#don’t even get me started on the jay brawls stuff

[doof-doofblog]

"You And Me, We're Done, For Good!"

Double Episode Catch-Up

Monday 1st March - Tuesday 2nd March 2021

Hello again everyone! Hope your week is going well so far! I've decided again today that in a desperate attempt to catch up, I'm going to do another post reviewing two episodes. I feel my last post went well and the way I wrote it felt really good, so I'm hoping this one will be the same. So I'll be reviewing the episodes of Monday and Tuesday this week,

Wow, wow, wow!!! An emotional dramatic roller-coaster that's for sure! Okay so I feel there are two main things to focus on, but before we start on them I'm going to start with Whitney and Gray. So after Valentine's Day it looks as if Whitney and Kush have been having a secret fling. Their romance hasn't come to knowledge for everyone yet, as they appear to be enjoying each other's company, Whitney is ushered away as Gray contacts her to look after the children. Of course, being how kind, caring and understanding Kush is, lets her go to do her job at childminding. Whitney goes a out her day looking after the kids, but when Gray comes home asking where the children are, Whitney informs him that they're playing with Raymond over at Denise's, now I get Gray would be concerned as Lucas has returned, but he has no knowledge about Lucas, plus the children wouldn't be there unsupervised, Denise wouldn't allow that considering what she knows, so I feel Gray getting angry with Whitney was completely unnecessary - but then again, when has Gray ever done something which is necessary?! Something tells me if he flips about Whitney letting his children go out to play, how the heck is he going to react when he learns she's been building a relationship with Kush?! It's been known that Gray has hold a spark for Whitney, but it looks as if she just sees him as a mate - I fear what's going to happen when Gray learns about Whitney and Kush, what do you guys think?!  

--

Awwwww Isaac and Lola?! I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy this relationship? I always did love Lola being with Jay, but I'm beginning to think that this could really go somewhere! It looks as if Isaac really does have strong feelings for Lola and after recent events of confronting his Mother to deal with his diagnosis, he's ready to tell Lola about his condition. As they enjoy another date, they were discussing movies and I have to be honest, I loved this moment, I enjoyed how natural it was. The banter, the laughing, genuinely getting to know each other more, but the interesting moment when Lola tells him to reveal something to her that she doesn't know about him, he does look a bit scared, a bit hesitant to tell her the truth, but eventually he admits that he has schizophrenia.

Now understandably, this would worry Lola. But I think she dealt the news brilliantly! Very understanding, caring - almost as if it didn't matter. She's still willing to go on dates with him and even move further into a relationship. However when she's back home after the date, maybe just to put her mind at rest, she tries asking a type of "Alexa" whether schizophrenia is dangerous, but it looks as if it doesn't work and the device doesn't respond. Just then, Isaac arrives with desserts with huge happy smiles across his face, but Lola kind of digs herself a hole when the device has a delayed response, informing her about schizophrenia right in front of Isaac. I do feel this was a little awkward, predictable maybe, but it made for brilliant viewing. Even Isaac finds the funny side and admits that he understands her concern and reassures her about any worries she may have for the future. Even the following scene where they're enjoying their dessert together, I love how Isaac is reminiscing about his teenage years and informing Lola of the time he told a friend about his diagnosis, I found it really really moving.

As I explained in my last post, I don't know the full detail when it comes to schizophrenia, I had to do a bit of research to understand, but I'll be interested to see if Isaac's condition deteriorates or becomes worse. Isn't it a bit predictable? Isaac finds happiness with Lola, only for his illness to escalate and go out of control? This is EastEnders after all, nothing is ever simple or easy and happiness doesn't last for very long. I'll be interested to see if they do an episode which focuses completely on Isaac and his mental health, as they've done with Stacey and Bobby in previous episodes, I think it would be great for the viewers to learn and understand what schizophrenia entails for those suffering with it.

--

Okay so finally I know the name of character, it's Stas!!!!! After how many episodes now? Three maybe? His name is pronounced loud and clear! (Also thank you to a few subtitles!). Okay so this story regarding Ben, Kheerat and Stas kind of makes sense. So Ben and Kheerat have joined forces in a way to do business with Stas. Did anyone else feel for Vinny though? I felt bad the way Vinny was dragged into all of this. I think Vinny hesitates when he learns that his brother is doing business with Mitchell's but also states that it'll be a bold move to get their family name out there and heard of.

Things seem to be going well for a Panesar's, that is until a dodgy shoplifter is spotted in their shop, both Kheerat and Vinny take it upon themselves to lock the shoplifter in the shop and confront them. Can I also just mention how brilliant Kheerat was in this scene, it was a strong and powerful performance from Jaz Deol. I don't know why I loved it so much, but I felt like it was a type of speech that we've never seen before, well maybe apart from Masood a few years back. I kind of see Kheerat as a younger version of Masood in a way, what do you think?! Eventually a plan is put in place for Ben, Kheerat and Stas to meet at the Arches. As far as I can make out, Stas is expecting for receive his money - money for what, I don't know? But either way Kheerat tries to reassure Stas that his "Dirty money" will be delivered. The one moment that did grab my attention though is when Stas basically insulted Ben about his sexuality, I mean - how dare he!

As time drags on, Stas seems to get a little impatient for his money and from the looks of things, Vinny is meant to be the one who's delivering the money. Stas starts to lose his temper and pulls out a gun, in an attempt to hurry things along he puts on some music as a timer for when he wants his money to be delivered, but unbeknown to everyone, as Vinny is rushing to get the money to the Arches on time, he gets approached by the shoplifter along with a huge gang, cornering him in his path. It's far to say that as the music is continuing to play, both Ben and Kheerat are fearing for their life as Stas threatens to blow up the building as a he points a gun to a gas canister. Poor Vinny is trapped, he tries his best to fight his way out of the brawl, backing into the Vic. Luckily as he enters the pub, he sees Callum sat at the bar, in a desperate attempt to get away safely, he asks Callum for his help. But little does Callum know what he's getting himself involved in, especially considering his job role.

Only, how Callum does help Vinny remains to be seen, as we don't see exactly what Callum does. But eventually, Vinny makes it to the Arches, even though he's late and music has stopped playing, both Ben and Kheerat have managed to talk Stas round in the meantime. Ben admits to his ex-business partner that he had called him "Mad" in the past, but that does not mean that he's stupid. I have to admit watch all this drama unfold, it was pretty exciting stuff, dramatic and very suspenseful. Eventually, Vinny arrives safe and sound with his money still all in tact in the bag, I guess you could say Kheerat and Ben are more than relieved to see his appearance. Kheerat mentions that everything can be forgotten if Stas leaves with the money now and he'll make sure that Stas is given his money every month. As things begin to settle down and Stas leaves with his money, everyone else returns to the Panesar business, Kheerat questions Ben as to whether Stas has always been so erratic in his ways, to which Ben admits he is. Has Kheerat got himself in too deep? As Ben turns his attention to Vinny and questions why he was so late, Vinny reveals to them that he had to ask Callum for help, which completely sends Kheerat in a panic! Considering Callum's job role, who knows what would've happened if Callum had found out the truth? Kheerat voices his disappointment in his brother, claiming that if anything comes back to haunt them, then it's on his head! I do kind of feel for Vinny at this point as well, and when he bumps into Callum later on in the street, it looks as if he's beginning to question his involvement in his brother's business. Does he really want to be handling dodgy deals with his brother and Ben Mitchell? Does he perhaps want to take a different route and do something different with his life? Even Callum admits he could become a police officer, PC Vinny Panesar - who knows?

