Tag: wrestling

Waynesboro, Virginia, the land where professional wrestling stood still

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I recently went to an indy wrestling show out in the sticks of Virginia.  Waynesboro, to be exact.  This was actually the impetus for a trip I made in order to spend some time with my family, since I frankly don’t really spend nearly enough time with them.

The decision to go to this show was really quite an easy one, because when it first came onto my radar, Juventud Guerrera was listed to be on the card, among a pretty star-studded guest list, especially for an indy show as this one was; guys like Sting, Lex Luger, Vader, Ron Simmons, and the Rock ’n Roll Express were also slated to be at this show.

But as legendary as some of those guys are, I have this ironic love for the weird, and the jobbers, and the guys that don’t get nearly the credit they deserve, like Juventud Guerrera.  Plus, I really wanted a Juvi mask to essentially complete my collection of luchador masks on my shelf, since the Juice is somehow considered “too old” in Mexico itself, to have his masks for sale on the streets of la Playa del Carmen. Without question, Juvi was really the only reason that I wanted to go to this show at all.

So plans were made, flights were purchased, tickets were acquired, and I was on my way back to Virginia for a long weekend of family, friends and Juvi Juice.  I was looking forward to it greatly.

And then as the show neared, I went to the promotion’s website to refresh my memory of what else was in store; and noticed that Juventud’s profile was no longer a part of the promotional banner.  To make matters worse, all mention of Juvi was gone from the site.  My friend messaged them on Facebook, but because they’re a yokel backwater promotion, they never responded, but all signs were pointing to the idea that Juventud was no longer going to be a part of it.

“Card subject to change” is one of the bigger tropes of the business, and because professional wrestling is full of flakes and bums, it’s the thing said to easily Mentos out of just about any sort of card changing, like Juventud Guerrera not being a part of it.  Unfortunately for those of us outside of the business, the real world doesn’t work as conveniently as the scripted one inside of it.  I still had plane tickets and vacation time punched out at work.  Juvi or no Juvi, I was still going to be going to this show, disappointed as hell that I wouldn’t get to meet the Juice and pick up la maskara for the colleccíon.

Oh yeah and Vader died, so that was another blow to the card that was going to be hard to cover up.

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WWE’s got to ease up on the historic international events

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I have a theory about WWE pay-per-views; do we still call them pay-per-views anymore, considering they’re all included with the WWE Network anyway?  But anyway, I have a theory about the monthly shows that the WWE puts out: the less effort it looks like they put into their title logo cards, then the less effort viewers should expect from the show itself.

Naturally, this isn’t perfect, definitive and doesn’t apply to all shows; WWE Fastlane had quite the impressive graphic treatment in the production of its marketing, buildup and actual show, but the card itself actually turned out to be quite lackluster.  But for the most part, it’s no secret that the WWE dumps more money into their big four ppvs of the year (Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania, SummerSlam, Survivor Series), than they do any other show throughout the year.

And as of this year, 2018, WWE’s gotten into this hysteria over producing shows in other countries, almost for no other reason than to call them historic first-time events, to help drum up interest, hype and other attention.  It started with “The Greatest” Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia, and was followed by the United Kingdom Championship Tournament, where it was held at, for the very first time, the Royal Albert Hall in London.  This past weekend was the WWE Super Show-Down, which was held, for the very first time, in Melbourne, Australia.  And during Super Show-Down, I found out that there was yet another international show on the horizon, Crown Jewel which is going to be in Saudi Arabia again, but instead in, for the very first time, Riyadh.

As historically monumental as the WWE likes to tout these international events, make no mistake that they are NOT immune from the shitty logo, shitty show logic.  Look no further than the fact that “The Greatest” Royal Rumble logo was literally the same logo used in January’s Royal Rumble, but had the word “Greatest” added to the top of it, and had their accent colors changed to Saudi red, green and white.  Surprising nobody, the show was horribly sub-par, and the events of the show had nearly no impact on storylines, save for the Reigns vs. Lesnar feud.

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Being unsatisfied is what being a wrestling fan is all about

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Since I don’t have cable television anymore, I can’t watch RAW or Smackdown anymore.  I keep up with storylines primarily by the convenient litany of condensed highlight packages that YouTube channels generate that have extremely short shelf lives before the WWE Internet Police™ gets them all taken down.  But by the good graces of a close friend, I have WWE Network access, and I’m still able to enjoy NXT on a weekly basis, as well as the monthly pay-per-view shows, that are the culmination of each month’s storylines.

