Wrestling, Mixed Martial Arts, Comics, Zombies and Bacon
Archive for July, 2009
Dr Octogon Brings the Squared Circle: Superstars & Impact 07/30/09 Edition
Jul 31st
WWE Superstars
Superstars was another strong entertaining show this week. Tyson Kid of the Hart Dynasty had a very good match with John Morrison that really amped the crowd up. There was a terrible “ask a Diva” segment but almost all segments including divas go that way. Yoshi Tatsu had a surprisingly quick match and finally fell to William Regal. And the main event was a better than expected Orton vs Primo contest. It was pretty long for what really amounted to a squash match. Primo was allowed to get some moves in but mainly the whole match just brought to question why they ever split the Colons up. They were one of the few face tag teams they have and it just doesn’t male sense.
TNA Impact
This was by far the best the Impact I have seen in a long time. There was one weak segment where Don West interviewed Victoria, but those “candid” interviews always seem to be pretty dull. Angle and Foley were both great on the mic. Bobby Lashley was better than during his tenure in the WWE, but still rather sophomoric compared to the two legends he was verbally sparring with. The match action was good and most of the run-in, an eternal TNA weakness, was restricted to outside the ring or outside the parameters of the match. Hernandez re-debuted with some new snazzy Super-Mex digs and got to defeat Joe and then promo a title run. Unlikely. But we can all hope. The Knockouts match prominently featured Velvet Sky so all was good there. Matt Morgan and AJ Styles started an interesting series that I think would pay off best if it is part of Morgan’s transition to a top face. My favorite part of the show though, was the Eric Young led uber-faction, World Elite. Team Canada was awesome and I really like that Young is getting the chance to shine on the mic. I am not sold on the faction name, but MEM sounded lame too. It is finally working out since they seem to actually have a plan now. I think once Sting left it really became a cohesive stable. It’s not that Sting couldn’t be a part, it is the Sting they were portraying never fit in and hurt the stable from the beginning. The main event even had a crazy-ass “TNA” stipulation, but they way it played out was entertaining, however predictable. Before the match, MEM jumps Foley and Lashley backstage. Beer Money jumps Booker and Steiner, and the lights go out. Angle and Nash stand in the ring waiting for Foley and Lashley to come out and just as a the ref is about to raise their hands here comes Foley. They fight for a while and Angle had Foley in the Ankle Lock. The lights go out, Sting points to Angle from the stands, the lights go out, Lashley is in the ring. Now, Lashley looked terrible. He looked like he had no idea how to hit his spots, but regardless he knocks out Nash and Foley pins Big Sexy to win the TNA Legends Championship.
Dr Octogon Brings the Squared-Circle: The State of Wrestling 07/27/09 Edition
Jul 29th
Well kids, we have had some pretty craptastic wrestling the past couple of weeks. TNA Victory Road 2009 was incredibly boring and very poorly executed. TNA Impact has been its fairly consistent up and down. RAW has mostly been a wild inferno of flaming turds for the last several weeks. ECW has been good except for the Bella Twins and Abraham Washington, he isn’t even good in an ironic way with his current gimmick. Superstars is usually one of the more entertaining shows, often taking the best from all three WWE brands. Smackdown is usually all good with only Jeff Hardy floundering, but I think that is probably due to his desire to take some time off. Ring of Honor, I really just don’t get. Sometimes they can put on a pretty entertaining show, but they seem not to have a lot of direction right now. I have to watch the same matches over and over and they have way too many pot jokes or pot related gimmicks.
TNA Impact 07/23/09
TNA was really bad this week. The whole thing was mis-planned, mis-timed, and completely out of whack. Victoria did a promo that sounded completely like she did not know she was about to do a promo. Kevin Nash looked like he needed to be wheeled to the ring. Kurt Angle and Mick Foley were both cutting great promos and are really the glue holding this promotion together right now. It seems the rumored Jeff Jarret drama may really be affecting the company. There was one moment in the program that I almost felt offended by the show though. LAX members and friends, Hernandez and Homicide almost got in a fight in the back with no explanation offered. It was if they were saying, Homicide and Hernandez are just a couple of stupid Mexicans and they are just going to fight for no reason. It just really didn’t sit well with me.
Smackdown 07/24/09
I thought this was a pretty good lead in to Night of Champions. Nothing on here made me care about the Women’s Title, but CM Punk made a really strong heel move, which probably should have been a tip off for Night of Champions. I don’t remember anything terrible about this show, and I have been really pumped about the direction they are going with Dolph Ziggler. Despite being saddled with one of the worst names in wrestling, that Vince certainly picked for him, Ziggler has been excelling in his “Mr Perfect”-esque routine.
