REAL TIME With Ry P XIII: The Top Ten Matches That Never Happened Pt.2

[Ry P]

Greetings my valentines and valentine-ettes, and welcome to – ah, fuck. Ok, listen. I finished this column about two weeks ago, but had some technical difficulties with the pictures and wasn’t able to post it when I wanted to. Being caught up with all the ass whipping I was doing in the CSI, I put this little number on the backburner – but, thanks to a good friend by the name of SKAOS, the images are now done and the heatthat is the latest installment of “REAL TIME With Ry P” is ready for your viewing pleasures. While the subject matter in the intro may be just a tad bit dated, I can assure you that the meat of this column will be unscathed by the talons of time – well, at least until the LOP forums crash again in mid-July. Enjoy!

Codebroken

I think by now just about everyone has gotten wind of the altercation between Chris Jericho and some fans after a house show in Victoria, Canada last week. I watched the video and, rather than recap the incident verbatim, I want to offer a short, sweet, personal response: If your perception of reality is so convoluted that you associate the actions of someone’s on-screen persona with their in-the-flesh person, you need therapy as you are obviously too unstable to enjoy the art of professional wrestling. If you, on these or any other grounds, attack or provoke a performer in public, you should expect the same thing you’d expect from any other run-of-the-mill stranger you’d meet on the streets – retaliation. Chris Jericho obviously couldn’t trust his safety in the hands of Victoria’s dainty, testicle-ridden security crew, so he took matters into his own hands, defending himself at all costs. One of the belligerent fans assaulting Jericho happened to be a woman, who was leveled by a punch to the face. This will undoubtedly cause some fans to question Chris’s integrity, and to those fans I say, “Don’t”. Ignorance this potent transcends the boundaries of gender. When this person took it upon herself to grab Jericho’s arm and spit into his face, she nullified the title of “woman” and gained the title of “violent stranger trying to hurt you”.

I, for one, admire the way Y2J stood up for himself. From surviving Stu Hart’s dungeon to crying on live television to losing teeth in ladder matches, Chris Jericho has built up way too much character for an ensemble of imbecile fans to break down. Victoria should be ashamed of the despicable acts of their inhabitants; I can assure you that the next time Jericho comes to the City of Steel he will be respected like the pioneer that he is rather than being taunted like some kind of circus animal. Thank you Chris, you have always been and will always be my hero.

Why are YOU still watching?!

I’ve finally pinpointed just what it is that’s so god-damn annoying about TNA’s announce team, and it doesn’t involve Don West chocking on a Klondike bar during . Here is a barely embellished example of a TNA broadcast:

MIKE TENAY

Oh gosh, here they go again! All five members of the Main Event Mafia, picking apart AJ Styles like a pack of wild bores! Doesn’t it just make you want to vomit, Don?

DON WEST

OH YES MIKE, IT MAKES YOU WANT TO VOMIT UP SOMETHING FIERCE! IN FACT, YOU CAN ALREADY FEEL THE CAJUN TILAPIA YOU HAD FOR DINNER LAST NIGHT, MAKING ITS WAY BACK UP THROUGH YOUR ESOPHOGAS, TRIGGERING A SLIGHT BURNING SENSATION I N THE BACK OF YOUR MOUTH!

MIKE TENAY

I couldn’t agree more Don, you just want AJ to hop to his feet and fight off this onslaught but there’s too many of them! You’re so involved, so emotionally invested in this sneak attack that if Samoa Joe doesn’t come out for the save, it might just ruin your entire week!

