Brock Lesnar Coming Back to UFC?

Dana White hinted at it at the UFC 146 post-show press conference. I see Brock fighting in the UFC at least one more time. Interesting to see if this has any effect on his WWE contract as he is making a boatload for his one year deal which runs until Wrestlemania 29 and Lesnar is expected to face Triple H at Summerslam late this summer.

UFC 146 PPV Live Thoughts #ufc #ufc146

Pumped for the PPV tonight. Did not see any of the facebook or FX fights. Love the all-Heavyweight card. Will be live blogging my thoughts.

Interesting that UFC ring girl Arianny Celeste was arrested earlier today on suspicion of domestic violence.

First up is Lavar Johnson vs. 24 year-old Stefan Struve. Love the Skyscraper!

The Skyscraper Stefan Struve is damn near 7 feet. WOW! Johnson inside quick to negate Struve's distance. Struve gets in quard, snatches on an armbar and breaks Johnson's arm. Insane start to the PPV. Johnson is in agony, screaming in pain.

Demarco Murray and Larry Fitzgerald in the crowd.

Next up! Shane Del Rosario vs. Stipe Miocic

Heard Arianny was out of jail but Britanny Palmer looks to be handling the ring girl duties by herself.

Nice combos by Miocic. Damaging body kicks by Del Rosario. 1st round 10-9 Del Rosario. Both fighters undefeated.

Fight is a battle. Miocic dominating on top. Del Rosario looks bloody. Miocic finishes him with elbows. Del Rosario hurt bad.

Big Country Roy Nelson vs. Dave Herman up next!

Preview for UFC 148 with Silva vs. Sonnen. Sonnen cutting a promo as usual.

Big Country sporting a ridiculous, bad ass mountain man beard!\

Arianny is now sitting in her ring girl chair!

OH MY GOD! BIG COUNTRY! HUGE OVERHAND RIGHT puts down Herman. SICK 1st round KO by Big Country!

Next fight is Cain Velasquez vs. Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva. Should be great!

Cain is pummeling Silva. Blood spouting everywhere. Doctor checks on Bigfoot, tells him he is good to go and it continues until the ref steps in. Dominating performance by Cain Velasquez. Would love to see him get another shot at JDS.

Next up: Junior Dos Santos vs. Challenger Frank Mir for the Undisputed UFC World Heavyweight Championship!

Mir barely survives the 1st round. JDS 10-9/

JDS finishes him in the middle of Rd. 2 and STILL UFC Heavyweight champ!

Amazing card!

Quick Thoughts on Extreme Reunion

First off, I loved how large of a crowd they drew and how hot that crowd was. Some of the chants were great.

The first match between the FBI and the BWO was decent. Little Guido, Mamaluke and Stevie Richards are all in phenomenal shape. The one thing this could have used was a Meanie-Tracy Smothers dance-off but apparently Smothers has retired.

I skipped the Al Snow-CW Anderson match as I heard bad things about. I don’t really care for either of the two and the match seemed rather drawn out and boring.

The striptease was a nice, edgy touch which I really enjoyed and the Asian plant in the crowd did her best Kimona impression and showed some titties. Not a bad touch.

The Balls-Axl Chairs match was just about what you would expect. Sad to think it was Axl’s last match due to being involved in a car accident driving home from the show. I guess he fell asleep at the wheel with what happened with Sabu having to be rushed to hospital and Justin Credible drugged out is no surprise. The lifestyle has caught up with these guys and that has a lot to do with the trainwreck the show was.

The Gangstas beating up on Angel was decent for the standard New Jack pop. I liked the idea of introducing new talent such as Ruckus and Jeez who looked to set up a future angle vs. the Gangstas but these fans weren’t going to have any outsiders so the reaction is no surprise.

The Jerry Lynn-Devon Storm match was fucking incredible and the fans thanking Jerry was a great moment that really helped all the flaws the show had. Jerry said he was retiring at the end of the year. This performance and the fan’s admiration is worth going out of your way to see.

Shane Douglas got absolutely shit on with his promo. Too Cold can still go but this turned into a trainwreck with the hostile crowd and the lame Kevin Sullivan and Tod Gordon run-ins.

Overall, I'm a sucker for ECW and a sucker for trainwrecks. I liked the concept of introducing new talent. The show was not very good at all but the Lynn-Crowbar match was amazing and is worth going out of your way to see. I liked the show more than most will but it really was not very good, even bordering on horrendous.

