Here’s a great video that starts off with a promo from WWE Superstars Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter. Shortly into the clip, the two break character and address the viewers as Jake Hager and Wayne Keown, the real people behind the characters. Political commentator Glenn Beck recently took issue with these characters and their anti-immigration stance against Mexican wrestlers like Alberto Del Rio. He referred to the WWE as, “Stupid wrestling people.” Hager and Keown do a phenomenal job shutting down the “controversy” Beck is trying to create.
While the WWE has done a lot of questionable things over the years, there are several instances of the company responding to the mainstream media’s (sometimes) stupid view on pro-wrestling. This is one of those instances. Of course the reality check is self-serving as well. WWE is wisely capitalizing on the media coverage it has been receiving as a result of Beck’s put-down. The company has even invited to Beck to appear on Monday Night Raw. Whatever comes of the situation, it’s nice to see the WWE turning something negative into something positive.
Check out the promo when you have a chance and let me know what you think (please!).
On Monday Night Raw, WWE Champion Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson unveiled the company’s new title belt. The new WWE Championship has removable side plates, allowing it to be personalized to reflect the champion. The Rock’s version has bulls on the side, since one of his nicknames is “The Brahma Bull.” The center piece has the modern WWE logo, with the word “Champion” on the bottom. Some pro-wrestling fans love the new belt and others hate it. What say you? Kindly take today’s poll and share your thoughts on the new WWE Championship in the comments section.
[poll id=”176″]
As for me, I’m giving it a thumbs down (though I like it better than John Cena’s “spinning” belt). The WWE logo is lame and will likely be redesigned in five years. The bulls are hokey, the modern flourishes look tacky, and there’s nothing “regal” about the belt. My favorite championship belt of all time is the NWA title that Ric Flair held for years. It used a classic design, similar to boxing titles — a globe in the center and flags of different countries around the sides. Part of it was the way Flair sold the belt, often referring to it as “ten pounds of gold.” Similar to how he made his opponent’s moves seem bigger than they were, Flair made the belt seem like a glorious thing. It looked and felt special. The Rock’s belt looks like an art project made by a community college student.
Of course I’m no longer in the demographic targeted by WWE advertisers. It’s entirely possible that younger WWE fans think that the new belt is incredibly cool. And I’m sure thousands of young WWE fans will buy replicas of the belt (especially when John Cena inevitably gets the title again).
Now it’s your turn! Fire away against or in defense of The Rock’s WWE Championship belt (please).
Former WWE Superstar Dave Batista is up for the role of Drax the Destroyer in the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy movie. The casting would have been perfect when Drax was mentally crippled. (I’ve read Batista Unleashed and it brought me to the conclusion that Big Dave is a mental a cripple or a brilliant master of unintentional comedy.) Sadly, Drax’s recent characterization has him wielding lesser powers and his original, normal intellect level.
Still, there’s room for hope. ComicBookMovie noted that Drax’s backstory will be updated for the movie. Most recent superhero movies have had some comic relief and an idiotic Drax would fill that hole nicely. Out of the actors being considered for Drax, Batista would be the best idiot. He’s a natural fit!
Any thoughts on Dave Batista playing Drax the Destroyer?
Yes, you’re getting two Coffee Talk columns today, which makes this…Double Bonus Monday!!!
On a recent episode of ESPN’s Around the Horn, host Tony Reali talked about how the Philadelphia Seventy-Sixers’ “Big Bella” t-shirt canon resembled the spread gun from Contra. This prompted the show’s Michael Smith to recite the famous extra-lives code from the game. It was awesome seeing videogames being treated reverently by adults on mainstream television.
During ESPN’s pre-game show for the Los Angeles Lakers vs. the Los Angeles Clippers, host Michael Wilbon was talking about…more
Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, T-Mobile’s amazing $30 plan, dreaming of Lanikai Beach, or coconut sugar, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
Yes, you’re getting two Coffee Talk columns today, which makes this…Double Bonus Monday!!!
On a recent episode of ESPN’s Around the Horn, host Tony Reali talked about how the Philadelphia Seventy-Sixers’ “Big Bella” t-shirt canon resembled the spread gun from Contra. This prompted the show’s Michael Smith to recite the famous extra-lives code from the game. It was awesome seeing videogames being treated reverently by adults on mainstream television.
