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WWF Wrestling Challenge May 24th, 1987

May 24, 1987

From the Sports Arena in San Diego, CA

Your hosts are Bobby Heenan and Gorilla Monsoon

Tonight's featured match is Brutus Beefcake vs. Dino Bravo. Also in action will be Rick Steamboat, Kamala & Sika, and Hacksaw Jim Duggan




Dino Bravo w/ Johnny V. vs. Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake

Beefcake frustrates Bravo to start the match. He hits a slam then Bravo bails as he regroups with Johnny V. Back in the ring as Bravo works the arm then hits a gutwrench suplex. Elbow drop gets two. We get an insert promo from the Rougeaus, who cut some unbelievably lame promo about how after the Barber Shop, the New Dream Team will have to go to the "Rougeau Shop." Back to the match as Beefcake comes back with a clothesline then hammers away. He hits an inverted atomic drop as Heenan hilariously questions why Beefcake turned on his former team. Beefcake knocks Johnny V. off of the apron then puts Bravo in the sleeper but Greg Valentine runs in and attacks Beefcake for the DQ (3:50). Beefcake gets triple-teamed briefly until the Rougeau Brothers run out for the save.

Thoughts: Nothing more than a segment to continue the feud between all these guys. I will say that the Beefcake turn has yielded positive results.



Ron Bass tells us that it is "Round Up" time as he will be going around the country branding people with his iron. They have now given Bass a gimmick since his feud with Mulligan was all done but the problem is that he still does not have a feud.



Iron Mike Sharpe vs. Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat

Sharpe works over the back of Steamboat to start. Steamboat hits Sharpe after an Irish whip sequence then sends him to the floor with a dropkick. Back inside, Steamboat skins-the-cat then backdrops Sharpe to the floor. We get an insert promo from the Honky Tonk Man asking Steamboat since he claims to be a fighting champion he should give him a shot at his Intercontinental Title. Sharpe works over Steamboat until he gets outsmarted then hit with a flying body press as Steamboat gets the win (2:32).

Thoughts: The story here was that Steamboat was a fighting champion and with the insert promo from Honky it seems that these two would be facing off in the future. This was aired before the tapings in which Honky beat Steamboat for the belt took place.



Gene Okerlund is with Koko B. Ware. He asks Koko about his hometown as he talked about it being small as Koko talks about loving what he does then Okerlund asks him to sing as Koko sings some a capella about "doing the bird." The main point here was that Koko can sing.



Jerry Monti vs. King Harley Race w/ Bobby Heenan

Johnny V. has replaced Heenan on commentary. Race dropkicks Monti then we get an insert promo from Race about how his crown is above and beyond any man. Race beats on Monti as the camera zooms in on the crown then hits a powerslam before getting the win with a cradle suplex (1:36).

Thoughts: Another match to build up Race for his house show run against Hogan.



Okerlund is with the Killer Bees. Just a lame, generic interview to illustrate the depth of the WWF Tag Team Division at this time. The Bees were definitely starting to get phased out at this time.



Carl Schmidt & Terry Gibbs & Dave Barbie vs. Hillbilly Jim & Tito Santana & Billy Jack Haynes

Haynes chops the shit out of Schmidt before taking him down with a dropkick. Jim and Gibbs are in the ring now as Jim hits him with an atomic drop and a slam after getting attacked when offering a handshake. Tito beats on Barbie now then Schmidt tags as Tito puts him in an armbar as Gorilla makes fun of Heenan's neckbrace. Haynes tags and beats on Schmidt until he puts him away with the full nelson (2:52). After the match, all three faces do the do-si-do. You haven't lived until you see Haynes and Tito dance around together.

Thoughts: Just a match with three guys thrown together to pop the crowd.



Craig DeGeorge is with Danny Davis, who tells us that everything is coming together as far as him being a wrestler. Davis had arrogance like no one else.



Rick Hunter & "Leaping" Lanny Poffo vs. Kamala & Sika w/ Mr. Fuji & Kimchee

Poffo's pre match promo is about how Kamala & Sika belong in the zoo. We get an insert promo from Outback Jack and how they look ugly, as Heenan laughs at Jack calling someone ugly. Poffo manages to kick Sika then tag out but Hunter gets knocked down then hit with a Samoan Drop then finished off by a splash courtesy of Kamala (1:31).

Thoughts: Quick squash to put Sika & Kamala over like monsters.



We get a replay of the Superstar Billy Graham segment from "Superstars of Wrestling" where he tells us that despite what the doctors say he will return to the ring.



Steve Lombardi vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan

Duggan overpowers Lombardi to start the match. He yells "Hooooo!!!!!" throughout the match as he beats on Lombardi until getting the win with a running clothesline (1:49). After the match, Duggan sings "God Bless America."

