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Summer Slam 2014 is Sunday

Friday, August 15, 2014

Summer Slam 2014 is Sunday.

Do you watch TNA?

Of course you don’t, you don't watch TNA; you're a person of stronger moral fiber than that, but someone you know watches TNA. He smells of skittles and sadness.

And – he dislikes Dixie Carter (not the late Julia Sugarbaker as she could cut a helluva babyface promo on the high and/or mighty) the on-camera face of the family with the controlling ownership interest in TNA. Dixie Carter spent years inserting herself into angles, taking camera time away from talented wrestlers and turning much of the promotion into a vanity project. This all culminated in Dixie Carter booking herself into a co-main event match at TNA’s third biggest show of the year, reducing the company’s legitimately injured former champion to a punch line in the process.

Visceral dislike of that as a promotional technique would be understandable.

Except that last part didn’t happen in TNA. It’s here. For the low, low price of $9.99

When last we left, Daniel Bryan, on an incredibly short list for this century’s best wrestlers in the world, triumphantly exited Wrestlemania 30 on a 75,000 voice “Yes!” crescendo as WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Weeks later he was gone, out indefinitely with a neck surgery that, if not career threatening, removed him from the hottest run he’s ever likely to see.

The title was vacated and then scooped up by Yawn Cena, who now is being positioned as passing what WWE has decreed to be Ric Flair’s record of 16 World Championships. He defends in the main event.

WWE World Heavyweight Championship: Yawn Cena (c) vs. Brock Lesnar
When last we left, Brock Lesnar ended the Undertaker’s undefeated streak at Wrestlemania – hey, here’s a question, when’s the last time you were more surprised by the result of a wrestling match? Just the result – who won and who lost?

For me it might have been Hogan dropping to Andre in ’88; I was a 17 year old high school senior, on the road someplace (let's say Athens, Ohio just for the hell of it) for the weekend at a competitive speaking tournament. I watched in my room and was still so startled the following day that the result worked its way into one of my speeches (I don’t recall the context, hopefully in a reasonably organic discussion about surprises, perhaps related to Truman’s winning the Presidential election – but just as likely I was in the middle of a completely unconnected thought and blurted “Holy shit – I still can’t believe Hogan lost! 
Did you guys see that? Two Hebners? What the deuce?”) I lost the round and maybe the tournament because of it and very specifically recall being admonished on a ballot for elements of my content being of insufficient academic quality. I’ve shown that judge – 26 years later I've got a bunch of letters after my name and I’m still talking about the same goddamn match.

They’ve done a “pure sports build” for this one, almost always my favorite type of wrestling program; the most recent Brock/Cena match, in 2012, was very good, as has been every Lesnar match in this run save for the win over the Undertaker, and my expectation is this will be the match of the night and result in a title change.

Edit - a 4 star brutalization; as enjoyable a squash match as you'll ever see

Brie Bella vs. HER EXCELLENCY STEPHANIE MCMAHON~
The other half of what is clearly a double main event features a wrestling promoter’s daughter.

Resources are scarce in WWE (not a reference to the hemorrhage of money from the decision to essentially abandon PPV revenue for online subscriptions) there are only 8 matches on this card; only so many minutes of high profile television time to go around, only so much “push” to spread among an entire roster. The choice made here was to devote maybe an unprecedented chunk of time (not to again show my age, but is this the most high profile women’s match in WWE since the first Wrestlemania? I don’t believe I tanked a speech tournament in the spring of ’85 because I couldn’t stop talking about Wendi Richter, but if there's a 30 year old ballot to the contrary, I wouldn't claim forgery "Leilani Kai dropped the strap?  What the deuce?") chasing what, at the very, very best, will be a 2 star match (and that’s only if it’s given a huge amount of the actual bell to bell time available in the show itself) that (I’d suggest) won’t generate a single subscriber to the WWE Network is only explicable by the last name of one of the participants in the match.

Since last we left, WWE signed the man who would get my vote for best wrestler of the 21st century, Kenta, to a development deal – and those inclined to write some type of “see, HHH is a forward thinking executive” will point to events like this.

