THIS WEEK IN COMBAT SPORTS: ISSUE 23~!: THE NEW EDITOR EDITION~!

THIS WEEK IN COMBAT SPORTS: ISSUE 23~!: THE NEW EDITOR EDITION~!

Well I guess I should introduce myself.

My name's Lilith Sullivan. i have sorta taken over the newsletter from my brother. I hope I live up to standards. Like it matters. Nobody reads this thing anyways.

I would like to start of by saying a few things, I'm actually having to do this in an E-Mail account, because my Word's spellcheck is horrible, so there may be tons of spelling errors, and it's a Gmail account which results in some odd formating isues on the Adult Sweim boards. So if you're reading this there, and it's all smashed together, sorry. I tried. You might be able to read it in a better format at the site in Sullivan's sig.

Okay. I can do this.

Survivor Series.

Insert Eye Of The Tiger joke here.

I didn't pay for this show. If I did, I would have killed myself. Never before has a show with two World title Changes been so boring. Yeah that's right.

Not only were they boring, they were baffling. John Cena won the title in his hometown of Boston, Ma. Being put over in your home town is something that never happens. Hell, even Cena himself is proof of that. In 06 he lost at Summerslam to Edge in a WWE title match. Although, he did win the following month at Unforgiven against Edge in a TLC match, which pretty much buried Edge as far as he could be buried for the time being.

Speaking of Edge, he's a World Champion now.

So let me get this straight.

The World Heavyweight Championship, a title that has lineage back to the 1800's was defended in a 3-way, that only had two people in it, that sucked, and was won BY A MAN WHO WASN'T EVEN IN THE FUCKING MATCH?

WHAT THE FUCK WERE THEY THINKING? IS THIS NECESSARY?

Then there was the garbage with Jeff Hardy. Now look, I will say this much. I didn't have an issue with this until the beginning of the show. Tazz and JR were delivering this news like it was legit. And yes, there is usually a huge difference between Kayfabe style "Hey, lets try to get this over" and "This is serious". I mean, why go about this route? To work the fans? Do you hate your own fans that much to where you want to try to get them? I don't get it. Working WWE marks is like slaughtering cows. That was just nasty I'm sorry for that one. Anyways, when they tried to pass it off as a real legit story I shook my head. On the air, both the announcers and Lilian Garcia to the live audience before the show started, claimed that it had been reported by ABC, TMZ, AOL and CNN. With the exception of AOL, nobody listed reported it. And TMZ did a little bit of research and called Dave Meltzer who said it was all Kayfabe. Anyways, after what WWE claimed, if I was any of those company's, and I didn't report it, I'd be pissed. If I was one of those company's and I did report it, I'd be even more pissed.

So anyways, yeah, but that's okay. That's what made this show so great, because it's free of all logic. Because logic just gets in the way.

1. Team HBK (Shawn Michaels & Rey Mysterio & Cryme Tyme & Great Khali) beat Team JBL (JBL & The Miz & John Morrison & MVP & Kane) in 18:13. So after Morrison got put over Michaels and I'd like to say I think Morrison Vs. Michaels would be a great Wrestlemania match, they buried Morrison as good as they could here by giving him like no chance to really show himself here. So...so much for that. Only thing really of note is that Mysterio did a Moonsault Block on JBL and bloodied up JBL. Most likely with that metal protective knee brace he wears. Only Cryme Tyme was eliminated from Michael's team. Khali got cheers, which is awesome considering that usually all i hear during his matches are "You can't wrestle" chants. **1/4

2. Team Raw (Beth Phoenix & Jillian Hall & Kelly Kelly & Mickie James & Candice Michelle) beat Team Smackdown (Michelle McCool & Maryse & Natalya & Maria & Victoria) in 9:39. This was the shortest match in Survivor Series history I think. There was one women's match back in like, 1999 that may have been shorter. You can tell three things from this match. First off, WWE must have really been threatened by TNA because the women (At least on Raw) have gotten a lot better. Second, Smackdown was buried so badly here. First all the girls argued over who was the leader and then Michelle McCool, the Smackdown women's champion was pinned about halfway through the match by of all people, Mickie James. Not even by the other WWE women's champion. What a joke. 3. All the Raw women wrestled circles around the Smackdown women. And oh yeah, I'd be pissed if I were Candice Michelle and I had to be pinned by Mayrse of all people. *

