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The Caliber Winfield Super Teriffic Happy Hour


This week I review WrestleMania 24, throw a question out for discussion, and once again find something from wrestling's past that I had absolutely no idea existed.

Also, I want to apologize for the way the article looks. Blogger is an absolute piece of crap, and will completely change font-size, font-style, and word & image placement on a whim. You'll save your article, it'll look like you want it, but when published it looks like something completely different. That's what's going on here.


When I started on my WM reviews, I wanted to give some love to 25, then review my Top 2 favorites; 26 & 24. However, after reviewing 26 a week or so ago I realized it may very well be my favorite. I haven't seen 24 in years, so let's see if it's still as groovy as I remember it. Suspense this good is why you come to the Caliber man.


Fit Finaly vs. JBL – Belfast Brawl

At the beginning, the match is all Finlay, but once the international objects come into play, JBL turns the tide. He keeps it with a barrage of trash can shots, until he tries a piledriver on the ring steps, only to receive a back-drop for his troubles. At this point, neither is able to hold the momentum for very long, as they trade blows with weapons ranging from trash cans, metal sheets, ring steps, kendo sticks, and tables. It's a great match and a hell of an opener that the crowd was really into.

Finlay takes a Clothesline From Hell and eats the pin at 8:35 | ***1/2



John Morrison vs. Carlito vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. CM Punk vs. Mr. Kennedy vs. MVP vs. Chris Jericho – Money In The Bank
The first 'holy shit' spot of the night is Shelton on a ladder and dumped outside via a front flip through a ladder that's placed between the barrier and ring. After a series of brutal spots, such as CM Punk giving Mr. Kennedy a Diamond Cutter off the ladder and Carlito following suit on Jericho, only with a Backstabber, MVP stands up in the ring, and looks like Steve Buscemi at the end of Reservoir Dogs. There's no such thing as a bad MiTB. 
Punk grabs the briefcase to win his first MiTB at 17:55 | ****



Umaga vs. Batista – FOR BRAND SUPREMECY!

This match is all sorts of boring and terrible, which is shocking, considering this is for the good of Smackdown and Raw! Umaga basically works over Batista the entire match until the end, where Batista delivers a spinebuster and perhaps the worst looking powerbomb ever, even worse than the one Shawn took from Nash at WM11. So, here I am backing Smackdown now, and Batista switches the next night! What was I to think?! Thankfully, they started having the Bragging Rights PPVs so I knew which show to back, as to avoid looking the fool.

Umaga eats a Demonbomb & pin at 7:06 | ½ *



Chavo Guerrero [C] vs. Kane – ECW Championship

Kane surprises Chavo by appearing from behind him. The match starts, Chavo catches a chokeslam and that's it. I think this was the best choice for everyone involved.

Kane chokeslams & pins Chavo at .11 | **



Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair

Really, this should have gone on last. It's Ric Flair's final match, at WM, against Michaels. What more could you ask for in a main event? The first great moment is Shawn and Ric trading places in the corner while they chop the bloody hell out of each other. It's soon followed by Flair actually leaping off the top turnbuckle, which I think he's been able to do successfully about 3 times. Afterward, Shawn makes me cringe as he lands ribs-first on the edge of the announcer's table after missing a moonsault From there, the match keeps its high pace and drama that has earned it not only 5 stars, but a place among my all-time favorite matches. Wrestling fans were split with this one, some saying it was only average, while others thought it went above and beyond. Hell, I think the ending alone should keep it from being average, as it stands today as one of wrestling's greatest moments. 
Ric Flair receives Sweet Chin Music followed by a pin at 20:33 | *****



Beth Phoenix & Melina vs. Maria & Ashley – PlaboyBunnyManiaBoobies&TittiesNakedChicks Lumberjill Match

I know there are some types out there who say Beth Phoenix isn't attractive, but if you prefer a tanned skeleton like Ashley, you are wrong. None of this opinion junk. You're flat out wrong. Thankfully though, Ashley can wrestle like crap. This match has nothing to really make note of, other than Snoop hitting a clothesline. Which I imagine with his massive biceps feels like getting hit with a baseball bat. 
Beth hits Maria with a fishermen's suplex at 5:58 | 1/2*



