Yes its me Rebecca, writing while my town is buried under more snow than its seen in over 100 years. I apologize for not writing last week, as I was really busy at work, and since my lap top was taken away by my co-worker who is having computer problems, this leaves me without a computer at home. And today, I trudged all the way to my parents house to get on their computer, now that's pure dedication. Under normal circumstances perhaps I would have let this week pass by as well, but I had to put in my two sense about the Royal Rumble, the best PPV I have seen the WWF put on since I started watching a year and a half ago. I also wanted to comment on the absolutely incredible show ECW put on, on TNN this past Friday. All in all another great weekend to be a wrestling fan!

So onto the Rants:

I'll go in chronological order...ok, I'll admit, usually I am totally opposed to spoilers, but for some reason I am always tempted to read the ones for ECW on TNN. I try to bypass who wins the matches, and just get an idea what we are in for. All I have to say, is it seems that Paul E had some divine inspiration on his side when he booked this show. Every segment was hot, starting with Joel "insert crude limerick" Gertner's continual battle with Cyrus "I am a complete loser" Virus, to be interrupted by the new tag team champions, the Impact Players. Lance Storm delivered a truly great heel promo on Doring and Roadkill which leads to Dreamer and Raven storming the ring to take on the Dastardly one and the insane Amish Chicken farmer. There were so many things I loved about his opening segment. First off, if Lance Storm continues to improve his mike skills and continues to deliver promos like the one he delivered on Friday, he will just continue to get more and more over as a monster heel. He already has the incredibly solid technical foundation, add mike skills and we have a bonafide superstar on our hands. Also what can I say, when Raven carried Francine to the back, I was loving it. Raven and Dreamer continue to deliver some of the best drama on TV, and this story will definitely keep me coming back for more. Add in Corino coming out with Rhino, bionic elbows by the American Dream Dusty Rhodes and the Sandman returning, and you've got one hell of an opening segment. Wow, I said to myself...this was only the start of the show?

Next up my favorite Japanese Buzzsaw, Tajiri again taking on his arch nemesis Super Crazy. I'll say it again, you can give me these guys a thousand times, and they always pull out something new. Tajiri was in some kind of insane zone during this match, which was a Mexican death match. He was delivering some of the stiffest kicks known to man. Usually, I judge how good a match is by how many times Joey Styles says "Oh my God". I think there were at least ten.

Last up was the main event. Mike Awesome comes out and calls himself the whole f'n show. This brings out RVD, who gets a hero's welcome at the ECW arena. The two exchange threats, and next thing you know, both men are laying down there belts and about to lock up. The lights go down, and when they come back up whose in the ring but Sabu. What a moment! I swear I was marking out like a school girl. The crowd was so hot. They are screaming for a three way dance, but instead Sabu and Awesome give RVD a total ass beating, ending with a double splash onto RVD who is laying prone on a table in the middle of the ring. What a way to end the show. This show was by far the best ECW has put since they have been on TNN. It was amazing from start to finish, and it seemed like much more time was spent on in ring action than on plugging the ECW live events. It seems like RVD is going to play a much more prominent role in the TNN show than he has in the past, and this can only mean good things for the ECW, as he is a major draw. Sabu's heel turn was perfect, and the rivalry between these two has just begun, and has the potential to take on mythic proportions. I for one cannot wait to see what happens over the next few months leading into the March PPV.

Speaking of PPV's, its now time to touch on the doozy the WWF served up this past Sunday Night. I must say, I was planning on going to the Rumble with my friend's Heather and Sharon. We planned it out, but unfortunately when it came time to get tickets, Ticketmaster had erroneous information on its website about when tickets would go on sale, by the time I got through the event was sold out. I was devastated, and after watching Sunday night, I cannot help but say, that truly wish I could have been there.