As Ben returns home after his eventful day, he bumps into Stas for one last time. Showing a bit of interest, he questions who it was who told him the Mitchell's were backstabbing him. It's then that Kat is seen leaving the pub, Stas clocks on to her and informs Ben that it was actually her who blabbed. But the interesting is, how is Ben going to react when he learns Kat has been sleeping with his Dad?! THAT I am looking forward to seeing! Are Phil and Kat actually a serious thing? Or simply just a bit of fun?

--

Okay, so we have to talk about Ruby don't we? Poor Ruby! I think I'm beginning to feel more sorry for her as time goes on. I don't condone the lying and scheming that she's done, but no one deserves to go through losing a baby, it's the most heart-breaking thing anyone can go through. It's the day after her miscarriage and it looks as if she just wants to carry on, heading to work might even take her mind off of a few things, but Martin tries to persuade her to stay at home. But as Ruby is adamant she wants to go to wrong, she gets an excruciating pain. As Ruby is rushed to hospital, it looks as if Stacey is at home feeling nothing but guilt, does she fear that it's her fault that Ruby lost her baby? I mean, she didn't do anything to harm her, but due to all her stress, could that have caused Ruby to have a miscarriage?

It's eventually revealed that Ruby has suffered a haemorrhage after her miscarriage and they need to empty her womb. I have to say the performances from both James Bye and Louisa Lytton have been brilliant during these episodes, having to watch a young couple grieve for their lost baby, it's devastating! Poor Martin doesn't know how to console his wife, he simply can't find the right words to comfort her. He returns home to get her some more comfortable clothing when Stacey approaches, of course she's riddled with guilt and remorse, she deeply apologises to Martin. I think after everything she and Martin have been through, they know each other better than anyone, so when Martin admits he doesn't know how to be there for Ruby, Stacey tells her ex-husband that all Ruby needs is for him to talk to her, to know how he's feeling, it'll give her some comfort that she's not having to go through this all on her own.

Returning to the hospital, Martin finally finds the courage to open up to his wife. Earlier she questioned why he wasn't angry for losing his child. But he admits that he hasn't gotten past the sad stage, he's still upset and grieving for the child they've lost. He admits that when Ruby announced she was pregnant, he was terrified to begin with, but then he came comfortable with the idea and it made him happy to be a Dad again and to bring up a child with her. It would've completed their family. It looks as if this is what Ruby has been waiting to hear, she's needed to know exactly how her husband has been feeling, it seems this is the first time he's been completely open with her. I found this whole entire storyline so touching you know, upsetting as well as touching, dramatic. Performances from everyone involved have been incredible!

I kind of feel Stacey also as she's having to deal with the knowledge that she was there when Ruby fell, could she have done something more to help her? If they hadn't been arguing, she probably wouldn't have fell? All these questions would understandably going round and round in her head! As she stands on the Square with a bunch of flowers, she watches as Ruby and Martin return home from the hospital. Kush notices her and offers to go with her for support. As they enter their house, Ruby is pretty much stunned to see Stacey walking in with a bunch of flowers, I think she almost takes it as an insult. Stacey pleads for them to stop fighting and arguing, too much has no happened because of their horrendous arguments. But Ruby seems to have none of it, maybe she feels that there's too much water under the bridge for them ever to rekindle their friendship. Ruby then drops the false blow that Stacey was to blame for her miscarriage because she had pushed her down the stairs.

Now this is a false accusation, I don't how guys see this, but Stacey did not push her. Ruby followed Stacey up the stairs, but as Stacey turned, Ruby's ankle gave way and she fell. Stacey denies the allegation and pleads for Martin to understand that she'd never do something like that. But then Ruby takes it one step further by revealing to her husband that both Stacey and Kush locked her in the office and forced her to take a pregnancy test to prove to them that she was in fact pregnant. As awful and disgusting that was, Stacey tries to fight her corner, claiming that she was just looking out for her ex-husband. Ruby had been lying about so much and they feel they had good reason to check whether she was telling the truth or not.

As everyone continues to argue, poor Martin is just sat there as everything seems to sink in, the loss of his child, the accusation against Stacey and then revelation of how they treated Ruby. It all gets completely too much for him, causing him to completely explode. Telling them all to stop arguing, he exits the room and leaves the house, Kush following to console his best mate. But Martin appears to be absolutely furious, lashing out at Kush and punching him to the floor. Kush tells his friend to punch him again if it makes him feel any better, but he also reminds Martin that he knows exactly how he's currently feeling. Kush has been there! He's lost a child! I think some people do sometimes forget about that, it was one of the most tear-jerking moments I have ever seen on EastEnders, when Kush and Shabnam lost their son, Zaair.

The next scene between Martin and Kush is really loved, it was sad, moving and to be honest, it was nice having Kush remember holding his still-born son. Devastatingly, Martin never even got the opportunity to hold his new child, but I think this brief talk with Kush does help him in some way. Kush even asks him whether he's cried for his loss yet, but when Martin admits he hasn't, Kush informs him that that's where he needs to start. If Martin is worried about Ruby and trying to be there for her, he needs to make sure that he can also grieve himself before he can look after his wife. He voices that he's finding it hard to believe that Stacey would purposely push Ruby down the stairs just so she would lose their baby, I mean anyone would find it hard to believe that anyone would/could be that cruel! The final scene of the episode, Martin is sat on Arthur's bench in the Square, he looks to be in deep thoughts of the days events, but as Stacey approaches him, he realises that things between them can't be as they once were. He needs to be there for his wife, she is more important than anything right now and maybe the best thing for everyone would be if Martin and Ruby had nothing more to do with each other, he reassures her that they'll be civil for the children's sake, but the kiss they shared at Christmas was a huge mistake. He's been over her for a long time now and Ruby is his priority, as far as he's concerned, his relationship with Stacey is over, for good!