When Kenta gets as high a profile a match as the promoter’s daughter will have at Summer Slam, then let me know.

The most recent twist in this soapy storyline is the possibility that Daniel Bryan had an affair; which is WWE both aping one of the worst Dixie Carter related TNA storylines of recent vintage and failing to remotely understand (or just not care) that the key to Bryan's popularity is he resonates the kind of authenticity that they can't just hand over to Cena with one of those title belts.

Edit - not a good match, as good as they could have, so it was maybe 1  3/4 stars.

Lumberjack Match: Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins
Randy Orton vs. Roman Reigns

Losing Daniel Bryan, coming on the heels of CM Punk’s apparent retirement, created opportunity for new singles babyfaces; the choice was made to break up the top tag act in the company, The Shield, leading to these two matches. Seth Rollins, who like Bryan and Punk (and the great Cesaro, slowly disappearing from the WWE family photo like Marty McFly) made his bones in Ring of Honor, the workrate based independent promotion that (inarguably, I’d suggest) has given us the best American wrestling ever, turned on his stablemates. Rollins won a Money in the Bank match, giving him a title shot anytime over the calendar year – which Ambrose is dedicated to preventing being cashed in. The lumberjack stipulation might harm what otherwise should be a very good match. Reigns is just beginning a babyface push to the top of the card that might culminate in his beating Lesnar for the title at Wrestlemania 31 – right now, he isn’t very good; losing the protection of significantly more skilled partners has exposed him. Orton might be a good comparison as someone who came up entirely through the WWE system, got pushed to a spot in the card before he was ready, and grew to become…well, not really what you’d want for someone with his level of profile in the promotion, but significantly more proficient than was he as a boy champion.

Reigns and Rollins go over here. I’m probably cooler on Reigns than most; Rollins current position in the promotion is a surprise to me, I think it’s warranted, but I would not have anticipated his reaching this level of success and I would look to sell his stock were I able. Ambrose could be an enormous star – a top level heel who really drives business, and I’d be surprised if, eventually, that isn’t more fully tapped. Once he loses here – I’d buy a ton of Ambrose futures.

Edit - 3 1/4 stars for both, with the expected results

Since last we left, fancy, high falootin pieces examining WWE through the critical lenses of race and class were written in The Atlantic and Jacobin; both of which deserve reading and most of the thoughts included make a ton of sense.  Except for this passage from The Atlantic:


'Cause, that's just demonstrably false, right? If you smell what I'm cooking.  Let's put it this way, if an unarmed Rocky Johnson was killed by a cop in Ferguson, Missouri, you wouldn't say "well, that doesn't fit into any pattern of conduct of which we've recently become aware."

(I don't watch a lot of Fox News; I assume Hannity's shoulder to shoulder with the protesters in Missouri talking about tyranny, right?)

The piece in Jacobin included discussion of the spate of wrestling deaths, including suicides. Mike Awesome, Crash Holly, 3 Von Erichs and 2 Grahams, all committed suicide.  Since last we left, Robin Williams hanged himself.  I am honestly curious about something - we're allowed two possible reactions (1) suicide is cowardly, which is of course, the wrong reaction, held by the type of people who are wrong about everything else (2) suicide's caused by depression or substance abuse or mental illness and the tragedy is our inability to help those in that type of pain.

Is there a third possibility?

A year ago, almost to the day, a sportswriter in Kansas City named Martin Manley killed himself on his 60th birthday; he left a really lengthy suicide note, an entire suicide website - but here's what his reason boiled down to:


Martin Manley killed himself because he just didn't want to do the rest of it.  He did 60 years and didn't want to do the end.

Do you have to be mentally ill to make that choice?  I'm not talking about Williams, or even Manley - I'm just fundamentally asking the question about anyone- if you decide to die on your own terms, does that have to inherently be something that requires corrective action?

