04/03/2013 Old School Raw Thoughts Reactions: Undertaker Returns

CM PUNK: I know a picture of Undertaker should really be on here instead, but this photo just looks really cool.

RAW REVIEW… finally. I’m Tom Robinson, and I’m here with the Raw review from old school RAW. Did it top the last Old School Raw? And what implications were made for Wrestlemania?

Right, let’s get down to business…

Ryback vs Mark Henry At Wrestlemania 29?

First match of the night was Ryback taking on Antonio Cesaro. I know Ryback is supossed to be a dominant monster, but that match was WAY too one-sided. Being US Champion, Cesaro should have put up more of a fight, and I think he wasn’t utillized good enough in this match. Ryback won this WAY too quickly.

But that match was a great match in comparison to the next one. Mark Henry vs Zack Ryder. But before that took place, a staredown took place between Ryback and Mark Henry on the ramp. This potential match up is actually OK in my book. These two needed a big match at Wrestlemania, so why not have them face each other? Good call WWE. But of course, that means one of these two are gonna lose at Wrestlemania. If Mark Henry loses, then he loses his momentum. If Ryback loses, that’s a SIXTH PPV loss in a row. If anyone needs to win this match more…. it’s Ryback. Anyway, Mark Henry, the two move wonder made quick work of Ryder. Because… “THAT’S WHAT I DO!”

Dolph Ziggler vs The Miz w/Ric Flair

Ziggler and Miz were really slick in this match. This was a really entertaining match, and the “Nature Boy” Ric Flair was funny at ringside! He was stylin’ and proflin’ in style on Raw, even getting in his signature thrusts. XD But Miz needs to work on Stylin’ and Proflin’ though. XD Back to the match, a really good encounter, and Miz looked really good in this match, even winning, BY SUBMISSION! A great win for The Miz, which is funny because several online reports suggest that Miz is getting stick by Triple H backstage. Or maybe this win was put in place because Ric Flair was in the house, I don’t know. But either way, it was a great piece of wrestling. I just want to state for the record that The Marine 3 looks so god-damn awful. Sorry Miz, but I ain’t watching that. Hehe

Alberto Del Rio And Jack Swagger Battle For Momentum. NO Zeb Colter Promo!

Jack Swagger and World Champion Alberto Del Rio battled for momentum ahead of their clash at Wrestlemania. Swagger squashed 3 patriotic legends (Dusty Rhodes, Sgt. Slaughter and Jim Duggan), and Del Rio knocked off Wade Barrett. Damn it, I wish they didn’t make Barrett look this bad. 😦 It was a shame that Zeb Colter didn’t get on the mic. He’s a great speaker.

 

The Rock And John Cena Segment

Urrgghhh, same old stuff from these two. John Cena was basically repeating what he said for about 12 months leading up to their first match. And The Rock was horrible on the mic in comparison to Cena (although the Lance Armstrong joke was pretty funny). I tried, but I just couldn’t get into this segment. But can you blame me?

Three Face Tag Teams Win Three Squash Matches. HAIL THE HEROES!

Team Hell-No defeated Prime Time Players, The Lords Of The Dance (Brodus Clay and Tensai) defeated 3MB and New Age Outlaws defeated Primo and Epico as the 3 face tag teams defeated the heels incredibly easy. While I’m disappointed at how boring some of the matches were, it’s great that 6 proper tag teams were in action on Raw. I think the tag team regeneration plan has certainly worked. 🙂

Fandango… Cuts A Promo

Moving on….

Triple H And The Shield Cut Intense Promos

Triple H cut a pretty cool promo on Brock Lesnar, challenging him to face him – again – at Wrestlemania. One thing I can praise Triple H for is that he’s a phenomenal promo-cutter. He adds so much intensity to his promos, which I really think should be in product more often. The more intensity in a rivalry, the more anticipated you are going to get. Great work, Hunter.

The Shield cut a promo too. The camera promo as they normally do. These two cut another great promo, talking about The Undertaker and comparing their streak in WWE to his. Why do I get the feeling that The Shield are going to interfere in Undertaker’s match at Wrestlemania? And speaking of the devil…

Undertaker vs CM Punk Is Set For Wrestlemania 29

The Undertaker Returned. He showed up at the start of the show which I was surprised as hell by. I thought Undertaker would have been left for the end of the show. But regardless, it was a chilling start to the show, despite Undertaker not saying a word.

CM Punk, Randy Orton, Big Show and Sheamus had a segment in which all 4 guys declared interest in scrapping with The Deadman at Wrestlemania. I’m sorry but Big Show saying that only a giant could end the streak was just plain ridiculous. Mark Henry, Giant Gonzalez, Big Show himself, A-Train, Batista, Psycho Sid, Big Bossman, King Kong Bundy, Diesel, Kane twice. It’s just not believable to think that Big Show would actually end the streak considering the streak is built on Undertaker defeating giants.

Anyway, CM Punk vs Sheamus vs Big Show vs Randy Orton was made for the main event to determine who faces Undertaker at Wrestlemania 29. And the match didn’t disappoint. I thought it was a pretty decent fatal four-way. Obviously, Punk won, setting up CM Punk vs Undertaker at Wrestlemania.

To be honest, this Old School Raw was a little bit of a let down in my opinion. Way worse than the first one they did in 2010. A lot of quick matches that you just couldn’t get into. However, Dolph Ziggler vs The Miz was a treat, and Triple H’s promo was rather good. But this Raw was a real disappointment. I wish the legends that were there were utilized a lot better, and I wish there was at least one surprise on tonight’s show. But at least The Undertaker has return… and it appears that it will be CM Punk that will face the Phenom.

Before I leave you guys, tragedy has struck the wrestling world as Paul Bearer, manager for The Undertaker, Kane and many more, died today. It’s a real shocker, as one of the greatest managers in wrestling history passes away and seeing Paul on TV was a treat. There was no other manager quite like him. He has that chilling vibe about him that made him such an interesting character to see. And he was no doubt a huge influence in The Undertaker’s rise in the WWF, as he made The Undertaker a lot more of a scary character with his presence. He had probably one of the best voices in the WWF, and people used to actually freeze with fear when they hear these immortal words…

He will be sorely missed by the world. May he rest in peace.

