RAW (May 4th, 2015) – Sami Zayn Shows Up On RAW, Holds His Own Against Cena

Happy Star Wars Day, everybody… because that’s a thing.

Let’s talk about RAW, instead…

So Sami Zayn showed up on RAW last night… he had a good match with John Cena… and he apparently hurt his shoulder… that Cena guy is dangerous… he should know how to work less stiff…

So they added Dean Ambrose to the main event at Payback, so it’s now a four-way match. Sure… why not? Maybe they can have Dean Ambrose job to a house fly or something along the way?

By the way, how refreshing is it that the top contenders for the WWE World Title were defeated by the reigning tag team champions instead of the other way around? If only they’d do this more often…

So they’re really doing the King Barrett thing, are they? I guess you can only have so much bad news before it gets boring… I miss Bad News…

All in all, not a bad showing for Monday Night RAW. I’m almost impressed.

WWE King Of The Ring 2015 (WWE Network Special)

This seemed to have been shot out of nowhere – probably because it was – but it looks like another WWE Network special featuring the final matches to crown a new King Of The Ring, a title that may or may not have some relevance depending on who’s doing the spinning. It’s a weird gimmick because what used to be a PPV stable during the mid to late 1990s became something of an afterthought in recent years, with the last tournament being held in 2010 on Smackdown. More often than not, they use the tournament as an excuse to give a heel wrestler a silly royal gimmick or something.

But in any event, four people compete in the semi-finals; Sheamus, Neville, R-Truth, and Bad News Barrett. Neville beat Sheamus thanks to some timely Ziggler distraction, Barrett beat R-Truth. And so the KOTR finals had a distinctly British flavour, with Barrett emerging victorious to become King Barrett… or something.

Here’s the thing. On the one hand, this was a nice little hour of wrestling and the whole thing certainly felt more refreshing than a typical piece of WWE programming. The matches were pretty good for what they were, they told a good story, and even the commentary was on point at times, being more tolerable than what the usual gang of idiots would provide on three-hour telecasts. It’s nice to listen to Cole talk about the match rather than shill some stupid thing.

On the other hand… it feels throwaway. Just to fill a taping time or something… I felt they could have done an extra hour and had the whole tournament on here instead of just half here and half on RAW.

Still, can’t complain, though. It was only an hour long, but it was an entertaining hour of television if nothing else. And you know what? As far as King Of The Ring being an annual WWE Network thing, I wouldn’t have a problem with that. On the contrary, it’s precisely the sort of thing they SHOULD be putting on the Network instead of having Jerry Springer host a shitty clip show that tries to be raunchy but ends up being lame. For flip’s sake, you can’t have a show called Too Hot For TV and then feature clips that were originally shown – wait for it – ON TEE VEE!

King Of The Ring, though? Not bad. Thumbs up from me.

X-Wing and TIE Fighter Grace Steam… Now It's Their Turn To Bitch About Missing CD Versions

For those who didn’t get the game on GOG.com for whatever ungodly reason, Steam just got the X-Wing series recently. This includes X-Wing, TIE Fighter, X-Wing Vs. TIE Fighter, and X-Wing Alliance, considered widely to be some of the finest space combat simulator games ever conceived and one of the best reasons to be PC gaming back int the day. However, in regards to the first two games, you’re only getting the original DOS versions and the updated Windows release; the middle of the road enhanced CD-ROM Collector’s Editions – considered to be the definitive versions – are not included.

Naturally, Steam users would be iffed.
Meanwhile, GOG.com just announced that they uploaded those very same versions of the game after quite a bit of complaining on the part of users. So for roughly the same price, you could GET THREE versions of two classic space sim games… and it doesn’t include DRM. And if you already bought the games when they were first released, then you get the new versions for free. (Note: If you don’t see three versions of X-Wing or TIE Fighter on your shelf, you might have to refresh your account, which you can do by clicking this link.)
So, screw you, Steam. HA!
…
Okay… back to WWE 2K15.

Verne Gagne

Verne Gagne, famed promoter of the American Wrestling Association, passed away last night.

The storied career of Verne Gagne, both as a wrestler and a promoter of the AWA, was of an era before my time. My only exposure to the man and the promotion he ran continually for thirty years were through archival programming released years later; either through re-airing of old AWA episodes on ESPN Classics or through the WWE-produced DVD, The Spectacular Legacy Of The AWA.

I’m not entirely ignorant of the contributions of Mr. Gagne and know that he essentially launched the careers of many of professional wrestling’s greatest names through his rigorous training camps held at his farm in Chanhassen, Minnesota, and discovered some of the shining talents that would go on to join that list of big stars. And I would be remiss not to mention his accomplishments as both an amateur wrestler – laying claim to  four Big Ten Wrestling Championships, two NCAA Wrestling Championships, the 1949 AAU Wrestling Championship and a slot on the 1948 United States Olympic team on his resume – and a professional wrestler, having been a ten-time AWA World Heavyweight Champion and the distinction of having the third longest single World Title reign for seven years and three months, from 1968 to 1975.

Mr. Gagne would later be inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall Of Fame in 2004, as well as the WWE Hall Of Fame in 2006 and the short-lived WCW Hall of Fame in 1993. His contributions to professional wrestling as a whole will long remembered.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the family, friends, and colleagues of Mr. Gagne.