Barest Of Bare Fruit…

Apparently something important happened last night in America. What did I miss? Anyway, on to important matters…

I made a couple purchases off AliExpress that I thought would make for a couple fun Gimmick Table videos in short order, but also threw together a quick video denoting a recent Amazon purchase that I didn’t need to make. This video is the next one after the third and final Grab Bag, which also went in a different direction. Once I’ve got a feel for what the final video schedule for the month looks like, I’ll repost the State Of The Blog this weekend and likewise link it to the main sidebar.

With a clear focus ahead with regards to how we’ll move forwards in terms of video fodder, I can hopefully get some shit done in time to start working on material for next year, which includes a new review on New Year’s Day… which is the first in a long while and also a timely one of sorts.

A friend of mine also made me aware of a couple things that occurred in wrestling programming that they thought I should comment on for the sake of blog fodder. Things that, mind you, I already knew about because I’m subscribed to a couple wrestling Youtube channels that made light of these things in the first place, but I thought, “Eh, why not?” Sadly, when it came down to gathering thoughts, I was mostly… meh. One is a silly spot that people have differing opinions on and I’m like “whatever.” And of course, verbal spats over wrestling personalities of sorts on Twitter interest me about as much as… well… listening to these personalities in the first place discuss things that I have no interest in listening to in the first place.

As far as the so-called John Cena Classic is concerned… anyway, last week…

So… yeah, quick thoughts out of nowhere… enjoy your Wednesday, everyone.

Ooh, I almost forgot. First collection video in who knows how long goes up today… and it’s me cataloguing old VHS tapes to move to storage. Yay? I’m hoping to do one of these per week… maybe two if you’re lucky… but more than likely, I’m making you suffer through old reviews being republished for public consumption. What fun.

TNA Bound For Glory 2022

Another year, another Bound For Glory PPV… and this one feels a bit familiar, a bit dejavu… honestly, it’s the same feeling I’ve got with a certain stretch of Wrestlemanias, but this is to a different degree. It’s not so much dejavu in terms of the same people involved, but rather… I don’t know. For a show that’s supposed to be the big tentpole, the crown jewel (no pun intended) of the TNA Impact Wrestling empire, you would think more pomp and circumstance would be added to the mix.

Granted, I understand there are budget reasons. Less inclined to spend on frivolous things, but even the best Bound For Glory shows felt like a genuine can’t miss event and I never got that feeling with these last couple entries. Granted, they’re good shows, but they feel more like good TNA B-shows, not good Bound For Glory shows.

That said, my notes are fairly bare for this show.

Continue reading “TNA Bound For Glory 2022”

On The 31st Day… I Did Not Watch Section 31, But I Did Watch Golden Axe.

It is the 31st of October in the year of our lord 2026… and it’s the time-honoured tradition of my declaration of not having watched the Section 31 streaming motion picture starring Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh.

And the tradition continues.

And really, on a week that saw the Star Trek family lose two of its esteemed members (Walter Koenig earlier this week and this past Thursday with the news of Sir Patrick Stewart’s passing – tribute eventually forthcoming), a little levity is what is needed here.

Just so we’re clear, I do have a banner ready and uploaded in the event that I do end up watching this thing… but I haven’t yet… despite the fact that I’ve had a month’s subscription to the Paramount+ service. I just ended up watching Strange New Worlds, old Star Trek, and that Golden Axe show that I didn’t know I wanted… and the reason that I didn’t know I wanted this is because I DIDN’T want this. I never really asked for it. Never really thought about it.

But now that I’ve seen it… I don’t particularly care for it. It’s got that early Lower Decks stench that initially turned me off on that series, but only got better when the characters became marginally more likeable and not completely one-note. I don’t know how you do a Golden Axe cartoon… honestly, I don’t know WHY you’d do a Golden Axe cartoon… but doing the cheap flash animation with meta jokes abound is probably not how I’d figure such a thing would go. I’m not expecting anything along the same caliber of Netflix’s Castlevania show, but this is far beneath that bar.

Seriously, I thought that BIG SWINGS was the other guy’s schtick.

Oh well… that was my brief blurb on Golden Axe’s cartoon debut, which I’ve included here in an effort to make this recurring Not Watching Section 31 bit more meaningful. Did it work? Probably not… but it’s the thought that counts… somewhat.

Review #1384 – Spider-Man/X-Men: Arcade’s Revenge (Genesis)

The last of our Arcade’s Revenge videos… and a sudden reminder of something that should have been evident.

And the 453 day streak continues… fuck you, crashing out in the middle of crunch time.