Randy Orton [C] vs. John Cena vs. Triple H – WWE Championship

It appears that Triple H and Randy Orton use the same self-tanner, which seems to be deck stainer. Love that Randy nails HHH with the belt right off the bat, it's a perfect heel action. It also reminds me of how much more interesting he is when he's not the incredibly boring face. Cena goes for the double FU, but Hunter slips off at the last moment. He'll get it one of these days. Hell, The Rock is pumped with so much juice & HGH that it's like two people, so give credit where credit is due. The greatest compliment I can pay a match is being afraid of it ending, and this is one of those matches. The action is non-stop, and it flows seamlessly. Near the end it really starts to pick up with Orton holding out from 3 different submissions, then recouping while Triple H and Cena do their best to snag the win while Randy gets his wind back. It's great stuff, and I feel a match that was completely underrated. Some had grief with the fact that it was so short, but had it been longer we would have had rest-holds and moments where everyone is down. So what we got was all killer and none of the filler. People need to dust off their WrestleMania 24s and give this one a second look.

Triple H delivers a Pedigree to Cena, but catches a punt to the head from Orton, who then steals the pin on John at 14:09 | ****



Floyd Mayweather vs. Big Show

I don't like it when people from other venues come into wrestling and get a win, unless they have a proven track record and respect it. I don't like people who flaunt their wealth. I REALLY don't like Mayweather. They tried to book Big Show like a heel, but Mayweather was such a little bitch that Show was being cheered for everything. I mean, how on Earth are we supposed to root for a guy who takes photos with all the money he got from the WWE, runs away mid-match, and has some obnoxious cock in a white suit screaming at the ref “YOU CAN'T DO THAT!” [in reference to stomping on a hand and giving a chop. You can't do that. Bodyslam? Unheard of in wrestling. You can't do that]? At least Big Show wasn't pinned. Any stars I give this match are purely for me enjoying the sight of Floyd getting hurt. 
Big Show doesn't answer the count of 10 at 11:36 | **



The Undertaker vs. Edge [C] – World Heavyweight Championship
Edge starts off by shoving The Undertaker, to blatantly show he doesn't fear him. That was something I always liked about Edge within this feud, he wasn't afraid. It was different. 'Taker gets a bit of a lead, but being over-zealous sends him crashing to the outside, at which point Edge takes complete advantage and dominates for a while until he aims to leap off the top rope but 'Taker sends him crashing to the outside, hell of a bump. Once he's back in, neither of them can hold on to momentum for long, as they go on to give one of the best wrestling matches ever. Edge went full tilt, countering everything from chokeslams to the Old-School, giving The Dead Man a receipt for all of it. Undertaker himself had an answer for everything Edge had as well, from submissions to spears. One of the best matches I've ever seen. 
Edge taps out to Hell's Gate at 23:50 | *****

Showcase Showdown: 
The setting is absolutely gorgeous with the tropical colors and open arena. Everything you expect to deliver does so and then some. The opening match keeps great company as one of the best WM openers of all time. The dreck, as in the traditional divas and celebrity match are thankfully kept short. The main event matches deliver with the best of them, with 2 earning 5 stars from me. Ric and Shawn created WM history, while Edge and Taker had a match for the ages. Amongst these incredible bouts are solid 4 star matches in the MiTB and WWE championship. One of the greatest PPVs of all time that unfortunately doesn't get it's due.

Intelligent Conversation:

 Alright, here it is. With the money Scott pays me I was able to purchase a machine that brings different Worlds, Universes, and all that good business together. So, I've brought together the years 1987 and 2013. For WrestleMania, it's John Cena vs Hulk Hogan. Now, the question of course is who wins, but I'm asking for both levels.
Kayfabe Level: I gotta go with John Cena. I think he's proven to have the edge that Hogan didn't. I don't see Cena losing to Warrior if they fought at WM6.. How say you?
Backstage Level: I'm going with Hogan. Cena doesn't play politics what so ever. 

 
So there I am, watching the Cornette YouShoot: Lost Questions, and this comes up. I've been a wrestling fan for almost 20 years. I truly thought I'd seen the worst of the worst, yet something new always creeps up. How has this been off my radar? This is the absolute worst thing in the entire fucking World. I had to knife fight a gorilla afterwards just to deal with my disbelief. And I'm talking old school knife fight, like in the Beat It video. Rad stuff. Anyway, have you guys seen this? Sweet fancy Moses.

