Friday, April 25, 2014

Legends House teases fights, delivers fun

Is "Legends House" living up to your expectations?

I don't know what I was expecting these past two years I've been eagerly awaiting "Legends House." (Yes, it really has been THAT long since they filmed.) I don't think I wanted to see them act like their characters, even though those are the names they are using on the show. Maybe I've watched too much Real Housewives drama that I'm jaded.

They keep teasing that these personalities don't mix well. Tony Atlas and Hacksaw Jim Duggan argued, but that really was nothing compared to the Guidices. Roddy Piper even went for a concerning walk, but that truly was more of a healthy thing. The rest is just basic ribbing-- they are having fun with each other.

And, yes, it's nice to see these guys get along, but that doesn't make compelling television. Maybe that's why the show didn't air before now (I seem to remember it originally meant to be aired on some channel, or at least being shopped.)

The best part of the show so far was the attempt to make food or somehow find food via GPS. It was amazing that these guys apparently have never had to prepare and cook their own food. It was real. It was really them, learning each other's skills and working together to reach a goal. (Yes, Mean Gene and Pat played cards, but only after their own failed attempt. Their card playing encouraged the others to get involved.)

Perhaps that should have been the focus of the show all along-- sort of like that Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie reality show-- put these guys in normal situations for the rest of us, and let us watch as they fumble and discover each other's strengths, especially since they seem so concerned about fighting. Maybe, especially since that argument was about working with kids, they could babysit kids of various ages. Wouldn't it be fun to see Mean Gene exclaim, "Holy Balls!" after opening a diaper?

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Death of a Warrior

Just days after he was inducted into the Hall of Fame, WWE confirmed the Ultimate Warrior died last night. He was 54 years old.

According to TMZ, Warrior collapsed outside an Arizona hotel while walking to his car with his wife, Dana.

On Monday night, Warrior (he legally changed his name to that in 1993) may have only walked down the ramp to ring, but still shook the ropes before starting a now eerie speech:

Every man's heart one day beats its final beat. His lungs breathe their final breath. And if what that man did in his life makes the blood pulse through the body of others and makes them believe deeper in something that's larger than life, then his essence, his spirit, will be immortalized by the storytellers, by the loyalty, by the memory of those who honor him, and make the running the man did live forever.


I am happy his young daughters were able to not only see their father inducted into the Hall of Fame Saturday night, but were also able to see him cheered by the fans while sitting front row at Raw Monday night.

Warrior is a past WWF Champion and Intercontinental Champion. He made his WWF/WWE debut in 1987.

Many Superstars of past and present offered their condolences and memories on social media:









Monday, April 7, 2014

WrestleMania 30: Post Blog

A year ago, while we were happy to be hosting WrestleMania in the Garden State, some of us thought it would have been more fitting for this year's show to be in NJ/NY. After all, the first, X and XX were at Madison Square Garden.

But, you could say, even though the biggest show in wrestling entertainment was more than 1,200 miles away, NJ and NY still stole the show.

As the show opened, we saw one of favorite "Real Housewives of New Jersey," Melissa Gorga, on display in the front row. In other diva news, Jersey Girl AJ Lee retained her title against 13 competitors.

In the biggest news of the night, New Yorker Paul Heyman saw his beast, Brock Lesnar, defeat The Undertaker.

Yes, it took a New Yorker finding an MMA-trained wrestler for Taker's streak to end.

I'm not sure if this is something we can be proud of-- in fact, this probably increases Lesnar and Heyman's heeldom, if that's possible. (And yes, I'm such a heel, that I made up that word. Go ahead, try to look it up.)

Hopefully, as Taker announces his retirement tonight, someone will come from the rafters and convince him he has one more match in him. That's when we can be proud and say if it wasn't for Heyman, well, you know the rest...

Sunday, April 6, 2014

WrestleMania 30: Who's There?

Every year, we wonder who will make some sort of surprise appearance at WrestleMania or the Raw after. Here's who's been spotted in New Orleans this weekend, according to various sources on the Internet:

- I think I saw every living Hall of Famer at the Hall of Fame ceremony except Edge. Plus, all the guys from "Legends House" are there promoting the show at Axxess.

- Several people have reported seeing CM Punk, usually with AJ Lee. Even Stone Cold Steve Austin has predicted that CM Punk will return at WrestleMania.

- The Rock is there. JR tweeted a photo of himself with The Rock and Stone Cold with the WrestleMania hashtag.

- Victoria/Tara was in the audience at the Hall of Fame ceremony.

Friday, April 4, 2014

WrestleMania 30: Follow the buzzards

The most underrated match at WrestleMania XXX is the clash between John Cena and Bray Wyatt.
Cena has almost always been involved in the main event, the title match or both at the biggest show of the year, but kudos to the WWE – which has struggled creatively in recent months – for building a side story for Cena that is worth our attention.
When the Wyatt Family first appeared on the scene, I took to referring to them as the “Red Neck Shield,” but after a few months of developing the characters and sticking with their mantra, they turned into a solid faction.
Plus, all three of those guys can flat out perform in the ring, even if you just think of the other two guys as Goat Face and Brisco Darling. Dudes can wrestle, pure and simple.
Enter Cena, who is the shining light of goodness, never to be tempted by the Dark Side of Heeldom, to stop these minions of darkness – and possibly moonshine. Wyatt rips on Cena for being the too-good-to-be-true hero figure to the children of the world, which of course he is, even though the E! Network is running promos nonstop about Cena being suspected of cheating on Nikki Bella in next week’s episode of Total Divas.
Cena is a great all-time champion, but he has such a polarizing effect on WWE crowds that you never know how he will be received. The crowd was heavily pro-Harper in a recent match where Cena faced the bearded minion of the sinister family, and even though Cena is the face in this storyline, most of the marks aren’t taking the bait.
But maybe this is a different Cena, who seems to be taking this match seriously as opposed to rapping about his opponent or bantering with The Rock about Fruity Pebbles.
So who wins? Cena is 7-3 all-time at Mania, with two of those defeats being part of the same storyline (Rock vs. Cena, three times in a lifetime). The ideal situation is a brutal match that is eventually won by Wyatt, getting the budding young star over and giving Cena something to fight for.
In a perfect world, Cena will come back on Monday’s RAW and team up with a returning star like Kurt Angle or Sting to overcome the Wyatts later on.
Either way, this match could steal the show if it’s done right.