Overall a very emotional and dramatic set of episodes! I apologise for this post being so so late, I have to admit I've been a little distracted and had a few breaks during the day whilst I've been writing this, but I'm glad to have finished and have it up now! I'm looking forward to seeing where these different stories go, please feel free to leave me a comment or a message letting me know what you're think, I'd love to hear your thoughts! Thank you everyone! I love you all xXx

#eastenders #rubyfowler #martinfowler #staceyslater #benmitchell #kheerat panesar #vinnypanesar #stas #kushkazemi #lolapearce #isaac baptiste #whitneydean #grayatkins #katslater #callumhighway #shabnammasood #masoodahmed #philmitchell #soapfan #soapblog

[puroresu-musings]

NJPW G1 CLIMAX 30 Day 7 Review (Sept 30th, 2020, Tokyo, Korakuen Hall)

Yota Tsuji vs. Yuya Uemura  ***1/4

A BLOCK

Minoru Suzuki vs. Yujiro Takahashi  ***

Kota Ibushi vs. Jeff Cobb  ***1/2+

Kazuchika Okada vs. Taichi  ***3/4

Will Ospreay vs. Jay White  ****1/4

Tomohiro Ishii vs. Shingo Takagi  ****1/4

Photos.

This was another really fun day of A Block action from a socially distanced crowd of around 700 from the famous Korakuen Hall. There was a B Block show from the same venue yesterday. I saw most of it, but unfortunately there’s only so many hours in the day, and this G1 is starting to catch up with me. Also, although the Day 6 show was good, it was an ultimately unspectacular day of action. This show started with the continuation of the battle of the Young Lions, this time between Tsuji and Uemura. They had yet another really good, solid, 7 minute opener, in which Tsuji got the win with, you guessed it, the Boston Crab.

A Block action kicked off this day with a very entertaining battle of the heels, as Bullet Club’s Yujiro tried to get on the scoreboard, but had a roadblock in front of him in the shape of Minoru Suzuki. This was ultimately a good, brief, plunder brawl, with a lot of brawling outside the ring. The finish saw Takahashi try the Pimp Juice DDT, but Suzuki counters into the rear naked choke, then hits the Gotch to claim 2 more points in 7:53 and rendering Yujiro winless. Jeff Cobb, sitting on a whole 2 points, also tried to get back in the running by scoring a win over last years winner Kota Ibushi. This was a great hard-hitter, with Ibushi bumping all over Cobb’s signature power moves, including the Spin Cycle back suplex and the F-5000, but it wasn’t to be for Mr. Athletic, as Ibushi fought back, hitting a high kick, a V-Trigger and Kamigoye, to take the win at the 10:43 mark. This was getting great right before it ended, so realistically could have done with a few more minutes.

Back from intermission and Okada sought to put an end to Taichi’s undefeated streak. This was a great match, in which Taichi worked over Okada’s injured back, and Okada, once again, kept trying for the Money Clip Cobra Clutch. Okada kept teasing a Rainmaker, but it never happened. After Taichi scored a great near fall with a low blow and Gedo Clutch combo, then hit the kawada High Kick and an Axe Bomber version of a Rainmaker, but Okada kicked out at 2.99. Okada slid out of Black Mephisto, then locked in the Money Clip. Taichi fought to the ropes, but Okada turned the Clutch into a backbreaker, and locked on a tight Money Clip, and Taichi went out at the 17:03 mark. 

The next two matches were both excellent. Firstly, Jay White took on Will Ospreay, two guys who have nothing but really great matches together, and this was no exception. They work so well together and their sequences look great. Gedo again kept trying to interfere, but again, kept getting sent packing. The finishing stretch saw Ospreay flip out of a Blade Runner attempt into a Liger Bomb, and then Oscutter for near falls. Will tried Hidden Blade, but Jay did his fall-to-the-mat gimmick to prevent it, but Ospreay just started pounding him on the mat, and had to be pulled off by the ref. A Storm Breaker attempt sees White knock the ref down, and Gedo runs in with the brass kucks, but is KO’d by Ospreay. The Assassin blocked a Switch Blade low blow attempt, which has been the precursor to all of White’s wins so far, hit Hidden Blade, followed by Stormbreaker, to take the 2 points and end Jay’s win streak.

And in the main event, it was clobbering time as Ishii and Shingo had their third outing together in a glorious slug fest. This was their weakest match together, but was still excellent stuff, even if at 26 minutes, it was probably a bit too long. The story here obviously was that Shingo has won both previous matches against Ishii, and the Stone Pitbull was desperate to avenge his previous losses and get on the scoreboard. We all know what happened here; they pounded each other with stiff Lariats and chops and forearms. They traded hard headbutts, even harder Lariats, then Ishii hit an enzuigiri, another big Lariat, and the Vertical Drop Brainbuster to both finally score a win over Shingo, and a win in this G1. It’s amazing to me to think that Ishii is like, 44 years old, and a 24 year pro, and night after night he goes out there and absolutely kills it. He’s a true marvel and I have no idea how his body isn’t completely falling apart. This was his fourth straight fantastic match in a row, and they don’t seem to be changing looking at the rest of the matches he has left.

NDT

#njpw #g1 climax 30 #review #tomohiro ishii #shingo takagi #will ospreay #jay white #kazuchika okada #taichi #kota ibushi #jeff cobb #minoru suzuki #yujiro takahashi #new japan pro wrestling #puroresu #wrestling review

[fromtheringapron]

Random Notes on Episode #1 of Sunday Night Heat

I miss Sunday Night Heat. I miss wrestling weekend shows in general, but Heat holds some particularly unique appeal to me. Back in the day when I was too young to stay up and watch Raw in its entirety, Heat was usually the place to get my wrestling fix. By the time I started watching it, Heat was pretty much an afterthought, but it would recap the past week’s Raw, so it also helped keep me up to date on storylines. Even in its latter days, you would get a lot of weird stuff you wouldn’t get any other WWE show and, thanks to the WWE Network, some of it is finally starting reemerge.

The premiere episode of Heat debuted on August 2, 1998. Contrary to popular belief, a lot of stuff happened on the show in its first year on the air. As Smackdown did not yet exist, it was actually WWF’s B show for a short while, often furthering storylines and even once saw Mankind win the WWF title in the famed empty arena match. The first episode gave a small inkling of what was to come. Here’s the results from the card that literally nobody remembers:

Edge defeated Jeff Jarrett (with Tennessee Lee).

Droz & The Headbangers (Mosh and Thrasher) defeated Kaientai (Funaki, Men’s Teioh, and Dick Togo) (with Yamaguchi-san).

WWF European Championship Match: D’Lo Brown (champion) defeated Ken Shamrock via disqualification.

#1 Contenders’ Match for the WWF Tag Team Championship: The Rock and Owen Hart defeated Kane and Mankind (with Paul Bearer) vis count-out.

Edge as a rookie! D’Lo Brown as Euro champ! The Headbangers in general! What a time. Outside of the card, here’s what also randomly caught my attention:

Early Shane McMahon is Obnoxious: The early, early days of Heat were our formal introduction to Shane McMahon and, oh boy, it was rough. Thought it wouldn’t be long until he became a mega spoiled prick, the first episode sees him woefully miscast as a babyface color commentator, which is absolutely NOT his thing. First of all, his overall presentation is just weird in retrospect. He comes down to the ring in what would become Jacqueline’s entrance music, which already sets a jarring tone. Not only that, but he’s joined by two women named Alley and Kyla (or at least I think that’s her name? I couldn’t hear it well). Who are they? What’s their relationship to Shane? Why are they more random than The Wrestling Classic’s Susan Waitkis? Then we get his commentary and, woof, if you ever want to hear a human being speak in all caps for an entire broadcast, be my guest. It’s a far cry from the man who’d become known for failing several feet off various structures, somehow avoiding serious injury every time.

