Anyone who has ever followed wrestling has their favorite and most despised wrestlers.
Here are some of mine.
Number One Kerry Von Erich
Kerry who had a run in the WWWF as the Texas Tornado is best known for his work in the WCCW. His father owned and ran the WCCW organization and his brothers were also stars in the outfit. Kerry had the looks and physique to impress anyone but by today's standards his mic skills would have been considered average.
He had great feuds with Rick Flair, the Freebirds, Jerry Lawler and Gino Hernandez. His theme song was Rush's Tom Sawyer and I still think of KVE when I hear that song. Toss in the fact that I knew him and he's my favorite.
Number 2 Rick Flair
Flair may be the greatest wrestler of all time. His lengthy run cements his status in my opinion. He's held titles in every organization imaginable and wrestled everybody.
While not the tallest or bulkiest wrestler he had the charisma and mic skills that set him apart from anyone else. Flair's best days were in the WCW. His matches are legendary and as part of the 4 Horseman or as a singles wrestler he always gave you your money's worth.
Number 3 Barry Windham
Windham was a solid wrestler and sadly never got the Big Push he deserved. He was involved with many tag teams throughout his career.
Number 4 Michael PS Hayes
As the leader of the Fabulous Freebirds and as a singles wrestler Hayes was an incredible performer. He was almost as good as Flair when giving promos. Sadly his Dok Hendrix WWE character was just a shell of his former self.
Number 5 Steve Austin
I saw Austin when he was just being trained by Chris Adams in WCCW. You could tell back then he would go on better things. Austin will go down as one of the top wrestlers of all time. When you were the first to feud with the owner of your organization like Austin did with McMahon you know you are golden.
Just Missing and not in any order: Jeff Jarrett, Brian Pillman, The Rock, Lance Storm, Macho Man Randy Savage, Ricky Steamboat, Tex McKenzie, Dick Brower, Johny Powers, Bret Hart and Kurt Henning.
My 5 Least Favorites
Number 1 Hulk Hogan
Hogan may have been the most well known wrestler on the planet at one time. But Austin, the Rock and even Macho Man burned brighter for a shorter time. Hogan had the Hollywood looks but was not a good wrestler. He was smart enough to put a clause in to his contracts giving him approval over the finishes to his matches.
Number 2 Triple H
I admire what he's done but being the boss's son in law certainly helped his career. I just never get excited watching him wrestle.
Number 3 Lex Luger
Luger was a star waiting to happen but just didn't click on all cylinders. The WWE gave him a big push after he jumped from WCW and he dropped the ball. Bad promos and bad wrestling were his trademarks.
Number 4 Shawn Michaels
Another great talent who I just never got behind. He's had a great career but I'm just not a fan.
Number 5 The Ultimate Warrior
The least said about him the better.
Not quite bad enough: Goldberg, Mongo, Sting, Sid, The Kiss Demon,
Tag Teams
The Freebirds Michael Hayes and Bam Bam Gordy never mind the 3rd wheels they had. These two were the best.
The British Bulldogs A great combo of speed and power.
The Hollywood Blondes Pillman and Austin were outstanding.
Demolition Wearing their Kabuke makeup and beating the crap out of their opponents made them favorites of mine.
Gino Hernandez and Chris Adams A great tagteam from WCCW. Hernandez was on his way to being a big star before his death.
Least Favorite Tagteams
The Mean Street Posse Shane McMahons real life friends getting an undeserved payday.
The Boddydonnas I loved Sunny. The wrestlers were secondary.
Kronik Two past their prime wrestlers trying to be hip.
The New Age Outlaws or any tagteam with Billy Gunn
The Godwinns Pig raising wrestlers. This gimmick stunk worse than their slopbucket.
Please feel free to comment on your favorites or most despised.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Welcome to my cubbyhole
Hi and a big welcome to all who have dropped in. Whether by intent or accident it's all good.
My "mission statement" is simple I hope to entertain, educate and engage in friendly debate with you the good readers.
All friendly debate is welcome. Keep it clean, factual and entertaining and all is good. Wander over to the Dark Side and beware.
As I get farther along in my blogs here I will talk more about myself.
One of my passions is movies. I am a big fan of drama, action, sci-fi and horror movies.
Today's discussion will be famous trilogies.
Some of the better known are in no particular order: the Godfather Saga, two Star Wars trilogies, Lord of the Rings, the Scream trilogy, the Jason Bourne trilogy, the Evil Dead trilogy and a personal favorite of mine that may or may not be a trilogy but I classify it as one Clint Eastwood's A Fistful of Dollars, A few Dollars more and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Clint portrays the same character in the first two and possibly the third as well.
There are others as well. Spiderman has three movies with a fourth planned so currently it is a trilogy.
Today I plan to take to task one series while offering some thoughts on another.
Getting the whip today is the newer but chronologically older Star Wars trilogy. I was a teen when the first of the six movies was released. The first three were a breath of fresh air except for some marketing ploys tossed in as a revenue provider. (The teddy bear like Ewoks)
The second series has several major flaws and some head scratchers.
