Sporctober

If you have read any of my previous blog entries you have come to the conclusion that I'm a pretty big sports fan. From football to baseball to basketball, all the way to UFC and pro wrestling -we could spend hours talking about pro wrestling and if I should call it a sport or not. While the results are predetermined, you need to be a complete athlete to perform the way the do, there is no denying that; so I do consider it a for of sports and entertainment- I love watching sports, I've played most of them (soccer, baseball, basketball, flag football, bowling) and without a doubt I love talking and writing about them.

That being said, I'm really excited by the way October is shaping up. October brings to us the MLB playoffs and the second month of the NFL season, also kicks off the NBA season (most likely not going to happen this year), so there are a ton of options on stuff to see live. The reason I'm so excited is because I'll be going to a ton of events that month:

• UFC 136 - October 8th we get UFC 136 live from Houston's Toyota Center. Just today I bought my plane ticket and made hotel and car reservations for this trip. The card is looking good so far: Demian Maia vs Jorge Santiago, Chael Sonnen vs Brian Stann, Jose Aldo vs Kenny Florian for the Featherweight title, and Frankie Edgar vs Gray Maynard 3 for the Lightweight Championship. If you follow MMA you know that these have the potential to be some of the greatest fights in a long time. Also during the day we get the UFC Fan Expo which should be an interesting event.

[caption id="attachment_171" align="aligncenter" width="500"] UFC 136 Edgar vs Maynard III Poster[/caption]

• Raiders vs Texans - While these are two teams I don't really care for, the game will be October 9th so I'll be in Houston to catch it. Basically any NFL game I can catch live I'll do. Reliant Stadium is a beautiful venue (was there last year for a great Chargers-Texans game), the Texans have a great high powered offense and I expect the Raiders to suck (which is good for us Charger fans) so the Texans will certainly score a ton of point. Not to bad of a quick Friday-Sunday trip up to Houston.

[caption id="attachment_173" align="aligncenter" width="614"] Reliant Stadium and Reliant Astrodome at night from Kirby Dr.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_174" align="aligncenter" width="614"] Inside Reliant Stadium[/caption]

• WWE Raw Live - every chance I get to see WWE live I'm there, so I'll take full advantage of them being in town for 2 straight nights. October 12th  is a house show (not taped for TV) but these usually provide the most interaction with fans as the wrestlers have no time constraints and can go out there and have a good time doing their thing. While they don't bring a big screen and all the stuff you see on TV, you get that interaction that more than makes up for it.


• WWE SmackDown Live - The following night, the 13th, we get Smackdown for another live show. Same as the above, the interaction is well worth the price of admission; also getting to hear some of the guys curse in Spanish is pretty funny. I'm waiting to see who comes out with a soccer jersey (Monterrey has 2 teams), a couple of years ago Michelle McCool came out wearing a Tigres jersey looking for a face pop but half of the arena booed her - I guess most people in attendance were for Monterrey.

[caption id="attachment_175" align="aligncenter" width="614"] CM Punk & Alberto del Rio in Monterrey 05/14/11[/caption]

• WWE Vengeance. On October 23 WWE will revive the Vengeance PPV (I was at the 2001 edition in San Diego, yeah the one were Chris Jericho was crowned the 1st ever Undisputed Champion, see video below) live from the AT&T Center. While at a Raw taping at the same joing in May WWE announced that the event would be Uprising but quickly changed that. The last couple of Pay Per Views have been really good, lets hope they keep the trend leading to October.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNIDaPBlJ_4]

• WWE still has not announced any other events around the PPV, but we'll most certainly get a show in Austin, maybe Laredo, McAllen or Corpus Christi. This would definitely will be a great way to close out what is shaping up to be a great month.

What cool events do you have on the radar for the coming months?

Mr Khakbaz out!!!

NFL Lockout & Free Agency

5 days have passed since the NFL and it's Players Association signed a new labor agreement (that will last until 2020), to say that this is big news for sports fans is.

I'm not that interested in talking about the fine points of the agreement but some of the changes that were made were interesting. I see 3 main points here:

• The first one being the new salary cap


• Second, the rookie wage scale


• More money for retired players

All 3 are really important and have big implications, but in all fairness it all boiled down to money. The league generates soooo much money that a .01% difference is a big deal. When I talked with casual fans on their thoughts of the lockout and how it would be resolved, most of them said that there was to much money on the table to leave it there; while I totally understand that, the fact that there is that amount is the exact problem, nobody wanted to budge and lose a couple of million here o a hundred million there.

