Results from gerweck.net

Last night was a good night to go to bed early and catch up on your daylight savings sleep. The first four matches were decent to very good, but beyond that, it was a great big heaping pile of suck. Any time you involve dead aquatic creatures in a match and beat people with them, you know that something is terribly wrong.

A nice video package opened the show telling us about the sacrifices that TNA wrestlers make in the ring to entertain the fans and achieve their goals. Yeah, I guess that making $1000 an appearance, a hotel room, a rental car, and getting free reign around Universal Studios twice a month doesn’t play into it… they make this sacrifice ONLY to entertain us.

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There’s not too many times in my life that I would start writing something where I said, “I was crapping my guts out this week.” So, I won’t. Instead:

I would have gotten the boys together for an official roundtable for this show, but I was crapping my guts out this week. There.

Anyway, enough body function humor. I don’t want to steal all of TNA’s gimmicks for this Sunday. The best part about this review is that TNA’s web site isn’t even up-to-date at 9:48 am EST for three matches that were supposed to be added from last night’s Impact, which I find to be very bush-league for a company that’s supposed to be your WWE alternative. I mean, Shane-O-Mac gets his dot-com boys on the job THE NIGHT OF THE SHOW.

So, I will cover both the official and rumored matches and see if I can’t get a recap of last night’s show to get you all the tripe that they’re going to be serving down south this weekend (which I guess is a delicacy to them, so to each his own).

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Like Santa Claus, Spectrum only comes around once per year and is always highly anticipated. This annual collection of the world’s best contemporary fantasy and Sci-fi art is always a favorite not only due to its sheer size and beautiful production, but also because of its diversity in scope. Spectrum presents the best art from the fields of books, comics, advertising, editorial, concept, and even sculpture into each year’s volume.

As always, the book begins with a look at the year in review and the trends in contemporary fantasy art before getting into the opening category of advertising art and presenting the first of its gold and silver annual awards to the best in each category. This year’s gold winner in the advertising category went to James Jean for his Retro-hip “Spacerace 2020” painting for Nike. This gorgeous pop-art piece is a tribute to Sci-Fi imagery of the ‘40s and ‘50s. (more…)

It looks like Corey and I split this one down the middle for 5 out of 6 each. I really should have guessed the obvious finish to the Elimination Chamber match to go for the perfect 6, but for some reason I just though that was too obvious a choice. He made a good point though about how Hunter has been quietly out of the title picture now for a couple of years and giving him the belt would be a good reward for being the company man. He also apparently has the inside track on the Raw main event at Wrestlemania, as it’s being said that it will be a Triple Threat Match with Hunter, Cena, and Orton.

However, Corey said that Orton would win by DQ. He retained the title, but John Cena won that one, and the Legend Killer lives (barely) to fight another day.

I had some pretty low expectations for this show given Rey Mysterio’s injury, the Smackdown elimination chamber looking pretty lousy on paper, and the given that there would be no real outcome to the WWE title match. I guess then if my expectations were so low, I was pleasantly surprised…

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Spider-Man The Icon, $49.95 (Titan Books) Written by Steve Saffel.  There have been some fantastic books published over the past couple of years about comic books and comic book characters and the latest is Spider-Man the Icon from Titan Books.  This 320 page, hardcover tome traces the evolution of the character from his beginning in Amazing Fantasy #15 to his present day status as a blockbuster pop culture superstar.   The book follows Spider-Man’s development, decade by decade.  This is a character whose origins even pre-date Amazing Fantasy #15.  Uncanny Tales #26 from 1954 featured a character called the Spider Man, which looked like a giant spider with a human head.  Seems the seeds for Spider-man were planted many years before his first appearance.  Interestingly, Aunt May and Uncle Ben made their first appearance two months before Spider-Man, in Strange Tales # 97.  Here the elderly couple had not a nephew, but a niece named Linda who turned out to be a mermaid!  The issue was drawn by artist Steve Ditko, and there’s certainly no doubt that this is the same Aunt May and Uncle Ben who would raise Peter Parker.  (more…)

Corey Henson and I sat down this week to put down some thoughts about Sunday’s No Way Out PPV, but first some news from WWE.com:

Rey Mysterio’s quest to regain the World Championship may have suffered a severe setback in Santiago, Chile, on Wednesday night. The injury occurred during Wednesday’s live event at Arena Santiago, where Mysterio teamed with Kane against Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins. During the tag contest, Rey suffered an apparent injury to his right arm – specifically his bicep. Clearly in pain, the Master of the 619 gutted it out and finished the match, then was quickly examined by WWE athletic trainer Jason Crivello upon leaving the ring.

