You were really stretching for champions when you went with Khali huh?

RESPONSE FROM KE: Well, he is a former world heavyweight champion.

No love for ECW? I know you weren't a fan of it.. but you have WCW there and it went out of business just like ECW the same time, and they both had it's fair of an influence on the business. C'mon now..

Anyways awesome idea to do and can't wait to vote to help CM Punk get the win!!

RESPONSE FROM KE: WCW at one time was the No. 1 company, and even at its worst it was No. 2 and way more major league than ECW. No disrespect to them, but guys like Raven, Sandman, Shane Douglas, Taz, Justin Credible, Steve Corino, etc. could never be world champions in a big company.

Nice idea, Eck.
I just voted.

Foley and Flair are the two i most hope get through the first round.

Does this mean you think Batista will be back?

RESPONSE FROM KE: I think there's a good chance he'll be back. But either way, he never specifically said that he was done.

Kev, while I totally agree with your opinion of ECW, I am curious about your assessment of Taz. I'm gradually learning more about wrestlers from before I started watching wrestling, and he's one of the ones who never fails to grab my attention in any video I see, whether in the ring or on the mic. That, combined with his continued solid announcing in TNA, makes me wonder if he couldn't have been a solid attitude era-WWF champion. Out of curiosity, what do you think he was missing?

RESPONSE FROM KE: Personally, I never really got Taz. The biggest thing he was lacking as far as making it in WWE was size and the fact that he didn't have Paul Heyman as his booker any longer.

John Cena vs the Great Khali? Gee, talk about giving someone preferential treatment.

You might watch TNA every week but it isn't a big company either. Yes, they are on television but their ratings are pathetic. They can't even sell out their arenas and have to rely on free admission for most of their shows. At least ECW had a regular paying audience. Yes, TNA might have a larger budget and is currently filled with former WCW stars - but that means squat in terms of their prestige or reputation. ECW had some big stars too like Foley, Funk & Bigelow but for the most part, ECW wisely chose to push their own stars - unlike TNA where the powers that be appear to still be living in the past. as you yourself have complained about. You say someone like Shane Douglas could never be a world champion in a big company. That's just bull----. By the same token, I can point out that someone like Christian can never be a world champion in a big company. His TNA world title reign clearly means nothing in WWE. Ditto Samoa Joe, AJ Styles or that Mankind clone Abyss - none of whom have been tested in a real big company. The truth is that practically anyone can be the WWE champion as long as Vince McMahon thinks it. Not you. Guys with poor wrestling skills - like Diesel or Great Khali - have been WWE champions. Guys with poor mic skills have been WWE champions - Ultimate Warrior or again Great Khali. The number one figure in the company today, John Cena, is neither one of the best in-ring wrestler nor promo speaker. Wrestlers like Raven or Shane Douglas could cut better promos than Cena. Wrestlers like Bam Bam Bigelow or Terry Funk, even in his old age, can deliver a better wrestling match than Cena. If the WWE can push the Great Khali to main-event status, despite his inability to wrestle or cut any promos, that there's simply no reason why someone like Bam Bam Bigelow or Shane Douglas could not have been WWE champion too. Size isn't even an issue too when it comes to someone like Bigelow.

Yeah, I know this is just for fun and all but it's simply absurd that your competition features the likes of the Great Khali, Christian or Abyss - but not the likes of Terry Funk or Bigelow. There's hardly any difference in the prestige of ECW and TNA. You might be a fan of TNA today and you might have missed out on watching ECW back in the day but don't expose your ignorance or bias by dismissing ECW as a big company while including TNA as one.

RESPONSE FROM KE: Just to set the record straight on a few things -- Shane Douglas is someone who I consider a friend. But with that being said, he was a mid-carder in WWE and WCW. That's just a fact. I didn't include Funk in the competition because he's 66 and retired (well, I think he is anyway) and I didn't include Bigelow because he's dead. You must have missed the part of the competitors being active.

Christian Vs CM Punk is unfair.

RESPONSE FROM KE: Why?

