Scott's Blog Of Doom!

QOTD - June 19th, 2013

2013-06-19T08:41:00.000-06:00

Hey, guys. Thanks for all those who've been sending in questions. For those who haven't, the address is caliberw@hotmail.com. For today's question, we've got one that I've had in the reserves for a while, and I'm interested in finding out what everyone says.

Your last meal. You're on death-row. Why? Well, let's say you saw two people fighting at a sporting event and you broke it up. Anyway, what's the meal? You get the main course, beverage, and desert.

For your boy, it's gonna be a large, extra cheese pizza from Dominos, a liter of Wal-Mart brand OJ [I don't know what it is, but they make the best], and for dessert it's gonna be a Cinnabon cinnamon roll.

How say you?

Mark Henry fooled me

2013-06-18T23:13:00.001-06:00

I'm one of those WWE fans who starts hitting the DVR fast-forward as soon one guy is thrown from the ring and Michael's Cole's voice hits that certain inflection. In other words, it's really difficult to surprise or fool me because I understand the WWE formula. But last night, Mark Henry pulled it off.

Naturally, anytime WWE.com is promoting someone's "real" tweets, you have to be suspicious. But Henry retiring "for real" seemed like a possibility.

In retrospect, I should have seen it coming when John Cena was hanging around for too long. But give Henry all the credit in the world for selling that promo. HE WAS CRYING! The emotion seemed so real, I suspect Henry really is getting close to the end, and he was doing a promo from the heart. Either way, Henry cut what was, to me, the best WWE promo since "the pipe bomb". The whole time, I was thinking, "Man, Mark Henry used to suck, but I'm happy he had a great run at the end of his career, and this is a fitting sendoff." Then, "NO WAY!" Hook. Line. Sinker.

And what made it all the more interesting, was it seemed like the culmination of David Shoemaker's (aka The Masked Man) idea of The Reality Era in WWE. Twitter is ostensibly a "real" medium, one that exists outside the confines of WWE story lines. Sometimes this is true and sometimes, obviously, it isn't. Big E Langston's jokes on Twitter are clearly his, because WWE writers aren't that funny. Having the curtain pulled back slightly, via Twitter, shows us the "real" Big E. Or least the one he wants us to see. And at the same time, this intimacy and sometimes false sense of reality lures even the most jaded fans (like me) back into kayfabe. The con man must first earn his mark's trust.

Henry exploited a real situation (his on-going injuries and retirement talk) via a sometimes real/sometimes kayfabe medium (Twitter) and injected it into the WWE realm. And it was all executed brilliantly.

Now, this isn't the first time a WWE wrestler has trolled Twitter users for story-line purposes (Y2J's return comes to mind), but my question is, do you think this is a viable strategy? In other words, 99% of the time, have your wrestlers use social media, radio appearances, etc., to "pull back the curtain" and let people see "the real" Daniel Bryan? And then, 1% of the time, you pull something over on the fans using "real" media? As a fan, if that's what it takes to genuinely surprise me, I'm totally fine with it.

Your thoughts on this method? And did you love the promo as much as I did?

It was an awesome segment. It made me giddy with delight, so that's something special. I was watching it thinking "This is a really touching farewell promo, and the only thing that would make it better is if Henry's character gets tired of Cena's condescending support and turns on the motherfucker." And then HE DID. It was just perfectly timed and incredibly well executed.

As for the social media thing, I'm probably one of the least social media people on the interwebs and I still have no idea what the endgame of the whole Twitter/Facebook...thing...is, and I don't really know how to use them outside of bitching on Facebook and mirroring stuff on Twitter. I don't really follow anyone on Twitter outside of a few people, in the sense that I check Twitter maybe once a week and I have an app on my phone that tells me when someone directs a question to me there. So I'm clearly not the guy to give you a good answer on whether what they're doing is good/bad/indifferent/whatever, sorry.

WWF Maple Leaf Wrestling: November 17th, 1984

2013-06-18T20:29:00.001-06:00

November 17^th, 1984

Your hosts are Angelo Mosca and Jack Reynolds

This week, Tony Atlas, Barry Windham, Blackjack Mulligan, Tito Santana, and Paul Orndorff are in action. Also, Piper’s Pit with guest SD Jones.

Rene Goulet vs. Tony Atlas

Atlas is back after a brief stint in the AWA. The crowd is going nuts, starting a “Tony” chant. Atlas easily overpowers Goulet, occasionally stopping to taunt him. The crowd is eating up everything that Atlas does by the way. Goulet gets in an eye rake but Atlas fights back and hits a press slam for the win that had Mosca going out of his mind (3:28).

Thoughts: The crowd was hot for Atlas in his return. Atlas wasn’t around much longer after this as he was battling his substance abuse issues at this time.

WWF Update with Billy Red Lyons. It shows a Greg Valentine and Capt. Lou Albano clip from 10/21/84 show at MLG when he defended the Intercontinental Title against SD Jones.

Bob Wayne vs. Paul Orndorff w/Bobby Heenan

Orndorff is getting pelted with trash as he makes his way to the ring. Wayne doesn’t look to weigh more than 200 lbs. A loud “Paula” chant breaks out before the match. Orndorff starts by beating the shit out of Wayne. He tosses him to the floor then follows him out to slam him. In the ring, he hits a dropkick as Heenan briefly joins commentary, demanding respect for his client. Powerslam by Orndorff who then drops a pair of elbows. He murders him with a clothesline then hits the piledriver for the win (2:33).

Thoughts: Another dominating squash from Orndorff. I don’t think Orndorff needed a manager to get heat but adding Heenan certainly didn’t hurt things.

Billy Red Lyons is plugging the December 6^th show in Vancouver. He is with Freddie Blassie and Nikolai Volkoff, who will be going against Sgt. Slaughter. That match never took place as Slaughter left the WWF and Volkoff ended up facing George Wells. Typical anti-Americn promo from Volkoff.

Mohammed Saad & Bobby Bass vs. Mike Rotundo & Barry Windham

This is the TV Debut for the team of Windham & Rotundo. Barry takes down Saad with a pair of armdrags then they take it to the mat. Rotundo tags and hits an elbow smash before working the arm. He does some matwork then ends up the wrong corner. Rotundo fights both men then Bass tags. They use quick tags that lead up to a double dropkick. Saad tags then Windham hits the running bulldog for the win (2:48). The crowd gives them a loud applause at the end.

Thoughts: Good showing for this team. There was a glaring absence of face tag-teams at this time and these guys looked great. The crowd was behind them too.

Billy Red Lyons is with Rocky Johnson. Billy calls him a contender for the world title as Rocky puts over Canada, stating he was born in Nova Scotia. He states he will be ready and won’t back down from anyone. Luckily, his son did not inherit his mic skills.

Ted Grizzly vs. Blackjack Mulligan

Mulligan takes down Grizzly to start. They do a bunch of lockups that go nowhere then Mulligan uses the world’s slowest drop toehold. Mulligan no sells several punches before hitting a flying back elbow smash for the win (2:41).

Thoughts: Horrendous match. Grizzly is incredibly uncoordinated and could barely run the ropes and Mulligan was not good in the ring at this point at all (Honestly, I don’t know if he was ever good in the ring).

Piper’s Pit with SD Jones. Piper calls him one of the people he never wanted to wrestle because he has nothing to gain in beating him. Now that’s how you bury someone. SD yells at Piper then Blackjack Mulligan comes out and stares at Piper, who says he will not be intimidated. Mulligan says that they need someone else to give people a chance and states that he will now have Mulligan’s BBQ. They are pushing Mulligan strongly here and the thought of another talk-show segment seems to be hinting at a feud between both men.

Goldie Rogers vs. Tito Santana

The announcers put over Tito for coming back from injury. He looks intense as he works on Rogers. Goldie uses an eye rake and punches away but Tito comes back with a backdrop as Mosca says that Goldie “has this Mexican in an uproar.” Tito then puts him away with a spinning toe hold into a bridge (2:17). Reynolds follows Tito’s victory with some of the least enthusiastic “Arriba” chants I have ever heard.

Thoughts: They continue to push Tito strongly since his return from injury.

Another Billy Jack vignette.

They show the Tonga Kid vs. Roddy Piper match from the 10/27/84 episode of Championship Wrestling is shown.

Billy Red Lyons is with Nikolai Volkoff, again. He cuts a prom on Sgt. Slaughter for their match November 6^th in Vancouver. After that, Angelo Mosca comes out and says that his match against the Iron Sheik will be a war. He says that Iran has 75% of the world’s Pistachio nuts but they have one left over, the Iron Sheik. In his defense, Mosca was so bad he was funny. Sadly, the same cannot be said for today’s announce team.

Next week, David Schultz, Brutus Beefcake, Jimmy Snuka, Blackjack Mulligan, and the main event, Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff vs. Rick McGraw and SD Jones, which Mosca notes could be a main event anywhere in the country.

Final Thoughts: This show was good in the fact that they are pushing and re-introducing babyface wrestlers. Atlas and Mulligan were back, Tito still is pushed strong, and Windham & Rotunda debuted as a team. I have said it many times but the WWF had a glaring lack of good wrestlers on the face side of the roster. The fact that Valentine was defending his belt against SD Jones at house shows just about says it all.

On a side note, next week I will review the 11/26/84 house show at MSG then after that the 12/18/84 TNT show (Butcher Vachon’s Wedding) followed by the 12/26/84 MSG show until it reaches 1985, where I will be reviewing Championship Wrestling again, amongst other things. I will start in 1985 with the debut of Primetime Wrestling, which aired 1/1/85.

Any questions, complaints, or comments, feel free to email me at BBayless781@gmail.com

Work? Shoot? Worked shoot? Shot work?

2013-06-18T17:50:00.001-06:00

http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/2013-06-17/daniel-bryan-confronts-triple-h-backstage-26124420

Does this work under ANY circumstances? If they thought it was a serious injury, realized it wasn't, then tried to make a story of it? As a story in and of itself? As part of WWE's overall unusual focus on injuries and "injuries" as of late?

I think they're overdoing it already. We've already had two very real situations with Ziggler and Fandango, plus one fake one with HHH and then Ryback getting held off the show due to his "injuries", so my immediate thoughts on the Bryan thing was that they were going with yet another version of the same thing in a very short span. As Dusty Rhodes discovered in the 80s, that's a recipe for disaster. Plus it also becomes WWE patting themselves on the back yet again for caring so much about their athletes (who they don't even provide health insurance for). Not to mention HHH doing a Very Special Episode of RAW about himself and then promptly forgetting about his cripping brain injuries in the very next show.

However, it came out today that in fact Bryan was legitimately injured and was supposed to win the match, so if that's the case then it really was a good idea for them to stop the match, although then trying to turn it into a storyline is a bit cheesy. Perhaps they shouldn't cry wolf so many times in the first place.

Ref Reveals CHIKARA's Future

2013-06-18T17:32:00.001-06:00

Hey Scott,

Thanks to your plugs in the past, The Temple News has granted me my own wrestling column for the newspaper. I'm pretty pumped about it, and was hoping you could help me out again by plugging my interview with Referee Bryce Remsburg on the end of CHIKARA.

http://temple-news.com/arts/2013/06/17/corrigan-referee-remsburg-counts-out-chikara/

Thanks man!