A 12 year-old's view of Jersey Shore

Read my article on Yahoo! of how an innocent 12 year-old views Jersey Shore

http://voices.yahoo.com/how-12-year-old-views-jersey-shore-11202388.html?cat=39

Professional Wrestling Match of The Year 2012 So Far

Here are my top three matches for the first quarter of 2012

1. Davey Richards vs. Michael Elgin for the ROH World Championship at Ring of Honor Showdown in the Sun Day 2 3/31

I can see this one holding up throughout the year to win not only my match of the year but also the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Match of the Year. It was that good. Both men are incredibly intense. It took Elgin to a new level. Although Richards is terrible on the mic as was the case in his post-match promo. The Kevin Steen-El Generico Last Man Standing match from Day 1 is also a great match to seek out if you haven't seen it.

2. Kazuchika Okada vs. Testsuya Naito for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at New Japan Pro Wrestling 40th Anniversary Show 3/4

Amazing match. Naito is so talented and Okada could become a huge star with a solid run with the belt. He has the look and skills.

3. Undertaker vs. Triple H Hell in a Cell with Shawn Michaels as special guest referee at WWE Wrestlemania 28 4/1

Not quite as good as last year's Wrestlemania match but excellent and better than almost everything else this year. I would put last year's match behind only Punk vs. Cena from the Money in the Bank PPV as 2011 MOTY with Richards/Edwards II and III coming in at the 3rd and 4th spots. Even though II got 2nd place in the Observer and I don't believe the third encounter was eligible.

Rock vs. Brock Lesnar Wrestlemania 29 RAW Thoughts

Rock vs. Brock Lesnar at WWE Wrestlemania 29

This past Monday on Raw the Rock vowed to once again become WWE Champion.

The crowd was super hot for this show with Daniel Bryan being incredible over.

The spot with Brodus Clay confronting Jack Swagger and Dolph Ziggler was great. The headbeat to Dolph was awesome and it will be great to see what the Funkasaurus becomes.

It was interesting to see WWE mentioning wrestling in Japan and I thought the Lord Tensai debut was pretty cool.

Extreme Rules in Chicago should be cool with the Punk-Jericho match. The spot where Jericho smashed the bottle over Punk’s head was effective and the build should be good for this match.

Brock Lesnar’s return was over huge and it will be interesting to see if the build into WM 28 is the Rock challenging Lesnar for the WWE title.

Lesnar reportedly got a monster deal and has had notoriously been very hard to deal with which should make for interesting stories throughout the year. Lesnar is well off moneywise coming off his UFC run so does not have that desire and he seems to be a very hard-headed individual. During Lesnar’s run in New Japan he was paid 50K per match and didn’t try that hard making it hard for him to get over in Japan. How hard will he work in this role?

This was a great RAW especially with the crowd so it will be interesting to see how things progress.

Wrestlemania 28 Betting Perspective Thoughts #wwe #wm28

Wrestlemania 28 was an entertaining show. I wanted to give a few thoughts from a betting perspective. As I wrote previously, I didn’t bet this show but wanted to give quick thoughts. It definitely seemed like Sheamus would go over after the go-home RAW even though the odds shifted in Bryan’s favor as Sheamus went from -250 to -215 from what I seen.

Kane-Orton was interesting as everyone thought Orton would win so WWE went with the opposite finish. Orton was about -500 so this one would have hurt for those betting on Kane. This is all in hindsight but this was the one match where WWE could swerve the fans. Also, Kane is supposed to be a monster and having him job out in the 2nd match on WM. Imo, it was smart to put him over if anybody still cares about him.

Cody Rhodes vs. Big Show had been about even money even though Big Show was + money when I thought Show had a much better than 50% chance of winning to finally overcome being a WM joke which was the point of the storyline. Of course, it was hardly a sure thing as they could have turned him heel. But, in the end he went over and I felt this would have been a good bet.

The divas match had the babyfaces going over. You had to think this would happen, if you would have bet it early when the faces were only -155 or under -200 it was a great bet but again, hardly a sure thing. It eventually moved closer to where it should have been.

Undertaker was a great bet at -475 is what I first seen it at on 5dimes but eventually was up to -2000 last I saw which is where it should have started as of course Taker was going over. Price was steep but still VALUE.

Team Johnny price went really high and they went over as expected.

Punk vs. Jericho had Punk as the underdog for a while and was hard to call even though I really thought Punk would end up winning although a good case could be made otherwise and was def. not convinced with the pre-match angle where Punk could lose his title on DQ since the following month is Extreme Rules in his hometown of Chicago.

