February 27, 2013
February 26, 2013
"God is a concept by which we measure our pain" ~John Lennon
In January, before the Royal Rumble, I was absolutely dead-sure that God would somehow turn babyface in preparation for a formal "crowning" at Wrestlemania in honor of his position as The Man currently in the WWE and world of pro wrestling in general. The results of the Rumble and the following Raw shook me up and left me pretty confused, being that it seemed to leave God cold going into the event I was sure would make him a Legend. Between then and now, we've been treated to a rebuild-up of God's integrity and grit, and He's been solidified as the most dominant personality and wrestling force in the company. Despite tonight's loss, I'm still heavily invested in God going over for the WWE Championship at Mania, and have to admit, mark that I am, that I would pop even harder if he turned face at the same time. But maybe that's also just because I don't care for the rock and am tired with John Cena. Just had to get that off my chest after God stole the show with his auto-deity-invoking promo and subsequent match against the Cena Problem*. If God doesn't enter into the championship picture at Wrestlemania, I hope he beats the Undertaker.
*due credit to the Cena Problem for 1/2 of a fantastic main event.
February 22, 2013
Just Stopping By...
...To mention that PWG's most recent event- DDT4- was awesome. El Generico's last indie hurrah was the most entertaining wrestling show that I've seen since King of Trios. It looked great, the commentary was really fun, the matches were superb, and there was an interesting story being told throughout the matches. It was the total package in ways that Lex Luger never dreamed of, and I recommend it highly.
February 13, 2013
Breaking news from NXT house show
link: https://twitter.com/ChaseIsStupid/status/301870388906962946
Apparently, he was ringside for a Brodus Clay match tonight, but wasn't introduced by name. Ole!
February 06, 2013
SCN: That's What I Do
Greetings all Edgeheads,
So, as some of you (all of you) may remember, I was pretty bummed by the results of the Royal Rumble. Last week's Raw was even more of a downer, as it continued in the direction of the previous night's PPV with the glorification of the Rock as the ultimate wrestler, the neutering of CM Punk as an uneffective brat, and laying to waste the idea that the Shield is an autonomous militia. I was really pessimistic that this week's Raw would be any better, but it was, and now I'm back on the horse and ready to talk about my feelings again.
First of all, let me go back a little to iterate that not everything that happened at the Rumble or last week on Raw was bad. Cesaro's still doing amazing things, and I like his pairing with Ryback, who seems primed for a solid run as US champ (inviting further comparisons to Goldberg, but whatever). I'm also down with Tensai's face-turn last week, which was made more evident on Smackdown when he willingly joined Brodus Clay for a little post-match soft-shoe. You may recall Vladimir Kozlov turning face in the exact same way a few years ago, with Santino being in Brodus' role. Within a few months of that, they were tag team champions, so who knows what could be in store for the beastly team of Tensai and Brodus Clay. Wade Barrett is still a solid presence, but I think we're all just waiting to see who takes the IC belt off of him.
I don't remember if they talked about this on Raw or not, but the Rhodes Scholars have officially disbanded in favor of pursuing solo careers. They were the best tag team in the WWE in my opinion, and could have made a much bigger impact if they'd stayed together. The other great team, Hell No, seems to be coming to the end of their story as well, which is less unfortunate, since Daniel Bryan is the most best wrestler in the world and everything he does is wonderful, but it's still difficult to accept change and say goodbye to something that we all liked. Bye bye Hell No, please don't draw out a silly feud between yourselves.
Jack Swagger came back on Smackdown and announced his intention to earn a spot in the Elimination Chamber. His promo and subsequent matches have made me a little embarrassed to own one of his t-shirts. He would have benefited from some slight changes, especially in the wardrobe and finishing move departments. It seems the only thing he's changed is his hairstyle, which I'm in no place to judge, but if I was I'd say it's horrendous. On the flip side, we have Mark Henry, who I marked the fuck out for this Monday. Poncho, I hope you were watching, so that you could get a taste of the version of Mark Henry that Rusty and I enjoyed so much. Trash talking, physically dominant, and so so much fun. I can't wait to see what he does next. Jericho's return has been great because it's had so little hype, it's just been solid wrestling from Jericho, which seems much cooler than last time when he was pissing us all off for various reasons.
Of course the most talked about return was that of Brock Lesnar, but that seems to speak for itself. He's allied with Heyman, a feud vs. Helmsley/McMahon is well underway, almost as a transparent means to an end (being Triple H vs. Brock at Mania). Be that as it may, I've enjoyed Lesnar's segments, and the way Heyman acts around him is hilarious. God bless Vince McMahon for taking an F-5, and God bless Brock Lesnar for throwing a chair into the Miz's face.
Far and away the biggest reason I feel rejuvenated in watching WWE is because of Punk's performances on Raw this week. His stellar, acidic promo which opened the show, followed by his fantastic match with Jericho (with due credit to Y2J) really helped me deal with the fact that he's not champ anymore. I'm still bummed that Rock is champ and not Punk, but Punk's performances this week reminded me that even though he isn't champion, he's still super awesome and totally rules.
Seemingly headed toward some kind of corny-ass match with Sheamus, Cena, Orton, Miz, and Ryback, the Shield is still the shit. Their entrance is my #1 favorite, and they don't seem any less threatening now than they did when their motives were more mysterious. All three of those guys will probably be around for a long time to come, and I get excited every time they appear.
That's it for my WWE ramble. There are a few other topics I could mention, though...
