Rants and Ranks

What's Good in 2020 WWE?

noreply@blogger.com (Victor Parenza) — Wed, 30 Sep 2020 19:06:00 +0000

WWE recently announced they were having a draft again this year. One can't help but groan and think, Uhhh here we go again. The last few years have certainly emphasized WWE's complete and lack of regard for the phrase, "brand exclusive" with superstars jumping back and forth or switching brands entirely for little or no explanation given. Credit where it's due though, this year has been much better than the complete and total farce that was last year's jump-a-palooza.

I realize I sound like a battered wife who constantly goes back to her abusive husband because "he only hit me twice this year." In all honesty, most WWE fans are this to some degree, depending on how well you pay attention. If you try to follow continuity, you're punished. If you believe in stipulations, or in this case, exclusive draft picks, you're punished. You just have to sit and watch the whims unfold of one maniacal senior citizen named Vincent K. McMahon.

Now COVID has thrown a monster monkey wrench into everything, and that doesn't exclude the pro-wrestling industry. (AEW has handled it overall much better than WWE has, but it still has negatively affected the promotion as well.) This year was going to suck no matter how good creative was, and with Vince in charge, creative usually doesn't stay "good" for very long.

Despite it all, once I started to think about it more, the draft is much-needed. I haven't watched Smackdown since it moved to Fridays because who honestly once to watch WWE on a Friday night? (The clips I've seen haven't held my attention at all.) I do watch Raw weekly, and despite trying to remain optimistic, two weeks ago finally broke me. "We need to shake things up!"

I know this has been negative thus far, but I'm going to spin it and talk about what has been good on Raw in the turd sandwich known as 2020. And there is only one place to start.

Drew McIntyre has had a banner year in 2020. (Poor bastard.) When Drew talks, I

believe him. He doesn't come across as WWE's

sescoops.com

version of "cool," i.e. lame, like Roman/Cena
always did. Drew seems like a believable bad ass babyface, and he passes the ultimate test; I don't look at my phone when he's on the screen. He looks like a star, he wrestles like a star, and brother, he is a star.

Asuka, although has cooled off lately, is the same thing to the women's division that Drew is to the men's. Asuka somehow is hilarious, yet a believable killer. That is a fine-line to balance,

ringsidenews.com

yet she somehow does it on a weekly basis.

Randy Orton somehow crept onto a new creative level the past few years. He did it very quietly, and it's result has been most noticeable this year. For a guy that was always hit or miss, he's pretty much batting 1.000 this year.

MVP was brought in as a one-off surprise for the Royal Rumble, and eventually ended up staying around. I can't overstate how important he's been to Raw. He always delivers on the mic, and his pairing with Lashley has been a God-send for Lashley. I don't know how it's possible, but pre-MVP Lashley somehow had negative charisma. He had failed on every level since his comeback, yet somehow seems tolerable now in his role. The Hurt Business overall has been a nice vehicle for guys that were desperately needing it; and it's all due to MVP.

Samoa Joe the commentator was a surprise, and although I much prefer him wrestling (I have no idea what his injury status is currently) he's really good at the announce booth.

A ninja in wrestling in 2020 is a death sentence. I realize I'm biased here, but Akira

sportskeeda.com

has turned this chicken shit into chicken salad. His comedic timing and facial expressions are impeccable. He’s been the ultimate foil to R-Truth, who himself has had a good year. Yes, I want more for the feisty grappler from Japan, but I enjoy him doing this much more compared to what he was doing prior, which was nothing.

After the draft, all these folks could be moved to Smackdown and I'll never see them again-at least until next year's draft. Oh, that's right, they'll probably be a "wild card 2.0" and they'll be back on Raw in three weeks!

My Esteemed Albums Ranked

noreply@blogger.com (Victor Parenza) — Tue, 28 Jul 2020 19:46:00 +0000

I have decided to do a different take on my traditional rankings. In the past, I had ranked a band's discography against each other. Then I got the wild idea to rank the best against the best, and see what mathematical shakes out as my number album of all-time. I didn't realize what a challenge awaited me.

Relatively speaking, ranking a band against itself is pretty easy. When you compare ones of different eras and genres, it becomes extremely difficult (for me anyway). I think I ended up tabulating and ranking these three different times. Each subsequent time I would eliminate an album entirely that was statistically well-below the others. In the end, I settled on a nice list of 20. (The albums that just missed the cut were: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by the Beatles, Golden State and Razorblade Suitcase by Bush, Break the Cycle by Staind, Shaka Rock by Jet, The Beautiful Letdown by Switchfoot.)

You can click each album score for a detailed breakdown.

1. Nevermind
Score: 155.58

2. Spiritual Machines
Score: 146.4

3. Gravity
Score: 142.9

4. Happiness...
Score: 136.27

5. Wasting Light

Score: 131.91

6. Sixteen Stone
Score: 127.33

7. Get Born
Score: 125.69

8. Collective Soul

Score: 117.58

9. We Are Not Alone
Score: 117.18

10. Dosage

Score: 114.67

11. Dear Agony
Score: 111.55

12. Phobia
Score:109.27

13. Illusion of Progress
Score: 108.07

14. In Utero
Score: 106.42

15. Jar of Flies
Score: 100.86

16. Magical Mystery Tour

Score: 97

17. Chapter V
Score: 95.75

18. Abbey Road

Score: 92.59

19. One By One

Score: 91.91

20. Youth

Score: 91.82

I came to the totals by assigning each song a value (231 for the best, 1 for the worst) then averaging the songs for each album. On each revision, removing an album meant removing all those songs, which meant reassigning and re-figuring out the totals. The finale tally left me with 231 songs to work with-hence the 231 points for the number one ranked song.

Not Enough (Gravity)
Where the River Flows (Collective Soul)
Comedown (Sixteen Stone)
Walk (Wasting Light)
Thief (Happiness...)
In Repair (Spiritual Machines)
Nutshell (Jar of Flies)
The World I Know (Collective Soul)
Alien (Sixteen Stone)
The Diary of Jane (Phobia)
Halo (One by One)
Glycerine (Sixteen Stone)
Arlandria (Wasting Light)
Here Comes the Sun (Abbey Road)
Breath (Phobia)
Come As You Are (Nevermind)
In Bloom (Nevermind)
Run (Dosage)
Forget It (We Are Not Alone)
Middle of Yesterday (Spiritual Machines)
Is Anybody Home? (Happiness...)
Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nevermind)
These Days (Wasting Light)
So Cold (We Are Not Alone)
Satellite (Youth)
Pennyroyal Tea (In Utero)
Come Together (Abbey Road)
Compliment (Dosage)
Made to Heal (Spiritual Machines)
Everything Zen (Sixteen Stone)
What Lies Beneath (Dear Agony
Come Around Again (Get Born)
Times Like These (One by One)
Right Behind You (Mafia) (Spiritual Machines)
Bring Back the Sun (Gravity)
Innocent (Gravity)
Crown (Dosage)
Lost Along the Way (The Illusion of Progress)
Something in the Way (Nevermind)
Move On (Get Born)
Machinehead (Sixteen Stone)
Little Things (Sixteen Stone)
Give Me a Sign (Dear Agony)
Somewhere Out There (Gravity)
Are You Sad? (Spiritual Machines)
Consequences of Laughing (Happiness...)
Everything Changes (Chapter V)
Lounge Act (Nevermind)
Sooner or Later (We Are Not Alone)
Dumb (In Utero)
Reply (Chapter V)
Bleed (Collective Soul)
Raining Again (The Illusion of Progress)
Tangled Up in You (The Illusion of Progress)
Without You (Dear Agony)
No Excuses (Jar of Flies)
Away (We Are Not Alone)
Rope (Wasting Light)
December (Collective Soul)
Dear Rosemary (Wasting Light)
The Corner (The Illusion of Progress)
No More, No Less (Dosage)
Life (Spiritual Machines)
All For You (Gravity)
Look What You've Done (Get Born)
Lazy Gun (Get Born)
Bridge Burning (Wasting Light)
Here We Are (Phobia)
Heavy (Dosage)
The End (Abbey Road)
Something (Abbey Road)
Golden Slumbers (Abbey Road)
Better Now (Youth)
Carry That Weight (Abbey Road)
How Do You Love? (Youth)
She Said (Dosage)
Sell My Soul (Gravity)
Breed (Nevermind)
Cold Hard Bitch (Get Born)
Polly (Nevermind)
Serve the Servants (In Utero)
Testosterone (Sixteen Stone)
Lithium (Nevermind)
Right Here (Chapter V)
I Will Not Bow (Dear Agony)
All My Life (One by One)
Penny Lane (Magical Mystery Tour)
I Am the Walrus (Magical Mystery Tour)
One Man Army (Happiness...)
On a Plain (Nevermind)
All Apologies (In Utero)
Hello, Goodbye (Magical Mystery Tour)
Rape Me (In Utero)
Schizophrenic Conversations (Chapter V)
Believe (The Illusion of Progress)
Polythene Pam (Abbey Road)
Drain You (Nevermind)
[Untitled Track] (Collective Soul)
Magical Mystery Tour (Magical Mystery Tour)
Baby You're a Rich Man (Magical Mystery Tour)
Flying (Magical Mystery Tour)
Waited (Happiness...)
Nothing Left to Say (The Illusion of Progress)
Under Heaven's Skies (Youth)
Gel (Collective Soul)
Simple (Collective Soul)
Heart-Shaped Box (In Utero)
Very Ape (In Utero)
Him (Youth)
Happiness & the Fish (Happiness...)
Are You Gonna be My Girl (Get Born)
Falling (Chapter V)
Stealing Babies (Happiness...)
The Fool on the Hill (Magical Mystery Tour)
Devil (Chapter V)
Get What You Need (Get Born)
Dandy Life (Dosage)
Annie (Happiness...)
A Story About a Girl (Gravity)
Perfect to Stay (Youth)
Smashing Young Man (Collective Soul)
All I Want (The Illusion of Progress)
Last Chance (Get Born)
Needs (Dosage)
The Way I Am (The Illusion of Progress)
You Fight Me (Phobia)
Rainy Day Parade (The Illusion of Progress)
Tired of You (One by One)
Dance with the Devil (Phobia)
I Stay Away (Jar of Flies)
Break My Fall (We Are Not Alone)
Counting the Days (Youth)
If You Believe (Spiritual Machines)
Don't Follow (Jar of Flies)
Radio Song (Get Born)
Timothy (Get Born)
Until the End (Phobia)
Breakdown (We Are Not Alone)
Stay Away (Jar of Flies)
Lying Awake (Happiness...)
You (Phobia)
Crawl (Dear Agony)
Into the Nothing (Dear Agony)
Topless (Phobia)
Come Back (One by One)
Follow (We Are Not Alone)
Rain (We Are Not Alone)
Fade Away (Dear Agony)
Do You Like It (Gravity)
The Truth (The Illusion of Progress)
Dear Agony (Dear Agony)
Take This (Chapter V)
Rotten Apple (Jar of Flies)
Potato Girl (Happiness...)
Blister (Happiness...)
Get Me Outta Here (Get Born)
Rollover DJ (Get Born)
King of all Excuses (Chapter V)
Low (One by One)
White Limo (Wasting Light)
You Never Give Me Your Money (Abbey Road)
The Wonderful Future (Spiritual Machines)
All My Friends (Spiritual Machines)
Monkey (Sixteen Stone)
Hopeless (Dear Agony)
Take it or Leave It (Get Born)
Firefly (We Are Not Alone)
Overdrive (One by One)
I Should Have Known (Wasting Light)
Back & Forth (Wasting Light)
Break Away (The Illusion of Progress)
Made of Steel (Gravity)
Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle (In Utero)
Run Away (Chapter V)
Scentless Apprentice (In Utero)
There's a Way (Youth)
Because (Abbey Road)
Anthem of the Angels (Dear Agony)
Strawberry Fields Forever (Magical Mystery Tour)
Burn Away (One by One)
Maxwell's Silver Hammer (Abbey Road)
Simple Design (We Are Not Alone)
Had Enough (Phobia)
Lights Out (Dear Agony)
Unknown Soldier (Phobia)
Radio Friendly Unit Shifter (In Utero)
She Gathers Rain (Collective Soul)
Miss the Misery (Wasting Light)
A Matter of Time (Wasting Light)
Have it All (One by One)
Your Mother Should Know (Magical Mystery Tour)
Please (Chapter V)
She Came in Through the Bathroom Window (Abbey Road)
Sorry (Gravity)
General Attitude (Youth)
Mean Mr. Mustard (Abbey Road)
Reunion (Collective Soul)
Octopus's Garden (Abbey Road)
Oh! Darling (Abbey Road)
Save Me (The Illusion of Progress)
Everyone's a Junkie (Spiritual Machines)
Sun King (Abbey Road)
Believe (We Are Not Alone)
Milk It (In Utero)
Generate (Dosage)
Body (Sixteen Stone)
Feels Like (It Feels Alright) (Youth)
Territorial Pissings (Nevermind)
Whale & Wasp (Jar of Flies)
Disenchanted Lullaby (One by One)
When the Water Falls (Collective Soul)
Evil Angel (Phobia)
Tourette's (In Utero)
Home (Youth)
All You Need is Love (Magical Mystery Tour)
This is It (The Illusion of Progress)
Her Majesty (Abbey Road)
X-Girlfriend (Sixteen Stone)
Blue Jay Way (Magical Mystery Tour)
Pardon Me (The Illusion of Progress)
Swim (Sixteen Stone)
I Want You (She's So Heavy) (Abbey Road)
Tremble for My Beloved (Dosage)
Slow (Dosage)
Not the One (Dosage)
Cross to Bear (Chapter V)
Collection of Goods (Collective Soul)
Bomb (Sixteen Stone)
Swing on This (Jar of Flies)
Paper Jesus (Chapter V)
Lonely As You (One by One)

2019 Matches of the Year

noreply@blogger.com (Victor Parenza) — Mon, 20 Jan 2020 20:26:00 +0000

2019 is now behind us, and it left behind a few bright spots in the world of WWE. I watched almost all the programming-with the exception of NXT UK, but I did review the higher praised matches to make sure my list was as accurate as it could be.

As is the norm, I’m sure many will say, “what about this match?” or “why did you pick that one?” And that’s totally cool. It’s all subjective folks. Here’s my matches of the year for 2019 in chronological order.

1/15/19 and 1/22/19

Smackdown Live

Rey Mysterio vs. Andrade (2/3 Falls on the 22^nd)

These matches had serious buzz around them due to the first ever Canadian Destroyer (pretty sure) Rey gave Andrade in a tag match on 8^th. (A good match in its own right.) There have been variations of Sin Cara vs. Kalisto/Del Rio etc. matches over the years, but this felt different. This felt like a lucha libre main event on WWE TV.

They kept these matches tight, with little to no downtime, and have just excellent chemistry overall. Easily these are the highlights of Andrade’s Smackdown run, and rejuvenated Mysterio for a great first full year of his comeback.

The 2/3 fall match was really good-heading possibly towards “great”, but got a tad sloppy towards the end. Rey again tried for the moonsault DDT that he has even said he’s never hit as clean as the first time against Guerrero at Halloween Havoc, but tried it again and brutally botched it for the umpteenth time. I didn’t remember that it ended with a Samoa Joe interference, which I guess goes to show that it didn’t matter in the big scheme of things.

1/26/19

NXT Takeover: Phoenix

The War Raiders vs. Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong

NXT Tag Team Championship

First, I’d like to point out that the War Raiders had possibly the coolest entrance of the year for this match. If you don’t recall, it was a plethora of Vikings that came out amidst lots of smoke and banged the spears against their shields in rhythm with the theme song.

No matter what combination of the Undisputed Era is thrown into a tag team (or any match for that matter) you know what you’re going to get: a great tag match. This is obviously no exception. The difference with this match as opposed to most U.E. title matches is that the Raiders won the tag titles here much to the delight of the crowd.

1/26/19

NXT Takeover: Phoenix

Johnny Gargano vs. Ricochet

North American Championship

It’s really weird seeing Gargano in his “conflicted” heel stage. Regardless, a huge chunk of the crowd still loved him and went bonkers when he beat Ricochet on this night. It was quite the journey getting there. They pulled out some of the NJPW spots Ricochet did with Ospreay that got so much love/hate a few years back. Gargano suplexed Ricochet on the concrete. Hell, there was even a reverse ‘rana on the floor as well (that move looks so dangerous no matter where it’s done).

1/27/19

Royal Rumble

Akira Tozawa vs. Kalisto vs. Hideo Itami vs. Buddy Murphy

Cruiserweight Championship

This match was so much fun. These guys worked great together; pulling off some multi-man spots that I’d never seen before. Let’s be honest, in this day and age, that’s hard to do. It was a great visual to get to see these guys go at it in front of a giant stadium crowd who did care about what they were doing. It’s amazing what happens when they are properly placed on the card!

2/3/19

Halftime Heat

Adam Cole/Johnny Gargano/Tommaso Ciampa vs. Velveteen Dream/Ricochet/Aleister Black

It only took WWE 20 years to decide that they should do something during halftime again, so here’s what we got. I suppose it was worth the wait.

courtesy: wwe youtube page

The setup was in the Performance Center, which gave it an even different feel from a regular NXT show. There were even lower-card NXT guys in the crowd, and for some reason they kept showing Oney Lorcan constantly. A new chant broke out, which I surprisingly haven’t actually heard since, “BAY BAY SUCKS!” Apparently, this crowd was a bit more anti-Cole than the usual Full Sail crowd. Well Bay Bay broke out the Panama Sunrise for the first time in this match; and has been doing it ever since. (Of course, Ricochet kicked out on this occasion.)

Despite all of the flip flop and fly, the biggest pop of the match is when all six men stood off in the middle, before having a brawl. Somewhere Jim Cornette is smiling.

2/17/19

Elimination Chamber

Akira Tozawa vs. Buddy Murphy

Cruiserweight Championship

There’s been a strange trend for the cruiserweight champion since Cedric won it at WrestleMania last year; that being that champion suddenly loses all their momentum and their matches don’t seem as fun anymore. Cedric, Gulak, and Nese, have all fallen victim. Buddy was headed down that road as well, up until the Rumble 4-way match, and then this under-the-radar clash.

courtesy: heelbynature.com

Speaking of “under the radar,” Tozawa had a really good first half of 2019. This match really reminded me of “PWG era” Tozawa. He was flying around with reckless abandon, just being the giant ball of charisma that he is.

These guys kept the momentum from last month going (minus two competitors) and just pulled out all the athletic stops that would make your jaw drop. It was fairly short, sweet, and just everything that 205 Live should be.

2/17/19

Elimination Chamber

AJ Styles vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Randy Orton vs. Samoa Joe vs. Jeff Hardy

Elimination Chamber Match

WWE Championship

From a pure talent perspective, this chamber match has to rank up there with one of the best. They certainly didn’t leave any down-time in the match. In reality this was almost two different matches. The final two were Bryan and Kofi and they had to have set the record for longest amount of time the final two were in a chamber match. It really felt like a singles match between the two as it went on for so long. This is the match that solidified “Kofi-Mania” after his Smackdown performance as a "thing" and not just a passing fad, so from a historical perspective it will always have that going.

3/5/19

205 Live

Akira Tozawa vs. Cedric Alexander

The most glaring thing about this match is the plethora of empty seats opposite the hard camera. You can’t help but feel so bad for these guys. They’re still in a no-win situation after three years of 205’s existence.

This match started with no fanfare as per usual of a 205 Live crowd. Slowly but surely, they worked the crowd into giving a crap. They weren’t molten-hot by any means, but there were noticeable smatterings of chants, eventually leading to a standing ovation at the match’s end. Look out for Tozawa’s awesome reverse ‘rana down the homestretch of the match.

3/10/19

Fastlane

The Revival vs. Aleister Black/Ricochet vs. Gable/Roode

Raw Tag Team Championship

It was weird when Ricochet and Black were just thrown together as a team when they were randomly called up to Raw. They had little to no interaction on NXT, but obviously Vince doesn’t care about things like that. However, they did end up blending together really well, and of course became one of the highlights of whatever show they were on (they were on all three shows for some reason that still wasn’t fully explained).

The past year or so, there has been a mini-tag team renaissance. They are never featured as main event guys, but traditionally steal the show on many nights. You throw together three of the best like was done here, you get a crazy car crash that is so fun to watch.

3/10/19

Fastlane

Daniel Bryan vs. Mustafa Ali vs. Kevin Owens

WWE Championship

This match had quite a bit working against it. The Kofi storyline was getting really convoluted at this point, and he was supposed to be in this match, but was removed. But then, it was made a triple threat for some reason. I don’t know, but it was weird and hurt the beginning of this match.

The match itself was a unique blend of talent that despite the bad booking, had a really fun match. The “Kofi” chants were distracting at the beginning, but eventually with crazy action like Ali’s 450 onto the ring apron made them take notice and invest in what was happening. The ending was spectacular with Ali going for a twisting crossbody off the middle rope, only for Bryan to catch him with the Knee Plus in mid-air for the win. I somehow forgot about it entirely, but I popped huge for it on re-watch, and immediately remembered it (funny how that works), and how it capped off a great title match on a surprisingly good Fastlane show.

4/5/19

NXT Takeover: New York

Pete Dunne vs. WALTER

UK Championship

In the beginning of this match, Dunne didn’t know what to do with the big Walter. Normally, his ferocity and determination got him through any opponent that stood before him. Walter was clearly a different animal than anyone he’d faced previously. After taking some massive blows from his opponent, Dunne decides to go to work on the fingers because it doesn’t matter how strong you are, your digits are susceptible. After 25 hard-hitting minutes Walter is your new NXT UK Champion.

Dunne’s run as champion was perfect, and Walter was the perfect guy to finally dethrone him. It made total sense from every conceivable angle.

4/5/19

NXT Takeover: New York

Johnny Gargano vs. Adam Cole

2/3 Falls

courtesy: espn.com

NXT Championship

Honestly this match is nothing special for the first two falls. It’s just typical fast-paced indie moves and counters. But that decisive third fall is where its bread is buttered. The crowd is biting on every near-fall. They roar when Gargano finally gets Cole to tap out; which is all the more impressive considering Gargano got a noticeable mixed reaction when he was announced. You can truly feel the emotion in the arena throughout in this final fall, and that’s what it’s all about.

The only thing that could have made it better is if Ciampa hadn’t gotten hurt. It’s a shame that the Gargano vs. Ciampa rivalry couldn’t have ended properly. It’s easily the best angle NXT has ever done, and one of my personal favorites. But you play the cards your dealt, and they did an admirable job.

5/19/19

Money in the Bank

Seth Rollins vs. AJ Styles

Universal Championship

courtesy: wrestletalk.com

I haven’t enjoyed one Rollins singles match since he’s been in WWE. Seriously, not one. I really enjoyed the triple threat match with Cena and Lesnar from Royal Rumble ’15, but obviously that’s not a singles match. I don’t know what it is; all his stuff is just “eh” to me. It’s possible that in my mind I’m comparing it to some of his Ring of Honor work, which isn’t fair, but that’s the best explanation I got.

The streak finally ended on this night, and with the help of AJ, he won me over for this night. The closing sequence was really strong, and AJ got a great near-fall after the Styles Clash. Seth retained, and it appeared his title reign was off to a hot start….

5/19/19

Money in the Bank

Mustafa Ali vs. Ricochet vs. Randy Orton vs. Andrade vs. Baron Corbin vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Finn Balor

Ladder Match

This match is mainly remembered for its finish, which was Lesnar coming in at the last second as a replacement (more in a sec.) and winning the match. Yes, it was total crap, which knowing now what the creative was, it makes even less sense. All that said, it still didn’t detract from an amazing match.

There was some fresh blood in this ladder match, and they all are prime candidates for “guys you would put in a ladder match.” This made the match feel different from previous ones, and of course gave you crazy stuff to watch. Hats off to Balor (although not a new guy anymore) he took the two most brutal ladder bumps I’ve seen in this match or just about any other ladder match.

Even Michael Cole seemed better in this match. His excitement and awe of the brutality seemed more genuine for some reason. Having good commentary never hurts, and it definitely added to the product here.

If I were to nitpick, there were a couple of issues. Obviously, the Brock thing seemed like a slap in the face to everyone involved. He replaced Sami Zayn who was knocked out earlier in the night. Could you imagine Zayn in there with those psychos? It would have been fantastic. Secondly, Ali had the briefcase in his hands, but Brock’s music magically made him freeze up, is their story. It seemed a bit far-fetched for my taste. Sure, he’d be scared, but he had ample time to get the briefcase down before getting his ass kicked. I just want a bit more logic in my wrestling dammit.

6/11/19

205 Live

Chad Gable vs. Jack Gallagher

Gable on 205 came out of nowhere, but it was certainly a welcome surprise. The crowd seemed into him (for 205 standards) and he brought the goods. Certainly, credit goes to Gentleman Jack as well. These guys had never touched before, and had instant chemistry together. Hard-hitting strikes, vicious suplexes, (including a gorgeous dragon suplex by Gable) and various submissions were all deployed during the match. Eventually culminating with Gable catching a suicide dive from Jack, then delivering a flipping release German suplex on the floor! This resulted in a count-out win for Gable, which was a little weird at the time, but did set it up nicely for a rematch down the line.

6/11/19

205 Live

Akira Tozawa vs. Oney Lorcan vs. Humberto Carrillo vs. Drew Gulak

This match is the main event of the same show as the previous match; undoubtably making this the best episode of 205 of the year. Once again, the crowd makes this one. Every week these guys flip, flop, and fly, to little or no reaction. These four did it this week, and the crowd was diggin’ it. Kudos to the Sacramento crowd for this night overall. Not even the silly double pin by Tozawa and Gulak could dampen this sleeper MOTYC.

7/14/19

Extreme Rules

Aleister Black vs. Cesaro

There’s a strong argument to be made that Cesaro is the most consistent performer in WWE. Even when given nothing to work with, he makes it something special. Well, on this night he had a bit more than nothing to work with. It was a match that I had never thought about, until it was booked.

