Weekend Thoughts
Baroni/Shamrock was a great show. I don't think it was the show of the year, but definitely a fun time with exciting fights and a tremendous main event. I was really impressed with Frank Shamrock. He picked out Phil Baroni for a reason I guess, just like Randy Couture going after Tim Sylvia. He said what he'd do and he did, while taunting Baroni along the way. Frank signaling Phil was going to sleep and then immediately knocking him silly was awesome. I can see why a lot of people dislike Frank Shamrock, but I like the guy. And I don't need to see him tested either. I'm perfectly content just seeing people have fun and look good. Frank knows that too - he's not going to be facing Rich Franklin or Matt Lindland any time soon.
Everyone's on the Cung Le bandwagon now. Exciting fighter, but I'd wait to annoint this guy something special until one of his opponents actually makes an effort to take him down. Murilo Ninja looked the best he has since 2003. Anyone know why the announcers specifically avoided mentioning Josh Thomson went to Stanford? It was like their producer went to Cal and forbid it. And as far as the announcers go, Goldberg obviously loves the sport but he's a bad commentator. And Jay Glazer is horrendous - stupid, annoying, and thinks he knows a lot more than he does. The real lowlight was him essentially badmouthing a guy for tapping out to a fully sunk rear naked choke with both hooks in. Ugh.
As for Penn-Pulver, another good show. Penn looked really good as well, and I think he desperately needs to stay at 155. It's not that he can't compete at 170 - he surely can and has proven it. It's just that having to stay at 155 forces him to concentrate on his diet and training. At 170 his weight can go up and down and he doesn't concentrate as much on cardio. He should definitely stick at 155, although I don't expect it. I would try to force him if I were in charge of UFC. There's so much depth at 170 that they have title matchups for years. 155 is deep with talent but thin with guys that the public is interested in. Penn as champion could remedy that and turn 155 into another money division. The rest of the show was pretty good but nothing special. Poor Manny - his shoulder condition looks like a deal that isn't going to go away and will limit the mark he could make in the game.
Johnny Nitro is now the ECW champion. Why even bother with that title if they're going to book it like that? I would be shocked if Vengeance doesn't bomb as far as buy rates go, and if the company wonders why the all title gimmick didn't work, they should look at this as a pretty good sign of why. You've got a guy who doesn't even appear most weeks on Raw, almost always loses, and shifts over to ECW and wins their "world title" in his first match. Now that's a worthless championship.
Everyone's on the Cung Le bandwagon now. Exciting fighter, but I'd wait to annoint this guy something special until one of his opponents actually makes an effort to take him down. Murilo Ninja looked the best he has since 2003. Anyone know why the announcers specifically avoided mentioning Josh Thomson went to Stanford? It was like their producer went to Cal and forbid it. And as far as the announcers go, Goldberg obviously loves the sport but he's a bad commentator. And Jay Glazer is horrendous - stupid, annoying, and thinks he knows a lot more than he does. The real lowlight was him essentially badmouthing a guy for tapping out to a fully sunk rear naked choke with both hooks in. Ugh.
As for Penn-Pulver, another good show. Penn looked really good as well, and I think he desperately needs to stay at 155. It's not that he can't compete at 170 - he surely can and has proven it. It's just that having to stay at 155 forces him to concentrate on his diet and training. At 170 his weight can go up and down and he doesn't concentrate as much on cardio. He should definitely stick at 155, although I don't expect it. I would try to force him if I were in charge of UFC. There's so much depth at 170 that they have title matchups for years. 155 is deep with talent but thin with guys that the public is interested in. Penn as champion could remedy that and turn 155 into another money division. The rest of the show was pretty good but nothing special. Poor Manny - his shoulder condition looks like a deal that isn't going to go away and will limit the mark he could make in the game.
Johnny Nitro is now the ECW champion. Why even bother with that title if they're going to book it like that? I would be shocked if Vengeance doesn't bomb as far as buy rates go, and if the company wonders why the all title gimmick didn't work, they should look at this as a pretty good sign of why. You've got a guy who doesn't even appear most weeks on Raw, almost always loses, and shifts over to ECW and wins their "world title" in his first match. Now that's a worthless championship.
posted by Todd Martin at 7:28 PM
1 Comments:
I'll have more on this in my ECW TV report at liveaudiowrestling.com, but giving Nitro the belt brands ECW as a loser brand. Think of it this way, if a terrible hitter or pitcher in MLB goes to another league and becomes a top star there, what does it say about the quality of that league?
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