Injustice: Gods Among Us – The Game I’m Most Looking Forward To In 2013

SUPERMAN AND BATMAN: Is it me, or do these two scrap an awful lot?

What is up, guys. Tom Robinson here. Before I get started, I’ve been getting a considerable views on my blog this week, and I am very thankful of those who have checked out what my blog has to offer. On Tuesday, I successfully achieved 100 blog views in 1 single day, which is an incredible accomplishment for me, and guys, thank you for bumping up the views. But today, I’m doing something a little different. This ain’t a WWE or UFC blog post today. It’s not even related to sports. We’re taking a little venture into the world of gaming, and the world of comic books. As I will discuss Netherealm Studio’s newest creation…

INJUSTICE: GODS AMONG US!

The Mad Scientists behind Mortal Kombat have struck again, with another fighting game dedicated to the DC superhero realm. Injustice: Gods Among Us puts the mightiest of superheroes and supervillians against each other in the battle for supremacy in the DC universe.

Story

The Joker makes his way to Metropolis and sets off a bomb which kills millions of people. Even Superman’s PREGNANT WIFE Lois Lane! The Man Of Steel gets ultra-pissed and interrupts Batman’s interrogation of The Joker, and takes it upon himself to punch a whole through Joker’s heart, and kill him… right in front of The Joker’s arch-nemesis, The Batman. Superman then imposes a though new world order to take extreme measures to those that cause harm. Of course, not everyone is liking this new regime. One particular being THE GOD-DAMN Batman! Batman gets a resistance force together to try and take down Superman’s regime as a Super-human Civil War commences.

It’s a clever way to give the superheroes of the DC universe  an excuse to fight each other, and having Superman kill Joker IN FRONT of Batman is an incredibly powerful but epic touch (this happens in the comic book mini-series and hopefully will be shown in the game). But this storyline is so similar to Marvel’s “Civil War” storyline arc in the comic-books. Either the writer’s were being lazy or simply COULD NOT find any other way to get the likes of Batman scrapping with the likes of Superman. It’s hard to pit hero vs hero, even in the comic book. It’d take a lot for The Flash to take a swing at Green Lantern, unless there was a legitimate explaination. What I do like is the decision to have Harley Quinn join the resistance, as Batman asking for the villain’s help is incredibly rare considering how Batman has difficulties to trust his fellow heroes, let alone villains. So Netherealm Studios have done pretty good in the story department, and it’ll be interesting to see what goes down when the game releases.

Gameplay

As expected, Injustice builds on the foundations laid out by Mortal Kombat, and of course, similarities are noticeable. Some of the characters in the characters in the game do utilize a few moves from characters from the Mortal Kombat universe, and a few of the characters borrow moves from their past experiences from Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe, the crossover released in 2008 before Midway Games were bought by Warner Bros. But other than that, the guys who were in MK vs DC fight totally different in Injustice, with just about all of them having new stances, and new ways to punish people. Bringing interactivity in with the environment around them (like cars) is a pretty cool idea, as it pushes it away from the standard fighter, by having things like Superman throwing cars, and Batman exploding things by firing projectiles. It also makes the game a hell of a lot more fun. Also, the transitions from different parts of the stage do look really cool. Seeing Solomon Grundy punch The Flash through dozens of buildings in Metropolis looks really impressive. However, some of the these transitions do make some of the characters look ridiculously over-powered. I mean, in this clip below about 55 seconds in, The Joker’s punch to Lex Luthor is somehow SO effective it is able to send him hurling through a building. And somehow he survived a satellite laser beam strike called in by Luthor. Video Games – Gives The Laws Of Physics A Middle Finger!

The Roster

So far, 19 characters have been announced, with fairly good balance of heroes and villains. We have the usual suspects, like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and The Flash. Other Justice League usuals like Green Lantern and Aquaman join the fray, and some lesser-known heroes like Shazam (or Captain Marvel if you choose not to abide by Copyright laws),  Cyborg and Nightwing. They even included Green Arrow and Hawkgirl – two superheroes whose inclusions make me so happy, as they are two really cool characters. Hawkgirl, especially, is a really cool addition, as she has rarely had any attention in DC popular media, with the exception of the Justice League and JLU TV series’. There are plenty of villains to get your hands on with a lot of well-known villains like Sinestro, Bane, Harley Quinn, Deathstroke and Catwoman. Solomon Grundy is also a interesting addition and it’ll be interesting to see how he fits into the Injustice storyline. But then again, he shows a lot of similarities with Bane, as they are both muscle-heads and it’s hard to get two powerhouses to differentiate in move styles. Of course, there’s Lex Luthor in his battle suit and The Joker, who’s not voiced by Mark Hamill, which has enraged the Batman internet community. However, this Joker is actually not that bad of a choice, and The Joker is a hard part to play considering how your work will always be judged against the work of Mark Hamill. The design work, on the whole, is generally well done. A lot of the characters, especially Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl, have been given pretty cool costumes.However, there are some exclusions from the game which I’m rather disappointed with. The Red Hood and Martian Manhunter in particular are two characters who would work brilliantly in this game.

DLC

Pre-Order DLC Bonuses include the “Red Son Pack” at GAME, a pack influenced by the “Red Son” arc, and includes new costumes for Superman, Wonder Woman and Solomon Grundy along with 20 new missions (which look suspiciously similar to the Mortal Kombat mini games from the 2011 release). It’s a rather intriguing pack, and the missions do look very interesting. America’s Best Buy are offering a costume based of the “Blackest Night” storyline, and also a bunch of cool zombie costumes, which are OK in my book. I mean, who doesn’t love zombies? And finally, Wal-Mart are offering 3 costumes based off Arkham City, one for Batman, Joker and Catwoman, which is the pack that stands out for me, as Arkham City is probably one of my favourite games of all time. And it makes sense, since Kevin Conroy, the voice of Batman in Arkham City, is the voice Batman in Injustice. Now, you guys in the US are spoiled for choice (I can’t say the same for us Brits though), so it’s a good variety of options to go with. However, I expect all these to be available to everyone in time, and I doubt that they’ll leave the DLC at just that. And it’s a shame not one of the packs have a bonus character as a pre-order bonus, and I do hope a lot of DLC characters are on the horizon.

