Tag: observations

This will probably be the best ppv of the year

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

That’s the thought that crossed my mind when Stephanie McMahon announced the women-only Evolution special, set to air in October.  I get that such isn’t saying that much since the ppvs of the year have been kind of lackluster, but I state such acknowledging the genuine importance and historical significance of the WWE embarking on a women-only special.

A friend of mine and I discussed what it would be like if the WWE had a women-only show, and my first thought was that it would be the kiss of death for the women’s division.  Despite the fact that a show featuring solely cruiserweight probably would have been the hottest shit on the planet back in like 1999, 205 Live is kind of proof that good ideas don’t always translate into good results.  Much like it, and Main Event (if that’s even still around) are good indicators that a show solely dedicated to women would probably not be a good idea, and the women’s division doesn’t need anything like such to derail the equity that they’ve been building over the last few years.

Stuff like the Mae Young Classic and the women’s Royal Rumble have proven that there’s a demand and appreciation for the women’s division, but it’s far too early to let them stand alone and throw them into the deep end on their own.  For true equality to exist, the women need to be on the same shows and booked by the same people that all the men perform on.

A stand-alone special show is absolutely the right call for this idea, and regardless of the fact that 2018’s ppv lineup has been kind of mediocre, Evolution very much has the chance to be the best special of the year.

Continue reading “This will probably be the best ppv of the year” →

Thoughts on GLOW season 2

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I loved GLOW season 1 on Netflix.  I was very pleased when I heard that they were going to make a second season of the show, and I was excited when it came out.  The thing is, I didn’t watch it right away, and it eventually fell behind in a queue of other films and shows that I didn’t watch immediately as well, because I’m neurotic about wanting to have more than adequate time to watch things, and simply won’t if I feel that I don’t.

While mythical gf has been out of the country, I’ve been systematically chopping away at this queue, and I’ve been watching films like Ready, Player One (book was way better), and shows like Cloak & Dagger (took 4 episodes before it actually started going somewhere) and Sharp Objects (still not sure what’s going on, but it’s an HBO show and they’re always about the long form).  After I got caught up with all these other things, I found myself in a place where the only thing that I feel that I really needed to catch up with was the second season of GLOW.

There’s a part of me that wonders why I waited this long to watch GLOW, but then there’s another part of me that’s glad that I watched it last, because much like the first season, the second was as enjoyable, and at just ten, 30~ish minute episodes, it moves quickly, and if there’s one thing I love in programming these days, it’s quickly.

In my opinion, season 2 doesn’t so much feel like a choppy pick-up from where the first season left off, but it’s a pretty smooth transition from one season into the next, that if I were told that it was filmed sequentially immediately after the first season, I’d have believed it.  The storylines are nothing complex, much like the professional wrestling industry itself, but there’s a lot more character growth and spotlights being distributed a little better amongst the women of the show, and just about everyone gets at least a minute or two to shine at some points of the show.

Continue reading “Thoughts on GLOW season 2” →

I still can always sniff out winners in a fake sport

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I don’t know whether it’s just the WWE is just that predictable, or that I really am the self-proclaimed Oracle™ of professional wresting, but I just kind of knew that the B-Team was going to win the tag team champions at Extreme Rules.  Very likely just the former, even if the whole point of the B-Team was that it was supposed to be two jobbers who just keep lucking into wins.

The reality is that the union between Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt seems to already be getting old, and I figure that Creative has better ideas for the each of them as singular performers instead of this tag team that was more or less a hold pattern for two individual stars.  Or seeing as how Jeff Hardy jobbed the United States championship away in a gratifying squash match, maybe the Hardy’s latest run has already come to an end, and it’s time to start saying goodbye to them again, until they make yet another surprise comeback in 2019.

Who knows, who cares?

Either way, the fanboy in me is happy to see the B-Team win, because who doesn’t appreciate it when two guys who have been jobbing to the stars for the better part of the last two years finally get a little bit of recognition and reward for their dutiful work?  The funny thing is that in spite of the lovable losers that Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas portray, the two of them are guys with tons of potential and talent that is more or less kind of expiring unused on the road.  I mean one is the son of Mr. Perfect, the other the son of Mike Rotundo, so they’ve definitely got wrestling in their genes.

Continue reading “I still can always sniff out winners in a fake sport” →

Long past mainstream now, smarks

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Over the weekend, I went to a Ring of Honor house show with my brother while I visiting Dallas.  Despite my general revulsion of the idea of going to another WWE event in my life, I was looking forward to this one, because I’d been to a ROH show back in like 2013, and enjoyed it a great deal. 

Back then, Kevin Steen was the world champion, and I was exposed to wrestlers whose names I’d heard before but never actually seen, like Roderick Strong and Jimmy Jacobs.  I saw some guys I’d never knew existed, like the Briscoes.  And there were a few familiar faces still proving they could still work, like Steve Corino and Rhyno.  Shelton Benjamin was on the card and got a massive beatdown after the match; apparently he was on his way back to the WWE, and as is often the tradition in the biz, a wrestler must go out on their backs as to repay the promotion for keeping them employed.

Plus, the crowd was smaller, and not a clusterfuck of humanity like a big-box WWE event can get, so I found it wholly to be a way better experience as a wrestling fan.