Thoughts: The crowd was into Duggan a lot. However, two days after this aired was when Duggan and Sheik got arrested together and that was the end of his mega push.



Okerlund is with Randy Savage, who refers to himself as the "uncrowned Intercontinental and World Heavyweight Champion." He tells us that he and Elizabeth know that "Macho Madness" has had a minor setback but that he is a rock and everything will get better and better. Savage was in the zone here.



Next week in action we will see Koko B. Ware, One Man Gang, Demolition, Ken Patera, and the Killer Bees.



Final Thoughts: Not much of a show. They pushed some feuds but they were not terribly exciting or anything. I really dont have much more to add other than that.



Here is my schedule for the next several days:

Tuesday: WWF Superstars of Wrestling 5/30/87
Thursday: RF Video Shoot Interview with Al Snow, Volume 1
Friday: WWF Wrestling Challenge 5/31/87
Sunday: WWF Superstars of Wrestling 6/6/87



Comments

  1. The good thing about these shows is that you get to see how long term the booking was. Things that seem sudden upon the original viewing was really foreshadowed on previous shows. The booking does lead somewhere even if things don't go according to plan (like wrestlers getting arrested or leaving the promotion).

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  2. Duggan may have lost his mega push, but he still did quite well when they rehired him
    at the end of the year.

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  3. True but he was looking to be the #2 face behind Hogan at this point. He never reached that level again. Duggan himself even admitted that the arrest cost him a bigger push.

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  4. That ep where she was caught diddling herself to Ducky from NCIS was weird as shit, doubly so cause I know her best as one of the daughters in Legend of Korra

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  5. There's a better sense of urgency to start the second. Hopefully they're awake now

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  6. 10-0 run in first two minutes of the 2nd

    GO SPURS GO

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  7. Alright, that's the Spurs I know.

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  8. 7 points in 90 seconds, there you go Spurs

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  9. Also about ROH, War Machine (Rowe and Hanson) could stand toe-to-toe with The Road Warriors, Hansen and Brody, The Miracle Violence Connection, Demolition or any other ultra badass team in wrestling's history.

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  10. Fat, Ugly Inner-City SweathogApril 19, 2015 at 9:24 PM

    If the NWA knew they weren't willing to pull the trigger on Luger beating Flair at Great American Bash '88, then why not let Luger and company get revenge on the Horsemen through 'WarGames'?

    Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Barry Windham, & JJ Dillon vs.
    Lex Luger, Dusty Rhodes, Road Warriors, & Sting

    - Luger can bloody up Windham, beat Flair into oblivion, and the faces can get in all sorts of offense on the Horsemen without any titles changing hands. Hell, make that the whole motivation: the Horsemen agree to WarGames if only because it keeps all their titles from being on the line. Dillon can even take the submission loss to end it, so no one jobs. Gives you the satisfaction of Luger "beating" Flair without changing the title.

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  11. Ben is...Eagle Two.

    Oh thank God.

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  12. Bayless is an idiot but Colin is a racist, so Colin is #1, Skip #2, Jemele #3

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  13. I was just reading about this WCW match in 2000 (3 way:Goldberg/Kevin Nash/Scott Steiner) when Goldberg 'refused' to let Nash powerbomb him and walked out of the match. Then Scott Steiner took the move and the announcers praised him for following the 'design' of the match. That company was in its own bizarro world by that point.

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  14. Fat, Ugly Inner-City SweathogApril 19, 2015 at 9:25 PM

    I loved you in that show as Donna

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  15. Bonsai, if espn offered you a job, would you take it?

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  16. ThebrazilianpsychoApril 19, 2015 at 9:26 PM

    Benoit & Jericho

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  17. Lol Ann's ambiguous ethnic blend

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  18. .... Can't tell if you're making fun of me. Heh.

    Just performing community service.

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  19. They are a couple of handsome gents.

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  20. He'd be a fool not to.

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  21. Oh yeah, the point where they OPENLY acknowledged that wrestling was fake. AWESOME!

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  22. Depends on the job and pay, but Is be silly not to look at it. That said, I work in the same building as MLB.com and THAT would be a dream job. SportsNet LA, the Dodger channel, also use the same software I use at my current gig.

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  23. "I have one bowl"

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  24. Can't wait for these threes to start dropping.

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  25. Wilbon is an idiot about baseball. He's already said Kershaw is done because of his slow start; never mind Kershaw's ERA was 4 at the end of May last year and he wound up with Koufax numbers in the end.

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  26. You could broadcast to almost 15% of Dodger fans!

