- Steen & Generico over Super Smash Brothers was a pretty tremendous tag match for what could have been a much sillier thing.  The Smash Bros. are an interesting conceit with the “Player Uno” and “Player Dos” cutesy thing going, but I liked that they just let them have a match and stuff.  Good storyline, with Steen and Generico seemingly having an off-night and the newer team trying to take advantage with some high-energy double-teams and good near-falls, but the (relative) veteran team pulls it together and finishes them off.  Good stuff, ***1/2

- Chris Hero is interesting for me to watch because I remember his geeky act from ICP’s goofy promotion and now he looks and acts like a real pro wrestler.  Not fond of “That Young Knockout Kid” as a nickname that rolls off the tongue, but the elbow thing can get over if you make the fans buy into it, so great.  He needed to squash someone more convincingly, but it’s getting there.

- Man, Austin Aries is the king of reinventing his look, isn’t he?  I hope it doesn’t bite him in the ass by reducing his star power in the process if people can’t remember who he is. 

- Rasche Brown is what it is.  If you’re gonna build a TV promotion and not a DVD “great matches only” one, you need the occasional scary black guy to squash people and scowl.  You just do.

- American Wolves v. Danielson & Strong was a hell of a deal, actually.  Eddie Edwards is nothing, but Davey Richards has IT, a kind of twitchy charisma that just makes him look like a star and draws your eye to him.  He’s gonna be something, bet on it.  Match was great, an easy **** deal.  I really loved the little old-style spot where Strong’s got Edwards in the crab and Danielson is the old-time babyface holding young punk Richards in the sleeper on the apron to keep him from interfering…these are guys who get pro wrestling, ya know? 

So yeah, much better effort than last week’s rather dull offering.  I still don’t feel like it’s trying to sell me anything because really there’s no PPV and no shows that I as a fan in the middle of nowhere, Canada, could attend, but as a use of an hour, it’s well worth a watch.

Your winners of the first ever Lou Albano Memorial Tag Team tournament (and a shiny trophy to boot):  Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart, The Hart Foundation!

This poll of course isn’t anywhere near scientific, but the Harts were as good of contenders as any.  They are a rare breed from that era, not only surviving their initial heel push as a team and without the usual breakup angle to make Bret a star, but then coming back together during Bret’s initial singles push and actually becoming bigger stars again as babyfaces.  They were both solid workers who could have a good match with nearly anyone, and a great one with many people, and best of all weren’t afraid to work heel when needed, even as babyfaces.  Their legacy might have been aided by Bret going on to become one of the biggest stars in the world, but I think people would still remember them even without Bret’s later success. 

So thanks to everyone who participated, and a singles tournament of some sort might be next as long as I can be convinced that it won’t be a long and contrived way to come down to the guy who goes Woo against his balding current employer.  Because really, we’ve all read PWI and been down that road before, and I want to do something fresher than that.

- The Hart Foundation is your first finalist, crushing the British Bulldogs with 67% of the vote, probably thanks to a crooked refereeing job from Danny Davis. 

- And in a stunning result by my count, with a 52% upset win, your final match is:

This vote will automatically close on November 11 about 9:00 EST, maybe sooner if it's a blowout one way or the other. Good luck to both teams!

- The Steiner Brothers (59%) take out the Road Warriors (41%) in something of an upset, as I was thinking that the Roadies would have cruised to victory in the end.  But then this match actually happened and the Steiners won, so maybe that influenced things.

- In another mild upset, Edge & Christian (59%) defeat the Midnight Express (41%), as I had thought that E&C’s huge run was coming to an end and we were headed to an all-NWA final.  Guess not. 

- The Hart Foundation (78%) crushed the Hollywood Blondes (22%) in a result that I completely agree with.  I’m as big of a Blondes fan as anyone, but they were in far over their heads at this point. 

- The British Bulldogs (65%) beat the Guerreros (35%) to end the other flukey run of the tournament.  I should not that vote totals were 50% higher on this one than any other match of this bracket, which might mean someone was trying to powervote and screw with the totals.  However, I’ve been monitoring the voting all day and the Bulldogs were clearly the winners the whole time even without another 300 votes on their side, so it didn’t affect anything. 

- The Steiner Brothers (89%) destroy Doom (11%) showing the dominance they’ve put forth for the whole tournament thus far. 

- The Road Warriors (53%) squeak one out over the Rockers (47%), as Hawk survives the double-teams and Animal hits both Rockers with a clothesline and pins Marty to advance.

- Edge & Christian (79%) keep it rolling over the Outsiders (21%), as a Conchairto finishes Scott Hall.

- The Midnight Express (56%) benefits as the Megapowers (44%) finally explode, and Savage turns on Hogan due to lusting after Mama Cornette.  Still, this one was neck and neck most of the way. 

- The Hollywood Blondes (79%) take out Kane & Undertaker (21%) in a result that I actually think is skewed somewhat by the legend of the Blondes rather than the reality of how long they were together and what they accomplished. 

- The Hart Foundation (82%) somewhat surprisingly squash Owen & Bulldog (18%), but they all make up afterwards and beat up Steve Austin.

- Eddie & Chavo Guerrero (69%) finally send RVD & Sabu (31%) home to end their inexplicable run in the tournament.  Rob misses the frog splash and Eddie hits his own for the pin.

- And finally, The British Bulldogs (57%) beat Tully & Arn (43%) in a match where my faves to win the tournament are now out because of an unlucky draw. 

Also tonight, Strikeforce on CBS, and that went about as well as the network could have hoped for, I think.  All the fights went pretty much the time they needed to go, all the fights were mostly good (aside from the Shields-Miller match, which started hot and then dragged once both guys realized that it was a 5 round fight), and Fedor now looks like a guy who can carry a PPV.  Seriously, what a great fight, and did you SEE that punch?  This was no Kimbo situation where the great hype was exposed as nothing, he backed that shit up, man.  With a BROKEN NOSE, no less. 

So to sum up, coughing + fever + chills = bad, MMA = good.