accidental, and is probably the result of some Paul Heyman booking slipping through the McMahon Family Entertainment Prevention Filter. Blame for the vampires, psychics, and zombies can be directly placed on the Sci-Fi Channel, while blame for the weak-ass stripper and the hosses can be placed squarely on the "enhanced" shoulders of Vincent Kennedy McMahon. Thank you, and enjoy the following gag-fest."

QUOTE(RibbieRubarb @ Jul 5, 2006 -> 06:39 PM) Ah no one in Hollywood today could hold a candle to Sophia in her prime! But, for the over 70 set, 50's bombshell Mamie Van Doren is 75 and she's holding up rather well: Looks like a fair amount of "replacement parts" on Mamie.

Fahey has a definite Don Kessinger look to him.

QUOTE(Kid Gleason @ Jul 5, 2006 -> 05:04 PM) They had. But the eventual sickness of Karl Mueller pulled them together for a reunion and they decided to stick it out, write a new album, and see what happened. It actually has moments of the early days on it and is quite good for about the first half. It never gets bad, but it doesn't hit the stride they had with "Hang" or "Horse", but on certain songs, it comes damn close. Then I guess I need to hear those "certain songs".....

Yeah, not the best time ever to be a Cub fan. Someone on a Cub board had this to say when Buerhle got shelled: "If he's giving up 10 runs to our crappy offense, he should quit the game" They can't even enjoy a rare victory anymore. FWIW, Hendry is going to "re-evaluate" Dusty over the All-Star break to see if he gets more time to "dig himself out of the hole".....can you dig yourself out of a hole?

"It's basically Vince McMahon pushing hosses and his generic plastic wank fodder awkwardly dancing/stripping on the show for the enjoyment of nobody." This is the disclaimer they should run before each episode of WWECW on Sci-Fi.

GRANDMA!!! PUT YOUR CLOTHES BACK ON!!! YOU'RE EMBARRASSING ME!!!!

QUOTE(Kid Gleason @ Jul 5, 2006 -> 03:48 PM) Got the new Soul Asylum. It's pretty good. It has stuff for the fans of the old brilliant Twin Tone band, and stuff for the fans of the crappy commercial version of Soul Asylum. It's about 1/2 and 1/2 for me. But it shows that Pirner still knows how to write. God, I used to love that band. Saw them at the Metro back in 1988. It was 120 degrees in that place, and they put on one of the best shows I've ever seen. Too bad they went to s*** the way they did.

Slap on the wrist for Sabu. $1,000 fine, no suspension. Have to admit, I'm surprised. I kinda thought Vinnie Mac would make an example of him, especially since he's not a "hoss" or a "WWE guy".

They have my respect because they have rebuilt themselves with a good mix of youth and veterans, and because I already respected Jim Leyland as a manager. It'll be interesting to see if guys like Verlander "hit the wall" and if Rogers can avoid his historical second-half fade.

It's weird, I like his column most days, but I don't really like him. He seems like a smug jagoff to me for whatever reason.

Okay, here I go being an old fart again..... My favorite all-time wrestler would have to be Nick Bockwinkel. I used to really like his promos, because his thing was that he didn't get all excited and foam at the mouth about how badly he was going to beat someone. He would speak in a very calm, measured tone, to show that he was above the level of his opponents and the fans. Whenever he DID get all upset about being wronged by an opponent or referee, you paid attention because it was out of character. In the ring, he was that kind of clever cheat that frustrated the fans, because he'd go 5 or 10 minutes without getting caught by the ref. The fans would be going nuts about it, and Bockwinkel would just be smirking at the fans to make them crazier. He was truly excellent, and he had the VERY large plus of having Bobby Heenan as his manager. I also loved his term for the fans - "cretinous humanoids".

QUOTE(LowerCaseRepublican @ Jul 5, 2006 -> 02:57 AM) Just wear a rotation of Sandman shirts, Critic. Oh yeah, THAT's better.....

QUOTE(LowerCaseRepublican @ Jul 5, 2006 -> 01:02 AM) RVD jobbed the WWE title and the ECW title on successive nights. They had to re-write Raw and ECW to take the straps off of him. Van Dam and Sabu are lucky to keep their jobs with the new wellness policy that WWE has in place. Everybody knew Van Dam lit up. Hell, last year at the One Night Stand PPV, Heyman cracked a joke that he wasn't crying in the ring but that his eyes were watering because Van Dam and he were smoking a joint. If anybody watched the ECW TV tonight, the Philly crowd was letting Van Dam have it with chants (granted, they were pissed all night with chants of "Shut the f*** up", "Boring!", "You suck dick", "You take steroids" etc. to other WWE performers that were squashing ECW performers) of "Marijuana!" and chants about the wellness policy infractions. Yet they're still supportive of him -- despite him f***ing up. I'm sure the SciFi censors had to be happy with those chants going over the air unedited for the most part. And after you've seen half the matches Sabu's been in -- Vicodin seems like it is something he would have regularly. Vince really needs to give up the booking of ECW and give it to Heyman. This generic hoss-fest, lame ass amateur night stripping and terrible gimmicks galore is really grating to classic fans of old ECW and new fans trying to get a feel for what the cult following was all about. ECW isn't "sports entertainment". It was gritty, counterculture, indy, wrestling with great angles. RIP WWECW 2006-2006 I have a theory that Vince created WWECW just to kill the ECW signs and chants at WWE shows. What better way to squash the chants and signs than to make ECW weak and lame, therefore making it embarrassing and impossible to chant for it? Vince has made his money from the DVDs and One Night Stands, and all the "classic" ECW wrestlers are getting older and more injured, so ECW as we'd like to remember it has a VERY short shelf life. The kiss of death came when Vince admitted treating ECW as a "third WWE brand" rather than its own entity. ECW being a third brand guarantees McMahon family meddling, and that is certain to send ECW to its grave.

QUOTE(MHizzle85 @ Jul 5, 2006 -> 12:54 AM) word is he's been tellin people he doesnt think he's gonna be around much longer anyway... He must've known that he was gonna drive around with drug works and pills in the car.... It's just kinda stupid of him to f*** up the first chance at making decent money from wrestling. The guy seems like a giant head case, just from following his career. Totally shoots himself in the foot at every turn.