DON WEST

OH YES MIKE, YOU’RE LITERALLY REGURGIATING NOW! LIQUIDY CHUNKS OF TILAPIA, GREEN BEANS IN VELVEETA CHEESE AND DOUBLE CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE, AHHH IT’S JUST A TOTAL AND COMPLETE MESS! YOU TRIED TO VOMIT INTO A NEARBY CUP BUT IT OVERFLOWED, DRENCHING THE HALLWAY CARPET BEFORE YOU COULD REACH THE BATHROOM! YOU’RE HEADS IN THE TOILET- NOW IT’S REALLY COMING! ALL THAT EXPENSIVE FOOD FROM THE NIGHT BEFORE, GONE, GONE GONE! IT’S JUST-


If you watch the show, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Rather than calling the action and letting you, the viewer, come your own conclusion, Mike Tenay and Don West literally tell YOU how YOU are reacting. I understand that color commentators are not supposed to be feeling-less cyborgs and that many situations call for subtle emotional cues, but TNA’s approach is anything but subtle - it’s downright insulting to the viewer’s intelligence. No offense guys, I just don’t need YOU spoon feeding ME reactions to YOUR shitty product – and yes TNA marks; any wrestling show where a referee gets to contend for a belt called the “Legends Championship” is indeed a shitty product. Don’t even try to defend that stroke of creative flaccidity; you might just hurt yourself in the process.

Underpeepulated

The WWE knows damn well how to book an exciting return – look no further than Big Show’s altercation with Floyd Maywheather at last year’s No Way Out, Jericho’s “Save Us” campaign or Edge infiltrating the Undertaker/Batista Hell in a Cell match for proof. In fact, after reflecting on all these great returns, I have little choice but to believe that Christian’s WWE debut was intentionally bad rather than accidentally bad. If the WWE really wanted to generate some buzz for Captain Charisma, why the hell would they debut him out of the clear blue sky on their lowest rated show for no apparent reason? You may argue that the apparent reason is his desire to be ECW champion, to which I would argue, “Who in the hell wants to be ECW champion?” With all due respect, the only person to ever benefit in any way from being ECW champion was CM Punk, and he sucks big dick. Mark Henry, Chavo Guerrero, Kane, Matt Hardy and John Morrison all went no where fast after holding this title; it’s basically a consolation prize for being a mid-card vagabond that management has run out of ideas for. No one who loses the ECW title EVER wants it back, and no one on the ECW roster seem to care if they ever get a shot at it.

That being said, the real reason Christian debuted on ECW wasn’t because it made sense for his character but rather to send a message to wrestling fans: TNA, a company who employs the likes of Kurt Angle, Mick Foley, Sting, Jeff Jarret and Booker T, is still only on par in the ratings with ECW, a company who employs the likes of Jack Swagger, Finlay, Tommy Dreamer and seven jobbers. By debuting Christian, a former two time TNA champion, on ECW, Vince is reiterating that TNA’s “A” show is still only equivalent to WWE’s C” show. While I can’t comment on the truth of this message as I’m not a fan of either show, I’m still a huge Christian fan and I find it disheartening that he’s been cast as a pawn in McMahon’s game of “big dick” chess. If Christian took a three year hiatus from wrestling in general rather than wrestling in the WWE, you can bet your ass they would have milked his return for all it’s worth rather than meaninglessly squandered it away. Why did they even hire this guy if they aren’t going to use him correctly? Don’t they remember what happened last time? Let’s refresh their memory with…

THE TOP TEN GREATEST MATCHES THAT NEVER HAPPENED (CONTINUED)

If you didn’t catch the first part of this series, here is the list up to this point:

#10. The Rock VS Randy Orton, Summerslam 2004
#9. Triple H VS King Booker, Unforgiven 2007
#8. Team WCW VS Team WWF, Invasion 2001

Let’s pick up where we left off…….

# 7 John Cena (Champion) VS Christian for the WWE title, Vengeance 2005

Let me start by re-iterating my man-love for the “Ayatollah of Rock n’ Rollah” - Jericho is my third favorite wrestler of all time, bestest only by Kurt Angle and Shawn Michaels. The man single-handedly re-wrote the book on character transformation, and when The Showstopper eventually retires, he will undoubtedly bear the torch of best overall performer in the WWE. That being said, Y2J’s arbitrary interjection into the WWE title hunt in June of 2005 robbed the fans of something really extraordinary: The much anticipated one-on-one encounter between John Cena and Christian.