3. Undertaker beat Big Show in the casket match in 12:45. This was terrible. And really, The Undertaker needs time off before Wrestlemania. He was moving very slow and had a hard time getting around the ring. Show tried to leave but the stage was set on fire. Then Show set one of the caskets on fire and a bunch of druids brought out another one and Taker got Show in it. Really bad match. *

4. Team Orton (Randy Orton & Cody Rhodes & Mark Henry & Shelton Benjamin & William Regal) beat Team Batista (Batista & R-Truth & C.M. Punk & Kofi Kingston & Matt Hardy) in 16:13. Punk immediately pinned Regal in :11 with the Go to sleep. Regal was not feeling well and supposedly they want to set up a CM Punk Vs. William Regal match. That would be an awesome feud for the IC title. This was a match where all the faces lost and looked stupid doing so Either they all had finishers reversed or the heels outsmarted them and beat them. This is what people pay to see. Stupid heels being beat because of said stupidity. God this promotion is so backwards. CM Punk was pinned after, of all things, a DDT. Then Orton just went wild on everybody. I will say this once, I will say it again. Randy Orton couldn't wrestle his way out of a wet paper sack. He also couldn't promo his way out of a wet paper sack. He' visually unappealing, his voice annoys me, whenever he appears on screen I am reminded of the smell of dirty underwear, I also taste that a little bit too. Unappealing to 4 of the 5 senses. But don't you worry Randy. Give it enough time and you can be just like Edge and get all 5 down. Anyways, this was a superman job for Randy Orton. Truly terrible booking *

5. Edge won the WWE title in a three-way over HHH and Vladimir Kozlov in 14:21. Before this match they said it was a singles match now. I guess Ken Shamrock wasn't available. Or better yet Warpath. 20 points if you knew who that was before I mentioned him. Anyways, this was a average match for about 12 minutes before Edge just came out and won the belt. Then he made up with Vickie Guerrero. I would say it was pointless, but it's not. It's obviously a way to get Jeff Hardy his first World title win at Wrestlemania. But this was just stupid. *

6. John Cena pinned Chris Jericho in 21:19 with the FU to win the World title. Jericho actually played a good old school heel here. But in the long run, the crowd was burned out from the bas show so badly that they were only moderately interested in this. It was a slow match and the crowd was not into it that much. Bit of a pop when he won the title, but ehh...It didn't feel like what they wanted to happen did. There was no gigantic celebration. This was No Dallas, Tx, John Cena was no Kerry Von Erich. This was okay, but there should have been more. **1/2

THE ROAD TO WRESTLEMANIA:

So usually around this time every year, we can put together a pretty good card involving Wrestlemania.

So here is my predictions for what i think would be a good logical Wrestlemania. And when i mean logic, i mean "Logical, from the WWE's point of view"

WWE Championship: Jeff Hardy Vs. Edge.

This whole Edge winning the title thing seems just like all his others. He's a placeholder champion for somebody else.Someones gonna beat him, and they had to get the belt on him for this to happen, no matter what horrible logic may be used to get him that belt.

In my opinion, only one of two people are gonna do this. Triple H, or Jeff Hardy. And where they are going with Jeff Hardy and Edge, I wouldn't be surprised to See Hardy lose a match at say like, Armageddon or whatever, win the Royal Rumble and then win the belt at Wrestlemania.

WWE Championship: John Cena Vs. Batista.

It became pretty apparent to me that after Batista and John Cena met the first time, the whole point was to give on of them a win to set up a second match down the line, this time for the title. This was only confirmed in my mind when Batista lost. So this way, Cena walks in as the Champion, wins, walks out.

Steve Austin Vs. Randy Orton.