Graphics/Presentation

The Graphics look incredible. They really pulled out all the stops to make this game as jaw-droppingly beautiful as possible, with the stage transitions looking stunning, and scenes like Superman flying someone into space, and slamming them back down to earth are sensational. But then again, it’s hard to expect anything less, since Netherealm are a part of Warner Brothers. However, I’m struggling to see how this game is not going to get lag with all this crazy ass action going on. I do hope Netherealm have worked on their online problems from Mortal Kombat,

As fighting game enthusiast, this is a game I’m very much highly-anticipating. This looks and plays well, and is a lot more different then your average fighter, with a decent storyline. As a comic book fan, this is game which I think will be really cool, considering the great-variety of characters involved, and the elements of the DC universe being brought into video-game-form. So on paper, this is a match made in heaven, and on April 19th (the release date for Europe), the creators of Mortal Kombat get another chance to show that superheroes and fighting games, two of my greatest loves, can co-exist.

Wrestling Dropped From The 2020 Olympic Games – Thoughts And Reactions

Very disappointing news for sports in general, as the IOC (aka the International Olympic Committee) announced for some bizarre reason, that wrestling has been dropped from the 2020 Olympic Games, in order to make way for a new sport.

The wrestling event, which is a sort of mixture of Greco-Roman wrestling and Freestyle wrestling into one, has been a sport at the Olympics since the beginning. The first official Olympic games in 1896 at Athens featured wrestling. And why? Because, it was one of man’s first forms of combat. It was a true test of how much of an athlete you are. It separates the weak from the strong. It was a sport of kings for crying out loud. I mean, King Henry VIII of England challenged Francis I of France to a wrestling match, in order to prove his superiority over the French king. That’s how important to society wrestling used to be.

I really do like amateur wrestling. I mean, as readers of this blog already know, I’m a major professional wrestling fan. And that stemmed from the foundations set by the real-life wrestling sport years ago. So, I’m a little upset by this development. I mean, I enjoyed the wrestling that was present in the Olympics in London.

I mean, let’s look at the list of sports that could replace it:

• Baseball/Softball
• Squash
• Karate
• Sport Climbing
• Wakeboarding
• Wushu
• And…. Roller Sports

OK, first of all, if Baseball is put in the Olympics in 2020, I will seriously flip. There are quite a lot of sports that are more physically demanding than baseball. I mean, hitting a ball with bat and running around a field isn’t exactly difficult in comparison to an event like wrestling. Also, it’s not exactly globally that attractive of a sport. I mean, what countries actually take the event THAT seriously? The United States. Japan. China. Sure, countries like us would field out a last-ditch team, but no one with the exceptions of the Americans and the Japanese are gonna take that event seriously.

Karate or Wushu would be cool editions, I’ll admit. I enjoy them sports. I personally just wouldn’t have them over wrestling, because of how grand of a legacy in the Olympics wrestling has proved to be. Sport Climbing and Wakeboarding are OK, I guess. But as sports in an event as prestigious as the Olympics, I can’t take them seriously enough, as with the Squash. Roller sports? Really? Who comes up with these events?

OK, this post was not dedicated to ripping on a bunch of different sports, but more so to state the importance of wrestling to sport. The Olympics was designed to have countries challenge for bragging rights, and to see which countries were the best at the most demanding of sports. Wrestling is one of the oldest SPORTS ever, and there is still a great deal of pride on the line when wrestling. When you lose in something like football, you don’t lose that much as you always have guaranteed big-payout for each game you play, win or lose. When you wrestle and you are defeated, the humiliating thought of being beaten is evident after the bell rings. The emotion, winning or losing is clear. Take 1996, and Kurt Angle’s Gold Medal Win. Yes, he was crying as he was awarded the gold, but that’s what makes wrestling so great. Winning is everything. I bet you only a few countries in the Olympics sincerely cared about winning.

Point is, if wrestling is off the Olympic radar, than it’ll be a real shame for me, as amateur wrestling is also a major part of another favourite sport of mine… mixed martial arts. It’s also going to be a major shame for sport in general. A sport that has been part of more than 100-year history of the Olympics is about to leave us in replacement for a sport that couldn’t live up to the drama and the competition that wrestling provides.

5 Defeats In A Row For The Boro As 3-2 Loss To Barnsley Increases The Misery

Middlesbrough are still looking for a league victory in 2013 after losing 3-2 to relegation-threatened. From what I’m told, Middlesbrough’s defending was appalling, which has seemed to be a real issue for the Boro this season, after getting creamed by Ipswich 4-0 last week. So that’s 7 goals conceded in their last 2 games. Really Boro? Really?

However, what’s more tragic is the fact that after recovering from a 1-0 down to go 2-1 up, they went on to lose the game. And it’s a shame that Middlesbrough have decided to hit a slump now, because this part of the season is the most important part of the season, in my opinion.

At the start of the season, as usual Middlesbrough seem to start of slow, but eventually they build up a formidable undefeated streak which sends them to the top of the table. Great. It’s good to establish your position in the league and maintain a respectable place in the table. I mean look at Southampton last season – got to the top of the table rather quickly and stayed there until the end. But the thing about being at the top is that the only place you can go afterwards is down (speaking about table positions of course).

Boro lost their undefeated streak and Cardiff took over as top dogs for a while, but Middlesbrough were still near the automatic promotion places and were in a great position as 2013 rolled in. So a new year, and a new push to the top of the table, right?

WRONG!