Mysterio flew back to the United States late Wednesday night, and is currently in Gulf Breeze, Fla., waiting to meet with world-renowned surgeon Dr. James Andrews, who will determine the extent of the injury. Regardless of Dr. Andrews’ findings, Mysterio has his heart set on competing this Sunday night at No Way Out, where he is scheduled to face Edge for the World Championship.

This also from Pro Wrestling Insider:

He hasn’t had an MRI done. His mentality right now is that at all costs, he does not want to miss Wrestlemania, so if surgery is recommended, he’s going to have a major decision to make. We won’t know about Sunday’s PPV until after he sees Andrews and they determine the severity of the injury. They could have him show up and do an injury angle because there are no TV’s left before No Way Out, where he was scheduled to face Edge for the World title. Surgery would put him out around six months.

Bad luck for Rey Rey, as this would be the second straight Wrestlemania he’s missed since winning the World Championship there in 2006. Even if he tries to gut it out on Sunday, he’s not going to be able to hit some of his usual high spots, like the 619, so I can’t imagine he will do himself much good by trying to go. It seemed like with Edge and John Cena’s returns over the winter that the hard luck injury stories of last year were over, but they just keep going it seems…

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Bomb Queen III TPB $14.99 (Image Comics) Written by Jim Valentino and Jim Robinson; art by Jim Robinson.  Go ahead…I dare you to try and tell me that Bomb Queen isn’t one of the coolest, most kick-ass comics on the market today.  I triple-dog dare ya!  Robinson’s sarcastic and caustic Bomb Queen is sheer joy to read.  It simply pulverizes the standard superhero fare.  If you’ve never read the series let me quickly get you up to speed…New Port City is the Bomb Queen’s hometown and superheroes are strictly prohibited there.  BQ is the absolute ruler and doesn’t let anyone forget it.  Her battles with heroes who invade her turf are the highest rated shows on TV and the citizens of New Port City can’t get enough of their lovely Queen and her frequently shredded costume that displays her ample attributes.  Let’s get this straight…Bomb is one mean hottie, not above blowing up an annoying TV host or grabbing a kid to use as a shield.  Hey…wrong place wrong time!   Still, the Shadow Government keeps sending new heroes into the city to try and kill her.  This time it’s paid gun Red Cross who makes the mistake of trying to take out our anti-hero.  Cross will do anything to succeed, even if it means destroying the entire city with a small nuke.  The naïve but very powerful heroine Blacklight will try to intervene to prevent the catastrophe but will soon lead her into conflict with the Bomb Queen herself.   Bomb Queen is edgy, intelligent fun.  Bomb Queen is about as evil as they come and yet you can’t help but be infatuated with her.  She’s so bad she’s good!  This is the third Bomb Queen series and it keeps getting better and better.  Robinson’s art is outstanding…colorful and dynamic but it’s his witty dialog that really pushes this series above so many of its boring brethren.  Strictly for mature readers, though!  Grade A

Back Issue Magazine #26  (TwoMorrows Publishing) Edited by Michael Eury.  TwoMorrows is really one of the best publishers around, period!  For comic fans, especially for long time comic fans, their line of books and magazines are like dying and going to geek heaven.  From Roy Thomas’ longtime fanzine Alter Ego, to the wonderful Jack Kirby Collector, and one of the very best publications, Back Issue Magazine.  Each issue spotlights a different comic’s theme and #26 is a “Spies and Tough Guys” issue that features a Black Widow cover by Paul Gulacy.   The highlight of the issue for me is Dan Johnson’s interview with Gulacy and Doug Moench, the creative team behind one of my favorite comics from the 1970’s Shang-Chi, Master of Kung-Fu.  This title was unlike anything else produced in the 70’s when a title rarely survived more than a couple of years if it didn’t have a guy in a cape.  Moench and Gulacy talk about how the series was developed and their influences.  Evidently, Marvel got the rights to Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu character for a pittance and used the yellow menace as a backdrop for their James Bond-esque action/espionage series.  There is also an article about a proposed Nick Fury/Shang-Chi crossover that was to have been done by Moench, Gulacy, and Jim Steranko, but unfortunately the project fell through.   Another great interview is Mike Gagnon’s talk with Howard Chaykin about the now defunct Atlas Comics.  Not the Atlas of the 50’s that would become Marvel, but the Atlas started by former Marvel Comics founder Martin Greenberg in 1974.  Determined to beat Marvel at their own game, Greenberg hired some of the industry’s biggest talents, offering higher pay rates.  But almost as soon as it started, Atlas came crashing down like a house of cards and none of their titles reached beyond four issues.  As a young comic fan, I though I’d be selling those first issues for a gazillion dollars when I was older… Other articles feature a history of James Bond in the comics, the rebirth and death of Eclipse Comics’ Airboy, Michael Browning’s wonderful look at The Suicide Squad, the history of The Black Widow, and much more.  This is one of the most well written magazines around today.  Grade A    