What a bout of athleticism and strikes it was. It was awesome. In what was probably the move of the year, Cesaro caught Black going for a top rope Meteora, and threw him up into the European uppercut. Incredible. It’s a shame that one guy had to lose.

7/16/19

205 Live

Jack Gallagher vs. Chad Gable

Unlike main roster booking, they made us wait over a month for the rematch of the arguable 205 match of the year. And honestly, that’s a good thing. No point in rushing it.

I would argue that this one doesn’t quite live up to the original, but I’ve seen others online argue the other way. Can’t deny the heart and desire though, and GABLE wins with a picture-perfect Chaos Theory in this hard-hitting clash.

8/28/19

NXT

Keith Lee vs. Dominik Dijakovic

They’d already had one match earlier in the year that went to a double count-out that got people buzzing. Dijakovic then got hurt shortly thereafter putting a halt on the feud. Keith Lee then was relegated to sitting on the bench most of Dijakovic’s injury. Needless to say, both men had a lot to prove going into the rematch.

The Spanish Fly in this match is a sight to behold. As is Dominik’s Fosbury Flop. Those are some big boys doing some little boy things (so to speak). They weren’t done either.

8/31/19

NXT UK Takeover: Cardiff

Tyler Bate vs. Walter

NXT UK Championship

I seriously enjoy Walter’s “no frills” approach to everything. It’s a stark contrast to what many big men these days try to employ. And if you enjoy him clubbing people, then this is the match for you. Bate takes a whoopin’ from the opening bell. The UK crowd was whipped into a frenzy before the match even started, and didn’t let up on their singing (right or wrong) throughout the match. The stout little Bate eventually got to show off his raw power hitting a few big moves on Walter, and showed fighting spirit throughout the duration. In the end Walter hit the big lariat to finish off the first ever UK champion.

9/25/19

NXT

Keith Lee vs. Dominik Dijakovic

Some guys just have chemistry. Plain and simple, and it’s nothing that can be explained. These two hosses have defined that all year (and throughout the years). Sure, the top rope Canadian Destroyer with a kickout following suit was the epitome of “overkill,” but the visual was so impressive I can look passed it. I also believe that this was the first instance of Lee popping into the shot with “fire in his eyes” that he’s used so effectively the last few weeks (and honestly one of my favorite little touches going today).

10/2/19

NXT

Adam Cole vs. Matt Riddle

NXT Championship

This match opened the show to counteract the first episode of Dynamite. All bells and whistles were deployed in this wild bout for the NXT title. This match had great near-falls in a clash that Cole retained the title. NXT also succeeding in putting on the best match of the opening night of the Wednesday night wars.

10/6/19

Hell in a Cell

Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns vs. the Bludgeon Brothers

Tornado Tag Team Match

Forget about the horrible main event of this show. The first portion of this show was pretty good, but the stupidity of that main event cancelled that all out for most people. But I’m here to remind you of this little doozy.

First, I realize Harper and Rowan didn’t go by “the Bludgeon Brothers” by this point, but I love that name, so I’ll call them that anyway. It’s baffling that they were broken up earlier this year, with Rowan randomly becoming Bryan’s bodyguard. Oh wait, no it’s not, Vince hates tag teams. Sorry got side-tracked again. These guys used everything but the kitchen sink in this match, and it was a formidable farewell for Luke Harper (not that we knew it at the time though).

10/9/19

NXT

WALTER VS. KUSHIDA

Reason number 1,853 why NXT is awesome, it gives you matches you didn’t even know you wanted. The thought of Kushida vs. Walter never once crossed my mind. Then when it was announced, I was thinking, “Dang, I want that.”

This was Kushida’s first big match that wasn’t simply a showcase for him, and it was a David vs. Goliath no less. That didn’t matter however because he more than held his own against the big Austrian. Walter got the win, but Kushida looked like a player. Unfortunately, he broke his wrist in this match that stalled any momentum he may have gained.

11/24/19

Survivor Series

Pete Dunne vs. Adam Cole

NXT Championship

courtesy: insiderpulse.com

The plate looked set for Pete Dunne to become the new champion (albeit in somewhat of a heel fashion). Personally, I’ve always found Cole to be a tad overrated. He’s had great matches and everything, just something didn’t quite click with me. This was the match where he finally won me over completely. It felt different than most Cole matches, it was just a straight up one on one with no posturing. He didn’t feel like a heel really, you almost felt bad for him after getting nearly killed the previous night. Normally that’s not a good thing, but for whatever reason, it moved Cole up a level in my mind.

Panama Sunrise on the apron? Yep, it happened here. There was also a superkick onto a moonsaulting Dunne which resulted in a standing ovation from the crowd. I must agree, I love it when he does that, the timing is impeccable. Cole also countered the Bitter End into another Panama Sunrise, which looked awesome and is something I’d never seen before. Bravo.

11/24/19

Survivor Series

NXT vs. Raw vs. Smackdown

Men’s Elimination Match

This match never let up for a second- which is quite impressive for a 30-minute match. The eliminations came fast and frequent initially, but not before teasing us with some neat potential match-ups. Matt Riddle vs. Chad Gable (I refuse to use that other “name”), WALTER vs. Strowman, Ciampa vs. Orton, and of course the final fall of Reigns vs. Keith Lee (whoop whoop).

It was out of the blue, but Keith Lee being booked to be that strong was a breath of fresh air. He hit arguably the greatest powerbomb of all time against Reigns, and the crowd was chomping at the bit for the upset. Lee’s name was on everyone’s lips after this weekend, as he looks to be the next big star in the company.

On a side note, the last handful of years I’ve seen numerous people say that WWE should get rid of Survivor Series. For a while I agreed with them, but I have to say the last four events (since the brand split of ’16) have produced really good shows. The men’s elimination match is consistently one of my favorites of the year. therefore, LONG LIVE SURVIVOR SERIES!

11/20/19

NXT

The Revival vs. The Undisputed Era

It’s too bad Vince hates tag team wrestling. We could potentially see much more things like this. The NXT faithful agree, chanting “TAG TEAM WRESTLING” halfway through this match. I had never really thought about this match before since they just missed each other in NXT, but I was sure excited when it was announced. This HAS to happen again someday. This was just to wet our appetite.

11/27/19

NXT

Lio Rush vs. Akira Tozawa

Cruiserweight Championships

My boy Tozawa sneaks onto the list one last time. After getting switched to Raw midway through the year, he’s had little chance to show anything. Here however, he’s back in NXT, a crowd he’s tailor-made for and he delivers.

These guys put on a great display of quickness and crazy counter moves. It never once felt choreographed like so much of wrestling does now. These guys were hitting hard, and just gelled from bell to bell. The highlight of the match was Tozawa delivering a flipping release German suplex to Rush from the apron to the floor. How this didn’t get more recognition I’ll never know. (Part of it is probably because this is the same night Keith Lee pounced Cole into the crowd, but in my mind, this is much more impressive-and dangerous.)

Summary

As for show of the year, no match stands head and shoulders above the others. There are numerous shows that have two MOTYC on it, so from a quality-perspective you could say that the year overall was more even throughout.

For the MVP this year, we have a tie. Ricochet, and wait for it…. Akira Tozawa! I’m too lazy to look it up, but Ricochet was probably the MVP last year too. Well now he gets to share the honor with one of his best buddies. Right on their heels were: Cole, Gable, and WALTER.

Wrestlers with multiple match of the year candidates in 2019:

Akira Tozawa-5

Ricochet-5

Adam Cole-4

Chad Gable-4

WALTER-4

Andrade-3

Keith Lee-3

Johnny Gargano-3

Aleister Black-3

Daniel Bryan-3

Randy Orton-3

Mustafa Ali-3

Rey Mysterio-2

Kyle O’Reilly-2

Buddy Murphy-2

Tommaso Ciampa-2

AJ Styles-2

Seth Rollins-2

Kevin Owens-2

The Revival-2

Pete Dunne-2

Baron Corbin-2

Drew Mcintyre-2

Jack Gallagher-2

Dominik Dijakovic-2

Matt Riddle-2

Roman Reigns-2

20 Years Of My Mania

noreply@blogger.com (Victor Parenza) — Thu, 28 Mar 2019 19:54:00 +0000

Something weird was happening when I went back to school in August of ’98. Every guy that I talked to (no lie, either they already were, or would be before the school year was over) was talking about wrestling. Even some girls for that matter. Everywhere I looked I saw nWo, DX or Austin 3:16 t-shirts. Guys were constantly doing the crotch chop, or saying “give me a hell yeah!” One kid even worked the latter phrase into a presentation he was giving in front of the 8^th period English class. The crowd roared in approval.

Initially I had no idea what any of this stuff was. I asked my friend Josh Allen constantly about these various things because he was one of the main perpetrators of them. After making fun of me for being dumb, he would tell me it’s “wrestling stuff.”

Wrestling stuff huh? I had dabbled with the WWF when I was around second grade. I have a vivid memory of Macho Man Randy Savage getting the crap kicked out of him and him bleeding from the mouth. I also remember Doink the Clown and his mini friend Dink running around like idiots. It only lasted a few weeks before my mom or dad (can’t remember which) told me it was fake. That really pissed me off.

Why would they try to trick us like that? was my basic thought on the matter. From that moment forward, I hated wrestling and everything it stood for. I more or less looked down a little on someone who was dumb enough to enjoy anything involving wrestling.

All this was running through my mind as I saw every person in my daily life CONSTANTLY referencing wrestling in some fashion. I need to reiterate, I’m not exaggerating when I say every guy that was a close friend, acquaintance, or even guys I didn’t like but had to be around, I heard reference wrestling at some point that school year. Everyone would flock to it, no matter what it was, as long as it was perceived as “cool.” Even if their fandom didn’t last more than a minute, it was seventh grade, and what was cool was essential to daily life. And in seventh grade, wrestling was cool, and I hated it.

It was dumbfounding to me all these morons were brainwashed by two silly wrestling companies (WWF and WCW). It eventually moved beyond dumbfounded, and eventually started to piss me off. So, I did what I always do when something becomes popular and I don’t know anything about it, I resisted it.

The more the days wore on, it became clear that I had a one-man rebellion going on. That really frustrated me. I wanted to be cool, but I had my principles dammit! Which would win out in the struggle for Victor’s soul? If you guessed “being cool” then you win the big prize!

In hindsight my vendetta was quite silly. Who cares what everyone else likes? And if I want to like it too, so be it. I missed out on some of the major events of something that would be become one of the biggest aspects of my life due to my dumb pride.

Around Thanksgiving time of that year, I couldn’t take it anymore. I was tired of being excluded from various conversations or being ridiculed for “not getting it.” I slowly lowered my shields to the idea of wrestling being a thing for me. Little did I know that the rushing waters of the WWF would plow its way through those shields and totally engulf me in the best way possible.

I distinctly remember being in 8^th period English class, (the same one that Jeremy Callen got the class to yell “hell yeah” during his speech, but that happened later in the school year) and turning around talking to Ryan Ammons who was sitting behind me, and asking him basic wrestling questions about this guy or that guy. Why neither one of us was paying attention I have no idea, but that conversation left a mark on me.

God bless Ryan, I had almost every class with him that year, and I was constantly barraging him with wrestling questions. It’s a wonder I didn’t drive him crazy. We always talked about that week’s Raw (the weekly WWF TV show) of course, but I wanted to know the history (the internet was in its infancy remember). This eventually carried over into 8^th grade, due to a similar schedule again, and the same deal happened with my friend Matt Henderson who was added in the mix as one of my go-to wrestling bros. My cousin Eddie was also a life-long fan, and we talked on the phone quite a bit, so he became another vital fix for my wrestling addiction (still is to this day).

I couldn’t believe how things were changing that year. Even in Mr. Gibson’s social studies class we usually talked wresting with him the first couple minutes after the bell rang. It was awesome. Wrestling was the shit, and I was more than happy to announce to anyone who asked that I was now a fan. (something that is really easy to do when everyone agrees with you, I eventually learned that this wouldn’t be so easy in the upcoming years.)

If you look closely you can see posters of Austin, Road Dogg, Foley, and Shamrock. No HHH ones though, that dirty traitor!

As March rolled around, it became WrestleMania time. For those who don’t know, WrestleMania is the biggest show the WWF has each year. Consider it the “Superbowl” of wrestling. I was really excited for ‘Mania because I knew it was this mythological thing in the world of wrestling. I knew I wanted to be a part of it.

When I look back, I have no idea how I convinced my parents to buy WrestleMania that year. my enthusiasm must have been infectious though because the rest of the family was slowly getting on the wrestling train, and would stay there for about a year. (FYI, I have nothing but fond memories of that time period) Still, they were nowhere near the level of freak I was becoming, and figured a $34.99 price tag would never fly—but somehow it did.

For those of you reading (thank you by the way) who hate wrestling with passion, you can stop reading now because I’m just going to nostalgically recall events from the show. Or, you could read some more and who knows what could happen?

March 28^th, 1999. 20 years to the day that I’m writing this now. I was watching the hype videos that were played on the PPV channel before the show started. I was ready to rock. The main event was Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. the Rock, who are arguably the two greatest stars of all-time. This was their first of what would be three WrestleMania matches.

The show introduction which was a highlight video narrated by old time wrestler Freddie Blassie is still one of the greatest intros I’ve ever seen. It truly made you feel like you were about to see something special. (The video below is the same narration, but with more current wrestlers. I couldn't find the original version on Youtube anywhere. You still get the same chills just hearing his voice though.)

The Brawl for All was a legit (trust me) boxing match between wrestler Bart Gunn and professional boxer Butterbean (the bald boxer from the first Jackass movie that wails on Knoxville). Bart Gunn had won the “brawl for all” tournament to face Butterbean as his reward. It wasn’t quite the reward one would expect. If you got up to pee, you may have missed it. Butterbean knocked out Gunn in 35 seconds with the most devastating punch I’ve ever seen. Gunn’s career was over after this, but he should count himself lucky that his head is still attached to his neck. Yikes.

Kane faced off against HHH who was the leader of DX, you know those hoodlums who went around telling everyone to “suck it”? Naturally that meant HHH was super cool, and besides his girlfriend Chyna had just left him for Kane so he had the sympathy vote too.

Something miraculous happened during the match as Chyna double-crossed Kane and whacked him with a steel chair. She and HHH embraced and the crowd roared in approval. All was right in the world. DX was whole with Chyna back in the fold.

Fellow DX member X-Pac took on that silver-spoon whiney coward Shane McMahon, in what was sure to see Shane get his comeuppance from his weeks of taunting and cheap-shotting X-Pac. I was sure of this because the prior week’s Raw, X-Pac had challenged Shane to a fight on the streets. X-Pac got off one kick on Shane before his buddies, the dastardly sweater vest-wearing Mean Street Posse all jumped X-Pac and then took off in Corvettes. Vengeance must be had!

This particular storyline really hooked me in. X-Pac had become “my guy.” I loved his karate kicks and his fire that he showed every match. The fact he did a crotch chop ever 10 seconds was just the icing on the cake. I thought Pac was the man. I couldn’t wait to see him destroy Shane.

Things didn’t exactly go as I had planned. The moment X-Pac came from behind the curtain, the McMahon lackies, Pat Patterson and Jerry Briscoe, aka the stooges, attacked X-Pac from behind. Granted he had no problem beating up those two middle aged men. That sounds terrible in print, but trust me, in context of the world of wrestling, they deserved it! Shane and X-Pac played quite the cat and mouse game throughout much of the match. That dastardly Shane was no dummy though, he had his personal bodyguard Test with him who was a rookie wrestler that was 6’6” and jacked to the gills. Any chance Shane got to distract the referee so Test could beat on X-Pac, he took it.

“Oh, come on!” I remember yelling out loud. This damn Shane was such a cheater. Eventually X-Pac got ahold of Shane’s belt and started whipping him with it. That was extremely cathartic for me, but before I knew it, that damn Test was back interfering on behalf of Shane. Ah, I couldn’t take it anymore! Then help arrived.

HHH and Chyna came down to the ring to even the score. This nonsense had clearly gone on for too long. HHH got in the ring and proceeded to Pedigree (his finishing move) X-Pac to ground allowing Shane to pick up the win.

I sat there stunned. What had just happened? I felt my heart sink. Suddenly fellow DX members Road Dogg and Billy Gunn (not to be confused with his “brother” Bart who was nearly decapitated earlier) came to the ring. My initial thought was that they too were going to beat up X-Pac. I probably would have vomited if that happened. Fortunately for me, and the carpet in front of me, they came to X-Pac’s rescue. I’ll never forget Road Dogg saying, “That jackoff (HHH) is finished!” That filled me with hope. HHH and Chyna had pulled a rouse on everyone, but dammit the three remaining DX members will still stay strong and fight back! This betrayal is my most vivid memory from the entire show. I had a picture of HHH on my wall, which I proceeded to rip down and throw away. That bastard!

I was emotionally exhausted after all that had transpired, as I tried to settle in for the next match which was a Hell in a Cell (giant cage match with a roof on top) between Big Boss Man and the Undertaker. This match made little sense because both guys were villains at the time, and no one gave a shit about this match.

Cell matches are supposed to epic. This one didn’t even last 10 minutes. Which in the end was a blessing because this one was awful. So bad in fact that many years later when WWE (formally WWF) released the DVD anthology of the Hell in a Cell that supposedly contained every Cell match ever up to that point, yet failed to even put this match on the DVD set. Yes, it was so bad that they lied and said it never even happened.

To top of this crap show, Undertaker “hung” Bossman with a noose from the top of cage. Yes, we were indeed subjected to him hanging there and we didn’t know whether he was alive or dead. It was really uncomfortable. Of course, the next night on Raw he was fine, and they made little mention of it thereafter. It made for good discussion for 7^th graders the next day, but overall was a truly awful segment in every sense.

After having my heart ripped out, then watching a man get hung, I was desperately ready for something good. It was main event time. Rock vs. Austin. Austin was coming off probably the greatest year anyone in wrestling had ever had, and Rock was rapidly approaching his elite status.

There were so many great hype videos for this match. It really felt like a big deal. Most fans would prefer their next match in 2001 over this one or the one in ‘03. To me it’s no contest. This one, WrestleMania 15 is their best.

After a wild match, beloved anti-hero Stone Cold had beaten the Rock for the WWF title. The evil billionaire Vince McMahon (Shane’s dad) tried everything to keep Austin from winning, but in the end good triumphed over evil and everyone went to bed happy.

The next day I couldn’t shut up about the show. So much crazy stuff had happened. So many emotions were flowing through my body. I was so into it already, but now I was hooked. Officially.

At that point I had a nine o’clock bed time. I made the declaration to my parents that I now had to stay up until 10 to watch Raw. I would even go to bed at 8 on the other nights to make up for it if I had to. Fortunately for me, they thought that was fair to stay up until 10 on just one night. So yes, in case you were wondering I watched my first WrestleMania without ever watching an entire episode of Raw, I only ever saw the first of the two hours. (Of course, I would find out everything that happened the next day at school. Remember: no internet!) It’s all so ridiculous in hindsight.

So here I sit writing to you 20 years to the day that I officially became a wrestling superfan. I’ve had my ups and downs with it over the years. There’s been times where I didn’t really like WWE’s product, and watched different wrestling promotions almost exclusively. I say “almost” because I inevitably would get online and look at what was happening in WWE, even if I wasn’t watching it. I couldn’t let go of it entirely. And even if I wasn’t watching their current stuff, I would watch my old tapes, like my WrestleMania 15 tape that I taped on this very night, and remember those times fondly. I should also point out, that I didn’t have any blank tapes left and decided to tape over The Sandlot, which was a movie I loved, but something had to give, and I figured I could get the real version for Christmas, and not the lame ABC Family version we had taped off the tv. (I didn’t even know they puked on that ride because that scene wasn’t aired on my version.)

WrestleMania 15 in hindsight is considered a pretty poor show considering how hot the product was at the time. I can understand the critics’ point, but this show can only be viewed through rose-covered lenses for me. Even if I wanted to not like it, there is no way I could do so. Every single time I watch it, the nostalgia runs all through me and I feel like I did on that night 20 years ago.

2018 WWE Match of the Year

noreply@blogger.com (Victor Parenza) — Fri, 04 Jan 2019 19:08:00 +0000

It was quite the down year for the main roster in 2018. Of the 23 matches, a whopping three were represented by them. NXT however, had arguably it’s best year ever. Meanwhile 205 Live continues to quietly be the second-best WWE show there is.

It’s shocking to me, and probably anyone else, that AJ Styles didn’t make this list. (Daniel Bryan only made it once, but he also had a limited year.) I thought AJ had a “good” year, but nothing that stood out. His matches with Nakamura, while unfortunately got overhyped going in, were again “good.” But just being “good” doesn’t make the list. His matches with Samoa Joe were the same deal. Good not great.

A special shout out to 205 Live for the same reason, but different intent. The redheaded stepchild of WWE consistently delivered good matches this year. Many of which just missed the cut here. For example, the tournament to crown the new champion had a plethora of entertaining bouts that gave me brief flashbacks of the CWC.

So here they are in chronological order:

Andrade Almas vs. Johnny Gargano, NXT Takeover: Philadelphia 1/27/18

Gargano starts his year off with a bang. They continue and expand upon what they did the previous August.

Buddy Murphy vs. Kalisto, 205 Live 4/3/18

I’m still shocked by how good Murphy is. He never stood out to me in his run at NXT. He was then out of the blue named as a participant in the cruiserweight tournament, and I wasn’t exactly thrilled about it. But he alongside Roderick Strong stole the show every time they went out.

As for this match, I don’t know if it was the first time the crowd chanted “205!”, but it definitely was the most passionate. These guys threw each other around like rag dolls and it was something to see.

Killian Dain vs. Lars Sullivan vs. Adam Cole vs. EC3 vs. Ricochet vs. Velveteen Dream, Ladder Match NXT Takeover: New Orleans 4/7/18

This is the best ladder match I’ve seen in years. I’m totally burned out on the whole concept, but these fresh faces really brought their A+ games. At the time I also could have seen any of them winning (besides Dain, but I wouldn’t have ruled it out completely) which also made the match much more interesting.

Tommaso Ciampa vs. Johnny Gargano, Unsanctioned Match NXT Takeover: New Orleans 4/7/18

If this was the one and only war between the two rivalries, I would have been fine with it. This match is that good. Freakin’ awesome.

Asuka vs. Charlotte, WrestleMania 4/8/18

Regardless of the poor outcome, this match was still the sole WrestleMania representative on my list.

Akira Tozawa vs. Hideo Itami, 205 Live 5/22/18

I’m sure this will be my most controversial pick by far. This was a dream match for me. My favorite from Dragon Gate vs. my favorite from Noah. They came out of the box swinging, which is something I enjoy a lot. Wasn’t a masterpiece, but I enjoyed it immensely.

Pete Dunne vs. Kyle O’Reilly, NXT 6/13/18

I was super excited for this match between the two expert grapplers. Without question they are two of the best going today, and they rocked it at Full Sail.

Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong vs. Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan, NXT Takeover: Chicago II 6/16/18

Burch and Lorcan were getting no respect at the start of this match, which really surprised me from the Chicago crowd. By the end of the match though, the bald guys were getting a standing ovation. No brainer for tag team match of the year for me.

Ricochet vs. Velveteen Dream, NXT Takeover: Chicago II 6/16/18

The Dream has gone from a comedy act, to a bona fide main-eventer in less than a year. Ricochet was just getting starting on his phenomenal NXT rookie year.

Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa, Chicago Street Fight NXT Takeover: Chicago II 6/16/18

After a rewatch, I will say that this is my least favorite of the three Gargano vs. Ciampa matches. (Obviously it’s still worthy of it’s listing here, but it had some big shoes to fill.) What this match does have a lot of is angle progression. This was the start of Gargano’s descent into madness.

Buddy Murphy vs. Mustafa Ali, 205 Live 7/3/18

Mustafa Ali had numerous matches that just missed the cut. Come to think of it, a couple of them were even against Buddy Murphy. This match was never in any doubt of making the list. I’m not sure what my number one favorite was this year, but honestly this match is in the running. Awesome hardcore brawl with innovative spots that I’ve never seen before. I’m so happy for the success that both guys are experiencing now.

Aleister Black vs. Tommaso Ciampa, NXT 7/25/18

That dastardly Ciampa is now the champion?!?! It’s Johnny Gargano’s fault?!?! Oh yeah it was also a really good match too.

Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong vs. Trent Seven and Tyler Bate, NXT Takeover: Brooklyn IV 8/18/18

These guys had many matches throughout the summer, and this was the best of the bunch. Gotta love those Takeover crowds.

Ricochet vs. Adam Cole, NXT Takeover: Brooklyn IV 8/18/18

In a year’s time (or less) these two will be main-eventing these shows instead of fighting over secondary titles. But what they did here was pretty special. That superkick onto a moonsaulting Ricochet was the move of the year.

Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa, Last Man Standing NXT Takeover: Brooklyn IV 8/18/18

Originally supposed to be a triple threat match with Aleister Black, but as we all know he was attacked and removed from the match. I must admit that disappointed me a bit, I was intrigued by the thought of that three-way match. But of course, these two still rocked it anyway—and now the title was on the line!

Jeff Hardy vs. Randy Orton, Hell in Cell 9/16/18

Orton’s finger in Hardy’s ear was disturbing. Let’s one-up that by putting SCREWDRIVER IN HIS EAR AND TWISTING IT! Even without that nauseating spot, this match was a hard-hitting cell match that we don’t see much anymore. It felt down and dirty, and not contrived like so many of them do now.

Drew Gulak vs. Cedric Alexander 205 Live 9/18/18

Their SummerSlam match was a little disappointing, but on this particular Tuesday it was their true time shine. I honestly thought Gulak’s time was now, but it was still the Age of Alexander—for a little bit longer.

