Stating the smarky obvious

July 24, 2015July 16, 2020 ~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

On this past RAW, John Cena cut a promo where he basically said everything smarky wrestling fans like me already knew: the United States championship is way more valuable than the World championship. The thing is, up until last night, those are the kinds of things that the WWE, much less the wrestlers themselves aren’t necessarily supposed to acknowledge, especially on live television.

Needless to say, I found it very amusing, and one of those “Oooh” moments, but the formula doesn’t change; if the WWE is allowing it to happen, then it’s very much no longer breaking meta, it’s now a storyline.

The thing is that everyone knows it’s true, be it fans, the wrestlers, and the WWE organization itself. The U.S. title is way more prestigious than the World championship is right now. It’s just more amazing that they’re acknowledging it so blatantly on live TV. It’s almost as if the WWE is trying to one of those preemptive power plays, where bringing the awareness to the forefront strips the power of it in the background, where an opinion like this would typically ferment.

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A match worth watching

July 7, 2015July 16, 2020 ~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Sometimes I wonder what goes on in the mind of WWE personnel whenever they have a televised match on one of their flagship shows that absolutely tears the roof off the building. Is it either an “oh shit, I can’t believe we just gave that away for free” feeling, or is it a “we’re creeping towards stale programming, and we really have to throw the audience a bone lest they start bitching with gas” feeling, or somewhere in between?

It’s no secret that wrestling television shows exist primarily to sell wrestling products, such as the WWE Network, merchandise and other endeavors, and that there’s typically a wall or ceiling of quality that they’re typically allowed to display, so that they can keep the really awesome things in their back pockets for those willing to shell out the extra money to see them.

It’s also no secret that without restriction or boundaries, almost any two wrestlers in the locker room could put on a five-star classic on any given night. Seriously, just because they’re portrayed as jobbers, or not even wrestlers on the flagship WWE shows doesn’t mean that they’re not actually capable of wrestling. Just a few months ago, there was rumblings of basically a borderline mutiny within the WWE locker room, because the company’s own developmental territory in NXT was putting on way higher quality of a show, with “lesser-known” talent from what’s basically portrayed as the company’s minor leagues (it’s actually more of a holding pen).

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Thoughts on WM31’s main event

March 30, 2015July 15, 2020 ~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I would never have expected Wrestlemania’s main event to have been as gripping as it was. Honestly, I tend to temper my expectations for Wrestlemanias in general, but ultimately, I treat them like I’m watching RAW; skim and glaze through everything, but typically ignore the main event.

For the most part, all of Wrestlemania 31 was pretty formulaic, and nothing was really that big of a surprise. I would have liked to have seen more Cesaro, Axelmania and Damien Mizdow, and it’s kind of an insult that both the tag team match and the Andre the Giant Battle Royale were put onto the pre-show, but whatever.

I had higher hopes for John Cena vs. Rusev, and was a little disappointed to see that they broke my theorized rule of Wrestlemania, which is needing to hit three finishing maneuvers before the match can be decided. I didn’t expect much from any other match, be it the Divas, the Intercontinental ladder match, and definitely not Undertaker vs. Bray Wyatt.

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A piece of my childhood died when I saw this

January 6, 2015July 14, 2020 ~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Aww, how cute. The big tatted man got 99 problems, but his bitch ain’t one of them. What a clever play on popular rap lyrics from almost a decade ago!

What’s that? The big tatted man is the Undertaker? THE Undertaker? The WWE’s legendary tough guy with the gimmick of being the partially dead undertaker Undertaker? The one professional wrestler that lived and breathed his character for nearly 25 full years, and despite the fact that it became known that wrestling was scripted, predetermined and for all intents and purposes fake, was the guy that fans and non-fans alike seemed to agree upon was “actually tough” Undertaker?

The same Undertaker that I met in an airport hotel in Cleveland, Ohio who refused to take a picture with me, but shook my hand and fulfilled a wrestling fanboy’s achievement in a way. I often assumed the anti-photos was to protect the integrity of his character save for stuff like Make-A-Wish campaign kids or something, and I didn’t think much about it because I was kind of in awe of being able to say that I met the Undertaker.

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Wrestling’s insufferable era

December 23, 2014July 14, 2020 ~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I haven’t really been paying as much to wrestling as much as I had been in prior months, but I recently watched a match because my friend brought up an interesting observation that piqued my interest and made me want to see it for myself. It was during the Big Show vs. Roman Reigns match on the 12.22.14 edition of RAW, where the crowd inexplicably turns on Roman Reigns.

Up to this point, Reigns had been built up as a face (good guy) that was rapidly ascending through the ranks, and had potential World Champion contender written all over him. He’d been derailed for the better part of the last few months with more or less a back injury, but has returned to television in recent weeks. His character gave no reason for the crowd to turn on him; contrarily, WWE even had his character have a minute or two during a live event to telecast “an update” on his health, and a general cheeseball face message that he’d be back and working hard ASAP.

But (a noticeable contingent) the crowd still turned on him anyway. During his match with the Big Show, at moments of the match where he would signal for his signature maneuvers, brief periods of time where both performers could catch their breath and let the crowd react, the reactions from the crowd were not (all) the expected cheers of fans supporting the good guy, but that of boos and jeers of people voicing their disapproval. More than once, a puzzled look can be discerned from Reign’s face, and even at the end of the match, Big Show himself looks a tad perplexed by the unexpected crowd reaction throughout the match.

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This stuff writes itself

July 26, 2014July 13, 2020 ~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Long story short: WWE wrestler Daniel Bryan comes home, discovers two men fleeing after breaking into his residence, gives chase, catches one, takes him down and puts him in a chokehold until authorities arrive.

I know people think wrestling is all fake and all, but it’s stories like this that I always get a ton of enjoyment out of, because in spite of the scripted storylines and predetermined match outcomes, the physicality of wrestling is still very real.

It’s apparent that the burglars had to know they were breaking into Daniel Bryan’s home, because it’s implied that they might have been the ones to have done it ten days prior. Clearly, they had no fear of robbing a person who emulates violence for a living, or the repercussions that could have occurred if they ran into said person, since they tried.

What’s funny to me is that Daniel Bryan’s first instinct to do upon catching the crook, was a wrestling maneuver. Sure, he does it for a living, but in the land of reality, a physical strike of some sort would be my first instinct. When I chased off the two thugs that broke into my house while I was home, I ran at them with a metal baseball bat, and thoughts of putting them into a LaBell Lock with it were the last thing in my mind.

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