Okay let me explain this. There are only two people that Austin will (And yes, he will be there) wrestle at Wrestlemania. Either Mr Wrestlemania, Shawn Michaels, or the top heel. To me, it seems every time they try to build up a top heel it's only for said heel to eventually be knocked back down. Since Steve Austin is coming back for one match, I could see Randy Orton facing him so he can cut promos on him, try to kill another legend, get a mudhole stomped in him, get hit with the Stone Cold Stunner and have Austin have a beer bash on his body. Actually, to be honest, i wouldn't be surprised to see Steve Austin lose to try to give Randy Orton some credibility. But, in my opinion, the only person Austin should lose too in coming back is John Cena.

Shawn Michaels Vs. John Morrison.

Yeah. his will never happen. but like I said, I think these two could have a great feud based off of Morrison trying to take Michaels spot. In the end. Morrison should win and they should shoot him to the freaking moon, but that's probably not gonna happen. At the least this could be a great match.

Triple H Vs. The Undertaker.

Yeah we've seen it, but their first match at Wrestlemania 17 was so good. this would be a great match. Both are good workers and would be able to put on a good match for the biggest show of the year.

WWE Women's Title Match. Mickie James Vs. whoever' in Playboy this year.

Mickie wins, then rips up a playboy in the girls face, turns heel with Victoria and Natalya and starts dressing like a slut...well...more so like a slut.

Money In The Bank Clusterfuck Match. the Miz, Evan Bourne, Rey Mysterio, MVP and like 10 others. WHEE~!

And that's about all I can think of for now.

A quick look at the upcoming fight between Oscar De La Hoya & Manny Pacquiao by our Boxing Editor Stephan Tremoni.

So...I guess I should start out by saying Kevin Iole's an idiot. Yeah, the guy from Yahoo? He is against this match. I have no clue why. Probably because it will make money.

I will admit this much. It is a bit of a freak show match. Pacquiao has fought as low as 112 and is the current WBC Champion at 130. De La Hoya has been fighting around 147 since 2003. Now, weight classes usually work different in Boxing than in MMA. Fighters don't usually get in the sauna and cut weight nearly as much as they do in MMA. It's a mix of fighters legit cutting down to that weight and maybe at most after weighing in getting back about maybe 8-10 pounds. None of this rehydrate and put back on 20-30 pounds that Matt Hughes does. So De Ly Hoya will probably have a huge size advantage, and at the very least, he'll be more accustomed to fighting at that weight. Your body reacts differently to fighting at different weight classes.

Anyways, Where the intrigue really comes in is this is that Pacquio is arguably the top pound for pound fighter in the world, and that if De La Hoya wins, be will essentially be in that spot again.

Pacquiao has held numerous titles. The only two that really matter are the three The Ring belts he's held at 112, 127, & 130. These belt are arguable the only title's that mean any thing any more and are used to basically determine the real world champion of every weight class. His resume is awesome. Two wins over Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales. The 2006 fighter of the year by The Ring Magazine, and the current #1 Pound For Pound fighter in the world. He also has one of the greatest knockouts over in Fahsan Por Thawatchai, with an uppercut that sent the thai fighters feet off the canvas.

He's a Quintuple World Champion. And there have only been 8 of those. Furthermore, there have only been 4 Sextuple World Champions. And one of those is Oscar De La Hoya.

De La Hoya is a interesting case. As mentioned he's one of only 4 people to win titles in six different weight classes. His resume is amazing. Wins over Ricardo Mayorga, Fernando Vargas, Julio Cesar Chavez (Twice), and Pernell Whitiker.

His losses are also an interesting list of names. He has a loss to Bernard Hopkins that he was winning until he was knocked out with a lover shot in the ninth round, and two losses to Shane Mosley, one of which was undoubable, one of which was, but to be fair, De La Hoya after the seventh round had decided to back up and not engage at all which very well may have allowed some 10-8 rounds, if not for output than at least for stupidity.

