LIVE Raw thoughts

11:19 - I have to say, tonight was a damn near perfect "go home" show for Raw. My introduction discussed how flawed the build has been, but tonight was thrilling and focused. Everything seemed to mean something, and it was intriguing and compelling. Surprise appearances were made, and it didn't feel like anything was being held back. But at the same time, they left just enough to keep you interested in the event itself.

And that final segment was fantastic. I was nervous at first, as I thought we might just see Cena kiss up to Rock and just act like it was tough love. But Cena turned the tone around pretty effectively, continuing to call out the Rock on his not too rational criticisms of Cena the individual. I also loved the fact that he didn't come to Rock's aid when he was getting double teamed -- why would he? Nor did he stop him when he was attacking Miz (again, why would he?) And the final scene, with him laying out Rock, set the scene for WrestleMania. And no, I didn't find Miz to be an afterthought either.

10:48 - The Road Warriors are a great, deserving addition to the Hall of Fame. Paul Ellering's inclusion is a bit surprising, but I'm sure deserving as well.

10:39 - I don't know, considering how much Sheamus has dominated this feud, maybe Daniel Bryan WILL win the title back at WrestleMania. I could see it as the opening match -- the guaranteed good match with the happy ending.

10:22 - I love how the Cole Mine is, like, 4 feet tall, yet everybody acts like he's in this impenetrable fortress.

10:20 - What the hell music is King coming out to?

10:16 - And just like that, HBK instantly makes the Triple H/Undertaker feud more interesting. It's rather incredible how much WWE has relied on him to build this match. Between this appearance and the video interviews, HBK has done more for this feud than either competitor. What I found surprising, though, was how heelish both Taker and Triple H were acting towards Michaels. If he were to get involved in the match, I honestly don't know if I expect him to super kick Undertaker because he's so desperate to see the streak end, or if he kicks Triple H because he can't stand anybody else having that achievement. Both would make sense.

10:00 - As is HBK's surprise appearance!

9:59 - Okay, Undertaker's bell salute interrupting Triple H's water spit was kinda super awesome.

9:46 - See, the Corre vs. Big Show, Kane, Kozlov, and Santino makes FAR more sense. Although taking the title off of Kofi is a bit of a headscratcher.

9:41 - So my TV is a bit on the fritz so I couldn't see for myself, but can anybody confirm whether or not there was any reference whatsoever to Undertaker and Triple H's prior WrestleMania match in that montage?

9:26 - Del Rio's relationship with Brodus Clay is "strictly business" -- what the hell did they think we assumed?

9:20 - Thank God Edge's pyro is back! But who else was hoping we'd see either the return of their "You think you know me" theme music, or perhaps an amalgamation of their two current themes?

9:12 - An unexpected but effective beginning to Raw. With Triple H, Undertaker, Cena, Miz, and Rock all being hyped on the show, it was a bit surprising to see Raw kick off with CM Punk sitting in the ring. But, it made sense. By having him already in the ring, they avoided showing the huge pop he'd get from the Chicago crowd once his music hit. And for the first time in this entire feud, they've given us a reason to think Punk has a fighting chance. I still think we see some interference from a new addition to Nexus, perhaps Michael Tarver.

8:49 - Alright, I'm cracking open a beer -- which I'll probably need to get through tonight's show -- as I prepare to watch the last Raw before WrestleMania. Now, you all know I like keeping things positive, but even I have to admit that the build for WrestleMania has been weaker than any year in recent history. Literally every single feud has either felt thrown together or has been booked extremely curiously.

You have Undertaker vs. Triple H, which is all fine and good except for the fact that the entire feud focuses on Undertaker's streak. So, one would think they'd want us to be invested in the streak and its history, yet they seemingly don't want us to remember that Triple H is a victim of the streak. It's not even so much that I'm bothered that they're ignoring this fact -- but why base the feud on the streak if they don't want to bring up that very obvious facet?

Then you have John Cena vs. The Miz, which, again, is fine. And the build has actually been pretty good, except virtually the entire audience cares more about Cena/Rock. Again, they could use this to their advantage, except that the Rock appeared once, proudly proclaiming that he's back, only to appear via satellite for the next seven or so weeks. So even Cena/Rock has lost a lot of its luster as a result.