Pete Dunne vs. Ricochet NXT 9/19/18

With Gargano losing his mind, these are probably the two biggest babyfaces in NXT. Being title for title, you knew there would be a screwy finish, but it didn’t damper the war that happened prior to the d/q.

Pete Dunne vs. Adam Cole vs. Ricochet NXT 10/10/18

They took last month’s match and upped it by adding Adam Cole (bay bay) to the mix. NXT is so good about making matches feel special, and this was one of those times. It wasn’t a Takeover match, but it had a big-time feel to it, and I loved every second of it.

Aleister Black vs. Johnny Gargano NXT Takeover: War Games 11/17/18

Black looked to rid himself of that damn Gargano in this underrated gem.

Tommaso Ciampa vs. Velveteen Dream NXT Takeover: War Games 11/17/18

The very next match following the previous encounter was arguably an even better one. Dream started to spam finishers of every legend of the 80’s, but Ciampa still retained.

Roderick Strong, Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, Kyle O’Reilly vs. Pete Dunne, Ricochet, Hanson, Rowe, War Games NXT Takeover: War Games 11/17/18

I thought last year’s War Games was okay. It had a lot wrong with it though. This year delivered in spades. Even before Ricochet’s double moonsault off the cage this was a match of the year candidate. Not counting Hanson and Rowe (although still good) you have the best of NXT going at it. I loved this match.

Brock Lesnar vs. Daniel Bryan Survivor Series 11/18/18

On first viewing, Bryan was getting mauled by Lesnar for what felt like 20 straight minutes. To the point where I was getting pissed off they were just going to have their WWE champion lose without getting any offense in. Then came the hope spot. And what a spot it was. Although technically a heel vs. heel match, it’s basically impossible to boo Bryan especially if he’s going against the meathead Lesnar. The pop for Bryan hitting the Knee and going for the pin was the best pop during any match on the main roster this year. Could he do it? Could he actually win? You started to believe maybe—just maybe—Bryan could beat Lesnar. Easily the best main roster match of the year. It’s not even close. Rollins had a good year, but nothing he did got passed that “B” level. (Ironic huh?) Bryan showed yet again, he can do it better than anyone.

Wrestler totals:

Ricochet 6

Johnny Gargano 5

Tommaso Ciampa 5

Adam Cole 4

Pete Dunne 4

Kyle O’Reilly 4

Velveteen Dream 3

Roderick Strong 3

The Beatles Song Catalog

noreply@blogger.com (Victor Parenza) — Thu, 20 Dec 2018 20:10:00 +0000

It's the quintessential band's extraordinary song catalog. It's incredible how much work they work able to put out in seven short years. Not just the quantity either, the quality is unreal- obviously. You could argue the top 50 as "great" songs. THE TOP 50! No other band in the history of ever can boast an achievement like that.

If you've never read one of my posts like this before, the ranking is simply how much I enjoy the song. There is no examination taking place about the song's structure/influence/difficulty/uniqueness etc. It's simply, "what Victor likes."

In the past, I had a rule when ranking that was "album tracks only." Rarities and things not on a proper album wouldn't be considered due to me wanting to calculate the average of each album based on its songs. Non-album songs would screw up my formula, so I didn't include them. However, Hey Jude is not on a Beatles album. How can you have a Beatles "best of" list without Hey Jude? It's not possible. This list contains all songs recorded when the Beatles were together. In other words, nothing from the Anthology collection that was released in 90's.

When the final tallies for each album was calculated, (each song off the album was awarded points based on their rank, then I took the average) it was Magical Mystery Tour coming in at number one. Following a bit of a gap came: Sgt. Pepper, Abbey Road, and Please Please Me in a relatively small amount of space from each other.

At one point over the years, I had considered MMT my favorite, but lately it had seemed that Abbey had overtaken it. (Without doing all these calculations of course.) Strictly mathematically-speaking MMT still is number one, but this is one instance where the math doesn't translate perfectly. (Thus probably shooting this whole project in the foot before I even get started. Oh well.) And that's not a slight on MMT either. I feel it's easily the most underrated/least appreciated album there is. It's sandwiched during that magical (pun intended) last half of Beatlemania (especially being the follow up to Sgt. Pepper's) and gets lost in the shuffle.

Please Please Me 126.07 (4TH PLACE)

With the Beatles 103.36 (9TH PLACE)

A Hard Day's Night 120.92 (5TH PLACE)

Beatles For Sale 93.79 (11TH PLACE)

Help! 117.86 (6TH PLACE)

Rubber Soul 106.36 (8TH PLACE)

Revolver 107.36 (7TH PLACE)

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band 128.54 (2ND PLACE)
Magical Mystery Tour 135.82 (1ST PLACE)

White Album 88.4 (12TH PLACE)

Yellow Submarine 59.33 (13TH PLACE)

Abbey Road 126.29 (3RD PLACE)

Let it Be 99.85 (10TH PLACE)

The Singles

When I look at the songs individually, I naturally start to tier them. Anything from Michelle at 189 and lower, I consider the songs that I hate. I never want to hear them-EVER! Then moving upward from She's a Woman at 188 all the way to Girl at 136 are the ones I don't usually listen to, but if they occasionally pop up I won't immediately click "next." The middle of the pack starts from Got to Get You Into My Life at 135 up to Ask Me Why at 107. Honey Don't at 106 through I'm So Tired at 73 I consider "good." Then 72's Carry That Weight through 42's Tomorrow Never Knows would be the "really good." If I Needed Someone at 41 up until I Want to Hold Your Hand at 14 would be considered my great ones. And finally from Taxman at 13 to Let it Be at number one, are my elite, grade A, masterpieces.

Will these fluctuate over the years? I'm sure they will. If you keep reading, you'll find one song in particular that is on the cusp of a pretty massive jump should my infatuation with that song with it not subside.

1. Let It Be

2. Here Comes the Sun

3. She Loves You

4. Yesterday

5. Hey Jude

6. Come Together

7. Help!

8. Glass Onion

9. A Day in the Life

10. Dear Prudence

11. I Am the Walrus

12. Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!

13. Taxman

14. I Want to Hold Your Hand

15. I’ve Just Seen a Face

16. Penny Lane

17. Something

18. The Ballad of John and Yoko

19. Revolution

20. For You Blue

21. Across the Universe

22. Day Tripper

23. Long, Long, Long

24. 8 Days a Week

25. I Saw Her Standing There

26. The End

27. Baby It’s You

28. While My Guitar Gently Weeps

29. And I Love Her

30. In My Life

31. Golden Slumbers

32. No Reply

33. Money (That’s What I Want)

34. Please Mr. Postman

35. And Your Bird Can Sing

36. It Won’t Be Long

37. I Should Have Known Better

38. Every Little Thing

39. Fixing a Hole

40. Things We Said Today

41. If I Needed Someone

42. Tomorrow Never Knows

43. Eleanor Rigby

44. Cry Baby Cry

45. Birthday

46. Back in the U.S.S.R.

47. Hello Goodbye

48. The Fool on the Hill

49. Sgt. Pepper's (reprise)

50. Magical Mystery Tour

51. You’re Going to Lose That Girl

52. If I Fell

53. A Hard Day’s Night

54. Run For Your Life

55. Twist and Shout

56. Anna (Go to Him)

57. I Will

58. Baby You’re a Rich Man

59. Flying

60. Dizzy Miss Lizzy

61. Think for Yourself

62. What You’re Doing

63. Get Back

64. When I’m 64

65. Getting Better

66. Within You Without You

67. Julia

68. Can’t Buy Me Love

69. All My Loving

70. You Won’t See Me

71. Polythene Pam

72. Carry that Weight

73. I’m So Tired

74. Norwegian Wood (This Bird has Flown)

75. Drive My Car

76. Love Me Do

77. From Me To You

78. Please Please Me

79. We Can Work it Out

80. Boys

81. Chains

82. All I’ve Got to Do

83. You Can’t Do That

84. Misery

85. Do You Want to Know a Secret

86. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

87. You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away

88. I’ll Follow the Sun

89. Ticket to Ride

90. You Never Give Me Your Money

91. I Feel Fine

92. Paperback Writer

93. Oh! Darling

94. Sexy Sadie

95. There’s a Place

96. Good Day Sunshine

97. The Long and Winding Road

98. Here, There and Everywhere

99. Any Time at All

100. Thank You Girl

101. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

102. Strawberry Fields Forever

103. Because

104. Don’t Let Me Down

105. Blackbird

106. Honey Don’t

107. Ask Me Why

108. You Really Got a Hold on Me

109. It’s Only Love

110. I’m Only Sleeping

111. Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da

112. Revolution 1

113. Maxwell’s Silver Hammer

114. Cry For a Shadow

115. Hey Bulldog

116. She Came in Through the Bathroom Window

117. It’s All Too Much

118. Rain

119. I’ll Get You

120. Mean Mr. Mustard

121. Octopus’s Garden

122. Your Mother Should Know

123. With a Little Help From My Friends

124. Doctor Robert

125. I Me Mine

126. I Want to Tell You

127. Two of Us

128. Good Night

129. Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey

130. Dig a Pony

131. Hold Me Tight

132. I’ll Be Back

133. Not a Second Time

134. I Need You

135. I Got to Get you into My Life

136. Girl

137. Rock and Roll Music

138. I’ll Cry Instead

139. I’m Looking Through You

140. Good Morning Good Morning

141. Words of Love

142. Wait

143. Slow Down

144. Roll Over Beethoven

145. I’m Happy Just to Dance With You

146. I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party

147. The Word

148. Don’t Bother Me

149. Devil in Her Heart

150. Little Child

151. The Night Before

152. Tell Me What You See

153. Nowhere Man

154. She Said She Said

155. Kansas City

156. You Like Me Too Much

157. I’m a Loser

158. 'Till There Was You

159. When I Get Home

160. For No One

161. Martha My Dear

162. Mother Nature’s Son

163. Love You To

164. All Together Now

165. Another Girl

166. Act Naturally

167. Only a Northern Song

168. Her Majesty

169. Sun King

170. P.S. I Love You

171. All You Need is Love

172. Happiness is a Warm Gun

173. I Want You (She’s So Heavy)

174. I Wanna Be Your Man

175. Tell Me Why

176. Blue Jay Way

177. Helter Skelter

178. Lovely Rita

179. She’s Leaving Home

180. I’m Down

181. Bad Boy

182. Ain’t She Sweet

183. I Call Your Name

184. Old Brown Shoe

185. Lady Madonna

186. Yes It Is

187. Honey Pie

188. She’s a Woman

189. Michelle

190. Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby

191. Piggies

192. This Boy

193. I’ve Got a Feeling

194. Yellow Submarine

195. Savoy Truffle

196. What Goes On

197. Baby’s in Black

198. Dig It

199. Maggie Mae

200. The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill

201. Rocky Raccoon

202. The Inner Light

203. Matchbox

204. Long Tall Sally

205. Revolution 9

206. One After 909

207. Yer Blues

208. Don’t Pass Me By

209. Wild Honey Pie

210. Mr. Moonlight

211. A Taste of Honey

212. You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)

213. Why Don’t We Do it in the Road?

Summerslam > Wrestlemania

noreply@blogger.com (Victor Parenza) — Thu, 16 Aug 2018 21:33:00 +0000

AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe was announced for Summerslam this year, and for me this proves yet again that Summerslam is my favorite show of the year. Wrestlemania gets all the hoopla naturally, but Summerslam tends to deliver as the better overall show more often than not. This isn't always the case, but a vast majority of the time Summerslam contains a match/matches that are in the running for MOTY, even if the overall review of the show is somewhat negative.

Have I mentioned yet that this is "my opinion?" I only mention this again because I know people like to speak of the "Wrestlemania moments," and that "Summerslam moments" aren't really a thing. I can't argue that. But I can state that Summerslam usually doesn't have musical performances/celebrity guests that no one cares about, eating up time better spent on wrestlers themselves. And in this day and age, those celebrity appearances make a five hour show into a six hour show.

This post isn't to focus on the negative though. I'm simply here to write about my favorite Summerslam matches. I will admit that I've not seen every single Summerslam, but in due time thanks to the WWE Network, I will. This list will be chronologically and not ranked in any way.

Bret vs. Owen Cage Match 1994

courtesy: whatculture.com

This may be my favorite cage match ever. I love the desperation Owen shows trying to dive out of the cage. And of course I love the finish of Owen hanging upside down from the cage, allowing Bret out. Something that couldn't be done today obviously with the mesh caging. I definitely enjoy this match more than their more heralded match from Wrestlemania X.

Shawn vs. Razor Ladder Match 1995

Although not as good as the original, these guys do everything they can to have an entirely different match from Wrestlemania X. I've always been partial to the moonsault off the ladder as a favorite moment.

Vader vs. Shawn 1996

courtesy: pwtorch.com

I've written about this one before. I think it's a great one, but seems to only get remembered for a temper tantrum. Honestly I don't even feel that it's even that noticeable. Definitely not worthy of the harsh criticism receives. Regardless, HBK is mega over with the Cleveland crowd, and fights for his life against the monster Vader. He kicked out of the Sweet Chin Music! This one meant something because that was rare thing back then.

Mankind vs. HHH Cage Match 1997

courtesy: whatculture.com

As was the case with almost all the meetings between the two, this was a wild brawl. Foley dove from the top of the cage with an elbow drop; in what was his first of many times soaring off a cage during his time in the WWF.

courtesy: bleacherreport.com

Bret vs. Undertaker 1997
You add HBK as the referee and you get some serious star power in this match. I love the sharpshooter around the ringpost standing on the stairs that Bret does here. These guys have great chemistry at this point, and had a a nearly as good rematch in the UK the following month.

courtesy: whatculture.com

HHH vs. Rock Ladder Match 1998

This ladder match is unlike any ladder match before or since. There isn't a high flyer involved, so it's more about hard-hitting ground-based offense that is quite refreshing in hindsight. I also like the bright yellow ladder that we've only seen this one time as well.

courtesy: fightinggameblog

Undertaker vs. Austin 1998Both guys have gone on record saying they don't care for this match. I disagree. For starters, this may be the best built main event ever. It felt absolutely huge. When you think big time main event builds, this should come to mind. (The Mega Powers are right there too.) The crowd is jacked, during arguably the most popular time frame of the Attitude Era, and with a crowd like that, it's hard not to get into the match.

Test vs. Shane Greenwich Street Fight 1999

courtesy: sportskeeda.com

This feud was over like rover at the time, and has since been forgotten seemingly. Granted, everything was over in the Attitude Era, but this one had the extra "something." During the match, those damn Mean Street Posse punks with their sweater vests tried their best to help old Shane' O, but in the end love conquered all as Test was allowed to date Stephanie per the stipulation. This was also the first time we got to see that Shane is crazy, utilizing his first "Leap of Faith" elbow drop. It's a shame that this angle ended so poorly for Test in the next few months.

Benoit vs. Jericho 2/3 Falls 2000

courtesy: bleacherreport.com

I love it anytime these two locked up. Pure magic. This was their best match up to that point. Only being topped by their ladder match at the following Royal Rumble.

Edge/Christian vs. Dudley Boyz vs. Hardy Boyz TLC 2000
Technically the first TLC match, even though they had the "triangle ladder match" at Wrestlemania earlier in the year. Had the Hardyz won this match, I feel it would have pushed it to the level of "greatest match ever contender." While it's still considered influential, people seem to favor TLC 2 compared to this one. I completely disagree with that. This crowd was hotter, and the ladder match in general seemed more fresh than just a few months later when TLC 2 took place. By the time TLC 2 comes around there had been two more ladder matches in between the two TLC's and I feel it was losing some of it's luster at that point. Look at the crowd reaction when Jeff is dangling from the belts. Not only an impressive visual, but they were so excited that their hometown boy was going to bring home the gold. Unfortunately Edge and Christian had other ideas.

HHH vs. Angle vs. Rock 2000

courtesy: dailymotion.com

The Angle/Stephanie love affair in the summer of 2000 was one of my all-time favorite angles. (No pun intended) It went on longer after this match, but for me this was the pinnacle of it. It didn't get any better. WWF in general started to slip after SS '00 but that's a different post. The crowd, which has to be one of the best ever like I mentioned in the last match, still was rockin' for this match. They wanted their man Rocky to win, but was totally invested in seeing HHH beat the shit out of Angle-which he did. Remember the botched Pedigree through the table? That was this match. Rock ended up winning, which shocked me at the time, I thought the odds were too stacked against the Great One. He was doing his "Rock pose" at the end of the match, while a seriously concussed Angle carried Stephanie out of the arena while HHH was out for the count. Love this shit.

Jeff vs. RVD Ladder Match 2001

courtesy: whatculture.com

Although I pretty much hate them now, I used to love ladder matches, and Summerslam usually delivered them in big ways. This one was always overshadowed by their InVasion match the month earlier, but I always preferred this one. I always think of RVD's insane Rolling Thunder across the entire ring to Jeff lying on a ladder. He legit goes from one corner to the other. How this doesn't get love is beyond me? Even at the time no one talked about it. Well I am now. Great match!

Summerslam 2002

courtesy: wwe.com

I love this entire show. I've gushed over it many times before, but I think it's the best wrestling card ever assembled. It has arguably the greatest opener of all time, Rey vs. Angle. Two extremely underrated mat classics in Guerrero vs. Edge and Benoit vs. RVD. A super over team of Booker T and Goldust taking on the mega heel team of the UnAmericans (Bookdust should have won BTW) in a really fun match. A main event that I dismissed at first, but have since grown to appreciate in Rock vs. Brock. Brock catching Rock with a clothesline before the People's Elbow is still the best counter for that move ever!

And we cannot forget the masterpiece that is HBK vs. HHH. At the time I never dreamed I would see HBK compete, and here he was. I've probably watched this match more than any match ever. It's my all-time favorite, which is saying something because I watch a revolting amount of wrestling and have seen some good stuff. As and added bonus, JR and King's commentary is just perfect throughout. You are genuinely concerned that Shawn is going to break his back and become paralyzed, and you just want to kill HHH every time he hits HBK in that same injured back. The ending sequence concluding with HBK rolling him up for the win is the most emotional few seconds I've ever seen in wrestling.

Brock vs. Angle 2003
Unlike the Wrestlemania match, Brock is a heel here and makes for so much better of dynamic. I love this match five times more than their WM match. Period.

Orton vs. Benoit 2004
This was supposed to Orton's coronation, but things didn't work out that way. But in the moment, this was huge. Fantastic hard-hitting mat work--basic stuff for Benoit, but it added another level to Orton. Orton's 2004 up to this point was incredible. His only match better during that stretch is his street fight against Cactus Jack at Backlash.

CM Punk vs. Jeff Hardy TLC 2009
After a rough few years of Summerslams (and WWE in general) we come roaring back here. Amazing build throughout this feud which encompassed the whole summer. It was really cool that these two got to main event this show as well.

Brock Lesnar vs. CM Punk 2013

courtesy: the armbar express

Before Lesnar got really boring he put on matches like this. It wasn't the formulaic "Suplex City" match that would become his staple at the following Summerslam. This was probably Punk's last great match, and he went out throwing hay makers.

Daniel Bryan vs. John Cena 2013

courtesy: cagesideseats.com

Bryan had built so much momentum in 2013 that going into Summerslam he seemed like only the logical choice to face Cena. Naturally WWE has a tendency to not always do what is logical, so the fact the match was booked in the first place may be considered a minor miracle. Compounded by the fact he pinned Cena clean, (using KENTA'S Busaiku Knee no less) made this small time period one of my favorite times in wrestling. I think I'm in the minority here, but the cash-in at the end did nothing to spoil the finish or the match as a whole. Big-picture I knew that Bryan pinning Cena clean was a major coupe for him-regardless of whether he had the title or not.

AJ Styles vs. John Cena 2016
The initial encounter two months prior left me disappointed. Surely they can do better than that, I remember thinking. Well all the stars aligned in this match. SS '16 was reviewed rather negatively overall, but to me the only thing I think of when this show is mentioned is this particular match- and I absolutely loved it. AJ had beaten Cena with shenanigans in their first match, but this one had no shenanigans. When AJ kicked out of the avalanche AA I lost my shit. Between both brands, NXT, and the CWC, WWE had a slew of great matches in 2016. This one ranked in the top one or two in my opinion.

The Best Of Nirvana

noreply@blogger.com (Victor Parenza) — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 15:29:00 +0000

I was actually surprised when it finally dawned on me I hadn't done this for Nirvana yet. It was actually quite simple at that. Three albums, that's it. No more will ever be added, this is it. The order of the songs will probably change, but nothing else.

If you happen to be unfamiliar with my process, essentially it's this: I ranked all my favorite songs of a band, in this case Nirvana, then gave out points to each song. (My definition of "favorite" is simply how much I like it. There is no special formula, it's just what makes me happy.) Since there were 37 songs, I gave the number one ranked song 37 points, the number two 36 etc. I then added the total points for each individual album and averaged them for the rank of each album. (My rankings for other bands can be found by clicking here.)

Also note that this applies to studio albums only. As great as Unplugged is, it doesn't fit my criteria. There are also millions of B-Sides and Covers that have been released in the last 25+ years; also not on here. So please don't ask.

Shockingly Nevermind is ranked number one. (I hope the saracasm bled through.) It's average score was 27.5. Followed by In Utero at 19.25. I actually thought it would be a bit closer than it ended up being. I think I like In Utero more than most, but the math doesn't lie when 7 of the top 10 are Nevermind songs. Bleach brings up the rear with a score of 10.92. Not a real shock there.

Like I mentioned with only three albums worth of material, it was pretty predictable how things would shake out. That being said, if you look through the list of songs individually I think you'll see some shockers. In fact, song number one is probably not what you expect it to be.

ALBUMS:

Bleach 10.92

Nevermind 27.5

In Utero 19.25

(Click on album cover for more detailed breakdown)

Come As You Are
In Bloom
Smells Like Teen Spirit
Pennyroyal Tea
Something in the Way
All Apologies
Lounge Act
Dumb
Lithium
On a Plain
Breed
Polly
Rape Me
About a Girl
Serve the Servants
Heart Shaped Box
Love Buzz
Very Ape
Drain You
Blew
Stay Away
Scentless Apprentice
Negative Creep
Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge On Seattle
Scoff
Territorial Pissings
School
Swap Meet
Big Cheese
Mr. Moustache
Sifting
Radio Friendly Unit Shifter
Milk It
Tourette's
Downer
Floyd the Barber
Paper Cuts

The Dusty Tag Classic 2016: What Could Have Been

noreply@blogger.com (Victor Parenza) — Tue, 03 Apr 2018 18:34:00 +0000

The Dusty Tag Classic 2016: What Could Have Been

vavel.com

I have random wrestling thoughts pop into my head on almost a regular basis. This is one that I haven’t written about before, and it is the 2016 edition of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. And now with the announcement for this year’s tournament, now seems like a good time to talk about 2016’s.

2015’s tournament was a really enjoyable affair. It was the inaugural edition of the tournament that was a tribute to the recently passed American Dream. It’s probably most remembered as the catalyst for Samoa Joe’s heel turn after winning the event with his partner Finn Balor. It was also during this tournament that the American Alpha truly “got over” and would help start the NXT tag team revolution that went throughout 2016 and much of this year. (RIP American Alpha)

The following year we entered the 2016 tournament, and things appeared to be stacked. We had just come off the magical Cruiserweight Classic, and many of those boys would be represented in the “Dusty Classic,” along with the molten-hot feuding teams of #DIY and the Revival. Also announced as a team was the debuting Roderick Strong who would be teaming with Austin Aries, rekindling a team that dominated ROH in 2006. (Seriously go re-watch some of these guys’ matches from that time. Absolutely fantastic.) And in what I was most excited about, the super-team pairing of Japanese superstars Kota Ibushi and Hideo Itami. I squealed like a little girl when I saw this announced. Fast forward to Takeover: Toronto in November and the Authors of Pain beat TM-61 to win the trophy. Huh?!? What the hell happened?

Before the tournament even started, Itami was injured at a house show by either Moss or Sabbatelli. I don’t remember which, and frankly it doesn’t matter. Now before you make any jokes, go watch the video of the injury. It was brutal. I’d like to see you walk after taking that, let alone make a full recovery. With the man formerly known as KENTA now out, Ibushi was teamed with TJP.

Now TJP is a great wrestler and has lots of experience in Japan, so I had no doubt he would be a good partner for Ibushi, but the bloom was already off the rose at this point. Perkins was riding high after winning the magical (yes, I’m using that word again) CWC. But the minute they started having four minute Raw matches, the remotes around the world started changing the channel. To blame him solely for the lack of success of the cruiserweights is obviously unfair. However, I’m totally getting off-topic here and need to get back on track. So lukewarm TJP was teaming with white hot Kota Ibushi in a not so “super” team.

After the first round was successfully completed, things started to get screwy. Austin Aries got kicked by Nakamura at house show and his left side of his face swelled up to grotesque proportions due to a broken orbital bone. Ironically on his interview on Talk is Jericho (check it out) he said it wasn’t even the most painful injury he’d ever had. He said he just has weak “eye holes” that shattered on a fluke kick that wasn’t even that stiff.

So, Aries is now out, and Strong has to face one of the members of TM-61 in a singles match. Again, I don’t remember which because it doesn’t matter. TM-61 had to advance obviously, and Aries wouldn’t wrestle again until March. Is this tournament cursed?

Then it was time for a second-round match that can’t let us down: The Revival vs. #DIY! Can you say “match of the year?” Yeah this will be great. Tag team perfection… aaaaannnddd the Revival forfeits the match due to “injury.” As the kids like to say, “WTF?”