The Rock’s Egg And Russo’s Raw Deal

Famed author Timothy Zahn – best known for his critically acclaimed Thrawn trilogy of Star Wars books – will be writing a Star Trek comic called Roc’s Egg… which presumably has nothing to do with that egg that appeared on some WWE PLE to promote one of Dwayne’s movies… but is based on the Roc mythology of olden days.

Honestly, the fact that I can recall a really stupid backstage bit from an old, forgettable WWE PLE event is a testament to how much longevity the truly crappy angles in wrestling endure… which is why people try to chase that egg, as it were. At this point, you might as well let your AI programs book your shows because chances are they can do better than the old heads in charge of creative.

Which leads us to the Vince Russo/Nick Khan rumor talks… which apparently didn’t amount to much if you believe the rumor mills. (And even Russo himself has declared that there was nothing to talk about on that front… and you know that he’s going to tell you the GAWD’S. (slams desk) HONEST. (slams desk) TRUTH (slams desk). I’d add a “bro” in there, but that’s kinda pushing it.

So here’s the honest truth, bro… ah, there we are… and I can say this because it’s been months since I last touched a Netflix subscription and I can safely say that I have been more than content to leave that piece of business behind, what with all the price hikes for the little use I have for the service. WWE programming is almost entirely behind a paywall at this point – being an international customer not based in the United States, which has to be a nightmare to keep track of all those services. And when I read recaps for these shows or see the few clips online, it almost justifies my decision to moving away from this product. And if there is a show that is absolutely, positively worth watching, I have a friend who records these shows on DVD-R that I can ask to loan a copy for the purposes of musings on this here blog.

That, sadly, has been the extent of my wrestling viewing habits in 2026… aside from the Bound For Glory viewings and occasional Youtube clips.

So the possibility of Vince Russo – who had recently completed a year-long stint as creative head of the Juggalo promotion – rejoining WWE, however slim it may be, regardless of whether there is truth or not, has some people talking. Would it be an improvement over what they’ve currently got? I honestly don’t know. It depends on how much influence or involvement Russo would have. And considering how stale the product has been as of late, I don’t see why not. At some point, you have to come to the conclusion that what you’re doing is getting the job done and maybe bringing in a disruptor to shake things up considerable might be what WWE needs to freshen things up.

In 1997, Vince Russo was that disruptor. He broke away from the stale, cartoonish presentation that plagued the New Generation WWF and helped to plant the seeds for what would eventually become the Attitude Era.

In 2026, however? Not so much.

Here’s the reality; Vince Russo is 65 years old… and for those who are detail freaks, he is also a few months older than Jim Cornette, so Jimmy has a fair edge in outlasting Russo and achieving his one goal to piss on the man’s grave when that day comes. But the point being that Vince Russo is 65 years old. The last thing WWE needs right now is another old fart in creative trying to appeal to the young demo. Russo’s glory years were 30 years ago. He hadn’t achieved that same level of success since then and no, TNA hitting 2 million at its peak isn’t the same level; hell, it’s barely scratching WCW’s lowest numbers, which had about 2 to 2.5 million people watching at worst.

But the other key thing is that I don’t think Russo would last in this environment. Russo works best when he has someone who can take his ideas and tweak them to fit the overall picture. He needs someone who cares enough to put on the best product possible. That’s what he got in WWF and that’s presumably what he got in JCW during his year-long stint there. Russo’s stint in WCW had him in a corporate structure who wanted him to fix things, but really didn’t give enough of a fuck to give him parameters… and so where’s WCW now? And as far as TNA is concerned, he had several years of gainful employment and that’s about the best thing you can say about his run there.

I am not stating these things to knock Russo. Yeah, he’s had some pretty stupid ideas, but guess what? He wasn’t the only one and some of the stuff that he had a hand in bringing to fruition was what got me into this wrestling thing. But the other thing you have to take into account is that WWE tried to bring back Russo in 2002 and he lasted a couple days when he saw that he wouldn’t fit in the new creative structure led by Stephanie McMahon… and let me just say that the world was far worse off as a result, but that’s another story.

Cut to twenty-four years later. Would a much older Vince Russo last in a corporate structure that is overseen by TKO, who would insist on including certain things here and there? I’m sure things would go swimmingly for the short term… or maybe things would fall off the wayside and he’d be gone. Again, Russo left JCW, citing old age as a culprit. Does he want to go through that whole rigmarole with a structure where he is just another cog in a much larger, high maintenance machine? I don’t know. I just don’t see it happening.

All that having been said, would Russo’s return to WWE incite some folks to give it a shot?

Maybe…

Would I re-up to Netflix if it happened?

Nope.

Haven’t had a reason to do so up to this point. This won’t change that.

Anyway, back to Arcade’s Revenge.

I’m sick and tired of this game.

Later.