The last quarter final fight on The Ultimate Fighter 3 - Matt Hamill vs. Mike Nickels - was shaping up to be the most exciting fight of the first round. Saved for last, it seemed to be the classic gold medal wrestler vs. gold medal jiu-jitsu artist. We all tuned in, excited to see what was sure to be a great fight. Unfortunately things didn’t play out that way. Mike and Matt put on a "sloppy" (to use Dana White’s word) fight that looked like it was filmed in slow motion. Both of them gassed immediately, and it seemed like neither one of them wanted the fight that bad.

Tito’s "future world champion" Matt plodded around the octagon with his hands down, just begging Mike to catch him with a fist, foot, knee or elbow, and put him out of his misery. Fortunately for Matt (and Tito), Mike didn’t even seem to be present during the fight. He threw almost no punches, knees, or kicks, and spent most of the fight trying to cover up and hide. Matt won the decision by dominating the ugly, slow motion, standing battle. After the fight, Matt promptly collapsed and was taken to the hospital.

I was never 100% sold that Matt was the overwhelming favorite that Tito seemed to think he was, and after seeing this fight I (along with everyone else) am wondering if he can even make it into the finals.

Assessment : Ugly fight. Bad for Matt, but Good for the other light-heavies.

Item : It’s time for another Ring of Honor commercial.

There’s a lot of words in the air concerning the "new" ECW. Will it fail? Will it succeed? No one can say for sure. Matt Dawgs recently posted an excellent column on this site that I highly suggest you check out if you haven’t read it yet. I (like Matt and many others) was there in the "ECW Arena" when many of the historic ECW moments (good and bad) went down. I lived the ECW era, and was one of those "rabid" fans that they talk about on the DVDs. One thing I can say for certain, the ECW that I lived and loved, is dead and buried, and the new McMahon-ECW will never come close to being the same thing.

However all is not lost. There is a place (not owned by Vince McMahon)where the ECW "spirit" lives on. As has been documented ad nauseam, ECW had that independent FTW spirit that is impossible for Vince and company to reproduce from their spot atop the wrestling mountain. Paul knew his fans, he knew how to give them what they wanted, and how to make them a key part of the show. The only place where I feel that same spirit today is at Ring of Honor shows. Ring of Honor is, to my mind, the real modern day ECW.

If you are hungry for that old ECW aura, you can spend $40.00 on a watered down WWECW show, or you can spend far less money, and check out some RoH shows, where the ECW legacy lives on. There will never be another mid-90’s Paul Heyman, but Gabe Saploski knows what his fans want to see, he knows how to make them part of the show, and he and his boys (and girls) go out and give it everything they’ve got on every single show.

If you’ve read my RoH reviews you know that I’m not an "ROHbot" who thinks that everything they do is brilliant. They have their share of failures, but I was in the ECW crowd for some of their colossal failures as well. Heyman was far from infallible, but at the end of the show, you always felt that you had seen something special. The same holds true for RoH.

I have repeated it many times over - WWE shows have gotten laughably bad (as is well documented on this site). TNA has some promise, but they are still focused in the wrong direction (Nash, 3D, James Gang, Jarrett, Steiner, Sting, Raven).

ECWWE is an interesting idea, but could go very bad, very quickly. Ring of Honor is currently producing the most entertaining and compelling wrestling product in the states. Jump on the RoH bandwagon now and enjoy wrestling the way it was meant to be - Excellent wrestling matches, compelling and simple wrestling storylines, fans who actually care about the product, and hungry athletes revolutionizing the sport at every show.

Ring of Honor IS modern pro wrestling plain and simple. Buy a few RoH DVDs and check them out for yourself. I promise that you will not be disappointed.

End of commercial.

Assessment : Good.

Because apparently, Vince needs more money.

This is a bold move at a strange time. Many long time fans have been wondering why they have been shelling out $30.00 for terrible shows like Judgment Day for the past few years. Those same fans have to wonder why they should pay out an extra ten bucks a pop, when WWE PPV quality has been steadily declining over the past few years.

Vince apparently thinks you’ll pay any amount of money just for the privilege of watching uninteresting "sports entertainers" put on stupid skits, and bad matches. The time has come to prove him wrong.

I honestly hope that this makes a percentage of WWE fans say "f**k this" and take that money that they would have spent on WWE shows and invest it in TNA, RoH, or on a ticket to an independent show. All cheaper options, and (as of right now) all far more entertaining options as well.

Assessment : It depends on how the fans react. Good if it gets some people to look elsewhere for their wrestling entertainment. Bad if the masses continue to pad Vince McMahon’s already overflowing pockets.

Item : With half of the fighters eliminated, The Ultimate Fighter 3 rolls into the semi-finals.

Four light heavy weights remain. Mike Bisbing - Who crushed Kristian in the first round : Matt Hamill - Who barely snuck by a nearly comatose Mike Nickles : Josh Haynes - Who slipped by Tait on what most people thought was a draw. Jesse Forbes - The lone Team Shamrock fighter, who was dominated and eliminated by Noah, but was brought back when Noah injured his vulva and went home.

If you’re a fan of Bisbing (which I am) you have to be smiling about the way this is playing out. It looks like they are building for a Bisbing vs. Hamill final. I, for one, will be shocked if Mark or any of the other light heavies can take out Mike Bisbing. "Wanker" or not, he may indeed be the next Ultimate Fighter.

Four middleweights remain as well. Kendall Grove - Who choked out of the pizza loving Ross in the first round : Rory Singer - Who caught Solomon with a lucky kick to the head and knocked him silly : Kalib Starnes - Who eliminated Mike Stine in the very first fight : Ed Herman - Who dominated the overmatched Danny and got a tap out via arm bar in the first round.

I can’t see anything other than Kendall vs. Ed in the final round in what may be the best fight of the entire season. I have watched The Ultimate Fighter religiously since it came on the air and I think this is the best season yet. I am pumped up for the semi finals.

Assessment : Good (better than anything on Raw, Smackdown, or Impact)

Sweet. Here’s hoping that they don’t "kick his stinkin’ teeth in".

Assessment : Radio free Insanity..... Always good baby!

Thanks for reading gang.

Questions, comments, threats or bribes to abarnowski@comcast.net

Later yo.

~ ajb.....ajb.....ajb.....ajb.....ajb.....