Now for storyline purposes it made sense. It lead to a tag team title match at Takeover: Toronto that is considered by many to be the greatest match in NXT history. Using this booking strategy made those dastardly Revival boys look that much more cowardly and dastardly. But in a smark's perfect world, I would have had them matched up in the first round, Revival cheat to win, then be eliminated by the Authors of Pain in the third round of the tournament by #DIY interference, thus setting up their 2 out of 3 falls match at Takeover. But no, instead we just get a forfeit victory for Gargano and Ciampa. (RIP #DIY)

So as previously mentioned the AOP beat TM-61 in the finals. Now I really like TM-61. In fact, I’m really glad they’re back. But I didn’t feel they were ready at that time to be showcased in that spot. In the semi-finals they beat Sanity, which was way too big of upset. Sanity was over, but were still heels, so they couldn’t have a heel vs. heel final round. Hence the TM-61 victory. My personal theory is that it was supposed to be Aries and Strong facing the Authors of Pain. To me it just makes more sense. Aries was established, and was claiming he had the “greatest partner that ever lived” so having them go deep into the tournament was more than reasonable.

As for what Hideo and Kota would have done, my guess is they wouldn’t have made the final round because I’m sure they only had Ibushi for limited dates. And much like with the magical CWC (third times a charm!) they’re not going to have an unsigned guy make a deep run. We would however have gotten a really good match or two out of the dream team that now will probably never happen. (Okay they did team together once in ROH against Marufuji and Nakajima. And for the record it was fucking awesome!)

I’m sure the AOP win was always in the cards no matter who got injured. Which in hindsight I’m fine with. They wanted them established as the monster team, even though they were green as shit at the time. (They have since improved quite a bit.)

Yes, most of these reasons are fluke deals, but it is funny how WWE can’t seem to string together two excellent tournaments in a row. They didn’t have the Dusty Classic in 2017, instead using his War Games concept instead. Was it because of this cursed edition? Did Dusty punish WWE from beyond the grave for making him wear polka dots? The Classic is making its comeback, and will culminate at WrestleMania weekend. That’s got to make it awesome right? What could possibly go wrong? Well even if many things still do go wrong, I don’t think it’s possible to be any worse than this 2016 version.

Our Lady Peace's Somethingness

noreply@blogger.com (Victor Parenza) — Fri, 02 Mar 2018 21:02:00 +0000

Our Lady Peace released their latest album "Somethingness" recently, and naturally I felt compelled to write about it. It had been nearly six long years since their last release of "Curve," and fans had been been clamoring for this one. Well I should say that some have. There is still that divisive split on the sound of their music post-Mike Turner.

I get it, I really truly do. The last few years have seen bands that I adored for 10+ years have a shift in their sound that I just can't get into. The Foo Fighters are a great example of this. Their change of direction the last two albums is unlistenable from where I stand. Bush, another of my favorites, took a long hiatus. When they came back, their sound was a tad different, but I still liked it. Their next release was passable, and their last one was utter trash. No trace of Bush at all in that synth-pop sound. Even Collective Soul who had been putting out great music since '93, seems rather dull on their last release.

I say all this to let you know I was a bit apprehensive when I knew OLP was releasing new stuff. What if they suck now too was a common thought running through my head. They had released a single in '14 called "Won't Turn Back" that I thought it was terrible. (If you want to read my initial review/concern click here.) If my beloved OLP was now unlistenable, I wasn't sure what I was going to do.

They released the first portion of the album back in August on Spotify. I rarely use Spotify, but this was a definite reason to fire it up. It was only four songs, and I listened with bated breath. First impression was: I didn't like it. I listened to them each again, and thought, maybe Nice to Meet You has some potential.

I let sleeping dogs lie for a few days, before coming back to them. OLP had enough good will built up with me that it was only fair to give them another shot. I was pleasantly digging it more this time around. Nothing earth-shattering, but it seemed like something I could get into.

Fast forward to November 6th, and a dream came true and I finally got to see them live. They hadn't played Iowa since '95 (yes I looked it up) so this was a huge deal for me. By this point I had listened to the new songs enough to get a nice feel for them. Nice to Meet You was far and away my favorite of the bunch at this point, and I remember listening to it three times in a row on the drive there, and liking it more each time.

They didn't play it that night, which was fine because nearly every other song that I wanted them to play they did. They did play Drop Me in the Water which I knew was the new single, and hearing it live really made it grow on me. They also played Ballad of a Poet which was unreleased at that point, and I was intrigued by it as well.

Initially the back part of Somethingness was supposed to be released in October, but it kept getting moved back until it was set on February 23rd. It was only nine total songs, which if you wanted to gripe about that, I would understand. They used the crowd-funded pledgemusic.com to release it, so you could get reward incentives for backing the album. If you have $50,000 laying around they'll even come play for you at your house.

As for the overall sound of the album, it is another step in their evolution. Unlike my other bands that let me down, I dig what they're putting out. If you're familiar with Raine's solo stuff, I can see the influence on it. If you want it to sound like their "old stuff" then you're probably going to be disappointed. Bands change, plain and simple. We may not like it, but if you want them to keep going then they have to; it's inevitable. Luckily for me, I like where OLP is heading.

2017 WWE Best Matches

noreply@blogger.com (Victor Parenza) — Wed, 03 Jan 2018 20:43:00 +0000

2016 WWE was filled with an abundance of great matches. This mainly had to do with the inclusion of the Cruiserweight Classic, but seemingly every big PPV show had at least one memorable match. 2017 certainly isn't on the level of the previous year, but there were more than enough matches to rave about.

This year, like all others, I made a mental list throughout the year of my favorites and at the end of the year I went back and watched them all. A surprising number of them didn't hold up this year. For example, I loved Nakamura vs. Cena from August 1st, but on re-watch it was nothing special.

So here's a few things to remember when reading this list.

Number one: this is WWE exclusively. I don't watch enough NJPW or anything else to make a decisive list for those other promotions. I would like to, but I don't see it happening any time in the near future.
Number two: these are listed chronologically. I have a really hard time ranking wrestling matches because there are so many factors involved, plus I've only seen these matches twice. If it were an "all time favorites" list, then I would be more inclined to rank them best to worst.
Number three: these are purely my opinion. I don't mind discussions about things, but I hate it when people say, "where is such and such?" Other than that, have fun with it.

Pete Dunne vs. Mark Andrews UK Show Jan 15

I had no idea who Pete Dunne was coming into these shows. I instantly became a fan. They positioned him to look like a bad ass even if he didn't win it all, but had he lost in the first round I think I would have became a fan regardless. He has an intensity to him you cannot deny. You believe his stuff, which is a trademark of all the greats.

courtesy: sportskeeda.com

AJ Styles vs. John Cena Royal Rumble

Many people were calling this match better than their Summerslam encounter. I didn't agree then, and I don't agree now. However this is a really good match, on a somewhat forgettable Rumble. OH, and Cena wins his 16th title for no other reason than to win his 16th title.

Austin Aries vs. Brian Kendrick vs. Akira Tozawa vs. TJP vs. Tony Nese 205 Live March 14th

Now I realize that everyone is going, "huh?" Probably because no one watches 205 Live except for me. This match was for the number one contendership for the title at Wrestlemania. For kayfabe purposes it was the most important match in 205 history. Prior to being retired in '07-'08, whenever it was, the CW title hadn't been defended at Wrestlemania since XX in '04 (Ironically on this same date in 2004. That year build up for WM XX really burned that date into my head.). Now technically I know the match was on the preshow (hold that thought) but is preshow match really a big demotion in the WWE Network era?

Most of the time the 205 crowd is pretty dead, and rightfully so, but a nice "Aries" chant breaks out at the beginning of this match. Really, even if Aries was just sitting on commentary the chant would break out. Other than Neville, he is the only cruiserweight to get a organic chant going. Tozawa can eventually win them over with his "ahhs," but sometimes it takes work. (It's shame that 2 of the 3 guys are now gone.)

This is your typical stuff up until the closing sequence. Kendrick gets a really nice near-fall on Aries, that makes the front row (and other sections obviously) visibly stand up and applaud. Aries soon gets the win to the delight of the crowd. In my opinion this is the best match in the history of the show. It gets no love now from WWE because Aries won, and they hate promoting people no longer with the company; even though it was in THEIR company when it took place. Instead some other fatal five way (seriously how many of them were there this year?) from February gets all the love, and it wasn't even that good. It's only known for Gallagher's umbrella dive. Remember that stupid shit?

I love Austin Aries and I love this match. Check it out, you may be surprised. I promise you the crowd is into it!

AOP vs. Revival vs. #DIY Takeover: Orlando

If you would have told me last year that AOP would be in one of my matches of the year, I would have slapped you silly. They actually almost made two; with the ladder match just missing the cut. The DIY and Revival magic is still on full display here, with the big, lumbering giants woven into the action quite nicely. As of now, this appears to be the last we will see of #DIY vs. the Revival. An absolute shame.

courtesy: sportskeeda.com

Austin Aries vs. Neville Wrestlemania

Ah the ole kick-off show. The first match of the kick-off show even. Wrestlemania was a really good show this year, and this was a great start to the show. Both guys got to strut their stuff here, with plenty of time to show why they were head and shoulders better than everyone else on the 205 roster. I was so happy for both guys to get to hear their names chanted by 80,000ish people. It's so depressing in hindsight to know that they both would be gone within months. Okay I'll try to stop being a downer now.

I'm a huge mark for the top rope hurricanrana. Not the one when the opponent is sitting on the top rope. I mean when they both are standing on the top. It's so dangerous, but so awesome when it's done properly. (Fun fact: the first time I saw it done this way was Benoit vs. Jericho in 2000. I've loved it ever since.) Naturally these guys did that here, which is why I brought it up in the first place. And much like the last CW match I mentioned, they had a near-fall at the end that I still bit on even on the second time viewing. Aries hits the 450, (I think the only time he did it in WWE; at least on the main roster) and Neville kicks out at 2.984573. Aries locks in the Last Chancery, but Neville counters with a rake to bad orbital bone of Aries, which I thought was a really nice touch. I don't know that it translated the best to the live audience in the huge stadium, but as a viewer at home the announcers played it up nicely. The eye injury was a theme they used in many of their upcoming matches as well. It's called "telling a story" folks. In case you can't tell, I'm a huuuuge fanboy for these two.

Hardyz vs. Enzo/Cass vs. Gallows/Anderson vs. the Bar Wrestlemania

What I remember most is obviously the surprise return of Hardyz. I had no idea they would show up. You can see the genuine smiles on each of their faces as they come down the ramp. As a long-time Hardyz fan, this was great for me. When I re-watched the match, it was Cesaro who stole the spotlight. Man he is just a freak athlete. The Hardyz got the win though, in what was the moment of the night.

Pete Dunne vs. Tyler Bate Takeover: Chicago

courtesy: dailystar.co.uk

They had two other highly-praised bouts this year, but none could top that night in Chicago. I really enjoy the announcing combo of Nigel and J.R. which is what we got for this match. I don't know what I could add about this match that hasn't been said already. Gun to my head, it may be my favorite match of 2017. Worst case scenario I would say it's top three. I will say, I do think it's kind of funny that Bate is the first person to use the Spiral Tap in WWE, and not AJ. Bravo boys!

MITB Ladder Match, Money in the Bank

There weren't any surprise Hardy Boy returns in this match, so I reverted back to my stance of being completely and totally burned out on ladder matches. And having this jaded point of view, I thought the match was very run of the mill, nothing special until one moment changed my mind. The second Styles and Nakamura lock eyes, I was hooked. The crowd reaction was perfect. It was a mix of, OH HERE WE GO and I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS HAPPENING!

The match intensity was amplified tremendously after this, even though the Styles vs. Nakamura portion was just a quick tease. Which I felt was perfect anyway. How could that not lead to Wrestlemania match? Regardless it was incredible. Corbin ending up winning the match and I was all for it at the time. It's unfortunate the way things would end up transpiring, but that has no merit on this match.

Asuka vs. Nikki Cross NXT June 23rd
These two beat the shit out of each other. I feel that Cross is criminally underrated at this point. Asuka, of course, is the greatest thing since sliced bread. I'm dumbfounded that this wasn't a Takeover match with all bells and whistles they pulled out here. This may be my favorite woman's match ever.

Aleister Black vs. Kyle O'Reilly NXT Episode 404

Bobby Fish had made his debut a few weeks prior against Black, and here was O'Reilly's debut. These guys had never locked horns before, but are perfect opponents for each other with their striking and submission-based styles. Black would go on a tear after this match, with his momentum being at an all-time high. O'Reilly was made to look like a player from the jump in this underrated gem.

Johnny Gargano vs. Andrade Almas Takeover: Brooklyn

Almas hasn't had the best luck in NXT. Which makes his title win even more shocking. (Granted that makes for only the second most shocking title win this year.) I think you can point to this match (along with the addition of his manager Zelina) as the turning point. I don't know how far in advance his title win was mapped out, but part of me thinks this match me have steered the ship in that direction.

The Brooklyn crowd was red hot for NXT that night, (not so much for the rest of the three days there) and this opening athletic contest was perfect to wet their appetite for things to come that evening. Gargano has assumed Sami Zayn's role as beloved babyface of the company, and they adore everything he does. Almas gets the biggest win of his career with some excellent foreshadowing for the Gargano vs. Ciampa feud.

Aleister Black vs. Hideo Itami Takeover: Brooklyn

In between this match and the previous one was a really good tag title match; NXT was on fire this night. This match, much like the Black vs. O'Reilly was a perfect blend of styles. Black stayed on his roll, and Itami got the star-making performance (in WWE) I'm sure he was longing for. I loved this match.

Brock Lesnar vs. Samoa Joe vs. Braun Strowman vs. Roman Reigns
Since the roster split in '16, Smackdown had been the superior show up until early '17. We don't need to get into the reasons why here, but Raw was clearly the better show throughout the summer, and culminated here. Raw's booking of the main event monsters was quite good, and you felt that any of these guys could conceivably be the champion by beating the other. I hate the stretchering out Brock spot, but other than that this is good stuff.

Usos vs. New Day Hell in a Cell
This match was crazy. Obviously it was a cell match, but it lost any sort of athletic contest aspect that their prior matches had. It was an intense fight. And it didn't let up. From bell to bell it was a war. And I loved it.

Aliester Black vs. Velveteen Dream Takeover: Houston
The Dream was unproven in every aspect, being thrown into a feud with the hottest NXT superstar. I had no intention of liking this feud, let alone match, but it completely surprised me on every front. Great story-telling and a great athletic contest.

Brock Lesnar vs. AJ Styles Survivor Series
I can't imagine what this match would have looked like if it Lesnar vs. Jinder. Big time shudder. Much like HBK a generation before, AJ has tremendous chemistry with monsters (or anyone else). The beginning was a bit too one-sided for me, but in the end, the match was a big thumbs up.

Totals:
Styles- 3 matches
Black- 3 matches
Dunne- 2 matches
Lesnar- 2 matches
Gargano- 2 matches
Aries- 2 matches

The Best of Collective Soul

noreply@blogger.com (Victor Parenza) — Tue, 28 Nov 2017 19:29:00 +0000

Here we are again with another one of my completely, utterly, insane breakdown of one of my favorite bands. If you don't know my criteria you can check out one of my other lists because I don't feel the need to re-post it again. I will say that CS has the most extensive back catalog of any of the three that I've done this for. Which made it more challenging, but also more fun.

Albums:

Collective Soul 70.58

Hints, Allegations, and Things Left Unsaid 49.69

Disciplined Breakdown 41.42

Blender 35.27

See What You Started... 28.36

(Click album cover for a more "disciplined" breakdown.)

Songs:
1. Where the River Flows
2. The World I Know
3. Run
4. Satellite
5. Shine
6. Compliment
7. Bleed
8. Crown
9. She Does
10. Adored
11. December
12. No More, No Less
13. Why, Pt. 2
14. Heavy
15. Bearing Witness
16. How Do You Love
17. Better Now
18. She Said
19. Understanding
20. Good Morning After All
21. [Untitled Track]
22. Simple
23. Sister Don’t Cry
24. Perfect Day
25. You
26. Fuzzy
27. Gel
28. Under Heaven’s Skies
29. All That I Know
30. Burning Bridges
31. Forgiveness
32. Perfect to Stay
33. Needs
34. Listen
35. Dandy Life
36. Smashing Young Man
37. Dig
38. Wasting Time
39. Heart to Heart
40. Hymn For My Father
41. Hollywood
42. Him
43. I Don’t Need Anymore Friends
44. Counting the Days
45. New Vibration
46. Staring Down
47. Precious Declaration
48. Maybe
49. What Can I Give You
50. In a Moment
51. This
52. Tradition
53. Welcome
54. Never Here Alone
55. After All
56. There’s a Way
57. Love
58. Everything
59. All
60. Reunion
61. Pretty Donna
62. 10 Years Later
63. An Evening With
64. Goodnight, Good Guy
65. Heaven’s Already Here
66. Link
67. She Gathers Rain
68. In Between
69. Turn Around
70. Boast
71. General Attitude
72. Lighten Up
73. Hurricane
74. Exposed
75. Contagious
76. Am I Getting Through
77. Without Me
78. Crowded Head
79. When the Water Falls
80. Over Tokyo
81. Disciplined Breakdown
82. Breathe
83. Reach
84. Love Lifted Me
85. Tremble for My Beloved
86. Not the One
87. Blame
88. Generate
89. Feels Like (It Feels Alright)
90. Persuasion of You
91. AYTA
92. My Days
93. Giving
94. Georgia Girl
95. Home
96. Full Circle
97. Memoirs of 2005
98. Slow
99. Confession
100. Life
101. Scream
102. Skin
103. Happiness
104. Collection of Goods
105. Vent
106. You Speak My Language

2017-2018 NBA Preview

noreply@blogger.com (Victor Parenza) — Sun, 08 Oct 2017 20:00:00 +0000

This past offseason may have been the busiest in NBA history. Not just for sheer amount of movement, but for movement of key players all trying to maneuver themselves that much closer to the Warriors and the championship. Will it work? These teams are hoping so.

Boston Celtics

courtesy: cbs boston

In the most shocking move of the summer Kyrie Irving requested a trade from a team that had been to three straight NBA Finals. On the surface it’s quite baffling. We can speculate all we want, but odds are we may never know the real truth. What we do know is that Irving is now on the Celtics.

Joining him on the green team is Gordon Hayward. Hayward is coming off his first all-star season, and is reunited with his old college coach. (Something that had been rumored to be in the works for many years now.) Hayward had been the man on the Jazz for a few seasons, so it will be interesting to see how he coexists with the polarizing Kyrie Irving. As for Irving it’s now “put up or shut up time” because he has his own team now, and there are no more excuses.

These guys will be joining the past his prime, but still a good player Al Horford. I think on paper this team looks pretty good. I’m sure I’ll make this point many times today, but they are in the Eastern Conference, and the east is at an all-time low from a talent perspective so Boston could easily be the number one seed in the east this year. Is it enough to beat the Warriors? No I don’t think so.

Cleveland Cavaliers

Well it finally happened. Dwyane Wade has joined the Cavs. At this point it seems to be a lock that wherever LeBron may end up, Wade will be right there too. The aforementioned Kyrie Irving trade returned Isaiah Thomas and Jae Crowder to the Cavs. The problem is that Thomas is still hurt from last year’s playoffs and isn’t projected to be back anytime soon. So who will be the Cavs’ PG in the mean time? Enter Derrick Rose.

The greatest love story in NBA history.

The fact that Wade, James, and Rose are all on the same team is pretty remarkable. If it were only 2011. Back then those three were three of the best five players in the league. And they were duking it out in the Eastern Conference Finals. The two former Heat stars are sure-fire hall of famers, with LBJ creeping in on the “greatest of all time” category. As for Rose, it has been all downhill since 2011. His ’11 MVP season was remarkable, but consistent on and off the court troubles has plagued him ever since. You could make the argument he has had the worst career of any former MVP.

Sorry I got off on a tangent there. The Cavs have announced that Kevin Love will be the new starting center with Crowder playing PF. This move is clearly a countermeasure to the Warrior’s “death lineup,” and is something they should have done a while ago. Tristian Thompson isn’t going to win you a championship in this day and age. Love’s ability to stretch the floor is something that is immensely valuable. Now they also have another proven playoff performer in Wade. Now Wade is nowhere near what he was in Miami, but assuming they can keep him relatively healthy, he brings much more intangibles to the table than previous starting shooting guard J.R. Smith could ever dream of doing.

Rose is in the same boat as Wade. If he can hold down the fort until IT3 comes back, he would be a more than serviceable backup PG. Naturally the risk there is that Thomas may not be back at full strength anytime this year. But imagine a playoff team with a healthy Rose, Wade, and Thomas. I don’t think those three would be able to all play at the same time, but ideally you could have an elite/near elite scorer on the floor at all times, much like the Warriors do. And that’s not even including LeBron and Love.

On the flipside there is a lot that could go wrong with this team. Even if everyone is healthy, they may not gel as a unit, which I’m sure will see someone shipped out at the all-star break. (I’m sure it will be Kevin Love’s fault somehow.) But, the upside here is pretty interesting. Can they beat the Warriors at full health? The talent isn’t in their prime like the Warriors are, but there is enough cagey veteran presences that could make a little noise.

Houston Rockets

courtesy: slamonline.com

The Rockets really surprised people last year- during the regular season that is. As been par for the course, the Harden-led team didn’t make much noise in the playoffs. So how can we shake it up? Let’s bring another guy who has underperformed in the playoffs, none other than Chris Paul! Oh and did I mention that CP is a point guard which is the same position that Harden slipped nicely into last year?

I can’t really see this pairing working that well. Two ball-dominant guys that think they are the true “alpha male” can’t be good for a team. The Warriors work because they genuinely play as a team, and obviously the proof is in the pudding. Who knows maybe with the supercharged “run and gun” Rockets offense will thrive with two elite ball handlers. I know that’s what the Rockets are expecting, I just don’t know how likely it is.

Minnesota Timberwolves

I’ve sung their praises for many years now, but it’s never come to fruition. The players that were on that roster that I was praising are no longer even on the team. Now we get a team with a whole new identity. A team that has playoff experienced ballers, and a coach that wants more than anything to get them to the promise land.

It had been rumored for a while, but Jimmy Butler was officially traded to the Wolves to reunite him with his old coach Thibs. They gave up Zach Lavine and Kris Dunn. Lavine was really starting to come in to his own last year before he got hurt. Much like the Celtics did, the T-Wolves traded a good player (not nearly as good as Isaiah Thomas, but still) who was injured and got a better player in return. Obviously Lavine was a flyer, and with a reconstructed knee, it’s hard to tell what kind of player he will be when he returns. His three-point game was coming along nicely, so if nothing else hopefully he can adjust his game accordingly if need be. Enough about Lavine though.

Butler is at worst the third best shooting guard in the NBA (behind Harden, and possibly Klay Thompson). He’s got game for sure, but he did seem to cause a ruckus in Chicago behind the scenes. Chicago is a mess though, so it may not entirely be his fault. Minnesota is desperate for some success, and I’m sure is absolutely thrilled about Butler’s arrival and will welcome him with open arms, and would put up with plenty of shit, should it come to that.

Long time PG Rubio is out, and in his place is Jeff Teague. Teague disappointed last year in Indiana, but hopefully he can regain some of the form he had in Atlanta where he was an all-star. Other backcourt signings were Jamal Crawford and the journeyman Aaron Brooks. Both guys are well past their primes, but every blue moon will single handedly win you a game with a scoring outburst. Minnesota hasn’t had a bench like this in quite a while. The main front court signing was another former Bull Taj Gibson. I’ve always had a soft spot for the guy, I’m not sure why. He is a great blue collar player that I’m sure will have no issues fitting in.

Chemistry issues throughout the team could be something that affects them. To me the most glaring example of this is Butler and Andrew Wiggins. Both guys are pretty similar players, at least offensively. Wiggins is a poor-man’s Butler, no one is questioning that, but he has made strides over the last year. Does this hinder Wiggins’ progression? Or does Butler become a mentor figure for him?

The key ingredient here is a guy I haven’t even mentioned yet. Karl-Anthony Towns is a superstar in the making if you ask me. Many journalists and “insiders” feel the same, and many have declared that Towns could be potentially 1^st team All NBA this season. I don’t know if he’ll make that leap this year or not. I would think that would depend on Minnesota’s success this season. One thing I am sure of, is that this is KAT’s team. The guy has a unique of offensive game as anyone out there, and the offense should run through him. Does this fact sit well with Butler? That is a big issue. What about Jeff Teague? He’s not a traditional PG by any stretch, so he’ll want his shots. Definitely more than Rubio ever did. Don’t forget Wiggins! Or, Crawford, or Brooks, or Shabazz Muhammad.

I guess the positive outlook here is that they have plenty of firepower on the team now, which is something the Wolves have always lacked. Can they play together is the million dollar question? (As it has been for almost every other team we are looking at today) Many pundits are expecting big things from this team. I’ve even heard predictions as high as a fourth seed for this team. To me that’s ridiculous. This franchise hasn’t even made the playoffs since 2004. Give it your best, but I would think they’re goal should be to get the 8^th seed. Anything after that is just gravy. Then if you achieve that goal, then set a new one, and so forth. I want this team to succeed, but the hype train gets a little too heavy at times.

Oklahoma City Thunder

OKC wasn’t on anyone’s radar as a possible destination for Paul George. Then BAM the trade was announced. Where did that come from I remember thinking. Then again OKC wasn’t on anyone’s radar as a destination for Carmelo Anthony. BAM! What the hell is going on here? Presti is a sneaky guy because I don’t know anyone who wasn’t caught off guard by these two deals. I should also point out that both deals were highway robbery. Yes PG-13 is an expiring contract and the Pacers were desperate to get something for him, but it was probably one of the most lopsided deals of all time. The Melo deal was a bit fairer, but not much.

I truly don’t know how this team is going to work. I’m pretty sure Westbrook had the highest usage rate of anyone in NBA history last year, and Melo has always been a black hole. And of course there is another all-star named Paul George. I hate to be redundant, but GSW proved there is enough ball to go around for any amount of star players, IF the players are willing to sacrifice for the good of the team. I don’t think Westbrook and Carmelo are that player, and to a lesser extent George either.