Thursday, April 3, 2014

WrestleMania 30: The Divas

At the first WresleMania, the Women's Championship was so important, it was one of the main events and had one pop's biggest stars involved as a manager.

Last year, there was no Divas Championship match at WrestleMania. In fact, the only match involving Divas, the eight-person mixed tag match of Tons of Funk vs. the Rhodes Scholars and the Bellas, was axed at the last moment due to time constraints.

(This was extremely disappointing to Divas fans especially since Trish- arguably the best Women's Champion ever, if you don't count Moolah's Hogan-esque reign- was inducted into the Hall of Fame the night before, and the match involved one of her old partners, Albert.)

This year, perhaps as an olive branch of sorts, just about every Diva (I say "just about" because I know if I say "all," someone will point out that there is a Diva not in the match) will participate in the Vickie Guerrero Divas Championship Invitational match.

This is a one-fall match, meaning AJ could lose the title without being pinned.
While the best story may come out of Tamina winning- and it would be nice to see her win, since technically her dad was a winner at the first WrestleMania- it seems too obvious. Yes, the obvious seems to be happening lately, but for some reason, I don't think the WWE wants to take the "Total Divas" out of the equation.

That brings me to Natalya winning. There has been a lot of talk about her inability to win the title again on the show, plus, she had to suffer that loss to Summer Rae Monday night. Perhaps Summer was given that opportunity because the plans are for Natalya to win the bigger prize Sunday night.

The sleeper pick is Emma. Yes, Emma. She seems to be full of surprises, and her being in the right place at the right time could be the biggest surprise of her career. Sure, she couldn't beat Paige for the NXT Women's Championship, but then again, she is on the main roster and Paige is not.

Oh, and if AJ somehow wins, I wouldn't be surprised if they redo this match on Raw- possibly without the title on the line- with someone else winning.

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

WrestleMania 30: The Paycheck

Hulk Hogan recalled his match with Andre the Giant at WrestleMania III as his inspiration for the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania. But, as you may know from watching WWE Network at the very least, Andre was in the first ever WrestleMania winning the Body Slam Challenge against Big John Studd.

This would be a great honor for the first inductee to the Hall of Fame, if this wasn't an over promotion of the typical let's-give-these-guys-a-paycheck-and-throw-them-in-a-battle-royal match held during many WrestleManias. The only difference is this year, there's a trophy.

Yes, this is the consolation match for all the guys in the locker room who didn't make their way to a compelling or semi-compelling story worthy of WrestleMania by now, but did work hard all year to be at WrestleMania.

Since this is also the 30th Anniversary, I wouldn't be surprised if a few guys from the first WrestleMania, like Rowdy Roddy Piper, Cowboy Bob Orton, Ricky the Dragon Steamboat, the Iron Sheik, Jimmy Snuka or even Mr. T find their way into the match. Having one of the guys from "Legends House" (which premieres April 10), like Piper, could help with cross-promotion.

I would like to see Big Show win, since the big guy never wins Battle Royals and this one is named after the wrestler with the same condition he has. Big Show was even once upon a time Andre's son in a story. Another guy with "big" in his name may be more likely- Big E Langston seems to be getting a push lately, and I'm pretty sure that was new entrance music I heard for him...

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

WrestleMania 30: Tag Time

This year, the Tag Team Title match will be the pre-show for WrestleMania. While I don't like title matches being the pre-show for any PPV, there is one other thing I don't like about this match.

I wish Cody Rhodes and Goldust were in this match instead of the Real Americans. This match had the opportunity to have each team with multi-generational wrestlers, including one team with a family member going into the Hall of Fame. This could have have been a special match for the 30th WrestleMania, considering the history of the families.

But no, The Real Americans, who, in my opinion, have gotten stale lately, were placed in this match.

I see the Colons, I mean, Los Matadores, winning the titles, if the Usos don't retain. I know, I know, but I have good reasons. Los Matadores will see Carlos Colon (Primo's dad, Epico's uncle) go into the Hall of Fame the night before. Now, sometimes, when something special like this happens, they get screwed in some other way, which goes with Usos retaining. I see the Usos retaining as part of the Total Divas promotion.

Of course, the reason The Real Americans got into this title match is thanks to Kane, who found his way into another match. He, along with the New Age Outlaws, will face The Shield at WrestleMania.

This match I don't understand. It basically gives Kane, Billy Gunn and Road Dogg a paycheck. I do not see how this benefits The Shield at all. The Shield's story line was progressing toward a split. I only see this bringing them closer together. It also kinda gives them a face turn, which, while we do like them, they aren't exactly faces.

I suppose The Shield will win simply because The New Outlaws need to go back to their backstage jobs at some point. Right?