Where De La Hoya really has an edge is in experience. He's been in the spotlight more, and he's been in bigger fights. And the thing that always amazes me most, is that he seems more well put together than most fighters at this age. Considering that he ended up fighting over 200 amateur bouts, that amazingHe's the highest grossing fighter of any combat sport, and this right will land in at second for highest gate for a combat sports event ever behind only his fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr.

IN the end, when trying to predict an outcome, it's obvious to me De La Hoya will likely win. He is more accustomed to fighting at 147 and he has a sizable experience edge. De La Hoya will probably take a 12 round decision. Probably unanimous. Unless Pacquiao destroys him early. In which case, Boxing has a new star. From here Pacquiao really has nothing to lose. If he loses, he goes back down to his weight class and begins fighting there again, and De La Hoya might have a fight with Ricky Hatton on Cinco De Mayo weekend.

A quick rant about WWE stocks.

So, if you've ever followed the stock market, even a little, you'll know and learn about various different things. Certain ways things should be done. Remember how I told you that Survivor Series lacked all logic? Well, multiply that tenfold for WWE stocks.

Are they doing anything illegal? Well no, not really. Hey may be, because they hide so much information, I can't tell. they might as well be.

So rumors now are that WWE is going to be asking for some sort of tax leeway or something like that for being an entertainment division. Various studios can apply for this. Mostly movie studios. But here's the thing. WWE has been classified as a sports promotion for years. And you can't just change this. This is like if the NFL said "We want more money, we're entertainment now. Not a sport. This makes no sense. And for what? To get a several million dollar tax break like Warner Brothers does? Not only is this entirely sketchy, it's downright retarded. You want a bailout? To be honest, I think the cost of production trucks is not what I would consider coverable by any bailout package.

Try asking the WWE about any of this. I'm a stock holder myself. In conference calls, usually you end up getting some sort of Bullshit answer about how they can't talk about it. Let's get this straight. The "Everything is happy, everything is wonderful" Act may work in terms of promoting wrestling, but in the world of the stock market, the real world, it's downright illegal. By lying to your stockholders, you are essentially playing with the lives and livelihoods of hundred's of thousands of stockholders, that need to know everything in order to determine, whether or not to sell your stupid stock.

If anything, it gives me the excuse to use this line. It's been said before, and I'll say it again...What you call the bailout now, is what we will call years from now "Why daddy went to prison"

News:

WWE:

You can tell WWE's getting desperate with money. They are gonna be shooting two weeks of smackdown tapings more often now. You know who else did that? WCW with Thunder. Ugh.

Ed Leslie got a cease and desist order from his appearances on Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling. It's about him using the Brutus Beefcake name. Let it be known. This may very well be the last time that the name Ed Leslie is EVER in this newsletter.

Bischoff in his own smarmy way, wrote, "If I were Vince I wouldn't want 5 plus million wrestling fans watching a fresh concept and entertaining product either. Especially with the product he is currently producing." Again, i will say this. I have no idea what this has to do with Hogan's show.

Gail Kim's headed to Smackdown...yeah.

The slammy awards are being brought back. Over/Under at times Vince McMahon is seen singing from the 1986 awards is 2.

You know what's funny? This idea that Stephanie is the domineering sibling that tries to take control of everything is supposedly a rib. Even Stephanie in creative meetings is oblivious. You know what, the more i think about it, Triple H is right. If I met a woman with as big breasts and as dumb as she is I'd plow her every chance I get.

The "fan" at ringside holding the "I Wanna Be a Glamazon" sign was Milena Roucka from FCW and formerly a Diva Search finalist, so she looks to be doing a similar gimmick that Peyton Banks did in TNA of a fan in the stands who probably turns into a stalker. Before you ask, she can't wrestle a lick.

They gave T.J. Wilson & D.H. Smith, managed by Natalya, a tryout as "The Foundation." Yeah... no clue what they are trying to go with there.

TNA:

Sarah Palin is not coming. Okay? Are we all happy?

Alex Shelley was put in a Turkey Suit. It's okay Alex. We're all gonna laugh about it 10 years from know when TNA is out of business and you're gonna be a big star somewhere else.

