WrestleMania...Not So Much

It is supposed to be the Super Bowl of professional wrestling. The night when all the feuds that accumulate throughout the year are supposed to come to a head and be solved and over with so that the wrestlers can move on to their next one.
To describe this year's event in one word would be disappointment.

I'm sure anyone who witnessed this year's card live would probably disagree, as I would about last year's, since I was there and although that wasn't the best WrestleMania either (they're supposed to get better every year, with better surprises and/or "swerves") it was my first, therefore it was cool and exciting and worth every penny.

But watching it on Pay Per View this year (which cost an outlandish $54 and change-my share being $20 and if you wanted to see it in High Definition it ran you an extra $10) left me, oh, I don't know...unfulfilled. It's not that the matches weren't any good (then again, maybe some of them were) it's just that there wasn't any excitement. Maybe I've just been spoiled throughout the years with a great wrestling product that is WrestleMania or maybe some of the magic has worn off from my childhood since I've been "involved" with the industry working (read volunteering) for a handful of independent promotions, but this years event was par at best.

At least this year, Ric Flair was involved in a match on the card and not just in a dark match. That still dumbfounds me how Vince McMahon could put one of the greatest workers in the history of the sport in a dark match instead of in a important match in the biggest event of the year. Thankfully, McMahon saw the error of his ways in that one and put Flair in a spotlight match with Shawn Michaels, losing to the Heartbreak Kid in a retirement match (which they billed as a "Career Threatening" match which kind of makes you wonder if this is just a temporary "retirement" for Flair (as is the majority of that particular stipulation) or if, given his age, it really is the end of the Nature Boy's in-ring career.
This year, they chose to put an ECW #1 contenders battle royal (the winner to face champion, Chavo Guerrero later on the card) as the misplaced dark match.

But again this year, there was no tag team title match. I know McMahon has never been big on tag teams, but no title defenses at WrestleMania for two straight years?
Also, you had both the Intercontinental and United States champions (Chris Jericho and MVP, respectively) not defending their titles, but instead were involved in a ladder match (which was the best match of the night, if not the Flair-Michaels one)
But that was potentially two Savage-Steamboat-type matches that could have stolen the show (depending on who their opponents were) that was just ditched. Neither of them won, so I guess they were just added for star-power. By the way, the winner of that match, CM Punk, was one of my six winners I picked for the night. That's six matches out of eight (I thought Chavo was going to weasel his way into somehow retaining his title & I could have sworn that Triple H was going to win his 6th WWE championship and his 11th world title overall) I know, there were actually nine matches, but do Maria and Ashley v.s. Melina & Beth Phoenix (who along with Victoria are the only capable women wrestlers in the company) constitute a real match?

Of course there were some good highlight reel matches, such as the aforementioned "Money in the Bank" ladder match, Michaels-Flair, Cena-Triple H-Orton (who, by the way was only the second heel champion to successfully retain his title at WrestleMania) and Undertaker-Edge (which should have been the 2nd main event behind the WWE championship match)

It just wasn't WrestleMania. As a friend of mine said last night,
"This wasn't WrestleMania caliber, it was more of a Summer Slam caliber."
True dat.

If you go back and read my very first entry of this blog, it was about last year's WrestleMania. Compare the difference of excitement between that entry and this one and you'll see that, much like the difference between the real Diesel and Razor Ramon and the stupid "fake" ones, it just wasn't the same. While your at it, compare this year's WrestleMania to the last 23 (especially the first six) and see if you don't agree.

With the outdoor venue of the Citrus Bowl, thank goodness it didn't rain during the show. How would that have turned out?

Star Wars...According to a Three-Year-Old

One word. Adorable. I guess YouTube is good for some things.

On Further Inspection...

After checking out some of the games for the PlayStation 2 game console, (Hey, I know I'm behind the times-I had the PS 1 for about 10 years don't cha know. I'm slowly moving forward) I've discovered that the rating systems on these games are indeed there for a reason. I've played a couple of games in the Grand Theft Auto series and with all the swearing, sexuality and violence in them, you'd figure that you couldn't get much vulgar than those.
Well, hold on there. If you think parents and/or guardians were up in arms about those, you should see what's in store in for the kiddies (should they decide to forgo the warnings on the package) in the Scarface: The World is Yours game by Vivendi Games/Radical Entertainment.

The game-play itself is very much like the GTA games in that it's a first-person shooter-type and you can pull people out of there cars for a jacking and you have to go on missions to complete the re-building of your cocaine empire. Here is a review from GameSpot.com. I don't whole-heartedly agree with their assertions. I mean, how could you possibly make a sequel, even in game form, if you don't re-write the ending to have the main character survive. In any case, it's a little more adult-oriented than GTA, I believe even a little more so than Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. I'm wondering if the new GTA due out next month will rival Scarface in pure adult-orientated entertainment. That's not to say it's like adult-film entertainment (which of course I have no idea what they're like-Nyuk-Nyuk)

Anyways, the point is, I always thought that although these ratings were on these games for a reason, I never really assumed they would be accurate to the point of actually keeping young children from being exposed to this type of vulgarity, even fun vulgarity. I mean, I can understand why parents wouldn't want their kids, after playing this and other games like it, to run around the house or school saying, "I'm Tony Montana, you f***'n cock-a-roach! Die mother-f***er!!"
Yeah, probably not a good idea. Of course, most of these parents don't really have a clue what their kids are playing half the time anyways.

Oh yeah, Scarface: The World is Yours, cool game. Kinda trippy.

Does Winning an Oscar Make You Stupid?

I mean, really. Is it a prerequisite or something? I can't believe how delusional these people are. I guess it's the "in" thing to do nowadays. Ah well, what do you want? She's French.

Jeff Healy R.I.P.

I never was really a fan of Jeff Healy. But you have to respect the fact that a blind man could wale on a guitar like he did, especially with his unorthodox style of playing. I saw him once at a fairground attraction, just out of curiosity's sake, to be honest, and I was quite impressed and entertained. That alone, I believe, made him an original. Just imagine the obstacles he had to overcome. Plus his song "Angel Eyes", beauty.