In a business where the creative team literally makes up the storylines as they go, rarely do we see adequate long-term plant and pay-off the likes of which occurred between “The Dr. Of Thuganomics” and “Captain Charisma”. When Cena and Christian bumped heads backstage at the Royal Rumble, the rap battle that ensued not only ignited the delight of the live audience but remains one of the most heavily YouTube’d wrestling clips to this day. Both men were super-over; white hot in-fact, and their brief run-in proved that their chemistry with one-another was practically palpable. After the Rumble both men returned to their respective shows, but the possibility of a feud was cleverly kept alive – the more successful John Cena became, the more Christian targeted him in his promos. After Cena became the WWE champion at Wrestlemania 21, Christian warned Cena via “rap diss” that were he to get drafted to RAW, he was in for the beating of his life. A month or so later Cena was infact drafted to RAW and Christian was the first in line to “get some”, resulting in a rap battle re-match that propelled the St. Louis crowd into a total frenzy. With five months of tension brewing, the stage was set for Christian and John Cena to finally settle their differences-

-insert Chris Jericho.

There could be a number of reasons the WWE title match at Vengeance turned out to be a triple threat. Perhaps the internet rumors are true, and despite him working his ass off to an insane level of “over-ness” with the fans, Vince just never had faith in Jay Reso as a main event performer. Maybe he felt Christian lacked the “star-power” to wrestle for the big belt on pay-per-view, and throwing Y2J into the mix would compensate for that. Or, maybe Christian was a pawn from the beginning; mere fodder to make Cena look strong for his upcoming feuds with Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle. Whatever be the case, the Cena/Christian angle was dropped; the Cena/Jericho angle began, and shortly after Christian was drafted to Smackdown only to be de-pushed in favor of less-established mid-card talent. Reso opted not to renew his contract, joined an up-and-coming TNA, and the rest is history. A program with Cena could have put Christian in the elite “upper tier” of the WWE, something he had worked diligently for nearly a decade to achieve. Following through with Christian’s push may not only have kept him from jumping ship, but, judging from the success of former partner Edge, may have created one of the biggest stars the industry had ever seen.

But, as Dr. Monkey would readily attest, it’s important to keep in perspective that everything happens for a reason. If Christian would have stayed with the WWE, he would have never become a two-time NWA champion. Wrestling clinics like Christian VS AJ Styles, Christian VS Samoa Joe and Christian VS Jeff Jarret would have never taken place. And most importantly, Jay Reso the man would have never had the downtime he needed to spend with his family and rejuvenate his mental focus; factors that undoubtedly helped reinvent him as the “Instant Classic” we know and love today. Cage is reportedly on the brink of re-signing with the WWE and being involved in a major angle, so obviously the possibility of him attaining “top tier” status with them is still on the table. But the real loser of this booking malfunction was not Christian, nor was it John Cena – it was the WWE fans. As would become a motif in the Cena era, wrestling fans said “This is what we want”, to which Vince replied, “That may be what you want, but this is what you’re going to get”.

Cena/Christian at Vengeance would have proved to the fans that their cheers and boos still bore some kind of relevance on the product, as they were practically begging for Christian to be in the main event. I’m not suggesting that fans should be the sole dictation of who’s who on the roster, as obviously there is more to it than that – I’m just saying that there’s a reason Steve Austin was the one of the top two biggest stars in the history of wrestling. There is a certain organic wave, a certain natural momentum that builds when a wrestler gets himself over, and not following through with Cage’s push was the beginning of a communication gap between Vince and the fans. After nearly four years of stagnant predictability, the product seems to finally be recovering. Jeff Hardy is living proof, as his overwhelming fan support landed him a WWE championship in spite of all other signs pointing to him being too unstable to hold the big belt. The question is, if Christian’s peepulation speaks up this time around will they pull the trigger or will they once again botch him into irrelevance? Regardless of what the future holds, we can only speculate as to what the end of the pseudo-rivalry between Christian and John Cena may have been – my guess? A stellar, hotly contested bout at Vengeance would see Cena get the pin after FU’ing Christian and Tomko at the same time.