No problem. Hopefully the people running CHIKARA don't run into any temporal loops or past versions of themselves. Time travel is not to be messed with by amateurs.

Cucch's Book Review: "Countdown to Lockdown"

2013-06-18T14:33:00.001-06:00

To quote the author, of all of Mick Foley's memoirs, Countdown to Lockdown...is the most recent...

Mick Foley's books are generally a cut above most other wrestling tomes, primarily because Mick writes them without a ghostwriter filtering what he has to say. Also, Mick is a college graduate who is very articulate and has a very good feel for wordplay. Don't get me wrong, he is far from Tolstoy or Orwell, but in the spectrum of wrestlers who author their own memoirs, well, he is the closest thing to those great authors we are likely to see.

Countdown to Lockdown resembles closely the format of Mick's previous work, "The Hardcore Diaries." It is basically a journal of Mick's thoughts detailing his run in TNA, and the buildup to his Steel Cage match with Sting at TNA Lockdown 2009. The journal entries are interspersed with full chapters describing some other life events from the mind of the man formerly known as Mankind.

Mick Foley is a pretty smart fellow, so he realizes immediately that a great deal of wrestling fans who are reading this book will not be very interested in, say, his missionary work in Sierra Leone, or his almost creepy infatuation with Tori Amos. To that end, Mick has included for each chapter something he calls the "Wrestle Meter." Basically, each non journal entry, the actual chapters of the book, are rated 0-10 on this WrestleMeter, with ten meaning that the chapter is all about wrestling, zero denoting there is no wrestling content whatsoever. I am someone who enjoys Mick's literary works more than most, so I have read the whole thing, but the meter does help a casual wrestling fan who wants nothing but wrestling content steer away from the other subjects and life experiences Mick describes. I would implore you to read the whole thing, but I would not begrudge you if you skip the chapters on, say, his missionary work (good stuff), childhood dalliances (getting a tattoo to impress a girl), or his infatuation with the music of Tori Amos.

As I mentioned earlier, this book describes the period of Mick's life where he parted ways with the WWE and joined the roster of TNA. Now, I know many fans were turned off by Mick's TNA run, and I don't blame you. I am a HUGE Foley fan, and I wasn't exactly inspired by Mick's efforts there initially. But after reading the book and taking in to account everything that Mick describes, I find myself with a better understanding and enjoyment of his TNA run, via the benefit of YouTube. The meat and potatoes of the book are Mick chronicling his thoughts and psyche surrounding his angle with Sting, and the resulting match at Lockdown. Its different in the sense that this isn't WWE Mick is talking about anymore. He describes how creatively vindicated he felt leaving WWE and crafting a storyline in TNA with one of his all time favorite opponents, Sting, including a now infamous (in some circles) promo where Mick Foley interviewed Cactus Jack. (Wrap your head around that one.)

Mick basically loved his time in TNA, but had one big disappointment. You see, Mick realized he was not the same performer he had been only a few years earlier, never mind his 90's heyday. He has also stated in past volumes that he is a lousy cage match performer. So he approached the TNA higher ups with a concept for a different, custom made cage. No wire mesh, none of that. He wanted the old school big blue bar WWE style cage, but one fitted with platforms near the top where he and Sting could exchange a flurry of fisticuffs and, presumably, where Mick could perform a dive onto a prone Stinger. Well, TNA was going to try, but, alas, they couldn't afford it and Mick (like every other performer not named Foley) would have to deal with the standard cage.

Along the way, we are again introduced to Mick's family, his wife and children. There is a chapter in the book where Mick describes his family being filmed for a potential A and E series along the lines of "Hogan Knows Best." Unfortunately, his family was a little too bland, didn't provide enough fighting firepower. So Foley's series was never green lighted, as A and E instead opted for "Billy the Exterminator." The crazy thing about these chapters on his family is, as a longtime fan, realizing how old Dewey and Noelle are now, and the adolescent phase of their life that they are experiencing. There is actually one very uncomfortable passage where Dewey is going on his first date, and, with Mick driving him there, with Noelle in the car, Mick tries to describe the old "Yawn, throw your arms out, and land with your arm around the girl's shoulder" move. Dewey counters with the "Dick in the Popcorn" gag made famous by Mickey Rourke in the 1982 film "Diner." Noelle, blissfully unaware, asks both Pops and Big Bro what that exactly entails. Suffice to say, it is very awkward, especially for those who have kept up with Foley's books through the years.

Now, while most of the book details Mick's TNA run, there is also a good amount that describes the end of his WWE run. Namely, the chapters on Mick's brief run as a color commentator on Smackdown. THIS is the true attraction of the book, as Mick was not thrilled with WWE's treatment of him during this time period. Did I say WWE? Sorry, I meant VINCE MCMAHON. Most of us are privy to what happens on the announcers headsets by now. I mean, Michael Cole is basically Vince McMahon's ventriloquist doll. Well, Mick spent a lot of time and considerable effort into preparing himself for this gig, taking it very seriously. He was having a fine time of it....until one night where Vince started screaming unnamed expletives in his ear and basically undressing Mick via the headsets...in the middle of a PPV. This chapter is powerful, and well written, as Mick basically describes the battle between literary folk heroes "McMagical" and "McFoley" , the chapter comically named "The Magical Headsets."

Mick also relays a couple of chapters to the biggest, most horrific tragedy in wrestling history: The Benoit murder-suicide. Mick was having a particularly hard time finding flight and airfare to the Vengeance: Night of Champions PPV on June 24, 2007. Honestly, had Mick not mentioned it here in the book, I would have never remembered that he was in the main event of that show in a 5 way match. He relays that he said in the locker room that night that something must REALLY be wrong with Benoit if he misses a PPV. Hours later, he would realize how prophetic those words were, as he, along with most of us, soon realized the horror of what happened in Georgia. He writes a couple of chapters detailing the drug problem that has infected wrestling for years, but not in a traditional sense. These chapters might not be everyone's cup of tea, as Mick tends to get a little preachy on this stuff (see Foley is Good) and he eschews what most people assume about the drug problem in wrestling. While he doesn't dismiss it, he sort of plays devils advocate with the subject, stating in one breath that it is a problem, while outlining benefits and rationales for using painkillers and performance enhancers.

As a quick aside to the Benoit chapters, Mick also expresses his pure hatred of the Mr. McMahon death storyline. He basically echos my, and probably most reading here, frustrations with that insidious, stupid angle. He also gets the best description, from Vince himself, on the angle that best describes the vacuum WWE Creative lives in: "Mick, its not Vince McMahon who is dead, its MR.MCMAHON who is dead. Our fans will realize that." REALLY? I am not even going to touch that, you, fair reader, digest that tripe.

By now, I hope I have given you a fairly good (and detailed...and long, I know I know) synopsis of Mick's latest literary venture. But by no means have I given everything away....quite the contrary, I have left out a shitload of what is included here. As always, I just like to give people an idea, a taste, if you will, of what the full course is like. Countdown to Lockdown is a good book, but it isn't "Have a Nice Day." I think it is better than "Foley is Good" and right on par with "The Hardcore Diaries." All in all, I would highly recommend reading it, and, after doing so, retrace Foley's TNA run through the glorious resources provided on the internet. Its a solid piece of work from a solid human being.

PPV losing streak record

2013-06-18T12:22:00.001-06:00

> Hi Scott - long time, first time, yada, yada, yada. If my count is correct, Ryback has now been the loser in 8 straight PPV matches (including 4 title shots). Is that a record?
>
>

Wins and losses don't matter, they're telling stories. Let it play out and see where it goes.

What the World Was Watching: Monday Night Raw - September 29, 1997

2013-06-18T12:00:00.000-06:00

by Logan Scisco

-Michael Cole narrates a video package about Steve Austin’s rampage of Stone Cold Stunners.

-Vince McMahon, Jim Ross, and Jerry “the King” Lawler are in the booth and they are in Albany, New York.

-McMahon interviews D-Generation X. Rick Rude makes a sales pitch to McMahon based on what Steve Austin did last week. Shawn Michaels gloats about beating down the Undertaker last week. Hunter Hearst Helmsley, who Shawn refers to as “Triple H,” which is the first time I recall hearing that in Helmsley’s career, talks about getting impatient to get his big break. Helmsley’s voice just does not jive with this group or rhetoric and it is tough to take him seriously. Commissioner Slaughter arrives and orders Helmsley to fight the Undertaker. The Hart Foundation appear at the top of the ramp and Bret says that D-Generation X have committed crimes that they will pay for tonight. A somewhat dry segment, but this promo is where Michaels and Helmsley debuted their sophomoric personas that would be a big part of DX.

-The announcers talk more about One Night Only and the end of the European championship match is shown.

-Opening Contest: Vader beats The British Bulldog by disqualification when the Hart Foundation interferes at 5:22 shown:

Ross points out that Vader beat Ken Shamrock last night in Japan, but really makes no sense in recent storylines since Shamrock was taken out of the Intercontinental title tournament because he was not medically cleared to compete. However, the semi-final that he would have been a part of is tonight. Anyway, this contest is meant to preview the tag team flag match at Badd Blood. You might be asking what flag match, since it has received little build the last couple of weeks, but that will feature the Patriot and Vader against the Bulldog and Bret Hart. The match has some weird booking, as the Bulldog gets some impressive power spots which would usually elicit a face reaction and Vader appears like a big bully. Vader hits the Vader Bomb, but the Hart Foundation charges the right and attacks him before the referee can count the Bulldog down and that finishes this standard TV match. Rating: **¼

-After the match, Bret Hart puts Vader in a ring post figure-four, but the Patriot runs out for a brief save until he is also mauled by the Hart Foundation. The Harts make sure to attack him with Canadian flags to call attention to the flag match stipulation.

-Call 815-734-1161 to get your VHS copy of One Night Only for $19.95 (plus $6 shipping and handling)!

-A video package hypes Faarooq. Since it focuses on his football background I’m sure that Jim Ross had something to do with this. The problem with this video package is that it makes you a fan of Faarooq, who is supposed to be a heel.

-Intercontinental Championship Tournament Semi-Finals: Faarooq (w/The Nation of Domination) defeats Ahmed Johnson (w/The Legion of Doom & Ken Shamrock) by disqualification at 2:26:

Just when you thought this feud was over it came back like the villain in a horror film. This isn’t much of a match as Faarooq gets in some offense, Ahmed responds, and then when the referee tries to prevent Ahmed from bashing Faarooq with the ring steps, Ahmed slaps him and that draws a disqualification. Faarooq advances to the finals to face Owen Hart at Badd Blood. This has been a terrible tournament.

-After the match, Ahmed’s faction brawls with the Nation and the faces win.

-Dok Hendrix hypes the Nassau Coliseum house show, which features Bret Hart defending the WWF title against the Undertaker, the Legion of Doom facing Shawn Michaels & Hunter Hearst Helmsley, and Steve Austin & Dude Love facing The British Bulldog & Owen Hart in a Long Island street fight. This is a great card that sounds better than Badd Blood.