Then we have Edge vs. Alberto Del Rio, which has focused more on Del Rio vs. Christian and the Edge and Christian reunion. In the end, there's very little emotional investment in the two guys actually wrestling each other.

And rumors are swirling that Corre will fight Big Show, Kane, Kofi, and Christian. This seems more thrown together than anything else on the card. How has Christian been even remotely involved in this storyline? Why devote the past month and a half to the Edge/Del Rio feud if he's just going to be thrown into this match?

Anyway, let's see how they throw everything together tonight.

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Testing fate?

So I'm going to be traveling next month, and while booking my flight on JetBlue, I was given the option to chose my seat. The only particularly noticeable seats are the ones with extra leg room, which cost more, so when in a bind I decided to go with 23B.

The significance of that seat? You Lost fans may remember it as the seat occupied by one Jack Shephard. Fun homage, or testing fate? I guess we'll find out!

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The New WWE.com

So today WWE.com debuted a brand new look. So far it seems like a HUGE improvement over the prior format (which, the more I visited the more I hated). Check it out and let me know what you think. It certainly looks sleeker, but do you find it easier to navigate (so far, I say yes). Thoughts?

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LIVE Raw thoughts

11:07 - This was a more exciting ending than the recent episodes of Raw. I think they angered a lot of fans by teasing a new belt, only to do the one thing to it that would make haters dislike it even more (but could this mean a new belt is on the way when Miz does lose the title?) But they did make sense of the whole Cena "via satellite" scene, with the familiar set. Anyway, this helped Cena get his heat back without sacrificing Miz.

10:49 - Why am I not surprised? The most awesome part of the show involves CM Punk. First, with him cartoonishly screaming along with Orton's wife, and secondly, with him blowing a kiss towards her through the glass -- where you actually saw the fog on the window.

10:37 - Admittedly, that was a really good Undertaker/Triple H montage, but it's just plain awkward that they keep talking about Undertaker's streak without mentioning that Triple H is one of those victims. I can understand not focusing the entire feud on that aspect, but what do they gain from completely ignoring it? Like I said, it's just awkward.

10:32 - Those Sin Cara vignettes are truly amazing.

10:27 - Love that rub John Morrison is getting!

10:26 - Odd that they're essentially giving away their WrestleMania match less than two weeks before the show.

9:52 - Who was the genius who decided that Cena should do a live "via satellite" interview after using that as his primary insult against the Rock? Especially when that's clearly the same decor they use for all of the GM offices.

9:45 - So it looks like it'll be Kane/Big Show/Santino/Kozlov vs. the Corre. So that answers that. But one must continue to wonder -- what becomes of Christian?

9:34 - This stuff with Cole and the Divas is just strange. It's not without its fair of history and backstory, but how does it relate to the build towards WrestleMania? How odd would it be if the Divas were "wasted" on a Snooki appearance and to build Cole/Lawler instead of a Divas title match? I still don't understand why they didn't put the title on Beth to set her up as an underdog against Awesome Kong.

9:30 - Did they just cut a promo about a bus? Strangest. Interview. Ever. Yes, I know it was drop that bit of info that Orton's family is inside, but still. Very odd.

9:23 - I don't think I've ever heard anybody refer to it as "the Champion of the United States of America," but hey, it works for Sheamus. And I guess he's back in management's good graces, so maybe he'll win back all those losses he's suffered. Also, I'm guessing Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan will be the match that opens the show at Mania. It'd be great to see Bryan regain the title, but I'm thinking Sheamus retains.

9:14 - Did Ted DiBiase learn nothing from Sheamus? If you're being buried on television, you DON'T try to attack Triple H following one of his promos. And speaking of Sheamus - Didn't this seem like a scene by scene replication of that showdown?

Regarding the actual promo, did it make anybody more excited for the match? There's a strong rumor that this match will close the show, but I can't help but feel like the excitement just isn't there. I just don't think that Triple H has the relationship with the audience or the storytelling skills that Michaels possesses, and as such this feud is just missing that special something that existed last year. I'd match rather see them close the show with Cena/Miz -- not because it's the title match, but because it's a better built and more interesting story.