Last match was very interesting with Rock vs. Cena. Cena was the favorite when the betting was released way back in 2011 and it stayed that way. One had to think they had to put over Cena and Rock would be leaving and do the job but right before match time and somewhat the last RAW it became evident they didn’t have to do that and before the match def. seen Rock winning. Anything else, would have been a terrible ending from the crowd.

These are just some thoughts I felt like writing up and might be good reference when betting next year’s Mania. How the mind frame of the writers worked and how the odds shifted.

A Few Thoughts: Online Poker, Wrestlemania 28 Betting and MLB

I haven’t done a blog post in a while so I thought I’d throw together some of the various things on my mind.

The state of online poker is very frustrating. While the UIGEA still hampered the experience, the events of April 15th, 2011 were devastating for players in the United States and it is very depressing. The one-year anniversary of the infamous black Friday is approaching with some optimistic state of affairs in regards to the future of online poker in the US. On a personal level, I miss being able to play on Pokerstars and Full Tilt immensely. Due to optimism, some success on the sites left and the upcoming birth of my son, it took quite a while for the reality of the situation to set in. Now, all US players are left with is a sad state of affairs with Bovada and the Merge Network as relatively the only (extremely meager) offerings in the US.

I personally will not be betting Wrestlemania 28 this year. A lot of the best lines are gone but still, this should in theory be the source of some easy money for those sharp smart marks. Next year, I plan to have money ready and fire as soon as the lines come out. I would like to do a longer write-up on the card sometime but we will have to see.

A few thoughts:

Undertaker was only -475 the first time I checked 5dimes, while still being able to be had at -900, I can’t see them ending the streak.

Also, Big Show + anything I feel is a good bet as he is def. better than 50% to go over on Cody Rhodes.

It’s also hard not to see John Cena going over. It will be interesting to see how this one is booked.

Although with betting wrestling, it has to be noted things can get screwy as I forget the particulars but the outcome of the Lawler/Cole match as WM 27 should serve testament to the dangers of betting a big favorite.

Basically, it seems a lot of the favorites are obviously favorites for a reason but esp. given the opening lines should have been much bigger favorites. Examples are Punk over Jericho, Sheamus over Bryan and the babyface Divas over Eve and Beth.

From insider stuff I have read it seems like Team Johnny will be going over as well but I have skipped thru these segments in my TV viewing so I can’t testament.

Basically, I feel like a ton of value could be extracted for those people who were ready to do so.

To my surprise, The MLB season starts at 6:10 ET this morning from Japan with the Mariners vs. the As. I understand all the critics against this silliness but for me personally I enjoyed in years past arising super early for some meaningful baseball. American fans will still have their opening days so really besides the people that care about the As and Mariners, it isn’t a big deal.

Ring of Honor's Tenth Anniversary Thoughts

Main Event

ROH World Champion Davey Richards & Kyle O'Reilly vs. "Die Hard" Eddie Edwards & Adam Cole

Adam Cole got the miracle pin after a crossbody off the top. This match was really good, not as good as the last two Edwards/Richards singles matches. It went about 40 minutes. Afterwards, Steen cut one of his promos on Davey telling him to convince Jim Cornette to let him have a title shot. He said the main event should have been Steen/Richards.

ROH World Tag Team Championship

Jay & Mark Briscoe defend against the Young Bucks

Great match. Dem Boys retained but the Young Bucks impressed as always. I hope the Briscoes have a long reign as tag champs as they are so over and hitting a peak at the moment.

ROH World Television Championship

Jay Lethal defends against "The Dominant Male" Tommaso Ciampa w/ The Embassy LTD.

Good match. Went to a time limit draw so Ciampa didn't have to lose his undefeated record and Lethal could keep his belt. Show has been ok so far. 2nd half of the show should be off the charts.

NO DQ - Grudge Match

Jimmy Jacobs takes on "Wrestling's Worst Nightmare" Kevin Steen

This was a great match with Jacobs taking a sick F5 to the ribs off the side of a steel chair. Jacobs hit Steen with a steel spike but was remorseful afterwards.


Special Attraction Tag Team Match

The Amazing Red & "Technical Lightning" TJ Perkins vs The House of Truth ("Unbreakable" Michael Elgin & Roderick Strong) w/ Truth Martini

This was a great match with Red and Perkins getting over good with the crowd but doing the job to the House of Truth.

The did an angle where Chikara Grand Champion Eddie Kingston came out and Kevin Steen came out to try and team up with him until he called Chikara a Mickey Mous promotion and it turned into a pull-apart brawl. Eddie was going to piss on the Chikara belt until Chikara guys made the save.

