Welcome to the day-after-Christmas edition of the Phat Daily Column. I am your host with the most, Mr. Tito. I hope everyone had a great Christmas, and if you don't celebrate X-mas, I hope you're having a great December, if you can dig that. Besides the last few days, it's been a very warm december here in Eastern Ohio, which is very unheard of in this area.

Not much news to discuss with y'all today. The WWF quickly held their two tapings for their next shows to give the whole roster and employees a week or so off for the holidays. It will be good, for many will be able to recharge their batteries to make the stretch towards Royal Rumble.

So what will I do to finish out the year? First of all, you are guaranteed to see the Tito Awards, which rewards this year's "Best of" in pro wrestling, from my opinion. Stuff like best wrestler, best match, best tag team, etc. will be announced, which I've done for several years now. If I have the time, I'll do other special columns to finish out 2001. Again, if and only if I have time, for I have no clue when I'll have another full day off for this week and next.

Once school starts, I hope to have more free time to somewhat devote to internet projects, although I won't overdo it, as many have dedicated their whole lives for internet related stuff. I'm only online once a day, and that's to write the PDC and handle any other online business that may come up. I really have 2 hours, maximum, per day to spend online. Most of the time, it's just an hour, which I have before school or work. But we'll see how it goes.

Because I really want to someday get the "special project" finished, along with my look back at video games for older systems. Oh, and speaking of video games, let me share a story from Christmas with my family yesterday. I was over my Grandma's house in the evening, and one of my little cousins was playing "Kirby's Adventure" for Gameboy Color. As I watched her play it, I noticed that it was the same Kirby I used to play on my old Gameboy, which was the classic spinach-colored Gameboy. Funny thing was that I still knew the game by memory, and I gave my cousin tips on how to get past boards, etc. Then, later on in the evening, I saw the Gameboy Color free from her hands, and I played Kirby's Adventure and beat that sombitch straight through, like I never stopped playing it about 6 or 7 years ago!

What's the moral of this story? Well, it's just funny how good my memory is on video games. Although Kirby was an easy game, back in the day, I was still able to play it with such ease from a long break from playing it years ago. The same goes for any other game. Give me any Mortal Kombat game, and I still can do the Fatalities, Friendships, Babalities, and Pit finishers, as if I spent hours memorizing them beforehand. I still can remember codes for video games off the top of my head. I know plenty of cheats, hidden parts, etc.

And the same goes for a lot of wrestling stuff. I can remember, vividly, a lot of material that I've read about wrestling throughout the years. I am sharp on what happened on television for wrestling, years ago, which comes in handy when I write histories. Yes, a good bit of the histories come straight from what I remember. It's insane. It's a shame that you can't get a job for remembering such things.

When it comes to school, shit.... I don't have the memory that I have for video games or wrestling. I have to study my nuts off for a test, and afterward, I'm likely to never remember any of it ever again. Maybe because school isn't fun from the pressure, therefore leading to a worse learning experience in the long run? I find wrestling and video games to be very fun, and I remember a lot from both. If you ask me anything from the many Biology or Chemistry classes I've taken in the past, I'd be in trouble.

And with this, I'm not too bad at Wrestling Trivia. I've went into some chatrooms and tore up the place on answering questions that nobody thought were possible to answer. The only ones that get me are the ones that are extremely specific, like with numbers on titles, television victories on an opponent, etc... although I can figure them out in time. Now, that's not to say that I'll accept a challenge to a Trivia contest, nor will I answer a long list of wrestling questions that you'll try to send me, but I'm just trying to make a point that I remember a lot more events, facts, or happenings from wrestling than I do through anything in education, and I find that scary.

What am I talking about anyway? For today's PDC, we'll simply review the 2 wrestlingvideos that my favorite person in the world (Mrs. Tito) got me for Christmas, Hardy Boyz: Leap of Faith and the Best of Cactus Jack in ECW. Note that both are VHS video reviews, so don't give me any crap about leaving something out, thinking I'm reviewing the DVD versions.

On to the PDC!