Night of Champions 07/26/09
I thought Night of Champions was a much better effort than their usual show this time of year. The Women’s and Diva’s Title matches were pretty much throw aways but at least they stopped trying to make Michelle McCool ugly. Maryse was absolutely terrible, even garnishing looks of disgust from her opponent, Mickie James. They are trying to put the performance off on a knee injury but Maryse just really isn’t very good. I did not have a problem with the results but I thought the finishes were poorly done in some spots. It was great that The Legacy finally started acting like a heel faction at PPV, but I still think the Orton/Cena/HHH finish was still mis-booked. Cena and HHH both had Orton in submissions, Orton tapped, the Ref didn’t know how to call it, Legacy jumps in, Orton ends up RKO-ing Cena for the win. I think this finish made Orton look weak and the Ref look stupid. I understand that they wanted to have Orton retain but still put over Cena and HHH. Legacy just should have jumped in before Orton tapped. I thought the Mysterio and Hardy wins both failed for similar reasons. These are two guys that I like a lot when they are booked correctly. Mysterio’s previous feud with Jericho showed how entertaining Mysterio matches can be when his relatively small scale moves are not considered uncounterable and uber-powerful. Hardy suffers from this same phenomenon, we are supposed to believe that his rather run of the mill finishers are supposed to be something special. I would love to see a wrestler simply not have finishers, but that is not the way Hardy and Mysterio have been presented. I simply cannot believe that the 619 or the Swanton Bomb would really do any damage to most of their opponents. I enjoy all the unorthodox pushes coming out of Smackdown and hope they keep it up. But if Jeff Hardy is going get a Main Event push, he is useless to me unless he does the extreme stuff we are used to seeing from him.
RAW 07/27/09
This was one of the technically better RAW shows than I have seen in a long time. There was good wrestling, good production besides another Lillian Garcia slip, and a good guest host in Shaq. The only problem I had with the show is the general way the WWE handles these Beat The Clock matches. They qualify 5 men for the #1 Contender but they ignore their opponents. For the matches to be logically consistent, they need to qualify all 10 men involved. After all, Evan Bourne really beat the clock the Monday night when he pinned Jack Swagger and should be the #1 Contender. I thought that Legacy is finally congealing as a real faction and that the HHH/Cody Rhodes match was a great display of classical mat wrestling for the most part. Cody attacking the same knee of HHH was reminiscent of his father’s time and I thought it was a great change from the norm today. For the most part, I really watched the Beat the Clock challenge closely and would only have changed the result slightly. Even up until the end, I was hoping that MArk henry would make it all the way to the end and face Orton at Survivor Series.
ECW 07/28/09
I thought ECW put in a really strong performance tonight. I like the mix of veterans on the show to help mentor and train all the young talent they bring up. I think this is the best mix they have yet and the formula is showing results on other shows where Evan Bourne, Jack Swagger, Kofi Kingston, and CM Punk are all doing great in the spotlight. I think I am falling in love with the General Manager Tiffany, she is so f-ing cute. Anyway, no Abraham Washington Show, big plus. Unfortunately, I think they spoiled yet another black-on-black feud featuring Shelton Benjamin, so that will keep him away from yet another title run. All the new guys, Sheamus, Tyler Reks, and Yoshi Tatsu are doing good so far. But watch for the Champ, Captain Charisma. He is awesome.
Here are the RAW guest host rankings so far:
1. Ted DiBiase
2. Shaq
3. Seth Green
4. Batista
5. ZZ Top
6. Trump
Dr Octogon Brings the Squared-Circle: WWE RAW 07/20/09 Edition
Jul 21st
Ok, the ZZ Top hosted RAW tonight was f-ing terrible. You could tell their stuff was pre-recorded and there were so many production mistakes, I thought I was watching TNA. Lillian Garcia even announced that Hornswaggle was going to win the match when she introduced him. WOW. These guest hosts have been hit and miss so far and I really don’t understand this ZZ Top thing. I believe they live around this area so they were not local flair for NC and they are far from topical like Seth Green. I am going to start ranking these guest hosts, so we can keep track. I am purely ranking Trump at the bottom because I did not watch a single second he was on the air and of what I did watch the two weeks he was involved were the two worst weeks of RAW I have ever seen.
1. Ted DiBiase
2. Seth Green
3. Batista
4. ZZ Top
5. Donald Trump
Shaq is next week. At least he will probably make a relevant live appearance and has charisma beyond only having stupid hair, unlike the two bottom dwellers of our list. I expect him to take the #2 spot. There is no way we will do better than the Million Dollar Man.
Off the Rack: X-Men Forever Edition #3
Jul 14th
Off the Rack: X-Men Forever Edition #3
In the beginning of this issue we find out that some unknown group has planted a secret “Agent” on the X-Men’s team. In the first pages of the book we find out that Sabretooth (whom attacked Storm last issue) only infiltrated the X-Men mansion to track down Wolverine’s killer. We discover in this “X-Men Forever” reality Sabretooth is Wolverine’s father who returns every year to fight his son on his birthday. What a great dad, no wonder Wolverine is so screwed up. This father/son idea is just Chris Claremont again making sure you know this is his reality and he controls everything in it. Claremont’s original origin for Sabretooth was this idea of him being Wolverine’s dad, so I guess doing X-Men Forever allowed our boy Chris to bring back what I assume he thinks are better ideas for certain characters. If the story idea of X-Men Forever is that these stories take place after X-Men 1-3 and everything up to that point and before are in continuity then why is Claremont bringing up one of his old ideas that never seen print before. I mean are we to believe that every time Sabretooth had shown up to fight Wolverine before this moment it was his birthday? Good grief.