Now the big counter-argument to that is “hoodie Melo.” Whatever, before that it was “Olympic Melo.” The theory being that when Melo is on the Olympic team he was an entirely different player, and arguably the best player on the team. I’m putting an end to that nonsense right now. The reason Melo would lead the team in scoring (or close to it) is because on those teams some combination of: Durant, LeBron, Kobe, Rose, Paul, Wade, Westbrook, Harden etc. were on the floor. Thus, they would inevitably get doubled at some point, and the lesser of all those evils, i.e. Carmelo Anthony, would get left open for the corner three. His job was to knock it down. Congratulations Melo, you were the Kyle Korver of the team.

PG-13 is more interesting because number one, he could be wearing a different uniform next year, so all of this is irrelevant. And number two, (and more pertinent for the purpose of this blog) George’s skillset is much more diverse than Anthony’s. As in he plays defense, and he does it really well. I could possibly see him buying into sacrificing his offensive game to dedicate himself solely to being the defensive stopper. Then whatever shot he gets, he gets. Naturally that would just be a bonus.

At this point I think Westbrook is who he is. If he wouldn’t sacrifice more shots to Kevin Durant, who is one of the best players of his generation and one of the greatest scorers of all time, he certainly isn’t going to sacrifice to an over the hill Melo, and complimentary superstar like Paul George. It is weird though how a guy that averaged 10 assists a game, can still be considered a ball hog. Leave it to Westbrook to create a conundrum like that. I’m sure this team will be able to go toe-to-toe with any team on a given night with explosive scoring barrages, but they’re not going to beat any great team in a seven game series.

Golden State Warriors

The Warriors were all about continuity, and not trying to add a new weapon to their arsenal. They had nine free agents this offseason (two of them being named Curry and Durant) and resigned seven of them. The only two that got away were Ian Clark and James Michael McAdoo; naturally these were two pieces they could afford to lose. In a move that summed up the team perfectly, Durant took less money to allow Andre Iguodala (2015 Finals MVP remember, and one of my personal favorites) to be brought back. Now Durant is by no means the first superstar to do this. But it was a shining example of the team’s philosophy: Do what’s best for the team.

courtesy: usatoday.com

People can hate on the Warriors all they want about “ruining the NBA” because they are going to win the next five Finals. If you enjoy watching basketball, I don’t understand how you can think like this. I’m not saying they have to be your favorite team, but watching them play is a thing of beauty. The ball movement man! The ball movement! It’s phenomenal. It’s tough to hate a team that plays together like they do. Another overlooked fact is the way they play team defense. But no, all people focus on his how many 3’s they shoot. It’s an injustice really. I should also point out a team who won 6 titles in 8 years and they didn’t “ruin” the NBA now did they?

The Best of Breaking Benjamin

noreply@blogger.com (Victor Parenza) — Thu, 14 Sep 2017 18:53:00 +0000

Phobia 31.73

Much like what I did with others I'm ranking the songs of Breaking Benjamin to establish my favorite songs and then mathematically figuring out which is my favorite album in the process.

Just like last time, here's how it went down:

We Are Not Alone 29.36

So what was my criteria for ranking the songs? Quite simply it was how much I liked them. I didn't factor in intricate chord changes or anything that a musical "purist" would count as making a song great. These are just a list of personal favorites; nothing more, nothing less. Once I had all 56 listed, I assigned 56 points to the first place song. 55 to the second place, and so on. I added up the total number of points for each song on each album and divided it by the number of songs on that album. Then PRESTO! I had a total for each album that I could then rank it by. Also remember this consists of only songs that appear on albums. Blow Me Away is a great song, but it can't be listed due to it being a single.

Dear Agony 29.09

Saturate 27

Dark Before Dawn 25.3

(Click album for breakdown)

Songs:
1. Ashes of Eden
2. The Diary of Jane
3. Breath
4. Forget It
5. So Cold
6. Shallow Bay
7. What Lies Beneath
8. Give Me a Sign
9. Angels Fall
10. Failure
11. Sooner or Later
12. Water
13. Polyamorous
14. Away
15. Without You
16. I Will Not Bow
17. Here We Are
18. You Fight Me
19. Topless
20. Dance with the Devil
21. Next to Nothing
22. Never Again
23. Forever
24. Break My Fall
25. Home
26. No Games
27. You
28. Fade Away
29. Into the Nothing
30. Crawl
31. Breakdown
32. Phase
33. Close to Heaven
34. Had Enough
35. Until the End
36. Defeated
37. Dear Agony
38. Follow
39. Natural Life
40. Rain
41. Firefly
42. Hopeless
43. Simple Design
44. Medicate
45. Anthem of the Angels
46. Skin
47. Unknown Soldier
48. The Great Divide
49. Hollow
50. Lights Out
51. I Wish I May
52. Sugarcoat
53. Believe
54. Bury Me Alive
55. Breaking the Silence

56. Evil Angel

2017 NBA Season In Review

noreply@blogger.com (Victor Parenza) — Mon, 26 Jun 2017 19:06:00 +0000

At the beginning of this season, all anyone was talking about was the Warriors, now with Durant, and the former champs, the Cleveland Cavaliers. As the season progressed, talks continued, and continued, and continued. The absolute domination of each team's respective conference made it near-impossible to talk about anything else. Sure, the Cavs ended up with the east's 2nd seed due to a horrendous month of March, but was there any doubt that Cleveland would make its third straight trip to the Finals? Maybe for fans of the Celtics, but the Celtics proved to just be pretenders for now.

Durant had an injury scare during the year that cost him numerous games. The Warriors had to sacrifice a lot of depth to acquire Durant, so there was valid concern that this was the worst possible case scenario for the Warriors. Well suffice to say they didn't miss a beat, and come playoff time Durant was firing on all cylinders. So much so that the Warriors were undefeated heading into the rubber match with the Cavs.

The Cavs turned things around in the playoffs (like there was any doubt) and lost only one game heading into the Finals. It would have been really cool if both teams were undefeated, but at the end of the day that isn't important. The important part was that the Cavs were back on course and James vs. Durant was going to happen again in the Finals (the first meeting was in '12) with Durant now on a juggernaut of a team.

Through two games, the Warriors looked unstoppable. Game three in Cleveland looked to be in the Cavs favor, but the Warriors squeaked it out in the end. The Cavs had a historic shooting night in game 4 to gut out their first win. But in the end it was for naught because the Warriors wrapped it up in game 5. Thus winning the championship like so many thought they would the second they signed Durant last summer.

I understand those who don't like Durant's path to his first championship. At this point however, I personally am pretty jaded to all that free agent craziness after the LeBron debacle in 2010. Plus, it was rather easy to feel bad for Durant when playing with Westbrook. As a biased Durant fan, you couldn't help but wonder what was going through his head as Westbrook would take more shots per game than he would; even though Durant was/is a much more efficient scorer than Westbrook ever could be. He had to look at that fluid offense of the Warriors and think, Man I want a team like that.

Which brings me to my next point. There are now arguments that the Warriors have ruined basketball. The Warriors could realistically win the next 3-4 championships without a contender in sight. (LeBron isn't getting any younger after all.) To that I will say this:

Did the 90's Bulls ruin basketball?

Think about it, six championships in eight years. It seems to me every one considers that the "golden age" of basketball. Those championship teams only had two seven game series. That's dominance for sure, but isn't that "boring?" You can't praise the Bulls' success, then claim the Warriors' is "boring." That's a double standard via nostalgia. In twenty years those same folks will probably be singing a different tune regarding these Warriors. Besides if you're a fan of the game, you should enjoy watching the Warriors even if you don't care for them. Their offense is spectacular. And I'm not even talking about the shooting. Their ball movement is the stuff of legends. Their defense was also ramped up this year. Durant and Curry were never known as defensive guys, but their team "D" fits in with the Warriors system, and each guy made an impact on the Finals with defensive plays in key moments. (Also we can quit with the "Curry sucks in the Finals" talk. After averaging 27, 8, and 9, it's safe to say the doubters are silenced.)

As for LeBron’s legacy? He doesn't have anything to worry about. Yes he has a losing record in the Finals, but going to seven straight has to count for something. He averaged a triple double for crying out loud! He clearly had the inferior team, with the exception of Kyrie.

For the record, I've never liked Kyrie. It got to the point where I would dislike him more just because everyone said how good he was. A dumb reason I know. But he was truly great this Finals. I will admit when I'm wrong. I've never seen a little guy take it to the hole and make such difficult layups with such consistency in my life. He won me over.

As for Kevin Love, he once again is the scapegoat for the team. He's getting rumored to be traded for Paul George. I really don't understand why. Love averaged 16, 11, and 2 steals a game in the Finals. That's as good as you can ask for from a third wheel. George definitely brings an elite defensive game, but he is somewhat redundant with LeBron.

I don't understand why they just don't start Love at center. That’s where they had their most success against the Warriors. Tristian Thompson offers little in today's NBA. Rebounding is great, but when you only average six per game like he did in the Finals, you would think you could find a better, and cheaper option. I do realize that you could get much more in the trade market for Love than Thompson, which would be the most obvious reason to trade him over Mr. Kardashian. We'll see what happens.

Much like the season, I only reviewed the Warriors and Cavs. But that's not to say there isn't bright spots in the future. Jimmy Butler going to the Timberwolves is very interesting. The Clippers are most likely breaking up. The Bucks continue to be a fascinating team of young talent with gobs of potential. And the Knicks? Well they still suck. I would have gotten this out earlier, but a hand injury made it a difficult to type. So just in case you were wondering, that is what the hold-up was.

The Best of Our Lady Peace

noreply@blogger.com (Victor Parenza) — Thu, 27 Apr 2017 15:30:00 +0000

Spiritual Machines 53.9

I've thought about doing this for some time now. Listening and ranking every album and song of my favorite band, Our Lady Peace. I was having lots of fun when I started this project, but naturally the more songs you hear, the more daunting the task becomes. That being said, I relished in the chance to see the final product.

Gravity 52.8

A few notes worth mentioning. Firstly, this only contains songs from studio albums. My goal was to use mathematics to figure out which albums were truly my favorites. I had an idea naturally, but I didn't know if I could accurately lay them out in order without really thinking about it. So since it was used for ranking albums, there are no rarities (like Trapeze) or covers (Dear Prudence, Drive, Imagine etc.) included here because that would have messed up the math. Yes it would make for a more complete list of best songs, but again that wasn't the initial point.

Happiness is Not a Fish You Can Catch 50.27

So what was my criteria for ranking the songs? Quite simply it was how much I liked them. I didn't factor in intricate chord changes or anything that a musical "purist" would count as making a song great. These are just a list of personal favorites; nothing more, nothing less. Once I had all 87 listed, I assigned 87 points to the first place song. 86 to the second place, and so on. I added up the total number of points for each song on each album and divided it by the number of songs on that album. Then PRESTO! I had a total for each album that I could then rank it by.

Burn Burn 42.67

At number one with a score of 53.9 is Spiritual Machines. This didn't surprise me too much. Next comes Gravity with 52.8. Then Happiness is Not a Fish You Can Catch with 50.27. Then a large drop off to 42.67 with Burn Burn. Clumsy is right behind that with 41.82. Curve has 40.9. Followed by Naveed at 38.18. Then another significant drop off to 33.92 for Healthy in Paranoid Times.

Clumsy 41.82

Curve 40.9

Naveed 38.18

Click on an album cover for a more detailed breakdown

Healthy in Paranoid Times 33.92

Songs:

Not Enough
Paper Moon
Thief
In Repair
Naveed
If This Is It
4AM
Middle of Yesterday
Is Anybody Home?
Bring Back the Sun
The Birdman
Made to Heal
Superman’s Dead
Right Behind You (Mafia)
Walking in Circles
The Right Stuff
Innocent
Rabbits
Somewhere Out There
Automatic Flowers
Let You Down
Love and Trust
Are You Sad?
Will Someday Change
Angels/Losing/Sleep
All For You
Monkey Brains
As Fast As You Can
Consequences of Laughing
Life
Will the Future Blame Us
Time Bomb
One Man Army
All You Did Was Save My Life
Neon Crossing
Sell My Soul
Julia
The Story of 100 Aisles
Waited
Clumsy
Happiness & the Fish
Is It Safe?
The End is Where We Begin
Signs of Life
Mettle
Wipe that Smile off Your Face
Annie
A Story About a Girl
Dreamland
Stealing Babies
Lying Awake
If You Believe
Do You Like It
Find Our Way Home
Hope
Blister
Potato Girl
The Wonderful Future
Al Genina (Leave the Light On)
The World on a String
Heavyweight
All My Friends
Dirty Walls
Refuge
Starseed
Carnival
Made of Steel
Where Are You
Picture
Big Dumb Rocket
Supersatellite
Allowance
Car Crash
Shaking
Sorry
Never Get Over You
Escape Artist
Everyone’s a Junkie
Under Zenith
White Flags
Fire in the Hen House
Window Seat
Don’t Stop
Boy
Denied
Hello, Oskar

Apology

All Stars 2017

noreply@blogger.com (Victor Parenza) — Fri, 27 Jan 2017 19:43:00 +0000

courtesy: nba.com

Of all the years I have been writing this blog, I've been ranting and raving about all star selections. Some years haven't been so bad, but others have gotten downright ugly. This year is about as close to perfect (in my mind) as it's going to get.

West:
Anthony Davis
Kawhi Leonard
Kevin Durant
Stephen Curry
James Harden
Russell Westbrook
Demarcus Cousins
Klay Thompson
Draymond Green
Marc Gasol
Gordon Hayward
DeAndre Jordan

East:
LeBron James
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Jimmy Butler
Kyrie Irving
Demar Derozan
John Wall
Paul George
Kyle Lowry
Paul Millsap
Kevin Love
Isaiah Thomas
Kemba Walker

The root of the problem every year was the fans voting the starting lineups. Fans are morons. (Myself included on that list.) This year, and hopefully forever going forward, fans only accounted for 50% of the votes. Which we are lucky that is the case because otherwise Zaza Pachulia would be starting for the West team. For the record that is the most extreme example of fair-weather fan voting I've ever seen. The entire Warriors starting 5 doesn't need to be all stars just because they are a "super-team."

Another factor helping the cause (and me from pulling out my hair) is that the beloved, yet past their prime stars are all almost all gone. The most extreme offenders from this list were: Kobe, Yao, Iverson, and T-Mac. So until LeBron and Curry get a little grey, we "shouldn't" have to worry about this for a while.

Along those same lines, I was amazed that Carmelo and Wade didn't get voted in. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy they didn't, but I figured the New York faithful would at least get Melo in there. Their buddy Chris Paul would have been a snub this year had he not gotten hurt last week. He was having a fantastic season, but since he wouldn't be able to play anyway, it doesn't matter that much that he wasn't voted in.

Speaking of point guards, every was up in arms that Westbrook wasn't starting despite averaging a triple double so far this year. Naturally Steph Curry was voted in; it was close though). Now I will admit that it was a bit ridiculous that he wasn't voted a starter, but Curry is still MVP-esque level so he really wasn't being "robbed" since another elite player was playing in front of him. It's just those undeserving popularity votes that kill me.

Here's hoping to another good voting turnout next year!

20 Questions For The 2017 NBA Season

noreply@blogger.com (Victor Parenza) — Tue, 18 Oct 2016 19:34:00 +0000

It's that time again for my annual thoughts running into the new NBA season. Let's get things rolling.

1. Even though LeBron finally won his beloved Cleveland a ring, there is one thing that completely overshadowed it from the second it happened. Durant to the Warriors. This had been rumored for more than a year, and was something that most people just cast aside. It was too ludicrous to put much thought into. Well those rumors heated back up after the Warrior's NBA Finals loss, which was preceded by the Thunder losing in the Western Conference Finals ironically enough. It still seemed like a stretch though. How can a team have that much firepower, that much star power, and still coexist without any major issues? On paper I feel this the greatest offensive team ever, but with great power comes great responsibility. To bring in such a high-volume scorer like Durant would mean that the other two elite scorers (Klay and Steph) would have to sacrifice not scoring 25-30 points every night. Durant would have to make the same sacrifice. It would mean that Draymond Green not get to run the offense as much because Durant gives them yet another ball-handler.

The Warriors have been a team of great unselfishness, in a league where that's not usually the case. Durant's coming from a team that's offense consisted of, "me shoot, then you," etc. I'm sure the Warriors style of play really appealed to Durant. But actually going along with it in a game is another thing entirely. Is it too well-engrained in Durant's DNA at this point to always be looking to go one on one, rather than looking for the open man? Or will he fit in like a custom-made glove and the Warriors become an unstoppable Juggernaut? (Again.)

I realize that was more than just one question, just bear with me.

2. We already mentioned LeBron. He did what he was born to do. Now the question is, are the Cavs still hungry? J.R. Smith got paid again after finally showing up in the Finals, unlike he did the previous year. Is Kevin Love finally cool with his situation? If I were a betting man, I would guess that the Cavs don't repeat this year. But then I think of LeBron's block in game 7, and think, "anything's possible."

3. Tim Duncan retired and now the Spurs officially belong to Kawhi Leonard. Kawhi was a monster last year. Duncan showed his age really for the first time. I'm sure he'll be missed in the locker room (even though he showed up to help at training camp) but how much difference on the court will it change? Pau Gasol is a fine substitute though. He is totally a Spurs-esque player. He won't cause problems, he listens, and at this point in his career doesn't need the ball to be effective much like Duncan these past few seasons. Even though Duncan wasn't himself last year, the Spurs had their greatest season in franchise history winning 67 games. You would think that bodes well for their future. But can Kawhi and LaMarcus do it again without Uncle Timmy looking over their shoulder? And is this the last season for Popovich and Ginobili?

4. Will Anthony Davis stay healthy enough for the Pelicans to make any noise this year? They have an uphill battle for sure, but Davis is getting to the point where you wonder if he can overcome his injury-bug? We all want to see him become the player he has shown glimpses of in the past.

5. Last year's Rookie of the Year Karl Anthony Towns made me think that he could become everything The Unibrow is supposed to be, and he did it in 82 games! The Wolves now have Tom Thibodeau as their coach, who was easily the most coveted coach available. With the best young nucleus in game, can he point the Wolves in the right direction, something they haven't been in over 10 years? I'm not saying they're a playoff team, but can they creep close to .500? I will predict KAT will be an all-star this year.

6. James Harden now has the team to himself, and Coach Mike D'Antoni has given him the mother of all green lights this season. The question is does this result in success? I say no. To the point of possibly even missing the playoffs.

7. The Bulls picked up Dwyane Wade and Rajon Rondo this offseason. From an offensive perspective it seemed to not make much sense. Rondo, Wade, and Bulls' stud Jimmy Butler are not 3-point shooters by any stretch. That's a bad deficiency to have in today's NBA. All three are ball-dominant, and Rondo especially has made a career out of alienating teammates and/or coaches. I could foresee this crashing and burning. With Rondo likely taking the fall. Or possibly Fred Hoiberg. Regardless is there any way that this team can work?

8. The Trailblazers overachieved like crazy last year. Can they show that it wasn't a fluke?

9. The Pacers overhauled their roster this offseason. It looks real nice on paper, but we know how "on paper" can pan out. The one certainty is Paul George who showed last season that he didn't miss a beat after his nasty leg break. They almost knocked the 2nd seed Raptors out in 7 games last playoffs. Is that a preview of things to come with their new firepower?

10. How bad are the Nets? I say this every year, but they've seemingly bottomed out now. Just trade Lopez already. Oh and they don't have a draft pick again. Trade! Trade! Trade!

11. The Celtics added Al Horford this offseason which was a pretty sweet deal for them. Horford was probably the number two free agent after Durant this past offseason. They have a great mix of young hungry talent, and in their prime vetereans. Will Horford help them go deep into the playoffs?

12. After 20 glorious (and not so glorious) seasons Kobe Bryant retired. Behind him he leaves... a hell of a lot of open shots for his teammates. D'Angelo Russell has looked fantastic in preseason. Brandon Ingram seeems to be a work in progress. They're still bad, but the future is starting to look a little brighter. Julius Randle completed last season with no issues after his leg break the previous year that cost him the entire season. Jordan Clarkson has continued to be an overachieving combo guard. But why the hell did they sign Mozgov???? I have no problem with Deng, he's a good dude. But Mozgov? What a waste of space and money.

13. The other LA team is at a crossroads. Again, I feel that is something we say about the Clippers every single year. Blake Griffin was nothing but a headache last year. I would trade him now while he's not hurt and see what you can get. And you never know when Chris Paul is going to go down, and not get back up. What are you going to do Clippers?

14. Much like former teammate James Harden, Russell Westbrook now has a team to himself. Is this the year we see him average a triple double? If he ends up on one of my fantasy teams this year I hope so! I don't deny Westbrook's heart, but I don't see how these guys can make the playoffs. Seriously who plays small forward for this team????

Peace out Chris Bosh

15. The Miami Heat have went from the penthouse to the outhouse in the span of two seasons. Wade leaving them was really strange. Then poor Chris Bosh..... Dude please hang them up, no one wants to see you die on the floor. I agree with Riley's decision to move on, but he could have been a little bit more tactful about it. Goran Dragic should have a monster year statistically. Unless Dion Waiters decides to "take over." I hope you picked up the sarcasm there. Hassan Whiteside is a good rim protector, but he's not a game-changer by any means. So my question to you is, is this team a bottom five team?

16. Ben Simmons was supposed to be the savior of the 76ers. Now he has a broken foot. Conventional wisdom has shown in the past that they will probably just sit him the whole year. But hey, we are "trusting the process." Joel Embiid has actually looked really impressive this preseason. So maybe there is a silver lining here. They definitely have some trades to make though. I've never seen a team draft a big man in 39 straight drafts like the Sixers have. (It may not have been that many, I might need to check my research.) The likely player to go is Nerlens Noel it seems. Regardless of what moves they make, and how good Embiid ends up being this year, do they still finish with the worst record AGAIN this year?

17. "If it only was 2011." That is the mindset of anyone looking at what the Knicks have done by bringing in Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah. Clearly Phil Jackson was swinging for the fences here. Rose is a free agent after this season, so the risk wasn't that great. Noah may only play 30 games, but he will be great influence in the locker room, and MSG will love the guy. Porzingis says he wants to get a quadruple double. Hey that's great for your fantasy team, but I don't know how well that will work out for you declaring that as your goal, instead of trying to win a championship, or at the very least trying to help your team win as much as possible. Melo guess what? You're not winning a championship yet again. (Does that count as a question? I hate the Knicks.)

18. I'm all for Giannis Antetokounmpo playing point guard for the Bucks. They just moved MCW out of there, so you know what that means, more Antetokounmpo at point guard! The Bucks have a very unique team to begin with. A 7 foot point guard makes things much more fascinating. But will it work? Can he keep up with the smaller guards?

19. Will Dwight Howard finally be happy on the Hawks?

20. The Kings got a new arena, can they get a new team? The DeMarcus experiment is surely coming to an end right? Adding Matt Barnes can't be a good thing right? Both point guards have criminal records? Only the Kings.

Happy NBA season everyone!

CWC Bracketology Fantasy Booking Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Victor Parenza) — Wed, 13 Jul 2016 17:08:00 +0000

As awesome as the CWC appears to be, after watching the Bracketology show I couldn't help but wonder how much better it could be with a few more big names involved. I'm not going to lie, I don't know a lot of the guys. 17 to be exact. Now I hope to become fans of these men once everything is all said and done, but for now they are all dropped from my "dream bracket." After a few more drops, my remaining competitors are:

Zack Sabre Jr.
Kota Ibushi
Akira Tozawa
Tajiri
Brian Kendrick
Rich Swann
Tony Nese
T.J. Perkins
Johnny Gargano
Tommaso Ciampa
Cedric Alexander

I'm also sticking to their strict 205 lbs and less rule. So according to Wikipedia, guys like Jay Lethal, Christopher Daniels, or Roderick Strong aren't eligible to compete. Bummer. But we have more than enough options around the world to choose from. I also didn't use anyone from NXT or WWE excluding the ones that were already listed. Sure Kalisto, Neville, or Austin Aries would be great adds, but they didn't use heavily featured talent on purpose, so I'll stick to that rule. (Ciampa and Gargano aside.)

So here are my adds:

Ricochet: Clearly the most glaring omission from the tournament. I'm sure his contract with NJPW wouldn't allow him to work it, but there is no more popular high-flyer in the world today than Ricochet, and he has to be involved.

Amazing Red: Allegedly he was supposed to be a part of this until he he got injured. So in fantasyland he is a good to go.

Kenny Omega: Speaking of a popular, Omega has as much momentum going as anyone these days. Much like Ricochet, his NJPW commitments were likely his reason for not competing.

Chuck Taylor: Definitely not your typical "cruiserweight," but Chuckie T is the man. He would bring his unique comedic style to an otherwise uber-serious tournament.

Matt Sydal: The former Evan Bourne would receive a nice reception back in a WWE ring. He always was a fan favorite during his days in the big time, and he's only gotten better since leaving.

Petey Williams: Yes he is retired. I'm realize that. However, the thought of seeing the Canadian Destroyer in a WWE ring is too great not to include.

Rocky Romero: Romero would be another great world-traveled veteran, like Tajiri and Kendrick, to add to the tournament.

Delirious: This is probably a weird one, but I was always a big Delirious fan. Being the current booker of ROH, this probably has the least amount of chance of ever happening, but Delirious would be a fun add just due to the fact that his gimmick is so crazy, and like no one else entered in "the Classic."

Alex Shelley/Chris Sabin: The Motor City Machine Guns are my favorite tag team of the modern era. No they obviously wouldn't be teaming, but they could have an interesting match against each other a'la Gargano and Ciampa.

Paul London: Another personal favorite of mine. London is pretty anti-WWE since leaving, and even if he was invited, I'm sure he wouldn't accept. Thank goodness for fantasy booking. With Kendrick in, it makes perfect sense to have his tag partner in the tournament as well. I actually feel that Paul is the better worker (or at least more exciting) of the two anyway.