I'm of a mind that much of what drives religion is fear of death; that we want a get out of death free card and are willing to believe anything to get it.  Suicide requires facing death as opposed to pushing it out of your thoughts as far as you can until its too late - and doing that strikes us as so horrific that we have to label those who do as mentally ill.

Doesn't mean that they aren't - Williams, Manley, any individual person.  I'm not even a little opposed to a diagnosis of depression for any specific person. I just don't know that it's a categorical requirement.  Robin Williams was 63. Male life expectancy in the US is 76.  If a 70 year old Robin Williams kills himself, does that change the calculation?  I just - I don't know.   I can tell you what the best Summer Slam match of all time is, the epidemiology of suicide is a little outside my pay grade.

I probably deserved to lose that speech tournament after all.

Bray Wyatt vs. Chris Jericho
IC Title: The Miz (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler
Flag Match Jack Swagger vs. Rusev
Women’s Title: AJ Lee (c) vs. Paige

The back half of the card ranges from a part time Hall of Famer (Jericho) continuing a low wattage feud against a heel who has lost some steam (Wyatt), to one of the ten best workers in the promotion (Ziggler and that sounds like a possible list topic) on the wrong half of a program against a guy who has just been rebooted again (Miz), to a Cold War era evil Russian who hasn’t yet shown he can work (Rusev) against a recently faced turned xenophobe (Swagger) to the second women’s match on the card (CM Punk’s wife is in that one).

Probably, none of those matches gets a ton of time and heels go over in all of the men’s matches.

Edit - 3 1/4 for Wyatt/Jericho, sub 3 for the other 3.

Who are the ten best workers in WWE? Helluva question.  With apologies to Luke Harper and Kalisto:
1. Daniel Bryan
2. Kenta
3. Sami Zayn
4. Prince Devitt
5. Cesaro
6. Seth Rollins
7. Adrian Neville
8. Kevin Steen
9. Dolph Ziggler
10. Dean Ambrose

So, is it a show worth your monthly subscription – it is; Brock/Cena is a possible 4 star match, Rollins/Ambrose will almost certainly be very good and there’s interest to be found in Jericho/Wyatt and maybe Ziggler/Miz.

Is it a show with many matches likely to crack the upper reaches of this list? We’ll see. Here is every match in Summer Slam history – ranked.

