In the 1980s, the world of pro wrestling saw some of its greatest matches, and an unbelievable rise in popularity. With stars like Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Ricky “the Dragon” Steamboat, Bret Hart, and Rowdy Roddy Piper – the 80s brought larger than life figures into the squared circle.
To commemorate this time in the world of sports entertainment, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Jerry Bruckheimer are teaming up as executive producers on a show for NBC that will capture all the drama of the world of pro wrestling in the 1980s.
Not much information has been released yet about the content of the show, but with Jerry Bruckheimer teaming up with a third generation pro wrestling legend, I can only imagine we’re all in for a treat.
Despite my negative feelings for ‘The Rock’, I have all the faith in the world that he will do this great time period in pro wrestling great justice. The Rock not only grew up an avid wrestling fan, but also in the world of pro wrestling watching his father and grandfather compete, so he has seen the evolution of the business take place. I would love to see some guest commentary on classic matches from the wrestlers themselves, and maybe even from Vince McMahon himself.
Time will only tell what we are in for with this program, but The Rock does have a history of giving the fans what they want, and I cannot see this being any different!
I don’t think that anything could possibly redeem the G.I. Joe movie franchise at this point since that crapfest that was the first G.I. Joe, but I’m sure giving the people behind this movie some credit for trying thus far. The cast seems too good to be true… or to be in this movie. Not only is Channing Tatum returning (Puke), but there are some newcomers you may have heard of. The first is Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who recently twittered a picture of him as his character in the sequel, Roadblock:
Now I’m not saying the Rock is a great actor but he definitely has the ability to draw people to the box office. His star presence helped push the latest Fast and Furious movie to the brink of box office juggernaut. Also joining up into the ranks is the one and only Bruce Willis as G.I. Joe commander Joe Colton. This one surprised me the most and made me wonder if Willis was going the Samuel L. Jackson route of just appearing in any movie that would pay him. Also joining the film are Walton Goggins (The Shield, Justified), Ray Stevenson (Book of Eli, Punisher: War Zone), and Adrianne Palicki, the hot Wonder Woman who never saw the light of day. That is one decent cast filled with a lot of actors/actresses that I enjoy, minus Channing Tatum of course. Once they manage to get a trailer out I can pass judgement on whether or not I’ll be sucked in by this follow-up to that Stephen Sommers piece of trash.
Back in 1996 Micheal Bay was and up and coming Director, with only the 1995 credit Bad Boys to his name, and pension for blowing things up. He had not yet sullied his name with predictably bad sequels like Bad Boys II or the Transformers movies. In fact, the movies he did in the 90’s, though now a bit cliché, were some of the decades best action epics.
The brightest spot on his resume has to be The Rock. This was a movie about a group of Marines who steal 15 chemical weapon powered rockets. They then threaten to launch said rockets against the city of San Francisco from Alcatraz Island, where they are holding 81 hostages. His demands require that all the men that has died under his watch, on Black Ops missions, be recognized as heroes and their families be rewarded a million dollars a piece from dirty money seized from weapons sales. His motives are actually noble which sets him aside from most antagonists in the genre. An honorable man pushed too far, the character is relatable and for that this movie is more than your run of the mill Dwayne Johnson/Vin Diesel movie. So in a joint operation, the FBI and a group of Navy SEALS must get onto the island and squash the threat. In 1996 I was all of 13, and when I walked into the theater I found my self thoroughly entertained for the entire 136 minute ride. Here we are now, 15 years later and the movie still holds up.
Our old buddy Nic Cage is our hero. He plays a chemical weapons specialist with the FBI named Stanley Goodspeed, and Sean Connery is basically an old James Bond. Ed Harris and David Morse play our missile thieves, and there are a slew of other recognizable faces as the movie goes on.
When we met Goodspeed, he is in the lab with Todd Louiso (High Fidelity, Snakes on a Plane) and Xander Berkley (24, Terminator 2) attempting to disarm a poisonous gas bomb. After succeeding he goes home to then learn that his girlfriend is pregnant, which only adds to his desperation to survive later on.
General Hummel (Harris) then makes the threat to launch the stolen rockets into the Bay Area. It is then that Goodspeed is called to San Fran because of his knowledge of the VX Gas used in the rockets. Once he arrives he meets John Mason (Connery), and we learn that Mason has been held, nameless and with no trial for over 30 years. Because however, he is the only man to ever escape Alcatraz, he is to be sent in with the SEAL team to guide them through the tunnels of the former prison. He is however told nothing of the rockets.
