Rants and Ranks

       WWE recently announced they were having a draft again this year.  One can't help but groan and think,  Uhhh here we go again.   The last few years have certainly emphasized WWE's complete and lack of regard for the phrase, "brand exclusive" with superstars jumping back and forth or switching brands entirely for little or no explanation given.  Credit where it's due though, this year has been much better than the complete and total farce that was last year's jump-a-palooza.        I realize I sound like a battered wife who constantly goes back to her abusive husband because "he only hit me twice this year."  In all honesty, most WWE fans are this to some degree, depending on how well you pay attention.  If you try to follow continuity, you're punished.  If you believe in stipulations, or in this case, exclusive draft picks, you're punished.  You just have to sit and watch the whims unf...

I have decided to do a different take on my traditional rankings.  In the past, I had ranked a band's discography against each other.  Then I got the wild idea to rank the best against the best, and see what mathematical shakes out as my number album of all-time. I didn't realize what a challenge awaited me. Relatively speaking, ranking a band against itself is pretty easy.  When you compare ones of different eras and genres, it becomes extremely difficult (for me anyway).  I think I ended up tabulating and ranking these three different times. Each subsequent time I would eliminate an album entirely that was statistically well-below the others.  In the end, I settled on a nice list of 20.  (The albums that just missed the cut were: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by the Beatles, Golden State and Razorblade Suitcase by Bush, Break the Cycle by Staind, Shaka Rock by Jet, The Beautiful Letdown by Switchfoot.) You can click each album score for ...

2019 is now behind us, and it left behind a few bright spots in the world of WWE.   I watched almost all the programming-with the exception of NXT UK, but I did review the higher praised matches to make sure my list was as accurate as it could be.   As is the norm, I’m sure many will say, “what about this match?” or “why did you pick that one?”   And that’s totally cool.   It’s all subjective folks. Here’s my matches of the year for 2019 in chronological order.   1/15/19 and 1/22/19 Smackdown Live Rey Mysterio vs. Andrade (2/3 Falls on the 22 nd ) These matches had serious buzz around them due to the first ever Canadian Destroyer (pretty sure) Rey gave Andrade in a tag match on 8 th . (A good match in its own right.)   There have been variations of Sin Cara vs. Kalisto/Del Rio etc. matches over the years, but this felt different.   This felt like a lucha libre main event on WWE TV.   They kept these matches tight, with little t...

                Something weird was happening when I went back to school in August of ’98.   Every guy that I talked to (no lie, either they already were, or would be before the school year was over) was talking about wrestling.   Even some girls for that matter.   Everywhere I looked I saw nWo, DX or Austin 3:16 t-shirts.   Guys were constantly doing the crotch chop, or saying “give me a hell yeah!”   One kid even worked the latter phrase into a presentation he was giving in front of the 8 th period English class.   The crowd roared in approval.                   Initially I had no idea what any of this stuff was.   I asked my friend Josh Allen constantly about these various things because he was one of the main perpetrators of them.   After making fun of me for being dumb, he would tell...