1. 1994 WWF Title Cage: Bret Hart d. Owen Hart 32 min 4 ¾
2. 1992 IC Davey Boy Smith d. Bret Hart 25 min 4 ¾
3. 2000 Tags: TLC: Edge/Christian d. Hardys d. Dudleys 15 min 4 ½
4. 1995 IC Ladder: Shawn Michaels d. Razor Ramon 25min 4 ½
5. 2013 No DQ: Brock Lesnar d. CM Punk 25min 4 1/4
6. 1991 IC: Bret Hart d. Mr. Perfect 18 min 4 ¼
7. 2009 WWE Title TLC: CM Punk d. Jeff Hardy 21:30 4 ¼
8. 2013 WWE Title Daniel Bryan d. John Cena 27 min 4 1/4
9. 2011 World Title No Holds Barred: Christian d. Randy Orton 23:30 4 ¼
10. 1996 WWF Title: Shawn Michaels d. Vader 22 min 4
11. 2002 Nonsanctioned: Shawn Michaels d. HHH 27:30 4
12. 2000 2/3 Falls Chris Benoit d. Chris Jericho 13 min 4
13. 2008 HIAC: Undertaker d. Edge 26 min 4
14. 2011 WWF Title: CM Punk d. John Cena 24 min 4
15. 1989 Brainbusters d. Hart Foundation 16 min 4
16. 2004: World: Randy Orton d. Chris Benoit 20 min 3 ¾
17. 1998 IC Ladder: HHH d. Rock 26 min 3 ¾
18. 2001 WWF Title: Kurt Angle d. Steve Austin 22:30 3 ¾
19. 2003 WWF Title Kurt Angle d. Brock Lesnar 21 min 3 ¾
20. 2012 Brock Lesnar d. HHH 18:30 3 ¾
21. 1999 WWF Title: Mankind d. Steve Austin/HHH 16:30 3 ¾
22. 2010 Team WWE d. Team Nexus 35:30 3 ¾
23. 1989 Rick Martel/Rougeaus d. Rockers/Tito Santana 15 min 3 ¾
24. 2004 Kurt Angle d. Eddie Guerrero 3 ½
25. 2001 Hardcore Ladder: RVD d. Jeff Hardy 16:30 3 ½
26. 2002 IC: RVD d. Chris Benoit 16:30 3 ½
27. 1997 IC: Steve Austin d. Owen Hart 16 min 3 ½
28. 1998 Lion’s Den: Ken Shamrock d. Owen Hart 9 min 3 ½
29. 2012 Chris Jericho d. Dolph Ziggler 13 min 3 ½
30. 2009 IC: Rey Mysterio d. Dolph Ziggler 12:30 min 3 ½
31. 1997 WWF Title: Bret Hart d. Undertaker 28 min 3 ½
32. 1990 Tags: Hart Foundations d. Demolition 15:30 3 ½
33. 1992 Ultimate Warrior d. Randy Savage 26 min 3 ½
34. 1997 Cage: Mankind d. HHH 16 min 3 ½
35. 2013 World: Alberto del Rio d. Christian 12:30 3 1/2
36. 2003 Eddie Guerrero d. Chris Benoit/Tajiri/Rhyno 10:30 3 ½
37. 2009 DX d. Cody Rhodes/Ted Dibiase, Jr. 20 min 3 ½
38. 1993 Tatanka/Smoking Gunns d. Bam Bam Bigelow/Headshrinkers 11 min 3 ½
39. 1988 British Bulldogs draw Rougeaus 20 min. 3 ½
40. 1996 Boiler Room Brawl Mankind d. Undertaker 27 min 3 ½
41. 2005 Ladder: Rey Mysterio d. Eddie Guerrero 20:30 3 ¼
42. 2002: Edge d. Eddy Guerrero 12 min 3 ¼
43. 2011 Wade Barrett d. Daniel Bryan 11:30 3 ¼
44. 1995 Hakushi d. 123 Kid 9 min 3 ¼
45. 1999 Test d. Shane McMahon 12 min 3 ¼
46. 1998 Hair: 123 Kid d. Jeff Jarrett 11 min 3 ¼
47. 1998 WWF Title: Steve Austin d. Undertaker 21 min 3 ¼
48. 2000 WWF Title: Rock d. Kurt Angle/HHH 20 min 3 ¼
49. 2006 WWF Title Edge d. John Cena 15:30 3 ¼
50. 2010 RAW Title: Randy Orton d. Sheamus 19 min 3 ¼
51. 1993 Tags: Steiners d. Heavenly Bodies 9:30 3 ¼
52. 1989 IC Title: Ultimate Warrior d. Rick Rude 16 min 3 ¼
53. 2002 Kurt Angle d. Rey Mysterio 9 min 3
54. 2001 IC: Edge d. Lance Storm 11 min 3
55. 2001 Jr: XPac d. Tajiri 7 min 3
56. 2006 I Quit: Ric Flair d. Mick Foley 13 min
57. 2001 WCW Title: Rock d. Booker T 15 min 3
58. 2005 WWF Title John Cena d. Chris Jericho 15 min 3
59. 1988 Tags: Demolition d. Hart Foundation 10 min 3
60. 1994 IC: Razor Ramon d. Diesel 15 min 3
61. 2002 WWF Title: Brock Lesnar d. Rock 16:30 3
62. 2004 Dudleys d. Rey Mysterio/Paul London/Billy Kidman 8 min 3
63. 2011 Rey Mysterio/John Morrison/Kofi Kingston d. Miz/R Truth/Alberto del Rio 9:30 3