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  27. And this was after the Buff Bagwell deal where he was discussing match endings with his opponent and purposely holding down opponents for pins when he was suppose to lose. Amazing stuff.

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  28. This guy at the table behind me at the bar is trying to school his girl about the Marvel
    movies, like what SHIELD is, what everyone's power is, etc. It's pretty funny.

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  29. Spurs have been playing barely okay and almost everything has been dropping for the clippers and it's tied. Feel alright about that.

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  30. ... Worst come-on ever?

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  31. Adam "Colorado" CurryApril 19, 2015 at 9:33 PM

    Who only has one bowl? Gotta have at least one backup piece.

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  32. He said it was his girl, the come ons already worked.

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  33. Ah. Misread. Hell of a date, though.

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  34. Flair drops the title to Ronnie Garvin, bad for business with no pushback. But major resistence for Luger because Flair thought he wasn't ready.

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  35. Adam "Colorado" CurryApril 19, 2015 at 9:34 PM

    He has a girl? I'm not buying this story...

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  36. That was in 1996, if you watch the 1996 Rumble, Scott Hall has NO EYEBROWS!

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  37. Watching the episode where Jane dies on breaking bad

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  38. Mitch, The GodfatherApril 19, 2015 at 9:38 PM

    Oh, Jeff.


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njl4fuU1wf0

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  39. Fat, Ugly Inner-City SweathogApril 19, 2015 at 9:38 PM

    Just didn't perceive Garvin as a legit "threat" to his spot I guess. Luger could have been the NWA's version of Hogan and that presented a threat. Odd though because Flair was top heel anyway and he could have made money with Luger for years

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  40. Fat, Ugly Inner-City SweathogApril 19, 2015 at 9:39 PM

    When WCW split up Doom in 1991, if they had chosen Butch Reed for the big push, does he do better, worse, or the same as Ron Simmons?

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  41. I'm surprised that more restaurants based on TV shows/movies haven't started up. Only ones I can think of are bubba gump and Popeyes.

    I really want to try Los pollo hermanos

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  42. Why aren't you watching the spurs?

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  43. I will in the second half

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  44. ROCK-em SOCK-em Robot!!!!April 19, 2015 at 9:42 PM

    Worse. It would have been like making Simmons champ in 04 when they broke up the APA.

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  45. Ok, pretty big lol at the election episode's "dammit Jerry"

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  46. Reds couldn't even get 1 game off the Cards. Ridiculous.

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  47. Worse. He didn't have Ron's face charisma.

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  48. But he had better hair

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  49. Ron Simmons in the JBL role... I would watch.

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  50. It's almost a skill how much Reggie Miller tries to force a storyline on commentary.

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  51. Absolutely, especially when he dyed it blond. Maybe he, Austin and Pillman could have made a Hollywood Blonds faction.

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  52. Note to Spurs: Driving one on one against DeAndre Jordan will not work

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  53. Sounds like a date. Even as an uber nerd I don't know about spending so much time on Marvel

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  54. On the plus side, literally anything else will.

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  55. But Hack-A-Jordan will!

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  56. Ideally the Browns so Lebron can attend games.

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  57. However she is Jessica jones

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  58. If I had a dollar for every broken Spurs drive, it could pick up my bar tab

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  59. ThebrazilianpsychoApril 19, 2015 at 9:55 PM

    I can't find Krysten Ritter attractive.

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  60. I do. I like me some pale skinned dark haired lasses a la Paige

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  61. Bar is dead as shit in here, it's kinda eerie

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  62. Too skinny for me.

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  63. She looks like she can be down for anything

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  64. Kevan Lannister not giving a fuck about Cersei.


    Mace Tyrell on the other hand...

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  65. Worse. Reed had peaked as a singles guy by the time Doom was formed. But he had many great matches with Ric Flair in 1981 in Florida. And we got a reminder of that during the Doom/Horsemen street fight in 1990.

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  66. Shooting 36%, 3/14 on threes and 9 turnovers. They're just playing like shit, they're in decent shape all things considered.

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  67. Kawhi is just incredible on defense.

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  68. TJ :Shameless self-promotion!


    https://nickpiers.wordpress.com/2015/04/20/if-you-liked-daredevil-tv-series-part-2/



    I'm e-mailing Scott about it shortly, but here's Part 2 of my Daredevil comic book recommendations.

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  69. Deandre Jordan is the worst match up problem for the spurs out there.

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  70. Heard an interesting theory about the Spurs; with a bunch of foreigners and really no "look at me" guys gives them their winning success

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  71. As great as Pop and the Spurs are, they are held together by Duncan and Parker. Leonard is going to be good enough to replace one of them, but not both. Manu is his own special flower as well, and replacing him is going to be impossible as well.


