Sunday, April 26, 2015

love hate Extreme Rules 2015

Spudguns! Coffee time, here's what I thought about tonight's ppv. Which given I had a migraine and wasn't feeling well, had a difficult time watching the tv screen, or for that matter, concentrating on typing...

Pre-show: Barrett vs the troll king...I mean Neville.  And of course they had Neville win. Crap!
Otherwise, they wasted too much time with recaps. But, I have to say, Seth Rollins can express more with a sad eyed look then half the guys can with five minutes of mic time. 
Dean Ambrose looked drunk...just saying. 

Match#1-  Dean Ambrose vs Luke Harper in a Street Fight.  Both swinging fists before the bell outside the ring. Shocker for ya. They jumped into their car and drove out into the city...they just wanted to get to a television to watch Good Wife and Battle Creek...  They came back 45 minutes later, and half way finished the match. Made their way back to the ring, Harper buried Ambrose with chairs, but Ambrose got out before he could do anything. Ambrose won...normally I would be more excited one of my werewolves won but...migraine. And I really didn't care to see yet another street fight to begin with.

Match#2-Dolph Ziggler vs Sheamus in a Kiss me Arse match. Bloody hell dude, why?  It seems I'm the only one on the planet who likes Sheamus's new look, I think it's groovy. Then again I'm Newfie which is half Irish so deal with it frealniks.  Ziggler won, and Sheamus really played it up that he didn't want to kiss...I wouldn't either...then Sheamus landed a low blow...er that sounds so wrong...keeping from having to kiss Ziggler's arse.  Sheamus then with a knocked out Ziggler, grabbed him and made him kiss his arse. I like Sheamus...he's pale as chalk, got that Dracula thing happening for him.

Match#3-New Day vs Kidd/Cesaro for Tag titles.  Normally, I'm a big fan of the tag team division, but this last year, the division has blown dog backwards man.  Don't know if it's just the bad gimmicks, or guys who don't truly gel together, or bad storylines or what, but creative needs a dog bone and a mint. Kofi got the win for New Day...what? Why?

Match#4-Cena vs Rusev for the United States title in a chain match. Cena won like we didn't read that script.

Match#5- women's...bathroom break...

Match#6-Roman Reigns vs Big Show in a last man standing match. I know they put their hands up to buffer the hits when they get thrown into the ring posts on the outside, but how often do they break their hands and arms on those? The running spear on the announce booth by Reigns was spiffy. And showing how strong Reigns is by lifting the booth was also spiffy. Reigns won...thank god!
That's two werewolves for the win...

Bo Dallas vs Ryback...ten second throw away match for no reason. Which given they didn't have a ref or bell, wasn't really a match...so not counting it as one.

Main Event- Seth Rollins vs Randy Orton in a cage match for the heavyweight title. And the signal went out during the main event...what the hell?  Lost almost 3 minutes of the match. Rollins won. He cheated...but...That's a werewolf hat trick.

I have to say, normally I shell out for the pay-per-views because of the Ambrose factor, but this month it was all about Rollins for me. I still want the Shield back together.

Love Ardeth Blood

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Pre-thoughts Extreme Rules 2015

Hold your crickets there, you knew I was getting around to this post this week. I've just had other things on my mind.

As of this post, we have Cena vs Rusev, Rollins vs Orton, Reigns vs Show, Bryan vs Barrett, Kidd/Cesaro vs New Day, Sheamus vs Dolph, and Ambrose vs Harper.

A steel chain match, a cage match, kiss my arse match, last man standing, and street fight. I think the tag team match and the Intercontinental title match are the only two listed as "regular" matches...which given this is a ppv dedicated to the "spirit" of hardcore; they are the extreme matches and the rest are pretty much the kids meals on this menu.

So, Cena vs Rusev...nothing new here. We've seen big guys at the end of leashes before, drag each other around exhausted trying to hit every turnbuckle while remembering the words to ring-around-the-rosie.  Doesn't matter if you call this a ball and chain match, four corners touch match, ring-around-the-rosie match, or what; after loosing to Rusev the last few times, Cena's got this in his back pocket.

Kidd/Cesaro vs New Day...I can't even get the energy to...what was I saying? Kidd/Cesaro for the win. Unless creative is ready to heel it up with the New Day. That's the only way those three mis-matched preachers are going to come out on top. If they heel turn...if two of them heel turn and giver the bottom of their boots to the third.  I've surprised myself that I've stayed awake long enough to write that. Both teams have become the answer to insomnia.

Bryan vs Barrett for the United States title. How are they going to fix this match if Bryan is injured? Unless they turn it into a tag team match or triple threat with say Adam Rose or something, and have Bryan just happen to loose the title while not in the ring because Barrett pinned someone else...I don't see this match going down in any other way. Daniel Bryan might as well just be on commentary for this one.