8:30 - Check back at 9:00 for my LIVE Raw thoughts, but how about some pre-Raw discussion. Continuing my earlier post about Christian and his role at WrestleMania, a lot of people seem to think that this year's WrestleMania doesn't have that "WrestleMania feel." I argued against this point for a while, simply because I thought it was too early to judge. But now I can't help but agree, to a large extent. One factor that has played in this decision is today's announcement on WWE.com that Abdullah the Butcher is being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

The Hall of Fame is a big part of WrestleMania weekend, and the entire "season" has felt pretty lackluster in that regard. Traditionally speaking, the first announcement occurs at the Royal Rumble, and from there a new name is revealed each week or so until the entire class has been revealed. This year they kicked things off big with Shawn Michaels' induction. But then they went several weeks without announcing any names whatsoever -- not even at the Rumble -- and when they returned, it was with Hacksaw Jim Duggan. A deserving name for sure, but it also lacked that certain "oomph." From that point forward, every single name has been revealed on WWE.com, eliminating the spectacle altogether. There's just no mystery or anticipation involved this year, and it HAS hurt the aura surrounding the biggest show of the year.

What do you think? Have you been disappointed with the handling of this year's Hall of Fame? Not so much regarding the actual class, but how it's been done altogether.

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How does Christian fit into WrestleMania?

It's been about a week since I've updated the blog so I thought I'd enter my first post on this year's WrestleMania. At last month's Elimination Chamber, Christian made a surprise return to assist his former partner Edge in an attack against Alberto Del Rio -- the man Edge is facing at WrestleMania, and the person who put him out of commission last year.

Over the past month, Christian has been a pretty consistent fixture in the Edge/Del Rio feud, arguably interacting with the challenger even more than Edge has. But what role will he ultimately play in the grandest show of them all? If you listen to the rumors, he's going to team with Big Show, Kane, and Kofi Kingston to take on the Corre in an eight man tag match. Yet with WrestleMania only two weeks away, Christian has had zero interaction with the Corre, and actually carries a clean victory over Del Rio.

Does the match turn into a three way, with Edge defending against both Del Rio and Christian? Or will Christian be left off the card altogether, only to turn against his former partner in the main event? Or will he be thrown into the mix with Big Show and Kane's war against Barrett, Jackson, Slater, and Gabriel? What do you all think?

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LIVE Raw thoughts

11:20 - To all of those people complaining about Miz being overlooked in the midst of this Cena/Rock feud, I feel the need to point out that this is the strongest any heel has been pushed going into WrestleMania in recent memory. As it had been pointed out throughout the segment, Miz has gotten the upper hand on Cena every time they've come face to face since the match has been announced.

11:14 - The Miz has been pretending to be The Rock for 8 years....what's one more segment?

10:57 - These Sin Cara videos are constant reminders of how extremely talented WWE's audio visual department is. These guys are the best in the business.

10:52 - So John Morrison went from one of the hottest stars on either of the rosters to being booked for an intergender match for WrestleMania, in which both of his partners will be featured more prominently than him?

10:43 - More curious booking -- in one night we have two matches in which somebody has to win a match to keep their job.

10:34 - Note to people like Seth Rogen and Drew Carrey - People who become famous when they're chubby but suddenly become very thin are creepy looking.

10:22 - In response to Kyle's comments: I think we're in agreement that Sheamus/Bryan should have waited for WrestleMania. Along with the reasons we've both already stated, I think it would have been easier to book as well. By having Sheamus win (like he did tonight), they both come out of the match looking fine. But by having the match tonight, and the rematch at Mania, where do we go from here? Bryan doesn't look all that good if he loses to Sheamus again (given his lack of momentum), but if Bryan wins it feels like we needlessly tampered with his nice little United States title reign. Seems like a waste.

10:21 - I'm guessing that Mason Ryan makes the cut and manages to beat Orton in order to be the sole Nexus member to appear in Punk's corner. Also, is there any chance that WWE will give Edge and Christian the tag straps this Friday? Cuz that would be, ya' know, epic.