Kushida: The current IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion would bring instant credibility to this CWC. Add into the storyline that his former tag team partner Alex Shelley is in the tourny, then you have another built-in storyline to play with.

Sonjay Dutt: Bringing the Hindu flare is Dutt. Sonjay is a well-established high-flyer that the crowds would easily get behind.

BxB Hulk: Speaking of "flare," possibly no one is more apt to bring it than BxB. I can't really explain him, you would just have to see him if you aren't familiar. On top of that, I would compare his in-ring style to real life/fantasy entrant Kota Ibushi. Kota is amazing, so imagine what Hulk is, with all his zaniness.

AR Fox: Fox throws his body around with reckless abandon like no one since probably Sabu. Definitely an attribute that is good for a cruiserweight tournament.

Taiji Ishimori: Not to be confused with "Tajiri," this Pro Wrestling NOAH junior heavyweight was the former protege of NXT's Hideo Itami (welcome back by the way). So he's got the connection, the skill, and possibly the best six-pack in the wrestling business.

Kyle O'Reilly: The other "KO" would probably be in this if he wasn't signed to ROH. Kyle's great strikes and submission style would be a great counterbalance to the lot of high-flyers I've chosen for this tournament. Some think he could be the next Daniel Bryan, which obviously is the highest of praise.

Nakajima: The hardest kicker I've personally ever seen. Nakajima is another NOAH guy. He's not a flyer like Ishimori though. Definitely more similar to Itami's style.

Adam Cole: A common knock on most cruiserweights is that they don't really have personality. Cole doesn't fit this bill. With a catchphrase like, "Suck my dick," you can get an idea of what kind of personality Mr. Cole has. Like his former tag partner Kyle O'Reilly, Cole is projected to be signed by WWE eventually.

Masato Yoshino: Akira Tozawa was the only Dragon Gate guy selected for the tournament. Whether he got special permission, or is actually a free agent I don't know. But arguably the best "pure" cruiserweight is Yoshino. That's quite the achievement considering that Dragon Gate is predominantly made up of cruiserweights. The "Speedstar" is amazing with his lightning fast movements.

ACH: ACH has tagged with Ricochet. He has faced off against AR Fox, Rich Swann, and countless other guys on this list. My point here is that he can hang with them all. Currently employed by ROH, ACH is a dude that fits quite nicely in the CWC.

2016 NBA Season in Review

noreply@blogger.com (Victor Parenza) — Mon, 27 Jun 2016 20:29:00 +0000

si.com

The Cleveland Cavaliers can have their first championship parade in franchise history. LeBron finally was able to deliver for the Cavs, in what some thought was predestined since he showed up in '03. Let's talk about the Finals later though. We have some other things to attend to first.

Very shortly after the season began, Kobe announced he would return at season's end. Would he have done it if the Lakers were competitive or if his body clearly didn't break down beyond repair? It's hard to tell. If you want to read my very detailed thoughts on this, or Kobe's career in general, click here.

As for the Lakers team, they did something I didn’t think was possible, and had an even worse season than last year’s! Kobe’s Farewell Tour put a bit lighter spin on the season (for some), but it was 76ers-bad. I suppose if you’re going to be bad, be really bad. It did get them another number two pick in this year’s draft.

Speaking of number two draft picks, D’Angelo Russell had quite the season. And I don’t mean that in a good way. It wasn’t entirely his fault, for some strange reason coach Byron Scott thought it would be a good idea to bench their “supposed” guard of the future, on a team that had very little talent to begin with. Now if this was part of an elaborate rouse to tank, then I suppose job well done, but I highly doubt that was the sole reason. Post-all-star break, when he was finally allowed to play, there was flashes of what he could become. In the month of March he averaged nearly 16, 3, and 3. That’s pretty good for a rookie. (A different rookie would make that look like child’s play, but we’ll get there.) Oh and there was also that little Nick Young situation… good grief.

Julius Randle finally got to play this season, after the leg break in game one last year. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. He looked eerily like a Lamar Odom out there playing. Now, before any jokes get made, I’m talking strictly about Odom’s playing style not his off the court

shenanigans. If he could really turn into the versatile player that Odom was, then the Laker’s have a piece that they can really turn to. Right now he’s not quite the passer that Odom was, but he is a really good ball-handler. In turn, he also was sixth in total rebounds in the NBA for the year.

All this rookie talk makes me truly think about one rookie. THE rookie. The rookie of the year Karl-Anthony Towns. KAT was a monster this year. The Timberwolves truly won the lottery in every sense of the word with this guy. Okafor isn’t good enough to wash KAT’s feet at this point. Let’s look at the laundry list of accolades he compiled this year:

- Rookie of the Year

- All Rookie 1^st Team

- Western Conference Rookie of the Month all 6 months of the season

- Western Conference Player of the Week for the last week of the season (A good omen to start next year?)

- Played all 82 games

- Season average: 18.3 PPG, 10.5 RPG, 2 APG, 1.7 BPG, .542 FG%, .811 FT%

- 4^th in total rebounds

- 6^th in blocks

- 8^th in field goal percentage

Towns had the best rookie season in a quite a few years. I know I say this every year, but this is my strongest case yet, the Timberwolves are trending upward. I see no reason why KAT can’t be an all star next season, and some journalists made the argument he should have been All NBA 3^rd team. He’s the new era of big man, that can shoot, and still do the traditional big man game. In fact, I’m so high on him, I see no reason why he can’t become all the things people expect Anthony Davis to become. (More on him shortly.)

I realize this post isn’t about next year, but if Towns wasn’t enough, the hiring of Tom Thibodeau will do nothing but add fuel to the T-Wolves launch into the stratosphere. There’s also that rumor of Jimmy Butler heading that way, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

I mentioned Anthony Davis a moment ago. He had a season to forget. He only played in 61 games, a trend that worries me a tad. His career high is 68 games. The whole Pelicans team was ravaged by injuries, only to win 30 games. Quite the letdown after last season’s improbable playoff run. I’m sure he’ll be out for vengeance this coming season, but he’s going to need some serious help. They have the 6^th pick this year, here’s hoping they come up big.

For the second straight season Chris Bosh had to throw in the towel early due to blood clots. That’s some scary stuff and I would assume that he is probably done. Your life isn’t worth a basketball game. Which is too bad, I’ve ragged on Bosh in the past, but he was a really good player that had a few more good years left.

Also likely to be done is Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili. Duncan had easily the worst year of his career, and Ginobili has been on a downward slide for some time. Ironically, the Spurs kicked all sorts of ass this year, winning 67 games which was a franchise record. This got overshadowed by another team’s winning, which is a shame. I wouldn’t have been surprised at all if the Spurs had won the title.

The Spurs have bridged the gap of old and young talent better than any team I’ve ever seen. They scored big last offseason with the Aldridge signing. Then just for a capper they got David West as well. Aldridge was a key cog for the Spur’s success, but the main reason was Kawhi Leonard.

Kawhi had never been an all-star prior to this season, but by season’s end, he was second in MVP voting. Kawhi was a certified stud this year. Aside from the second in MVP voting, he was defensive player of the year again, obviously an all-star, and averaged 21.2 PPG, 6.8 RPG, 2.6 APG, 1.8 SPG, 1 BPG, .506 FG%, .874 FT%, .443 3PT%.

People are already calling him the best defender of his generation. (He even got a sweet new nickname to prove it, “the Claw.” I like it.) Defense was always the name of his game, but his offense went to a new level this year. In all actuality, he has improved it every year, but this was clearly the most dramatic jump. The small forward position is as deep as it’s ever been and it can be argued if you wanted one to start your franchise, Leonard could be your man. That’s an impressive feat to be mentioned in the rare air of LeBron and Durant. Maybe Duncan and/or Ginobili won’t retire quite yet, but even if they do, the Spurs are still in great hands with the Claw.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Rockets may be in quite poor hands with James Harden. I’ve never been sold on Harden as a leader, and his offseason exploits with a certain reality family leading to an extremely poor, out of shape start to the season did nothing to disprove me. It’s apparent he and Dwight Howard hate each other, which can’t be entirely blamed on Harden. Howard has crashed and burned on every team he has left. It was probably destined to be a toxic relationship from the start. They squeaked into the playoffs, which no one outside of Houston was rooting for. They played so bad and were such punks, that no one wanted to see them succeed.

Dwight’s able to leave now in free agency, unfortunately for him, he may be a shell of his former self. He’s not going to get the money he wants (probably). Who am I kidding? He probably will. Even if he doesn’t, would it be worth it to him just to leave Houston? Harden seems to be more alienating every year, from everyone to the fans to his teammates. Who is going to want to play with him and his ball-dominating ways? Harden may need to have a hard look in the mirror if he wants to have any success.

Speaking of not having any success, my old “pal” Carmelo Anthony had yet another season of no playoffs. Yes his team wasn’t that great. Only moderately better than last year’s debacle. Melo’s stats are declining- slowly. He’s a good player, but his basketball mentality still drives me nuts. I don’t feel bad for him at all because he could be playing on a good team right now. He easily could have been traded the last few seasons, but he chose not to. He likes New York and all its bright lights. Which is fine I guess, but if you want to be considered one of the greats, you can’t be toiling around on bottom-feeder teams. Which I probably just answered my own question, he doesn’t care to be one of the greats. He just wants to jack up three’s and collect a huge paycheck. Good for him. At least he has Porzingis.

You know who else had no success, with an even worse approval rating than Carmelo? Blake Griffin that’s who! Mr. Kia Commercial had possibly the worst season a guy could have. He had a hamstring injury early in the season that lingered on, all the while the Clippers started winning. During that off period, he punched a trainer- repeatedly. Allegedly this trainer was beloved by the Clippers organization, and even Griffin. He also allegedly was a tiny little guy. Granted, almost anyone in the real world would be considered tiny next to the 6’10” Griffin. Blake got a big time suspension, and did I mention that the Clippers kept winning?

The Clippers were by no means a contender. I may have underappreciated them some, but there is no sane argument for them getting past any combination of the Warriors, Thunder, and Spurs. Maybe one of the teams, but definitely not two. I’m a big believer in chemistry, and the fact that they played better without Blake spoke volumes to me. This prediction has been thrown around a lot, but Blake Griffin won’t finish next year in a Clippers uniform.

When the turd finally came back, he got hurt again in the first round of the playoffs. Chris Paul also got hurt that same game. Obviously they’re not going to make any noise without both guys, so the PORTLAND TRAILBLAZERS knocked them out in the first round. I don’t know what’s going to happen with this Clippers team. Clearly their version of the “big three” isn’t championship material and needs some sort of shakeup, drastic or otherwise.

Now let’s talk about the PORTLAND TRAILBLAZERS. Why in all caps? No I’m not doing my best Dan Gilbert impression, I’m just so impressed with what the PORTLAND TRAILBLAZERS did this year. They lost four of their five starters. That is a death blow to any team no matter how good their remaining starter is. My prediction was that they would be near 76er/Laker bad this year. (I totally didn’t do my “20-30 questions” blog before the season’s start, and I have no idea why. I also didn’t do my all-star rant this year. The biggest gripe would be Kobe making the team. I’ve stuck to my guns that “lifetime achievement award” picks are crap. I didn’t care that it was Kobe’s last season. Do you know who got snubbed because of Kobe’s inclusion? The TRAILBLAZER’S own Damian Lillard.) The PORTLAND TRAILBLAZERS (last time, I promise) had a very respectable 44 wins this year, and due to the injuries mentioned in the last paragraph, made the second round of the playoffs. Seriously this was Rudy-type shit. We’re talking big time underdog success story.

The aforementioned Lillard was ballin’ with a 25, 7, and 4 (and an all-star snub, but was rewarded with the much more prestigious All NBA 2^nd team honor). His partner in crime was C.J. McCollum who averaged nearly 21 PPG, and won the most improved player award. These two guards put the team on their backs and caught everyone off guard (no pun intended). They had a rotating cast of big men, but none would start on a good team. If you gave out a “feel good” award, the Blazers would definitely have won it.

Another feel good story this season was Paul George. He came back at the tail end of last season, but was on a major minutes restriction. This year he came back and played 81 games, but with a new Pacers team. To be completely honest, a not that spectacular Pacers team. They were an average team in the East. George had career-highs in points and assists, and came out like a man on fire to begin the year (Eastern Conference player of the month in November). Then in what has become a trend for him, went on a bad shooting slump right before the all-star game, before turning it back on at the end of the year. He made himself yet another All NBA 3^rd team, and best yet, the Pacers were back in the playoffs.

The Pacers opponents in the first round were the Toronto Raptors. After a flame-out in last year’s playoffs, Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan both had great regular seasons. Then history seemed to repeat itself as the Pacers pushed the Raptors to the brink. The first round of the playoffs were almost all blowouts, but the Pacers appeared to have the Raps on the ropes. In the end, the Raptors closed in game 7 to make the second round for the first time in franchise history. But they were sweating to be sure.

After another 7 game series in the second round against the Heat, the Raptors went on to face Cleveland in the Eastern Conference Finals. They lost in six. It was a pretty good showing for a team that didn’t look like it would make it out of the first round. The problem is that DeRozan is a free agent now, and appears to be on his way out. Just speculation at this point obviously, but should he leave, is the Raptors window closed? Who knows, maybe they could land another scorer?

They young teams of the Orlando Magic and Milwaukee Bucks both underachieved this season. The Bucks in particular were expect to make a little noise with their ridiculous length and athleticism. Greg Monroe turned out to be a bust for them. I will admit I was wrong on this one. I thought Monroe was a good addition for them. There is hope though. Jabari Parker played in 76 games after missing most of his rookie year. He’s not quite living up to that number two pick status yet (some swore he should have went first), he is however progressing in the right direction. The real diamond on the team seems to be Giannis Anteokounmpo. The Greek Freak may have the hardest name to spell and pronounce in NBA history, but with Jason Kidd declaring him his next point guard (he initially was their small/power forward with ball-handling duties), expectations are soaring. He’s 21, 6’11” and one of the most athletically gifted players in the game. I’m not saying he’s Magic Johnson, but I’m excited about the possibilities here. We shall see.

The two previously mentioned teams were youngsters. It is expected that they fall on their face, no matter how much potential is there. One team that was thought to be contenders, and had been for the last five seasons (more or less) is the Chicago Bulls. They didn’t even make the playoffs. This blew my mind. Even without Rose, they should go deep into the playoffs. The thing is, they had Rose. He was there for 66 games. Now I was criticizing the Unibrow for only playing that many, but 66 is a fantastic amount if you’re a long-suffering Bulls fan. No the problem wasn’t Rose, every else got hurt. No Bull played all 82 games. Doug McDermott played 81, but he hasn’t proven to even be a rotation player yet. Jimmy Butler is another guy who had a career year, but again only played 67 games. Speculation runs wild that he and Rose had a power struggle/ just don’t like each other. Who knows whether it is true or not because with the trade recently it doesn’t matter anymore? The thing is, it ran deeper than those two.

The Bulls team as a whole seemed to hate each other this year. Was it because of Hoiberg? The benching of Noah in favor of Mirotic seemed to rub many the wrong way. I was in favor of it at the time. I thought it would help preserve Noah’s body, which in the end didn’t matter anyway. But clearly it wasn’t the right move. Even good-natured Pau Gasol made a few remarks about the in-fighting. He didn’t name names, he’s too smart for that, but if Pau is coming out complaining, you know you’re having some problems. He also said, without coming out and saying it, that he’s leaving in the offseason. For a team that should have been dominating the Eastern Conference, the future looks really bleak. Add in Jimmy Butler trade rumors, and it appears the Bulls may be headed to rebuild mode. Which is a damn shame. This Bulls team will easily (in my mind) go down as one of the “what if” teams.

As previously mentioned, the opening round of the playoffs were quite dull. The second round saw things heat up. The Thunder took on the Spurs, which some thought could be the last series with Kevin Durant wearing “OKC” on his uniform. The Thunder are always a good team, but this Spurs team seemed to be something special. And let’s face it, OKC has been known to collapse at times, so it seemed to be a foregone conclusion that the Spurs will win this thing. I would have bet money that the Spurs could do it in six games or less.

Well the series was decided in six games, but the result was shocking to anyone outside of OKC. The Thunder flipped a switch that no one knew that they even had. Durant and Westbrook gave a big middle finger to anyone who doubted them, but Steven Adams came out with a vengeance. The dude was everywhere. He gave them a grit that they seemingly never had before. Their defense was locked down. They suddenly looked like the best team in the NBA, and I was pissed. I had been dreaming all year of a Warriors vs. Spurs Western Conference Finals that I was sure would be the best series of the year; it definitely would be better than the Finals would be with whatever wimpy Eastern Conference team showed up to get slaughtered. Boy oh boy was I wrong.

The Warriors did make the Western Conference Finals, but their journey there was quite remarkable. The opened the season going 24-0, shattering the old record of 15. There didn’t seem to be the “disease of more” going on with this team. In fact, they seemed hungrier. Much like last year, they were blowing people out left and right. I thought they had a chance to reach the coveted 70 wins, and they did just that. Which put another record in play. The immortal 72 wins.

Michael Jordan proponents seem to think that everything he ever did was untouchable. And even if a player/team do achieve the same things, or even more so, it somehow still doesn’t measure up to the god-like MJ and the Bulls. That’s bullshit. Call a spade a spade. The Warriors broke the record with 73 wins. (I don’t care how the season ended for them, they still achieved a once-thought “unattainable” record.) Rant completed.

Despite a hiccup in the second round when Curry was injured for a couple games, everything was a breeze for Golden State. Then round three was upon us. What was deemed to be a clash of the titans against the Spurs, who were easily the second best team all season, now faced a focused Thunder team. I still thought it was a real possibility that the Warriors could sweep the Thunder. I really thought they were that much better. Then the series started.

In a huge shocker, the Thunder stole game one in Oakland. Wow that was unexpected. However the past two years have shown that when the Warriors did get socked in the mouth, they would then come back the next game and deliver a knockout blow. Which they did. All things were going according to the plan. Then in games three and four in OKC, the Warriors played probably their worst two games up to that point, and suddenly OKC was up 3-1?!?! What alternate universe are we living in?

Statistically speaking, being down 1-3 is almost a lock that you’re going to lose. Not impossible obviously, but close enough. The Warriors had to live by the old adage to “take it one game at a time.” And that they did. The next three games were competitive, but in the end the Warriors did the near impossible to keep their dream season alive. I got that dream seven game series that I wanted, just the participants weren’t exactly how I envisioned. It was pretty awesome.

In the Eastern Conference, nothing exciting happened for the Cavs on the way to the Finals. Shocking, I know. (The East needs more superstars, period.) In fact, they didn’t lose a game until the conference Finals. Which I suppose is exciting if you’re a Cavs fan. That being said, I remember some Cavs team in ’09 that was undefeated through part of the playoffs and it didn’t end so good for them now did it? Now they’re facing a juggernaut in the Golden State Warriors. In the immortal words of Al Bundy, “let’s rock.”

Game one, the Warriors came out and beat the piss out of the Cavs. I distinctly remember thinking that this was going to be a sweep. (Why do I keep thinking that?) This Cavs team could get rolling at times, but they didn’t have chemistry. Their pieces don’t fit together very well. They are just a far inferior “team” compared to the locked-in Warriors. Game two was more of the same, and then some. The Warriors completely curb-stomped the Cavs and headed to Cleveland 2-0.

Game three was an egg for GSW. All the starters (except for Harrison Barnes) played bad, bad but not awful. Unfortunately for them that would come later. The Cavs on the other hand got 30 from LeBron and Kyrie. Even, gasp, J.R. Smith scored 20 points. After nine Finals games, Smith and Irving finally had a good output. For Smith, naturally it would be his last (in his defense he did much better than last year). Irving, not so much. You could argue that Irving’s step up in play ended up winning the series for Cleveland.

The Warriors won game four despite another 30+ point game from Kyrie. Now with the Warriors up 3-1, it seems as probable as it possibly could for a second Warriors championship. Warriors don’t choke, do they?

Game five was the turning point. Draymond Green was suspended for being a dumbass one too many times. So naturally Andre Iguadala was inserted in the starting lineup. He had a near triple double, Klay had 37, and Curry had 25. Yet, they still lost. That was a bad omen for the Warriors. This will probably be considered a classic game down the road due to Kyrie and LeBron both scoring 41 points.

In the back of my mind, I wondered if the tide had turned? Surely the Warriors could get it done with two more chances? Kyrie coming on had me nervous though. Game six was the Warriors worst performance yet. This fantastic shooting team, just barely shot over .400 for the game. Some LeBron guy scored 41 again. Game 7 really? Did we switch to another alternate universe?

There was no possible way the Warriors were going to lose game seven on their home court. Not after being up 3-1, not after a 73 win season. It just can’t go down that way. But it did. The Warriors shot the ball even worse this game (.386) than in game six. With the exception of Draymond. He was projected to come back from suspension game six and set the world on fire, leading the Warriors to victory with his energized play. Instead he shit the bed. Well he was a game late, but he did so in game seven. 32 points, 15 rebounds, 9 assists, 2 steals, and 75% from 3. Unfortunately he had no help in the end, as the King won his ring for Cleveland.

Mr. James was spectacular those last few games. His block on Iguadala in the closing seconds of game seven is probably the most clutch, intense, incredible block I’ve ever seen. It is the highlight of the series for sure. I can’t leave out Kyrie, who I’ve repeatedly crapped on for his career as being an underachiever and a choke artist. Well he shut me up this Finals. So kudos to him and congrats to the Cavaliers for winning their first NBA championship.

The cool thing now is to shit on the Warriors. Curry is overrated blah, blah, blah. You do remember what happened last year right? You do remember he was the rightful MVP of the last two seasons? You do remember that he has set numerous NBA records, and then proceeded to break his own record right? I’m not worried about the Golden State Warriors one bit. You don’t think they’re going to be contenders again next year? Barring some catastrophic injury, I don’t see how they couldn’t be. Haters gonna hate I suppose.

Since I brought up MVP, let’s talk about the awards. Curry was the first unanimous MVP. I’m really shocked there hadn’t been a unanimous one before, but no doubt Curry rocked it this year.

Rookie of the Year I’ve sung the praises of enough already. Karl-Anthony Towns was amazing, and a future superstar. This was almost as much of a landslide as the MVP voting.

Kawhi won Defensive Player of the Year again, and got second in MVP voting on top of that. Draymond was his main competition, but Kawhi is the golden boy as far as defense goes.

Jamal Crawford won the Sixth Man of the Year in the weakest ballot yet. I don’t know if it’s getting worse every year, or I just care less and less about this award every year. Crawford’s win came out of the blue to me. I hate the Clippers so I’m not the most informed of them, but everything I was hearing this year says the Crawford was washed up. I probably would have voted for Andre Iguadala because he means so much to that team, but Enes Kanter was probably a worthy candidate as well.

C.J. McCollum won the most ridiculous award of the year, also known as “most improved.” It wouldn’t be so ridiculous if it had definite guidelines, but it’s so open to interpretation (sounds like someone’s argument for a different award) that it’s silly. This year had more all-stars nominated than probably ever before (Curry even got some votes). But to me, this award shouldn’t be about all stars, and McCollum was a perfect recipient.

The All Defensive Teams looked like this:

1^st team

DeAndre Jordan

Draymond Green

Kawhi Leonard

Avery Bradley

Chris Paul

2^nd team

Tony Allen

Hassan Whiteside

Jimmy Butler

Paul Millsap

Paul George

Do you see any issues with those? Me neither, let’s move on.

All NBA 1^st team:

Steph Curry

LeBron James

DeAndre Jordan

Russell Westbrook

Kawhi Leonard

Never has it been more apparent at the lack of great centers in the NBA as it is when DeAndre Jordan is first team all NBA. I could maybe see him on second team, but come on. Marc Gasol getting hurt for most of the year kind of screwed it up, and Cousins is too much of a loose cannon to give the award to (plus the Kings blow, so that works against him as well.) Ideally, Draymond Green should have been Center-eligible and he could have slid in there.

All NBA 2^nd team

DeMarcus Cousins

Kevin Durant

Draymond Green

Damian Lillard

Chris Paul

How long has it been since Durant has not been on 1^st team? (Not counting last year when he was hurt) It shows the ridiculous depth of the forwards nowadays, the small forward in particular. It makes the DeAndre 1^st team pick look more ridiculous when you see Durant’s name on the 2^nd team.

All NBA 3^rd team

LaMarcus Aldridge

Paul George

Klay Thompson

Andre Drummond

Kyle Lowry

I would make the argument that jimmy butler should be the guard over Lowry, but the Bulls lack of success and his injuries make his exclusion seem justified.

And finally free agency. There is only one free agent worth talking about. His name is Kevin Durant. Sure there are some other really good ones out there, but the one that causes every other domino to fall is Durant. Smart money says he should stay one more year in OKC, then if he so desires, he and Westbrook can give it one last shot, and choose to go their separate ways.

It does make sense, the way they clamped down on GSW was quite impressive. However they still pissed it away in the end, which has always been the problem in Oklahoma City. I don’t think Durant and Westbrook complement each other. I used to, but I now feel Durant needs a traditional point guard if he wants to win it all. (The problem for Westbrook is, I don’t know what kind of star player could compliment him.) The crazy rumor is that Durant would go to Golden State. Harrison Barnes is free agent, and likely to move, so Durant would just slide right in there. On paper it sounds incredible. All those amazing shooters. The problem is there is only one ball. Klay Thompson would figure to be the odd man out, but everyone’s touches would dramatically decrease. The Warriors have proven to be a selfless team, but integrating a new superstar to your battle-tested lineup would be tough.

I think Durant just may go to Miami. Going to the Eastern Conference makes sense, and living in Miami sure can’t be a bad thing. That way he gets to take on LeBron 4 times a year, and can enjoy possibly knocking him out of the playoffs early. That would take some sting away from not winning a ring yet. Pat Riley is a hell of a salesmen, and I wouldn’t count him out.