For me the rookie wage limit is something that had to be done. You hear "the highest paid rookie in history", on literally every position, almost every year; where was this going to stop? This was a good move no doubt; the playing level is so high that many great college players are nothing more that over-paid average players, I hope this will help moderate it.

A 4 month lockout that in theory didn't cost a single game (well maybe the Hall of Fame Game), yet the players didn't have the chance to practice as a unit, there were no OTAs and guys like Peyton Manning (who had some minor neck surgery) couldn't contact the team physician with whom he had worked throughout his career, making his rehab a not-so-smooth process.

Now teams are put on the spot to sign rookies, cut veterans, renew contracts and everything that usually goes on during the off-season in only a couple of weeks. I have no doubt this will cost some of the higher drafted players some big bucks as they won't have time to negotiate a deal, it's basically take it or sitout with no time to negotiate.

Also the money being thrown around for some of these free agents is just crazy. You get a guy like Kevin Kolb, (7 career starts, 11 TDs and 14 INTs with a QB rating of 73.2) who was replaced after a couple of games last season after being named the starting QB for the Eagles by Michael Vick (who is no great QB by any means IMO), traded to the Cardinals and signing a 5 year 64M contract with 21M guaranteed. Seriously, are you kidding me? Also you got a guy like Eric Weddle (Chargers) who gets paid like he is a premier player, he is good, but not premier.

Oh well, this is how it goes. The fact is that the NFL and the NFLPA came to an agreement, no games will be lost, we have labor peace at least until 2020, and the NFL as a whole came out winning as they are the standard for how a successful league should be run -say what you want about Roger Goodell but he avoided what could have been a huge disaster.

Money will be thrown around, players will be hurt, champions will be crowned, but most importantly US FANS GET A COMPLETE NFL SEASON.

Who you got for SB XLVI?

For now, MR KHAKBAZ OUT!!!!

CM Punk promo

It's been 2 weeks since CM Punk's  and I've gone back and watched it again. To say that it was amazing is an understatement, I quite possible has been the biggest thing on WWE in the last 4-5 years. I found last weeks Cena-McMahon promo quite dull, but I still hope this turns into the biggest storyline in recent memory.

I've heard a lot of podcasts and read a lot on this subject and I truly believe Punk has either re-signed or will be back in a short short time. Nothing that goes live on WWE is a shoot, while this contained lots of insider references and backstage info it was not a real shoot, to open up in such manner implies WWE is looking to make big $$$ on this; they won't make big money if they limit this to a one night deal at Money in the Bank this Sunday.

I hope we as fans get a great payoff on what has been a great couple of weeks and WWE, for the first time in a long time, has made the fans think on what will happen, has made the conclusion or progression of this storyline somewhat of a mystery. Without a doubt the element of surprise is the biggest thing in pro-wresting and this, my friends, has surprise written all over it.

Before jumping the gun and making any conclusions based on last weeks Cena-VKM interaction and whatever will happen tonight on Raw, just enjoy the moment, live the fantasy for a while and hold on judgement until this whole thing is played out. For now, enjoy the promo
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ygbL2qFknw]
Have a great Monday and enjoy RAW, for now...

Mr Khakbaz out!!!

WWE Extreme Rules

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Still having Wrestlemania hangover? Well we get WWE's next pay-per-view installment Extreme Rules.

This show originated in 2005 as the rebirth of ECW in a magical show in New York that saw the Dudley Boyz beat Tommy Dreamer & Sandman. In the 2006 show RVD finally won the WWE title, this was the last show that trully had a ECW feel to it. The 07 show was a forgettable one, but 2008 was a solid one that gave us a great ladder match between Edge & Undertaker that I had the chance to see live at the San Diego Sports Arena.