5 league defeats in a row, and Middlesbrough find themselves hanging on the 6th and final play-off spot by a thread. What is up with that?

I mean these defeats aren’t ALL exactly at the hands of promotion rivals. OK, 2 of the defeats were to automatic-promotion chasers Leicester and Watford, and Derby are in mid-table position, but the 4-0 demolition by Ipswich, and a 3-2 loss to Barnsley are not acceptable if the Boro want promotion. If we want to get into the Premiership, why are losing to teams who may end up playing in League 1 next season? It really isn’t on.

Also, Mowbray’s inability to bring any significant players to the Boro in the January transfer window, means the Boro have some serious trouble in squad strength as the real struggle of the season begins. And no, a washed-up former England International is not considered a significant player in my book, considering we are in the struggle and need players that can go the distance, and not get injured all the time. Seriously, he’s not exactly started with a bang at the Boro.

Now, you can’t have a dig at Tony Mowbray, and start calling for his sacking just yet. I mean, he’s done amazingly well for the Boro, and we could be a hell of a lot worse off than this. Yeah, Middlesbrough, ended last season incredibly well, but Boro have got to get into high-gear now, because this is where the points really do matter. Boro really do have to shake of this new-year bug they seem to have each year, and actually get the points that could get them in the Premiership. Otherwise, Middlesbrough FC are gonna go absolutely nowhere.

Royal Rumble 2013: John Cena vs The Rock II At Wrestlemania 29… Why?

Really WWE?

April 4th 2011. The Rock And John Cena Agree To Fight Each Other At Wrestlemania 28, which I don’t have a problem with. It’s one of them bona-fide dream matches, and the fact that they made the match “Once In A Lifetime”. I am actually one of the few people actually amped up for the match.

April 1st 2012. The match doesn’t disappoint. I actually thought the match was worth the year-long wait. And amazingly, The Rock won. Not exactly certain how him winning was gonna help anyone, but what’s done is done.

April 2nd 2012. One of the greatest Raws I’ve ever seen kicked off by The Rock declaring that he has a goal… to become WWE Champion. Alright, I’m content with that. If they had The Rock like win the Royal Rumble and face the WWE Champion at Wrestlemania or something. That’d make sense since he’d earn his WWE Title shot.

July 23rd 2012. The Rock shows up on RAW 1000 and says he’s been given a title shot at the Royal Rumble against whoever the WWE Champion at that time. Not exactly happy that Rock just got given a title shot without any justification, but with CM Punk laying Rock out at the end of RAW 1000, and feud between them two, and Rock putting CM Punk over would have been been really good for Punk and establish as one of the all-time greats in WWE right? Right?

January 27th 2013. Our worse fears are realized. Not only does The Rock win the WWE Title and make CM Punk look really bad while doing it, John Cena wins the Royal Rumble. This sets up Rock vs Cena II at Wrestlemania 29.

Ahem….

WWE… What are you doing?

Are you serious?

Considering that the CM Punk vs The Rock match has been building ever since July, the match we saw on Sunday was a HUGE let down. It started off rather well. Well placed. Seeing Heyman involved was a treat too. OK, the announce table spot was botched, but the match could have still had a great finish. But that’s not what happened. It was the most abrupt ending. And the match was too short considering the John Cena vs The Rock match was 30 minutes long. It wasn’t exactly the classic match I was expecting. Cena and Rock put on a better match than this. Not really worth the wait. Apparently, there will be a rematch for the WWE Championship, and it’s not real surprise who’ll win that, I just hope it’s an improvement on this match.

That’s not even the thing that pissed me off about last night. John Cena winning and easily eliminating Ryback pissed me off. I mean if Rock is gonna drop the belt at Wrestlemania, why drop it to an established superstar like John Cena? Why did Cena get the win? Don’t they realize how over Ryback would have gotten if he won the rumble and beat Rock? This company had the opportunity of a lifetime to turn Ryback into the next top guy in WWE, and they fucking blew it. Ryback needed to win last night. And what’s worse is that it wasn’t even like a Shield interference that eliminated him. Super-Cena easily threw him over the top rope. WTF? Bullshit. I’m not a Cena hater btw, but dammit! Cena didn’t need that win last night.

Sure, I get why Cena won. Cena needs a return victory from their match at Wrestlemania 28, but why at Wrestlemania 29? It’s the same main event 2 Manias in a row. If Cena would have won a rematch in the Royal Rumble/Summerslam or something, that’d would be a good set up for a 3rd match at WM29 or something, if you get what I mean. The thing is, WWE have now made the main event of Wrestlemania 29,one of the most predictable match in history, and they screwed themselves over, because the revenue from Mania 29 is not gonna be that great, because a lot of people will expect Cena to win that match. Why would people want to waste money seeing the same match they saw a year ago?

To be honest, I’m not that big on Rock only showing up once in a blue moon, but he could have at least put some people over, and I don’t mean someone who’s already the top superstar in the business, John Cena. Chris Jericho is someone I truly respect, because while he’s not here 24/7 because of Fozzy (awesome band btw), when he comes back, he puts people over and helps them become stars. Look at Ziggler now! Rock should be doing that, not putting himself over.

The thing about WWE now is that it does thing that are “good for business”. I hate that part about WWE. The Rock was brought in because it’s “good for business”. Brock Lesnar was brought in because it’s “good for business”. I hate their state of mind right now. And despite that thought process, having the same main event 2 years in a row is not “good for business”. Also, focusing on John Cena 24/7 is not “good for business” either.  Sure, Cena is getting a lot of t-shirts and baseball caps sold, and is a big hit with their target audience, blah, blah, blah, but they fail to realize the danger of what they are gonna do once Cena leaves WWE or if he gets injured.

Cena has become injury-prone, and his days in WWE are numbered because he’s getting injured too often as of late, and they need their top star healthy 24/7. If they want Ryback to be the next guy on top of the food chain, focus the show around him, not on Cena. Don’t let the newest top star in WWE get eliminated in the Rumble by the guy he is supposed to replace.