-The latest edition of Brian Pillman’s XXX Files sees him in bed with Marlena and he says he will not face Dude Love unless the WWF puts some structure in place to keep Goldust away from him. He proposes handcuffing Goldust to the ring post to prevent unwanted interference.

-Dude Love comes out to do guest commentary for the next match.

-Goldust defeats The Sultan (w/The Iron Sheik) with a bulldog at 5:41:

McMahon tells us that Goldust and Marlena are renewing their wedding vows next week on RAW and Dude Love tells the audience that if he beats Brian Pillman at Badd Blood that Goldust will get a no disqualification match with Pillman right after. They adopt the Randy Savage strategy in this one, with the Sultan taking 90% of the offense until Goldust hits two moves to win. This was only five minutes, but it felt like fifteen. Rating: ½*

-Steve Austin is shown arriving to the arena.

-Austin comes out and McMahon tells Austin that if he does not care about his safety then he doesn’t either. Austin says he doesn’t care if he’s fired and McMahon responds by giving him three options: provide a medical clearance for next week, a return to action if he absolves the WWF of liability if he gets injured, or he can be fired. Austin says he’ll think about it in his own “diplomatic” way.

-WWF Tag Team Championship Match: Jesus & Jose defeat The Headbangers (Champions) by disqualification when the Godwinns interfere at 7:11 shown:

Before the match, Ross goes into a hilarious rant about how Commissioner Slaughter has no brains because of his decision to let Steve Austin present the Intercontinental title to the winner of the Owen Hart-Faarooq match at Badd Blood. The Headbangers lackluster tag team title reign continues here as the crowd refuses to react to anything in the match. The heat segment on Thrasher lasts so long that I think the Boricuas honestly run out of moves to do. Jesus appears to have the match won for his team with a super hurricanrana on Mosh, but the Godwinns run in to make sure the Headbangers retain the titles so they can face them for the belts at Badd Blood. We are somewhat accustomed to champions looking weak in the current era, but the Headbangers had to be the most poorly booked tag team champions in WWF history up to this point. Rating: *½

-Call 1-900-737-4WWF to find out if Goldust is suspicious of Marlena’s time with Brian Pillman and if she’s really not enjoying herself.

-McMahon interviews Owen Hart, who comes out in an “Owen 3:16” shirt that reads “I just broke your neck” on the back. He also has a SWAT-style security detail with him. Owen says that he’s confident that he’ll beat Faarooq at Badd Blood, but Steve Austin’s latest antics are scaring him. Owen tries to persuade McMahon to fire Austin next week, but as Owen celebrates to leave, one of the security guards takes off their helmet to reveal Austin and he gives Owen a Stone Cold Stunner before fleeing through the crowd. In a nice touch, the crowd blocks the other SWAT guys from pursuing Austin.

- Call 815-734-1161 to get your VHS copy of One Night Only for $19.95 (plus $6 shipping and handling)!

-Backstage, Jim Neidhart is shown guarding Owen Hart, who is on a stretcher nursing his neck.

-Footage of contractors building the Hell in a Cell is shown.

-The Undertaker defeats Hunter Hearst Helmsley (w/Shawn Michaels & Chyna) by disqualification when Rick Rude interferes at 1:51:

During the Undertaker’s entrance he is attacked by Bret Hart and the British Bulldog and they, in turn, are attacked by Vader and the Patriot. As the Hart Foundation is repelled, Michaels and Helmsley put the boots to the Undertaker for a couple of minutes before the Undertaker and Helmsley end up in the ring to start this match. The Undertaker makes short work of Helmsley, but before he can hit a Tombstone, Rick Rude hits him with a briefcase and draws the disqualification.

-After the bell, D-Generation X beat down the Undertaker and Michaels hits him with Sweet Chin Music. DX puts the Undertaker in a body bag, but the Undertaker sits up and tears his way out and forces DX to flee. Michaels tries to run backstage, but a red light keeps him from doing so, so he climbs the Titantron as the Undertaker gives Helmsley a Tombstone on the stage as we close the show. A nice go home segment for this feud.

The Final Report Card: This show had some good moments, with the closing segment putting over the main event and Austin being his usual badass self. However, the matches were just atrocious this week and were a chore to sit through. Bulldog-Vader was solid, but after that the ring work went into a rut and never recovered. I’ll give this a neutral rating as the non-wrestling segments effectively advanced the major angles, but I got the feeling that much of the show put more emphasis on hyping the RAW after Bad Blood than the actual pay-per-view.

Monday Night War Rating: 2.7 (vs. 4.0 for Nitro)

Show Evaluation: Neutral

I Have Issues 26

2013-06-18T11:41:00.000-06:00

The 20 Greatest Superman Fights

Part 2

Superman VS. Doomsday ( Hunter/Prey #3, 1994)

Superman Doomsday Hunter/Prey was a three issue prestige format miniseries that served as the rematch between Superman and Doomsday from their first fight where they killed each other. If you’re a big Dan Jurgens fan than this series is right up your alley as he wrote and provided the art layouts. The fight in issue 3 is pretty good even if Supes is wearing this!

I AM THE 90'S!

The story also features Darkseid getting his ass handed to him by Doomsday.

I don't hate Darkseid but it's always entertaining to see a pompous bully get his!

Also Cyborg Superman fits prominently into the narrative as well.

Shakespeare it ain't but for pretty non stop action you could do a lot worse. Also it's not even close to being as dumb as most of Images comics at the time. No offense Image comics of the 90's! You sure made lots of pretty pictures!

Supes tries to incinerate Dooms from the word go.

The monster uses his adaption power to survive and then shoots his claws right into Superman’s shoulder.

Superman uses a sonic Gun and a fancy energy sword and they trade blows back and forth.

Superman has his arm broken and the fight ends when Superman uses a device from the time travel hero Waverider to send Doomsday to the end of time.

The comic didn't exactly change my life after having read it but 14 year old me finally got that Doomsday figure I had been wanting since I was twelve! And yes I did play with toys when I was probably too old for them.

Needless to say 90's Superman got his ass kicked a lot in my house.

Superman VS. Lobo ( The Adventures of Superman 464, 1990)

Lobo is sent to assassinate Superman and goes to find him at the Fortress of Solitude. At this time Superman is being possessed by the Eradicator device which is designed to preserve Kryptonian culture but really just makes Superman a total overconfident douche.

And Superdouche be thy name.

While he is talking down to Lobo, he gets kicked in the face.

Superman comes back with a punch that almost takes Lobo's head off. Lobo goes for another kick to the Kryptonians face and then puts him in a headlock.

Lobo pounds Superman and then shoves his head into the wall.

Supes escapes and Lobo chases him right into the Holograph room. Superman has set up a simulation of Krypton and when Lobo charges Superman ducks and Lobo smashes right into a wall that looks like the background (not unlike a certain Coyote.)

Superman swoops down and shoves Lobo through the floor and down to the next level. Lobo pulls up the floor to use as a weapon, Superman tries to fry him with heat vision to no effect and Lobo shoves a pipe into the Kryptonians chest which breaks but probably hurts like a son of a bitch. Following that up with a vicious kick, Lobo has his opponent down and pounds Superman until he runs away with a swollen face.

Superman comes back inside a Kryptonian Warsuit and Lobo pulls out a can of Kryptonite and fires missiles from his space-harley. Lobo sees the armor destroyed and Superman dead inside of it and leaves in victory. Superman actually used holographic projectors in the suit to make it appear he was killed.

Superman and Lobo would have a rematch where Kal was back to his regular self again and he well... I'll let the picture do the talking.

Superman VS. an Angel (Asmodel) JLA #7 (1997)

This fight was only one page and it was during the time when Superman was in his electric blue phase. Still Kal El went toe to toe with an actual angel and if that is not impressive to you, here’s the list of Asmodel's powers/abilities, Flight (via angelic wings),Immortality, Invulnerability Super strength, Super speed, Devastating Sonic Cry, Acidic Blood, Heat Vision, Projection of heavenly light, Master Military Strategist, Flaming Staff.

Asmodel had a plan to overthrow God and take control of Heaven when the Angel Zauriel escaped and found the JLA to ask for help. The whole JLA fights off a horde of fallen angels but Supes takes on the leader of them all and refuses to lay down no matter how impressive his opponent is.

Superman Vs the Incredible Hulk (Marvel Versus DC #3, 1996)

Nothing pissed me off more than this crossover where the fight winners were determined by votes from fans. With Marvel being at or near the peak of their popularity they were a lock to win. Ok I will go on record and say I agree with all the choices of the winners except for Storm over Wonder Woman and Wolverine (bone claws) over Lobo. Wonder Woman is a demi god and Lobo has gone toe to toe with Superman as we just saw earlier. it just doesn't make sense! (Steps off soap box.)

Hulk sucker punches Superman who comes back with a huge dose of heat vision.

The two pound the hell out of each other until Superman proves he wants it more and takes Hulk out.

To all the Hulk fans out their Hulk certainly made a better showing here than in the 70’s.

Superman VS Wonder Woman (Wonder Woman 219, 2005)

In the story-line that leads into Infinite Crisis, Superman has his perceptions screwed up by Maxwell Lord. Thinking he’s just seen Doomsday kill Lois Lane and believing Wonder Woman is Doomsday, Kal unleashes hell against the Amazonian warrior. This is not only a good fight for Supes, it’s a great fight for WW.

Superman is usually portrayed as the most powerful super hero of all, but Diana was born and bred to be a warrior. She proves it here as the two go head to head. Superman is enraged to Hulk like levels as he tries to fly Wonder Woman into the sun.

She escapes and uses her bracelets to hurt his super hearing and even slices Supes throat open with her tiara.

In the end Diana has exhausted everything she can think of except one. She snaps Maxwell Lords neck and frees Kal El though he’s pretty disturbed by what she has done.

Proving Superman fights for whats right but Wonder Woman fights to win.

Probably the best move for Wonder Woman though as pictured below is what happened in an Alternate timeline of Batman/Superman #16

Ok So I saw Man of Steel yesterday and I'm sure you all want to know what I think. I really don't care for critics because as I have said multiple times before everyone likes what they like and who is anyone tell you your interests suck. That being said if you haven't seen the movie, read no further!

The diplomatic answer is I need to see it again. Not because I was so blown away I want to experience it all over but because I felt like it was missing something and I am not sure what that is. My girlfriend loved it and I wanted to, because it could be the start of a franchise for my favorite character, but for lack of a better reason it just felt soulless. I didn't hate it, but I wanted to love it.

The fights were outstanding, my favorite being Superman versus Faroa and who I'm assuming was Non. The creators certainly took the criticisms of Superman Returns to heart.

I like the casting, with the exception of maybe Michael Shannon as Zod, everyone was well cast, even if they didn't get certain moments written for them like maybe they should have (I love Amy Adams and I believe she could be an awesome Lois, so why wasn't she written that way?)

I also liked the scenes from Krypton at the beginning and also this was the first time in a Superman story I felt like Jor-El and Lara were extremely upset/conflicted about sending their son away.

