WWE European Tour Disappoints

The numbers on the WWE European Tour are in...and they are dismal. No, it wasn't quite as unsuccessful as the idea of having a European Championship (an excuse for the British Bulldog and William Regal to obtain gold), but unsuccessful nonetheless.

I was surprised to hear this. Not only did I enjoy the international flavor and sets tailored to each location (a Ferrari in Italy; a double decker bus in England), it appeared that the fans did too. While watching the Santino Marella episode with Drew, we both commented on how intense the Milanese fans were. Between the packed house, rampant soccer chants, and a general knowledge of face/heel relationships, it was clear that the WWE was "over" in Europe. God, that was an awful pun. Despite my bad jokes, the fans were cognizant enough to start an audible "Fuck You Cena!" chant which is just about all I needed to hear. Due to the less than stellar numbers, the WWE is expected to lessen the amount of European tours it takes in the future. I believe this is a mistake. With the European base being as knowledgeable and engaged as they were, the building blocks are in place to extend the McMahon empire abroad.

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The Iceman looks to end UFC string of upsets when he meets Rampage Jackson

Upsets are in vogue in the UFC these days but, not surprisingly, light-heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell doesn't see the trend continuing when he takes on Quinton (Rampage) Jackson at UFC 71 on May 26 in Las Vegas.

In the UFC's three most recent cards, Randy Couture toppled heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia (UFC 68), Matt Serra took the welterweight title from Montreal's Georges St. Pierre (UFC 69) and Brazilian Gabriel Gonzaga knocked out Mirko (Cro Cop) Filipovic (UFC 70).

Will normal service resume when The Iceman faces off against Jackson at the MGM Grand?

"I've been getting that question a lot," Liddell told The Canadian Press in a recent interview from Los Angeles.

"I don't think they're connected at all," he said of the recent upsets. "Different fights."

"You could say maybe if (the same) camp lost three UFC fights in a row, maybe something's changed with the training. I'm not superstitious or anything, so I don't think there's anything to do with a trend of upsets."

While Liddell acknowledges Jackson is a "tough guy," he sees this fight as business as usual.

"Definitely. I'm planning on going out there and knocking him out," said Liddell.

Jackson beat Liddell on a Pride Fighting Championships card at the Tokyo Dome in November 2003, one of only three career losses for Liddell and the only one the Iceman has still to avenge (he has already beaten Couture and Jeremy Horn).

"I probably should have beat him then and I know I can beat him now," Liddell said. "I can't wait."

BetUs.com had Liddell at minus-260, meaning you'd have to put $260 down to win $100 in profit. Jackson was plus-200, meaning a $100 bet would make $200 profit.

The first fight makes for ugly watching for Liddell. Jackson punished Liddell with overhand rights in the first round, wobbling him at one stage, and took him down in the corner.

In the second round, Jackson had Liddell backpedalling and then on the ground. He held the Iceman down and delivered more than 40 blows with fists, arms and knees before the fight was stopped.

Even UFC president Dana White, watching the fight ringside as part of the commentary team, called it an "awesome" performance by Jackson.

Liddell says his training regimen changed for that fight and was not up to par.

"It just didn't work out for me. I don't think I was in as good as shape as I should have been. There was a lot of problems at the time."

Liddell, 37, is 20-3 and has won his last seven fights since losing to Jackson. His most recent outing was a high-profile December win over Tito Ortiz at UFC 66.

Jackson, 28, is 26-6 and coming off a KO of Marvin (The Beastman) Eastman at UFC 67 in February in his UFC debut.

"I thought he was a little cautious in it, but he handled Eastman pretty well," said Liddell.

Jackson is a brute with good striking ability who was known in Pride for slamming opponents to the canvas. Often that impact dazed the opponents, allowing Jackson to take side control and use his knees to devastating effect.

At Pride's Critical Countdown 2004, Ricardo Arona was on his back attempting a submission hold on Jackson who was above him. Jackson stood up, swung Arona up over his head like a child and then slammed him into the canvas like a rag doll.

His UFC opponents will be saved some of those knees since, unlike Pride, the UFC doesn't allow knees to the head of a grounded opponent. But Jackson's knees are still dangerous - especially in the clinch.

Jackson sent Kevin Randleman to la-la land with a knee to the head in 2003, before hammering his head in the mount position.

Jackson is also dangerous when he takes his opponent to the ground, finding ways to find room while in the other fighter's guard to rear up and deliver punishing blows. Just ask Igor Vovchanchyn, who was stopped clutching his ribs after a body slam and body blow in 2002.

Jackson is a predator in the ring, constantly moving forward. Liddell believes that's good for him.

"I think it's a great matchup for me. I like guys that come at me."

That's because Liddell is good at picking his shots, able to punch from all angles.

Liddell reckons the fight will be a standup affair. "Even if he wants to, I don't think it hits the ground." And that should make for an entertaining fight "for as long as he's able to stand there," Liddell adds.

While Liddell is the reigning rock star of MMA, Jackson has the goods in and out of the cage to win plenty of his own fans.

He's a charismatic quote machine, with a sense of humour.

Jackson left Pride for the now-defunct World Fighting Alliance, where he fought just once - defeating Matt Lindland last July - before joining the UFC.