But that was over five years ago, and a lot has changed since then.  Most of the names and faces I saw back then have moved onto to the WWE or gone to New Japan.  After TNA collapsed, a lot of their wrestlers entered ROH, among other promotions.  And this little stable known as Bullet Club that was just being formed in 2013, is now probably the biggest brand in the industry today, and yes that is taking the WWE into consideration as well.

Overall, the ROH show in Dallas was pretty decent, in spite of the particularly weak ending, which saw a title change of the ROH Television championship going to a big oaf wrestler known as Punishment Martinez.  The fans in the crowd hated the shit out of him because he had a slight resemblance to Roman Reigns, and derided him with taunts of being Roman Reigns, therefore we hate you.  It’s a title awarded to a guy that doesn’t quite embody the reputation of ROH, which is fast, exciting technical wrestlers, but who really knows what direction they’re trying to go?

It doesn’t really matter.  I’m not that hardcore of a fan anymore to add ROH to my weekly list of promotions to keep my ear to the ground for to care that much.

Continue reading “Long past mainstream now, smarks” →

Imagine if Niantic started doing community days sooner?

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I still play Pokémon Go. 

No shame.  I often ask myself on what’s going to hit 40 first between my age and my level in the game, it’s gotten to the point where the XP requirements for the next one are that gargantuan.  It’s literally taken me nearly ten full months to go from level 34 to 35, but I’m also not in the middle of an actual city where I can play to my heart’s content.  But the fact of the matter is that I still play, even if mythical gf and all my other friends who once played, don’t.

Turns out my brother has picked up the game, as introduced to him by his wife.  Although he is at pleeb level 25 compared to his wife and I, it was all I needed to know that I could have some actual human beings to play along with while I was down in Texas last weekend.  And as would have it, one of the days we had some time would be one of the game’s newer monthly featured modes, known as a Community Day, where a particular Pikachu would spawn like crazy for three hours, so it would be the perfect opportunity to stock up on them if a player’s had some difficulty in catching them in the first place.  Also XP gain rates are boosted during the time, to sweeten the deal for those less enthused about the featured Pikachu.

So we headed over to a still-in-existence mall, where we could have plenty of space to roam, Pika stops to spin, and most importantly, the air conditioning to not be walking around in a hot Texas summer day, and I was going to take part in my first Community Day.

At first, I was doing my usual thing of trying to be discreet about playing Pokémon Go, displaying my mastery of clandestinely throwing curveballs with one hand.  But then it became very apparent that all throughout the halls of the mall, especially as the clock started ticking closer to the official start of the event, that the vast majority of people milling about, were all also playing Pokémon Go.  So there was no more need for pretenses, and it was off to enjoy the game with the community.

Continue reading “Imagine if Niantic started doing community days sooner?” →

Chris Jericho and the Mt. Rushmore of Wrestling

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

A week or so ago (it’s hard to really pinpoint approximate times and dates for New Japan for me), Chris Jericho defeated Tetsuya Naito and became the IWGP Intercontinental Champion.

There was a time where I was often unimpressed with Chris Jericho, because he seemed to me as somewhat of a performer that operated on a formula.  He’d vanish for six weeks to six months, reemerge to monster, welcome back pops, have one or two notable feuds where he’d ultimately lose in the end, and then vanish again, only to repeat the process again in another six weeks to six months.  In the midst of each of these tenures, he’d win an Intercontinental championship, and then give the rub to some main players on the way out.

I always thought of him as an extremely talented worker, that understood ring psychology and had a very deep wealth of technical ability, but I also thought of him as a guy that had the ability to adjust the knob up or down depending on the magnitude or quality of the feud, and/or his general enthusiasm for it.  Examples of when Jericho shined were his feuds with Shawn Michaels and AJ Styles come immediately to mind, but I thought his work with guys like John Cena and CM Punk were uncharacteristically weak.

Perhaps it was his books, or his podcast, that I indulged in, because I’m a wrestling fan, but my opinions of Jericho have gradually changed over the more recent years, and I’ve grown to really admire, appreciate and enjoy all of the things that he’s been doing not just now, but throughout his career, through a refreshed re-analysis of his past work.

Looking back, it’s pretty crazy to think of anyone voluntarily leaving WCW and their fat paychecks, back when they were thoroughly winning the Monday Night Wars, week after week, beating WWE RAW in the ratings.  But completely unhappy with his career in WCW, Jericho endured a typical WCW farewell tour, meaning he was completely removed from television and if he was used, it was to job to Ralphus, a fat non-wrestler, and then jumped ship to the WWE, where he would basically start over and rise to heights that WCW was completely silly to never have capitalized on.

But then we come to the span of the last year, nearly 18 years after when Jericho jumped from WCW to WWE.  An older Jericho, despite his ability to perform, frankly wasn’t getting the opportunities to shine in the WWE.  I’m not sure whether he opted to not re-sign a contract with the WWE or if the WWE even offered one, but very quietly, Chris Jericho kind of vanished from WWE television after his last program with Kevin Owens.*

*Yes, I’m aware of his appearance in the “greatest” Royal Rumble, but one-offs happen all the time in the WWE

Continue reading “Chris Jericho and the Mt. Rushmore of Wrestling” →