Wasn't Raven NWA/TNA world heavyweight champion a few times? How come that period in TNA history doesn't count?

While i understand your view on ECW, was it not considered a legit world title anyways during the 90's at least according to PWI? If so isn't it unfair to dismiss the holders of that belt on your personal beliefs about the stars and company?

Just curious, not really bothered either way since most of the holders wouldn't get past the first round... would be slightly more interesting to see Raven in Khali's place though, voting might be been a bit closer...

RESPONSE FROM KE: For me, TNA became legit when they got the Spike TV prime time deal. That was Oct. 2005, which was four months after Raven's last title reign. This was a judgment call by me and one can certainly disagree, but I wanted to make the cutoff somewhere. Basketball fans always get upset with the NCAA tournament selection committee, so as the one-man selection committee for Mat Madness, I'll take the heat.

Hopefully this poll will show that the best champion is CM Punk. With Jericho away from WWE, no one is in the same league in or out of the ring than Punk. I am stunned he is not champion currently.

AJ Styles is good enough to be world champ in WWE, but doubt it will ever happen. I agree that the TNA title is worthless. Christian is also good enough but will never get the chance as VKM doesn't rate him.

Flair is "active", but in ring has been finished for years, and is now an embarassment, like a lot of the ex-WCW guys in TNA.

Taz was a great performer for ECW - and I don't use that term loosely. He came across as a legitimate submission wrestler and tough guy and had very good mike skills. But because of his lack of height, I don't think he would have been a big star in the WWE. I actually saw him in his earlier pro wrestling days as Tazmaniac - wearing a goofy costume and jobbing to mediocre performers. He worked very hard to get where he did.

As an example, Homicide is a somewhat similar style short wrestler who is nowhere near as good as Taz was at anything.

Christian Vs CM Punk is unfair.
RESPONSE FROM KE: Why?

Guessing he didn't want two fan favorites going head-to-head in the 1st round.

Jericho/Punk/Orton/Undertaker as the Final 4.

Thanks for the response Kev. Always love reading the column, and I like this tournament as well.

Further to your basketball theme, I believe that both Glen Jacobs and Kevin Nash played college ball. Not sure about the others in your bracket.

Great idea. Poor Jack Swagger, haha. Also, Punk vs Christian was a great matchup. Hated going against Christian, but Punk is awesome.

Punk vs. Christian is unfair because they are both awesome, and we can only vote for one or the other.

I'll admit it, I voted for Khali over Cena.

I wonder how many people aren't voting for Jeff Hardy after last night?

Edge vs Jack Swagger is unfair too. But anyways, great idea, Kev :)

You should have done it like the NCAA brackets.With 1 seed vs. 8 seed or whatever.

RESPONSE FROM KE: I did. I just didn't reveal the seedings because I don't want to influence anyone, but they're probably not too hard to figure out if you think about it.

Miz v. Sting is definitely the most even first-round match-up. Hoping Miz will win, because he's AWESOME

I have voted. :D

Hey Kev,
This is a great idea except that the one side with Cena A J Edge Punk and Angle is really loaded. The otherside has Undretaker and Orton. Although I guess it doesn't matter since this is a popularity contest and not a true in ring ability contest.

The picture of Samoa Joe looks really bad if you know what I mean...

While i understand your view on ECW, was it not considered a legit world title anyways during the 90's at least according to PWI?

Nope. PWI never considered ECW a legit world title, although (they say) it came close.

Then it died.

I can't believe Rey Mysterio is beating Samoa Joe. I remember thinking a few years ago that Samoa Joe would be the face of TNA. So much for that. What a joke.

Speaking of jokes: Jeff Hardy. That's all I wanted to say.

Great Idea, Kev!
But I have to disagree with some of the seedings. I assume Ric Flair is a no.8, seed which seems far too low. Big Show is probably no.3, which makes no sense either. Miz, Styles, Anderson, Kane are all bigger stars than him. I would probably have Jericho as a no.2 seed as well, over Hardy or Batista.