10:13 - That was a rather curious segment that, overall, I have to say worked. It was uncomfortable during the Brian Christopher/Lawler portion, because nobody came off particularly well. I was glad that Lawler didn't become that blubbering dad figure where he apologized for neglecting his son, but by not explaining how Christopher was such a disappointment, he just looked like a jerk. However, the segment was absolutely saved by the surprise appearance of Jim Ross. The crowd (and I daresay viewing audience) really ate into that. Not to mention the fact that JR looks great! He's slimmed down significantly, good for him.

My biggest issue with piece, though, was that nobody came to Ross' rescue when he was about to get pummeled by Swagger. From a character perspective, JR is this highly revered and respected, but ultimately defenseless, veteran. Am I to believe nobody would come to his rescue? Especially when it did escalate to a violent level.

9:59 - Wow, Brian Christopher looks awful.

9:53 - I can't say I'm all too surprised to see Sheamus win the United States Championship. For one, if they were going to with the fired storyline, I think they would have saved the match for WrestleMania (although, truth be told, Title vs. Career could have been pushed as a Mania match in and of itself). Secondly, like I noted below, they created a new storyline (with the king curse) that wouldn't have been properly resolved unless he won the match. I expect to see a rematch at WrestleMania.

9:45 - I find it curious that the announcers are bringing up this King of the Ring curse for the first time tonight. That connection was yet to be made before tonight.

9:32 - Is it me, or does the sight of Triple H with a Poland Springs bottle in his hand immediately take away any sense of intimidation?

9:26 - How far we've come. A couple of months ago WWE was avoiding the sight of blood at all costs (even stopping matches for a trickle). Now they're zooming in on a few drops that easily could have been missed. And who's the secret person from King's past? I say the Honky Tonk Man, who (if I'm not mistaken) is Lawler's cousin -- and the two don't get along.

9:10 - That was a great opening segment from The Rock. Unlike his last promo, he didn't come across as irrationally angry and didn't simply regurgitate what he had previously said. This was something different, and toning down his anger went an awfully far way. I could have gone without the background music when he called out Miz, but overall it was a great way of continuing the tension between Rock and Cena. Oh, and Cole's announcing cage is downright awesome.

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The Smurfs Movie

Here's the official trailer. What do you think?

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The End of TV Soul Mates?

A couple of months ago when I put together my Top Ten Cases video of my favorite TV kisses, I made an interesting observation: Over the past decade or so, we haven't really followed a relationship to the point that the first kiss is a genuinely monumental moment (I'm excluding Smallville, where the characters' histories are already established).

For example, when you say "Beverly Hills: 90210" you probably think of Dylan and Brenda. Or Dylan and Kelly. Or even Brandon and Kelly. Each relationship was built up, sustained for a number of years, and lingered long after they had ended. Compare that to today's 90210, where in just three seasons Silver has had a relationship (to varying degrees) with Dixon, Ethan, Teddy, and Navid. That's four lead male characters in two and a half seasons.

So what's different? For one, I think there's a lack of restraint. On The Office (the closest example of modern soul mate TV), Jim and Pam didn't get together until the end of the third season. Can you imagine, say, The Vampire Diaries waiting that long to bring Elena and Stefan together? Admittedly, we're dealing with different genres, but television writers seem to have a difficult time building a romance without bringing the characters together almost immediately. It's not impossible, Lost did a fantastic job of that with the Kate/Jack/Sawyer love triangle. No matter which character she ultimately ended up with, it was going to be a moment years in the making.

Another problem is the general laziness of creating conflict because it's harder to make happy characters interesting. I actually commend The Office for pairing up Jim and Pam and never having them break up. The writers just needed to tweak their formula in order to keep them entertaining (while a lot of people have objected, I actually enjoy them quite a bit). 90210 is notorious for this. Between Annie/Ethan, Naomi/Ethan, Annie/Liam, Naomi/Liam, Silver/Dixon, Dixon/Ivy, Silver/Teddy, Ade/Teddy, Silver/Navid, Ade/Navid, has ANY relationship lasted more than an entire season? I mean hell, even the teacher has hooked up with three different guardians to three different students.

And finally, there's also this general sense of certain relationships feeling unimportant. Friends did a tremendous job of making Ross and Rachel significant. Almost everybody recognizes that as THE relationship of that show, despite the fact that Chandler and Monica were together for far more of the series' duration. Likewise, you have Jim and Pam from The Office. Jack and Kate and Sawyer and Kate from Lost. Seth and Summer from The O.C.