After beating Eastman, Jackson said he wanted one more fight before the Liddell rematch. But the UFC, needing a main event for May, thought differently.

In March, Liddell turned heads when he appeared to fall asleep during an appearance on "Good Morning Texas" while publicizing the film 300.

Liddell's camp attributed the problem to illness and fatigue from a punishing schedule that took him from Tampa, New York, Boston, Toronto, Chicago, Dallas, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Columbus, Los Angeles and New York again in two weeks.

"I ended up with bad pneumonia," Liddell said. "I'd never been in bed for eight days in a row. . . . Part of it is I have a bad habit of agreeing to do things. I agree to do things when it's a long ways out and then it comes down to it and I don't realize I've agreed to do something almost every day (for) a month and half after my fight. So there's no real relax time or down time."

This time, all he has planned after the Jackson fight is a holiday in Hawaii with his girlfriend and a few days on a cruise with some of his buddies.

Liddell has no plans to quit.

And why would he? Each payday gets better. And each win extends the legacy of The Iceman.

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Growing Up and Growing More Family Friendly Again

Guest column by the MIT Comparative Media Studies program:

It is no secret that the WWE is starting to become more mellow and more grown up, pushing the envelope less. The current WWE is a lot more clean cut than the WWE of the 90s. There are a lot fewer cheap heat angles - no necropholia, no gay wedding bashing. The obscenity is for punctuation ("..... DAMN!") instead of every other word, which is fine by me. But they haven't taken a step backwards. They've taken a step forwards. This is definately no kids show. Not with Melina's ring entrance or bloody Hell in a Cell matches. This is much more grown up in that they feel the need to act out to get attention less.

John Cena is the perfect baby face. He even salutes his enemies when they won't shake his hand. He's patriotic. He's studly. He's Hulk Hogan and Shawn Michaels rolled into one, but he's his own thing too. He sets the tone for the WWE along with classic wrestlers like Michaels and The Undertaker and Chris Benoit and completely uncontroversial, painfully dull heroes like Lashley and Batista. Today's wrestling has the elements I liked about old wrestling - some silly gimmicks like a country western Asian guy or greasers with a roller girl or an Irishman with a leprechaun - and a classier feel - but it also has the things I valued about its adolescent period - breathtaking high spots and some fun play with sexuality. There are things I would badly like to see them work on. I feel like they're still way behind in terms of seeing women as equals rather than play things. They've gone with such uncontroversial characters in some cases that I'm not sure who the heck they are (Batista, Lashley.) But I think the hour long HBK/Cena match last week and the long term angle they're building with Mr. Kennedy are some of the best stuff I've seen the WWE do in a while and I'm really taken with it.

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Raw Reaction

The duties of the weekly column of "Raw Reaction" have been handed to me for a week because Drew is not able to post.

This past Monday night, WWE almost had the best show of the year. To start RAW off, Edge and Randy Orton went at it. This match was fantastic. It was executed well by both wrestlers, there were creative counters, Orton bled from a snake-eyes, it was back and forth, and there was an exciting ending. I knew that Edge would get the win because of Orton's current troubles with management, but it still kept me on my toes. This match consisted of two great wrestlers having a great match, which is a wonderful way to start off RAW.

The next match was Jeff Hardy against Johnny Nitro. These two are very exciting in the ring and flashy wrestlers. They put on a great show in what was unfortunately a
short match. If Vince McMahon didn't have his obsession with big guys (which we will get to a little later) then I could definitely see these two fighting each other for the WWE Championship someday (however that will not happen). By the way, what the hell was up with Cade and Murdoch? Aren't they heels?

Next was the highly anticipated squash of Rob Van Dam, otherwise known as Umaga vs. RVD. Nobody actually thought that RVD would win this match because of his decline of his recent contract offer, and plus he was fighting Umaga (who is being built into the "immovable object" type wrestler). However, RVD put on one hell of a show and really got the fans into it. He compensated for Umaga's lack of wrestling skills and skyrocketed the match into the realm of "exciting", which Umaga has never experienced before.

Carlito and Ric Flair against the World's Greatest Tag Team. It wasn't bad, just a nice heel turn for Carlito. WWE should have never given Carlito the face position, because he is an awesome heel.

KENNEDY....shoots a great promo and tells everyone when his he will cash in his MITB
briefcase (Wrestlemania 24). I am already excited, and I will definitely order this.

After Candice pins Victoria (???) John Cena stands in the ring and waits to see who beat the crap out of HBK, Edge, and Orton. It turns out that it is the Great Khali...Here is where RAW was ruined. I was EXTREMELY pumped for Cena-Michaels 3, because last week they put on the match of the year so far. How can WWE actually decide that instead of having the possibility of another fantastic match...they will use the time to give Khali a title shot? Think about the Cena-Khali feud that will probably happen...Two big guys (that McMahon is obsessed with) going at each other. And yes, Cena will actually be the best wrestler in one of his feuds. Khali doesn't even speak English well and he does nothing impressive in the ring. His finisher is literally picking somebody up with two hands and dropping them. WWE ruined what could've been the best RAW in the past few years. If HBK or Edge are not involved in this title feud in some way, then I may just stop watching RAW...or at least the main events. This went from a 5 star RAW, to a dark day in wrestling history.

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