Weekly Recko:Well, this week I can't call it a recko because I haven't seen either, but The Top 100 Raw Moments & Best of Raw/Smackdown 2012 are on netflix now. So there you go. For those with HuluPlus, check out Bigger.Stronger.Faster. It's the greatest documentary of all time, that is deeply entertaining as well as insightful and eye-opening. It's all about steroids and America's fascination with body image. Fantastic stuff.


No mailbag this week. Any questions you got, any displeasure with Caliber you'd like to express, do send it to CaliberW@hotmail.com










Str8 Gangster, No Chaser - People Shouldn't Use The Internet, 4 of the Worst Instances of TV Censorship, Saved By The Bell Archives, Comic Book Films You Didn't Know Were Comic Book Films, plenty of other goods.
WCW In 2000 - Recently updated with a brand new Nitro, and something coming up for the anniversary of Nitro going off the air.
Man Movie Encyclopedia Vol.1 - My book about action films. Endorsed by Scott Keith & Maddox, as well as some fellow BOD'ers. Constant 5 star reviews on amazon. I mean, CONSTANT. Non-stop. Around the clock, baby.
Board for the BoD'ers - Some hip cats doing some hip things. 


Thanks to my editor Steven Ferrari. I actually met him at the 1990 Survivor Series. There was an egg that had been around all day, and people were wondering what came out of it. People think it was the Gooker, but nope, it was Steven.

I've disabled Disqus. It kept causing script problems and f'ning with my firefox. So, any requests, any questions you have for the mailbag, send'em to CaliberW@hotmail.com.

Now I'm Caliber, and I write for the Doom/
Call me Flair, could write a great piece about a broom/
I'm the quarter back, and the team, call a one man huddle/
And I get more chicks than Fuj with the Wrestlerock Rumble/

Comments

  1. I REALLY DON'T GET HOW CHAVO/KANE IS **.


    THIS IS WHY PEOPLE DON'T LIKE YOUR REVIEWS

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  2. I had tears in my eyes when Flair walked the aisle that night and I wasn't anywhere near Bret Hart's hotel room.

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  3. C'mmon man, it's the greatest 11 second match in history!! /sarcasm

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  4. LOL HE GAVE THE SAME RATING TO MAYWEATHER/BIG SHOW

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  5. Love the review, the star ratings are fucked
    but the rest of it is good.

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  6. While I don't always agree I've been a huge supporter of Edge/Taker as an underrated masterpiece, much better than all three overrated Taker/HHH messes

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  7. Yeah, I think these reviews would be better suited to a "1 for 1, 1 for 2" type system, since the ratings seem to based on personal enjoyment (and there is nothing wrong with that.)

    Just something to consider.

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  8. Pretty much this. Caliber is a decent reviewer if you ignore some of the star ratings systems.

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  9. Or if that's too imprecise maybe a middle ground of thumbs up, middle, or thumbs down?

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  10. DEFEATS THE WHOLE PURPOSE

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  11. While I don't completely agree with some of your ratings, I DO agree that "WM24" was a great PPV - probably the last really great "WM", with a several good matches, and far less filler than anything since then.

    Finlay/JBL - 3*
    MITB - 4.5* (My pick for best MITB ever)
    Batista/Umaga - 1*
    Kane/Chavo - N/A (A fun little segment, nothing more)
    Shawn/Flair - 5* (Sure, the in-ring work wasn't perfect, but what a story/spectacle.)
    Divas - 1*
    Cena/Trips/Orton - 3.5*
    Show/Mayweather - 4* (Fantastic brawl, MUCH better than expected.)
    Taker/Edge - 4* (And that's coming from someone that thinks Edge sucks.)

    One thing I've always wondered about this card, though - to this day, I still feel like Punk winning the "MITB" match was an audible. I was absolutely 100% positive at the time that MVP was going to win, as he was being booked strongly at the time, and it just felt - to me - that he was being lined up to win the match, coming off on the better end of several exchanges during the match. However, he took a NASTY bump to the outside (IIRC, Shelton gave him a powerbomb over the ropes to the floor), and he seemed to have at the very least gotten a bad scare from it. Does anybody have any info on this, or does anybody share my belief? It just seemed like he was the obvious winner, with Punk not really doing anything of note since losing the title, and the company basically having no faith in him at the time.

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  12. I WAS AT THIS MANIA. I THINK ORTON/HHH/CENA DOESN'T GET ENOUGH PRAISE. THAT MATCH WAS REALLY GREAT LIVE AND I CONSIDER IT AN UNDERRATED GEM AS FAR AS MANIA MATCHES GO.