On the other side the story didn't flow for me and I never got that moment like in the Batman movies where I just couldn't wait to see the villains get there asses kicked! As stated before the Cast was not used as they should have been. Also as cool as it was to see buildings get destroyed it happened so much I just wasn't impressed anymore by the time we got to Zod versus Kal.

So I need to see it again to find out if I was missing something but at this moment the best I can say is I don't hate it. Also on the topic of Superman Killing Zod, I can go along with it because he did it in the comic and this is a re-imagining to try to get people interested in a character many view as stale an unexciting. They are trying to make people see Superman can be a bad-ass and we will see if this works.

My recommendation is you need to watch the first hour and a half of the original Superman movie and then the last hour and a half of the Man of Steel. That way you get the proper character build and the action to satisfy the needs of the story.

As Scott would say, Thumbs squarely in the middle.

Part 3 of the Superman fights continue next week!

Help Peter David

By, J. Ryan Buck (Lostscribe@gmail.com)

Get your comics here http://www.mycomicshop.com/

Previous installments here http://lostscribe0.blogspot.com/

Waiting for the Trade - Nomad

2013-06-18T10:15:00.000-06:00

Waiting for the Trade

By Bill Miller

Nomad: Girl Without A World.

by Sean Mckeever and David Baldeon
collects Nomad: Girl Without A World 1-4 and material from Captain America 600.

Why I Bought This: The female Bucky (Rikki Barnes) was far and away the best thing about the Heroes Reborn 90s reboot of The Avengers line of titles: Indeed she was probably the only good thing from that era aside from the art. So the idea of having that character come to the main Marvel Universe as the new Nomad is pretty inspired—particularly the “Girl Without A World” catchphrase as a play on Cap’s “Man Without A Country” arc when he was the original Nomad.

The Plot: For the 10^th Anniversary of Heroes Reborn Marvel did a series called Onslaught Reborn that much like the original Onslaught crossover made little sense. It did however have very nice looking Rob Liefeld art. Anyway that series saw Onslaught chase Franklin Richards into the Heroes Reborn Universe where that world’s version of the Avengers, FF and Masters of Evil united to take him on and in the end Bucky sacrificed her life to stop him: only instead of dying she emerged in the main Marvel Universe just in time to witness the death of Captain America post Civil War. This series focuses on her efforts to find a place in this new world as both a superhero and a teenage girl.

Chapter 0 – Rikki, in her Bucky costume, tracks down Patriot of the Young Avengers. After she convinces him she is who she says she is. Patriot tells her that he doubts the new Cap (Bucky/Winter Soldier) is going to want a sidekick. He does offer her friendship and they go to a vigil in Steve’s memory together.

Chapter 1 – In researching her new world Rikki learns she doesn’t exist here (i.e. there is no counterpart for her unlike the other Avengers/FF heroes). When the police radio tells her Bucky-Cap is on a mission nearby she decides to introduce herself. Black Widow intercepts her and reveals she knows all about Counter Earth. Widow advises Rikki that this Cap would not react well to meeting a Bucky and shoos her away. Meanwhile we see Rikki is attending high school where she has found the dimensional counterpart for her brother. She has befriended him to feel closer to home. Next we see the student government elections where some blond kid named Desmond Daniels gets the crowd to go wild for him and his message of better manners and increased civic responsibility. Rikki gets suspicious of how some of her fellow students are so quickly buying into Daniels’ spiel so she investigates as Bucky. In the basement of the school she encounters what appears to be a werewolf and it kicks her butt good, shredding her costume in the process. When she gets home she finds a suitcase on her bed with the Nomad costume inside.

Chapter 2 – We get a flashback to how Rikki first became Bucky. (Her brother joined a skinhead cult headed up by the Red Skull and tied her to nuclear missile until Cap arrived on the scene.) Rikki talks to her pseudo-brother John about her suspicions of Daniels and the kids at school but he blows them off. He also reveals that in this universe his mother and sister both died in childbirth, which blows Rikki’s mind. Furthermore his dad died in the terrorist bombing of Philadelphia that kicked off Brubaker’s Cap run. And then the diner they are in blows up as Flag Smasher attacks. Rikki switches to Nomad—the costume includes the Jack Monroe Nomad’s stun discs as well as a version of Cap’s old energy shield from the Mark Waid run. Nomad defeats Flag Smasher and then runs into Falcon, who was a fellow partner of Cap’s in her world, and they briefly compare notes. Back at ground zero we see John was injured in the explosion. Back in school we see Daniels influence continues to grow, and then the reader learns these events are being orchestrated by the Secret Empire while the werewolf looking dude is Mad Dog (A d-list villain with dog-like powers who has worked for them before). Rikki goes to visit John when he gets out of the hospital and he hits on her assuming what most teenage boys would when some random new girl singles you out and makes an effort to get to know you. Of course Rikki wigs out and says she only wants to be friends and thinks of him like a brother. John sends her away and then that evening goes off to meet with Desmond’s supporters where we when he takes off his hat we see the explosion made him lose his hair thus causing him to look like the skinhead John from Counter Earth.

Chapter 3 – It’s now a week later and John is now being mean to Rikki. The Secret Empire is hypnotizing kids by using lasers. Nomad gets attacked by a mystery villain with laser blast powers and Mad Dog and together they defeat her. They then hook her up to a brainwashing machine. Back at the student election the Secret Empire has Nomad endorse Desmond and then unmask before the entire high school. The Secret Empire is plotting to expand their program to other high schools. Desmond wins the election and the students begin to riot. Rikki is still chained up below the school where she learns the mystery villain is Professor Power.

Chapter 4 – Nomad uses her energy shield to free herself and takes down the two super villains. Riot police arrive at the high school. John and two other students realize things are out of control and try to quell the riot but it seems to be too late. Just before the police open fire Nomad arrives with the Young Avengers. Meanwhile the super villains recover, cut their ties with the Secret Empire, and blow up their lab under the school and escape. The heroes subdue the rioters as Desmond resigns as student president to get the teens to disband as he himself was not involved with the Secret Empire; it was the first five kids who supported his candidacy. However the most fanatical of those original supporters has a gun and he ends up shooting John. Nomad takes him down but its too late as John is dead. We cut to Rikki at John’s grave where Bucky-Cap pays her a visit. He gives her a pep talk and ponders her last name but does not reveal his real name to her (It was implied in the Heroes Reborn universe that she is Bucky’s granddaughter). We see agents of the Secret Empire capture the Professor. Finally we see Nomad vowing to take down the Secret Empire.

Critical Thoughts: This is very good comic all around. Rikki remains a very likeable protagonist and we get to see her be resourceful and a face a much deeper level of adversity than she ever did in her original appearances.

All of the stuff with her pseudo-brother is fantastic. The conversation where she learns how she and her parents died in this world is written to hit like a punch to the gut. John misunderstanding her intentions and the subsequent reveal of him possibly turning out like the original skinhead John is a fabulous cliffhanger, where the art really pulls the reader into thinking that is where the story is going. And they actually fooled me, I didn’t see John turning it around and ending up a hero again at the end; and I certainly didn’t see him dying. Rikki’s story really feels like a tragedy here and yet the reader buys that in the end after her pep-talk with Bucky-Cap that she manages to respond to it in a determined productive way while remaining upbeat.

Credit McKeever’s writing, which is top notch throughout. In general I’m starting to like the little I’ve read of McKeever as he wrote a Gravity miniseries that I grabbed in trade for a few bucks on a whim due to the low price that was quite good too. Based on this story I wouldn’t mind seeing him write Cap one day because just in the few scenes they have in this story he writes Widow and Bucky really well. This story feels like its part of the larger Cap mythos even though at the end of the day Rikki herself is only a footnote in that mythos. The implication that Widow is the one who gave Rikki the Nomad costume is also a nice touch that feels right after it plays out.

The same can be said of the Young Avengers and their presence here as Ricky feels like she’d be a really good fit on that team. In both cases this is a really good example of how to use guest shots to explore the sense of being part of a wider Marvel Universe without distracting from the primary hero’s journey. I will say however that Rikki tracks down Patriot way too easily in the opening beat. She basically does some Internet research and figures out who he is. If secret identities are that easy to solve than most of the heroes of the Marvel Universe should be dead by now.

I thought the Secret Empire was a very good choice as the main villains of this story as the Secret Empire were the villains who first caused Cap to assume the Nomad identity. Admittedly their plan to rig a high school election seems awfully low key from their usual plan of world domination, but at the end of the day you can let it slide because it’s not like they’ve done anything important since that Englehart story 40 years ago and they make good foils for Rikki. I also liked Flag Smasher showing up, as he was one of the better villains from Gru’s run on the main Cap title. Again bombing a diner is insanely beneath him and his usual M.O., and he’s defeated byRikki way too easily as back in Gru’s run he defeated the John Walker Cap (U.S. Agent) and was a serious threat to Steve. I’m also not sure why Professor Power is alive when Walker beat him to death years ago. So yea overall I suppose one could criticize the use of the villains in this story, however; I will not because the villains are clearly secondary to a strong character piece that is needed to establish Rikki in the main Marvel Universe (of course that they later killed her off just two years later makes one wonder why they bothered to bring her over in the first place, but I’m not going to criticize this story for the failings of a subsequent story.)

Finally I want to praise Baldeon’s art quite a bit. It is exactly what this story needs. I already mention how good the art is in the cliffhanger for chapter 2. His art works both in the quiet moments of dialogue in Rikki’s civilian life and in the big action scenes. Plus I really like the ultimate design of the Nomad costume. The final splash page is inspiring in the way the best Captain

America

stories are.

Grade B+. I enjoyed this. It’s a quick yet compelling read and you can find it online in the $5 price range making it worth checking out even if you are unfamiliar with the main character. I should add it is digest-sized for those who are concerned about such things.

QOTD - June 18th, 2013

2013-06-18T09:21:00.002-06:00

I'll be reviewing Payback for those who are waiting for one. I should have it up by tomorrow. And to those who want to finally have something worth putting on your resume by having your question seen here, simply send it on in to caliberw@hotmail.com.

Today's question comes from member pbreathing, he asks...

"How do you justify following pro-wrestling to non-fans? We've all had to put up with critics/sceptics telling you "It's all fake, you know" or "Really? The guys in the spandex?", but what about people who are indifferent/oblivious and just don't see the attraction?

I know a popular line of argument is "it's just like watching a soap opera", but I've never used that, purely because the acting is terrible and the storylines are often insulting. I say two things; one, I'm impressed with the athleticism/technique of certain 'workrate' guys (similar to ballet or street-dance fans, I guess) and two, it's like watching sports and waiting for your team to get the big win, but because it's all pre-determined those fairytale moments are more guaranteed.

Another big reason for me watching as a smart fan is to analyse the writing/pushes etc from a business POV, but that's a tough one to explain to an outsider."

Good question. To explain the draw of wrestling to a non-believer can be a bit tough, simply because people tend to be stupid. They think that because the out-comes are pre-determined that it eliminates any entertainment. Even though every movie & TV show's outcome is decided well in advance. Besides the obvious answer of what we see on TV being entertaining, for a lot of wrestling fans half of the fandom comes from staying up to date with the backstage going-ons. I find that often times that can be just as interesting. Really, nothing else offers up entertainment both in front of and behind the curtain.