Droz’s World: Perhaps the most bizarre segment of the first episode is a segment inspired by MTV’s The Real World, starring everyone’s favorite puke artist Darren Drozdov. He tells the story of how he threw up on Mark Henry’s hand during training. Yep, that’s literally it. Fortunately, Tom Prichard is here to offer some color commentary to the event, saying “IT WAS GROSS!” and how Droz’s puke was filled with “corns and beans.” Oh, and then Droz shows a tattoo of a dog on his ass for good measure. Somewhere, Vince McMahon can be heard laughing in the distance. It’s oft forgotten how much the Real World was parodied back in the late ‘90s, even before the reality TV genre ever really exploded in popularity. Remember how it found its way in She’s All That?

The Val Venis/Mario Lopez Feud: One of the best parts of watching old Raw episodes is having to listen to the commentators awkwardly plug the USA Network’s original series. After all, a plug for Silk Stalkings just doesn’t feel right if you’re not watching an Undertaker squash in jest. The first episode of Heat carries on with this grand tradition and hypes the hell out of Pacific Blue, which I’ve never watched but sounds like some Baywatch/Miami Vice/crime procedural schlock. It takes it even one step further by having star Mario Lopez in the audience, who then proceeds to get into a fight with, um, Val Venis (in the midst of his castration storyline with Kaientai no less)?!? The WWF seriously tried to tease us with a Venis vs. Lopez feud in 1998. I’m not even really sure who the face in that situation would be. It sounds ridiculous, but can’t be any more so than what WCW was doing at the exact same time with Jay Leno.

Bart Gunn and Shanna Moakler: Did you do a double take reading that headline? One half of the Smoking Gunns and one half of MTV’s short-lived reality show Meet the Barkers! In the same room! On TV! If there were ever a more random pair of people to share TV time, I’d like to know it. Anyway, continuing the theme of plugging Pacific Blue as much as possible, we have  cast member Shanna interviewing Bart Gunn (dubbed here as “LeFTY”) about his upset victory in the ill-advised Brawl 4 All against tourney fave Dr. Death. Of course, Bart yammers on a bit about knocking Dr. Death out with his left hook. Blah, blah, blah. I’m sure if you adjust the volume a certain way, you can practically hear Jim Ross seething behind the commentary booth.

The Main Event is a Mess: If you thought they would’ve ended the first episode of Heat with a bang, guess again. It doesn’t even end with a whimper, really; more like a slow, drawn-out fart. The winner of the main event tag team match would go on to face Steve Austin and The Undertaker, example #457 of tag champs who are actually mortal enemies. The match is just a lazy brawl where everyone involved doesn’t seem to give a rat’s ass, despite Shane’s best efforts to once again to bring the excitement by speaking in all caps. The Rock and Owen Hart win over Kane and Mankind (Team Hell Socko?) by count-out, as Owen casually slides back into the ring after an outside brawl. I don’t know how Rock and Owen fared against the tag champs the next night on Raw, but it’s safe to say it didn’t lead to much. I know I have full access to the WWE Network where I can easily watch that but, hey, these guys didn’t put in any effort into this match so why should I? Fair is fair. 

And there you have it⏤the first episode of Heat in the books, ass tattoos and all. I hope the WWE Network uploads more episodes in the future. I personally want the MTV era on there. Anyway, they better upload them soon, or else I may just resort to finally watching Pacific Blue instead.

#wwe network #wwf attitude #the rock #the undertaker #90s nostalgia

[brownstonearmy]

2020-09-25: Juiced! (Part 5)

August 7 (Friday midmorning)

After the events of the previous day, you'd think our lovely band of adventurers would catch a break. BUT YOU WOULD BE MISTAKEN! Messages, insights and calls to action proliferate throughout the party.

Lucky receives a letter from Miss Mavis asking for a favor:

"Lucky, can you and your friends help me find a crystalline energy amplifier? I need one for a restoration project. They're worth a hefty price, but I'll gladly reimburse if you find one."

Norm, meanwhile, has learned that Yance Elbereth is convalescing at SHART HQ. The time to strike against his assassination target is nigh!

Spleenifer has learned through meditation and spiritual attunement that the waterskin from the monk is a type of holy water and the decorative bowl is actually a bowl of Commanding Water Elementals. And on Spleenifer's first day of official work as Mayor Dunwall's assistant, she has been asked for her input how best to solicit donations to help the Mayor with reelection.

Q (going as Jay on this auspicious day) found a note under their door:

"From one bard to another, here's a piece of advice: never trust a Stout you can't drink. I have Stout problems of my own, if ever you want to meet for a pint at the usual bard hangouts. I'm easy to find, since the scales stand out. -Kadana Meristan"

Everyone splits up to start on their respective tasks, so let's follow one adventurer at a time and see where things lead!

Up first we have have Jay, and they strike out for the Juicy Lyre tavern to meet up with the mysterious author of the letter. Kadana, an attractive dragonborn, is nursing a pint while composing a song on the back of a playbill. After Jay takes a seat, she explains that Lawrence Stout was once her patron. But like Jay, she got into some hot water when things got a little too close between Kadana and Russell Stout. The younger Stout seems to have a habit of fraternizing with the arts (as the euphemism goes). But in Kadana's case, her arts funding got cut off as punishment.

Jay and Kadana muse for a bit on strategies to get back at Lawrence and/or Russell. The best way to strike back seems to be breaking up the Stout family businesses, but neither of them are quite sure how to go about doing that. Kadana excuses herself to attend to some other bardly matters, but it's clear that Kadana is playing this as a playful round of hard to get. Folks, we're seeing the beginnings of a beautiful friendship (and possible romance)!

But we must fade to black for now and pick up on Spleenifer's tale! She's back at the Mayoral Manor to discuss the upcoming election strategy. On the way over to the Mayor's place, she found a slightly-charred scrap of paper that probably fell out of someone's pocket during the events of last night. It reads: "You promised me I could use the ring to fix my problem. -Rooney"

Spleenifer stuffs the scrap in her pocket and focuses on the task at hand with the mayor. Since Zaribeth Quickfingers is mounting an unexpectedly strong campaign (though really, any campaign at all is probably unexpectedly strong against Dunwall), the incumbent mayor needs to take the special election preparations seriously. Spleenifer suggests mounting a spin campaign to solicit donations, but her methods are a bit... unorthodox:

"Make it say incontinent instead of incumbent!"

That'll surely take away from the discontent brewing about the mayor's presumed incompetence! What's a giant dung beetle to do? Approve the suggestion and blast it out across town, of course!

Now we switch POV to Lucky, who suggested at the start of the adventure that the party should investigate an unusual announcement in today's Brownstone Bugle where the Meyrick family was looking to hire someone to kidnap their daughter for ransom. But Lucky isn't abandoning Miss Mavis's task! In her words, she's gonna try to kill two stones with one bird.