64. 1993 Bret Hart d. Doink 10 min 3
65. 2007 Rey Mysterio d. Chavo Guerrero 12 min 3
66. 2008 MVP d. Jeff Hardy 10 min 3
67. 1996 Owen Hart d. Savio Vega 13:30 3
68. 2008 World CM Punk d. JBL 11 min 3
69. 2012 World: Sheamus d. Alberto del Rio 11:30 3
70. 1995 Bret Hart d. Isaac Yankem 16 min 3
71. 2012 IC: Miz d. Rey Mysterio 9 min 3
72. 1992 Shawn Michaels draw Rick Martel 8 min 3
73. 1991 Virgil d. Ted DiBiase 13 min 3
74. 2007 WWF: John Cena d. Randy Orton 21 min 3
75. 2008 Batista d. John Cena 13:30 3
76. 2003 Elimination Chamber 19 min 3
77. 1999 Tag Team Gauntlet 16:30 3
78. 1997 Davey Boy Smith d. Ken Shamrock 7:30
79. 1999 Lion’s Den: Ken Shamrock d. Steve Blackman 9 min
80. 2000 Hardcore: Shane McMahon d. Steve Blackman 10 min
81. 2007 ECW: John Morrison d. CM Punk 7 min
82. 2005 Randy Orton d. Undertaker 17 min
83. 2004 IC: Edge d. Chris Jericho/Batista 8:30 min
84. 2001 Chris Jericho d. Rhyno 12:30
85. 1994 Women: Alundra Blayze d. Bull Nakano 8 min
86. 1999 IC/Euro: Jeff Jarrett d. DLo Brown 7:30
87. 1993 Razor Ramon d. Ted DiBiase 7:30
88. 1996 Goldust d. Marc Mero 11 min
89. 1998 Euro: DLo Brown d. Val Venis 15:30
90. 2005 Edge d. Matt Hardy 5 min
91. 2012 WWF Title: CM Punk d. John Cena/Big Show 14:30
92. 2006 Chavo Guerrero d. Rey Mysterio 11 min
93. 2012 Daniel Bryan d. Kane 8 min
94. 2002: Ric Flair d. Chris Jericho 10:30
95. 2004 HHH d. Eugene 14 min
96. 2010: Smackdown Title: Kane d. Rey Mysterio 12:30
97. 2003: Kane d. RVD 12:30
98. 2005 Kurt Angle d. Eugene 5 min
99. 2007 IC: Umaga d. Carlito/Ken Kennedy 7:30
100. 1989 Hulk Hogan/Brutus Beefcake d. Randy Savage/Zeus 15 min
101. 1988 Hulk Hogan/Randy Savage d. Ted DiBiase/Andre the Giant 14:30 min
102. 1990 Power&Glory d. Rockers 6 min
103. 2011 Mark Henry d. Sheamus 9:30
104. 2007 Kane d. Fit Finlay 9 min
105. 1999 Hardcore: Al Snow d. Boss Man 7:30
106. 1999 Rock d. Billy Gunn 10 min
107. 1993 WWF Title: Lex Luger d. Yokozuna 18 min
108. 1991 Ricky Steamboat/Davey Boy Smith/Kerry von Erich d. Warlord/Power&Glory 10:30
109. 2005 Hulk Hogan d. Shawn Michaels 21:30
110. 1993 Shawn Michaels d. Mr. Perfect 11:30
111. 2009 Tags: Chris Jericho/Big Show d. Cryme Tyme 9:30
112. 2012 Tags: R-Truth/Kofi Kingston d. PTP 7 min
113. 2009 WWF Title Randy Orton d. John Cena 21 min
114. 2013 Cody Rhodes d. Damien Sandow 6:30
115. 2008 WWF Title HHH d. Khali 9:30
116. 2007 Booker T d. HHH 8 min
117. 2006 DX d. Vince McMahon/Shane McMahon 13 min
118. 2006 World Batista d. Booker 10:30
119. 2004 JBL d. Undertaker 17:30 min
120. 2005 World: Batista d. JBL 9 min
121. 2002 Un-Americans d. Goldust/Booker T 9:30
122. 1999 Tags: Undertaker/Big Show d. XPac/Kane 12 min
123. 2001 Tags: Undertaker/Kane d. DDP/Kanyon 10 min
124. 2006 ECW Title: Big Show d. Sabu 8:30
125. 2009 MVP d. Jack Swagger 6 min
126. 1995 Barry Horowitz d. Skip 11:30
127. 1991 Big Boss Man d. Jacques Rougeau 9:30
128. 2001 Dudleys/Test d. APA/Spike Dudley 7 min
129. 2013 Ring of Fire: Bray Wyatt d. Kane 7:30
130. 1997 LOD d. Godwinns 10 min
131. 1988 Powers of Pain d. Bolsheviks 5:30
132. 1994 Bam Bam Bigelow/IRS d. Headshrinkers 7 min
133. 1993 Jerry Lawler d. Bret Hart 6:30
134. 2004 Kane d. Matt Hardy 6 min
135. 1996 Smoking Gunns d. Bodydonnas d. New Rockers d. Godwinns 12 min
136. 1989 Ted DiBiase d. Jimmy Snuka 6:30