But overall, when was the last time two characters got together, and it felt like something you were REALLY waiting for?

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Dive Bar Shirt Club: Raven Bar & Grill

I received my next dive bar t-shirt, and this one comes from our Nation's capital. And, following the trend of the past few months, this place doesn't have a website. Or even a Facebook page, actually. So, alas, I need to rewrite what they included in the mailer. Oh well.

The Raven was built in 1935 soon after the end of Prohibition, and the nation was in the mood for a drink. It started out as a liquor store but the neighborhood soon asked for a place to sit. Some booths were fitted into the narrow space and a favorite urban watering hole was born. Out of necessity they kept it simple. Beer comes in bottles and cans and in spite of its name the only food is clipped on a chip rack. By the 195o's people were feeling pretty great and entertainment icons found their black and white faces on the walls and their sounds on the tabletop jukeboxes. Things look like they've stayed the same since then, maybe because if it isn't broke, why fix it? Or even if if it is broke, apparently. Poor lighting is kind where history lives in the beat-up wood and mismatched barstools. You can find plenty of inspiration from generations of suds-soaked philosophy on gangrene walls in restrooms that would scare away lesser beings. A visit to the Raven Grill almost requires an appreciation of the fact that some of the best times in life are to be found in the dark.

Dive Bar Shirt Club: http://www.divebarshirtclub.com/Default.asp

Dive Bar Shirt Club T-Shirt Gallery

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Just another St. Patrick's Day in Hoboken

So yesterday I woke up bright and early to celebrate St. Patrick's Day in Hoboken -- ya' know, the weekend before the weekend before the actual day -- for the third year in a row. And while year one had me acting like a bit of a drunk asshole to a sober asshole bouncer, and year two had my friend being a bit of a drunk asshole to a bunch of drunk girls on the train, I'm glad to say that this year's drama (and story) didn't involve me or my friends at all! And that's a little victory in and of itself.

It's about 5:30 in the evening or so and we're heading back home on the train coming from Hoboken. Keep in mind that everybody's probably been drinking for the past 10 hours or so. My friends and I are scattered amongst a few rows of seating, so we're basically just people watching. Suddenly these two guys come onto the train, with their t-shirts all cut up to look like something you'd see Goldust or Orlando Jordan wearing. They're basically just drunk and having fun, whatever. Meanwhile, these two super duper macho guys who are sitting near the vestibule set their sights on them, and seemingly begin having flashbacks of high school where they got to stuff skinny guys into lockers.

So the guys in the cut up shirts start playfully shoving each other (again, drunk and just having fun), prompting the big tough guy with the shaved head to say, "Aw, isn't that cute, he's flirting with you" with this goofy smile on his face as if he'd just said the wittiest thing ever. This got no reaction from anybody, so five seconds later he says it AGAIN. Because it wasn't that it wasn't clever or funny, it's that we didn't hear him. Once again, no reaction.

So the big tough guys say something yet again, this time hoping to get a rise or reaction out of the dudes in the cut up shirts. I guess the guys in the shirts said something back, so the two big tough guys get up out of their seats and get in their faces. Push comes to shove, and these two groups are now fighting in the vestibule. It gets broken up, and who's a bloody, bruised mess? Yep, the dude with the shaved head. Apparently, one of the guys in the cut up shirt nailed in right in the bridge of the nose, then caught him in a headlock and repeatedly hit him in the nose.

The police came at a later stop, and the dude with the shaved head and destroyed face and his friends were telling the cops that these guys "attacked them and then ran off at the next stop." They probably did get off at the last stop, but they most certainly didn't just attack them.

Sorry tough guy, you got your ass kicked by a guy half your size, who you were trying to call gay. Sucks to be you.

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Undisputed: A Book Review

After having a really, really difficult time finding Chris Jericho’s Undisputed – the sequel to the rightfully much-acclaimed autobiography, A Lion’s Tale – it took me a little over a day to finish it off. I FINALLY found the book on Saturday at about 4 in the afternoon (honestly, I’ve never had so much trouble finding any book ever), and polished it off by midnight on Sunday (going into Monday). AND I went out Saturday night. Suffice it to say, I thought it was a fantastic and well told story of Chris Jericho’s first run in World Wrestling Entertainment.