Japan:

Stalker Ichikawa actually is in a bit of trouble, he was involved in a car accident that resulted in his license being revoked for 90 days. Everybody involved in the accident was okay, but Ichikawa is a ticket seller for Dragon Gate, and his job requires a lot of driving. More proof that Stalker Ichikawa is single handily the most important man in wrestling right now.

Other Wrestling:

Linda Hogan is getting $40,000 per month in temporary alimony from Terry Bollea before her share of the couple's assets is distributed. And now she's demanding that she gets more. Huh? It should not take $40,000 to raise a child. Especially when both are near or over 18. You can insert a Kanye West Joke here.

UFC/WEC:

Scott Adams, who was the matchmaker for the the WEC, was fired. He actually would have been my pick for Booker of the year. oh well, so much for that.

REAL DEAL MMA Rankings:

Heavyweight:
1. Fedor Emeilainenko (Linear Champion)
2. Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera
3. Josh Barnett
4. Brock Lesnar
5. Andrei Arlovski
6. Randy Couture
7. Aleksander Emeilianenko
8. Heath Herring
9. Cain Valesquez
10. Junior Dos Santos

Light Heavyweight:

1. Forrest Griffin (Linear Champion)
2. Quinton Jackson
3. Wanderlei Silva
4. Lyoto Machida
5. Rashad Evans
6. Maurico Rua
7. Keith Jardine
8. Antonio Rogerio Noguiera
9. Chuck Liddell
10. Thiago SIlva

Middleweight:

1. Chael Sonnen (Linear Champion)
2. Anderson Silva
3. Yushin Okami
4. Dan Henderson
5. Paulo Filho
6. Matt Lindland
7. Kazuo Mizaki
8. Yohsihiro Akiyama
9. Frank Trigg
10. Gegard Mousasi

Welterweight:

1. Georges St. Pierre (Linear Champion)
2. Matt Serra
3. Jake Shields
4. Carlos Condit
5. Jon Fitch
6. Karo Parysian
7. Thaigo Alves
8. Hayato Sakurai
9. Akira Kikuchi
10. Mike Swick

Lightweight:

1. BJ Penn
2. Eddie Alverez
3. Joachim Hansen
4. Shinya Aoki
5. Tyson Griffin
6. Takanori Gomi
7. Kenny Florian
8. Satoru Kitaoka
9. Tetsyua Kawajiri
10. Karl James Noons

Featherweight:

1. Mike Brown (Linear Champion)
2. Urijah Faber
3. Wagnney Fabiano
4. Leonard Garcia
5. Hatsu Hioki
6. Akitoshi Tamura
7. Dokonjonosuke Mishima
8. José Aldo
9. Takeshi Inoue
10. Hideki Kadowaki

Bantamweight:

1. Miguel Torres (Linear Champion)
2. Masakatsu Ueda
3. Manny Tapia
4. Masakazu Imanari
5. Brian Bowles
6. Koetsu Okazaki
7. Marcos Galvão
8. Will Ribeiro
9. Chase Beebe
10. Atsushi Yamamoto

Flyweight:

1. Shinichi Kojima (Linear Champion)
2. Yuki Shoujou
3. Yasuhiro Urishitani
4. Mamoru Yamaguchi
5. Rambaa Somdet

Note About Linear Champions: The Linear Champion gets the automatic rank of #1 based off of his holding the title. The Linear Championship is the true world champion, and takes into account every fight that fighter had as a championship bout regardless of if it was an actual title fight. This allows fighters who either fight in different promotions or leave a promotion to go to another one to still be ranked as a champion. The only way a fighter may lose that title is by either retiring or making a permanent move up in weight. In which case the highest ranked fighter remaining inherits the title of Linear Champion.

Linear Champions began as the titles in the following various promotions.
Heavyweight-Lightweight: UFC
Featherweight-Bantamweight: WEC
Flyweight: Shooto

This is chosen because they are considered the highest profile promotions to have these weight classes.

Thanks for reading.