    It's definitely not "only the system".


    And that theory isn't anything new. It's been talked about since 05.

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  72. We can't shoot 33% forever, come on boys

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  73. He's agile enough to clog up the lane on his own, even when rotating over. Spurs can't keep driving to the hoop from isolation, they need to kick the ball around and get them scrambling to at least try to get DJ out of the way

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  74. LeBron would agree

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  75. Matt Barnes plays hard and all that stuff. That was overly dramatic.

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  76. Jesus...Blake is...manly.

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  77. Here Comes The Pain or SvR '06? I'll go with '06 because of GM mode.

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  78. Kawhi is so fucking brilliant as a defender.

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  79. He'd be a complete terror back in the 90's. As is, he's still a top defender.

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  80. lol, SB Nation called Vince Carter 1/2 Man, 1/2 Old Man after missing that dunk.

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  81. Burt Macklin, Man Without FearApril 19, 2015 at 10:41 PM

    I prefer SVR 07 over 06.

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  82. I noticed last night that Canelo Alvarez and Blake Griffin looks very similar.

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  83. This game just might be over

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  84. AARON BAYNES HAD A FAMILY, DAMMIT

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  85. Glad it's a 7-game series and not a 1.

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  86. If will be if Leonard keeps missing those FTs. It cost them the 13 championship.

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  87. I love 07 too but it was basically a slicked up version of '06. Didn't quite have the same freshness.

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  88. I don't love Griffin, but man his dunks are soul wrenching.

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  89. Once in a while, Chris Paul does something really stupid to remind people why he hasn't helped himself to advance farther in the Playoffs.

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  90. Spurs could come back in this game. You have to ginobelieve

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  91. Burt Macklin, Man Without FearApril 19, 2015 at 10:47 PM

    I only ever played 2006 on PSP so that may hinder my opinion on it. I didn't play it very much but I would lose entire days on 2007 with my cousin haha.

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  92. It's basketball. Everybody makes a run. That's what makes the game great.

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  93. Griffin's KIA commercials this year have been hilarious.

    "LET'S BAKE THIS CAKE!"

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJnAeZdNrSk

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  94. And even if they don't, they'll adjust.

    Ain't no way they're gonna shoot 30% for the series.

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  95. Wind and rain for the past few hours

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  96. What makes it great is that the best team usually wins the title (unlike NFL).

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  97. Us humans are fickle creatures. When we want the best, we complain they win too much. When we want upsets, we complain the best doesn't win.


    I don't know what I just said. I just know I love the NBA.

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  98. Alright, Austin Rivers trying to get the Spurs back into the game.

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  99. Love me some Patty Mills.

    And old man Duncan with the put back!

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  100. Burt Macklin, Man Without FearApril 19, 2015 at 10:54 PM

    I like Griffin. His commercials are consistently great.

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  101. Holy shit, 9 point game.

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  102. What? Ride Patty Mills while he's hot.

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  103. Nobody on the Clippers should hi-five Austin Rivers.

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  104. Only good thing about playoff schedule is that the Spurs can rest up between games

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  105. Cena and Sheamus should form a tag team called the Boston Celtics. They even have 17 world championships between them!

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  106. My sis says Spurs shooting the ball like Philip Seymour Hoffman in Along Came Polly

    She's not wrong. RAIN DROPS! *clank*

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  107. Lol, that's great

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  108. Isn't it like 18-19 because cena has 15 and Sheamus has 3-4

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  109. Two days between games is bullshit though, no wonder the NBA playoffs take forever. I don't need a two-week-plus first round.

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  110. She's Paige if Paige was 6 feet tall.

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  111. The best thing about the Clippers' win is how Barkley is going to say "jump shooting teams" don't win championships...when the Spurs did the same thing last year and won.

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  112. He's a knucklehead. His aversion to what he thinks are analytics (read: useful, detailed information in context) is hilarious

    FIRST OFF ERNEH YOU THROWING A LOT OF BIG NUMBERS AT ME, NOW SINCE I DONT KNOW WHAT THEY MEAN, IMA TAKE THEM AS DISRESPECT

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  113. 06; GM Mode, Story Mode, more polished gameplay

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  114. Just stay away from my Benz

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  115. All that matters is fuck the Clippers everyone hates them.

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  116. I like how most of the country smartened up about the Clippers being a bunch of lemon-faced killjoys.

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  117. Ok, what was Taker's first clean loss on the big stage (PPV, Raw, or Smackdown)?

    By clean I mean no outside interference, no foreign objects, and no getting attacked before the match.

    I ask because I'm really drawing a blank here.

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  118. I would have turned 10 on this day!

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