Also, how come there was only 1 heel in the final 6 of the Rumble? Dolph Ziggler, a guy who spent 49 minutes in the match, was the only heel representative in the final 6. Ziggler was there with John Cena, Ryback, Sheamus, Randy Orton and Chris Jericho. It was like Lex Luthor facing the Justice League by himself. Why are the superheroes overpowering the heels? The point of superheroes are to overcome the odds that the villains throw at them. In the end, it was down to Sheamus, Cena and Ryback. And I swear it was like the Goku, Superman and The Hulk were about to have an epic 3 way that would destroy the planet (of course Sheamus would be Goku, Cena would be Superman and Ryback would be The Hulk). XD

And it’s a shame these two endings actually occurred because the pay-per-view was actually really good up until them endings. The Tag Title match was good. The Last Man Standing match was slow-paced but good, with a funny ending. The Rumble featured a lot of surprises. Chris Jericho returning was a fantastic moment as no-one saw it coming. Goldust and Godfather were two cool suprises and the Kofi Kingston chair spot was cool. To quote Mark Pidgeon (@Gpressonline on Twitter), an awesome twitter follower of mine…

“Two stupid booking decisions ruined an overall decent Ppv no need at all.”

And if they do Brock Lesnar vs Triple H II as well, that’s two rematches that are so unwanted. Rock vs Cena II (a rematch from WM 28) and Lesnar vs Triple H II (a rematch from Summerslam). Seriously. Why do WWE feel the need for rematches? They take away from the original matches, and are so overdone nowadays.

A Major Failure For American Journalism – The Manti Te’o Hoax

MANTI TE’O: Lost his “girlfriend” in September last year

 

Hey guys, Tom Robinson here. This is NOT a wrestling post. This is in fact about the recent developments of the story in the US about the American Football Player (who’s actually Samoan), Manti Te’o.

For those of you who don’t know by now, this guy Manti Te’o, who plays American Football for Notre Dame, gave an account to a number of media outlets, claiming that he lost both his grandmother and his girlfriend Lennay Kekua on the same day. Apparently, Lennay was involved in car accident and died from Leukaemia.  But recent revelations a couple of days ago have confirmed that not only did Lennay Kekua not die – she didn’t live either. Deadspin released a report on January 16th that basically said the entire thing was a hoax.

His club Notre Dame released this statement:

“On Dec. 26, Notre Dame coaches were informed by Manti Te’o and his parents that Manti had been the victim of what appears to be a hoax in which someone using the fictitious name Lennay Kekua apparently ingratiated herself with Manti and then conspired with others to lead him to believe she had tragically died of leukemia. The University immediately initiated an investigation to assist Manti and his family in discovering the motive for and nature of this hoax. While the proper authorities will continue to investigate this troubling matter, this appears to be, at a minimum, a sad and very cruel deception to entertain its perpetrators.”

 

Now this story is slightly complicated and it’s a little hard for myself to get my head around, but I’ll tell you what isn’t hard to figure out – The American Media Industry fucked up big time. Look at this list of some of the media organizations that bought the story:

http://www.sbnation.com/2013/1/16/3884198/the-list-people-who-never-looked-up-lennay-kekua

No-one from any of these brands thought to look it up. Even the New York Times. THE NEW YORK TIMES! One of the most well-known newspapers in the world didn’t think “OK, let’s just confirm if what he’s saying is true”. Now I am certainty not a journalist for someone like the New York Times, and I don’t work for ESPN. I only started studying journalism in October. And even I know that you have to make sure what you are being told is true. Never take what anyone says for the truth. Never trust what government’s tell you. Always look into something before confirming it to be fact. And the fact that none of the major American media industries had the testicular fortitude to question what Manti said has to tell you something.

Of course, over the years, lots of media industries have fallen for hoaxs and released false stories

• Janet Cooke’s Jimmy’s world story for example – http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/day/04_17_2001.htm

Yeah, this story was a while ago, but the thing is Media industry shouldn’t be making mistakes like this in this age. Back then, the internet wasn’t as popular as it is now, and with all the ways and resources they could have done, before deciding it’s legitimacy, this was a pretty pathetic episode for American Journalism.

I also doubt that this story will end here, as a lot more truths and twists are bound to come out real soon.

RUMOUR: Dolph Ziggler Turning Face?

THE CRAZY CREW (That’s the name I’ll give this stable for now): One of the members of this crew could be turning face.

Hey, what is up guys? Tom Robinson here, and I am here because I read about a rumour on NoDQ.com

It reads…

“As noted, officials have discussed breaking Big E Langston away from Ziggler and AJ Lee but it sounds like he might stay with AJ. They are discussing this not because of a possible Langston face turn but because of a Ziggler babyface turn.”

“Vince McMahon has been changing his mind back and forth on Ziggler as a babyface but it’s more when and not if. A lot of people in the company feel that Ziggler will take off huge as a babyface when the call is made. The fact that Ziggler is already popular in the New York market is said to be influencing Vince’s decision.”

You can read it at their site if you want here ————–  http://nodq.com/wwe/360434790.shtml

Now, I am not for the idea of Ziggler turning face right now. This guy is one of the top heels of the business right now, and I think he needs at least 1 world title run as a heel, before even considering a face turn. Ziggler just seems a lot more suited for the heel role. Also, far too many people are changing sides in WWE as of late. I mean let’s take a look at all the guys that turned face recently:

• Alberto Del Rio at TLC
• Christian at Over The Limit (Not exactly recent, but you get the idea)
• Kane just before Money In The Bank
• Daniel Bryan (Well turned tweener anyway) after he started teaming with Kane
• Chris Jericho on the 999th episode of RAW
• The Miz Just before Survivor Series

And also, we’ve had Big Show, AJ Lee and CM Punk all turning heel along the way. They can’t just turn people face/heel all the time, it kills their character. I mean if Ziggler turns face, what main event heels do we have left? CM Punk and Big Show? Then again, they may be turning Orton soon.