#6 Hulk Hogan VS Stone Cold Steve Austin, Wrestlemania 22

In terms of mass appeal and merchandise sales, there are no two bigger stars in professional wrestling’s history than Hulk Hogan and Stone Cold Steve Austin. Hogan put wrestling on the mainstream radar in the late 80’s/early 90’s, and without him “running wild” it’s debatable that the sport would have existed to this today. Austin’s explosive popularity in the late 90’s was the foundation of the “Attitude Era”, an epoch that ended the Monday Night Wars and resulted in a McMahon monopolized industry. Ironically, the two men who had the greatest influence on the business couldn’t be farther apart on the spectrum of character: Hulk Hogan; donning the yellow and red, wielding an American flag, telling kids to “say their prayers and take their vitamins”, was the epitome of the hero. He always came to the good guy’s rescue, always played by the rules and always stood up for what was right. Steve Austin; donning the black and white, wielding the middle finger and telling kids he was “about to open up a can of whoop-ass” was the epitome of an anti-hero. If he came to the good guy’s rescue he probably stunned them afterwards, the mere notion of adhering to a set of rules infuriated him, and the only moral compass he needed was found at the bottom of the last bottle in a case of “Steve-weisers”. While these two titan’s tremendous contrast in character would have produced the most anticipated match of the decade, it was perhaps their off-screen contrast in personality that kept this dream-match from ever coming to fruition.

At SummerSlam 2005, a similar dream match took place when The Hulkamaniac went to war with The Showstopper Shawn Michaels. Even assuming the role of the heel, many thought Michaels would pick up the win - after two classics pay-per-view encounters with Kurt Angle, a handful of ingenious promos and the ability to change character with a blindsided super-kick and a somber facial expression, Shawn had proved he was as good in his forties as he was in his thirties. Hulk, on the other hand, was in sub-par physical condition, wrestling once or twice a year in simple, five to ten minute matches. A win for Shawn would have made perfect sense; his role in the company was invaluable as a veteran who could elevate younger talent for years to come. A win for Hulk would have made no sense at all; he would be returning to his hit TV series “Hogan Knows Best” directly after the match and it was unknown when if ever he would return to a WWE ring. As is customary when dealing with Terry Bollea, no sense at all soundly prevailed over sense. The believability of the match was so skewed it was borderline comical - a man who could barely limp down the isle beat the highly athletic Shawn Michaels from pillar to post, pinning him for the three-count with a leg-drop.

After the HBK/Hogan main event produced big buy rates for SummerSlam, The Hulkster swooped in for the RAW 10th Anniversary with dollar signs in his eyes. During an interview with Mean Gene Okerlund, the crowd erupted when Hulk planted the seeds for a match against Stone Cold Steve Austin. The teasing was done without Austin’s consent, however, and when approached about a match against Hulk at Wrestlemania the Rattlesnake readily decline. Stone Cold would later state in a shoot interview that he had no interest in working with Terry; he felt that not only would the work-rate be poor but that he would be required to lose the match, something he refused to do. Obviously, Austin learned from Shawn Michaels’ experience and was not about have his legacy tarnished in the name of a pay-check. Austin has always been revered by his peers as someone who was anti-political and very much the beer-drinking redneck that his onscreen character portrays. Although Hogan has recently stated that he would have no problem doing the job for Stone Cold (an abrupt change of heart that obviously has nothing to do with him losing millions in a divorce settlement), the Austin/Hogan ship has more than likely sailed.

But what if this more desperate, more negotiable Hulk Hogan had existed in 2006? While the match would have never gone down as an esthetic masterpiece, the “what-if” factor was so potent that it would have undoubtedly given us one hell of a monumental confrontation. My best stab at how this would have gone down? At the fifteen minute mark, Hogan hits Austin with the big boot-leg drop combo. Austin kicks out at 2.9, and both men slowly rise to their feet. Austin ducks a close-line and hits Hogan with the Lou Thesz press, knocking him to the ground with rapid-fire punches. Austin motions for Hogan to rise, hitting him with multiple punches until finally, Hogan blocks, shakes his head “no”, and gives the finger point of doom! But, instead of cowering into the corner and pathetically begging for his life, Austin does what no other man in the history of professional wrestling has been able to do– he stands his ground, un-intimidated by the image of Hulk Hogan. In a moment of sports entertainment bliss, he stares coldly into Hogan’s eyes, flips him two stern middle fingers and drops him with a stunner for the three-count. The crowd jumps to their feet as the referee raises the Rattlesnake’s hand. They stay standing as the music stops and Hogan groggily comes to, extending his hand. Austin accepts the hand-shake and the two commence in a beer bash, but, in typical Stone Cold fashion, he delivers a second stunner to Hogan before chugging one last beer and leaving Wrestlemania 22 the victor.