During ESPN’s pre-game show for the Los Angeles Lakers vs. the Los Angeles Clippers, host Michael Wilbon was talking about the storied history of Madison Square Garden. He mentioned events like Ali vs. Frazier I and John F. Kennedy’s birthday taking place at the “world’s most famous arena.” The show’s Bill Simmons — my favorite sports columnist of all time — mentioned that Hulk Hogan vs. The Iron Sheik should be mentioned along with those events, saying that it was one of the biggest matches in pro-wrestling history. Loved it.
When I first started writing about videogames in the ’90s, they were still considered geeky and nerdy. Back then, some people viewed pro-wrestling a “hick” thing. The WWE Attitude Era and the Monday night wars with WCW helped pro-wrestling achieve mainstream status, while the Sony PlayStation made videogames cool. Of course it helps that people like Reali, Smith, and Simmons — people that grew up with videogames and pro-wrestling — now have “adult” jobs. Watching those mentions on ESPN made me appreciate how far these forms of entertainment have come.
That said, the battle isn’t over yet. While many young adults and middle-age people have grown-up jobs in the private sector, there are older people in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives that are out of touch. They still view pro-wrestling and games in a negative light. The good news is that I’m sure that won’t be the case ten years from now.
Anyway, it was nice to see the progress of two of my favorite hobbies realized on ESPN programming.
What are some instances you’ve seen of pro-wrestling and games being taken seriously by mainstream television? Kindly leave some examples in the comments section.
Last week, RPadholic N8R was kind enough to list the upcoming DLC for WWE 13. The list got me thinking, and suddenly I thought up of my own dream DLC packs. It was a fun exercise, though I imagined too many drug-related packs (The Drug Traffickers, led by Jeff Hardy) and way too many packs based on dead pro-wrestlers. Today I’m going to list four of the DLC packs that I came up with and I’d love to see ones from you. In the immortal words of Michael Wilbon, “Let’s do it!”
WWE Diva Playboy Spectacular
Sable — The first high-profile Diva to go nude in Playboy.
Torrie Wilson — The muscular girl next door.
Ashley Masaro — Surprisingly good spread.
Maryse Ouellet — Technically she was in the magazine before her WWE days, but wow…you need to Google these…more
Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, the magic of NOALOX, hugging a piece of consumer electronics goodbye, or crushing on Rashida Jones, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
Last week, RPadholic N8R was kind enough to list the upcoming DLC for WWE 13. The list got me thinking, and suddenly I thought up of my own dream DLC packs. It was a fun exercise, though I imagined too many drug-related packs (The Drug Traffickers, led by Jeff Hardy) and way too many packs based on dead pro-wrestlers. Today I’m going to list four of the DLC packs that I came up with and I’d love to see ones from you. In the immortal words of Michael Wilbon, “Let’s do it!”
WWE Diva Playboy Spectacular
Sable — The first high-profile Diva to go nude in Playboy.
Torrie Wilson — The muscular girl next door.
Ashley Masaro — Surprisingly good spread.
Maryse Ouellet — Technically she was in the magazine before her WWE days, but wow…you need to Google these.
Sex-Tape Sultans
Chyna — She’s an adult-film star now, but she made tons of waves with “1 Night in Chyna.”
Sean “1-2-3 Kid” Waltman — Chyna’s costar.
Hulk Hogan — Caught on film sleeping with his best friend’s ex-wife.
The Dog Pound
Junkyard Dog — JYD was awesome.
“Mad Dog” Vachon — A total bad ass, even though his real name was Maurice and he was 5′ 7″.
“The Road Dog” Jesse James — Oh, you didn’t know?!?
“The Dog-Faced Gremlin” Rick Steiner — A total suplex machine in the NWA/WCW days.
Figure-Four Phenoms
“The Nature Boy” Ric Flair — The signature hold of the best pro-wrestler of all time.
“The Nature Boy” Buddy Rogers — Often cited as the inventor of the “figure-four grapevine.”
Greg “The Hammer” Valentine — For many WWF fans that didn’t watch NWA, he was the master of the figure-four.
Jeff Jarrett — Every group needs a bitch.
Those are just four of the DLC packs that I imagined. I’m sure that you could come up with better ones, so give it a go! Please use the comments section to list the WWE 13 DLC packs of your dreams.
