Tag: wrestling

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.

Continue reading “That’s MAYOR Kane” →

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” →

I couldn’t have asked for a more appropriate savior

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Just a few weeks after I’d declared my utter disgust over the mainstream uncoolness of Bullet Club, it’s almost as if bookers from New Japan Pro Wrestling read my words, and did something about it.  Surely, I’m not the only wrestling fan out that there that thinks the Bullet Club is worse than DJ Tanner Wrestling these days, and I was ecstatic to see the next rival stable emerge and basically declare war on them.

But that stable being composed of none other than the legendary god-beast and toughest motherfucker on the planet, Haku, and his two sons Tama and Tanga?  I couldn’t possibly have dreamed of a better or more appropriate person and his offspring to systematically decimate all the rest of Bullet Club by themselves.

Seriously, I think Haku became a bigger star than he ever was during his career, after it ended, due to the evolution of the internet as well as all the former wrestlers out there who released autobiographies.  Be it through shoot interviews on YouTube or in personal memoirs, suddenly anyone who was in the business between the 80s into the early 2000s had a Haku story to share, because back in those times, the boys always ended up at bars or dives, and it wasn’t nearly as well known that wrestling was scripted, and local tough guys always wanted to start shit with wrestlers. 

Despite the fact that general sentiment shared by most about Haku is that he’s a gentle and respectful person who just wants to mind his own business and provide for his family, he seems to be a magnet for trouble, and almost always ends up on the receiving end of harassment, to which the monster comes out when he’s forced to defend himself.  Guys getting eyeballs ripped out, noses bitten off, fish hooks and broken teeth, most idiots don’t seem to realize the idiocy in provoking a 300 lb. Tongan in a bar.  Even the cops weren’t safe from the wrath of Haku, when they had to try and either incapacitate or outright arrest him; tales of him snapping off handcuffs, inhaling the mace they tried to spray him with to simply beating the shit out of cops, nobody was safe once the monster got woken.

After hearing all these tales of how he was the baddest motherfucker on the planet, it was a shame that the vast majority of his wrestling career was over, save for the sporadic cameo appearance in the indies.  It was well documented how smoothly his everyday life was going in retirement, managing the detailing department of a Toyota dealership down in Florida.  After all this knowledge was made available of how dangerous of a man Haku really was, who wouldn’t want to see him get in the ring and decimate an endless number of wrestlers who may look more polished and chiseled, but have a fraction of the legitimate toughness of Haku.

Continue reading “I couldn’t have asked for a more appropriate savior” →

It’s a work

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

TL;DR: Daniel Cormier wins  UFC heavyweight championship, immediately provokes Brock Lesnar afterward, inviting him into the Octagon from the audience

When in doubt, it’s probably a work (read: premeditated).  As the line continues to blur between the UFC and WWE, with stars jumping from one promotion to the other, there’s one thing that has always been crystal clear: the pursuit of money.  Both are businesses, with the goal of making as much money as humanly possible, and despite the fact that one is more legitimately a sport than the other, the objective remains the same.

UFC promoting a Daniel Cormier vs. Brock Lesnar fight will draw millions of viewers, as there’s a legitimate correlation between gigantic numbers and Brock Lesnar fights.  Which equates to a whole lot of money.

WWE having Brock Lesnar as its champion will create a cross-pollination of viewership, drawing interest from UFC fans who want to see Lesnar perform in the fake sport, whether it’s out of curiosity, or to see if any of his three matches he’ll have this year might give away any sort of intel to strengths or weakness for betting purposes.

And in the end, regardless of who wins in the Octagon, both parties and all involved participants stand to make a gigantic payday out of this affair. 

Not that it really matters, but it’s still all probably a work, if you look into the details of the scenario.

Continue reading “It’s a work” →

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” →