#5 The Undertaker (Champion) VS The Blue Blazer
WWF Title Match at King Of The Ring 1999

There are many great wrestlers to never win a world title – Roddy Piper, Mr. Perfect and Scott Hall, just to name a few – but the most deserving of this list may be Owen Hart. In spite of the “Hot Rod” character being one of the most memorable personalities in sports entertainment, Piper never got the big belt because he peaked during an era when Hulkamania ran wild. Arguably the greatest Intercontinental champion of all time, Henning’s back injury in 1991 would ultimately be his downfall as he ended up spending more time as a color commentator/guest referee/managerial figure than as a competitor in the squared circle. Scott Hall came inches away from holding a big belt during WCW’s dying days, but his drug problems ultimately rendered him too inconsistent to carry the torch. But Owen Hart? Owen was killed in a tragic accident at the ripe age of thirty-six, having never realized his full potential. Owen had the image, technical savy and microphone skills of a top tier performer – many even feel that he was more gifted than his Hall of Fame brother Bret. With no major injuries or drug problems and in the midst of a substantial singles push as the Blue Blazer, who knows the success “The King of Harts” may have enjoyed?

I sure don’t, but I’ll be damned if I don’t speculate. Initially, the revival of the Blue Blazer character was an attempt to express Owen’s real-life disgust with the child-unfriendly content of the Attitude Era. Each week the Blazer would appear in his mask and feathered cape, swearing he wasn’t Owen Hart, vowing to clean up the filth of the WWF in pure super-hero fashion. Since characters who glorified sex, drugs and violence were very over at the time, the Blazer was naturally booked as a heel who tried to dictate to the audience what they could and could not watch. After a while this shtick became so damn entertaining that it inadvertently garnered Owen some face pop. Fans would join in with his signature catch-phrase “Whoo!” (yes signature, sorry Ric Flair, Sting and Kurt Angle); some went as far as to dress up in Blue Blazer costumes to live events. If the horrific accident at Over the Edge had never taken place and the Blazer angle had continued, a face turn was inevitable – what better heel for our hero to target than the vile, satanic, proprietor of evil himself, the WWF champion The Undertaker?

The story practically writes itself: After all the demonic chants, possession, slit wrists, hangings and crucifixion, the Blue Blazer has had enough of The Undertaker’s satanic rituals. He can no longer stomach a man this brutally evil as WWF champion and, being the super-hero that he is, he’s decided to step up and do something about it. One hot summer’s night on RAW, an eerie church organ echoes through the darkness. The Undertaker and his Ministry, attired in black druid robes, have The Rock strapped onto a giant cross. Taker’s eyes roll into the back of his head; he begins to speak in tongues as the cross slowly rises – but, out of no where, one of the druids rebels and attacks the others! One by one, Taker’s minions are knocked out of the ring as he continues his chants with his back to the action. The renegade druid unties The Rock, and when the lights come on The Undertaker turns around just in time to receive a flurry of fists from none other than the Blue Blazer! The Rock grabs a chair and fends off The Ministry as the Blazer rips off the rest of his druid costume and continues to pummel the Deadman. Taker escapes, mouth bloodied, and gives the Blazer a look that says “Boy, you just made the biggest mistake of your life”.