I have always been impressed and interested what WWE offers us in relation to the production and setup for the show. Stages used to be unique for every show and not the same one every month with different logos. This is a picture of the stage from my seat

The ladder match had some awesome spots that ended with Edge throwing Undertaker off the ladder to the outside of the ring through 4 tables. This is one of the final extreme matches Edge had, he unfortunately had to retire this month because of his recurring neck injuries (for a Edge tribute blog go here)

The stipulation was that if Taker lost he would be banished, so we didn't get to see him for a few months until SummerSlam

So lets get into the matches announced for this Sundays show

Jerry Lawler & Jim Ross vs Michael Cole & Jack Swagger
I'll start off by saying that I'm sick of this feud, I have no interest whatsoever in Cole and usually end up changing the channel; the only good thing to come put of this is to have Jim Ross back on commentary, even if it is for a couple of months. Also finally Swagger is getting some TV time which hopefully gets him a further push after this ends.
I have no idea how this will end as I expected this to be blown off at Mania but noooooooooo, we get another month of it. I don't care who wins as long as it end; I expect King and JR to pick up the W with help from Swagger who in the process will turn face.
Lawler and JR pick up the win.

Cody Rhodes vs Rey Mysterio (Falls Count Anywhere Match)
I've been a fan of this feud from the get-go and was expecting someone to help get over Rhodes and Rey has been instrumental to get this done. Their Mania Match was a solid one that told a good story with the Dashing One picking up the win, therefore I expect Mr. 619 to get the W in this one to keep this feud going.
I hope they get 15-18 minutes to tell a good story, with Rey getting the win.

---SPOILER ALERT--- This match will be announced on SmackDown!
Michelle McCool vs Layla (Loser leaves Smackdown match)
I'll start off by saying I love LayCool and think they have been great in their role, whether McCool was given a head start because of her backstage relationship or not is irrelevant as she was given the ball and ran with it. Michelle has an injured foot so I guess this is a match that will be used to explain her absence, thus Layla will pick up the win (for the record, I find Layla to be the hottest diva today, her face, her body, her accent, THE WHOLE DAMN PACKAGE)
Layla wins this one in a 7-8 minute match.

Randy Orton vs CM Punk (Last Man Standing Match)
This feud has grown a bit stale even with 2 of the greatest SuperStars around. Orton will be moving to Smackdown and Punk is THE greatest heel in WWE today, bar none. With rumors going around that Punk won't resign with WWE this match may go his way to make him feel good, also a loss wouldn't hurt Orton as the people are really behind him.
I'm interested in seeing how violent the WWE allows this guys to be, no need for huge spots but some use of weapons could help the match and accentuate how sadistic both guys are -in their own way-.
Punk wins in a 23 minute (sounds like a good wish) show-stealing match

Alberto del Rio vs Christian in a Ladder Match for the WHC
This is quite a mystery and hard to call as we have ADR going to RAW because of the Draft and if he wins he would take the title and have both titles on Monday Nights, yet he is so overdue to win this match and the crowd may lose faith in him if he doesn't pick up the W. On the other hand Christian is a solid performer but has never been see as Championship material by the office so -I'd love to see him finally get the title- it's hard to believe they will put the strap on him.
Regardless of the outcome I expect these 2 to put on a clinic -along with the Orton-Punk match- I expect this one to steal the show. I'll go out on a limb and pick a winner
Alberto Del Rio gets the W, not sure how they will manage the title after that but that's for creative to figure out.

John Cena vs John Morrison vs The Miz in a Triple Threat WWE title Match
For some reason I'm not real interested in this match although I like all 3 guys. Cena takes a bunch of crap from most fans but you have to respect his commitment and hard work, I mean the guy is on the road close to 300 days a year, does media appearances left and right, is a great performer and always gets a reaction. Morrison is one of the best wrestlers around, his parkour is amazing, he gets a great reaction from the crowd but for some reason (maybe it's Melina and the stuff backstage with Trish Stratus) WWE decides not to let him be a real top guy. And finally, The Miz; this guys is a perfect example of what hard work and fighting for what you believe in is all about, that package before his Wrestlemania still gives me chills and I think he is a role model for anyone to follow.
With that being said, I don't care for this match. I expect R-Truth (a guy I could care less about) to somehow mess with JoMo, that leaves us with Cena-Miz  which I'd love to end with Miz picking up the clean win but I find it hard to believe they will go with that.
A good thing about this is that the winner is hard to predict, which is a testament to the Miz growing as a believable character. No one believed he'd go past a couple of week as champ, but here he is after beating Orton a couple of times, Cena at Mania (all have been with help, but it means WWE believes in him and makes fans think he can win any match which adds to the product).
Winner: I want Miz, I expect Cena.

The storylines are not that interesting but we have some matches that have huge potential and could be some of the best this year.
Hope we get an entertaining 3 hours and our moneys worth; I'll be back on Sunday night for a review, for now...