Once on the island, the SEAL team is led by none other than Michael Biehn(The Terminator, Aliens, Navy Seals, Tombstone) who promptly get his entire team killed. Nice job Mike! You can see Hummel takes no joy from having to kill more soldiers, but some of his men don’t seem to share his pain. With the destruction of the SEAL team, this leaves only Mason and Goodspeed to diffuse the rockets. And it’s only after Mason is let in on the real threat that he decides to help Stanley complete the mission. Thus truly begins The Rock as Connery delivers one of his greatest quotes ever…
So Mason and Goodspeed continue on in hopes of saving the day and are able to disable 12 of the 15 rockets before the John C. McGinley(Platoon, Se7en, Scrubs) led Marine team interrupts them. Things don’t end well for Dr. Cox however, as Mason lights his ass on fire. Booyah.
General Hummel then announces over the Island PA system that if the guidance chips removed from the rockets are not returned, he will execute a hostage. Upon hearing this Mason sends Goodspeed after the rockets and he heads to confront Hummel. This is the first time either of our heroes come face to face with the General, and it is not a battle of fists, but of minds as Mason and Hummel banter…
After this Goodspeed is able to take out only one of the remaining three rockets before being taken into custody. This now leaves Mason and Goodspeed prisoners, with the Marines still controlling 2 rockets.
Mason however did escape once, as it turns out, he still remembers how and they free themselves from their cells. Not in time however to stop the launch of one of the rockets. Luckily Mason’s instinct was right and Hummel is not a mad man, thus refusing to kill innocents. He diverts the rocket so it detonates underwater and causes a mutiny among his own men. The revolt, let by Tony Todd (Candyman, 24, Platoon) results directly in the deaths of Hummel, Major Baxter (Morse) and Crisp (Bokeem Woodbine). From here its a race to the last rocket and a question if Goodspeed can signal in time to call off the impending Air Strike. He does of course win the race and signal in time.
After this he is able to give Mason a give – his freedom. Goodspeed informs FBI Director Womack (John Spencer) that Mason has been vaporized. A lie that is helped along by Special Agent Paxton (William Forsythe). So Mason is free and all is good in the world.
I don’t feel that it would be a stretch to call this one of the best action movie of the last 20 years. I think this is before Michael Bay became so self-aware and you’re reminded of how he built his name. The pacing is good, really no lulls. The cast is great, and the dialogue, though often simplistic, is both powerful and memorable enough to quote. It’s a shame Bay hasn’t done anything of this quality in so long, but this is one of the movies that helped redefine the genre for the 90’s.
Apparently Raw continues to be a ratings king on Monday nights and averages more than 5 million viewers a week. But that doesn’t mean it’s beyond reproach. I was an avid wrestling fan, even after that young age when you figure out it’s fake, or after they basically came out and told everyone that it is rigged. However I continued to watch it due to my love of the wrestlers, which I considered actors at this point, and the athleticism they display week after week. The matches may be rigged, and plenty of hits are fake – but a lot of the things they do would most definitely hurt like hell.
I stopped watching wrestling awhile after Rock turned heel, but before the fall of WCW. After that it took a long time for me to garner any interest in it. My brother finally had me watching once again, nearly ten years later. Much had changed but I readily embraced it once more, remarking how much the business and the wrestlers themselves had changed. Some changed for the better and some for worse. I could never recapture what I felt as a youth, but after watching my first Royal Rumble in about a decade I came pretty close.
Oh, great choice WWE…
It’s now been going on three years since I’ve returned as a wrestling spectator, but I’ve noticed after a year and a half how repetitive and stale the whole thing has become, on Raw in particular. I don’t ever remember the current champion competing on the weekly show, except on rare occasions. There would be maybe one Championship Title match on Raw per year, and that was a big maybe. Now the Champion wrestles pretty much every single week and sometimes against the very person they are scheduled to face in the monthly pay per view! (albeit in a tag team match.)
The whole point behind the Champion never wrestling on the weekly show or against the PPV opponent was simple: The anticipation and excitement was so much better when they just talked smack every week, then the pay per view was the big payoff. Raw has completely destroyed this and the show suffers because of it.