Just for fun here are some other predictions:

Dwyane Wade signs with Cleveland. Granted if Durant went to Miami that may stop him, but I could easily see this going down.
The Timberwolves will be a hair away from making the playoffs, but only to come back with a vengeance the following year, ending their playoff drought.
J.R. Smith parties all offseason following the championship and is never seen again.
Phil Jackson resigns from the Knicks
The Lakers still suck, but there may be a glimmer of hope
Derrick Rose gets hurt
Andrew Bynum dyes his hair green
Chris Paul forces the clippers to make panic trades, they all blow up in his face, and he demands to be traded
Dirk signs with the Spurs- just kidding
After another horrendous start by the Rockets, James harden is “injured” for the remainder of the season (yet still plays in the all star game)

AJ Styles Pre-WWE Greatest Matches

noreply@blogger.com (Victor Parenza) — Fri, 13 May 2016 21:16:00 +0000

I'm sure most people are like me and are just thrilled to watch Styles every week on WWE programming. Here I want to rank all the top matches AJ had prior to WWE. I planned on putting every single one I could find on here, but he had so many 6, 8, or 10 man tags in NJPW that were essentially repeats, that I decided it would be redundant to do so. So what's here is what I'll call the "important stuff." Enjoy.

AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels vs. Samoa Joe TNA Unbreakable ‘05
AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels TNA Bound for Glory ‘05
AJ Styles vs. Abyss TNA Lockdown ‘05
AJ Styles vs. Chris Sabin vs. Petey Williams TNA Final Resolution ‘05
AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels vs. LAX TNA No Surrender ‘06
AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe TNA Sacrifice ‘05
AJ Styles, Rhino, Sting, Truth vs. Scott Steiner, Jeff Jarrett, America’s Most Wanted TNA Lockdown ‘06
AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels vs. America’s Most Wanted TNA Slammiversary ‘06
AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe TNA Turning Point ‘05
AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels TNA Against All Odds ‘06
AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels vs. LAX TNA Bound for Glory ‘06
AJ Styles vs. Kazuchika Okada NJPW Dominion 7/5/15
AJ Styles vs. Paul London ROH Night of the Grudges
AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura Wrestle Kingdom 10
AJ Styles, Kurt Angle vs. Christopher Daniels, Kazarian TNA Slammiversary ‘12
AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels TNA Turning Point ‘09
AJ Styles vs. Roderick Strong ROH Fate of an Angel
AJ Styles vs. Roderick Strong PWG BOLA Night 3 ‘14
AJ Styles, Generation Next vs. The Embassay ROH Vendetta
AJ Styles vs. Kurt Angle TNA Hard Justice ‘08
AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels vs. America’s Most Wanted TNA Sacrifice ‘06
AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels TNA Against All Odds ‘05
AJ Styles vs. Bryan Danielson ROH Main Event Spectacles
AJ Styles, Matt Sydal vs. Roderick Strong, Austin Aries ROH 4^th Anniversary Show
AJ Styles vs. Minoru Suzuki NJPW G1 Climax 24 Day 7
AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe ROH War of the Wire
AJ Styles vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi NJPW G1 Climax 25 Day 17
AJ Styles vs. Paul London vs. Low Ki ROH 1^st Anniversary Show
AJ Styles vs. Katsuyori Shibata NJPW G1 Climax 25 Day 1
AJ Styles, Scott Steiner, Tomko, Abyss, Christian Cage vs. Kurt Angle, Sting, Samoa Joe, Jeff Jarrett, Rhyno TNA Lockdown ‘07
AJ Styles vs. Kota Ibushi NJPW G1 Climax 25 Day 5
AJ Styles vs. Frankie Kazarian vs. Christopher Daniels PWG Are You Adequately Prepared To Rock?
AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels vs. Samoa Joe vs. Jimmy Yang ROH Better than Our Best
AJ Styles vs. Low Ki Zero-One U$A 3003 Day 1
AJ Styles vs. Low Ki vs. Jerry Lynn vs. Psicosis TNA 6/26/02
AJ Styles, Matt Sydal vs. Jack Evans, Austin Aries ROH Supercard of Honor
AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe vs. Kurt Angle vs. Christopher Daniels TNA Hardcore Justice ‘12
AJ Styles vs. Doug Williams TNA Final Resolution ‘10
AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels TNA Final Resolution ‘09
AJ Styles vs. Abyss TNA 11/19/03
AJ Styles, Yujiro Takahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii NJPW Dominion 6/21/14
AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe TNA Sacrifice ‘07
AJ Styles vs. Jimmy Rave ROH The Homecoming
AJ Styles vs. Kazuchika Okada NJPW Yokohama Arena 5/25/14
AJ Styles vs. Kurt Angle TNA Slammiversary XI
AJ Styles vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi NJPW Circuit 2008
AJ Styles, Frankie Kazarian vs. Low Ki, Leonardo Spanky Zero-One Manifesto 1
AJ Styles vs. Okada vs. Michael Elgin ROH War of the Worlds ‘14
AJ Styles vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi NJPW G1 Climax 24 Day 12
AJ Styles vs. Kaz Hayashi ROH Final Battle ‘03
AJ Styles vs. Bryan Danielson ROH Dissension
AJ Styles vs. Kyle O’Reilly ROH Death Before Dishonor XII Night 1
AJ Styles vs. Kota Ibushi NJPW Invasion Attack ‘15
AJ Styles vs. Christian Cage TNA Genesis ‘06
AJ Styles vs. Petey Williams TNA Genesis ‘05
AJ Styles vs. Bryan Danielson vs. Samoa Joe IWA MS: TPI ‘04
AJ Styles, Kenny Omega vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Yoshi-Hashi NJPW New Year Dash ‘16
AJ Styles, Matt Sydal vs. Abyss, Jimmy Rave ROH Showdown in Motown
AJ Styles vs. Chris Sabin TNA Impact September ‘09
AJ Styles, Tama Tonga vs. Kota Ibushi, Tetsuya Naito NJPW Destruction in Kobe 9/21/14
AJ Styles vs. Roderick Strong TNA Impact October ‘05
AJ Styles, Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson, Yujiro Takahashi vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto, Katsuyori Shibata, Tetsuya Naito NJPW New Year Dash ‘15
AJ Styles vs. Kazuchika Okada NJPW 10/12/15
AJ Styles, Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows vs. Kazuchika Okada, The Kingdom NJPW G1 Climax 25 Day 19
AJ Styles vs. Frankie Kazarian vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Austin Aries TNA Hardcore Justice ‘13
AJ Styles vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi NJPW New Beginning in Osaka 2/11/15
AJ Styles vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi NJPW King of Pro Wrestling 10/13/14
AJ Styles vs. Karl Anderson NJPW G1 Climax 24 Day 9
AJ Styles vs. Cedric Alexander ROH Death Before Dishonor XII Night 2
AJ Styles vs. Low Ki TNA 8/13/03
AJ Styles vs. Matt Sydal ROH Hell Freezes Over
AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe PWG All Star Weekend 4
AJ Styles vs. Hirooki Goto NJPW G1 Climax 24 Day 5
AJ Styles vs. James Gibson PWG Guitarmageddon
AJ Styles vs. Togi Makabe NJPW G1 Climax 24 Day 11
AJ Styles vs. Davey Richards ROH Death Before Dishonor IV
AJ Styles vs. Tetsuya Naito NJPW G1 Climax 24 Day 4
AJ Styles vs. Chris Hero ROH Flyin’ High
AJ Styles vs. Jay Lethal ROH 12^th Anniversary Show
AJ Styles vs. Amazing Red TNA 10/30/02
AJ Styles, Matt Sydal vs. The Briscoes ROH The 100^th Show
AJ Styles, Samoa Joe vs. The Briscoes ROH The Conclusion
AJ Styles vs. Kurt Angle TNA Slammiversary ‘08
AJ Styles vs. Low Ki vs. Jerry Lynn TNA 8/28/02
AJ Styles, Matt Sydal vs. Dragon Kid, Genki Horiguchi ROH Dragon Gate Challenge
AJ Styles vs. Kazuchika Okada NJPW Wrestling Dontaku 5/3/14
AJ Styles, Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga vs. Tetsuya Naito, Michael Elgin, Hiroshi Tanahashi NJPW G1 Climax 25 Day 6
AJ Styles vs Kazuchika Okada NJPW G1 Climax 24 Day 1
AJ Styles, Young Bucks, Gallows and Anderson vs. Kazuchika Okada, Roppongi Vice, The Kingdom NJPW Road to Dominion Day 5 7/3/15
AJ Styles, Amazing Red vs. The Briscoes ROH Night of the Champions
AJ Styles vs. Bryan Danielson PWG BOLA ‘05
AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe ROH Time to Man Up
AJ Styles vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan NJPW G1 Climax 24 Day 6
AJ Styles vs. CM Punk ROH Tradition Continues
AJ Styles vs. Adam Cole ROH All Star Extravaganza VI
AJ Styles vs. Tatsuya Naito NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 9
AJ Styles, Yujiro Takahashi vs. Kota Ibushi, Tetsuya Naito NJPW Road to Invasion Attack ’15 Day 7
AJ Styles vs. CIMA ROH Dragon Gate Invasion
AJ Styles vs. Austin Aries TNA No Surrender ‘13
AJ Styles vs. Kurt Angle TNA Slammiversary ‘12
AJ Styles, Tomko vs. Team Pacman TNA Bound for Glory ‘07
AJ Styles, Homicide vs. Christopher Daniels, Dan Maff ROH Wrath of the Racket
AJ Styles vs. Kaz Hayashi Wrestle-1 Grand Prix ‘05
AJ Styles vs. CM Punk ROH Second Year Anniversary Show
AJ Styles, D-Lo Brown vs. CM Punk, Jason Cross TNA 5/28/03
AJ Styles, Doc Gallows vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tetsuya Naito NJPW Destruction in Okayama 9/23/14
AJ Styles vs. Bryan Danielson ROH All Star Extravaganza ‘02
AJ Styles vs. Chris Sabin TNA Impact November ‘06
AJ Styles vs. James Storm TNA Impact! 6/27/12
AJ Styles vs. Matt Sydal ROH TV 9/27/14
AJ Styles vs. James Storm vs. Bobby Roode TNA Turning Point ‘12
AJ Styles vs. Michael Elgin ROH TV 2/20/14
AJ Styles vs. Bully Ray TNA Bound for Glory ‘13
AJ Styles, Yujiro Takahashi vs. La Sombra, Tetsuya Naito NJPW World Tag League ’14 Day 1
AJ Styles vs. Jerry Lynn vs. Low Ki TNA 8/7/02
AJ Styles vs. Sean Waltman TNA No Surrender ‘05
AJ Styles vs. Jeff Hardy TNA 6/23/04
AJ Styles vs. Doug Williams TNA Impact September ‘09
AJ Styles vs. Elix Skipper vs. Truth vs. Christopher Daniels TNA Destination X ‘05
AJ Styles vs. Petey Williams BML Illusion 2
AJ Styles vs. Tetsuya Naito NJPW G1 Climax 25 Day 7
AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels ROH Road to the Title
AJ Styles vs. Xavier ROH Night of the Butcher
AJ Styles vs. Seiya Sanada Wrestle-1 Tour 11/16/13
AJ Styles, Christian Cage, Petey Williams vs. Rise NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 2
AJ Styles, Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kurt Angle, Shinsuke Nakamura NJPW G1 Climax ’08 Day 6
AJ Styles vs. Senshi IGF Genome2 ~ Inoki Fighting Xmas
AJ Styles vs. Bobby Roode TNA Final Resolution ‘11
AJ Styles, Rob Van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn, Christopher Daniels TNA Impact October ‘11
AJ Styles vs. Lance Archer NJPW G1 Climax 24 Day 8
AJ Styles, Amazing Red vs. Christopher Daniels, Xavier ROH Expect the Unexpected
AJ Styles vs. Bobby Roode TNA Turning Point ‘11
AJ Styles vs. Hanson ROH TV 10/24/14
AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels TNA Bound for Glory ‘11
AJ Styles vs. Sean Waltman TNA 10/23/02
AJ Styles vs. Kurt Angle TNA Genesis ‘10
AJ Styles vs. Tiger Mask TNA Impact February ‘08
AJ Styles vs. Brian Myers PWG BOLA Night 1 ‘14
AJ Styles vs. D-Lo Brown TNA 7/23/03
AJ Styles vs. Abyss TNA 3/3/04
AJ Styles, Shinjiro Otani vs. Kurt Angle, Masahiro Chono NJPW G1 Climax ’08 Day 5
AJ Styles vs. Jerry Lynn ROH Road to the Title
AJ Styles vs. Jimmy Rave ROH Second Year Anniversary Show
AJ Styles vs. Austin Aries ROH This Means War
AJ Styles vs Samoa Joe TNA Against All Odds ‘10
AJ Styles, Low Ki vs. Xavier, Christopher Daniels ROH Revenge on the Prophecy
AJ Styles vs. Tommy Dreamer TNA No Surrender ‘10
AJ Styles, Yujiro Takahashi vs. Gedo, Toru Yano NJPW World Tag League Day ’14 Day 2
AJ Styles, Jason Alcatraz vs. Mr. Otani, Tatsuhito Takaiwa Zero-One U$A 3003 Day 2
AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels TNA Destination X ‘11
AJ Styles vs. Abyss TNA Destination X ‘10
AJ Styles vs. Matt Hardy TNA Victory Road ‘11
AJ Styles vs. Michael Elgin ROH TV 4/19/14
AJ Styles vs. Yujiro Takahashi NJPW G1 Climax 24 Day 10
AJ Styles vs. El Mesias AAA Sin Limite 11/3/13
AJ Styles vs. Booker T TNA Destination X ‘09
AJ Styles vs. Kid Kash TNA 8/18/04
AJ Styles vs. Jeff Hardy TNA Impact July ‘13
AJ Styles vs. Sting TNA Bound for Glory ‘09
AJ Styles, D-Lo Brown vs. Triple X TNA 5/7/03
AJ Styles vs. Toru Yano NJPW G1 Climax 24 Day 2
AJ Styles, Karl Anderson vs. Gedo, Okada ROH Global Wars ‘14
AJ Styles vs. Yoshitatsu NJPW Power Struggle 11/8/14
AJ Styles vs. D’Angelo Dinero TNA Lockdown ‘10
AJ Styles, Low Ki and Jerry Lynn vs. the Flying Elvises TNA 6/19/02
AJ Styles vs. El Mesias AAA Guerra de Titanes ‘11
AJ Styles vs. Jeff Jarrett vs. Raven TNA 6/11/03
AJ Styles vs. Jeff Jarrett TNA Hard Justice ‘05
AJ Styles vs. Han Tae Yun vs. Ryuji Hijikata NKPWA 5/5/08
AJ Styles vs. Jeff Jarrett TNA 4/21/04
AJ Styles vs. Sabu TNA Impact September ‘10
AJ Styles vs. Matt Morgan vs. Sting vs. Kurt Angle TNA No Surrender ‘09

My Kobe Story

noreply@blogger.com (Victor Parenza) — Tue, 26 Apr 2016 18:51:00 +0000

It was the summer of 1996. I was 10 years old. Michael Jordan had just completed his first full season since returning from his hiatus. The Bulls had won a then-record 72 games on the way to the championship. They beat the Seattle Sonics lead by the best dunker in the NBA, Shawn Kemp, and of course “The Glove” Gary Payton. The Sonics had beaten the reigning two-time champion Houston Rockets in the second round. The Rockets would soon retool by adding Charles Barkley in hope to regain their championship pedigree. The Bulls biggest threat was seemingly the Orlando Magic, who knocked them out of the playoffs the previous year. They met for a final showdown in the Eastern Conference Finals. Orlando however came in limping with multiple injuries to key role players like Horace Grant. Shaq and Penny had somehow had even better seasons than the year before when they shockingly made it to the Finals, only to be swept by the Rockets. At full health, maybe they could have went toe-to-toe with the “Unstoppa-Bulls,” but they didn’t. And Shaq’s impending free agency left a giant question mark on the future of the NBA’s brightest young team.

Now I know you’re thinking, “What in the hell does that have to do with Kobe?” And in reality, it probably doesn’t have anything to do with him. What it does show is how passionate I was about the NBA in ’96. My love affair with the NBA was at an all-time high. Still, I felt that I needed to look to the future. Who would be the new crop of talent to catch my eye? I figured there would be no better place to look than the upcoming draft.

The ’96 draft was the first NBA draft I ever watched. I had watched NFL drafts before with my parents. Well, I watched the first round. NFL drafts were giant snooze-fests at the time, and probably still are. I wanted to see what the NBA had to offer. And what a year I picked to start with.

June 26^th, 1996 will go down as a night of arguably one of the best drafts ever. 1984 and 2003 are it’s only real rivals. For my money, ’96 is the deepest. The other two are more top-heavy and I feel don’t have the overall strength of the ’96 one.

I’ve written about this one before, but here are the highlights:

Pick 1: Allen Iverson

2: Marcus Camby

3. Shareef Abdur-Rahim

4. Stephon Marbury

5. Ray Allen

6. Antoine Walker

14. Peja Stojakovic

15. Steve Nash

17. Jermaine O’Neal

20. Zydrunas Ilgauskas

24. Derek Fisher

And with the 13^th pick, the Charlotte Hornets select… Kobe Bryant.

That was the big one and the total game-changer. Wait, what’s that you say? You think I made a typo? Kobe only played for the Lakers? Well technically yes that is true, but they didn’t draft him. On a draft night trade, Kobe was swapped to the Lakers for Vlade Divac in what will go down as one of the greatest lopsided trades in history.

My ten year old brain made a note of that trade. (It also made note of the Ray Allen for Stephon Marbury trade that happened that night, but those ramifications weren’t quite as impactful to me.) I wasn’t sure what to make of a high school kid going straight to the NBA. Well actually I could, I thought it was awesome. But I did think that it would be risky. What if he sucked? I remembering hearing about a guy doing it the year before (Kevin Garnett) now here was another. (Fun fact: Jermaine O’Neal also jumped straight out of high school in ’96, but got absolutely no press for it despite being picked only three picks after Kobe. He had a slow start, but became one of the NBA’s best centers for a few seasons on the Pacers. He also was a key participant in the “Malice at the Palace,” but that’s neither here nor there.) I heard the commentators talk about what a risk it was to take someone so young and inexperienced, and in Kobe’s situation, someone so skinny.

That all made sense to me. It was a risk. So I totally understood why the Hornets would trade him for a proven NBA center. Still, I thought his upside potentially being a superstar was enticing. I made a mental note that night I was going to keep my eyes on “that kid.” I also made a note to keep my eyes on that number one draft pick Allen Iverson. My thoughts were, since he was the number one pick, he had to be the best player, a safer choice, and therefore a good player to hitch my wagon to. Well that is the ideal scenario, but there is the term “bust” for a reason. Luckily for me, I picked two winners on that night, as Iverson and Kobe became the defining players of their generation.

I mentioned earlier about Shaq becoming a free agent. And as things would turn out, he would sign with the Lakers that offseason, and thus be teammates with Kobe. That was interesting. So my thoughts going into the ’96-’97 season were:

1. Can the Bulls repeat and win their fifth championship?

2. What will Kobe and Iverson do?

3. What will happen to Penny and the Magic without Shaq?

We know what happened with the Bulls. We unfortunately know what happened to the Magic and Penny Hardaway specifically. (Check out the 30 for 30 if you missed it.) As for Iverson, he jumped out of the gate, won Rookie of the Year, famously broke the ankles of MJ, and eventually would become an MVP within four years. (This is also the last I’m going to write of him for this piece.)

As for Kobe? He had a very modest 7.6 points per game. He showed his occasional flash of brilliance, but he was very raw. Part of the limited output was that he only played about 16 minutes a game. Why? Because the Lakers already had an all-star shooting guard named Eddie Jones.

Jones is very much forgotten about in Laker lore. His Laker contemporary Nick Van Exel is seemingly the more beloved (from that era of pre-Shaq), but less talented player. Van Exel was much more a “in your face” point guard (very much a 90’s trademark) and loved to jack up the three ball. Eddie was a quiet guy, but a much more rounded game. He was a consistent All Defensive Team guy in the late 90’s, and even made All NBA 3^rd team in ’00.

At the time, casual fans were calling for Kobe to become the new star guard, but even I knew that Jones was the superior player at that point. However, my dream scenario was to move Kobe to the small forward to have a starting five of: Van Exel, Jones, Bryant, Elden Campbell (remember him?), and Shaq. And while that lineup was used at times, it was never a prominent strategy and one that my little brain couldn’t figure out. Being a tad bit older and wiser now I can see that there was no way that they could have four guys on the court that were extremely ball-dominant. Kobe would come off the bench for the time being.

Kobe’s rookie season can be essentially wrapped up in two performances. First, he won the dunk contest that year. He showed some serious swag and superstar entertainment value that people had been clamoring for since he was drafted. Secondly, was his four air balls in the Lakers season-ending loss to the Jazz. Due to injuries, foul-outs, and ejections, Kobe found himself playing major crunch time minutes in a do-or-die game against the seasoned Jazz. Obviously he still had a long way to go.

Coming into the ’97-’98 season Kobe had grown an afro and looked much more comfortable out there. He doubled his scoring average from the previous year to 15.7 points per game, and came in second in the Sixth Man of the Year voting. The Lakers as a whole were rolling. Their 61 wins was second to only the Chicago Bulls and Utah Jazz at 62 wins a piece.

Then something happened at All Star weekend. Kobe was voted as a starter for the West team. I was shocked. At the time I didn’t realize the fans just voted their favorites even if they’re not the best representation of the game’s elite (a huge pet peeve of mine). He was the youngest player ever to start an All Star game. My mind was blown. I wondered how Eddie Jones felt with his backup starting over him? I wondered how Kobe was going to fare against all the greats in the hallowed halls of Madison Square Garden. One that was also rumored to be Jordan’s last one (and it was- for a couple of seasons). What happened ending up being my greatest basketball memory up to that point.

Kobe came out guns a blazing (a trend that would continue for the rest of his career) and put on some amazing highlights that I find myself still watching to this day on YouTube. Not only could Kobe hang, he looked dominant! Had Jordan not been there, he would have won All Star MVP no doubt in my mind. Did I also mention that Shaq, EJ, and Van Exel also made the All Star team? It’s still a record for number of players representing one team. I was on cloud 9. Things couldn’t have been better.

In the playoffs everything came crashing down. The Lakers were again defeated by the Utah Jazz, this time in the Western Conference Finals in a nasty sweep that I still recall the pain in the pit of stomach. Those damn Jazz better beat the Bulls now! I remember thinking. Of course they didn’t.

My basketball world was then shaken up quite drastically the following season. Nick Van Exel and Eddie Jones were traded. I was shocked. My 12 year old brain couldn’t fathom how getting rid of two all-stars could be the right answer. The reasons now for doing so are much clearer. With those two gone, it allowed other players like Rick Fox, Robert Horry, Derek Fisher, and Brian Shaw to step up into bigger roles. These guys weren’t ball-dominate players, and were much better compliments to Kobe and Shaq. Yes, it was now truly Mr. Bryant’s time to shine.

A funny thing happened around the ’99-’00 season. I completely lost interest in the NBA and basketball in general. There was a multitude of reasons, but I think you could chalk it up to being burnt out. This lasted all the way until the ’06-’07 season. Yes my friends, I missed the three-peat (one match-up was against Allen Iverson and the Sixers even), the Colorado scandal, the Kobe/Shaq beef and subsequent breakup.

During my hiatus Kobe had become a top five player in the NBA. All NBA, All Defensive, and a scoring champion. Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 points in one game seemed completely untouchable. That is until Kobe sniffed it in January of 2006 with a whopping 81 points. That year he also scored 62 points, IN THREE QUARTERS! He had the highest scoring average in 20 years. The Lakers weren’t any good, but you can’t blame him for lack of trying. You could argue it was at the detriment of his teammates, but I’m not getting into that argument now.

Watching Kobe in 2007 was quite a bit different than it was when I last left in 2000. He unquestionably was the most talented guy on the court, and could score at will. Though the team as a whole couldn’t come anywhere close to the talent of teams like the Pistons, Suns, Mavericks, or Spurs at the time. That is until they traded for a big man named Pau Gasol.

Pau was everything Kobe was not. He was quiet, good-natured, and a complimentary player. He wasn’t as dominate as Shaq, but was a much better fit for Kobe, especially at that time. Pau and Kobe gelled instantly. Along with the returning Derek Fisher, and a healthy Lamar Odom, the Lakers absolutely glided to the NBA Finals in 2008. Unfortunately they ran into a juggernaut- a revamped Celtics team that won the series 4-2.

The vultures were out for blood after that. Pau is too soft, Odom is too soft, was the common statements in the media. It was true that Garnett and Perkins bullied Gasol around that series, and Odom drifted in and out, but was calling for their heads really the answer? Gasol is as technically gifted of big man as there has ever been, and Lamar Odom is a Swiss-army knife. Those aren’t exactly the type of talents that grow on trees.

Odom and Pau were thought to be traded after this. I thought everybody was nuts. They had a good thing going despite the proverbial ass-kicking they received in the Finals. Fortunately management agreed with me, and both were brought back the following season, with vengeance on their minds.

Nobody ever questioned Kobe’s toughness. If you did, you were obviously a moron because he proved it time and time again. The question was, could he get it to rub off on his teammates? The Lakers had another phenomenal regular season in ’08-’09, even beating the Celtics on Christmas day that year in a nail-biter. (Every game they had for the next two seasons was decided by one point. Go look it up, I’m not exaggerating.) That was all well and good, but it’s the postseason that matters.

Trevor Ariza was starting at the small forward spot now. He was actually the third guy to do so. First was Vladimir Radmodovic, (he got benched then traded for an Adam Morrison and Shannon Brown. Morrison became a world-class bench celebration guy, and Brown became instant energy off the bench) then was Luke Walton. Walton being a good teammate, which eventually translated into now being a good coach, gave up his spot for the more defensive-minded Ariza. Ariza made some huge plays in the playoffs, and they definitely wouldn’t have won without him that year.