Lucky is already familiar with crystalline energy amplifiers, and knows they can be found in certain naturally occurring crystal deposits. The catch is that only the biggest crystals (worth at least 1,000GP) can function as a proper amplifier, but she's got a lead on a potential source in a mine about 10 miles east of town. If Lucky can win the audition to kidnap the daughter, she could potentially stash her quarry in the mine while looking for crystals.

She knocks on the the door of the Meyrick estate, and the butler escorts her Mr. Meyrick's study. Mr. Meyrick is a skinny man with wild hair that is graying at the temples. If Gary Busey was a used car salesman and the characters knew what car salespeople were, that's what everyone would say the elder Meyrick looks like.

Mr. Meyrick asks Ms. Lucky Proudfoot what her plans for his daughter are, and she explains the plan. She also plans to scurry off to the mines in a mobile house on chicken legs for extra dramatic flair. The daughter can work in the mines hunting crystals while waiting for the ransom payment to arrive. Meyrick thinks this is an excellent plan and hires Lucky on the spot. He just needs some time to subdue his daughter before she'll be ready for the exchange. Come back later this evening, he says, and she'll be Lucky's problem for the next few hours.

Now's the perfect time to switch over to Norm, who's sneaking his way to where Yance is staying. The recently-concussed trader of illicit antiquities is laying on a cot staring at the ceiling. Norm applies some of the St. Ignatius's Re-Dead Juice to his dagger and moves in for the kill. But Yance rolls over just as Norm enters the room and makes eye contact.

All is not lost, though! Norm shifts into playing the part of an ally who is checking in on him after the concussion. "How many fingers am I holding up?" Norm asks. He goes through a series of simple tests and then "checks for bumps" on the back of Yance's head. That's when Norm makes a tiny nick at the base of Yance's hairline with his poison-coated dagger. Yance passes away seconds later, peacefully slumping back onto the cot.

Sounds of a loud scuffle erupt outside, and from Norm's vantage point, it appears to be a fight between five drunken sailors and a sober-seeming ship's officer. Despite being split up, the rest of the party is close enough to hear the sounds of the brawl and everyone converges on the scene.

Lucky triggers a wild surge and casts Suggestion on one of the sailors, telling him to "make love, not war." Every time she blinks, a duck appears nearby. The sailor under the influence of Lucky's Suggestion grabs a fellow sailor by the arms and pulls him over for a deep kiss. The sailor on the receiving end of the kiss is surprisingly receptive to the romantic gestures, and they stumble away from the fray to keep the passion burning.

Norm exits his building, dashing through alleyways so as to make it look as though he came from a completely different building. There's a drunken brawl and a separate manly make-out session and at least a dozen ducks by this point. What the heck is happening here?

Spleenifer, having been a sheltered woman of faith, has never seen men kiss before. She grabs a duck and announces to her newfound companion: "Let's watch together!" Regardless of the duck's opinion on the matter, it's along for the ride. The passionate pirates are flattered by Spleenifer's audience, but their ships don't really sail that way, if you catch their drift.

While all this chaos is unfolding, Lucky has a bit more fuel to add to the fire. She drops her suggestion and casts invisibility on two pirates and the officer. It's hard to fight when you can't see each other, right? Well, it does stop the fight for the most part, as the two invisible pirates stumble off to rob a bank with their newfound invisibility powers.

The remaining pirate is lifted up by an invisible force (spoiler: it's the captain) and slapped. Now the captain's visible again and orders him to return to the Rising Howl, their ship that is currently docked until the river rises high enough to let them sail. Spleenifer grabs another duck from the flock (now called Prongle), while still restraining the original duck (now named T'Pam) in her sturdy arms. She manages to coax them into pecking at each other like they're kissing.

Norm dashes over to where the sailors were fighting and is nearly overpowered by the stench of alcohol. He pulls out a match lights it to see just how much of a drunken cloud the sailors left behind. Lucky adds a little pizzazz to the situation with a little bit of flammable luck, and the cloud ignites in an impressive cloud of flame in the air that leads in the direction of the fleeing sailors. Jay leaps in front of the two kissing sailors to shield their love from the explosion.

Once things calm down (always only briefly in this town), the party swings by the general store for some pickaxes for their upcoming mining expedition. Not wanting T'Pam and Prongle to feel left out, Spleenifer fashions some miniature pickaxes out of twigs to give to the ducks. Lucky snags a caterpillar cocoon (foreshadowed magical purposes!) on the way to contact the lizardfolk to borrow their house.

At the Meyrick estate, Mr. Meyrick greets the party and directs them to a wagon containing a tied-up sleeping giantess (technically half-giantess, but still LORGE). Once their "hostage" is safely aboard the house, the party contemplates what to do.

"I've never done kidnapping before," asks Lucky "but is it reasonable to ask for her emancipation?" But that is soon answered once the giantess wakes up. Lucky is able to communicate with her, and learns that the giantess's name is Tina. She's well-spoken and her family loves her a lot. This whole kidnapping thing is a publicity stunt to get some sponsorship deals. The house gallops toward the mine, reaching the entrance after about 20 minutes.

Tina agrees to help the party mine for crystalline amplifiers and takes up a pickaxe along with the rest of the party. Lucky uses the cocoon to transform herself into an umber hulk with a sweet, sweet burrowing speed. But after some time has passed, a group of eight drunken brigands arrives at the mine's entrance to hide out.

Norm puts down his pickaxe and sneaks toward the boisterous brigands to assess the situation. One of the group has a rucksack full of books, while the rest carry sacks of more conventional treasure. As Norm listens in from the shadows, he learns that the treasure comes from their recent break-in of Salem's.

The sound of picks against stone catches the attention of the brigands, who drop their spoils and tread deeper into the tunnels. A massive chunk of crystal has just been unearthed, and it could function as a quality crystalline amplifier if it can be completely excavated. However, that's the time the drunkards show up. One of them makes obscene and probably physiologically incompatible advances at Tina and a fight soon breaks out.

Smites, spells, and sneak attacks smash into the metaphorically-smashed sailors. Lucky's burrowing triggers a small tunnel collapse, and her confusing gaze disorients even more of the sailors. Spleenifer smacks at the base of the crystal to uproot it before the tunnel collapses further, and soon the party emerges victorious.

Mr. Meyrick arrives to collect his daughter just as the last brigands flee into the night. He mentions that the sponsorship deal fell through, though he still brought the promised ransom. Maybe they'll be able to collaborate on another scheduled kidnapping in the future? Who knows!

The party searches through the stuff left behind by the brigands and finds wealth of many types. Material wealth in the form of gold and gems is most obvious here, but there is also informational wealth. Among the books that were stolen from Salem's is a copy of Zaribeth's accounting ledger. As in, the true version that depicts all the shady stuff going on with Zaribeth's businesses.