Glory By Honor X Tag Team Rematch

Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin) vs The All Night Xpress (Rhett Titus & Kenny King)

ANX beat WGTT. Missed this one.

Special Attraction

"Notorious 187" Homicide vs "The Prodigy" Mike Bennett w/ Brutal Bob & Maria Kanellis

2nd match of the show. Maria is looking good. Cool spot where Brutal Bob sacrificed himself when Homicide attempted a tope con hilo. Very predicatble finish where Bennett rolled up Homicide and got the win after distraction from Maria and Brutal Bob. Afterwards, they teased Homicide getting his hands on Maria but she escaped. I know Homicide can put on great matches but he has become somewhat bland for me.

Miesha Tate vs. Ronda Rousey Thoughts! Unreal Fight!

With the tremendous Sarah Kaufman/Alexis Davis #1 encounter earlier in the evening seeing Kaufman becoming the next challenger for the women's bantamweight belt, this match had a hard act to follow. But holy hell, did it ever live up to the hype. Tate came out absolutely swinging and it was a slugfest. Rousey almost finished it early with an armbar but amazingly Rousey escaped. The two went back and forth highlighted by a great judo hip toss/side headlock takeover by Rousey. Rousey finally got her in a nasty armbar and damn near broke Tate's arm, if it actually isn't broken, before Tate tapped. Just brutal stuff here. Amazing performance by Rousey. She has great charisma and should become a tremendous draw if they can keep finding legitimate challengers. A perfect 5-0 record with all wins by armbar and a storied judo background, Rousey is legit. Sarah Kaufman might need to work on her armbar defense or she will be in for trouble. With Gina Carano now a movie star and the Cyborg steroid scandal, a new superstar has emerged in women's MMA.

Examining the Value of Ring of Honor's Tenth Anniversary IPPV

On Sunday, March 4th at 5:00 EST Ring of Honor presents their 10th Anniversary Show from the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City live on iPPV via Go Fight Live.

The price tag on the broadcast is $9.99. I am going to break down the value of this show based on the current card and what I feel everything is worth. I will update it due to any new announcements.

The Amazing Red & "Technical Lightning" TJ Perkins vs The House of Truth ("Unbreakable" Michael Elgin & Roderick Strong) w/ Truth Martini VALUE - $.50

Jimmy Jacobs takes on "Wrestling's Worst Nightmare" Kevin Steen VALUE - $.50

Jay Lethal defends against "The Dominant Male" Tommaso Ciampa w/ The Embassy LTD. VALUE - $.25
ADDITIONAL VALUE - $.05 due to the presence of Mia Yim at ringside. TOTAL VALUE - $.30 

Jay & Mark Briscoe defend against the Young Bucks VALUE - $4.00

ROH's tag division is incredibly strong and I am looking forward to this match the most on the card. I've said the Briscoes are the best tag team in the world today. They are the complete package as far as tag teams go. The Young Bucks are not far behind. The built-in "no handshake" gimmick from the heat they received for not shaking hands with the likes of Golddust and Booker T during a WWE trout is phenomenal. Their in-ring ability and athleticism is arguably the best in the business. This should a great tag title match.

ROH World Champion Davey Richards & Kyle O'Reilly vs. "Die Hard" Eddie Edwards & Adam Cole
VALUE - $2.50

Edwards/Richards II from "Best in the World" and Edwards/Richards III from "Final Battle" were two of my favorite matches from last year. This main event will surely be heavily MMA-influenced as all these men are great strikers and submission artists. O'Reilly has been a huge breakout star with tons of potential. The great storyline of the break of two teams in the American Wolves of Edwards and Richards and Future Shock of O'Reilly and Cole has been booked great. I love the pairing of Richards and O'Reilly, Team Ambition, as they are real-life training partners. I expect this to go a long time and be great, possibly a time limit draw. Will be interesting to see how this one is booked.

CURRENT VALUE of CURRENT CARD - $7.80

ADDITIONAL VALUE

World's Greatest Tag Team vs. All Night Express has been added to the card. Decent teams, not big fans of either, should be an ok match - $.05

"Prodigy" Mike Bennett w/ Brutal Bob and Maria Kanellis - $.50 for Maria

TOTAL VALUE - $8.35

Hold up...

This promo from #demboys has added an additional value of $5.99 making the Briscoes/Young Bucks match worth the price of the iPPV alone.

GRAND TOTAL VALUE - $14.34 making me confirm this event as a DEFINITE BUY.