There are lots of weekends where during the evenings, I find myself with a dearth of things to do, and I think to myself, “man, I wish this were [name of WWE ppv] weekend.  Now would be the best time to sit back and enjoy some wrestling.”  But because it isn’t, I ultimately end up laying on the couch and playing Fire Emblem Heroes on my phone, and wonder why it’s suddenly 11 p.m. and that I should probably get ready to get some rest for work or a Sunday morning jog.

And then there are weekends like this past one, where it was in fact, SummerSlam weekend, where wrestling fans not only were privy to watching the annual SummerSlam, but by virtue of being a big show, also NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn 4, on Saturday night.

It goes without saying that fans like me look forward to the NXT show more than the main roster show, but frankly, there were reasons to be optimistic for SummerSlam as well.  Smarks probably looked forward to matches like AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe, based on their history of solid matches in Ring of Honor and ironically, TNA, and the Seth Rollins vs. Dolph Ziggler match seemed like a sleeper show stealer, since both guys are obsessed with trying to steal the show.  Personally, I was looking forward to the Daniel Bryan vs. the Miz match, since it was clearly one of the storylines that has been slowly built for years, and could have been one of the more entertaining matches on the card.

Smarks also probably bemoaned the presence of matches like Brock vs. Roman #68, Jeff Hardy vs. Shinsuke Nakamura because Jeff Hardy is old and busted now, and personally I didn’t want to see the inevitable squashing of Alexa Bliss at the hands of Ronda Rousey.  But maybe that one is just me.

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Batista will be in for a rude awakening

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I know Dave is on this little high of thinking he’s a something big shot because he’s a former WWE champion and that he played Drax in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, but I don’t think he realizes that he doesn’t have as much clout as he thinks he does.  But thinking that anyone is going to join him much less care, by threatening to walk away from the franchise if Marvel-Disney doesn’t reinstate director James Gunn after firing him for inappropriate tweets from a lifetime ago, he’s going to be in for a very rude awakening at the results that will ensue.

I’m sure he got the impression that the actors could make a difference, after Chris Pratt’s earnest attempt to pen an open letter and get all the stars of the franchise to sign off on it, but in spite of his experience in the public eye as a public wrestler, he’s still relatively green when it comes to the world of Hollywood, which at the very core of it, gives zero fucks about any human being, cares only about money, and fully understands that absolutely anyone is expendable and replaceable.

Furthermore, I’m sure ol’ Dave thought that the cast and crew of Guardians were tight as knots when he made his declaration of wanting to opt out of future Guardians films if they didn’t bring back James Gunn, but the reality is that Gunn or not, the franchise is going to continue, and ain’t nobody from the righteous and current-hotness Chris Pratt all the way to James’s own brother Sean, who has been a bit part in the both films so far would be willing to walk away on solely principle from the money, prestige and exposure that a Marvel Studios film provides to all those involved.

Frankly, Dave Bautista has a tremendous amount to learn about way Hollywood works, and as much as admire his determination to stick to his guns, it’s simply not the best idea for a guy that barely has a handful of films worth mentioning under his belt to be trying to make such waves in an industry where the ensemble cast around him is most certainly not as willing to join the cause. 

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That’s MAYOR Kane

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

This just in: Kane eviscerates Democrat Linda Haney in match to decide the next mayor of Knox County, Tennessee

Admittedly, I didn’t think Kane had much of a chance, when he announced he was going to run for mayor way back when.  Perhaps it was the failure of Rhyno to run for Congress, and the endless amounts of criticism that Linda McMahon gets for being associated with professional wrestling, that made me think that when it really matters in the world of politics, voters tend to not take those associated with wrestling very seriously.

But much to my entertained surprised, not only did Kane ascend up the ranks in the Republican party, he is now officially the next mayor of Knox County, Tennessee.  It goes without saying that at least for now, his WWE career is most definitely on the shelf until further notice. 

I’m happy regardless, because for those who follow wrestling, it’s well-known that Kane AKA Glenn Jacobs, is one of the most respected and friendliest guys in the industry, in spite of his hellacious, devil’s-favorite-demon persona.  He commands the respect of all his peers and guys on the inside through his work ethic, nutritional knowledge and his ego-less wealth of experience in the industry, and it’s a no-brainer that had his political career not succeeded, he’d have a job for life with the WWE.

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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.

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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.

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