TNA Genesis 2013 Review – Super Hardy Wins Again! Christopher Daniels Becomes The Number One Contender!

BULLY RAY: A little strange that the man on the poster for Genesis doesn’t even have a match on the card. Did show up for 2 segments though.

 

“Greetings and salutations, all you ham sandwiches!” Christopher Daniels

Hehehehe

TNA Genesis review for you guys!

SUPER HARDY! SUPER HARDY!

Yes, TNA have their very own John Cena, in the Charismatic Enigma Jeff Hardy, who successfully retained the TNA World Heavyweight Championship in a triple threat elimination match against Bobby Roode and Austin Aries at Genesis. I think it was a decent triple threat match and they were some brilliant spots in the match which included the traditional Doomsday Device modified with Jeff Hardy hitting the Whisper In The Wind. However, I’ve got 3 problems with the match:

1. 75% of the match was effectively a handicap match. OK, I get that that Bobby Roode and Austin Aires gonna team up up to take out Jeff Hardy, but considering the egos these guy supposedly had, surely they had to turn on each other sooner than later. The whole point of a triple threat is that all 3 guys fight one another. Roode and Aries fought each other for about 1 minute. Roode or Austin should’ve turned on the other a lot sooner.

2. The eliminations were way too close to each other in time. After Bobby Roode got eliminated, Aries didn’t last before being eliminated himself. I really wanted to see him and Hardy scrap for a little bit longer.

3. Why do TNA feel the need to make Jeff Hardy out to be their very own John Cena. Overcoming the odds of the greatest heels in TNA like Cena would? Really? Jeff Hardy gets his ass-kicked for about 90% of the match and at the end of the match somehow defeats them both? BULLSHIT.

I’m not surprised that Hardy won the fight, but this was totally the wrong way to end the match. Decent match, but seemed like a glorified handicap match than a triple threat.

Christopher Daniels Becomes The Number One Contender For The TNA World Heavyweight Championship

Yes! I am so happy with this result! Daniels defeat James Storm, and became the number one contender for the World title. Get In! Daniels is no doubt worthy of being the world champion, and I’m surprised he hasn’t been up until this point. Daniels defeated James Storm in a solid match between the two after a distraction from Kazarian, and he gets a TNA World Title shot on the 24th of January Episode of Impact, and I REALLY do hope that he wins the gold. YES! Happy with the match and happy with the result.

Sting Gets Revenge

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

In what was a pretty boring match, Sting defeated DOC and got revenge for the hammer attack a couple of a months ago. Seriously, the had Sting win with such ease, it made DOC look SO goddamn bad. Aces And Eights tried to jump Sting afterwards, but Bully Ray made the save. DOC seriously should have won here. And the match absolutely sucked.

 

Rob Van Dam Retains The X-Division Title

Kenny King and Christian York faced off in what I thought was a pretty decent match. Kenny King showed off some amazing abilities and York did pretty well and there were a couple of spots in that match that were pulled off really well. I thought the finish was good to with the cradle pin being reversed into another pin by York to get the win. Kenny King then laid out York with a beast finisher, which I don’t know the name of. And York was out… which wasn’t a good thing considering he had his title match with RVD next, which RVD easily won. I’m not surprised by the results of both matches, but all I want to say is… Kenny King needs the X-Division Title. Come on, TNA. Put the belt on him already.

 

DO NOT BOOK SAMOA JOE VS MR ANDERSON AGAIN TNA

These guys do not click AT ALL. This match was beyond boring. It started of pretty feisty and aggressive by Samoa Joe, but then the match just slowed right down. It was slowly becoming boring as hell. That’s not to take anything anything away from Mr Anderson or Samoa Joe. I think they are both capable wrestlers. But its hard to get interested in a match with wrestlers these sizes, and it limits the work these two can do together. Samoa Joe is athletic and can move, but is still very big and Mr Anderson isn’t as quick with his game as Joe. So I wasn’t expecting much from this match, and I didn’t get much. TNA, Anderson and Joe just don’t seem to click. By the way, Mike Knox distracted Joe, allowing Anderson to get the win.

 

GAIL KIM DOMINATES THE KNOCKOUTS GAUNTLET, BUT GETS SCREWED

Gail Kim basically dominated this gauntlet, eliminating Miss Tessmacher, ODB and Mickie James in quick succession, not allowing any of the pairings to put together a good showing. I get they were trying to keep energy up through-out the match, but these matches should have been at least a little bit longer. It was then down to Gail Kim and Velvet Sky, and Sky won despite Kim’s foot being on the rope. Now it seems that the knockouts referee Taryn Terrell is about to start a feud with Gail Kim, considering they were arguing through-out the gauntlet, and Kim got screwed at the end. And if this feud results in a match between the two, I do hope Taryn’s training in OVW will help perform in the ring. I don’t know how well this girl works in the ring, but hopefully she and Gail can put together a good match. I’m not surprised that Velvet Sky won. You could tell she was gonna win, because she just returned and now she is gonna feud with Tara over the Knockouts title. Hopefully this is a good feud for the gold.

 

Send Joey Ryan To OVW

Chavo Guerrero and Hernandez defeated Matt Morgan and Joey Ryan to retain the tag team titles. Worst Tag Team Match I’ve seen in a while. This match was just a total mess, and it’s bad enough they put together two big guys in a tag match… but Joey Ryan needs to stay the hell away from the ring. Seriously, he f**ked up a lot of moves in that match, and nearly broke his own neck taking a powerbomb from Hernandez. Ryan has a great gimmick, no doubt. But his ring-work is absolutely terrible. He’s sloppy and was all over the place in that match, and what’s worse is that he was tagged in a lot in that match, so TNA showcased his shitness a lot, and his front-facelock on Hernandez looked plain ridiculous. And he’s just bringing down Matt Morgan, who came back to TNA, big-booting everyone and looking like this total bad-ass, and he’s stuck with this tool, acting like his trainer. Matt Morgan looked like he was about to snap Ryan in half after the match, and I do hope he turns on Ryan starts going into singles competition.