Please someone explain to me how with all the forces available to them Anakin's mother was never bought out of slavery. I mean we have a princess who becomes a Senator and the Jedi's themselves who never thought about going back and freeing someone instrumental in saving their lives. This ruined the trilogy right here as the hole is so wide three Death Stars could fly through it.
Cover your eyes as I vent on another favorite of mine with a plot hole so big it should have ruined the movie for me but luckily it didn't. The movie is the Warriors. A fantastic, gritty action movie that caused quite a stir when released. My problem with this movie is simple: They are a Street Gang and yet they never thought of stealing a car and driving home. Puh-leeze explain this to me. I'll take the subway rather than drive home?
Also why do the spacecraft look so much better in the second trilogy? I understand the huge advancement in special EFX. but couldn't a retro look been designed?
Also, who or what are the Siths and why can there only be two of them at one time? This makes no sense at all. Wasn't Count Dooku a Sith? Also are they saying that no future Jedi's would turn to the Dark Side if the two were killed off?
Also, how does a Senator from a minor planet involved in a battle with the Trade Federation become the Chancellor? This was handled horribly and makes no sense at all. Also how does he avoid being discovered by the Jedi? Can they not sense the evil inside him? Is this some ability the Dark Side has?
Yes, I understand these are only movies but the credibility gaps are horrible.
Your thoughts on anything dealing with this series is extremely welcome.
Let's talk Spiderman now.
All three movies have been good to excellent.
But... I do have some complaints.
One of the biggest problems Comic Book Movies have is the belief that Good must conquer Evil with the destruction and death of the arch-villain. Fans of the comic books know that doesn't always happen.
The first Batman series could have been saved had they not killed off the Joker. This resulted in running out of villains. When Frosty the Snowman aka Freeze and Poison Ivy are the main villains you are in trouble. This leads to adding Batgirl and the Death of a franchise.
The Green Goblin was one of Spidey's first and longest running villains. Yes, Harry eventually became the GG but that was years into the saga. Now three movies in both of the Osborns are dead. Doc Ock was killed off in S2 but his actual death is not shown so he could reappear down the road.
Spiderman 4
Rumours are rampant about S4.
There is talk about a new director and replacing the two lead actors as Raimi, McGuire and Dunst have an agreement that it is all or none. I say dump them if that is what it takes. KD has not been a great actress in the movies and is given to much ego time anyway. The Gwen Stacey character was introduced albeit poorly but would be easy enough to reuse as MJ is written out as she goes to LA to try a movie career etc.
The problem with Spiderman is that the first 3 films are too recent to do a reboot like they did with the fantastic new Batman series. Thus we are forced to live with the wreckage from S3.
One rumour has it that 4 and 5 will be filmed at the same time. This would make sense in many ways. You have the actors lined up and it makes it easier to make a long movie broken up into two parts. A cliffhanger if you will.
Now the Q is what villains do you use. The Goblin character has been destroyed and it is too early to go to the Hobgoblin at this point. A problem they have is that the GG was part of several Super-Villain groups that were trying to destroy Spidey.
The lizard character of Dr. Connors has been in or mentioned in all 3 films. It's time for him to be used as a villain. Also he has a sample of the venom symbiote in his possession...
Doc Ock or the Sandman could return as well. As they have shown that they are willing to stray from the Comic Book history, a young version of the Vulture could be used although it may be time to go away from a flying foe. The Rhino would be a tough sell as the Thing character from the FF series doesn't look that great and I imagine a Rhino costume would be hard to accomplish. Also the Rhino was a Russian and in this PC age he would need to be changed.
However, you do have built in ideas available. Doc Ock could come back deranged and discover plans for the Vulture costume as he breaks into Oscorp's offices. Electro or Mysterio could be introduced as well.
It would be easy to have the Electro character cause a temporary loss of Spidey's powers with a near death shock and Dr. Connors tries to bring back Spidey's powers and does so but then tries to rejuvenate his arm only to become the Lizard at the end of S4 and then S5 is about Spidey vs. the Lizard as Electro gets defeated at the end of S4. The trick they have is to not clutter up the plot with too many villains at once unless they are in a cohesive group.
Also, there is the idea of creating a new villain. After all if you are going to change what the characters do in the films why not add a new villain? Also, Spidey and the Torch teamed up several times and Johnny Storm could make a guest appearance in the new Spidey film.
There are lots of ways to go here.
Well that ends this little journey for now.
Thoughts, praises or criticisms are welcome. Feel free to discuss the Star Wars issues, Spidey thoughts or talk about your favorite trilogy.
I'll see you at the movies or on the couch!
My "mission statement" is simple I hope to entertain, educate and engage in friendly debate with you the good readers.
All friendly debate is welcome. Keep it clean, factual and entertaining and all is good. Wander over to the Dark Side and beware.
As I get farther along in my blogs here I will talk more about myself.
One of my passions is movies. I am a big fan of drama, action, sci-fi and horror movies.
Today's discussion will be famous trilogies.
Some of the better known are in no particular order: the Godfather Saga, two Star Wars trilogies, Lord of the Rings, the Scream trilogy, the Jason Bourne trilogy, the Evil Dead trilogy and a personal favorite of mine that may or may not be a trilogy but I classify it as one Clint Eastwood's A Fistful of Dollars, A few Dollars more and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Clint portrays the same character in the first two and possibly the third as well.