From Gerweck.net:

“It’s being reported that TNA has only sold about 1600 tickets for the Against All Odds ppv tonight, which is in a 2500-3500 seat arena. Apparently WWE had only drew about 1000 paid when they tried running the same venue–something TNA should’ve taken note of. Apparently TNA has instituted a buy two tickets, get one free sale at the box office, and has also been giving away free tickets to local businesses.”

Nothing communicates excitement about a show like papering the audience…

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Hopefully I can get on the ball here soon and get the rest of the crew back in here before Wrestlemania for one of these, but in the meantime, check out the crap that TNA’s gonna try and sell you this weekend. 

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…hoping that Birdsong will hook me up with his employee discount so I can see Hornswoggle in a whole new way.

Or maybe not. Is it really worth $50 to get some of these PPVs in HD? Here’s the recap of the last couple of months to see why not (or why):

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I’ve missed recapping the last two PPVs, and since my link to Gerweck for TNA Genesis died, I figured I would be better served just recapping my recap that never was for the past month.

TNA Genesis (11.11.07): I think the funniest thing about this pay-per-view is that half the guys on the poster there weren’t on the show. I count only Abyss, AJ Styles, and JOE’S GONNA KILL YOU as the three that actually appeared on the show. I guess it would have just looked stupid to have seven different poses from Kurt Angle instead, considering how much the shows are built around the drunken pill-popper.

Seriously, Angle’s DUI arrest in September proves that he is still not okay, he is still an addict, and that he needs help. He quit WWE because he didn’t like the schedule and needed some time away from the ring, but then he showed up in TNA about a week later. Dude needs to stop before something stops him.

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Results from gerweck.net 

Doesn’t Candice Michelle look like friggin’ plastic in that picture? 

I actually have grown to like the concept of this pay-per-view over the years, and this used to be the only way you could see guys from different brands working with each other on the same show. I guess there’s still some debate as to whether or not the voting is rigged or not, but it’s a night of mindless fun that doesn’t really have an effect on the overall course of storylines and such, so I guess you either like it or you don’t. I’d like to see them utilize that gimmick on the weekly shows too.

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Results from Gerweck.net

TNA went on the road again for their WrestleMania event of the year. Meh.

In other news, some local indy wrestling personalities threatened to sue me last week for some statements I made on a local wrestling hotline and web site. After everything was settled, I agreed to discontinue appearing on that hotline and web site and pretty much discontinue my involvement with the local independent wrestling scene.

People love it when you mock WWE and TNA, because it doesn’t directly affect them. When you turn that same attention toward the people in your own community, they can’t take the heat. That’s about all I’ll say on the matter.

I’m actually glad. When I wrote that piece on Chris Benoit earlier in the year, I seriously considered ignoring pro wrestling, because the business is dirty, cutthroat, and it chews up people and spits them out. Why I reconsidered… I don’t know. I guess it was just weird to stop paying attention. I do know that I pay less attention than I used to, and I really only have time to read results and that’s about it.

So, anyway, sorry about the delay in getting this up from last week. I was just kind of absorbed in some other endeavors.

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Results from Gerweck.net 

John Cena’s hurt, so we get a new champion. Meanwhile, Randy Orton has to wash his hands after handling bird poop in that picture.

The show opened with Vince McMahon and his part-time girlfriend William Regal headed to the ring. McMahon immediately crowned Randy Orton as the new WWE Champion while the crowd chanted “Y2J” in a vote of confidence. Orton went to the ring to select a challenger, but Triple H interrupted instead. He wanted a title match, Vince gave in, and that match started the show (!?!?)

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Results from Gerweck.net

By all reports, this was a pretty bad show. We shall see…

ECW World Champion CM Punk retained over Elijah Burke. This was a slow-to-decent opener, but it again shows what a third-rate brand the company believes them to be. The only match ECW gets on any show is the title match, and even then, it’s never really that “extreme”, and it’s never contested at the end of the show with the other major titles. I know that Jim Ross keeps saying over on his blog that we’ll never see the “old” ECW again, but the problem is that very few people are interested in this “new” ECW they’re trying to foist upon us. No one in the crowd seemed interested in this match, and that’s pretty sad considering CM Punk is fairly over with the fans. Punk won with a rolling cradle.

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