One of the few things I hate about pro-wrestling’s rise to mainstream popularity is that it has killed the traditional jobber. I’m talking about guys that looked ordinary or out of shape or ugly. Fancifully referred to as “enhancement talent,” these guys had one purpose professionally: make the stars look superstars. These days, a typical jobber is someone like Heath Slater. He’s a handsome young man with a fantastic physique. In the ’80s, there’s no way this guy would have been a jobber. Sadly, modern television dictates that plain-looking or unattractive people can’t be on the air, even their sole purpose in life is to lose while making their opponent look like Hercules…more
Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, how stunning Kiera Knightley looks without makeup, the Tigers’ impotent World Series performance, or LeBron-to-the-Lakers speculation, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
One of the few things I hate about pro-wrestling’s rise to mainstream popularity is that it has killed the traditional jobber. I’m talking about guys that looked ordinary or out of shape or ugly. Fancifully referred to as “enhancement talent,” these guys had one purpose professionally — make the stars look superstars. These days, a typical jobber is someone like Heath Slater. He’s a handsome young man with a fantastic physique. In the ’80s, there’s no way this guy would have been a jobber. Sadly, modern television dictates that plain-looking or unattractive people can’t be on the air, even if their sole purpose in life is to lose while making their opponent look like Hercules.
I didn’t realize how much I missed jobbers until WWE brought some in for Ryback’s push. While those guys were still more polished and better looking than the jobbers of yore, they seemed like a different class of people than WWE Superstars. I miss that. I miss guys like Mike Jackson (video below) that could go toe-to-toe with Ric Flair, but could also be mistaken for a disgruntled accountant. I miss guys like Bill and Randy Mulkey (pictured above) that fought against some of the best tag-teams in pro-wrestling history, but also looked liked brothers that offered landscaping services. While these guys had ring skills, their bodies were “normal” and their facial features were ordinary. Their plainness helped make guys like Flair, Magnum T.A., Lex Luger, and Nikita Koloff look larger than life.
Do you miss classic pro-wrestling jobbers? Who are some of the members of your personal Jobber Hall of Fame? Leave a comment and let me know (please!).
Sadly, the McKayla is Not Impressed Tumblr page hasn’t been updated in a long time. Thankfully, one of the latest images is an awesome one. It’s McKayla being unimpressed with WWE legend “Rowdy” Roddy Piper! I’m not sure how you can be unimpressed with such an awesome man, but leave it to McKayla to find a way. Although he kicked all kinds of ass in They Live, he was out of bubblegum (video below). Perhaps that’s why McKayla wasn’t impressed. Continue reading “McKayla Maroney is Not Impressed With “Rowdy” Roddy Piper”
The game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Green Bay Packers ended with a questionable officiating call. The NFL released a statement saying that even though the call was wrong, the referees’ decision is final. Here’s a clip from the press release:
The NFL Officiating Department reviewed the video today and supports the decision not to overturn the on-field ruling following the instant replay review.
The result of the game is final.
This totally reminds me of pro-wrestling. I remember several matches where Ric Flair beat Dusty Rhodes / Lex Luger / Sting / Ricky Morton / Any NWA Face through questionable means. He’d be using the ropes for extra leverage on the pin or pulling his opponent’s tights or deftly kicking his foe in the groin. The referee didn’t see it and Flair would win by cheating, but the “NWA Commissioner” would release a statement saying that the result of the match is final.
Hell, the same thing is happening in the WWE. Last week John Cena pinned CM Punk while the latter’s foot was on the rope. The referee didn’t see it, but this week general manager AJ Lee let the decision stand.
The referees in the WWE are supposed to have a certain level of incompetence and are supposed to blow certain calls. It’s a huge problem when real referees in professional sports are tarnishing the game for the fans, creating an unsafe environment for the players, and chipping away at the integrity of sports gamblers across the nation. You know there’s a problem when professional referees are behaving like their sports-entertainment counterparts. There’s something wrong when the league office sounds just like fictional authority figures in pro-wrestling.
It’s kind of funny and kind of sad that the NFL replacement referees are just like WWE referees.
WWE and Hulu have teamed up…wait, the WWE doesn’t give a crap about tag-teams anymore so I’ll have to rephrase that. WWE programming is now available on Hulu Plus. According to the press release, subscribers will be able to watch “all WWE TV programming” the day after it airs. Hulu Plus costs $7.99 a month and is available on a number of devices, including PCs, tablets, smartphones, and videogame consoles.