How say you?

The SmarK RAW Rant–06.17.13

2013-06-17T23:04:00.001-06:00

The SmarK RAW Rant – 06.17.13

Live from Grand Rapids, MI

Your hosts are Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler & JBL

Alberto Del Rio starts us out, thankfully no longer playing the smiling babyface in anything but the most ironic way. He’s pretty upset that people cheered for Ziggler attacking an injured man to win the title in Jersey, but booed him for doing the same. Also, USA is not OK and Ziggler is a pig and a coward, JUST LIKE ALL OF YOU. Well, I’d say he’s a heel. This brings out CM Punk, who is a heel getting bigger babyface reactions than most of the babyfaces. Punk (still with Heyman) is once again offended at someone calling themselves the “best in the world”. Heyman doesn’t feel that Punk fighting for free is a good idea, but Punk blows him off and Vickie comes out to make it the main event. That felt pretty flat after Punk’s entrance blew the roof off.

Meanwhile, Punk breaks up with Heyman, but hopes they can be friends.

Intercontinental title: Curtis Axel v. Wade Barrett

Doesn’t happen, as Vickie changes it to…

Wade Barrett v. Christian

I guess it’s a phantom face turn for Christian. Christian tosses him and follows with a crazy dive off the top. Back in, Barrett catches him in the corner and wisely pounds on the injured shoulder, for two. Christian comes back with a missile dropkick and tornado DDT for two. Barrett boots him down for two, but misses a charge, allowing Christian to finish with the Killswitch at 3:05. Poor Wade got kind of screwed over there. ** Good return for Christian.

The Rhodes Scholars v. Sheamus

The heels wisely go after Sheamus, but he clubs them down until Rhodes hits the disaster kick. ELBOW OF DISDAIN gets two, and the heels slap him around until he gets his Irish up. So to speak. Rhodes gets dumped as Sheamus makes the comeback and beats on both guys. White Noise for Cody, but Sandow sneaks back in and rolls him up off the Brogue Kick for the pin at 3:30. Sheamus of course ~~Pedigrees~~ Brogue Kicks Cody to regain his heat afterwards. Fun stuff. **

Meanwhile, HHH isn’t terribly impressed with Vickie’s big decision making tonight.

Meanwhile, Kane wants to get the band back together, but Bryan is more concerned with Team DB, and Kane notes that he’s being a DB. OH TAG! Bryan is more concerned with becoming WWE champion, which should set up the MITB main event.

Randy Orton v. Daniel Bryan

The app (which has been WAY toned down tonight) reveals that it’s a no-DQ match. Bryan takes him down and works the leg, throwing the kicks in the corner, but Orton stomps a mudhole in retaliation. Slingshot suplex and Orton takes him down with a Thesz Press, but Bryan rolls through into a half-crab. Bryan goes nuts with kicks, so Orton pokes him in the eyes and dumps him, acting a bit heelish. Jesus, we went MONTHS with fuck all happening in this promotion and now they’re turning everyone in the company. Back in, Orton grabs a chinlock and slugs away in the corner, very heelishly not letting the crowd count to ten. Bryan comes back with a clothesline and dropkick in the corner, which gets two. Orton charges and hits the floor, but Bryan’s suicide dive misses and he wipes out. Orton grabs a kendo stick and dishes some abuse with that, for two. And we take a break. Back with Orton trying for a superplex, but Bryan hits a missile dropkick and makes the comeback. Head kick misses and Orton throws him to the apron, but Bryan escapes the draping DDT. Orton catapults Bryan to the apron and punts the ribs, putting Bryan on the floor as the crack WWE medical team wants to stop the match. Bryan keeps fighting, so Orton suplexes him onto the railing and the ref stops the match at 15:48. WEAK SAUCE. Orton shows good sportsmanship afterwards, at least. This was rolling along great before they forgot to come up with a finish that didn’t suck. ***1/4 Stopping a match when the guy isn’t covered in his own blood or getting clubbed to death with his own severed leg is STUPID. Thankfully we know where this is going and in this case they really are telling a story.

AJ joins us to reinforce that she’s still a heel, and Dolph isn’t here tonight due to his concussion. Also, she’s issuing an open challenge to anyone in the locker room, which brings out Stephanie. Oh great, that’s just what we needed. She reminds AJ that she’s the alpha female and can fire AJ any time she wants, making sure to emphasize how much taller than AJ that she is by standing right next to her, and then bitches out Kaitlyn as well on the way back to the dressing room. WHY IS SHE ON THIS SHOW AGAIN?!

US Title: Dean Ambrose v. Kane

The trilogy ends here. Hopefully. Kane gets a sideslam and goes up with the flying clothesline, but the Shield runs in for the DQ at 1:30. Really?

Meanwhile, Vickie reminds the Shield who the boss is. That’s the theme of the show: People reminding other people who the boss is. She’s about to fire them, but Vince steps in and sticks up for them, because this whole show is apparently a dick-waving contest between Vince and HHH and everything else is minor.

Antonio Cesaro v. William Regal

This is a random return for Regal. Cesaro is now a Zeb Colter Guy, which is a good fit because it makes Zeb even more of a hypocrite and he’s 100x better than Swagger. Cesaro squashes the shit out of Regal, including an awesome double chicken wing drop, and the swinging chinlock to set up the NEUTRALIZER at 2:40. Then he buries Regal under a “Don’t Tread On Me” flag. How can you not love that? Now that’s a heel! He’s giant hypocritical douchebag because he and Zeb are BAD PEOPLE. I love it!

John Cena is out, and he’s feeling so good that he’s pretty sure he’s gonna beat whoever wins the briefcase this year. They’re all like “Good to see John Cena regaining his confidence after all the unpleasantness of 2012!” I bet 95% of the population would like to have as bad a year as Cena did in 2012. Anyway, this brings out Mark Henry, who has been teasing retirement. He’s rocking the Vince McMahon 1979 salmon suit jacket, so you know shit’s gonna get serious. Henry puts over Cena as one of the greatest, and Cena lets him hold the belt to take in his moment. Henry has a tearful speech for an appreciative crowd…and then turns on Cena. WIGS HAVE BEEN SPLIT. And the crowd goes even CRAZIER for him, because this was magnificent. So there’s your MITB main event.

Chris Jericho v. Heath Slater

That last one really should have ended the show, but instead we have another hour. Sigh. Jericho quickly hits the bulldog, but the Lionsault gets broken up by Drew and Slater gets two. Codebreaker finishes at 2:20, however. *1/2

Meanwhile, Matt Striker wants to know the scoop on Paul Heyman, but he just wants to talk about Axel.

Curtis Axel v. Sin Cara

The stupid yellow lights are back for Sin Cara. Axel works him over, but Cara comes back with an inverted DDT for two. He goes up and misses something that’s not clear, and Axel finishes with a DDT at 2:32. This appears to set up a feud with the Miz. Thrilling. ½*

Meanwhile, all three McMahons squabble with Vickie and each offers contradictory orders. As someone with three bosses at work, I can sympathize, but I don’t want to watch it on my wrestling show.

Alberto Del Rio v. CM Punk

ADR kicks him down and slugs away in the corner, but Punk tries the GTS early, so Del Rio escapes to the floor and Punk follows with a dive. Back in, Del Rio goes after the arm and we take a break. Back with Punk making a comeback, but he runs into a backbreaker that gets two. Punk fights back with kicks, but Del Rio takes him down with an armbar and a backstabber for two. Punk counters the superkick into a rollup for two, but Del Rio kicks him in the head for two. Punk counters the armbar into the running knee and GTS, but Del Rio falls out of the ring. ADR takes a walk at 12:24, and Dolph is here after all, beating the crap out of Del Rio to cement his turn. **3/4 And here’s Brock Lesnar, apparently unhappy about Punk’s decision to fire Heyman. He teases a promo, and then just F5s him instead. That’s our Brock! Obviously they need to save this one for Summerslam.

The Pulse

Holy cow there was some great stuff on this show. Storylines actually moved FORWARD, things changed and got shook up, and it didn’t feel like a three hour show outside of the filler crap in the third hour between the Cena angle and the main event. Best show since the post-Wrestlemania one, easily, and it’s actually setting up stuff that people WANT to see. Big thumbs up this week.

Man of Steel: Who Booked This?!

2013-06-17T17:54:00.001-06:00

Seriously, your top heel is jobbing to a freakin' scientist in the build up to the main event (and don't give me that 'gets his heat back' sneak attack excuse)? Way to build up your challenger, Goyer. A workhorse like Shannon deserves more than this.

Babyface is also a completely unrelateable goody two-shoes whose no selling all over the place and what is up with Zack Snyder's obsession with sinewy abs and big bicep?

Other than that movie was okay.

I really loved it, although the constant flashbacks made me feel like I was watching Lost after a while, but the second half where we got to see Superman cut loose and PUNCH DUDES full force and destroy cities and shit was pretty boss. It was the biggest and most global we've seen Superman on the big screen, and felt suitably epic for the story being told. I understand the criticisms and can certainly see why people might hate it, but it was a giant improvement on Superman Returns and I like the Lois & Clark dynamic there.

Also, the next night I saw This Is The End and it may have been one of the funniest movies I've ever seen, so it was a good weekend at the theater for me.

Spoiler space added to discuss a specific plot point:

Couple of people wrote in about the Zod death after I posted this:

Not the first time, but a long time, etc, etc. Anyway, here's my real problem with Man of Steel. I thought it was mostly good (strong referenceable backstory, Lois is a dumb ass, real consequences to the destruction), but I did have a major problem. In the comics, Superman DOES NOT KILL. Ever. When he had to kill Zod in the post-Crisis reboot, it fucked him up. He ran into space to find himself. He had violated his entire coda. But here? He offs the first really bad guy he meets! What's next, play Operation with the new Lex?

And another guy adds…

I keep hearing people complaining about Superman killing Zod in Man of Steel, and saying that's not what Superman does. However didn't Superman kill Zod at the end of Superman II? He threw Zod off a cliff and this was after Zod lost his powers. Anyway I loved MOS.

I wouldn’t really call Superman II canon or anything, but yeah, he killed the Kryptonians in the Byrne-verse, and don’t forget that he killed the shit out of Doomsday and even dropped him at the end of the universe to die repeatedly for eternity, so it’s not necessarily that he NEVER kills, it’s that he needs to be pushed EXTREMELY far to justify it. And really, Zod was going to burn a bunch of innocent bystanders alive and wouldn’t ever stop trying to wipe out the human race, so what other choice did Superman have in the moment? He’s an fallible human being, not a soul-less alien, that’s part of the point of the movie.

But as I said, I can totally dig how people might hate the plot point and take the movie down a notch as a result, and that’s cool.

Monday Night Open Mic

2013-06-17T17:40:00.001-06:00

Sorry I'm a little late tonight, I lost track of time.

Unfortunately I missed the PPV last night but it sounds like it was decent. The potential was certainly there for a few good matches. Sounds like the double turn with Del Rio and Ziggler might have worked as well.