Mr Khakbaz out!!!

Edge retirement Speech

To go right along with my Thank You blog, here is the Raw part from this Monday where Edge retired.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GsO5KCHDiM]

The following is a fan shot speech Edge gives during Smackdown, not sure how much of it will air but it is a touching moment from one of the great performers of our generation.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mp_WRWReKb8]

A couple of really touching moments that any real fan will enjoy... no more words needed, just

THANK YOU EDGE!!!

Mr Khakbaz out!

Edge - Sayin' goodbye to a Legend

So tonight on Raw we get the unexpected retirement of Edge. Being the pro-wrestling industry you get that a lot, angles like this come and go but from what I'm reading this is legit. Here a couple of reasons it think this is true:

• After his match at WrestleMania vs Alberto del Rio he destroyed his car in order to further their feud.


• This past Friday on SmackDown a rematch for Extreme Rules was set up.


• This does no fit into any storyline with ADR not making an appearance.


• They went behind the proverbial curtain as a goodbye to Edge.


• Nodq.com reports that everything that Edge said in the promo was legit.

In any case, if this was to be true this a sad/happy day for me as a wrestling fan. Sad because we won't see one of the true greats of my generation perform for us, he will be truly missed. Happy because, if he said is true, he found out in time to be able to live a healthy life; he made a ton of money, is still young so he will be able to enjoy a great life.

I was fortunate enough to meet Edge during the WrestleMania X7 weeked in Houston (bare with my look, this is 10 long years ago and I was only 14)

The guy was a real class act and took time to greet the fans. He was coming back from the gym and was all sweaty, he kept telling fans that he'd be disgusted to take a picture with a guy as sweaty and smelly as him. He took time to ask every fan where they were from and who was their favorite wrestler (could I really lie by the t-shirt I was wearing?) I talked about Mysterio being one of my favorites and he said it was a dream of him to wrestle with him (that became true a couple of years later when Rey joined the WWE). Met a lot of guys that weekend but Edge was truly one of a kind.

Besides meeting him I was lucky enough to watch some of his greatest matches live. I've got 3 that really stand out:

• TLC Match at WM17. This match was the next day after the picture was taken; Edge said he was pretty scared as they were going to try out some crazy stuff, and boy he was not lying! This 3-way tag team match, Dudleys vs. Hardys vs. Edge & Christian was amazing and still one of my favorites 10 years after it happened

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6k7tmTWQUFs] [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7KnFGuSh8Y]

• My second favorite match is Edge vs Eddie Guerrero in a No DQ match at Smackdown in September of 2009. They had a PPV match the previous Sunday that was OK but nothing spectacular, but this match was something else. The crowd in San Diego was hot the entire night, but this match made them go overboard, it was about 15 minutes of intense action. Edge picked up the win after a huge DDT from the top of a ladder; after the match everyone gave Eddie a standing ovation and, I believe, this was where his huge rise to the top of the WWE started.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_2jhD-yDJo]

• My final favorite match is a TLC Match for the World Title vs The Undertaker at Extreme Rules. This was an awesome match that saw the Undertaker be fired from WWE, the match was amazing and words can't do justice to what these to men did that summer night in San Diego

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2ZXf6_gIg4] [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RqTOJacNZQ] [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc14ElYwcPA]

If this is the end of line for Edge, I am really happy for him, I hope he gets healthy and lives a full life and is as successful in anything else he does as he was in the WWE.

Thank you Edge.

Mr Khakbaz out!

2010 Royal Rumble Review

So the 2011 Royal Rumble is past us. What was thought to be a memorable night truly fell flat on it's face.

Both men's Title matches were weekly show matches and both focuses more on the outside action than on the in-ring competitors.

The Divas Fatal 4 way was pretty solid.

The Rumble Match itself SUCKED big time! We had the quick returns of Kevin Nash and Booker T which was good, only they were eliminated quickly. The great thing is getting the win for Alberto Del Rio. This guy is money and has had an incredible rookie year.

I remember seeing Del Rio wrestle prior to a Raw taping in Austin, TX last May. 8 months later the guy is on is way to main-eventing WrestleMania. I'm a huge fan of the guy and it doesn't hurt that a fellow Mexican (if you didn't get that, I'm Mexican) wins on of the most important matches on the WWE calendar.