The feuds are another thing that really kill Raw for me. We have to watch the same wrestlers fight one another each week and then again in a pay per view. Sometimes it goes to two pay per views! Just recently Randy Orton fought CM Punk at Wrestlemania, then fought him the following Monday and now a third time at Extreme Rules. For all of the supposed superstars in the stables of both brands of WWE, we see the same ones every week on Raw. Wrestling at this point is storytelling, so why don’t the writers do something creative and write in a decent storyline for the wrestlers they hardly use each week.
At least it seems they’ve ended bull SHIT like this…
I understand the supposed reasoning behind having the champion compete most every week before the pay per view and the use of the same matches every week. It’s just to satisfy the fans in attendance and make their ticket money worth their while by seeing every main superstar in action. I understand but don’t like it. In the meantime I still watch Raw every week and keep complaining every week because nothing changes and we get more of the same over and over and over and over… you get the point.
Has it come to this?
I just how many fans out there feel the same way I do and watch begrudgingly each week in hopes of something new. What will it take for Raw to become better than what it is? A ratings drop? Fan petitions? I know they won’t be holding this fan’s interest much longer so I hope they do something sooner rather than later. But until then, I’ll still faithfully write a review each week until I can no longer!
After last night’s so-so Extreme Rules pay per view, its onward to Raw for The Rock’s birthday!
In a very classy move to start things off, Raw runs a promo to commemorate September 11th what with scumbag number one Osama Bin Laden being destroyed yesterday. Then we get treated to Lilian Garcia singing the national anthem! Happy Birthday Rock and Happy Deathday Osama!
A bunch of celebrities and friends wishing the Rock a happy 39th B-day
The first person gracing us with his presence is the man himself, The Rock. What starts out as a full on Rock rant that we’ve seen plenty of times before, gets interrupted by the GM and Michael Cole. The GM wants an apology and so does the little Jack-bag Bitch Michael Cole since Rock has disrespected him over the years. The moron even had the audacity to wear a Boston Celtics jersey in Miama, so you can’t be surprised that he got his ass Rock Bottomed with a second course of People’s Elbow.
Congrats Cole, you’re still a scum bag
We were supposed to get a match between the now arch enemies John Morrison and R-Truth, but Truth decided to beat Morrison’s ass before he even got to the ring. Thanks Truth, maybe invisible little Jimmy should teach you some restraint so our time isn’t wasted.
The match that never was…
We definitely got our share of eye candy. Maryse was participating in a match on Raw since I can’t even remember, along with recently drafted and my dream girl Kelly Kelly. The match however, didn’t get very far before the hog that is Kharma (Awesome Kong) made her way to the ring. It looked as if she was going for Kelly, but instead goes after the already downed Maryse. I will say, Maryse still looks hot getting her ass beat!
Oh my…
At first I could have cared less about Kharma because I’m so used to a group of extremely good looking divas who compete each week. None of them save Beth Phoenix are actually imposing, so that is where I hope Kharma adds some diversity and a threat to all of the hot divas. She may not be pretty to look at, but that’s not the point. She is there to make the divas division credible again by providing us with at least a decent storyline where there is actually someone to challenge for the Diva’s title. Rock on Kharma with your nasty self!
Kelly Kelly’s response to Kharma coming to the ring
If you didn’t see Extreme Rules last night, John Cena is now our new champion. Love him or hate him, I prefer to hate him. But I do hate the Miz almost as much as Cena, and that brings us to the main event which is happening at the halfway point to finish out celebrating Rock’s birthday. Miz has used his rematch clause tonight, which actually resulted in a halfway decent match between the two turds. But of course the Miz loses all credibility when he uses Alex Riley and his shenanigans to his advantage. This time it worked against him after he hit Cena in the face with the title belt and tucked it beneath him before pinning the champ. The ref calls for the belt after Miz’s win and upon seeing it gone and in Miz’s hands he reverses his decision and Cena is still the champ. Sorry monkey by Miz.
Before the next match, Alberto Del Rio comes down to the ring in a new Phantom, incredibly upbeat for someone who lost a title match again last night. I guess Del Rio isn’t the chosen one. The match itself is a tag match with the team of Rey Mysterio and Kofi Kingston vs Jack Swagger and Drew McIntyre. Not much exciting here until the end when Del Rio gets owned trying to attack Mysterio. Behold, a new Raw feud!