Something snapped in Kobe during that postseason. He would start snarling during games. He was a man on a mission. He barely said anything during interviews. I loved it. The projected Finals match up was between the Lakers and Cavaliers. Unlike Kobe, LeBron and the Cavaliers would dance around and be boneheads before, after, and sometimes during the game. They were the best team in the regular season however. The guys had chemistry, no doubt about it. However when it was time for the NBA Finals, the “Dancing Lebrons” were already knocked out, and the “Snarling Kobes” were waiting.

An unlikely opponent met them in the 2009 Finals. It was the Orlando Magic. They had handily beaten the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals, and looked to be rolling. I think they choked a bit under the pressure, but for the purposes of this blog, Snarling Kobe was too much for them to handle. (Which he was.)

The Lakers won the series 4-1, but there was a few intense games thrown in there. Games 2 and 4 in particular. Game 4 will always be remembered as the game Derek fisher hit two monster three pointers to win them the game. (Trevor Ariza also hit some big shots right before this, but they were obviously overshadowed.) “Soft” Gasol annihilated Dwight Howard, which in my eyes redeemed him from any shortcomings the previous year. Howard was clearly the best center in the NBA at that point, so for Gasol to take it to him like he did was no small feat.

Speaking of Gasol, there is an amazing camera shot from this series that I feel encapsulates he and Kobe’s bond. In the play, Kobe has the ball at the top of the key, Pau in the post, clearly makes eye contact with Kobe, with a nod of the head Kobe drives it to the hole before dishing it to Pau for the slam. It was poetry in motion, and shows how those two just “got” each other. More so than any teammate Kobe ever had.

I was on cloud 9, 10, and 11. That was the first championship I watched the Lakers win live, because as I said, I was burnt out during the ’00-’02 run. When I look back, that was my favorite Laker team. I thought they had great chemistry as a unit, and I loved their run through the playoffs that year. Could they repeat?

The ’09-’10 team wasn’t nearly as cohesive as the previous year. Trevor Ariza got a better offer to go to Houston. His replacement was the NBA’s resident bad boy Ron Artest. I didn’t like this move at all. Firstly, I loved Ariza if you couldn’t tell already. So anyone was going to be a letdown to me. Secondly, this dude was trouble. I don’t need to get into his history, but I thought the con’s definitely outweighed the pro’s.

Kobe had some injury issues throughout the year as well. It seemed like they couldn’t get things kicked into high gear. They didn’t have bad season by any stretch. They won 57 games. I just felt the drop-off from last season was pretty substantial from a chemistry perspective. I definitely had a hard time seeing them repeat as champions.

I remember the Lakers being in a real rut right before playoff time. It was so bad (in my mind) that I was wondering who I would root for after the Lakers got bounced out in the first round. Well they didn’t get bounced in the first round. They played the upstart Thunder team, who took them to six. Winning one game after Pau rebounded a Kobe miss with time running down, only for the put back and the win. It was awesome.

Things started to look up, after a sweep of the Jazz (who were banged up) the next round, they took on the Phoenix Suns. The series went to six, and eerily reminiscent of round one, Ron Artest got a rebound from a Kobe miss with time winding down, with a put back for the win. It was crazy. Ron had been screwing up all year, and in my mind, had been a huge disappointment from whatever expectation I had (which wasn’t much). He also hit a big shot in the Finals too, so I will give him credit there.

So the stage was set for the 2010 Finals. Lakers vs. Celtics yet again. It definitely made for entertaining television with the shared history the teams had. In 2010 both teams had struggled throughout the year, before finally pulling it together in the playoffs. The Lakers, and in particular, Snarling Kobe still felt the sting from 2008’s disappointing loss to these same Celtics, and were out for blood.

The ’10 Finals were as back and forth of a series as you will see. The Lakers looked totally dominate game 1. The Celtics came roaring back to win game 2. But, back come the Lakers (with some more heroics from D-Fish) to win game 3 in Boston. Still, Boston rallies to win game 4.

With the series tied 2-2, I was nervous. For a lot of reasons actually. The day of game 5 my daughter unexpectedly made her debut in the world. Like most first time fathers, I was extremely nervous/tired/stressed/happy/confused as game 5 took place. I watched it on a fuzzy TV in the hospital, but my mind was a bit preoccupied. The Lakers ended up losing that game, and were headed back to Boston for game 6. A year before I would have been shaking in boots. At that point I remember thinking, that’s too bad, but I have too much on my mind to worry about this series.

I have no memory at all of game 6. I know I watched it, and I know the Lakers won, but that’s it. Which honestly shocked me, I thought they were done. But, Boston couldn’t close it on their home floor. Back to L.A. for a game 7. Celtics vs. Lakers game 7, you couldn’t script it any better.

With the newborn baby sleeping beside us, I watched as the Lakers took down the Celtics to win a very low-scoring game. Kobe had a bad shooting night, which Bill Simmons likes to remind everyone to this day. It didn’t matter, the team pulled it together, and they were the Snarling Lakers that night.

In 2009 I was jumping up and down after their win. This time around, I was sitting on the couch smiling a big grin, occasionally looking down at my sleeping little baby while Ron Artest thanked his psychiatrist in his post game interview.

The 2011 and 2012 seasons were pretty good years, but both ended in second round losses. Adding Dwight Howard and Steve Nash the following year was expect to thrust Los Angeles back into the championship picture. However both were catastrophic for entirely different reasons. But some other big news happened in game 80 of that year.

Kobe tore his Achilles tendon that game, and that essentially was the end of his career, at least how we had known it previously. Many thought it was indeed the end. That Kobe Bryant had played his last game in the NBA. I wondered myself. He didn’t have anything left to prove. But in typical Kobe fashion, he rose to the challenge of getting back, and getting back to an elite level. Could it be done?

He missed the first few games of the ’13-’14 season still recovering from the Achilles. He made it known he would be returning on December 8th. I can still remember the commercials hyping his return. I hoped he could be a good player again. But I knew that father time was taking his toll, and he would never be the same player again.

When he did return, he was definitely rusty, but with good reason. No one could return from a potentially career-ending injury like nothing happened. Then something did happen. Six games later, he broke his kneecap and missed the rest of the season. Well okay, that’s it. He really is done now. I was positive this time. Most people echoed the sentiment. Two major injuries in a row? Time to hang up the Nikes.

In the offseason, we all heard him say he was coming back because he wasn’t going out like that. I appreciate the desire, but when is enough finally enough? On top of that, he signed a huge contract extension for two more years. So huge, it made him the highest paid player in the league.

On paper, from a purely business perspective, Kobe Bryant does put butts in seats and makes the team a ton of money. But what if he couldn’t play anymore? That’s a lot of money tied up in a guy who isn’t even on the floor! And if he is playing, it isn’t like he is MVP Kobe anymore. He needed some help, and in order to get good help, you have to fork out some bucks to get them. With so much going to Kobe, the Lakers didn’t have enough money to offer all-star free agents, pretty much guaranteeing that the Lakers would suck for the next two years.

At this point, I was pretty pissed at Kobe. The Lakers did suck. 2014-2016’s Laker teams were brutal to watch. His decision wouldn’t look quite as bad, except for the fact that Tim Duncan and Dirk Nowitzki both took substantial pay cuts to allow more talent to be brought on board. Subsequently the Spurs and the Mavs are both still playoff teams, with the Spurs in contention to win the championship nearly every year. My point is, I’ve always been a Kobe defender. Through it all. But this, this was something I couldn’t defend, and it was hamstringing the immediate future of the team.

Did I mention the season after signing the extension he tore his rotator cuff and again had a season-ending surgery? The most cynical portion of me was thinking, well, I hope he takes this as a cue to retire. If 12 year old me knew I had this thought, he would probably try to kick me below the belt. But the writing was on the wall, extension or not. Three seasons, three serious surgeries. We needed to look to the future. I needed to look to the future. Just like I did 20 years earlier.

Kobe vowed to play in the ’15-’16 season, and after a horrid start announced it would be his last. I was relieved for him and myself. He finally admitted that his body was broken down, and couldn’t handle it anymore.

It was sad to watch him. He could barely get enough lift to do a layup. Those impossible shots that he once made at a high clip, now would miss by a mile. Even a normal jump shot would air ball at a much too frequent rate. At times, he would have nice scoring outputs, but never for a substantial amount of time. If it wasn’t for the last game of the year, the highlight of the season would have been the ass-kicking they gave the Warriors one Sunday afternoon. Yes, one of the Warriors 9 losses was to the lowly 17-65 LA Lakers. That was probably the best Lakers game in 3 years.

At the finish line of the season, I didn’t like how I was seemingly pushing Kobe out the door. I realize how stupid that sounds, but in my mind, I was done and over it. And I feel my reasons were sound, even if they were a tad harsh. As his final countdown tour was winding down, I started to feel a twinge of sadness. I started to think, if his last game isn’t on TV, I’m really going to be bummed about not watching more this year. Fortunately it was. That’s when magic happened.

I had no idea what to expect when the Lakers hosted the Jazz on the final game of the season. The announcers kept bringing up that MJ scored 15 in his final game. The comparisons would truly last until the bitter end.

As the game started the phrase “the bitter end” seemed appropriate for the occasion. Kobe went 0-5 with some ugly looking offense. Geez, I may not make it to halftime, were my immediate thoughts. (Those west coast games are hard for an old geezer like me to stay up for) The crowd was hyped though. Those LA crowds can be pretty fickle, but they were anything but that night. Did they make Kobe raise up to the occasion? Or was it his unbreakable will that finally got to shine after three seasons of being dormant? Whatever the case, the shots started to fall. One, then another, and another. Not only was Kobe en fuego but the Lakers were mounting a comeback on a team that just barely missed the playoffs.

If the Lakers could win this game, that would be better than any scoring binge. Holy crap he is draining some three’s now. The crowd is amped, KOBE KOBE KOBE! Once he reached 40, I was a giddy. It may as well have been the 1998 all-star game all over again. What a way for him to go, scoring his heart out just like he always did. Whatever thought of being tired had been in my brain, was long gone now. How was I to know that he was only 2/3 of the way to his destination?

After making his 10^th of 12 free throws, Kobe exited the game with a 101-96 win. He had 60 points. The most he had scored in seven years. Sure his teammates kept feeding him the ball. Sure it took 50 shots (that still sounds nuts), but you couldn’t tell anyone at Staples’ Center any different. Had the Lakers still lost the game, I would probably think differently, but you can’t deny a “W.”

After the game, a boat-load of former teammates were there to greet him. I must say this got emotional for me. The obvious guys were there: Shaq, Derek Fisher, Robert Horry, and Rick Fox. But there were some “deep cuts” there that really made me happy. Lamar Odom for one. Not that he is a deep cut, but he has obviously had plenty of problems recently, and it is good just to see him out and about. How about guys like DJ Mbenga, Ronny Turiaff, (cult favorites) and the immortal Adam Morrison? It was too sweet for words. The only guy who was missing was Pau Gasol, but he is still playing, and obviously couldn’t be there. He did have a cool tweet about it though:

My brother, the legend. #ThankYouKobe #MambaOut pic.twitter.com/7PpnfXv9km
— Pau Gasol (@paugasol) April 14, 2016

Now that it is all said and done, I feel really good about everything. It’s been ugly lately, but somehow one magical epitomic Kobe performance made it all seem okay in the end. Kobe said, 20 years went fast. He wasn’t kidding. What a remarkable career. I may not have been there for the whole thing, but enough to be completely emotionally invested in it. And what a ride it was.

1996

courtesy: espn.com

2016

Top 20 Lakers Ever

noreply@blogger.com (Victor Parenza) — Mon, 18 Apr 2016 19:35:00 +0000

All stats are from players' Lakers tenure

Kobe Bryant: 1346 games, 1 MVP, 5 Championships, 16 Laker Records, Top 10 in 19 other categories

Magic Johnson: 906 games, 3 MVP's, 5 Championships, Hall of Fame, 8 Laker Records Top 10 in 29 other categories

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: 1093 games, 2 MVP's, 5 Championships, Hall of Fame, 5 Laker Records, Top 10 in 30 other categories

Jerry West: 932 games, 1 Championships, Hall of Fame, 1 Laker Record, Top 10 in 20 other categories

Elgin Baylor: 846 Games, Hall of Fame, 2 Laker Records, Top 10 in 19 other categories

Shaquille O'Neal: 1 MVP, 3 Championships, Hall of Fame, 1 Laker Record, Top 10 in 34 other categories

George Mikan: 5 Championships, Hall of Fame, 1 Laker Record, Top 10 in 8 other categories

Wilt Chamberlain: 1 Championship, Hall of Fame, 6 Laker Records, Top 10 in 5 other categories

James Worthy: 926 games, 3 Championships, Hall of Fame, Top 10 in 24 categories

Michael Cooper: 873 games, 5 Championships, 1 Defensive Player of the Year, Top 10 in 5
categories

Gail Goodrich: 1 Championship, Hall of Fame, Top 10 in 14 categories

Pau Gasol: 2 Championships, Top 10 in 14 categories

Jamaal Wilkes: 3 Championships, Hall of Fame, Top 10 in 6 categories

Byron Scott: 846 Games, 3 Championships, Top 10 in 15 categories

Lamar Odom: 2 Championships, 6th Man of the Year, Top 10 in 7 categories

Derek Fisher: 915 games, 5 Championships, Top 10 in 5 categories

A.C. Green: 735 games, 3 Championships, Top 10 in 7 categories

Kurt Rambis: 4 Championships, Top 10 in 7 categories

Eddie Jones: 1 Laker Record, Top 10 in 6 categories

Nick Van Exel: Top 10 in 6 categories

NXT!

noreply@blogger.com (Victor Parenza) — Tue, 05 Apr 2016 19:02:00 +0000

WrestleMania weekend has now come and gone. Top to bottom, it was a really enjoyable show. The main event left a whole lot to be desired, but there was enough fun stuff throughout the show to cancel out the Triple H main event. (Are we sure it's not 2003?)

This was initially going to be a WrestleMania wrap-up blog, but I'm not really feeling that. I want to write about the thing that has the most buzz. It was the thing that I was most excited about when I saw the card a few months back (Due to the spoilers of it being a taped show; I'm not complaining though). NXT Takeover: Dallas was the best NXT show yet, and that my friends is saying something.

Austin Aries came out on a NXT taping the weekend of the Royal Rumble. This was fantastic news for me, and pretty much anyone else who watches NXT. This was before the rumored NJPW guys came aboard. So in my mind, even if those rumors were false, Aries is a pretty damn good consolation prize. Nakamura soon followed, and was instantly put into a match with Zayn at Takeover. Things were getting real- damn real!

When it was all said and done, the NXT Takeover card was this:

Asuka vs. Bayley

American Alpha vs. the Revival

Sami Zayn vs. Nakamura

Austin Aries vs. Baron Corbin

Finn Balor vs. Samoa Joe

Was there a more perfect card that they could come up with? Man I was stoked.

The show opened with Alpha vs. Revival, which I assumed would be the case due to Alpha being over like rover, and a great way to kick off the show. The crowd was hot, and these guys went balls out. Even a little flub during the end didn't do anything to diminish the match. Best tag match I've seen in WWE/NXT in a long time.

Next up we had Austin Aries out for retribution against Corbin. I felt a little bad for Aries in the respect that he was overshadowed by the also debuting Nakamura. Having "bland as can be" Corbin as an opponent didn't help him having a show-stealing match. Aries did get the big win, albeit a roll-up, in what was probably Corbin's last NXT match. Something we didn't know at the time, but more in this momentarily. This was nothing special, and really not that bad, but it had some serious competition on this loaded card.

Up next was the big one. Nakamura vs. Sami Zayn. Holy crap my words could never do it justice. Just a war. Nakamura is now the biggest star in NXT. He even got chants during the WrestleMania main event, which I found to be hilarious. Again, big props to the crowd here. They were white-hot for this. Nakamura is the new stud, but Sami is still "our guy." This was a great way for Mr. Zayn to leave NXT. In my opinion, probably the three best NXT matches all have one common denominator: Sami Zayn. Unless Finn eventually surpasses him, Zayn is the greatest NXT Superstar of all time.

Fight forever!

That's all you need to say.

Asuka defeated Bayley for the Women's Championship, and is probably the only person in NXT that could beat her and the crowd not mutiny. Asuka is amazing. Could you imagine if they do a mixed tag match with Nakamura and Asuka vs. another team? That would be nuts. What if it was a mixed six-person tag with those two and Hideo Itami? I think my mouth just watered a little bit. Back to the match at hand. This match was a bit disappointing, but still pretty good. It had an impossible task to follow the wrestling match of the year. Was this the passing of the torch? Is Bayley main roster bound? More to come my friend.

As we roll to the main event, we had already seen a historic show. Within seconds of the match starting, Joe was covered in blood. Holy shit when did that happen? Eventually we would learn that Joe rammed heads with Finn giving him a knee to the midsection in the opening seconds of the match. This also would be the story of the match for more than one reason.

The Nakamura vs. Zayn match started off as a dream match exhibition, before evolving into a wrestling war. Joe vs. Finn started off like a bar room fight. The crowd was ready for this one, and once they saw the blood gushing from Joe, it just amped up the intensity. Blood does that to a crowd if used correctly. Then the match became about medics. A lot of people were frustrated with the constant attempts to patch Joe up mid-match. "Fuck PG" and "Let them fight" was heard throughout the match. I personally didn't feel it did anything to dampen the atmosphere. In all actuality it seemed to make the anticipation grow, and once they got back to brawling it was electric. This is Finn's best NXT match to date. The same could be said for Joe, who looked like that crazy killer that he did during his best stretches in TNA. Finn got the win, which was a surprising to me because I figured it was Joe's time to rule NXT as Finn headed to Raw. With that being said...

The post-Mania Raw is always an interesting one. If nothing else because we see some new NXT talent being brought aboard. This year was the biggest call-up yet. Apollo Crews, Baron Corbin, Enzo and Cass, and the Vaudevillians. I must say I wouldn't have guessed those would be the guys. Corbin was fairly obviously only due to his Andre Memorial Battle Royal win. That is a pretty big deal at first glance. However, it didn't do much for Cesaro (initially) and Big Show. We'll see.

Crews is surprising, not because of lack of talent, but because he hadn't done much in the year 2016. The trend had been that the guys called up were the mainstays in NXT storylines. Which leads me to believe Crews has the potential to get a decent push because two other guys who were never on NXT TV were Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman. Now, I'm not saying Crews is the "golden boy" like Reigns; and let's face it Strowman blows at this point. However both were brought into prominence with little to no face-time on NXT programming. Granted, each were brought into stables upon their debuts, so we'll wait and see. Regardless I'm happy for him.

Enzo and Cass and the Vaudevillians (who will debut on Smackdown) are really shockers. I'm just going to say it: the Vaudevillians are doomed to fail. The fact they are debuting on Smackdown is the nail in the coffin. No one who is going to amount to anything debuts on Smackdown. This isn't 1993 Raw, that gimmick won't work. They also are pretty small guys, which the tide has turned quite a bit, but a crappy gimmick + lack of size = wrestling on Superstars until you are released in 18 months.

Enzo and Cass I feel could go either way. They got a great reaction last night, but that crowd is a NXT crowd. Meaning I don't know if the mainstream audience will "get it." You know who else I feel won't "get it?" Vince. He's got to look at Enzo's hair and say, "What the hell is with his hair? What the hell is sawft?" I definitely see that working against them. However, Enzo can talk, there is no doubt about that. If they can somehow put him in the Road Dogg-esque role maybe they could flourish.

With all these new talents on the big shows, it does call for a bit of a re-shuffle for NXT. Which is a good thing. Nakamura and Austin Aries can now slide right in. I'm sure there are some house show guys that are now ready for some TV time that can get called upon. It was surprising that Joe or Finn wasn't on Raw, but one would assume that one, or both, will be on Raw before the year is up. I didn't even mention that Bobby Roode and Kota Ibushi were both acknowledged at ringside during Takeover. Which makes me 99.9% we won't be seeing the last of them. In Ibushi's case, he will at least be on the cruiserweight show. Whereas Roode will probably be mixing it up with Samoa Joe and his cohorts in the near future. I also see Aries turning heel in the future. Let's face it, he's really good at being that douche bag heel. Aside from Joe, who else is a main event heel on NXT? It's got to be Aries.

Also, it's somewhat weird is that Bayley wasn't called up. You would have thought that was the biggest lock of them all. Maybe she is going to have her return match at the next Takeover, then make her way up? The crowd was sure pining for it. Michael Cole even acknowledged the chants by saying, "Bayley isn't here." Which was quite telling on a night when it was said that "Roman Reigns usually isn't booed." So we know for a fact that she isn't on the radar yet. The pessimist in me wonders if again, Vince is unable to grasp her character, and she falls the way of: Tyler Breeze, the Ascension, Bo Dallas, Adam Rose, and soon the Vaudevillians.

There is a lot good going on in NXT, (and hopefully WWE too, fingers crossed) and this weekend was a shining example of that. If you haven't, please check out Takeover: Dallas. It will definitely be in the running for show of the year come this December.

Daniel Bryan's Retirement

noreply@blogger.com (Victor Parenza) — Tue, 09 Feb 2016 22:45:00 +0000

When I woke up yesterday to read my news feed from whatever social media site I was looking at, I got really excited. Someone had seen Daniel Bryan in a Phoenix airport getting ready to depart on a flight to Seattle, which was the place of that evening's Raw. They also had an accompanying picture-because let's face it, "picture, or it didn't happen."

Much the same way he yells, I was yelling "yes" as I read the news. This was great. AJ Styles had reignited my WWE flame, and now adding Bryan back on the show made me a happy boy. Then I read some of the comments on that post.

Reading comments on anything can be dangerous. The negativity out there is ridiculous, especially when the people don't know each other. This particular post was met with great joy obviously, but then I got to one that said (I'm paraphrasing) "Don't get all worked up, he's just going to Raw to retire."

That's a big-time bummer. That one comment made all the sense in the world. His last two years were plagued with injuries. No matter what optimism we all had, the most realistic outcome for our beloved sports-entertainer was going to be retirement. Within hours he sent out, what will probably become the most infamous tweet in wrestling history, and thus created history.

Due to medical reasons, effective immediately, I am announcing my retirement. Tonight on Raw, I'll have a chance to elaborate. #gratitude
— Daniel Bryan (@WWEDanielBryan) February 8, 2016

It was over. All in 140 characters. Now obviously his career could more accurately be reflected in 140 volumes of books, but that one tweet was the nail in the coffin of his career.

We've heard the various rumors about him wanting to go someplace else that will let him wrestle. Some even think this is still some outrageous storyline. I'm assuming the position that he is done (which I 100% believe he is) and this is a reflection of that. More than a reflection, it's a celebration. Because let's face it, he gave us plenty of reason to celebrate.

I didn't think the original image was depressing enough so I added another. pic.twitter.com/3iuw9Re09i

— MaffewOfBotchamania (@Maffewgregg) February 9, 2016

That picture kills me. His love of the game is evident, and his pain of it being taken away seems overwhelming. But he rest on the fact that he truly gave it his all, no matter the circumstances. The ending wasn't what he wanted it to be, but the destination was remarkable.

It's amazing that this kid, this "wrestler's wrestler" crossed over into pop culture like he did. He wasn't supposed to do that. He was "bland," "an indy guy," etc. But he did. Everything "the man" or even sometimes we thought he couldn't do, he did.

How @WWEDanielBryan inspired a #CrewSC victory chant: https://t.co/rRM9bvp8Ul pic.twitter.com/wBCScFcbUs
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) February 8, 2016

If I had to sum him up in one sentence, it would be a "once in a lifetime talent." His indy career was legendary. The greatest indy star ever- PERIOD. With respects to Joe or Punk or whoever else, they can't touch Bryan Danielson. He had more great matches, with more great opponents than anyone.(His series of matches with Nigel McGuinness alone are better than most people would ever have) We could feel his passion, we could feel our selves wanting him to succeed against impossible odds. And the fact that he carried that over to the WWE speaks volumes.

Tonight on @WWE #RAW, we celebrate the illustrious career of @WWEDanielBryan. #ThankYouDanielBryan https://t.co/P719aJT9fX
— WWE (@WWE) February 9, 2016

I was so grateful (there's that word again) to see his rise in WWE. One of my favorite moments ever was John Cena picking him for his opponent at Summerslam 2013. Then it had some accompanying promos between the two that summed up both of their philosophies and how different they were from each other. It was very Meta, very genuine, very awesome. Then they had a barn-burner of a match which Bryan won clean!!!! That was one of my favorite time periods in WWE, and it was all because of one man.

Everything he did turned to gold. The anger management angle? Nobody would have gotten that to work. It was one of the best story lines of the year. Even something as simple as screaming "YES!" shouldn't have become the phenomenon that it became. I promise you that "yes" is going to be around for a long time. It's essentially the son of the "what" phrase, but infinitely less annoying, and it doesn't detract from other's promos.

Since 2011 three of my favorite wrestlers prematurely had, or chose to, leave the profession. (Nigel, Punk, Bryan) Bryan's I feel will hurt the worse. With all due respect to Nigel, who in reality has the much sadder story. He never got to attain the fraction of success that Bryan did, despite being equally (in my mind anyway) talented. But Bryan's influence on the WWE is still rippling through the company, and hopefully will continue to. Look at all the guys being hired. You can't say that's not due in part to Bryan's success. You can't leave out CM Punk either. He broke many doors down himself. Although he won't even be acknowledged by WWE at this point, he deserves his props. Although he is very much anti-wrestling at this point, and doesn't like to even talk about it, he did put up a powerful tweet that I will be leaving you with. Good job and well done, you have 'till five referee!

pic.twitter.com/SBu6hqlPMY
— Coach (@CMPunk) February 9, 2016