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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When winning titles is a bad thing

May 9, 2014July 11, 2020 ~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

It was once said that the WWF Intercontinental championship was given to the best worker in the company. This was a very easy thing to declare when the context behind it was talking about the late great “Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig, who is widely regarded as one of the strongest performers in the modern era. However, in a prior wrestling era, there was some merit to the statement, because when you look at the list of names of guys who held it prior to 2000, it pretty much has been nothing but stars who have achieved success in the business.

WCW’s take on the United States championship was that it was again, for particularly standout talents, but also a means of declaring a potential number one contender for the more prestigious World championship. And again, like the Intercontinental championship, with few exceptions (David Flair), the list of names of guys who held the US title are pretty noteworthy.

What I’m getting at here is that the Intercontinental and United States championships, the second-tier titles that were once no-less important and prestigious to hold, are pretty much worthless in today’s dynamic wrestling industry.

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Photos: An afternoon in Houston, Texas

May 7, 2014July 11, 2020 ~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

As I’ve always said, baseball is the perfect excuse to get out and travel, and see places that I never gave much thought to. I’d never been to Texas before in my life; it’s not that I’ve never wanted to go to Texas before, but I’ve never really had any excuse to go prior to the pursuit of baseball parks. I don’t know enough about the areas and cities, and there’s never been any sort of event or occurrence in any Texas that has drawn my attention to demand a warranting trip (that I’ve been able to make happen). But thanks to wanting to visit all the baseball parks, I have reasons to visit Texas, when the opportunities present themselves.

And as my schedule revealed, I had the opportunity to make a day trip to Houston over the weekend. First time visiting the state of Texas, seeing a city I’d never been to before, and take in a ballpark that makes me one ballpark closer to having visited all 30 Major League teams. I didn’t spend a tremendous amount of time in the city, since I had a few small objectives, and with a baseball game, there wasn’t a massive amount of free time to simply explore and wander too much, but for what it’s worth, I had a pretty decent afternoon in Houston.

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Ultimate reminiscing

April 10, 2014July 11, 2020 ~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Throughout my life and all the years that I’ve been brogging, I’ve named many wrestlers, and declared them among my favorites. CM Punk, Chris Benoit, the Big Boss Man, etc, etc. It’s not due to the unfortunate recent event of his passing, but I can truthfully say without any hesitation that my first ever favorite wrestler was the Ultimate Warrior.

I always picked Ultimate Warrior (and Honky Tonk Man) when playing the 1989 arcade WWF Superstars.

When I was eight-years old, I once went to school with rubberbands around my non-existent prepubescent triceps with twist-ties draped off of them and declared myself the Ultimate Warrior. My teacher made me take them off because she believed that they were cutting off circulation in my arms.

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