WrestleMania Season?

Is it WrestleMania Season? Besides all the returns, I haven't noticed. There's still two weeks of build left, but it's been bad. I mean, really, REALLY bad. Did anybody watch RAW last Monday? Last year's build to Mania was MUCH better. For the first time in a long time, EVERY match had a decent story and build behind it. All these storylines, and of course Rock vs Cena, is what got WrestleMania 28 its 1 Million buys. I have no doubt WrestleMania 29 will be great, but the build has been subpar at best.


The Rock vs John Cena for the WWE Championship

- I've heard A LOT of pissing and moaning about how The Rock hasn't been on TV in 2 weeks to promote his match with John Cena. First of all, the match is already sold. It's THE ROCK VS JOHN CENA. What more do you want? They already sold the match with their amazing promo on Old School RAW a few weeks back. Secondly, there's a difference between selling and OVER-selling. Having Rock and Cena take jabs at each other EVERY week would get boring. It got a little boring last year. What more can be said between the two?

The RAW ratings have dropped week after week on this Road to WrestleMania and people are blaming The Rock for that? It's not The Rock's fault that 90% of the roster can't keep the people entertained for 3 hours. It's not his fault that his match is already hyped. If you think ratings are bad now, wait until you see how they are when Rock, Lesnar, HHH, Jericho, and Undertaker all leave. You'll be begging for them to come back.


CM Punk vs The Undertaker

- A lot of Punk marks have been saying this is the best feud going into Mania and how Punk is a legitimate threat to the streak. You have got to be kidding me. I love CM Punk just as much as the next guy, but I am not convinced Punk is a threat to the streak. I understand what they're doing. They're making Punk use the whole Paul Bearer thing to get under the skin of Taker. They're trying to have Punk be the first guy to play mind games with Undertaker so that the "jackass" will finally get what's coming to him. Too bad it's already been done before. Remember DDP from 2001? This isn't the first time somebody's tried to play mind games with The Deadman. It's just expert timing to do it at WrestleMania with the streak on the line.

That would work in a normal feud. But at WRESTLEMANIA with THE STREAK on the line, it's time to get serious. Show us how aggressive CM Punk can be and prove to us that he might have a legitimate shot at ending the streak. So far, this feud is telling that Punk has absolutely no shot in ending the streak. The last time I thought somebody had a legit shot at ending the streak was Triple H last year and before that Randy Orton in 2005.

This is what the feud should be. Not CM Punk making funny voices with Paul Bearer's urn:

Triple H vs Brock Lesnar

- THIS is the match I'm looking forward too. Brock vs Triple H in a No Holds Barred match at Mania. I can't see this being a normal match with chairs involved. These two are gonna go the extra mile. It's WRESTLEMANIA. As for the build.....it's lacking. How can you put Triple H in a Retirement match when the man barely wrestles as it is? Maybe if the stipulation was, he must step down as COO if he loses, then that's better I guess, but this seems...meh. That contract signing on RAW dragged on forever and it took a long time to get to the point. They have two weeks to make people interested again.


Alberto Del Rio vs Jack Swagger for the World Title

- If not for last Monday on RAW, I would have zero interest in this match. When the feud first got started, it started off a little slow. It got a little TOO political for my taste and drifted away for the central objective and that's the World Heavyweight Championship. What happened on RAW got me right back into it. That Del Rio/Swagger brawl on RAW was very well done and gave the World Title match some much needed build up. For a while, I thought they forgot about it. But it's sad that this match is the only match with some decent build behind it.


As far as the other matches go, there isn't much to talk about. The Shield vs Orton/Sheamus/Show is intriguing, but I don't why they had that to go with that charade of putting Ryback in the match only to take him out after he had a face to face to Mark Henry and The Shield clearly wasn't bothering him anymore. But whatever. Most of the build for this has been on SmackDown. Nuff said. While we're on Ryback, I can probably already tell how they're gonna build the feud with him and Mark Henry: a bunch of staredowns. But seriously, Ryback has lost some steam lately and this is the feud to get him back on track. And then we have Ziggler/Big E vs Hell No for the Tag Titles. I don't mind this match. I'll leave it alone because the Tag Titles haven't been defended at WrestleMania since WrestleMania 26 and NO the preshow match last year didn't count.

This leaves us without no US Championship match, no Intercontinental Title match, no match for the Divas, and Jericho is probably going to face Fandango. The US Championship hasn't been defended at WrestleMania in 6 years. Let me repeat, SIX YEARS.