I've read some reviews on the net, and the consensus is that the HHH/Cactus match was the best match of the night. I cannot agree with this sentiment, as I think the Hardys vs. the Dudleys stole the show. I guess its just a matter of taste, but the table match blew me away. First off the Dudleys and the Hardys are two of my three favorite teams. Whoever put these two awesome teams in a rivalry was a freakin genius. I should have known from the house show in Raleigh, when these two fought each other, that it was only a matter of time, till they hooked up on TV. Little did I know what it would lead too though. The Dudleys are crazy, but as crazy as they are, they are nothing compared to the Hardys. Recently the Hardys were voted the top tag team of the year on wwf.com, and this title was hard fought and deserved. These two men constantly push themselves to best what they've done in the past. Now that is a tall order. But they constantly bring new and innovative spots to their matches, as proven in the table match. I cannot say enough good things about this match, but also about the Hardys themselves. I feel that the Hardys are still under appreciated and this pisses me off. I even read somewhere that someone gave this match 9/10 stars. What the hell else did these four men have to do to get that extra star, kill themselves in the ring. Matt Hardy wrote an excellent commentary in December about expectations, the fans expectations. I really suggest you go and read it on their official web page www.mattandjeffhardy.com. Its really interesting. Sometimes I feel that the fans don't deserve what the Hardys do to entertain us. I mean they are human beings, they can get hurt, esp. when they do the crazy stuff they do, and I really wonder if the average wrestling fan really grasps this fact. And I don't think they do. I mean there is something wrong when the fans give Road Dogg's tired ass "oh you didn't know" schtick a bigger pop than anything the Hardys do. I mean lets be realistic, who should really be the champs? I mean the Hardys have already "won" the Outlaws like 3 times. But of course due to run-ins by xpuke, and now interference by the Dudleys, they are denied every time. Ok, I realize that they are building toward a championship run for the Hardys. I can see, all of the times they have been cheated out of the belts will help fuel a major rivalry against the Outlaws, possibly culminating in a title shot at Wrestlemania where they finally get the titles away from the total undeserving New Age Outlaws.

Speaking of, I have to say, I am about sick and tired of DX (sorry Heather, but you know how I feel). The Outlaws are just pathetic. They cannot win a match without outside interference, and still the fans cheer for them. There match against the Acolytes was perhaps the only minor disappointment of the PPV. I certainly wanted to see the Acolytes kick the Outlaws asses a little more before the run-in. Oh yeah, of course they had to save their energy for the Rumble, so that Road Dogg could literally lay in a fetal position in the corner of the ring for the entire match, while his boyfriend Billy Gunn stood over him and protected him. What the hell was this all about? He literally did not move the whole time he was in the match, until Billy Gunn, apparently disgusted by his partners cowardice threw his sorry ass over the ropes. Now unless Road Dogg was somehow injured there was no excuse and Rebecca means no excuse for that kind of behavior. He is a professional, and he should act like one. Hell the Hardy's came to the ring to compete on Raw the next night, and it was pretty obvious neither brother should have been competing. Hell, Jeff Hardy's leg seemed to give out on him at one point during the match against the Outlaws. I hope after the Smackdown taping, these guys were given a few days off to recuperate.

Open plea to Matt and Jeff: Please be careful. I want to see your thrilling moves for years to come. Take care of yourselves, and exercise caution when performing your crazy but super exciting moves.

Just another quick note about the Dudleys...I love these guys, and I am super excited that the WWF is finally starting to use them the way they need to be used, as super monster heels. No one can do the heel tag team thing as good as the Dudleys. Hell, look at their finisher, it just looks devastating. The thing I love about the Dudleys is their work ethic. You can see that they are willing to lay it all on the line for the fans, but they also seem to be very cautious when they do anything risky. I mean it was pretty obvious, Bubah Ray did everything in his power to protect Terri Runnels when he "powerbombed" her through the table. (by the way, did anyone but mean think that they should have stopped playing the replay if they wanted us to believe Terri actually went through the table...Hell, JR, I don't care how many times you tell me that she went through the table, I ain't convinced, esp. when the replay shows over and over and over that bubba ray's big butt went through the table and Terri barely even hit the mat. So please don't insult my intelligence).

Speaking of insulting my intelligence...I am about to say something about the HHH/Cactus match that most people will probably not agree with, but I have to say it. The reason this match didn't blow me away as much as the Hardys/Dudleys was because I had a really hard time buying the whole barbed wire on the 2x4 thing. Don't get me wrong. I thought this match was an excellent brawl, and both men took insane punishment, but I felt insulted that they expected us to believe that that was real barbed wire. OK, hang on, I should have prefaced this by saying that I hate barbed wire and I don't think it has any place at all in wrestling, or in anything where flesh is going to be involved, that being said, I wasn't upset that the barbed wire wasn't real, hell I don't want anyone to get wacked in the face with real barbed wire, I just found it hard to suspend my disbelief during the match because of the fake barbed wire. Esp. since a ton of Cactus's offense was with said barbed wire. Ok, I'll stop complaining...its not like there weren't a million other amazing spots during the match, and yes I was completely cringing when the thumbtacks came out because I knew we were going to see a pedigree into the tacks, and was truly worried about Mick's eyes. The thumbtacks in the forehead were enough to make my stomach queasy as well. All in all I thought this match was stellar, so don't think my complaint about the barbed wire meant I didn't like the match. I think I just have this aversion to barbed wire, and I didn't want any part of it on my tv screen, real or not. I knew HHH was going to win, although, I wish Cactus had walked away with the belt. One thing totally surprised me, and that was the crowd didn't seem very into Cactus at the beginning of the match at all. But of course he won them over during the match with his crazy antics. By the way, I loved his drop toe hold while handcuffed, it was so Raven!