With that realization, the adventure concludes for the night and everyone advances to level 12. Stay tuned next time for more!

#Shits and Giggles #Dungeons and Dragons #Adventure Log #FishDavidson #Kidnapping

[zach-the-fox]

Furiends Episode 1: A New Beginning

“Just sign your name and we will take care of the rest,” says a deer with glasses to an orange fox, male in body build, with brown eyes. The fox takes the pen and writes along the dotted lines next to the “x”. Upon finishing, the fox hands back the pen as the deer takes the clipboard of the discharge forms. “Zach the Fox. All right, you’re all set, Mr. Fox. Is anyone coming to pick you up?”

The fox sighs as his ears droop. “I wish there was…”

“Nobody at all? Well, I’m sorry to hear. Hope you have a wonderful day.”

“I doubt that I will…” The fox heads off. “Everybody hates me… Nobody wants me…” Just as he heads out the door, he sits on the wooden bench by the entrance, deep in thought. “What do I do now…? I’m not wanted anywhere here… Everybody hates me… I should leave this place…” He is interrupted by a voice.

“Mister! Hey, Mister!” The orange fox’s ears stick up before he turns to see a brown cat approach him. Eyelashes and wavy hair at the tip, but also tied in a ponytail in the back shows her gender to be female. Glasses shield her eyes, while also wearing a red, long-sleeved shirt under a purple vest, blue jeans, and sneakers. The brown cat then raises her paw up with a blue bandana. Her brown eyes glare at the fox as she keeps the bandana in her grip. “You left this in the hospital room. I was afraid you might’ve forgotten it after you got up and left.”

The fox looks down at the blue bandana, then back up to the girl, keeping his frown on. “Keep it…” His head pivots away from her. “I don’t want it anymore… It just reminds me of the life I dreamed of having… I can’t stand the pain of remembering all that…”

“Why does this blue bandana trouble you?”

“It was given to me by an orphanage patron, who thought I was special… Special enough to be labeled and picked at, as well as a symbol for being flawed.”

“So, it’s yours, then.” The fox faces her again as she offers it to her. “Take it.”

“You can have it,” he tells her. “I insist. Wear it.”

“I’d rather you wear it. Besides, I think you’d look better with it on.” She holds the bandana closer to him. “Will you wear it?” Her eyes glisten in the sunlight.

“If it’ll make you happy…” The fox takes the bandana from her paw and proceeds to tie it around his neck. He makes sure the triangular part is big and points down toward his belly. “There… Happy now?”

“You don’t seem happy yourself,” she reflects. The cat sits beside him. “Is this about Team Rescuers pushing you away? Or is it about everybody seeing you as the flawed fox of Heroto?” The fox looks away with his ears drooping. The cat places her paw on his shoulder. “Listen, I know how you feel. It’s never good to be picked on or singled out because of a disorder, or even from being a product of an inappropriate relationship, or just be bad at something. My mother can get on my nerves sometimes… She thinks I can be a butt when I do things the wrong way… But, I learn, don’t I?”

“Carly?” Coming up alongside her is a beige warthog. Eyelashes and long, chocolate hair, messy on top but flowing in the back nicely straight with curves at the end, shows her gender to be female as well. Her eyes are protected by grey glasses as she dons an orange shirt underneath a black jacket and blue jeans. She stops in front of the cat, appearing to be half her size. “What are you doing out here? I got worried about you after my appointment ended.”

“Sorry, Emmy,” Carly tells her. “I was just returning something to this fox… I started to talk with him.”

Emmy pivots to the fox. “Hey…” She points to the orange animal. “Aren’t you that fox who was with Team Rescuers?”

The fox sighs. “I used to be… Not anymore… They all hate me…”

“I feel you. My stepfather’s a big jerk, yet my mom and I struggle to put up with him, yet he doesn’t like us very much.”

“At least you and your friend here have got families… I’ve had it hard my whole life… I have no family… no friends… No one… Unloved… Hated… I don’t even know what to do anymore… I’m on my own and there’s no one to help me. Maybe it’s just better if I left…”

“Where would you go?” she asks.

“Just be away from here… Maybe try to make it to Buscity, or even the forest… I’d have to start a new life…”

“You don’t need to,” Carly says. “We’ll be your friends.”

The fox’s ears stick up as he turns to the two animals. “Y-you will?”

Emmy leans closer to the cat. “Are you sure about this? People don’t like him very much, and they may think we’re crazy.”

“It’ll be fine, Emmy,” responds Carly. “He needs friends, but he’s never had anyone. Everyone deserves a chance.”

Emmy sighs. “You better be right about this.” She looks to the fox. “It’s a pleasure to be friends with you, um, Mr. Fox…”

“Zach,” the fox says. “I’m Zach.” The cat and warthog introduce themselves. Zach’s mouth bends into a small smile. “It’s good to meet you, Carly and Emmy. What are we doing?” The two girls look at each other, figuring out what to do for their next plan.

“I’ve got it!” Carly stands. “Let’s go to the mall. Besides, I really want to see what sketchbooks they have on sale.”

“Sure,” Emmy adds. “Guess I could look at that stuff. Zach, what do you think?”

“I’m fine, wherever,” Zach tells them, standing from the bench. “You’re my friends now, so I’ll follow.”

“Cool!” Carly heads off, leading the fox and warthog away from the hospital area.

 ***

 Standing around on a grey-tiled foundation in front of a store are three animals. One is a blue jay with nothing but long, Persian-blue hair, black glasses, and a white tank-top with a lightning bolt on it. Her body is female in build. On the bird’s right, a neon-blue wolf, male in figure with rainbow hair, walks alongside her. The three chat amongst themselves as they amble the right side of a long corridor, lined with stores. On her left, a deer, who is slightly shorter than her, waits nearer the entrance. His head is covered with an aviator’s hat with goggles as he dons a short-sleeved, buttoned-down shirt and cyan jean shorts. Emerging from the store is a grey newt with four arms carrying paper shopping bags full of purchased items. His black hair sticks out with the white undershirt and black jeans he wears.

“Did you really need that plushie?” the newt asks, looking at the wolf.

“I couldn’t resist!” the wolf tells him. “He was just so cute!” He snuggles the little stuffed animal. “I didn’t want anyone else but me to have him. I love him!”

“If you love him so much, why don’t you kiss him?” utters the blue jay. She snickers.

The wolf looks at her with a mean glare. “Don’t start with me.”

“Come on, guys,” the deer utters. “Please no fighting… We’re here to hang out, not start brawls. Now, where should we go next?”

“Can we hit the art store?” the bird asks. “I heard they were having a sale on sketchbooks and I wanted to check it out.” The three animals look at each other before coming to an agreement. “Cool! Thanks, guys! It won’t be long.” The group heads off down the corridor together. They talk differently along the way, passing other stores, kiosks, and other animals with bags in their grips. “Hey!” Everyone stops as the bird interrupts. She points her feather at the three figures inside the art store. “Isn’t that Carly and Emmy?” The others look into the store, eyeing the brown cat and warthog with the fox inside.