I'm not going to talk anything else about the show because I think it stunk!

Congrats Alberto Rodriguez, you have busted you ass for so many years in Mexico; Dos Caras has evolved into on of the major Superstars of the Present and for decades to come. A story like this one show that hard work does pay off!!! Alberto Del Rio has come a long way and has a longer way to go to prove HE IS THE MAN!

MrKhakbaz out!

2010 Royal Rumble

The 2010 WWE Royal Rumble is upon us. Only 33 more hours left for what is, in my opinion the most exciting PPV of the year. The Rumble has provided some great memories, and the fact that so many guys are involved in the match makes it harder to pick a winner.

I've never been to a Rumble show but have seen the better part of the live, I gotta pick the 2001 event as my favorite not so much for the matches although it was a solid show, but more for the fact that I had Wrestlemania X-7 tickets so the Rumble had so many implications on the storyline development for that awesome April night in Houston.

Boston is in for a wild ride tomorrow night. We've got only 4 matches scheduled, and I do believe they'll get a 5th on the card, but that seems enough for a 3 hour show as now there will be 40 men in the Rumble Match (more on that later)

1st off we have the WWE Divas Championship match with Natalya defending against Lay-Cool in a 2 on 1 handicap match. Nattie has been impressive for the last 5-6 months; I know she's an awesome wrestler but she has been really connecting with the fans and that match with Melina last Monday was pretty darn good. On the other hand we have Lay-Cool who has been a good act for the past year (BTW any time Layla shows up on my screen is a good thing) and have put on good matches, besides their out-of-the-ring antics are pretty fun to watch and easy to hate. I really hope the keep the title on Nattie but the way the switch them around this days I expect Lay-Cool to pick up the win, and then have a blowup between them.

Up next we have Dolph Ziggler challenging Edge for the World Title. Ziggler has been as good a wrestler can be in the WWE in the last 4 months, and having Vickie helping out getting heat is great; i fun this guy solid and fun to watch in the ring, easy to hate... give him some time and he may very well be what his theme song says. His opponent is none other than the Rated-R Superstar, Edge, who is coming of a brutally bad feud with Kane which ended in a World Title Win; we all know Edge is solid in the ring and will make Ziggler look great. I hope they give this guys a good 20-23 minutes to tell a nice story in the ring with Edge picking up the win in the end -for the record I could care less of the no-spear rule for the match- Ziggler does have World Champion written all around him but I don't think they want to start the Road to Wrestlemania with him as champ, not in 2011 at least.

The final singles match will be The Miz defending his WWE Title against Orton. A quick FYI, this feud has done absolutely nothing for me and did not catch my interest. I love the Miz as champion, they have showed a darker, more violent side that gives him credibility. Not a fan of Orton as champ and think he is more interesting when chasing the title. As with the last match, I'm not sure WWE wants to go with Miz as champion leading into WM; although he does get a ton of press outside the WWE, so this is really a toss-up in which I would enjoy seeing The Miz go over and retain the WWE Title.

And now it's time for the Royal Rumble match, still get chills when I hear that. You know you are in for a little more than an hour of a fun, unpredictable, entertaining and pretty memorable match. Last couple of years we have had the return of Cena and Edge to win it all, could this be a signal for a HHH comeback? Will Alberto del Rio make good on his promise and win it? Will Mark Henry win it all after his push on RAW (before someone flames me, this is a joke!) How will the Corre vs Nexus storyline work out? Could we have an Undertaker sighting leading into 'Mania? Who will we have as a returning Superstar taking part in the Rumble? -Booker T seems likely, HHH, Wade Barrett said something of Papa Shango although that seems like a joke by the Brit-. At which other time during the year do we have a PPV with so many questions to be answered? Only at the Rumble. By the way, my pick for the rumble is Cena, although I'd love for Del Rio to make good on his promise; if HHH were to return he'd be penciled in to win.

The 40 man Rumble is just a gimmick to call it the biggest in history, does nothing to help the match but its a good thing to have 10 more guys make a payday; the thing I fear is that they will be cutting people shortly after. Lets see how this plays out.

I absolutely love WWE marketing. This is the most important PPV in the history of mankind and will change the face of history... until next month.

Hope we get a great show tomorrow in Boston and kickoff the Road to Wrestlemania with a bang! I'll be back with my thoughts on the show tomorrow night.

MrKhakbaz out!