WWE No Mercy 2002

So… there’s a PPV event coming up… and for the first time in a good long while, I’m not particularly inclined to watch it.

Let’s be honest here; I wasn’t the biggest fan of Brock Lesnar vs. Undertaker when they had their ‘Mania and Summerslam matches – other people thought they were the shit, I thought they were shit sandwiches with a side order of piss –  and putting them in a Hell In A Cell match – a match that is severely hindered by PG limitations – isn’t going to make me clamor for another one that will most likely end in the proverbial “fuck finish.” Seth Rollins vs. Kane is not interesting in the slightest, nor is the guessing game of whether the soon-to-be-abayent John Cena will do the favors or the the 1,291,091,938,471th match between Roman Reigns and Bray Wyatt… I might want to check out Kevin Owens defending the IC title against Ryback, but that might be opening match or even relegated to the pre-show or something.

Now for all intents and purposes, I did PVR the damn thing and I’ll probably watch it some time during the week, so chances are you’ll still get your usual write-up somewhere down the line, but as far as watching it live, not interested.

So what I ended up doing last Saturday night – aside from other stuff worthy of my time – was pop in an old recording of one of the older WWE PPVs that I had on DVD-R. The PPV in question? No Mercy 2002, whose only real significance is its main event – reigning and defending WWE champion Brock Lesnar facing off against the Undertaker in a Hell In A Cell match.

Now it’s time for context building. 2002 was the first year in which WWE divided up its roster into two shows; RAW and Smackdown. RAW was the more “sports-entertainment” oriented brand (as well as the HHH show for the next three years) while Smackdown was the more “wrestling” oriented brand (as well as the only watchable thing to come out of WWE during that three year period.)

Okay, context building over. On with the show.

Continue reading “WWE No Mercy 2002”

Denouement

There comes a point in your life when the thing you enjoy no longer becomes enjoyable. When the thing you enjoy and had a profound affect on your life and your way of thinking becomes a thing of such indifference that you’re willing to step away for a good long while and never look back. It might not be the most pleasant feeling in the world, but in the end, you’ll get over it, move on with your life, and find something else to enjoy… or barring that, go back to the old things you used to enjoy and work from there.

There’s this thing that I used to enjoy. I enjoyed it very much. It became a thing that I enjoyed for years and looked forward to this thing whenever it took place. And then the thing started to become less of the thing I enjoyed and more something else. Eventually, it became a thing that was the complete opposite of the thing that I enjoyed and suddenly, I didn’t want anything to do with that thing anymore.
So I took a step away from that thing and moved on to something else.
Funny thing is even though I’m not doing that other thing that I left behind, there’s no real void. If anything, it feels like a great weight has been lifted from me. Suddenly, I’m feeling much better about life and the world in general. And I found some other things to enjoy… but I wonder how long these things that I enjoy turn out to be less so… and how long before they become something that I can’t enjoy?
This is a general thought process that occurs whenever I stop enjoying something that I’ve enjoyed for years. A circle, if you will. I’m not denoting anything specific nor am I saying anything in particular. I’m just expressing a thought here.
Something to think about…

A Shellbinding Conversation

I hooked up with an old buddy that I hadn’t seen in years and we had a nice, pleasant conversation over a cup of coffee or two. As we were talking, he mentioned that he started getting back into comics and heard about the IDW-published TMNT comic series that’s currently ongoing, wanting to know if I knew anything about it.

I told him some basic stuff that I knew; it was yet another rebooting of the Turtles, but one built from the building blocks of what came before. I’ve heard good things about the series, but aside from a couple issues here and there, I haven’t been following the series nor do I know anything beyond the bare essentials of the plot. In any event, he said that he would give the series a shot.
A couple weeks go by and I hear from him again via e-mail, mentioning that he got the first trade paperback collecting the first few issues. He seemed impressed by the quality of the stories, but didn’t care for the reincarnation origin that fueled this whole story. He offered to lend me his copy so I could check it out, but I declined, told him how happy I was that he was enjoying the book, and wished him well.
I did get the trade for myself, along with a couple others, and they are presently my bedtime readers. While I’m beyond the point of giving this series the full follow-up, I liked what I read for the most part. This stuff is years old, the series is firm in publication, and apparently doing really well.
Turtles still have some staying power after all this time… and the comic, at least, is in good hands with IDW.