A Load of BS

I've been reading the Wrestling Observer flashbacks on the Blog Of Doom wrestling site. Right now, we are in March of 1988 approaching WrestleMania IV and Dave Meltzer is making his predictions on who will win the vacated WWF World Heavyweight Championship. Of course, after they changed the brackets to put DiBiase next to the Hulk-Andre winner, the outcome was pretty obvious if you were aware of the fact that Hogan was leaving afterwards to film No Holds Barred . If you weren't, you were thinking it was still Hulk's tournament to lose anyway and it was just a matter of who would be waiting for him in the finals. (HAHA, silly boys and girls!) Anyway, I searched for the original tournament brackets and came across another link from Place To Be Nation (of which my friend and UNH alum Scott Criscuolo is a major contributor) in which they invited others to re-book WrestleMania IV. The rules were that you could not duplicate any of the actual matches that took place and all...

As a baseball fan, the beginning of every new year brings the anticipation of the announcement of a new Hall of Fame class. For the past few years, I have yearned for that moment when Mike Piazza's name is called. Since 2013, yours truly, along with other Mets fans, have cried foul as rumors and innuendo have kept Piazza from his rightful place amongst the game's immortals. It appears that, finally, the haters have been swayed by a lack of proof and an infusion of common sense. As reported via social media, Piazza has about 90% of the support of all writers on Twitter. There's a good chance that, at this time tomorrow, he will be among the newest inductees at Cooperstown. I will be amongst the many basking in the glory as the first ever Mets position player is enshrined. I will watch from my home, avoiding the annual apocalypse that overtakes Otsego County. I shall bide my time until my wife and I travel to upstate New York a few weeks later to prostrate in front of Mr....

Apparently, WWE has booked themselves into a corner... for NEXT year's WrestleMania. You see, WWE is holding WrestleMania 32 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The goal is simple: Break the world indoor attendance record again and puff out your chest. WWE famously set the new standard at WrestleMania III at the Pontiac Silverdome in 1987 with 93,173. Conspiracy theories aside, that record (real or imagined) was legitimately broken by the 2010 NBA All-Star Game. 108,713 fans filled AT&T Stadium. Surely, WWE can get more fans for the simple reason that a wrestling ring takes up less room than a basketball court. The question is what will they have to offer for the big day in Big D? Here is a quote attributed to the immortal Dave Meltzer... "Any legend that can still perform will probably be asked to be part of the show." Boy, is that an indictment on the WWE's inability to make new stars or what? It sounds like they bit off more than they could chew. Of co...

I make it a point to see each and every Steve Carell movie that comes out. You may recall The Incredible Burt Wonderstone from last year, which is currently making the rounds on cable TV. The plot is very basic and predictable. Even Carell phone’s it in, essentially playing a version of Michael Scott. In the film, the title character is a once-successful Vegas magician who morphs into a stubborn, arrogant, delusional caricature over time. He ends up playing to half-empty theaters doing the same schtick verbatim in the present that he did some two decades prior. Naturally, he gets overtaken by a newer, younger star, gets fired from his gig and is forced to re-evaluate his life. Trust me, you’re not missing much, especially if you’re a WWE fan and watch John Cena every week. The John Cena from even five years ago can be deemed a talented performer and a tremendous role model. The John Cena of 2014 is a live version of Burt Wonderstone. He is a stubborn, arrogant, delusional caricatur...

I would like to direct all of you good people to a fine gentleman's debut article on The Sporting News. For those of you who know pro wrestling, you probably know Scott Keith. He is a longtime scribe with several books to his credit. He's also famous for his rants and his other literary creations via Scott's Blog of Doom . I give the man some free publicity because I had the honor and privilege of being featured in his premiere article, in the form of an anonymous question in bold italics. :) Presenting The Sporting News Column #1 . Enjoy!

Last night, WWE had to pull the trigger on the ultimate surprise ending. Last night, they had to end The Streak. It was no accident. Yes, there have been a handful of screwjobs and accidental pins over the years. There have been a few changes on the fly. With a match of that magnitude though, you can bet the house that on Live TV, nothing short of a heart attack will affect the outcome. WWE, along with The Undertaker, intended to have Brock Lesnar defeat him at WrestleMania XXX. Nobody called an audible. That was how the match was supposed to end. People will argue that Brock Lesnar was not the right man to end The Undertaker’s streak. People will say that John Cena, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, or even CM Punk would have been better options in recent years. Legend has it that Taker once offered it to both Cena and Kane, but they refused. I've long believed that Undertaker had to let someone "new" end it, someone like Daniel Bryan or Roman Reigns. I always felt that en...

In an effort to maximize my video game entertainment dollar, I am skipping the PS4 and focusing on the one gaming device I have left: The Original Wii. I am not a fan of the Wii controller, so I decided to buy games that utilize the "classic controller" that look and feel similar to the one that PlayStation uses. I bought Madden 12 a while back for my football fix, and just recently bought WWE '12 to satisfy my wrestling fix. Here's the thing. When I play wrestling games, I have to be the ultimate booker. I'm changed some of the lame-ass WWE PPV names. I'm bringing back Backlash, No Mercy, and even Clash of Champions for early October. I'm fine with letting the CPU pick the winners, but I choose what the matches are and who turns face/heel. I have a system for what matches go on each show and each PPV (i.e. Superstars features divas, midcarders and cruiserweights, including 190-lb. Daniel Bryan, while RAW and Smackdown feature t...