The next week on RAW the Blue Blazer wins a twenty-man over-the-top battle royal, becoming the number one contender for the WWF championship at The King of the Ring. He gets on the mic and vows to dethrone the devil himself, saying that the WWF will once again have a champion that the entire family can cheer for and believe in. Later that night, the Blazer is assaulted in the backstage area by The Undertaker, who drags him to the ring with his cape tied around his neck like a noose. He tells a ravaged Blazer that at KOTR he will pay for his sins against The Ministry, then rips off his mask to reveal – Steve Blackman? At that very moment, the real Blue Blazer emerges from the crowd and blindsides Taker, putting him in the sharpshooter until blood pours from his mouth. The Ministry hits the ring for the save as Blazer and Blackman escape through the crowd. The Undertaker’s eyes roll into his head as he clenches his hand into a fist and gives the “slit throat” gesture in the Blazer’s direction. JR says he sure hopes the Blazer knows what he’s gotten himself into. He depicts the rivalry as an epic struggle between good and evil, and that in one week at the King of the Ring he sure hopes good can find a way to prevail.

At KOTR, a classic “David VS Goliath” story plays out as Taker immediately dominates with right hands. He tosses Blazer to the outside and commences in unrelenting punishment; Owen’s head ricochets off everything from the guard rail to the ring bell to the steel steps. With a possessed glare, Taker drags the Blazer onto the announce table and sets him up for the choke slam. Taker lifts him up but at the last second the Blazer reverses it into a huricanrana, sending the Deadman crashing off one announce table and through another! Both men try to make it to their feet through chants of “Holy Shit!” that reverberate throughout the arena. Blazer rolls into the ring; Taker tries to roll in behind him with the championship belt but is stopped dead in his tracks by a baseball slide. The Blazer connects with a series of high risk moves onto the outside before rolling The Undertaker in for a two count. After a flying cross body is reversed into a choke slam Taker begins to dominate, hitting Owen with Old School, Snake Eyes, a big boot and a sleeper. The fans rally The Blazer out of the sleeper; after a hard struggle he manages to shove Taker into the ref, knocking him out cold. With both men down The Acolytes hit the ring, lay out the Blazer and help The Undertaker up. Taker hits the tombstone and goes for the cover as The Acolytes try to revive the ref. A second ref runs down to the ring for the 1…2…but he’s pulled out by The Great One! The Rock disposes of The Acolytes, ducks a big boot and nails Taker with the Rock Bottom before leaving the ring. Just as the Blazer gets to his feet, Taker sits up – but in one, swift movement, Owen hits him with a running sunset flip that knocks him right back down for the 1…2….3! The fans rise as the Blue Blazer is awarded with the WWF Championship! The entire locker room hits the ring and hoisted Owen onto their shoulders as he celebrates the biggest win of his life.

Well, it’s about time for this installment of “The Top Ten Greatest Matches That Never Happened” to come to a close. We saw Captain Charisma’s main event push come to fruition, a Hulkamaniac battle a Rattlesnake and Owen Hart win the richest prize in sports entertainment. Next time, we’ll witness the most anticipated rematch of the century, a match that came so close to happening there were promo pictures taken for it, a showdown between two men who are notorious for stealing the spotlight and a literal clash of champions. Think you know what these final four matches are? Take your best shot..

As always, feedback is appreciated. Thanks again and I hope you have enjoyed this edition of REAL TIME With RY P. Come watch me make Sean Taylor tap out in the CSI tournament and stay tuned for “The Top Ten Great Matches That Never Happened” Part Three!

[BeyondKnight]

Ry,

Man you have struck gold with this series! Usually I am not a fan of fantasy booking because I think it spoils the event. Nothing will ever seem as great as the event you craft in your head. But I really enjoy the retrospective angle you've taken.

As far as Christian is concerned, I suppose I am one of the doubters that think that he'll never be a main event player. I agree 100% with the route that the WWE is taking with him, because while they aren't going to push him to the moon from the get go, they have given Christian the opportunity to prove me and Vince wrong.

Great column man!

~BK

[Skaos]

Stellar work my friend. It was nice to see how the images worked out here. I remember back when I read the last edition in this series and this one didn't disappoint. Like B.K said, you have struck gold here.

I doubt I would be enthused about a Hogan v Austin match in all honesty but the match does have big feel written all over it. Taker v Owen (sorry, BB) is a given. That is the match that could have catapaulted Owen to the Main Event scene...I guess we will never know. As for Cena v Christian...Christian needed this match. Maybe WWE didn't have faith in Captain Charisma for this match to happen who knows? One thing is this...it could still happen. Cena v Christian will happen before the end of 2009. You watch...