The build has definitely been underwhelming, but the card leaves me optimistic that every match will deliver. It's WRESTLEMANIA. A lot people like me may bash the card, but am I really going to NOT watch WrestleMania? Of course not. I may be opinionated, but I'm not stupid. I've been a fan of the WWE for a VERY long time. WrestleMania is still WrestleMania. I'm going to be watching, and I know you will be too.

They have 2 weeks left and I feel like they haven't really kicked it into full gear. I mean, a complete kickass show from start to finish. They've got 2 weeks to really put some intrigue in these matches and make us feel like WrestleMania is upon us. So far they haven't and the ratings have clearly shown that.

People have been blaming low ratings on The Rock because the rest of the roster can't pick up the slack. But when The Rock shows up for the home stretch, all they'll do is complain. Fans are hard to please these days.

How do you feel about the build?


Feel free to Comment.



By: Gerald "Showstopper" Prophete

More impressive streak? Miami Heat or Chicago Blackhawks?

This has been the talk around sports for some time now. There's been constant debate around which team has had the better streak of wins. The defending champions Miami Heat have won 16 games in a row are 45-14 and clearly the best team in the NBA. The Chicago Blackhawks have won 24 games in a row in the NHL giving them a 20-0-3 record and best record in hockey.

I'll say this right now and get it out of the way. For those that know me, I'm not a hockey fan. I barely watch the sport, but after hearing about these 24 games in a row, I actually took the time out to look through some of the Blackhawks games so I can provide an unbiased opinion on the subject.

24 games in a row is an impressive streak without question. Especially in a lockout shortened season when it was beginning to look like there would be no hockey at all. I'm sure most of the die hard fans out there didn't expect Chicago to have an unprecedented streak of this magnitude. Their offense can get up and down the ice and they have the best goalie tandem in Corey Crawford and Roy Emery. Crawford is actually allowing a league low 1.41 goals per game. This team is a well put together athletic unit. They've beaten damn near every good team, but how long can it really last? This streak has become so historic, and the pressure is on, so it'll be interesting to see if they can keep it up. But, here is one HUGE factor people are overlooking. The Blackhawks technically LOST 3 games in overtime to Anaheim, Minnesota, and Vancouver. This streak should've ended before it got started. This is one of many flaws of the NHL. I want to see Wins and Losses. There should be no points awarded for losing in Overtime. Their system needs fixing. A loss should be a loss.

Although, The Heat's record isn't even in the best in the NBA this season, they've actually outright won all their games blowing out the weak teams, and more importantly the good teams like the Knicks, Clippers, Memphis, and OKC. Lebron is the best player in the NBA right now, they have a solid bench, support players in his partners D-Wade, Bosh, Haslem, and Chalmers, and great role players like Ray Allen, Shane Battier, and now Birdman. Basketball is a team sport, regardless of what people seem to think. The argument people have come up with is that Miami has superstars and they were expected to be this good. That is not a fair argument to make. Multiple teams in the NBA have superstars on their team. Only the Heat have learned what works for them and propelled that into a 16 game winning streak and best record in Basketball. They're the most complete finesse team that can get up and down the court. They may not get physical on defense, but they can lock down some players when they get the chance.

In the end, there is no right, or wrong answer. But I am going with the Miami Heat for a few reasons. For starters, the Blackhawks lost those three games. That's argument enough. However, I'm looking at this long term. How will these streaks benefit both teams when they get to the playoffs? It's pretty much a foregone conclusion that Miami will get back to the NBA Finals with Indiana as the only team in the Eastern Conference physical enough to stop them. The Blackhawks streak is impressive but there's no guarantee they'll make the Stanley Cup. Hell, it's not even certain that they'll even win their first round playoff match. What the Miami Heat are doing now will carry over to the playoffs, the  Chicago Blackhawks streak becomes irrelevant come playoff time.

I think the NBA is better than the NHL, but I'll admit that it is harder to win in the NHL than the NBA. When playoff time comes around, these streaks will be forgotten and playoff performance will be front and center. If Chicago loses in the first round, this streak will be their only season highlight. What the Miami Heat are doing now will carry over to the playoffs. I can't say the same for the Chicago Blackhawks.

Get back to me in late June.

Both teams play again on Friday looking to extend their streaks. The Heat host the Sixers, and the Blackhawks go on the road to face struggling Colorado. I'll be keeping an eye on this one.


Feel free to Comment.


By: Gerald "Showstopper" Prophete