#demboys The Briscoes - Best Tag Team in Pro Wrestling

If you haven't heard, let me tell you about the best tag team in pro wrestling for a long damn time now, #demboys aka the Briscoes, the current and 7-time Ring of Honor World Tag Team champions. Hailing from a chicken farm on Sandy Fork by god Delware, the Briscoes are two of the realest guys in the sport today.

My first introduction to Jay and Mark, the Briscoes came when watching CZW's inaugural Best of Best tournament. From that day, its been a pleasure to watch the career of #demboys progress. During the second round of the tournament, the brothers faced off in a classic encounter that caught the attention of the many die-hard wrestling fans.

The Briscoes have been with ROH since Day 1 (great promo about that). At the time, Mark was 17 and too young to compete in Pennsylvania. Lately dem boys have been cutting some great promos like this one which is relevant as they are set to defend the straps vs. the Young Bucks at ROH's 10th anniversary show on March 3rd.

Check out more stuff from the brothers at rohwrestling.com

or buy some telephone number dem boys bumper stickers

Weekend Preview: UFC 143 Diaz vs. Condit and Super Bowl XLVI

Since I know Billy is on the Pats at -2.5 or better, that is the side I am on too. It's easy to get carried away during the Super Bowl with all the props and whatnot but I decided to keep it simple. There is certainly a lot of value to be found.

The only prop I'm focused on is if Kelly Clarkson will sing the national anthem in over/under 1:34. I am on the under 1:34 however insider sources at the sound check in Indy have her test runs coming in at almost exactly 1:34. She normally sings her anthems in less time but might be adding a little for such a big occassion. However, I still feel good about the under. Not the greatest bet in the world but I see value!
I am also locking in my UFC 143 picks and scouring the internet high and low for free Super Bowl contests.

I've been watching UFC Primetime and while Carlos Condit is a great dude, the UFC needs Nick Diaz to win to set up the epic Diaz vs. GSP bout later this year. I think the cardio of Diaz gives him the edge and would not be suprised to see this fight going all five rounds with Diaz winning 3 or 4 rounds. Diaz is currently a -225 favorite.

Super Bowl XLVI pick, Kelly Clarkson, 1 F'ed Up Shirt + Hell on Wheels Season 1 Review.

For Super Bowl XLVI, I am on the Pats -2.5. This will decide if I drop to 4-4 on NFL picks for the year or bump up to 5-3.

Great analysis on betting the time of the national anthem. O/U 1:34 on Kelly Clarkson's National Anthem.
http://beyondthebets.com/2012/01/26/super-bowl-national-anthem-will-kelly-clarksons-rendition-fall-shy-of-134-overunder/

Most Fucked Up Shirt I Ever Did See. WTF!

Hell on Wheels Season 1 Review:

It ain't no fucking Deadwood but it's good, real good. 9/10

Divisional Round Update

Last week, I looked really square going 0-2 to make me 4-2 on the year. I felt like the Bengals-Texans looked much worse than it was. The JJ Watt interception turned the game and the defense did a great job the rest of the game. The Steelers bet was just bad.

Only play for this week is Baltimore -7.5.

Wild Card Weekend Update

The Cincy-Houston game is off to a great start with Cincy leading 7-0 in what should be low scoring. I was on CIN +3 and the moneyline. And then when lots of money came in on Houston, got a little more of Cincy at +4 and +180 moneyline.

NO-Detroit

Don't have much action on this game, included it in a few teasers. Even with Drew Brees, I don't think -10.5 or -11 offer much value. Looks really nice teased down though.

Atl-NYG

No action at all on this game. Giants are pretty hot right now but still lots of people expecting Falcons upset.

Pitt-Den

-8 and -9 is a lot for a road team in the playoffs especially one as banged up as Pitt. But Tebow is so horrible, I still really like this play.

Wild Card Weekend Picks

Last week's Week 17 picks went 4-0 with the Bengals teaser also covering to add a bonus. Let us take a look at tow picks for Wild Card weekend.

Steelers -8 vs. Broncos

This is a lot to lay a road team in the NFL playoffs esp. with an offense looking as dismal as the Pittsburgh Steelers. However, Tim Tebow will be lucky to score any points against the solid Pittsburgh D. Only way Denver covers is if this game goes under so that might be a good bet as well.

Bengals +3 vs. Texans

Bengals should have beat the Texans the first go round even though that was a home game. Texan's offense is incredibly dismal with the Texans dropping the last 3 including one to the godawful Colts. Bengals should be able to get enough points in this one to beat the Texans straight up so the moneyline looks like a nice bet as well.

Perfect 3-0 in Day Games

NYG cover tonight will finish the NFL weekend a perfect 4-0.