The last match is an interesting one and quite entertaining for how long it lasted. Mason Ryan vs Kane. It’s always a good time when behemoths collide. Mason Ryan shows he can definitely hold his own against Kane and even Big Show as he spears him once the match is a catastrophe. The catastrophe is because of….Nexus interference! Big surprise there. Mason Ryan could easily become a number one contender. He just needs more lines than repeatedly going “Come on! Come on! Come on!”. Besides, that’s Michael Cole’s job.
HERE WE GO!
Overall it was a decently good episode of Raw. Not a whole lot of the same matches besides Cena vs Miz again! Rock was able to beat on Cole, get pranked a couple times for his birthday and end the night in the ring to thank everyone.
WORST. GIFT. EVER.
He was even given a surprise birthday wish from one Vince McMahon and a video tribute to him. Top all of that off with Happy Birthday performed the gorgeous and talented Mya, and a shower of balloons and confetti, then it makes for a pretty good birthday if you’re the Rock.
The Rock may not have another Birthday from confetti inhalation!
Well here we stand, the night after Wrestlemania. Whether you loved it or hated it, there were good and bad things to come of it. One of the good things was evident right at the beginning of Raw with Jim Ross commentating alongside the King Jerry Lawler, as it should be. I’m not too sure if I could handle listening to the phony ass Michael Cole sitting in his glass box for another night. I can handle two commentators and one being a little biased towards one wrestler, but it should at least have some thought put into it. It shouldn’t just be Cole babbling in favor of a heel just because Lawler favors the opposite wrestler. Of course we shouldn’t expect not to see Cole anymore, because Ross brings up a rumor to Lawler of Cole being at Raw and supposedly wanting a match. Didn’t we suffer through that last night?
Probably the most decent match at Wrestlemania 27
The first person to come out and speak at the beginning of Raw was surprisingly not the Miz to gloat about another one of his assisted title defenses, but it was Triple H. He came out to speak about how unbelievable his match against the Undertaker was last night and even went so far as to thank the “Dead Man” for one of the best matches of his life. He also adds that when the Undertaker returns (he was carried out by stretcher last night) that he’ll be waiting. So does this mean that we will see another Undertaker injury hiatus? And that the next Wrestlemania will be Triple H and the Taker again?
Vintage Scum-Bag Cole
In the next segement we are unfortunately subjected to the moronic Michael Cole coming out to challenge Jerry Lawler to a rematch which Lawler happily agrees to and promptly enters the ring. I’m thinking, why do we have to see the same thing we saw at Wrestlemania last night? But then it turns out Cole is talking about Lawler having a rematch with Jack Swagger whom he fought last Raw. Wow… even better we get to see a freakin’ match from before Wrestlemania. Lame. The match goes on for a short time with Lawler getting the upper hand (he still has the moves!) until Cole interferes long enough for Swagger to get Lawler into the ankle lock submission hold to which Lawler taps out. But the call is reversed because Swagger won’t break the hold after the bell. This of course angers Cole who proceeds to spray JR with a bottle of barbeque sauce until Ross goes after him. I really really want Michael Cole to go away. Unfortunately he is back on the commentator scene when Raw resumes from commercial. From barbeque sauce to weak sauce.
“IN THE FACE!”
Thank God that his tirade about Ross ends as Randy Orton’s theme music blares throughout the arena, followed by the entrance of his tag team partner Rey Mysterio. They are set to wrestle in yet another rehash of their opponents from last night: CM Punk and Cody Rhodes. Yawn. Aside from it being the same matchups from last night, it is interesting to see Orton and his former Legacy underling Cody Rhodes going at it again. And I like the mismatched pairing of Orton and Mysterio, because they are polar opposites but both extremely talented in their own way. After a match lasting through two commercial breaks, Orton sets Rhodes up for a 619 from Mysterio which staggers him…straight into a waiting RKO from the Viper. Match over as CM Punk runs away from the ring.
A quick in between matches: Stone Cold Steve Austin is certainly in the building, congratulating a passing Triple H for one helluva match last night. Also there was a promo for the imminent arrival of luchador Sin Cara who was recently acquired by the WWE. It will be interesting indeed to see what he brings to the table.
“And so he did.”