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  13. I ALSO WENT TO MANIA 28, AND TO ME, ITS A FAR SUPERIOR SHOW THAN MANIA 24

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  14. WrestleMania 24 is a weird show for me. It was the first WrestleMania since I had started watching Wresting where I hadn't watched the build to the show and didn't know the card at all. I had stopped watching after the Benoit murder/suicide so I went into this show without knowing anything about it. Plenty of good matches and some great ones too. Undertaker/Edge is one of the more unheralded WM main events. In my mind it's in the top 28 WM main events.

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  15. Never thought about that. But I remember feeling bad for rooting against Punk at WrestleMania 25's MITB. And I was pissed when he won(even though I was a fan of his) because I wanted Christian to win.

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  16. No way. MVP got taken out by Matt Hardy to set up their feud. He lost the US title to him the next month.

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  17. Remember, Hardy was originally in the match, but got Wellness'd about three weeks before the show, hence why it was only seven guys. I think the plan was supposed to be Hardy winning, actually cashing in at the start of the triple threat, and winning it there.

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  18. HowmuchdoesthisguyweighMarch 25, 2013 at 10:47 AM

    Being at 24 and 25 I can say nearly everyone wanted Christian to win at 25. 24 was a great live show and 25 was miserable outside HBK vs Taker.... 24 had a good flair vs HBK (overrated, but great live), Matt Hardy's last moment being over in his return during MITB, the triple threat was good and Orton winning was awesome

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  19. Flair/HBK is so overrated.

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  20. Yea you cant read these reviews and actually take the star system seriously. No way Show/Mayweather is only 2 stars, no way is the triple threat 4 stars.


    I put the WM 24 Triple Threat with the one from WM22 and WM25. Too short and/or not WM worthy. Fine for a Raw main event but at WM these short triple threats with a major title on the line just wont cut it

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  21. In retrospect Punk winning in '09 played out better but the people were desperate for Christian to win. Especially after how lame his return was. It totally should have been Christian vs. Jeff Hardy at WrestleMania 25.

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  22. I was at both as well... I consider 24 to be superior, though I think that's because I was at the Raw the next night with the Flair retirement ceremony and I lump that into the 24 weekend. I was not at Raw the night after 28, so can't compare the Brock return live... but the Flair ceremony is probably my favorite Raw moment ever.

    28 was not very good at all outside of the top 3 matches, where 24 was much more complete.

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  23. Caliber > Tommyhall

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  24. I actually watched that Flair v. Michaels match the other day and it seems to lose a bit of the magic the second time around, but at the time it was pretty incredible and heartbreaking. the "I'm sorry, I love you" bit was probably the only time in the history of wrestling that I was okay with Dialog in a match, otherwise it's stupid.

    "STAY DOWN! STAY DOWN!"
    "HUNTER DON'T DO IT!" etc, are dumb.

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  25. I think Dialogue can work in a match. The dialogue in Eddie vs. Brock helped that match tremendously.

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  26. ''the ratings seem to based on personal enjoyment''
    Well how else do you rate something?

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  27. Good question. I meant as opposed to the more technical aspects of a match. Rating matches is hardly a science, I just think that if emotion is the number one factor, there are other rating systems that could work better than stars.


    Maybe I'm in the minority here, but when I read this review, I couldn't take the ratings seriously (how stupid does that sound?) because of how liberally stars were given out. For me, the ratings detracted from the well-written thoughts and comments that preceded them.

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  28. As opposed to Scott's stars which are based on a published mathmatical formula?

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  29. I though "STAY DOWN" worked pretty well for that particular match, but yeah, dialogue comes off as contrived more often than not.
    Michaels-Flair has lost all of it's luster for me. I never thought it was a great match, or even a very good one, but the emotion and historical significance carried it.....And then Flair came out of retirement to disgrace his legacy even more and all the emotion etc. was rendered meaningless.
    "I'm sorry, I love you" is now just purely embarassing.

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  30. Apparently most people consider star ratings to be something that reflects more than personal enjoyment.

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  31. Someone on the radio was talking about Mayweather the other day and they mentioned how one time they were in a club in Vegas and Mayweather came in, just hansing out stacks of cash to everyone. Yeah its flaunting your success but shit, i'd love to get handed a stack of hundreds just randomly.