 

Devon Defeats Joseph Park

The fans were into this one a lot. The fans were split, with “Let’s go Devon” and Let’s go Joseph” chants colliding. They started off the match with Devon toying with Joseph and out-wrestling him and slapping him in the hand, being the traditional heel giant Goliath facing David. Park would then assemble a comeback, demonstrating actual wrestling from his “OVW training” which got the fans popping, and got Devon really peeved. This match was similar to the DOC one, except Park actually showed some wrestling in this one, and the match actually wasn’t that bad. As you’d expect, Park was busted open, saw blood, morphed into Abyss, kicked the crap out of Devon, and delivered a Black-Hole Slam. I’m actually suprised Devon kicked out. It made him look good when he did it. Park was about to chokeslam Devon, but then he got stunned, and like his match with DOC, he got beat. Very similar to his match with DOC, but it was actually made a lot better with Park showing wrestling abilities and the crowd were really into it, making me really into it. And the crowd does make the match sometimes. Pretty good.

 

Overall, I think Genesis was a good PPV, but I think it was just predictable as hell. All my predictions were right (expect with the Daniels vs Storm match. I thought Storm would win to be honest) and I just feel that they should have had some moments that none of those would suspect would happen. The show should be flat out unpredictable, but it wasn’t, and it made the show seem flat.

MAJOR 11/01/2013 SMACKDOWN! SPOILER! NEW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION!

ALBERTO DEL RIO: Nope, this was not the work of photoshop.

Normally, I don’t look much into tapings, and I don’t watch SmackDown! that much because of the spoilers released online. But this one, I had to blog about, and I couldn’t wait for after it aired to do it, because of what happened. And amazingly, The Rock returning to SmackDown! for the first time in nearly 10 years is not the reason.

Because, we had a title change! And it wasn’t the US Title, or the tag titles, or even divas title for that matter. The World Heavyweight Championship found a new owner on SmackDown! Big Show is no longer the World Heavyweight Champion. THANK GOD! He lost a last man standing match and the new champion is…

ALBERTO DEL RIO! ALBERTO DEL RIO! ALBERTO DEL RIO! And, yes folks. I am so goddamn happy about that! Big Show is no longer the champion, and the new face on the block, Alberto Del Rio, has dethroned the Giant and gained the championship which I thought he should have won during his feud with Sheamus. And it certainly was a shocker to say the least. Of all the guys that were rumored to be in the world title picture at Wrestlemania, Alberto Del Rio was barely mentioned. The face turn has given Del Rio a shift in character, and the shift has turned into a World Title victory! HOLY S**T!

But…. of course, this title change may have been put in place just for the ratings. I mean SmackDown! has been dreadful in ratings, largely due with it being taped. So maybe Vince just wanted a ratings boost. So if that’s he case, I don’t see Del Rio being champion for long. At the moment, reportedly he doesn’t seem to have any World Title plans for Wrestlemania (or maybe he does and we just don’t know about it), so Del Rio would likely either lose it either at the Royal Rumble or Elimination Chamber. It’d be kinda cool to see Del Rio be champion for a while. He’s had two spells as WWE Champion and neither reign lasted that long. In fact, neither reign even lasted 50 days. I mean seriously, this guy needs a long title reign, and with him gaining new-found momentum with the face turn, he should be walking into Wrestlemania as champion,  and he should retain the belt on that show. Del Rio has so much going for him. Mic skills improving, amazing wrestling ability, and he’s got a ring announcer.

As much as I’d like to see that, I just think this was done for the ratings and I think Del Rio will LOSE the belt in only a matter of time. WWE did announce Del Rio’s victory publicly on their website. So, for the third time in the last several months, WWE have spoiled a title change before the taping aired. Don’t know how smart that is. Why tell the audience they are trying to attract what actually happens? Takes away unpredictably.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens. Also on that show, The Rock was confronted by Rhodes Scholars (Rock vs Sandow would be amazing to watch) and Sheamus squashed the 3MB.

But this SmackDown!’s was Del Rio’s SmackDown! The Mexican Aristocrat stole the show!

 

Top 4 Face vs Face Feuds In Wrestling

RANDY ORTON AND SHEAMUS: A feud seems to have begun between the Viper and the Celtic Warrior as the Rumble approaches.

As you guys know on this week’s SmackDown! (which aired on the 4th of January), Randy Orton and Sheamus both announced themselves as participants in the Royal Rumble match, and a feud seems to have begun between the two. The two had a very good verbal exchange on SmackDown! (which like most things was ruined by the Big Show) and Randy Orton stealing Sheamus’ spotlight was also a very good touch.

A game of who can out-do the other is always a good way to begin a face vs face feud and I personally love these sort of feuds. You love to see who the fans are starting to back and as the tension starts to grow the more interested you start to get. This may or may not result in someone turning heel, but if it does turn someone heel, it’ll likely be Orton. Come on, Orton has been a stale face going absolutely nowhere for a while now. I think a change of character can refresh the viper and him turning heel on one of the top faces of the business can certainty send him on the right tracks.

Face vs Face feuds are rare because it breaks the Heroes vs Villians rules of wrestling. But they are a nice touch to the product, so I am all for this. Also, this seems to all but confirm the rumor that Randy Orton vs Sheamus will take place at Wrestlemania. Whether that will be for the World Heavyweight Title is still up in the air, considering Big Show is still the World Champion and Dolph Ziggler could cash in Money In The Bank at anytime. But if it does, it’ll likely be that one of them wins the rumble, and one of them wins the World Title at Elimination Chamber which sets their match for Wrestlemania. That is ALLLLLLL OK in my book. 🙂

So, with a face vs face feud emerging, it’s only fitting that I give you guys my top 4 Favorite Face vs Face feuds in Wrestling. In no particular order….