Other high spots. I thought Tazz's debut was great. I don't exactly understand what the WWF was thinking when they didn't let him cut a promo in Philly this past Monday on Raw though. After he choked out Angle for the second time, would have been a perfect chance for him to cut one of those killer Tazz promo's, but no we get silence instead. Very curious choice. But I thought it was great that the WWF crowd in MSG was chanting for Tazz, even before he came out. It couldn't have been anyone else. And I have to say, Angle is a very good opponent for Tazz, as he is able to match up with him very well. Tazz looks to be in tremendous shape, and I look forward to the impact he will make in the WWF.

Well all I will say about the bathing suit contest is, the WWF strongly hinted there would be puppies, and puppies there were. Of course not exactly the puppies all the horny men out there were hoping for, but the WWF did deliver.

Finally, Jericho is the undisputed IC champ, and finally it looks like the feud with Chyna is over, as it seems like she may take on a manager type role for him, if Raw is any indication. I really like this a lot, as Jericho and Chyna have really great chemistry together. Also, I really like the Y2J/Hardcore Holly rivalry, as these two really seem to bring out the best in each other. Their contest on RAW was intense! And it all seemed to be fueled by Jericho's new found affection for Chyna. Hell, since HHH is all cozy with Stephanie, doesn't Chyna deserve some kind of romance of her own. I certainly think so.

Onto the Rumble match...I thought this was an excellently booked, and excellently executed match. All the right people were pushed. All the right rivalries were furthered, and of course the People's champ the Rock won. Lets first look at Rakishi, who again if Raw was any indication is on the fast track to main event status. He enters the Rumble and cleans house (making short work of my poor boy Christian who had a really easy night on Sunday working for a total of 1 minute). Does the dance number with Too Cool, which was a really great touch, and then dumps their asses out of the ring. Good stuff. Rakishi, although eliminated early on, came out stronger than when he went in, and once again found himself as a huge part of the main event on TV, this time on Raw instead of Smackdown. The WWF are in dire need of fleshing out the Main Event picture, and in my opinion Rakishi is ready, able, and willing to fill this spot. He was a great choice to be the Rock's partner against Big show and HHH, and once again he didn't disappoint.

Other observations:

I was really happy to see Kane look impressive in the Rumble, as the forgotten "Holy Shit" moment of the night was Kane picking up the massive Big Show and bodyslamming him in the middle of the ring. I am glad they are revisiting the Kane/X-Puke rivalry because I didn't feel like it was ever finished properly. I just hope it leads to Kane being elevated to the Main Event where he belongs, and not instead having Kane lay down for X-Puke to elevate him.

Speaking of, I gotta give credit where credit it is due, and X-Puke really went all out heel on us on Monday, and it was great. But anyone who didn't smell a GIANT SET UP from Tori just hasn't been watching wrestling very long.

What the hell is the WWF doing with Edge and Christian. I see where this is going and I don't like it one bit. They are pushing Edge as this ladies man in this ridiculous angle, and leaving Christian lagging far behind. I really don't like this angle at all, and I think it is unfair that Christian seems to be stranded in the background. Christian is a major talent, who deserves a push as well, and its not just because I think he is super hot, he really is great. Maybe if the WWF gave him a decent angle, he would be able to get some necessary heat. And this every woman wants Edge angle, although very realistic serves to zap Edge of this enigmatic mystique that has made him so interesting in the past. But it seems that the WWF is intent on doing this. So how about break up the brothers, and have them feud with each other. I bet those would be great matches!

I guess I would be remiss if I didn't mention the goings on in the WCW. Sharon pretty much summed up my exact feelings in her excellent column last week, so I won't regurgitate what she has already said. But I see it as a very exciting opportunity for the WWF to get some excellent technicians on their roster. I don't know how locker-room politics will play into the arrival of people like Benoit, Malenko and Saturn, but I am curious to see how it will play out. All I have to say is it seems like the WCW is on self-destruct, and if Nitro was any indication of what they have in store, they are in serious trouble.

Before I go, I would like to say it was excellent to see Droz on RAW this week. He looked well, and seemed to be in good spirits. His strength and his courage are truly admirable and inspiring, and I hope he continues to improve. My thoughts and prayers are with him.

I also hope that Stone Cold has a speedy and complete recovery, and whether he returns to the ring or not, I hope he is able to live without the constant discomfort and pain that comes from a horrible neck injury.

Ok, I am out of here, thanks for reading, and I hope if you are on the East Coast the snow storm didn't hit you too hard. Go out, build a snowman, have a snowball fight, let your inner child run wild, that's what I've been doing. Oh yeah, if you read something in my column you hated, or loved, or just made you think, please write me and tell me about it. All emails will be answered. See ya.