Punk returns (I guess), Bryan headed down a good road. Ziggler ready to blow up as a face in my opinion.

Now if only we could do something about that Cena guy :)

Enjoy the show, come out swinging and keep it clean.

43 WWE-to-NBA comparisons

2013-06-17T17:27:00.001-06:00

Thought the BOD community might enjoy this for discussion:

The Internet's most comprehensive NBA/WWE comparison: 43 NBA stars that remind us of pro wrestlers

http://dimemag.com/2013/06/the-internets-most-comprehensive-nbawwe-comparison-which-43-nba-stars-remind-us-of-pro-wrestlers/

don't know any of the people on that list, but I'm sure a bunch of people here will understand and be entertained.

ROH TV: June 15th Edition

2013-06-17T14:28:00.003-06:00

Last week’s ROH was the final episode from the Toronto tapings, and the next tapings in Baltimore aren’t until next weekend, so we get a Road Rage edition from a live event in Richmond Virginia to fill the gap.

The Show opens with Steve Corino telling us that he has to fill in for Kevin Kelly. Corino proceeds to insinuate that Kelly missed the show because he gave him bad directions, which I don’t hold against him, Kelly is the dumbass who asked STEVE FUCKING CORINO for directions. Corino “hypes” the show with the most sarcastic tone he can muster. He tells us the main event is “that dirty hick” Jay Briscoe against BJ Whitmer (the announcement of the second name was complete with a mimed blow job from Steve). Corino says that if he could wish for any two people to kill themselves they would be BJ Whitmer and Jay Briscoe. Well that’s rather harsh. Kevin Steen is apparently just jealous of “The greatest man ever: Matt Hardy.” Corino gives us a spoiler alert; at Best in the World Jimmy Jacobs will become TV champ, and the Tag titles are coming to Rhett Titus and Cliff Compton. Corino then sends us to the opening match

Jay Lethal, Cedric Alexander and Caprice Coleman VS Matt Taven and reDragon

Match is joined in progress; everyone is down except for Lethal and O’Reilly. Kevin Kelly’s fill-in play by play guy is absolutely horrendous. O’Reilly starts laying into Lethal with some kicks, but ends up getting caught with the Lethal Combination. Jay signals for Hail to the King, but gets cut off on the top rope by Bobby Fish. With Lethal disposed of Fish turns his attention to Alexander and delivers a Tilt-a-whirl back breaker. Fish then props Cedric up for a running Knee from O’Reilly. reDragon gets this fisherman suplex/legdrop combo, and unless they find a way to do it which doesn’t look like shit they should never do it again. They try to get Call of the Dragon (Brainbuster/Headkick combo) but Fish is dragged out of the ring by Caprice Coleman and Cedric escapes Kyle’s grasp. O’Reilly is sent into the corner then eats a dropkick to the face from Alexander. Coleman hits the super-Huricanrana on O’Reilly to set up the Overtime splash from Alexander for the three count. Well this was fucking pointless, it was literally the last minute or so of the match. Did Taven actually do anything? I literally have zero idea as to the quality of the match based on what was shown, and I can’t in good conscience assign it a star rating.

Corino sends us to the next match

“Zombie Princess” Jimmy Jacobs VS Kevin Steen

We cut back to the ring with Jacobs already in it. Steen’s entrance is cut short when Jimmy jumps out to start a slugfest in the aisleway. Steen gets the better of the slugfest and starts beating Jacobs around the outside area. Jimmy gets his first real offense by throwing Steen into the barricade. Corino’s right hand man charges to spear Steen against the guardrail, but Steen moves and Jacobs takes an epic bump headfirst into the steel. Steen then continues to beat Jacobs around as if he were Zack Ryder after he’d shit into Vince’s soup. Steen throws Jacobs in the ring, just to clothesline him back out over the top. Corino then bursts into a rant against Montreal; he says nothing great has ever come from French people. You tell him Corino, Fuck the Habs!!! Steen throws Jacobs back into the ring but is distracted by Corino. Jacobs blindsides Kevin and chokes him out with his chain for the DQ at 2:33 shown. ½* This was the definition of a nothing match, and Jacobs got maybe two offensive moves total.

Steen doesn’t accept his DQ win however, and clotheslines Jacobs. Security comes out to break up the brawl but Steen simply dispatches of them on route to grabbing a chair from ringside. Titus and Compton run out as reinforcements and form a wall between Steen in the ring and Jacobs on the outside. Steen takes the mic and tells Jacobs he knew that with the history they had it would end like this. Steen then lays down the challenge, if Jacobs is finally ready to prove he’s a man after 8 long years, he’ll get in the ring and face Steen one-on-one with no DQs and no count outs. Nigel comes out and tells the timekeeper to ring the bell and start…

No Holds Barred: “Zombie Princess” Jimmy Jacobs VS Kevin Steen

Steen starts by chucking the last security guy in the ring over the top rope into S.C.U.M. on the outside to send us to commercial.

We return with S.C.U.M. having been escorted to the back and Steen beating Jacobs in the head with somebody’s shoe. Steen looks to get back in the ring but Jacobs crotches him on the middle rope. Jacobs then gets a really ineffectual looking spear on the apron to send them to the floor. Even the offence Jacobs does get makes him look out of his league. Mr. Wrestling is tossed back in the ring and Jacobs lays into him with stomps and an elbow drop. Steen starts firing back on the ground but Jacobs rakes the eyes and actually has some semblance of control for the first time in this match. Jacobs wedges a chair into the corner, whips Steen into it, and then delivers a SLIGHTLY better looking Spear. Look, I defend Edge using the Spear against people who say he’s too small, but Jacobs is half of HIS size, it looks ridiculous, he should bounce of Steen’s fat harmlessly. (it’s not like Steen is treating anything Jacobs does as particularly threatening anyway) Jacobs goes back to choking Steen then throws him outside the ring. JJ follows with a Suicide Dive, then jumps up on the apron and signals for an axe handle. Kevin catches him with a punch to the gut in mid-flight. When was the last time an axe handle DIDN’T end with the guy going for it getting hurt, using that move in a match against anyone ever is like trying to power bomb Kidman or jump headfirst of the top rope for no reason at Randy Orton. Steen power bombs his foe on the apron then pushes him into the ring to deliver the world’s heftiest Swanton Bomb for 2. Steen grabs the chair in the corner, but Jacobs jumps on his back and hooks a sleeper. Steen fights out and leaves Jacobs sitting in the corner, but the cannonball misses. Jacobs hits a springboard ace crusher for 2. Jacobs tries to hook the Contra Code, but Steen won’t stop struggling, so Jimmy starts elbowing Steen repeatedly. He tries for the Code again but Steen fights him off once more and hangs him in the Tree of Woe. Cannonball hits, but Jacobs is able to pull himself up and respond with the Contra Code on the chair in the ring. It only gets 2, so Jacobs gets some chairshots across Steen’s back. Jacobs exits the ring to grab a section of the guardrail and throw it in the ring. Steen takes this time to recover and punches Jacobs in the face with a fist wrapped in his chain. Corino wants a DQ for this grave injustice. Package Piledriver on the barricade looks to finish, but Jacobs sweeps the legs and Steen’s head makes a sickening thud on the guardrail. Jacobs tries to finish Steen of with a chair shot to the face, but Steen rolls out of the way and does Jacobs a favour by going low and turning him into the Princess he wants to be. Package Piledriver on the guardrail connects and Steen completes his near domination at 9:11 shown. *1/2 mostly just brawling outside the ring, and pretty much the definition of nothing special.

Mark Briscoe tells us next week is an hour dedicated to the life and times of the Briscoe Brothers. It was actually a pretty funny promo.

ROH World Title: Jay Briscoe VS BJ Whitmer

Mark is on commentary.

BJ is just here to do the job and everybody knows it, which is good, cause he blows and everybody knows it. We start with a collar and elbow tie up with BJ forcing Jay into the corner. Jay wants a rematch and this time he forces Whitmer into the corner with the collar and elbow. Third tie up ends with both guys tumbling outside the ring. They start trading chops on the outside with BJ getting the better of the exchange. Briscoe is whipped into the barricade, but he just bounces of with a grimace and boots BJ in the face. Jay starts beating the challenger around outside then throws him so hard into the barricade that he breaks it. Whitmer is thrown back in the ring and he trades elbows with Jay. Briscoe runs the ropes but gets caught with a spine buster from BJ. Whitmer throws him out and then gets a dive to send us to our final commercial break

Return with BJ holding Jay in a chin lock. Well I personally am fascinated by BJ’s attempts to give Briscoe lockjaw I’m not sure it’s the best way to try and get over. Briscoe fights out and starts with a series of short jabs. Jay Briscoe has one of the best looking punches in wrestling today. BJ blocks a punch then starts the chops, but Jay ‘aint having none of that and forearms BJ in the face. He responds in kind and it’s forearms back and forth until Jay ends it with a head-butt. BJ tries for an O’connor roll but Briscoe rolls through, BJ then manages to take him down with a powerslam. BJ misses a charge and gets caught with an overtop neckbreaker from Jay for 2. BJ responds with some kicks and a Dragon suplex for 2. Whitmer hits a Fisherman neckbreaker, but doesn’t let go and hoists him up for a fisherman suplex. Jay Briscoe then proceeds to suplex BJ over the top rope through the time keeper’s table headfirst in a holy shit moment that comes out of nowhere. What is Whitmer’s obsession with tables and his head pounding through them? The story of the match changes here to BJ being mostly dead but refusing to stop fighting. Jay thorws him back in the ring then gets a Rude Awakening for 2. Jay Driller hits…also for 2, I would have sworn that was the finish. Mark starts marking out for Whitmer on commentary, which is odd since BJ sucks. Briscoe try’s to get another Jay Driller but Whitmer turns it into a roll up for two. Desperation exploder suplex from BJ gets 2. BJ tries to get another exploder, but Jay Briscoe elbows him into putty, and then delivers SIX big boots to finally knock BJ down. Jay boots him twice more in the face with him on the ground, but he keeps asking for more, so Jay puts him in a dragon sleeper and BJ passes out at 13:30 shown. *** BJ’s Second best match since his return last year, and that’s no lip service. Only better match from him was the street fight with Charlie Hass back in December. He’s still has the charisma of a rock, but as long as he throws himself headfirst through a table every match he should be fine.

Meh show this week, only the main event was any good and it would be rated much lower if not for the crazy table bump from Whitmer. recommendation to avoid unless you really hate Jacobs or Love BJ Whitmer. See you all next week for Ring of Briscoe.

QOTD - June 17th, 2013

2013-06-17T09:06:00.000-06:00

For Holiday's and special occassions I planned on doing different things with the QOTD. Since Father's Day fell on a Sunday, I'm gonna do it here. So, in celebration of the fathers, you get TWO questions! Yes, finally, the hard-work & toiling of fatherhood has finally paid off. Caliber looks out for his people. Anyone wanting to submit a question, caliberw@hotmail.com.