137. 1990 IC: Kerry von Erich d. Mr. Perfect 5 min
138. 1993 IRS d. 123 Kid 6 min
139. 1990 Hulk Hogan d. Earthquake 13 min
140. 1990 WWF Title Cage Match: Ultimate Warrior d. Rick Rude 10 min
141. 1991 Tags: Street Fight: LOD d. Nasty Boys 6:30
142. 1991 Hulk Hogan/Ultimate Warrior d. Sgt. Slaughter/Mustafa/Adnan 12:30
143. 1995 HHH d. Sparky Plugg 7 min
144. 2010 IC Dolph Ziggler no contest Kofi Kingston 7 min
145. 1997 Boriquas d. DOA 9 min
146. 2003 Tags: LaResistance d. Dudley Boys 8 min
147. 1998 Tags: New Age Outlaws d. Mankind 5 min
148. 2000 IC: Eddy Guerrero/Chyna d. Val Venis/Trish Stratus 7 min
149. 2011 Women: Kelly Kelly d. Beth Phoenix 6:30
150. 2000 XPac d. Road Dogg 4:30
151. 2004 John Cena d. Booker T 6 min
152. 2003 Undertaker d. A-Train 9 min
153. 2002 Undertaker d. Test 8 min
154. 2010 Big Show d. CM Punk/Luke Gallows/Joey Mercury 6:30
155. 1989 Mr. Perfect d. Red Rooster 3:30
156. 2013 Dolph Ziggler/Kaitlyn d. Big E Langston/AJ Lee
157. 1988 Big Boss Man d. Koko B. Ware 6 min
158. 1990 Jake Roberts d. Bad News Brown 4:30
159. 1990 Warlord d. Tito Santana 5:30
160. 1993 Ludwig Borga d. Marty Janetty 5 min
161. 1996 Sid d. Davey Boy Smith 6 min
162. 2000 Jerry Lawler d. Tazz 4:30
163. 2000 RTC d. Rikishi/Too Cool 5 min
164. 1992 Tags: Natural Disasters d. Beverly Brothers 10:30
165. 1992 LOD d. Money Inc 15 min
166. 1991 IRS d. Greg Valentine 4 min
167. 1990 Randy Savage d. Dusty Rhodes 2 min
168. 2005 US: Chris Benoit d. Orlando Jordan 30 sec
169. 1988 IC Title: Ultimate Warrior d. Honky Tonk Man :30
170. 2009 ECW Christian d. William Regal :30
171. 2011 WWF Title: Alberto del Rio d. CM Punk :30
172. 2008 ECW Matt Hardy d. Mark Henry :30
173. 2013 WWF Title: Randy Orton d. Daniel Bryan :30
174. 1992 Undertaker d. Kamala 3:30
175. 1990 Hacksaw Duggan/Nikolai Volkoff d. Orient Express 3:30
176. 1995 Smoking Gunns d. Blu Brothers 6 min
177. 1992 Crush d. Repo Man 5:30
178. 1988 Dino Bravo d. Don Muraco 5:30
179. 1989 Hacksaw Duggan/Demolition d. Andre the Giant/Boss Man/Akeem 7:30
180. 1998 Edge/Sable d. Marc Mero/Jacqueline 8:30
181. 2003 Shane McMahon d. Eric Bischoff 10:30
182. 2006 Hulk Hogan d. Randy Orton 11 min
183. 1989 Greg Valentine d. Hercules 3 min
184. 1988 Rick Rude d. JYD 6:30
185. 1992 Nailz d. Virgil 4 min
186. 1997 Goldust d. Brian Pillman 7 min
187. 1994 Tatanka d. Lex Luger 6 min
188. 2009 Kane d. Khali 6 min
189. 1988 Bad News Brown d. Ken Patera 6:30
190. 1991 Natural Disasters d. Bushwackers 6:30
191. 1998 Oddities d. Kaientai 10 min
192. 2008 IC/Women Santino/Beth Phoenix d. Kofi Kingston/Mickie James 5:30
193. 2000 Undertaker no contest Kane 6 min
194. 1993 Undertaker d. Giant Gonzalez 8 min
195. 1994 Jeff Jarrett d. Mabel 6 min
196. 1989 Dusty Rhodes d. Honky Tonk Man 9:30
197. 1988 Jake Roberts d. Hercules 10 min
198. 1994 Undertaker d. Undertaker 9 min
199. 1995 WWF Title: Diesel d. Mabel 9 min
200. 2013 Natalya d. Brie Bella 4 min
201. 1995 Women: Bertha Faye d. Alundra Blayze 5 min
202. 1999 Women: Ivory d. Tori 4 min
203. 2000 Women: Kat d. Terri 3 min
204. 2010 Women: Melina d. Alicia Fox 5:30
205. 2007 World: Batista d. Khali 7 min
206. 1996 Jerry Lawler d. Jake Roberts 4 min
207. 1995 Undertaker d. Kamala 16:30
208. 1990 Sherri d. Sapphire (forfeit)
209. 2007 Diva Battle Royal 7 min
210. 2004 Diva Dodge Ball 3 min