As Raw returns we are welcomed back with Austin coming out to the ring. Unfortunately it doesn’t look like Austin will do any ass whooping as he brings out the cast of Tough Enough to the ring to make introductions. (Austin and Booker T are both on Tough Enough if you didn’t know) None of them really stood out to me except one. Maybe the guy with the afro, but that was just because he had an afro. The other one that stood out was Rima Fakih, obviously because she is super hot and a Michigan native where I hail from. I would absolutely be loving it if she was the next Diva. The Miz, the worst WWE champion since Sheamus, interrupts the whole thing with his butt buddy Alex Reiley. He proceeds to talk down to the Tough Enough kids and promptly challenging Austin to a match. Austin agrees as the ring clears out, but instead of Miz attacking A-Rei does. It was pretty satisfying to see Austin back in action to stomp Alex Reiley’s ass for a couple minutes. Afterwards Austin has a beer with the Tough Enough crew and throws a couple into Cole’s glass turd box to get him wet.
Rima Fakih – Former Miss USA
Even though I’m not a big fan of Alberto Del Rio, it is refreshing to see an original match as he faces off against Evan Bourne. Del Rio was curiously absent his car and usual grinning face as he came out for the match. It’s a typical Evan Bourne match where the little fella is outgunned by his almost always bigger opponent. He manages to execute one high flying maneuver but misses and ends getting put into the crossover submission. Chalk one up for Del Rio, but if he wants to get back on the road to credibility he needs to fight someone a little more formidable than Bourne. And also he needs to get a new car.
Del Rio in Full Spanish Soap Opera Mode
When we returned from a commercial break I nearly gagged on my water hearing Vicki Guerrero’s voice echoing throughout the arena. Apparently we get a matchup of Vicky and Dolph Zigler v.s. John Morrison and Trish Stratus. Almost the same matchup from Wrestlemania last night minus that strumpet Snooki. That should make me happy but I am nonetheless still completely uncaring about this matchup so I’ll keep it brief: Morrison and Stratus win and we all move on with our lives.
WARNING: VOMIT INDUCING
Next on the agenda is Sheamus, who’s match at Wrestlemania was not aired last night. So we are at least treated to a rematch for the United States Championship Belt, with Sheamus defending. I really couldn’t care less about Daniel Bryan. Everything about him is boring, from his look to his theme music. To me he is just not superstar material. Needless to say I was hoping for Sheamus to win and he did. I think he may have found his niche in the WWE with being the United States Champion, because he definitely wasn’t cutting it as WWE champion. Much like the Miz he never defended the title successfully without interference or douche-baggery. Perhaps they can somehow make the United States Championship a legitimate title, especially since the aforementioned Sin Cara came out to stop Sheamus from pummeling Daniel Bryan some more after the match. I believe Sin Cara can definitely bring a little more excitement to the WWE and what it is desperately suffering from a lack of… something different. His super high flying manuever from the top ropes onto Sheamus outside of the ring was definitely impressive. Radical man….
Look out Mysterio… There’s a new masked Mexican in town.
Now to the finale that they have been going on and on about the whole show. “John Cena calls out The Rock”. Lord knows they needed a whole segment for this nonsense of the predictable walking talking cliche John Cena to come out and spew his slang riddled rhetoric. Cena did his typical, “I lost and congrats to my opponent” bit before calling out the Rock, who obliges with a stroll out to the ring. The Rock goes on for a few minutes about Cena and Cena even brings up Rock’s terrible movie “The Tooth Fairy” before coming out with the obvious challenge. The Rock vs John Cena. Even though I hate Cena, it would be a great match if these two went toe to toe. It obviously won’t happen on this Raw and not even in a pay per view this year… they are talking about Wrestlemania 28 next year. I admit I will have forgotten about this in about a month. So someone please remind me about it every now and then, because I’m sure the WWE won’t bombard us with it nearly every week! But it doesn’t end here, the Corre of stupidity decides to run out and ruin the moment before Cena and Rock can shake on it. They have the upper hand at first but are of course pummeled by two of the biggest superstars in the business. Cena and Rock finally shake on it, setting an extremely early stage for next year’s Wrestlemania 28.
Not much information has been released yet about the content of the show, but with Jerry Bruckheimer teaming up with a third generation pro wrestling legend, I can only imagine we’re all in for a treat.
Grizzly Bomb 