Sheamus vs Dolph in a kiss me arse match. Oh god! Really? Seriously? Why? As much as I would love to see Sheamus's naked arse on tv in techicolour...vampires aren't in any colour though are we...I have never seen the point of these humiliation matches. They go beyond stupid sorry. I think Dolph is going to win this just because creative doesn't know what else to do with either of these poor guys right now.

Roman Reigns vs Big Show...last man standing match. Okay, this could go either way depending on how creative plan on using the other two werewolves in their matches. This so far for the list of matches makes the most sense. Last man standing is a classic, hardcore or not. And it could be used as a straight up brutal force wind knock the dude off the mountain with nothing but an uprooted oak tree or it could be used as a mind over matter mat match. Hence classic. But we know in this case, it's going to be a throw the ring bell still attached to the time keeper  at the opponent type of match. Sad really, that with all the potential that Reigns has, they are still only using him to shoulder open locked doors.   Even if Reigns ends up being the last man standing here, he's going to loose a few years. 

Seth Rollins vs Randy Orton...cage match with the RKO banned. Huh. The end result can only be Orton getting the title by Kane's interference. Not to help Orton but to shack over Rollins. This werewolf will come out bloody and bruised and beaten like a whimpering pup, but I think that will be held in favour with Reigns winning his match.

Dean Ambrose vs Luke Harper...in a Chicago street fight. Seriously? Seriously? Do the writers have nothing else in the kitchen that they can add to Ambrose's pot? I get it, he's built his career on taking as many punches as possible and stumbling back up. This werewolf makes the word dizzy look up the word concussion. Just once I'd like to see him shock the hell out of everyone and have a plain old fashioned mat match submissions style, nothing crazy. After the storyline they had started to give him last month before WM, where he was defending the history of the Intercontinental title, it would be nice to see him back it up. Prove that you're not just bad hair gel and safety pins. What on earth could this dude do if all the chairs/tables/ladders/weapons were banned and he had to stay in the ring? Is he even capable of doing an old fashioned match? I used to think he was better then this, but...my money is still on Ambrose...if he doesn't jump off the roof and break his neck before the end of the match.

Which brings me to what I meant by Rollins and Reigns winning their matches. We're coming to the year mark since the Shield were broken up. It's clear that creative have in mind to slap the title on Orton, leaving Rollins' character flapping in the wind like a ripped jacket. And with Big Show's character still firmly in the Authority, this leaves one storyline in my mind...putting the hounds back together. But if they are going to do that, I'd suggest sooner rather then later, given how often Ambrose seems to get himself hurt. I give that boy 4 years max before he kills himself in the ring.

see you after the ppv
Love Ardeth Blood.


Sunday, April 19, 2015

Do you feel fake yet?

It's no secret that for years, I was anti-WWE. I wouldn't watch the product, wouldn't talk about it, and went out of my way to avoid it as much as possible. I was solidly in the corner of WCW, TNA, ROH, and a bunch of indie Canadian companies. I only started to swing back towards WWE few years ago when I started doing the wrestling reviews online.  At that time, that's what people wanted, so I gave in. Yeah, I sold out.
Now, it's pretty much the only game in town. Ironic when you really think about it. Where I'm located, there is nothing and I do mean nothing else being offered on television or ppvs, unless you want to spend hours trying to locate things other fans have uploaded online. Which, to be honest drives me insane. I hate having to search for something I love or even slightly like. So I don't. Then there is always the dreaded "sorry that's not available in your country" internet blocks which prevents lots of television shows/websites from showing video content here.

Sucks dog balls man.

This past week, I've been dealing with a few situations that has brought out the worst in some of the people around me. It led me to a conversation this morning about how fake people can be. Had nothing to do with the topic of wrestling, but everything to do with sticking to your personal values. Which got me thinking about how easily certain situations/people can sway you from your personal point of view. Call it peer pressure if you want to.

For anyone who doesn't know me, I'm the type of person who believes everything is a lesson to be learned from. I believe in a lot of things, and the timing of something is always a key factor.

Do I feel fake for swinging over to the WWE camp of fans?  Sometimes. More often then not, I ask myself would I be talking about this company if certain wrestlers were not part of it? My answer is always no. I ask myself, if certain wrestlers left would I stop watching? My answer is almost always yes.

This is a year where veils will be dropped in peoples lives in every aspect. Where so many on the planet will have to draw a line in the sand for their personal values/beliefs. Many will drop the fake people/situations in their lives, the situations that no longer add depth to their goals, or that straight up do not align with what your personal truth is. 

Am I saying I'm going to stop talking/blogging about WWE?  Not that I can commit to, at lest not today anyways. But, this was something sticking in my claw I needed to say, and this was an excellent example of something in my life that I let colour my view point. It's hard to show enthusiasm for something you don't always find strength/honor in.

Love Ardeth Blood