First question comes from Bill Ray:

"Hi Caliber,

Here's a question for you and the blog: what's your favorite rarely-seen spot in

wrestling? I'm partial to the "gorilla presses opponent on the floor and

into the ring" spot, which the power babyfaces should bring back at some point. 
 
How say you?"

I think the reason we haven't seen that spot is because we haven't had any real "power" wrestlers, like

Warlord, or LOD. I think Goldberg was the last wrestler in that vein. As for a spot that I miss, well,

I'd have to go with the double noggin' knocker. I say that purely for nostalgia reasons, because it's

completely ridiculous and would be laughed at today. If I had to choose one move that represents the 80's

wrestling scene, it'd be the DNK. Well, at least for the WWE.

Second question:

This one comes from Jeff Bailey

"Here's one I've been wondering about:
 
Why didn't Capcom ever make a Powerstone style Marvel Superheroes game? It seems like such an

obvious idea (at least to me.) Then again many of Capcom's Marvel related decisions boggle my mind.
 
So I guess my question is, if you were Capcom what game would you have made?

Or not even just Capcom necessarily."

I want Street Fighter vs Mortal Kombat. I mean, they were the two biggest fighting games of the 90's,

with fans on each side swearing their series is the best. I was always the Mortal Kombat fan, but Street

Fighter is an undeniable classic. I'd love to see what kind of Fatalities they'd cook up for the

Street Fighter guys. I also want Jason as a DLC.

How say you guys?

Waiting for the Trade - Spider-man 700

2013-06-17T08:36:00.003-06:00

Waiting for the Trade

by Bill Miller

Amazing Spider-man: Dying Wish

By Dan Slott, Humberto Ramos and Richard Elson
Collects Amazing Spider-man 698-700.

Why I bought this: I love Spidey in general and this is the biggest Spidey story in years, possibly decades so I frickin’ preordered this on Amazon to get as soon as it hit trade.

The Plot: Doc Ock manages to switch brains with Spider-man putting Pete in Ock’s body just as Ock is at death’s door.

Heavy spoilers ahead:

Chapter 1 – In prison we see Ock doesn’t have long to live. We then see a fairly typical day in the life with Pete being in an upbeat mood as he stops crimes, does some science stuff at Horizon Labs and socializes with MJ and Aunt May. The Avengers page Spidey saying Ock is asking for him and doesn’t have long to live. Spidey agrees to visit him and in private we learn that Ock has switched their brains though each has access to all of the other’s memories. Peter-Ock then goes into cardiac arrest.

Chapter 2 – Doctors revive Peter-Ock but they feel he has less than 24 hours left to live. Peter imagines all the damage Ock can do in his body including killing his loved ones or using his Avengers security codes to take down the team. He then accesses Ock’s memories to realize how Ock did this and it dates back to issue 600 when Pete used a mental control helmet to override Ock’s Octobots which then gave Ock a copy of Pete’s brainwaves. Pete then uses Ock’s memories to activate one of his escape plans to hire a new Sinister Six to bust him out of jail although he only ends up with three: Scorpion, Hydroman and Trapster. Peter-Ock then offers the villains millions to bring him Spider-man alive.

Chapter 3 - Octo-Peter is taking MJ on a date when he discovers “Doc Ock” has escaped from prison on the news. Ock then goes to the airport to book a flight to Belgium and not return until Peter dies. Meanwhile in Ock’s undersea lab Ock’s body goes into cardiac arrest again, Peter goes to heaven and chats with Uncle Ben and every other major dead cast member and Ben tells him to get up and fight one more time. Back in the world Peter-Ock is recovers and orders the villains to go to the police. Mayor Jameson gets on TV and calls Ock a loser, which angers Octo-Peter enough that he decides to stay in New York to prove to himself that he can beat Spider-man in a fight. At the police station Peter-Ock runs into Carlisle Cooper and tells her about the brain-swap but she doesn’t believe him. When she fires on him the arms react instinctively and injure her. Pete feels bad but with time running out he takes what he came for from the police impound--the brainwave helmet that set this in motion 100 issues ago—and leaves. Octo-Spidey gathers Pete’s loved ones in Avengers Tower to protect them from Ock, while showing them Peter’s plane ticket to explain Peter’s absence. He says they are being targeted by Ock because of the revelation that Peter builds Spidey’s tech at Horizon. Ock tries to self destruct his undersea base with the villains in it but Peter has already disarmed the device since they share memories. So Ock-Spidey just calls the police and tells them where Ock’s base is. Scorpion and Hydroman take out the cops as Pete wonders how far he will let the villains to get his life back. Back inside Trapster realizes Peter-Ock has built a new brain-swap helmet and is afraid he is Ock’s intended victim so Peter-Ock neutralizes him pretty quickly. MJ tells Peter she still loves him but of course it’s Ock and not Peter in one of those great Spider-man ironies and they share a kiss. Peter-Ock goes to Avengers Towers to tell one of the super science guys there what has happened but it is too late as Ock has activated all of his Octo-bots across the city and the Avengers are out dealing with them. So finally we get the physical fight between the two of them with the other villains helping Octo-Peter. Octo-Spidey gets rid of them by “letting it slip” that Jameson is here among Peter’s loved ones and Scorpion’s obsession with Jameson takes over so that he and Hydroman abandon the fight. Max Modell defeats Hydroman as Scorpion threatens Peter’s loved ones. Scorpion goes too far when he threatens Aunt May (whom Ock was once engaged to) and Octo-Spidey hits him full strength and dislocates his jaw as Ock realizes just how strong Peter’s body is. When Peter sees this he realizes just how much damage Ock can do as him and realizes he has to stop him at any cost so he uses the Ock arms to throw them both at the window. Octo-Spidey saves them both with a web cushion. Peter plays his final card by having the brain switch robot attack but Ock has protected his skull and then he hauls off and decks his own dying body. As Peter-Ock is dying he flashes back to Uncle Ben and Octopus sees the memory too. Peter realizes the brainwave link partially functions even without the machine and floods Ock with memories of his entire life and career as Spidey in a series of gorgeous splash pages. And then Peter dies telling Ock the lesson of With Great Power and Great Responsibility while getting him to promise to keep his loved ones safe. As he stands over his own dead body, Octo-Spidey vows to be a Superior Spider-man than Pete was.

Bonus 1 – An old Peter is hanging out with his grandson and tells him about his life as Spidey, albeit with some memory gaps.

Bonus 2 – Back when Peter was dating the Black Cat she gets a new apartment and manages to steal things to decorate it behind Peter’s back while he fights a giant robot.

Critical Thoughts: Simply Fabulous. Issue 700 is every bit as epic as it should be. This is an instant classic worthy to be included in the pantheon of the greatest Spider-man stories ever told as Peter and Ock play this intense game of mental chess anticipating each other moves back and forth and taking advantage of weapons and alliances available to them in their new identities.

The two set-up issues are also well done, particularly the narration in chapter 1 which reads like a typical Spider-man picking himself up for a new day story and then once you know the plot twist the exact same narration takes on a completely different connotation.

That Slott ties his explanation to how Ock was able to do this back to issue 600 gives this story an even more epic feel as it looks like something that has been in the works for 100 issues set between two big landmark numbers for the character. Issue 600 in general did a lot to make Ock a much more credible threat, as there was long period where he was clearly no longer at the same level as the Goblins and symbiotes. Slott has been building Ock up throughout his run on the title and this is a hell of a payoff.

There are a few quibbles. To me the biggest one is Jonah suddenly coming around and seeing Spidey as a hero. First of all in a general sense Spidey saved the life of Jonah, his son and pretty much everyone who works at the Bugle scores of times and Jonah has never come around so why should this time be different? In a more specific sense Jonah’s problem with Spidey has always been his fear that an unknown masked man not accountable to anyone would cross the line and go out of control one day, (in fact Jonah’s been shown for years to support Captain America because his identity is subject to government oversight) so to have him change his mind in a scene where Spidey brutalizes Scorpion is completely contrary to the entire motivation of the character. I get Slott is doing it for the irony of ‘Jameson’s finally stops thinking of Spider-man as a menace only when he actually is a menace--nyuk nyuk’ factor; but it just does not work if you know the history of Jameson’s character. That same type of poetic irony works perfectly in the Mary Jane scene so using irony isn’t always a bad choice, but I don’t think works for Jameson.

Ditto the use of Ock’s prior history with Aunt May. There’s a scene when Pete accesses Ock’s memories and it is implied he relives Ock and May having sex. That’s just icky and unnecessary especially for a story of this magnitude. Conversely having Ock treat the threat the villains pose to Pete’s loved ones as a game until Scorpion threatens May is a good use of that same old continuity between Ock and May.

Finally while I can see the argument that having Pete force Ock to relive his memories as a way of getting him to embrace being a hero is a shortcut that is too external to Ock to make him really change; I disagree. I found the scene to be quite powerful and I loved the flashback collage and narration. Here Pete is dying and we see the “amazing” life he’s lived and it inspires Ock to be a hero, making it Pete’s last heroic validating act. That doesn’t mean Ock is instantly a good person now, it just means he’s going to try to be a hero which sets up the fun of the Superior title: seeing Ock try to live up to Pete’s legacy--which this being comics he will almost certainly fail at so Pete can reclaim his life later in what will hopefully be a story just as epic as this one.

Grade A+. If you’re going to kill off Spider-man and cancel the flagship title of the Marvel Universe you better have a damn good story to live up to that. Fortunately Slott has an excellent one in this trade.

PS – As for the bonus stuff, the first one is crap but I found the Black Cat story to be a fun little throw away but then I like Felicia.

JR heel turn clip

2013-06-17T07:26:00.001-06:00

Hello again Scott, I thought I'd share this moment when JR turned heel

back in '96. I actually thought heel Jim Ross was interesting and it's
too bad they ruined it with the fake Razor and Diesel nonsense. For
those that have never seen it:

http://youtu.be/3jLy1NtcCfA

Boy, the interwebs were losing their SHIT on the Monday before this happened, let me tell ya. Heel JR was interesting, but also way too far before his time to be a proper outlet for the writers bitching about Vince's dumb ideas.

Also, Fake Diesel? Whatever happened to THAT guy?

Arrested Development season 4

2013-06-17T07:23:00.001-06:00

I came across this article regarding season 4 of Arrested Development from Cracked.com.

http://www.cracked.com/blog/4-tips-enjoying-new-arrested-development-season/?wa_user1=2&wa_user2=Movies+%26+TV&wa_user3=blog&wa_user4=feature_module

My only complaint of season 4 was no Franklin Bluth.

eah, I read this one too. I've been extolling the virtues of the George Maharis joke for a couple of weeks now, so it's nice to see it getting its due here. As I noted in the comments of the other AD thread, the George/Oscar shows are pretty brutal and the Lindsay ones don't go anywhere, but the rest is pretty brilliant. The Tobias "To Catch a Predator" stuff is so incredibly dark even by this show's standards that you have to respect it a little.

