A thought struck me while watching the tape too: some folks may be underwhelmed by Steven Richards joining the Alliance, but to 'smark' fans, it fits...

His hair style is different now, his name slightly changed... but this is the same "Dancing" Stevie Richards who made his name and fame along with The Blue Meanie and Nova in ECW... I'm surprised Paul Heyman hasn't mentioned that fact on TV.

I watched my recording of Smackdown! today... I was amazed at how good the Trish Stratus / Mighty Molly match was. Either Trish has been improving as a wrestler in great strides, or Molly can make anyone look good!

Unfortunately, the top-card matches proved to me how stale these performers are. The Dudleys / Hardyz match was a snorer, since these wrestlers have faced each other way too many times now... and much as I enjoy RVD. putting him in the ring against The Rock just made it unwatchable. Rock is far too stale to put on a good match anymore.

I haven't yet watched RAW in its entirety, but I was surprised they didn't hype the crap out of the all or nothing WWF / Alliance match at Survivor Series. It's a match with a great deal of importance.

More importantly, in my mind: it's a mistake.

If the Alliance loses, either they vanish - which defeats the idea of WCW ever re-happening - or they stay around, killing the significance of this match.

The same thing if the WWF loses - not that they would. Still, it makes for a stipulation they can't keep.

I had a thought last night:

Linda McMahon donated a million dollars to the New York Relief Fund.

Bill Goldberg shot his mouth off a few weeks ago to claim the WWF did nothing for the city (a statement that was wrong, BTW).

With his AOL / Times Warner contract, he'll pocket several million bucks.

So, why doesn't he make a gesture and donate a million himself? Funny how he hasn't offered...

I forgot to mention the "Holy sh*t!" match of the night at No Mercy: the Intercontinental title Ladder Match between Edge and Christian!

These guys really go all out for these matches... but the top-of-the-ladder-to-the-floor spot was simply insanely dangerous. They both could have come out of that one with broken legs.

No Mercy ended about an hour ago... it was mostly an okay PPV, with the least interesting matches the ones expected (Kane / Test and Booker T / Undertaker). The lingerie match was great eye candy, but too short.

By far the biggest note of the night was Chris Jericho finally winning "the big one", winning the WCW title from The Rock. After working for years, being buried in the WWF midcard for so long, he finally gets a well-deserved push.