Tag: wrestling

VOTE FOR RHYNO OR ELSE

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

OR ELSE YOU GET A GORE! GORE! GOREEEE!!!

If you’re a wrestling fan, I dare you to try and read the rest of this post without having watched that YouTube montage first.

Long story short: former professional wrestler, Terry “Rhyno” Gerin declares that he will be running for state representative of his hometown of Dearborn, Michigan.

All obvious professional wrestlers being meathead idiot jokes aside, I have to objectively say that Rhyno is no layup to be a complete flop in this endeavor.  In fact, I would venture to say that Dearborn, a community just outside of the maligned City of Detroit, probably couldn’t do any worse with anyone else as representative, and that what they might just need is a guy that seems to legitimately care about his hometown.

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I don’t know why people are looking forward to this

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

To no surprise, I think I have a difficult time connecting with the current iteration of wrestling fans.  I question their allegiances, why they pop so hard for certain things, and why they resent particular guys so much, regardless of just how obviously hard they work to better themselves and try and improve; for them.

With Wrestlemania creeping ever closer, it’s that time when storylines begin manifesting for the supposed grandest show of the year.  Naturally, in spite of The Steak having come to an end two years prior, it’s still very much a big deal that the Undertaker participates in Wrestlemania.  With ol’ Mark Calloway not getting any younger, every year is speculation about when his last Wrestlemania is going to be, and theorizing which of the current guard should be the guy that gets that ultimate rub and sign of respect from the Deadman, to be the one who “ends his career.”

Make no mistake, the Undertaker is going to lose his final match, whenever that may be.  He’s of an old guard that firmly believes that no one person is bigger than the business, and the only way to show respect for the business on your way out, is to go out on your back, and lose your last match.  Mick Foley lost his last match.  As did Ric Flair.  Shawn Michaels lost several “final matches,” as has The Rock.  Even Stone Cold Steve Austin, at least when it came to wrestling matches, lost his final match.

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I’m grateful to have witnessed Daniel Bryan

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

To those who follow professional wrestling, already have heard about the retirement of Daniel Bryan, the darling of the fake sport for the better part of the last three years. As far as professional wrestling is concerned, this is a massively huge blow to the industry, losing one of its more capable and popular performers over the span of the decade, but when it comes to caring for the well-being of your fellow human beings, it’s still the right call.

Honestly, when the initial news and tweets broke out, I was skeptical that it wasn’t a work (fake, for storyline purposes), since in the ever-changing and adapting world of pro-wrestling, this wouldn’t have been the first time a storyline was set up, utilizing social media and preying on the emotions of others to lay the groundwork for a swerve.

And there’s still a part of me that thinks that the door is not 100% shut, because if doors actually managed to shut permanently in wrestling, then we would have never seen things like Sting coming to the WWE, Bret Hart coming back after Montreal, and the countless times Hulk Hogan has come and gone.

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“Hacksaw” AJ Styles?

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I didn’t watch The Royal Rumble, because I’m too cheap to get subscribe to the WWE Network despite the fact that I probably have way dumber monthly expenditures, but it doesn’t take a genius to find out means to get the gist of every show, even if you don’t actually watch it.

From what I can hypothesize, there are probably a lot of people that are salty over the fact that Triple H won the Royal Rumble, thus making him the World Heavyweight Champion, because the roster is full of younger, more deserving talent that probably deserved it more, but deserving is only part of the equation to what makes champions.  I don’t care.  HHH as champion is fine with me, because ultimately Creative doesn’t want to crown a champion, only for him to lose it in three months at Wrestlemania, when a non-long-term guy like HHH can transition it instead.

I’m pleased to see Kalisto win back the United States championship, because it’s the most valuable belt in the company and Kalisto being relatively fresh and new to the upper-tier scene, has a chance to really revitalize and freshen up a lot of mid-card storylines, even if it will probably a rehashing of a Rey Mysterio Jr. storyline.

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Try to say “X-Pac” without laughing

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

If you’re a wrestling nerd like me, you’ll find it quite challenging to accomplish.

But anyway, what miraculously brought X-Pac to recent light is this story that came out about the alleged wrongly-accused suspect from Netflix’s Making A Murderer.  Now I actually haven’t seen this yet, but much like House of Cards and Master of None, I have a high amount of faith in Netflix’s programming, so I am interested in watching it when I have the capacity.

Supposedly, Brendan Dassey, the subject of the show, and the allegedly falsely-accused who is incarcerated, also happens to be a big professional wrestling fan (which clearly bodes well for all wrestling fans not wanting to be associated with potential murderers).  Aside from the trauma of being allegedly falsely-accused and allegedly being the fall guy for other, more allegedly guilty parties, one of Brendan’s anxieties include the fact that he is going to miss the next Wrestlemania, due to, well, imprisonment.

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WWE’s biggest current asset?

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I came across this article that shed some light on Xavier Woods UpUpDownDown YouTube channel, just days after I stumbled across it myself, and it got me thinking about just how invaluable Woods must be to the company, whether or not they realize it themselves.

The interesting thing about such an assessment is that not a whole lot of it involves Woods’ actual ability to wrestle.  As high as I am personally, on Xavier Woods, the fact of the matter is that ultimately, he’s a pretty mediocre wrestler, or as much as the WWE will actually let him do, given their propensity to inhibit guys from cutting loose completely, due to fear of arsenal overlap.

But from what I’ve seen since his main roster debut, even to what he does in the ring now, there’s no denying that Xavier Woods might be an 11 on the microphone, I’d say that his ability in the ring is still somewhere around a 6-7; and that’s mostly on his strong ability to sell, and his general exuberance.  There’s a very obvious reason why the vast majority of The New Day matches are handled by Kofi and Big E.

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No walls left, apparently

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I was vaguely aware of Xavier Woods’ social media presence, and the general existence of his YouTube channel, Up Up Down Down, but it wasn’t until a randomly recommended video did I actually take the opportunity to check it out.  And I ask myself why I even took that long, since I’ve made no secret that I’m a fan of his, and all the fantastic work he’s doing as the more or less heart of The New Day.

To no secret, Woods, going under the name “Austin Creed” does a fantastic job of entertaining, engaging and being a fun guy to watch.  I think the appeal for me is the fact that he’s just such a charismatic guy that he could probably easily entertain people who have no idea that he’s also a professional wrestler, because so little of at least the clip that I watched, had really anything to do with wrestling, aside from the fact that everyone in it was basically a WWE guy.

Anyway, it was an innocuous link to a video that basically summarized The Miz playing Xavier Woods in Street Fighter II: Champion Edition, with an adequate thumbnail to get the point across.  And in no time, the video creates the scenario, where Miz and Creed play a best of five in SF2:CE, where I can’t remember what Creed had put on the line, but the Miz had wagered his replica of the white-strap Intercontinental title, that all wrestlers apparently get to commemorate the fact that they were a holder of it.

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