And I daresay that this book this us greater insight into Chris Jericho the person. One thing that struck me about Undisputed, that I didn’t notice in A Lion’s Tale, was Jericho’s tendency to look positively at bad situations, while reminiscing negatively on his career highlights. For example, he sees the silver lining in his Celebrity Duets experience – despite being the first person eliminated (under seemingly suspicious circumstances). On the other hand, he seems to put a discouraging spin on nearly every single accomplishment he achieved in WWE. And that’s one thing I found in common with Bret Hart’s book. Both Jericho and Hart seem to look back critically at his early WWE career. As a fan looking back at that period, I don’t recall either individual losing that often.

But between Jericho’s incredible debut, his early mic work, and even his WrestleMania encounter with two of the most talented workers in WWE history (Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit), which was contested over two prestigious secondary titles, Jericho doesn’t seem to look back at many moments in a positive light. However, I suspect almost all of that has to do with the fact that Jericho seems to be his own biggest critic – almost to the extent that he’s too hard on himself. For example, even though Edge, Christian, and the Hardyz catapulted following their ladder match at No Mercy, by no stretch of the imagination were they viewed as being at the same level as Chris Jericho. The way Jericho tells it, the four of them had far surpassed him.

Many of the reviews I’ve read noted how harshly he portrays Vince McMahon (he actually falls into the same trap as Foley’s last book – seemingly every significant story about McMahon has him acting like an asshole, yet the author gushes about how much he respects McMahon). That’s probably a fair assessment, as he does discuss more than a few stories in which the boss curses him out or dresses him down, but I think the person portrayed most negatively may be Jericho himself. This is an incredibly honest book. After discussing all of the heat he had during his early run in the company, he takes full responsibility instead of creating conspiracies or blaming others (even though he does call out Triple H on more than one occasion). He also presents himself as an unbearably obnoxious drunk and a bit of a blowhard with violent tendencies. In no way whatsoever does this make him an unlikeable person while reading the story – he just doesn’t seem to hold anything back, even when discussing himself. This was especially true when discussing his DUI. It seemed like he was about to make excuses for his arrest, but instead he acknowledged that he may have had more to drink than he realized, and that it was an incredibly stupid thing to do. He also voices how disappointed he is in himself whenever he submits to the mentality that the show must go on, instead of being with his family during trying times.

Surprisingly, my favorite chapter may have been the one in which Chris discusses his mother’s death. It seems like every wrestling biography contains some sort of crippling grudge that, when viewed objectively, is pretty ridiculous. But Chris Jericho felt a very understandable hatred and bitterness towards the man who was responsible for leaving his mom a quadriplegic. And while many wrestlers aren’t able to free themselves of these grudges, Chris does something spectacularly brave and strong by unconditionally forgiving the man who essentially took his mom from him.

It was also heartbreaking reading about Jericho’s reactions to the deaths of his best friends Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit. It was particularly interesting reading his perspective on Benoit, as it may very well be the most personal account we’ve yet heart regarding the double murder/suicide. Through Jericho, we came to understand Benoit’s degradation, as well as his overall bizarre behavior throughout his professional career. It was also pretty devastating reading about how Jericho had a sick feeling in his stomach that Benoit had committed the deed upon hearing the news. What an incredibly upsetting thing to come to realize.

Overall, I would rank this the best wrestling biography since Foley’s first two installments. While A Lion’s Heart told the story of how Chris Jericho got to WWE, I feel like Undisputed allowed us to get to know Chris Jericho. His interests, his ambitions, his successes and failures. He’s incredibly honest – unlike Foley in Lockdown, he isn’t afraid to name names and actually gives the details behind dramatic situations – but doesn’t come across as bitter or egotistical. On the contrary, he’s incredibly likeable, and you really come to respect him for his willingness to stand up for himself and what he believes in. I mean, how many people can tell Vince to eff off right to his face, only for the Mac daddy to pat him on the back for saying it?

Absolutely, most definitely worth a read. And hey, here’s a link to make that happen!

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