40 Games Left - The 2014 MLB Season Makes the Final Turn

Last one for the season - the updated picks and the all league teams.

AL East
Winner - Baltimore (2)

AL Central
Winner - Detroit (3)

AL West
Winner - Oakland (1)

Wild Cards
Los Angeles
Kansas City

NL East
Winner - Washington (2)

NL Central
Winner - Milwaukee (3)

NL West
Winner - Los Angeles (1)

Wild Cards
St Louis
Pittsburgh v. San Francisco

AL
C Yan Gomes (Cle)
    Sal Perez (KC)
1B Jose Abreu (CWS)
     Miguel Cabrera (KC)
2B Robinson Cano (Sea 6)
     Jose Altuve (Hou)
SS Alexei Ramirez (CWS)
      Jose Reyes (Tor)
3B Josh Donaldson (Oak) - MVP
     Kyle Seager (Sea)
LF Michael Brantley (Cle)
     Alex Gordon (KC)
CF Mike Trout (LAA)
      Jacoby Ellsbury (NYY)
RF Jose Bautista (Tor)
     Kevin Kiermaier (TB)
DH Nelson Cruz (Bal)
      Victor Martinez (Det)
SP Corey Kluber (Cle) - Cy Young
      Felix Hernandez (Sea)

NL
C Jonathan Lecroy (Mil)
   Russell Martin (Pit)
1B Paul Goldschmidt (Ari)
     Anthony Rizzo (Chi)
2B Chase Utley (Phi)
     Dee Gordon (LAD)
SS Troy Tulowtizki (Col)
      Jhonny Peralta (StL)
3B Josh Harrison (Pit)
     Pablo Sandoval (SFG)
LF Seth Smith (SD)
     Justin Upton (Atl)
CF Andrew McCutchen (Pit)
     Denard Span (Was)
RF Giancarlo Stanton (Mia) - MVP
      Jason Heyward (Atl)
SP Clayton Kershaw (LAD) - Cy Young
     Adam Wainwright (StL)




   




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