Overall, excellent job dude. But for God sake please don't leave it this long again. I know you are rocking up the CSI and all. I expect you and Sean T to be a Hart v HBK Iron Man Match. Excellent work.

[The Maz]

Fucking awesome - Blazer-Taker bought a tear to my eye - AWESOME!

EDIT: Make sure you and Sean make it more of a Hunter-Rock ironman rather than a Shawn-Bret, I'd like to stay awake through the columns!

[Cult Icon]

this was really good. i really liked the stuff about owen vs. taker. that wouldve been great if it had happened and owen deserved it too. too bad no one realized that until it was too late. again, very good job. idk how you can have any better than taker-owen, but im sure you will.

[Thomas Slidell]

Man, now I want the next installment. I don't want to wait!

Haha, excellent writing sir. This easily was one of the best columns I've read in the CF since I started here back in 2005. I completely agree that Christian vs John Cena would have been big business, and yes, it symbolized the beginning of the end for that generation of fans. After that never came to fruition, the crowds really started becoming quieter and quieter, in my opinion. Now, only PPV's have decent crowd interaction it seems, and even that pales in comparison to only 4-5 years ago. Damn kids...lol.

Anyways, great job. I suppose I should go find your 1st installment. Maybe that will tide me over until #3 hits the shelves.

[romans_3:23]

Ry P,

This was awesome. I especially loved your ending to the Austin/Hogan match. That's probably the perfect ending to that match.

Can't wait for the next installment!

Read you later

[Petre Dyche]

Hey Ripe, typically awesome effort. Some of the fantasy booking was as likely to ever happen as some of my fantasy porno-booking starring me as Dirk Diggler (or is that Dolph Ziggler...?) and Heather Graham, but you really embellished everything necessary to a main-event level feud to the point where you actually believed it was possible!

[L-Man]

Great column Ry P

I loved the TNA commentary part as it made me laugh so hard whick is what i need right now

I am also really enjoying your matches that never happened series.

Good job man

[Ry P]

BK - It's funny, I'm not a fan of fantasy booking either! I have no clue what prompted me to write a three-part fantasy series out of the clear blue sky, but I'm happy that it was well-received by the good knight! By the way, love the new logo man - it's SO you homie!

Skaos - I cannot thank you enough for this images dude. You got your wish with an Owen match on the list; it was obviously really hard to book but looking back Blazer VS Taker seemed the most reasonable.

Mazza- Glad I could elicit that kind of response man. It may be ridiculous to say it since I never knew him personally, but I still get choked up about Owen. I promise Sean and I will put on an iron man match for the ages, but I'm going to have to agree with Skaos that it will be an HBK/Bret match. Sorry, it's just the best.

Cult Icon - Thanks man, glad you enjoyed it! It will be harder to find four matches better that Owen/Taker - got any guesses?!

Thomas - Those are some strong words man, I greatly appreciate it!! Sadly, Part One was eradicated with the LOP crash. I may post it in the "retro" section even though it's not very "retro".

Romans - Thanks man! I would love to see Austin disrespect Hogan but I was probably a little naive in my booking as "THE HULKSTER" is a bit too insecure to let anyone trash him like that.

Petre - Thanks for coming through homie! I'm not sure how far fetched these were; the first two were pretty damn close to happening. I can see what you mean in regards to Owen though, that one was 100% speculation.

L-MAN - Yes, I'm very glad you commented on that! TNA's commentary is so unbelievably horrendous I'm surprised its not talked about more on the forums.. it can probably be attributed to the fact that no one watches TNA

Everyone - Thanks so much for the feedback but, does anyone have any guesses as to what the final four matches are? I'm interested to see how many ppl have a clue before the third installment drops. Thanks again!

[SkittleZ]

I have a feeling you may go with a deciding match between HBK and Angle.

As well know, they split their first two contests and their Ironman match resulted in a draw.

There was never a clear cut winner in the feud.