Tag: wwe

The end of the Steak

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

 

I can say pretty confidently that Wrestlemania had redeemed itself from the lackadaisical crapfest it was last year, and that when the show was over, I definitely felt like I was entertained. I’m definitely happy to see that Daniel Bryan has gotten his long-awaited triumph, I’m happy that AJ Lee retained her title, and if anyone were to ask me, the high point of the show was most definitely, when Cesaro bodyslammed the Big Show over the top rope to win the Andre the Giant Memorial Let’s Get Everyone Else Onto The Card So They Can Get a Slice of the Payout Battle Royale.

But obviously, the biggest thing that happened in the night was the Undertaker losing to Brock Lesnar, thus putting an end to the supposedly immortal 21-year undefeated streak (AKA “the Steak”). Nobody saw this coming, nobody thought for a second that a cameo, gimmicky, part-time, more-name-than-talent guy like Lesnar had any chance at being given the honor of putting an end to the Steak. Even in spite of the build up, and that Lesnar is a legitimate physical force, it was hard to imagine that he had much chance of walking away in victory against the man whom for the better part of the last three decades, has always been viewed as the unofficial godfather of the WWE roster.

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Revised Total Divas logo

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Piggybacking onto the opinion I had that John Cena was the biggest diva of WWE’s reality television show, Total Divas, I was watching the start of the new season, and during a segment of the show that was focusing on Cena, I had this overwhelming desire to recreate the show’s logo; but modified to do what the show has pretty much done throughout its entire course – focus on John Cena.

I’m going to attach a vector PDF of this file right here, and it’s my dream that many of the vast WWE universe, especially of the troll-like variety that loves to attend live events and control the fan reaction with clever chants and ironic cheering or booing for guys that creative had not intended to be getting such reactions, finds this artwork, and utilizes it to its maximum capacity.

Not gonna lie, I would die laughing if I ever saw this logo on a sign at a live event, especially if it’s someone close to ringside, where Cena himself might even see it.

In HHH we trust

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Because I’m such a know-it-all, I like to think that I’m one step ahead of the average wrestling fan; I know that doesn’t sound like anything to necessarily be proud of, but whatever I’m a wrestling fan and there’s no point in denying it. But that means I don’t necessarily root for the obvious things that the business is trying to steer the fans towards, and I like to think that I’m capable of seeing the things between the lines and being able to identify when there’s ironic truths hidden in scripted promos and storylines.

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When video games effortlessly mimic reality

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I was having a conversation the other day about how the WWE’s minor league federation, NXT was either by coincidence or strategy, placed on Thursday nights.  Thursday nights are when TNA wrestling, the WWE’s main “competition” airs, and has been the norm for I don’t know, a year or two?

The joke is now that TNA is screwed, because they’re going to get outclassed and outdrawn by NXT, which is pretty much the equivalent of a Ford Mustang getting smoked by a Toyota Corolla, or Outback Steakhouse getting murdered by a Taco Bell in profit margins, or any other instance of something thought to be of moderate quality, getting owned by something thought to be of inferior quality.

I’m not entirely sure how that segued into talking about old video games, but at least I got to take my shot in at TNA in the process; seriously, this is going to be like the late 90’s when one hour of Sunday Night Heat started outdrawing three hours WCW Monday Nitro.

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The day the joke died

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In the grand spectrum of the wrestling industry, Nelson Frazier, Jr. was nothing substantial.  Most people have no idea who Nelson Frazier, Jr. was, including myself, because we remembered him as names such as “(King) Mabel,” “Viscera,” or “Big Daddy V.”  Some might even classify him as a glorified jobber, since he never held a major world championship, or even a mid-tier championship, and frankly, did his fair share of jobs throughout the majority of his career.

In spite of his marginally accomplished career, the news of Viscera’s passing still prompts me to write something about it, because the existence of Viscera was always something of a positive note in my life, and to actually lose him now is somewhat of a sour note worth sharing a few words about.

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Being a fan again

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The ending to this past week’s Smackdown was probably the best ending to a Smackdown there has ever been since the program came on the air in 1999.  Never in a million years would I have actually thought that [don’t-call-him-Antonio] Cesaro would get a clean win over Randy Orton, no matter how much I preferred Cesaro over Orton any day of the week.  I totally expected Orton to kick out of the Neutralizer and hit some hackneyed RKO out of nowhere for an infuriating victory.

But he didn’t kick out, and Cesaro got a clean win on national television.

I actually came out of my seat at that moment and pumped my fist at that.  I’m 31-years old and cheering over the result of a professional wrestling match.

As a fan, I think this was a win on the level of Benoit winning the world title almost ten years ago for me.  Seriously.

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WWE Power Rankings going into Wrestlemania season

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Apparently, it’s a good thing I didn’t see the Royal Rumble, because the general consensus from scuttlebutt is that it was pretty much the worst show on the planet, worse than last year’s Wrestlemania, the fans were unhappy all over the internet, and from the sounds of it, the fans at the venue were none too pleased either. Thinking back to the results, the heel(s) won every single match, and piggy backing onto the notion that HHH cronies always benefit, it’s a valid complaint seeing as how the New Age Outlaws took the tag belts, Randy Orton retained the World titles and Batista won the actual Royal Rumble. Hell, even Kevin Nash made a little appearance coin by being a surprise entrant in the Rumble. From the smarky perspective, it makes sense why there’s a lot of unrest amongst “the Universe.”

But I’m not here to talk about the unrest, or Mick Foley’s (IMO worked shoot) Facebook post that is taking the smark interwebs by storm. I’m here to be a little more backhanded and indirect, and I’ve got nothing else to write, so this seemed like as good as anything to write since it’s intriguing to me today.

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