There are others as well. Spiderman has three movies with a fourth planned so currently it is a trilogy.
Today I plan to take to task one series while offering some thoughts on another.
Getting the whip today is the newer but chronologically older Star Wars trilogy. I was a teen when the first of the six movies was released. The first three were a breath of fresh air except for some marketing ploys tossed in as a revenue provider. (The teddy bear like Ewoks)
The second series has several major flaws and some head scratchers.
Please someone explain to me how with all the forces available to them Anakin's mother was never bought out of slavery. I mean we have a princess who becomes a Senator and the Jedi's themselves who never thought about going back and freeing someone instrumental in saving their lives. This ruined the trilogy right here as the hole is so wide three Death Stars could fly through it.
Cover your eyes as I vent on another favorite of mine with a plot hole so big it should have ruined the movie for me but luckily it didn't. The movie is the Warriors. A fantastic, gritty action movie that caused quite a stir when released. My problem with this movie is simple: They are a Street Gang and yet they never thought of stealing a car and driving home. Puh-leeze explain this to me. I'll take the subway rather than drive home?
Also why do the spacecraft look so much better in the second trilogy? I understand the huge advancement in special EFX. but couldn't a retro look been designed?
Also, who or what are the Siths and why can there only be two of them at one time? This makes no sense at all. Wasn't Count Dooku a Sith? Also are they saying that no future Jedi's would turn to the Dark Side if the two were killed off?
Also, how does a Senator from a minor planet involved in a battle with the Trade Federation become the Chancellor? This was handled horribly and makes no sense at all. Also how does he avoid being discovered by the Jedi? Can they not sense the evil inside him? Is this some ability the Dark Side has?
Yes, I understand these are only movies but the credibility gaps are horrible.
Your thoughts on anything dealing with this series is extremely welcome.
Let's talk Spiderman now.
All three movies have been good to excellent.
But... I do have some complaints.
One of the biggest problems Comic Book Movies have is the belief that Good must conquer Evil with the destruction and death of the arch-villain. Fans of the comic books know that doesn't always happen.
The first Batman series could have been saved had they not killed off the Joker. This resulted in running out of villains. When Frosty the Snowman aka Freeze and Poison Ivy are the main villains you are in trouble. This leads to adding Batgirl and the Death of a franchise.
The Green Goblin was one of Spidey's first and longest running villains. Yes, Harry eventually became the GG but that was years into the saga. Now three movies in both of the Osborns are dead. Doc Ock was killed off in S2 but his actual death is not shown so he could reappear down the road.
Spiderman 4
Rumours are rampant about S4.
There is talk about a new director and replacing the two lead actors as Raimi, McGuire and Dunst have an agreement that it is all or none. I say dump them if that is what it takes. KD has not been a great actress in the movies and is given to much ego time anyway. The Gwen Stacey character was introduced albeit poorly but would be easy enough to reuse as MJ is written out as she goes to LA to try a movie career etc.
The problem with Spiderman is that the first 3 films are too recent to do a reboot like they did with the fantastic new Batman series. Thus we are forced to live with the wreckage from S3.
One rumour has it that 4 and 5 will be filmed at the same time. This would make sense in many ways. You have the actors lined up and it makes it easier to make a long movie broken up into two parts. A cliffhanger if you will.
Now the Q is what villains do you use. The Goblin character has been destroyed and it is too early to go to the Hobgoblin at this point. A problem they have is that the GG was part of several Super-Villain groups that were trying to destroy Spidey.
The lizard character of Dr. Connors has been in or mentioned in all 3 films. It's time for him to be used as a villain. Also he has a sample of the venom symbiote in his possession...
Doc Ock or the Sandman could return as well. As they have shown that they are willing to stray from the Comic Book history, a young version of the Vulture could be used although it may be time to go away from a flying foe. The Rhino would be a tough sell as the Thing character from the FF series doesn't look that great and I imagine a Rhino costume would be hard to accomplish. Also the Rhino was a Russian and in this PC age he would need to be changed.
However, you do have built in ideas available. Doc Ock could come back deranged and discover plans for the Vulture costume as he breaks into Oscorp's offices. Electro or Mysterio could be introduced as well.
It would be easy to have the Electro character cause a temporary loss of Spidey's powers with a near death shock and Dr. Connors tries to bring back Spidey's powers and does so but then tries to rejuvenate his arm only to become the Lizard at the end of S4 and then S5 is about Spidey vs. the Lizard as Electro gets defeated at the end of S4. The trick they have is to not clutter up the plot with too many villains at once unless they are in a cohesive group.
Also, there is the idea of creating a new villain. After all if you are going to change what the characters do in the films why not add a new villain? Also, Spidey and the Torch teamed up several times and Johnny Storm could make a guest appearance in the new Spidey film.
There are lots of ways to go here.
Well that ends this little journey for now.
Thoughts, praises or criticisms are welcome. Feel free to discuss the Star Wars issues, Spidey thoughts or talk about your favorite trilogy.
I'll see you at the movies or on the couch!
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