“It is Carly and Emmy,” Niji says. “What are they doing here?”

“Let’s go say hi!” The bird heads into the store, leading the three others inside. She walks up to the two animals and hugs the cat. “Carly, Emmy! So good to see you both!”

Carly chuckles. “Good to see you too, Navy.” She notices the blue wolf. “Heya, Niji!” The wolf smiles and responds with “hello”.

Emmy turns to the deer. “Hi Eren.”

“How’s it going, Emmy?” The deer shakes her hoof. “Silus and I are glad to see you and Carly.” The newt joins the deer and stands behind him. Upon noticing Zach, he looks to him. “Oh, hello. Um, Carly, Emmy, who is this?”

Navy notices Zach and turns to him as well. “Oh! You made a new friend? I like new friends! What’s your name, Fox?”

“I-I’m Zach. You must be friends of Carly and Emmy here… Pleasure to meet you all…”

“Wait…” Niji points to Zach. “I know you… You’re the Flawed Fox of Heroto.” Zach’s ears droop down as a frown forms on his face. “Why are you here? Come to prove to everyone you’re a hero by staging a “fake” rescuer, or have you come to cause more trouble?” Zach doesn’t answer. “What’s the matter? I make the poor little foxy upset?”

“Hey, what does the fox say?” utters Navy. Niji begins to snicker and laugh, causing Navy to let out a giggle. The fox puts his paws together in front of him with nervousness as his head leans with sadness. Shame shadows over him as the two animals laugh.

Emmy steps between the two and ceases their fun. “All right! Lay off! You two aren’t right!”

“Whoa, easy, Emmy,” says Navy. “We were just poking a little fun.”

Carly stands in beside Zach, placing her paws on him as a way of comforting him while facing the others. “Can’t you see the poor kid’s upset already? He just got out of the hospital with nowhere to go. No one he can turn to. He’s on his own.”

“Really?” Eren asks. “That’s awful…” The little deer walks up to the orange animal. “I’m so sorry for you. But hey, pay no attention to those two over there.”

“Yeah,” adds Silus, approaching and putting one of his hands on the fox’s shoulder. “They don’t mean any harm. They’re just goofing around.” He offers another hand to him. “I’m Silus. It’s good to meet you.”

Zach takes his hand and shakes it. “I… It’s a pleasure to meet you all as well… I guess…”

The newt goes on to introduce the others. “This here’s Niji, Navy, and my husband, Eren.”

Eren waves. “Hi, Zach. We are happy to meet you.”

“What time is it?” Niji looks around and spots a clock. “Oh, lunch time!” He faces the others. “You guys want to grab something to eat?” Everyone of the group agrees, except for Zach, who stays quiet. Navy and Niji proceed to leave the store, leaving the others behind. The four animals stay behind as they notice Zach’s motionless in his spot.

“Aren’t you hungry, Zach?” asks Carly. “Come join us.”

“N-no,” Zach responds. “I-it’s fine… I’m not very hungry.” Growling ambles around the animals, who trace the sounds back to the fox’s stomach.

“Your stomach tells us differently,” Eren tells him. “You should have lunch with us.”

“Zach, if it’s about Navy and Niji, don’t worry about them,” Emmy adds. “You’ll be with us.”

“I can’t afford anything,” Zach continues.

“It’s fine,” Silus says. “We’ve got you. Nothing to worry about. Come on.” Giving enough encouragement, Zach follows his new friends out of the store.

 ***

 Everyone sits at a round table with trays of unwrapped burgers, boxes of fries, and tall colas in them. Niji chews through his burger, tearing it apart, while Navy shovels fries in her beak quickly. The others take their time, enjoying their food.

“I like these fries,” Eren comments. “They’re so good.”

Niji darts his eyes at the fox, noticing him staring. “Well, what are you looking at, Flawed Fox?”

“Niji,” Emmy utters. “Please… Don’t start.”

“What? He is, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, everybody knows that,” the fox tells him, crossing his arms.

“Let’s not fight, shall we?” suggests Carly. “How about we talk about what makes us happy? I love to draw and sketch, and it gives me joy.”

“I never had joy,” responds Zach. “Not once in my life was I ever happy.”

“Because you’re a flawed fox?” asks Navy.

The fox stands to his feet with his eyebrows dipping into his eyes. “Oh yeah, sure!” His voice becomes louder over the conversations around him, prompting everyone to fix his eyes on him. “Let’s all make fun of the Flawed Fox! He’s so horrible! He’s such an annoyance! For your information, I never asked to be like this! I never wanted to be a flawed fox… I just wanted to show everyone I’m anything but flawed… I wanted to give love to all… Ever since I was influenced by Captain Red Mask, I believed caring for others and helping those is a great honor and esteemed privilege… I wanted to prove that I wasn’t bad… I failed… Not because I stopped trying… Because I never got support and love… Everyone thinks I’m awful… They all see me as the product of an inappropriate relationship and mentally disordered…” He sinks down into his chair. The tone in his voice decreases. “That’s what everyone sees in me… Being a hero is all just a dream now…”

“Damn,” goes Navy. “That’s dark…”

“Nobody wants me… Nobody loves me… They all confirm that I fail because of my faults… I’m nothing!” Zach pounds the table with his fist. Nobody…” Tears develop in his eyes. “Nobody… but Flawed Fox…” He lies his head on the surface of the furniture, hiding it with his arms around it to shield his expression. “Why doesn’t anyone appreciate me…? I never asked to be bullied… Never asked to be ignored…” Carly and Emmy do what they can to comfort him. They rub his back and shoulders as he hides his face with shame.

“Hey…” Niji gets up and walks up to him. “I didn’t realize how bad you had it… I apologize…”

“Same here,” Navy implies. “Didn’t know you felt that way…”

Zach lifts his head. Tears still stream down his eyes. “It doesn’t change anything… It doesn’t change what I experienced…”

“It does change things going forward, Zach,” Carly tells him. “You have us as friends, now. You have nothing to fret over.”

“Yeah,” adds Silus. “You can hang out with us whenever you want. We won’t push you away or ignore you.” He manages a smile as everyone else agrees with him and Carly.

The fox’s mouth bends to reflect his expression as he looks at his new friends. “T-thank you… I-I’ll try not to be a pain in the butt…”

“Nah,” Navy goes. “You won’t be a pain. You’ll love us.”

“I need to figure out what I’m going to do about where I’ll live. Maybe if I’m lucky, I’ll find a nice, comfy spot in the alley…”

“It doesn’t have to be that way,” Eren tells him. “Silus and I have an extra room at our home. We’d be happy to bring you in.”

Silus sighs. “Eren, you shouldn’t make hasty decisions without asking me first.”

“It’s fine,” Zach says. “I appreciate the offer, but I’ll just struggle on my own.”

“No.” Silus puts two hands on him. “It’s not fine. Eren and I will make you feel right at home. Sleeping in the streets isn’t good, anyway.”

“Y-you wouldn’t mind?”