Mr. Tito's Phat Video Reviews

-Hardy Boyz: Leap of Faith (VHS Version)-

First of all, if you're a Hardy Boyz fan, why are you waiting to buy this video? Do it already! If you are just a wrestling fan or a non-Hardys fan, then you just might want to check out this video anyway. Why? Well, it's very nicely put together for a great look at the Hardy Boyz. It describes their youth, early days in wrestling, early times in the WWF, and their booming WWF careers. It's a thing of beauty.

The video clips are what make the video. They show tons of video clips from the Hardy's youth, like the many wrestler gimmicks they dreamed of as kids. These guys were in face paint and cutting promos in front of the camera. Then, clips of their past independent work were shown, as it was funny to see the Hardys in very short hair and not as physically fit as they'd become in the WWF. Then, it was on to the WWF, where they were jobbers for a while, jobbed as a tag team, and then slowly made their mark under Michael P.S. Hayes.

Throughout the video, the Hardys go over several of their best matches. First, it was the famous Terry Invitational Tournament Ladder Match finals against Edge and Christian. You'd think that the TLC video already covered this... well, you actually get more insight on that match from Matt and Jeff Hardy, like where certain spots really hurt or some of the planning for the match. Then, it was on to the Wrestlemania 2000 bout, Summerslam TLC, a Cage match against Edge/Christian, and others. The Hardys were very informative on each match.

But what really made the video was the reality part of it. It goes in depth into the family life of the Hardys, like how they grew up and personal looks at both Hardy's lives. It was very cool to see what they are into in real life, like some of the strange decorations in Jeff's house, etc. I liked the wrestlers' comments about the Hardys, especially Edge and Christian, who had a lot of nice things to say about them. I liked Edge's comments abou their theme music, and how he'd like to see what it felt like to be in Jeff Hardy's mind for a while.

LAST WORD: Excellent video from the WWF, and a truly superior fan video on the Hardy Boyz. One of the best ones here, and I totally recommend it to any wrestling fan out there, especially anyone who has the slightest appreciation for the Hardys. I'll give this badboy a

A+

(A plus), as this is one of the best produced videos by the WWF to this date. Buy this tape!

-Best of the Cactus Jack in ECW (VHS Version)-

This video basically delivers what the box says: the very best of Cactus Jack in ECW. It goes straight through his early beginnings of ECW until the end, where he left to join the WWF. You're pretty much paying for what you get in this video, which includes a ton of matches and many promos for you to enjoy from Foley's ECW days.

I mean, hell, it's over 2 hours long of material, which is unlike what the WWF would give you in dedication to any wrestler. Of course, if the WWF did that, then their videos would go from being $14.99 to something like $34.99, knowing them. With that being said, more bang for your buck!

I really liked the promos Foley was cutting in ECW. He was just cutting loose a lot of emotion he had about wrestling at the time, as he was fresh off a disappointing WCW career, where he no longer had a big money contract to live on. It's just powerful stuff, with what seems to be a lot of realism in those promos.

The only negatives I see are the usual lack of production in ECW videos, like having too much of Joey Styles or the same graphics, and the rushing of clip after clip. Also, there's nothing really shocking about any of the matches. Why? Well, if you look at today's wrestling, a lot of Foley's groundbreaking stuff, back then, has been redone for today's standards. His violent style was new back then, and if you watched it back then, you'd be shocked. Foley changed the business, as many no DQ matches featured a lot of the brawling techniques Foley did.

But the video is still solid for a great look back at Foley's career in ECW, which would be a big stepping stone to the WWF.

LAST WORD: This is a very solid collection of Foley's career in ECW, which is a must have for any hardcore Foley fan. For any other wrestling fan, it's always nice to take a look at someone's roots, as this video does a good job of presenting. I'll give it an

A-

(A minus) especially for the extended time in the video, and for being done in good chronological order without too many gaps in between.

Man, could you imagine how well a Best of Rob Van Dam in ECW would sell on video? Good lord!

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@That's all for today's edition of the PDC. I'm not sure, officially, if I'll be back for a Thursday column, but I'll produce a Smackdown review and we'll see about other columns as well. Just chill....

Take Care, and Thanks for Reading.

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