In Portland, I mentioned having watched a few shoots recently. Here are some screenshots of them. Also, I watched an interview with Bruno Sammartino this week in which he explains why he agreed to go into the WWE Hall of Fame. That was kind of interesting, it's online if you want to see it. That guy's a class act. This week I also watched Nigel McGuinness' self-made autobiographical documentary about the end of his career and the circumstances which led him to retire. If you've heard Nigel's interview with Boom Boom on the Art of Wrestling podcast, then you'll already know that he's a depressing wet blanket of a personality, and his documentary reflects that through and through, but he does have an infectious passion for pro wrestling which I greatly appreciate, especially considering how awesome Nigel's matches were. I would recommend the documentary to anyone who doesn't mind watching a guy wallow in self pity for an hour and a half. I have to say that it is a very well made amateur film, an impressive project, considering all of the footage was compiled and edited by Nigel himself.
And apparently Bret Hart belongs to the rock group Nickelback.
Ring of Honor is really cool right now. Delirious took over booking from Cornette in October, and things are much improved. I watched a fun show called The Hunt for Gold from mid-January, which was available for iPPV, but was referred to as being a "house show" by the commentators. I don't know what it all means, but it had some interesting match-ups, and seemed more laid-back and entertaining than the neverending stream of mega-epic kickouts that typify major ROH events. I haven't been keeping up with their weekly program, but after seeing this show I will get back to following it closely.
It feels sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good to not watch this show anymore.
In other, more personal news, I've been investing a lot of time in studying the modern masters of painting. Anyone recognize this 1949 Mark Rothko?
Someone should have a website that keeps track of every time this print shows up in the background of WWE backstage segments.
I have mixed feelings on the new header for this blog, because this new one features us looking sad and angry, which is kind of funny but I'm not sure if I like it more or less than the old header. What do you guys think? And what do you think about wrestling? I hope CM Punk can rejuvenate all of us into posting about our feelings and opinions about wrestling to keep this site an actively open dialogue which we can each contribute to, and hopefully each take something from as well. Even if it's just each others' shit.
So, as some of you (all of you) may remember, I was pretty bummed by the results of the Royal Rumble. Last week's Raw was even more of a downer, as it continued in the direction of the previous night's PPV with the glorification of the Rock as the ultimate wrestler, the neutering of CM Punk as an uneffective brat, and laying to waste the idea that the Shield is an autonomous militia. I was really pessimistic that this week's Raw would be any better, but it was, and now I'm back on the horse and ready to talk about my feelings again.
Good Things on the Mid Card
First of all, let me go back a little to iterate that not everything that happened at the Rumble or last week on Raw was bad. Cesaro's still doing amazing things, and I like his pairing with Ryback, who seems primed for a solid run as US champ (inviting further comparisons to Goldberg, but whatever). I'm also down with Tensai's face-turn last week, which was made more evident on Smackdown when he willingly joined Brodus Clay for a little post-match soft-shoe. You may recall Vladimir Kozlov turning face in the exact same way a few years ago, with Santino being in Brodus' role. Within a few months of that, they were tag team champions, so who knows what could be in store for the beastly team of Tensai and Brodus Clay. Wade Barrett is still a solid presence, but I think we're all just waiting to see who takes the IC belt off of him.
Tag Team Division Slowly Crumbles
Returns
Of course the most talked about return was that of Brock Lesnar, but that seems to speak for itself. He's allied with Heyman, a feud vs. Helmsley/McMahon is well underway, almost as a transparent means to an end (being Triple H vs. Brock at Mania). Be that as it may, I've enjoyed Lesnar's segments, and the way Heyman acts around him is hilarious. God bless Vince McMahon for taking an F-5, and God bless Brock Lesnar for throwing a chair into the Miz's face.
CM Punk
The Shield
That's it for my WWE ramble. There are a few other topics I could mention, though...
Shoot Interviews and a Documentary
In Portland, I mentioned having watched a few shoots recently. Here are some screenshots of them. Also, I watched an interview with Bruno Sammartino this week in which he explains why he agreed to go into the WWE Hall of Fame. That was kind of interesting, it's online if you want to see it. That guy's a class act. This week I also watched Nigel McGuinness' self-made autobiographical documentary about the end of his career and the circumstances which led him to retire. If you've heard Nigel's interview with Boom Boom on the Art of Wrestling podcast, then you'll already know that he's a depressing wet blanket of a personality, and his documentary reflects that through and through, but he does have an infectious passion for pro wrestling which I greatly appreciate, especially considering how awesome Nigel's matches were. I would recommend the documentary to anyone who doesn't mind watching a guy wallow in self pity for an hour and a half. I have to say that it is a very well made amateur film, an impressive project, considering all of the footage was compiled and edited by Nigel himself.And apparently Bret Hart belongs to the rock group Nickelback.
ROH
Impact
In other, more personal news, I've been investing a lot of time in studying the modern masters of painting. Anyone recognize this 1949 Mark Rothko?
Someone should have a website that keeps track of every time this print shows up in the background of WWE backstage segments.
I have mixed feelings on the new header for this blog, because this new one features us looking sad and angry, which is kind of funny but I'm not sure if I like it more or less than the old header. What do you guys think? And what do you think about wrestling? I hope CM Punk can rejuvenate all of us into posting about our feelings and opinions about wrestling to keep this site an actively open dialogue which we can each contribute to, and hopefully each take something from as well. Even if it's just each others' shit.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)