Waiting for the Trade - Spider-man & Black Cat

2013-06-16T20:33:00.000-06:00

Waiting for the Trade

By Bill Miller

Spider-man: Invasion of the Spider-Slayers

By David Micheline & Mark Bagley
Collects Amazing Spider-man 368-373

Why I Bought This: Black Cat is my favorite character in Spider-man’s corner of the Marvel Universe and she features prominently in this story. Plus it is from the Mark Bagley era, who is probably my all-time favorite Spider-man artist, so while I probably read this back in the day I didn’t recall much of it and grabbed it cheap off Amazon.

The Plot: Spider-man finds himself under attack from a variety of robots while engaging in otherwise routine crime-fighting missions against foes like Electro and Scorpion.

Chapter 1 – Spidey is attacked by a robot with a lot of claws. He eventually decapitates it. Black Cat stops by to check on Pete, whose parents recently turned up alive. Speaking of which Pete and MJ join them for dinner at Aunt May’s house then afterwards Pete stumbles across an FBI agent watching them. Later Spidey is chasing down a purse snatcher when he gets attacked by bat-like robot. He defeats this one too but begins to realize he has a problem on his hands. We are shown the face of the unnamed villain behind the attacks.

Chapter 2 – Pete confides in Flash that he’s not sure his parents are on the level. A news report interrupts that Electro is on the loose so Spidey heads into action, while Felicia wishes she could join him. While Spidey fights Electro an Iron Man looking robot attacks him. In fact Pete assumes this is some new super villain in a suit. He only discovers it’s a robot when Electro accidentally blows it up. Electro escapes, while Spidey suspects the Tinkerer is behind the recent robot attacks. We cut to the Tinker, who is secretly meeting with Felicia.

Chapter 3 – Scorpion also visits the Tinkerer and gets upgrades to his suit including a stinger on his tail and an electric attack. (Due to Bagley’s art it is probably Scorpion’s best look: very sleek and dangerous looking). Meanwhile Peter’s parents are finding the modern world hard to adjust to (they were in a Russian prison camp all the years they were presumed dead) before they run into FBI dude from last issue. They don’t recognize him causing him to ponder if his secret is safe. Spidey finds Felicia hanging out at the Tinker’s headquarters and wonders if she’s behind the robot menace, but instead she was there purchasing some crime fighting gear to simulate the cat-like super powers she had lost about a year (real time) prior to this. Scorpion spots Spidey and attacks him. His new weapons have Spidey on the defensive and then an amoeba robot attacks too. Felicia jumps into the fray to save the day and together she and Spidey get Scorpion and the robot to take each other out. Spidey meanwhile recognizes this robot design as belonging to Mendel Stromm, who’s been dead since the early Stan Lee days on the title.

Chapter 4 – Felicia shows off her new costume and weapons to Pete and MJ. When Pete and MJ have an afternoon at the park with his parents, Pete freaks out when his parents don’t remember the name of the dog he had as a child. His parents claim spotty memories due to their years in prison camp and wonder if they should track down FBI dude since he seemed to know them. Pete and Felicia in their civilian identities visit an insane asylum where Stromm’s former assistant recently escaped along with several other inmates. Once outside Felicia is able to spot a tiny spider-like robot that functions as a camera. Spidey realizes this how the various robots find him whenever he dons his costume. Sure enough another robot arrives: this one a large humanoid with a three-headed faceplate. The two heroes fight it for a bit until Spidey manages gets the heads to argue with each other and the robot commits suicide. The head of the sanitarium was in danger during the melee so in gratitude he tells Spidey the leader of the escape was Spencer Smythe, son of a deceased Stan Lee-era mad scientist that used to build “Spider Slayer” robots for J. Jonah Jameson. Meanwhile Peter’s parents find FBI dude and he pulls a gun on them.

Chapter 5 – Smythe kills one his fellow escapees. Pete sees his parents getting into a limo with FBI dude and spider-tracers the car. Spidey and Black Cat then fight a Black Widow shaped robot, followed by a scorpion and ant robot. The bug robots morph together Voltron style but Spidey takes it out using a live electric wire; however Felicia gets jolted as well and needs a breather. Spidey follows his parents alone and switches into Peter. He overhears FBI dude planning to kill them because he was double agent for the Red Skull when they died the first time. Pete goes to intervene but falls from the rafters having temporarily lost his powers due to some gas in the warehouse. FBI dude then throws Pete on a conveyor belt leading towards a fiery demise.

Chapter 6 – Pete’s dad makes a move but gets taken hostage but it gives Pete time to get off the conveyor belt and use his web shooter to trip FBI dude up. He then KO’s him with a punch as his powers return. The incident also makes Pete believe his parents are who they say they are. Spidey then tracks Smythe down to his headquarters but is electrocuted by trick wheelchairs that the other mental inmates are chained to. Smythe then reveals he has made himself into a cyborg and dubs himself the Ultimate Spider Slayer. He now has super strength, spikes and webbing as he pounds Peter pretty one-sidedly. One of the inmates tries to help and gets murdered for it. This causes Pete to lose his temper and three punches later the fight is over.

Critical Thoughts: This is a fairly simple straight-forward story. It’s not great, but it is also not terrible. In a lot of ways it’s just good clean comic-book fun with a couple classic villains, some robots and a few old school cliffhangers. Plus it really looks excellent thanks to Bagley’s art.

As a Felicia fan there is a nice symmetry in her first fight back being against Scorpion because she lost her powers fighting him. This was a weird era for Felicia since they couldn’t play up the characters’ usual romantic tension with Peter being married to MJ. Their first attempt to remake her character and keep her in the book was to take her powers away and have her date Flash Thompson, which was a terrible character choice I never bought into. Here she artificial super powers so she isn’t as strong or all that helpful to Spidey but is competent enough that she can go on the occasional adventure with him; the main goal of which was to transition her into Spider-man’s one super hero friend he could confide in, which as one of only two superheroes that knew Spidey’s secret identity in this era was a role she was somewhat suited for.

Grade: Story is probably a standard C but the art bumps it to C+

WWE Payback Open Thread

2013-06-16T17:48:00.001-06:00

Didn't see an open thread ready for tonight's Payback pay-per-view, so now we have one.

Yearly Review: WWF June 1989

2013-06-16T15:42:00.003-06:00

A few former NWA top names arrive in the WWF.

WWF World Championship Scene: (currently held by: Hulk Hogan)
At the June 6th taping of WWF Superstars, Randy Savage issued a challenge to Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake to compete in a tag match against himself and Zeus. During the June 7th taping of Wrestling Challenge, Savage made it clear to Zeus that he would stand behind him should he decide to get in the ring because they hate Hulk Hogan equally.

Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake accepted Savage and Zeus’s challenge to a tag match at SummerSlam during the June 28th taping of WWF Superstars.

WWF Intercontinental Championship Scene: (currently held by: Rick Rude)
The Ultimate Warrior continued to chase after Rick Rude to reclaim the WWF Intercontinental Championship. Following Rick Rude’s win at the June 6th taping of WWF Superstars against a jobber, Warrior ran down to the ring while Rude was going to kiss a female fan and attacked Rude.

During the June 27th taping of Wrestling Challenge, Warrior beat Haku but was attacked by Rick Rude. Rude planted Warrior with a pile driver but couldn’t keep him down for long. Warrior ended up fighting back and press slamming Rude over the top rope onto Andre the Giant who had came down to ringside.

WWF World Tag Team Championships Scene: (currently held by: Demolition)
Demolition was able to overcome Akeem and Big Bossman in several tag team championship matches on the house show market as they didn’t compete against each other on television. However, they would have new challengers to deal with by the end of the month.

Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard better known as the Brainbusters were managed by Bobby Heenan. They earned themselves a tag team title match at the next Saturday Night’s Main Event taking place in July.

Other Happenings:
- During the June 3rd edition of WWF Superstars, the first video promoting Dusty Rhodes being part of the company was aired. Rhodes was given a common man gimmick which was displayed as he delivered a pizza during the video. As you may recall, Rhodes was a booker for NWA before jumping ship to WWF. Rhodes got involved in his first feud with the WWF during the June 28th taping of WWF Superstars. Rhodes ended up stealing Big Bossman’s nightstick after his match to prevent Bossman from attacking a jobber. Rhodes would attack Bossman with the nightstick as well as Slick.

- Ted DiBiase revealed during the June 6th taping of WWF Superstars that he was responsible for putting Jake Roberts in the hospital with the Million Dollar Dream. Roberts had suffered a herniated disc due to the move. At the June 27th taping of Wrestling Challenge, Ted DiBiase revealed a gold neck brace for Jake Roberts since he believes his career is over.

- Tito Santana got some level of revenge against Rick Martel and Slick during the June 6th taping of WWF Superstars by attacking both men during a Brother Love segment until security pulled him away.

- Throughout the month, Ronnie Garvin continued to cost Greg Valentine matches now that he is a referee and can no longer compete as a wrestler. Garvin would be threatened by WWF President Jack Tunney that if he were to hit a wrestler he would be suspended.

Bob's Opinion:
I think it's awesome that Anderson and Blanchard have made their way to the WWF. At the time, the WWF had a really strong tag division and adding those two added more bulk to the division. Now, there in the top feud for the tag titles with the top babyface team. That seems to be a good match up to me.

Dusty Rhodes was brought into the company looking like a joke but managed to some how make it work. I guess that would prove that Dusty is a talented worker. We will see more of him over the next couple of years with a few memorable feuds.

The main event feud isn't interesting me all that much. While Zeus is a monster of a man, he doesn't look like a good opponent for Hogan, which would explain the tag match they are going to have in the future.

What are your thoughts on what is going on in the WWF at this time? Feel free to share below!

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New from Place to Be Nation

2013-06-16T11:05:00.002-06:00

Hi Scott,

We wanted to pass on some of the exciting things happening over at Place to Be Nation for the blog.

Tonight we'll live blog WWE Payback here:

http://placetobenation.com/wwe-payback-live-blog/

We also have a feature up on the Three Stages of Hell, including commentary on the main event of tonight's show:

http://placetobenation.com/exploring-the-three-stages-of-hell/

All the recent Place to Be Podcasts plus podcasts on vintage NWA, UFC and sports in general (including one from The Kings of Sport with Court Bauer) are right on our site for streaming:

http://placetobenation.com/category/podcasts/

We have weekly recaps of all the material posted on Place to Be Nation:

http://placetobenation.com/last-week-in-place-to-be-nation-2/

http://placetobenation.com/last-week-in-place-to-be-nation/

Thanks again for your support of our site!

http://www.placetobenation.com

Were they always high on Daniel Bryan?

2013-06-16T11:05:00.001-06:00

Another day another Bryan question. What I want to know is prior to his current run, were there people in a position of influence within WWE that were always high on Daniel Bryan? I only ask because looking back after he was released for the necktie incident, they brought him back via a John Cena introduction in a main event match at Summerslam as the mystery member of the WWE team. Surely that must mean they held him in high esteem, even back then? Despite the fact he had zero heat at the time.

Your thoughts?

I think the Summerslam thing was more because Bryan had become the cause celebre of the moment more than him being their personal project or anything. They knew he had potential, I'm sure, but even we would have to concede that his promos weren't main event quality or anything at the time. I think that's really the thing that gets overlooked about Bryan, because while he might have got over on talent, it was really developing his CHARACTER with Kane that took him to the next level.