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So last week was a pretty busy week. Until Friday, anyway, which was dead, and today, which has been pretty slow so far. But I'm expecting things to pick up big time the end of this week or the first of next week, so that's okay, I think...
I thought last week's Raw was pretty weak. I think Smackdown was better, but I was only halfway paying attention to it. The reason for that is that I picked up NCAA Football 2002 for the PS2. That game kicks all sorts of ass. I'm playing a Dynasty as, of course, Purdue. As of yesturday I'm 9-0, and number 2 in the BCS, which means unless I manage to lose, I'm headed to the Rose Bowl, baby!! I'm really looking forward to doing the off-season recruiting and player management. Three more games and I'm there, so good deal. Then I get to export my draft class into Madden 2002, which should also be pretty cool. It's too bad I haven't been able to rack up stats with my defensive seniors, namely Mitrione and Ayodele. Don't know how they'll stack up in the draft... but if they're available, I'll just go ahead and take them anyway, I think. I have managed to rack up HUGE numbers with Stratton, and he'll be a first rounder. He's in line to be my only All-American, and first team at that. Definately my go-to guy, he's got amazing hands in that game. Too bad he didn't play quite that well this past season... too bad Hance hardly threw to him, too. Speaking of Hance, the bastard has managed to be ranked the number 5 QB in the game... Now if HE would have been half that good in reality, Purdue would have been a lot better than 6-6, that's for sure. Ah, well...
So back to wrestling again... I really don't like the Goldust-RVD angle. At all. RVD is awesome. Goldust is not. The character just doesn't do it for me. Maybe it was cool 6 years ago, I don't know, I was watching the nwo when IT was a new thing at that time. I was never into his character before, and I doubt I'll be able to get into it now. I was hoping for an Edge-RVD-Regal three way match at the ppv, now I get Regal-Edge again, and RVD-Goldust. Sucks.
And then there is the Stephany pregnacy angle... ugh. Don't know where to start. Unless Steph really IS pregnant, which I highly doubt, this is doomed to suck. This can only end two ways; either in a miscaraige angle, or with her revealing she was only playing mind games. Either way will suck. And I'm sure somewhere along the way, we'll find out that either Angle or Jericho is the "father", not HHH. Now, that wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, to team Steph up with either of them, particularly Jericho, but they didn't need to go here to do it.
So I'll go home tonight and watch the show... and hope it doesn't suck. With the wedding vow angle set to be the main event, I'm pretty sure it will. Maybe I should just play football instead...
On a completely unrelated note, I got the Metallica action figure box set with the working stage on friday. This is the coolest thing EVER. Period. Love it.
I'd give you my opinion on Raw... except I really ought to get back to work. Maybe later...
So was last night's Raw one of the best you've seen in a while or what? I was pretty impressed overall. By no means am I a fan of The Big Show, but that match with Kane was way better than it had any right to be, I think. The body slam by Kane was pretty impressive, and overall it was just a really good big-man match. I can't remember the last time anyone kicked out of Show's chokeslam, either. Now, I guess we get to see if they're burying Show, pushing Kane, or just going to forget they did it at all.
The RVD-Regal match was good as well, getting the Dudleys mixed in, and then the Edge run-in. I was actually half-expecting the Hardys to run in for the save, but ah, well. That segment looked like Paul Heyman's booking, and that is a good thing. I guess we'll have a 6-man on smackdown, but who will be Edge and RVD's parter? I'm calling a triple threat match at the ppv for Edge, RVD, and Regal for the IC title.
The APA trash talking the Outsiders was a good bit... It really fit their characters. Remember, they're the ones who started the resistence to the WCW invasion, too. Then, on the same note, the video Flair showed Vince, was really, really good. That new Kid Rock song really fit it, too. It took a long time for Kid Rock to grow on me, but I think I'm actually a fan at this point. The theme of the video clips changed tempo right at the same time as the song, and I was as surprised as anyone to see some of the clips they showed. Hall and Nash on Nitro with Bischoff?? Medusa dropping her title in a trash can? Hart spitting on Vince while Shawn just stood there? Wow. Nice shot of Gorrilla Monsoon in there, too. Very, very nice video package, and then Vince's rant really fit his character. I wasn't sold at first, but I like the way they're building this now. I call that Flair will agree to Vince's demands on Smackdown this week, but either Vince will say it's too late, they allready signed the contracts, or something similar. Maybe Vince will back off, but Hall and Nash will show up anyway, and say no one tells them what to do or not do... something to that effect. Then Flair will have to stick around and help fight them off... something like that. I still say, the BEST pay-off to this would be to bring in, not Hall and Nash, but the old nWo B-team of guys like Virgil, Stevie Ray, Brian Adams, even Curt Hennig... then have 'em get beat down by a bunch of mid-carders... like the APA and the like... maybe Big Show, Bob Holly if he's healthy, Al Snow, Funaki... yeah... Now THAT would be funny.