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  32. I hate dialog in matches. I have never seen it that it didn't just seem lame.

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  33. HowmuchdoesthisguyweighMarch 25, 2013 at 5:24 PM

    I had such high hopes when I knew Christian was coming back. Punk winning at 25 at least set up his needed heel turn on Hardy.

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  34. Ashley was the one that ran with London and Kendrick, right?


    That chick was fucking gross.

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  35. ''Caliber enjoyed these a lot more than I did, therefore I can't take the ratings seriously''

    GO CALIBER GO

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  36. Being that stupid with his money, he deserves to end up MC Hammer like broke.

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  37. It's not that. Wrestling has zero objective measurements of quality, but you can still review it in a non-dumb manner.


    Caliber doesn't even explain his views it's just "Oh, that's awesome" "OH WAIT, THAT"S AWESOMER!".


    His reviews have the same amount of detail as the blurbs on straight to DVD action movies.

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  38. Dialogue is two people.


    "Sorry, I love you" is a monologue.


    And if you have problems with monologues in wrestling...that means you have a problem with "Now it's time for a Perfect-Plex"...and you have no soul.

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  39. He's not that stupid with money.

    I honestly doubt he was giving out his own money, the club probably gave it him to hand out to people, it's not like they were going to take the money home, plus you get tons of publicity from it.

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  40. GOD BLESS YOU CAPS LOCK MAN! GOD BLESS YOU

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  41. Let me clarify.

    I have no problems with smack talk, and "now it's time for a Perfect-Plex" is indeed awesome. Pretty much everything Curt Hennig did was awesome.

    It's the camera zoomed in, dramatic stuff that I don't like that has been really prominent in the Shawn-Flair match, and in the series of Taker-DX WM matches.


    Don't like that.

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  42. It is a great match. I dont like HHH being shoe-horned into it, but it was good for what it was.

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  43. SHUT. YOUR WHORE. MOUTH.

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  44. oooo... thats a push bro.


    While I do this Caliber is a doofus, he does at least look at things positively as opposed to Tommy "Grumpy Cat" Hall


    aka "I dont know if he is supposed to be a face or a heel... clearly he is a heel"

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  45. She was until she came back about 75 pounds lighter and looked like she had the herp.

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  46. If someone handed me a random stack of 5's that would pretty much make my day.

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  47. So it's the execution you have a problem with.

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  48. I suppose so?


    Hunter yelling "stay down" at the Undertaker wouldn't annoy me in the course of a match. But if they pan the camera in close up to catch every word, go back and forth from Shawn crying in the corner, to Taker's pained face, back to Shawn to say "don't do it Hunter" etc..


    Lamesauce. Just fight.

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  49. You don't like wrestling being...cinematic. I get you. I don't necessarily agree, but I get where you're coming from.

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  50. Cinematic. Sure, I guess that works.

    Glad I could help you distill it down to a word Phreddy.

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  51. Having said that we shouldn't undermine what is clearly the most electrifying catchphrase in the BoD today: "Let's get to it."

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  52. clearly... left "this guy gets it" in the dust many moons ago.

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  53. You're not even properly constructing your sentences, its so bad I can't understand what you're saying. "While I do this Caliber is a doofus," do you mean think, or are you saying this Caliber is a doofus? My understanding was that there was one Caliber, not multiple. Also the only thing anyone is criticizing is the Chavo/Kane match which got into a way too deep argument about star ratings; may I ask who cares? Reviews are supposed to be recommendations, any match that's over ten minutes long and that he's giving over a three star rating means he's recommending the match to you; if you already know the match is short or have you're own opinion on it that's fine but I really don't see why people are freaking out over a fucking star rating.



    I think he should give all jobber matches five stars just so I can you people explode over it in the comments because, "Geezers guys, he gave this match a high rating, let's pull out the stakes and torches." Logically it doesn't "defeat the purpose" as you already know you don't want to watch a match that's eleven seconds long so why care? I imagine that John probably was going to give it a DUD but decided to two stars it just so you people would argue over each other. This is a lamer argument than people on Youtube auguring over whether or not wrestling is fake or not.

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  54. Yeah, I meant "think" i rarely proof-read my shit.

    why dont you just kiss the dude? Stop all that dick-eating. No need to come to your boyfriends aide, he's a big boy. he can defend himself.

    ReplyDelete

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