Despite all this Storm wants to kills Sabretooth and move on (Does that sound familiar? See Wolverine in issue #1). The X-Men disagree with Storm. Shadowcat continues to complain about her arm hurting. This has been a complaint of hers since she first phased through Wolverine in issue #1. While the X-Men argue the fate of Sabretooth, Professor Xavier mind probes Jean Grey to see if he can find out who might have killed Wolverine, since Jean was mind-linked to him and seeing what he saw right before he died. Through the mind probe we see that Jean and Wolverine had deeper feelings for each other, deeper than any of us ever knew. Which is Claremont adding more of something that was never there before, sure there was a crush between the two, but a crush is not what we see here. Professor X is shocked to learn of the bond between these two and more shocked to find out it was Storm that killed Wolverine.
Upon finding this out Professor X orders Cyclops to capture both Sabretooth and Storm. Jean has a “Phoenix moment” and threatens to kill Storm herself for killing the man she loved (Yes in this reality she loves Wolverine), sigh. Jean quickly collapses due to fatigue. Cyclops notices that Jean said she loved Wolverine, but realizes that the duties of leading the X-Men come first and orders the X-Men to apprehend Storm and Sabretooth. Storm attacks the X-Men, this battle wages on for a couple of pages until she has had enough and locks the X-Men in the Danger Room with a power dampener on so they cannot follow her. Shadowcat (somehow) phases through the wall despite the power dampener field being on and gives chase after Storm. Once Shadowcat finds her, Storm orders her to stand down, but Shadowcat refuses so they begin to brawl. During the battle a familiar noise is heard “SNIKT!”, that’s right the pain in her arm since issue #1 has been one of Wolverine’s claws stuck inside her. She pops out that claw and gouges out one of Storm’s eyes. Storm screams in pain and this is where the issue ends.
A simple breakdown of the issue would be as follows:
Page 1: Silhouette of people talking about their “Agent” engaging and killing Wolverine.
Page 2-4: X-Men recover from battle with Sabretooth in the Danger Room. Storm wants to kill him. Shadowcat complains about her arm hurting.
Page 5-11: Professor X and Hank McCoy work on Jean Grey in the infirmary. Professor X enters Jeans mind to see what she saw through Logan’s eyes right before he died. Storm killed Wolverine.
Pages 12-14: X-Men talk to Sabretooth. We find out Sabretooth is Wolverine’s father and wants to avenge his son’s death. Professor X orders Cyclops to capture both Storm and Sabretooth.
Pages 15-20: Jean Grey has a “Phoenix moment” and attacks Storm before collapsing from fatigue. Storm fights the X-Men.
Pages 21-22: Storm runs from the battle, Shadowcat chases her down. Storm attacks first, but Shadowcat pops a claw “Snikt!” and gouges out one of Storms eyes, continued next issue.
This book is pure comic crap crack! How can I love to hate a comic so bad? Some of the plots already feel the same. Last issue we saw Storm blinding Sabretooth now it looks like Shadowcat has done the same thing to Storm, two similar endings in 2 of the 3 books so far. Another re-occurring plot theme is Wolverine wanting to kill and dispose of Cortez in issue #1 and Storm wanting to do the same in issue #3 to Sabretooth. Maybe these plots will all play out as there are still two more parts to this first story arc. Only time will tell, but so far the story is still a heaping pile of poo.
See you in two weeks for Off the Rack: X-Men Forever Edition #4
Below are some brief reviews for books from the week of July 8th 2009.
R.E.B.E.L.S. #6 (DC)
So according to this issue we finally get to meet the “REAL” Starro the Conqueror, and he looks a lot like Frank Frazetta’s Death Dealer character. Regardless of his look, Vril Dox and his gang of space traveling heroes strike back at the invading Starro Army, but is it enough?
Wednesday Comics #1 (DC)
Pure comic awesomeness! Everything about this is fun and well worth the price. This is the kind of comic that will pull former comic readers back into comic shops.
This is the first issue of the weekly newspaper formatted comic, inside is 15 oversized and serialized stories all done by different creative teams which include: Batman by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso, Kamandi by Dave Gibbons and Ryan Sook, Hawkman by Kyle Baker, Deadman by Dave Bullock and Vinton Heuck, Superman by John Arcudi and Lee Bermejo, Green Lantern by Kurt Busiek and Joe Quinones, Metamorpho by Neil Gaiman and Mike Allred, Teen Titans by Eddie Berganza and Sean Galloway, Strange Adventure (Adam Strange) by Paul Pope, Supergirl Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner, Metal Men by Dan Didio and Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, Wonder Woman by Ben Caldwell, Sgt. Rock by Adam Kubert and Joe Kubert, Flash by Karl Kerschl and Brendan Fletcher, and finally The Demon and Catwoman by Walter Simonson and Brian Stelfreeze. WOW! With a line up like that it is a no brainer get this book!
Seth Green
Jul 13th
Day 3 of My 3 Day Drunk....
Is it me or does Seth Green wrestling look like a Make A Wish Foundation kid living his dream? Lets all watch curling from now on….