DDP and the Godfather as a tag team? And it worked! DDP can't stop smiling because he's a satisfied customer, and that's not a bad thing, it's a good thing. Good mike work. OK match with a good finish. Builds from having Page beat Christian on Heat this week. Maybe now he gets a title match... not bad.
The Jericho-Maven segment was good, too. Maven didn't look terrible out there, he's learning. Now, it's kind of a joke to even give the shot, of course, but Vince hasn't yet resorted to Russo's tricks of putting the World Title on a guy like David Arquette, or Maven. Jericho was hillarious while Taker beat down Maven, reclining on the announce table and the baricade. And Taker's promo with Coach wasn't bad, either. Good way to get the Rock's name out there on a night he's not on the show. And that's another point... this makes two of the past three weeks that Rock has missed Raw... and the shows haven't suffered. What's that tell you? Now, when he was gone for several months at once, it was a bad thing, but for anyone to miss an occasional show, maybe that's a good thing.
Christian running in on HHH? Now that mixes things up a bit. Not a bad thing. Booker T also gets the win... that can be a good thing. Makes H a little bit vunerable... and leads to the marriage break-up. Handing Steph her bag... that was good. But really, wouldn't a bag that size be too heavy for Steph to hold like that??? Ah, well. Now, how long until we see Steph with either Jericho or Angle?
And finally, Austin vs. Angle... we've seen it before, but it's always pretty good. Good
match here... no complaints from me. Like I said, definately one of the better Raws I've seen
in a while.
Anyway... Keeping on the Wrestling theme for the moment, I see that Vince and his braintrust
has apparently decided to bring in Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and the nWo name. Now, it was cool
in 1996, completely revitalized the industry, and brought back in lots of fans like me, who hadn't
watched for years, and got hooked all over again. But let's face it, it got old in a hurry, and all
the no-contests and run-ins at the end of EVERY F'N SHOW got really old. So hopefully that doesn't
happen all over again. Keep it as an entertaining storyline, but don't make it the main event of
Wrestlemania for cryin' out loud...
So they might actually let your hero and mine, Chris Jericho, carry the title all the way to
'Mania, to lose to HHH, of course... but that's cool. Then they could either do Austin vs. Rock, or
Austin and Rock, and maybe a third partner, against Hall and Nash, and maybe a third parter. Now
that's not a bad idea. Too bad it doesn't look like Benoit will be healthy by March...
So, on to other things... I got my latest copy of So What in the mail the other day... always a
highlight when those come every few months. If you don't know, So What is the fan club magazine of
Metallica. The greatest band ever, of course. This issue features a long interview with Kirk and Lars,
talks about what went into James decided he needed to check in to rehab, and what kind of musical things
they kept themselves busy with over the summer. If you haven't heard about this one, it might knock
your socks off. Lars and Kirk worked with rap producer Swizz Beats (I know, WHO???) and rapper Ja Rule
(again, WHO???) and lent them parts of two works in progress for Ja Rule to rap over, for release on
a hip-hop complilation album of some sort. When this rumor first broke, everyone was afraid it was for
release on the next Metallica album, which everyone thought would have been a bad thing. But it's not,
so I suppose it's allright. Nothing wrong with expanding your horizons, I guess.
Another feature of the magazine that I have come to really like is the Metallikidz cartoon on the last
page. This cartoon looks at the band as young kids. A couple issues ago, Jason's family moved away,
but in a good terms kinda way... then last issue showed James with a broken arm from skateboarding
as the reason he couldn't play... a nice way of borrowing from history. This newest issue has Kirk
and Lars sitting around the Christmas tree wishing James was back... and guess who shows up at the door.
Nice little feature, that is.
One thing that kinda came up in the interview feature... Lars and Kirk don't completely rule out the possibility of Jason coming back at some point. It's been a year, and they still haven't hired a new bassist, so I guess it's not out of the question. That is a very good thing. Jason was always my favorite... from the first time I watched the Binge and Purge videos when I was about 14 or so, his energy just really flows out in his performaces, and he was always the strongest link to the fans. I got to meet Jason backstage in Lexington KY at the very last full concert he played with the band, on Aug 9 2000. He's just such a REAL person. I had a nice, short conversation with him, about an old side project he did many years ago called IR8, that I had a copy of. He seemed rather surprised to see it, and even asked me not to show it to any other band members that came in that night. I wonder if the echoBrain thing was on his mind then... and if he already knew he might be leaving the band. I did get to meet James later that night, too, and I just couldn't hardly talk. I got a bit starstruck, I guess. James is great, his lyrics are awesome... but he's got this larger-than-life aura to him, I guess. I wish I had that minute of my life back, sure... but I'm just hoping I get the chance again someday. And like I said, hopefully Jason is back there too. By the way, Jason's EchoBrain album comes out in March... be sure to check it out.
Other good music to check out these days: Nickelback, Staind, Lincoln Park, Jimmy Eat World, Default, and Puddle of Mudd.
I can't think of too much else to throw in here. I guess I'll come back and
update later on...:
Until next time.
Dave
Take me Home!
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