For wrestling fans that want to cut the cable cord, WWE programming on Hulu Plus could be a fantastic deal. It allows these fans to watch shows like Raw and SmackDown without having to pay for cable-television service that includes hundreds of channels they’ll never watch. It will be interesting to see if this deal will change WWE’s strategy with YouTube. The company has been serving up clips of its shows a few days after they air on television. I’m sure the company will continue to post clips, but I wonder if they’ll be as extensive or if the delays will be longer. Hulu Plus allows viewers to watch the shows in their entirety, but some people will be satisfied with what WWE’s YouTube channel offers.
I could see using the service when I travel internationally. The combination of Hulu Plus and a VPN service would allow me to watch Monday Night Raw anywhere in the world. For some WWE fans, this could be the only (legal) way to enjoy these shows in a timely manner.
Any of you intrigued by WWE programming on Hulu Plus?
Today’s column was inspired by a chat I was having with RPadholic Tokz_21 on the RPad.TV Google+ Messenger group. On last night’s WWE Monday Night Raw, wrestling legend Jerry Lawler suffered a heart attack on air. It’s sad and I hope everyone sends positive vibes to Jerry, hoping for a speedy recovery. Now to be completely honest, initially I wasn’t sure if it was real or if it was an angle. Pro-wrestling can be funny that way. The writers have no boundaries and have crossed several lines over the years. Would an angle involving Lawler’s age (he was in the ring that night too) be out of the realm of possibility? Of course not. Sadly, the heart attack was real, but the whole thing had me thinking about times when I wasn’t sure what was real and what wasn’t in pro-wrestling…
Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, wishing that Andy Murray becomes a one-hit wonder, Emma Watson searches leading to computer viruses, or iPhone 5 fever, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
Today’s column was inspired by a chat I was having with RPadholic Tokz_21 on the RPad.TV Google+ Messenger group. On last night’s WWE Monday Night Raw, wrestling legend Jerry Lawler suffered a heart attack on air. It’s sad and I hope everyone sends positive vibes to Jerry, hoping for a speedy recovery. Now to be completely honest, initially I wasn’t sure if it was real or if it was an angle. Pro-wrestling can be funny that way. The writers have no boundaries and have crossed several lines over the years. Would an angle involving Lawler’s age (he was in the ring that night too) be out of the realm of possibility? Of course not. Sadly, the heart attack was real, but the whole thing had me thinking about times when I wasn’t sure what was real and what wasn’t in pro-wrestling.
When Owen Heart died due to a harness mishap during the Over the Edge PPV, I initially thought it was an angle. He was playing The Blue Blazer, a masked idiot that thought he was a superhero. He was actually supposed to have a botched fall to the ring, keeping with his character. Sadly, the harness released him too soon and he suffered a tragic fall. I distinctly remember watching the PPV at my friend Justin’s place and arguing that it was a work. It wasn’t until the cameras completely pulled to the crowd that I was aware that something very bad and very real happened.
On a lighter note, a pair of WCW angles vexed me for a long time. The first involved Brian Pillman. In an “I Respect You” match against Kevin Sullivan, Pillman suddenly bailed with the words, “I respect you, booker man!” I knew that Sullivan was a WCW booker, but this was something that was never said on air. Pillman was fired and that’s where things got cloudy. Did he really get fired or was it part of a storyline? Former WCW exec Eric Bischoff said it was part of an angle and that Pillman was supposed to develop his “Loose Cannon” character in ECW before returning to WCW. Pillman said that he wanted to get fired and had no intention of going back to WCW. He ended up going to ECW and eventually brought the “Loose Cannon” persona to WWE.
Kevin Sullivan was involved in an angle with his wife, Nancy Sullivan, and Chris Benoit. The story was that Benoit, who was feuding with Sullivan on TV, took things too far by stealing his wife. Sullivan booked it so that Nancy and Chris traveled together, ate together on the road, and stayed in the same hotels. Art imitated life, with Nancy and Chris actually falling in love and eventually getting married. For a long time, I thought it was just an elaborate angle. It wasn’t until kayfabe went out of style that I realized, “Oh…that really happened.”
Anyway, those are some wrestling moments where I wasn’t sure what was real and what wasn’t. I’d love to hear about some angles that you weren’t sure about. Please share some stories in the comments section!