1) The Rock vs Chris Jericho in 2001

As the Invasion storyline was the talk of the town in WWF, one of the better mini-feuds within the WWF/Alliance feud would be the build of tension between fellow WWF members The Rock and Chris Jericho. On October 8th 2001, WCW Champion The Rock and Chris Jericho teamed to take on Alliance members Rob Van Dam and Shane McMahon on RAW IS WAR. Near the end of the match Jericho got busted open by Shane McMahon, and as he looked to hit Shane with the chair, he accidentally hit The Rock with the chair costing them the match. Afterwards, The Rock confronted him about the chair shot which led to the two brawling in the locker room. Jericho would then become the number one contender for The Rock’s WCW Title on SmackDown! by defeating Rob Van Dam, and would beat The Rock at No Mercy to become the WCW Champion. Jericho would start to rub it in The Rock’s face which led to the two fighting again backstage at Rebellion. The Rock would win the WCW Title back on RAW IS WAR in November, but Jericho attacked him afterwards. This would eventually lead to Jericho hitting The Rock with a “Breakdown” at Survivor Series after being eliminated in the “Winner Takes All Match” between the WWF and The Alliance (to determine which entity would survive) to turn heel and nearly cost WWF the match. Jericho would then defeat The Rock in the next two Pay-Per-Views and becoming Unidsputed WWF Champion at Vengeance.  It was a cool storyline to cause tension within the opposing factions. At around the same time Rob Van Dam and Steve Austin was feuding within the heel Alliance. There were reasons to back/hate either of them guys. While they tried to make Jericho out to be the bad-guy, he was still cheered when he beat The Rock by cheating at No Mercy. Great Feud.

2) CM Punk vs John Cena in 2011

It’d be hard not to include this in the list. CM Punk (heel at this point) won a triple threat match on the 20th of June which earned him the right to fight for John Cena’s WWE Championship at the Money In The Bank Pay-Per-View in his hometown of Chicago. He announced after the match that his contract with WWE expires on the night of Money In The Bank, and said he would leave with the WWE Championship that night. As you may know, the next week on the 27th June edition of RAW, CM Punk would cause Cena to lose a tables match to R-Truth, and sat on the stage and delivered a shoot promo which included Punk attacking The McMahon family and calling John Cena an ass-kisser. His mic got cut off and he was suspended by Vince McMahon. After Cena convinced McMahon to reinstate Punk, Punk returned two weeks later on the RAW before Money In The Bank to a hero’s welcoming in Cena’s hometown of Boston, which would make CM Punk a sort-of anti-hero. Someone who wasn’t exactly a nice guy, but wanted great things for the WWE. CM Punk would defeat Cena at the Money In The Bank PPV and left the WWE Champion. He returned 8 days later and fans were divided in support between the new face in town CM Punk and John Cena. These had a great few weeks of verbal exchanges in the next couple of weeks following Punk’s return, and it caused division between the WWE universe, and it breathed new life into the product and made things a hell of a lot interesting in WWE.  Best storyline in a REALLY long time for WWE.

3) The Rock vs Steve Austin in 2001

NOTE: Couldn’t find the promo for this one. Just put in the heel turn at Wrestlemania.

A classic WWF feud and probably the best feud ever in wrestling history. But only in 2001 was there ever a face vs face feud between the two. In 1999 and 2003 The Rock was always heel and Austin was always heel. This was a little different. There was always history between the two. These two feuded before leading up to Wrestlemania 15. But their match for the WWF Title at Wrestlemania 17 was set after Steve Austin won the 2001 Royal Rumble and The Rock won the WWF Title at No Way Our. In the interest of tension, Debra (Austin’s wife at the time) was declared by Vince McMahon to be the manager of The Rock. Austin said that if anything would happen to Debra, The Rock would be held responsible. Eventually, something did happen to Debra – Kurt Angle would put her in the ankle lock. Steve Austin would then deliver a Stone Cold Stunner to The Rock for putting Debra in danger. Debra was eventually dropped as The Rock’s manager, and The Rock And Stone Cold had their match at Wrestlemania. This match saw the heel turn of Steve Austin, when he aligned himself with Vince McMahon and clobbered The Rock with chairs about 100 times to win the WWE Championship and turn on the WWF Fans. What made this Face vs Face feud so good was that there was already tension their from their old feud and that tension would just explode at Wrestlemania. What a match that was. 🙂

 

4) Undertaker vs Batista in 2007

WWE was just awesome in 2007, and large factor in that was the feud between Undertaker and Batista on SmackDown! These two never really mixed it up before up until this point, but their match at Wrestlemania 23 was set after Undertaker won the Royal Rumble in January 2007. Undertaker opted to fight for the World Title held by Batista at that event. I remember these two had a hell of a fight on the SmackDown! before Wrestlemania, which was cool because they made the security guards looked like pussys as they beat the hell out of each other. Undertaker defeated Batista at Wrestlemania in classic to win the World Heavyweight Championship. On the SmackDown! after Wrestlemania, Batista confronted Undertaker simply saying, “Congratulations. I want my rematch”. At Backlash, he got it. These two competed in Last Man Standing, which ended in a draw after neither man could get up after a spear of the stage by Batista. This Last Man Standing match was just epic. They had part 3 on May 8th 2007 (which aired on SmackDown! on the 11th) with a Steel Cage match which ended in another draw, after both men’s feet hit the floor at the same time. Then Undertaker got injured and lost the World Title to Edge, but Batista would win the World Title back at Unforgiven 2007… the same night The Undertaker made his return. At Cyber Sunday, they had Part 4 – A standard one-on-one match with Stone Cold Steve Austin as the special referee. Batista finally defeated The Undertaker and would beat him again inside Hell In A Cell at Survivor Series, which would end their feud. The thing is, these two didn’t need to cut amazing promos to build up the feuds. The matches were just so great and epic, that they didn’t need to cut promos and stuff. People wanted to see these to face each other and that was all the feud needed to be successful and their matches was quality.

That’s my opinion anyway. Guys remember to follow me on Twitter @TomRobinson5199, and send your thoughts. What Face vs Face feuds do you think are the best? More blog posts to come for you guys. Stay tuned!