“Not at all. We’ve got you.”

“T-thanks… If it’s all right, I would like to go to the orphanage. I need to get a couple of things… Are you all okay to come with me?”

“Why?” asks Emmy. “Why can’t you go alone?”

“I’m scared… I’ve had a lot of rough memories in that place, and I’m not very comfortable going in alone…” The others turn to each other and exchange head gestures.

“Of course, Zach,” Carly answers. “We’ll happily go with you. Let’s finish lunch first, okay?”

“Sure,” responds the fox. Zach picks up his burger and takes a bite out of it. @carlycmarathecat​ @emmy-the-absolute-goof​ @rainbow-strike​ @pink-unicorn-boi​ @ask-choro-mama​

[hazyheel]

NJPW G1 Climax 2019 Day 6 Review

Our first match of the night in B Block was Shingo Takagi vs. Taichi in a first time singles match. There was an interesting story here, with Taichi being very vocal about Takagi’s inclusion in the tournament. He is jealous that it took two years of being a heavyweight to get into the G1 climax, whereas Takagi had one match and qualified for the tournament. In a shocking turn, Shingo Takagi was the one who attacked before the bell. He drilled Taichi with chops and strikes to open things up, before powering him up for a vertical suplex and a near fall. Early on as Takagi beat down Taichi on the outside, Taichi shoved Miho Abe towards Takagi, who nearly took her down. That distracted the ref long enough for Taichi to nail Takagi with the mic stand. The two then brawled into the crowd with chairs and other weapons, and Taichi maintained the advantage throughout. Taichi made a mistake however, trying to go strike for strike with Takagi, and he was extremely outmatched. Taichi still kept the advantage with well placed kicks to the head, but Takagi slowly fought back. The two traded huge lariats in the middle of the ring, which ended in a great roundhouse to the face from Taichi, and then an axe bomber. Taichi nailed a buzzsaw kick, and went for the black mephisto, but Takagi barely countered into last of the dragons, but Taichi kicked out. Taichi then gave Takagi a barrage of kicks, before hitting a last ride for another near fall. Taichi tried to go for a low blow, but Takagi caught the kick, hitting a straight right, a headbutt, and a pair of pumping bombers for a near fall. Finally, Takagi was able to hit another last of the dragons for the win. Takagi: 4, Taichi: 2.

Grade: A-. Every win that Takagi gets is a big deal. This was one of the times that we saw big match Taichi, where he wanted to win so bad that he just wouldn’t go down. He showed an incredible amount of strength and was able to get the better of Takagi on several occasions despite being in the disadvantage in terms of both striking and power. Takagi always has a chip on his shoulder in the tournament, so this win is really establishing him as a major player in the tournament. He is not just a junior that is trying to play heavyweight, he is the real deal.

Next up was Jeff Cobb vs. Juice Robinson, a gaijin showdown between two guys who have never met in singles. The two started with a hand shake, before quickly transitioning into a match where Cobb had a strength advantage, but Robinson just ignored that. He beat down Cobb with strikes, chops and even several big kicks. At one point early on, Robinson went for a splash to the outside, but Cobb caught him and attempted to transition into a vertical suplex, only for Robinson to slip out and throw him into the ring post. Robinson really showed his determination in this match. He just refused to let the strength advantage intimidate him, and was totally dominating his much larger opponent. Cobb did have an awesome counter to the Pulp Friction here. Robinson went for his finisher, but Cobb caught him out of the jump and drilled him with a pair of high angle German suplexes. That was a big turning point in this match, as Cobb rode that momentum all the way to a huge tour of the islands for the win. Cobb: 2, Robinson: 4.

After the match, Cobb went to shake hands again, and instead Robinson raised his hand in victory. Nice, how lovely. 

Grade: C. Yeah, this match just didn’t do it for me in a meaningful way. They both looked good, and it told an interesting story of Robinson’s new attitude. He was confident, and he beat down a much bigger guy. Although Cobb had most of the big moves, Robinson was the one who dominated. Cobb still pulled out the win here with a really nice closing stretch. I would be shocked if Cobb is one of the guys who only ends up with 6 points, but that may be what we are looking at. I still think that Robinson will be in the upper echelon this year. 

Then we had Jay White vs. Toru Yano, another first time singles match. Yano actually took his shirt off this time around, because we know that White likes to cheat just as much as Yano does. Yano was actually not interested when White moved to the outside, although Gedo eventaully taunted him enough to come out. The two traded rollups after Yano took off the turnbuckle pad. Gedo soon distracted the ref, allowing White to hit a low blow. When white then went for Bladerunner, Yano spit water into his face. Gedo then ran in with Brass Knuckles, but Yano took him down and took the knucks. Then he pushed White into both red shoes and Gedo, and then gave White a low blow with the knuckles, and then rolled him up for the win. This match was like 3 minutes, and it was just as long as it needed to be.  Yano: 4, White: 0. 

Grade: B-. This was so dumb and fun. I like how White’s story is that he is being screwed by the ref. It is an interesting one. He and Sabre are almost parelleling each other, both are super mad that they aren’t getting the results that they want. But maybe they will start to come back as we continue.  

Then we had Hirooki Goto vs. Tetsuya Naito. Before he bell rang, Naito was inspected Goto’s “LA DOJO” shirt, which he was positive was an attempt at spanish. Goto eventually took off the shirt, but then turned around and choked him out with it before the match, kicking Naito while he was down. When the match actually started up, Goto targeted the back and chest with his tough kicks, while it took Naito a long while to gain control, doing do with a vicious dragonscrew leg whip into the apron. Naito then continued the assault on the knees during the mach, and even taunted Goto until he got too frustrated to be making great decisions. The two kept drilling each other with vicious offense, as Goto continued to attack the neck, but Naito was just hitting him wherever he could. The two got in a striking contest, which Naito ended with a swift kick to the knee. Naito followed it up with a reverse atomic drop, an ensiguri and a german suplex. He then went for Destino, but Goto countered into a yoshigaroshi onto the injured knee. The two men then jockeyed for position a bit, until Goto with the reverse GTR. Goto then went for another Yoshigaroshi, but Naito reversed into a great DDT. Naito then hit Destino, but Goto kicked out. So, he went for another one, and got the win. Naito: 2, Goto: 2.

Grade: B+. Really good stuff here, but their stories in the tournament didn’t really overlap much. They beat the crap out of each other for sure, and it was a brutal match with a great closing stretch. I’m glad Naito is on the board, but with two straight losses for Goto, I don’t know if he is going to end up in the high spot that I’d hoped for him. Now, I get that there are too many people in this tournament for everyone to score well, especially with the talent involved, but it sucks to see some of these big names miss out on having big tournament victories. 

And in the main event, we had Jon Moxley vs. Tomohiro Ishii. The two men started right at the bell. striking the crap out of each other. The two brawled through the crowd a bit, throwing each other into walls and chairs. Back in the ring, Moxley had the advantage, until kicks to the face and chest angered Ishii, and he started to hit back as hard as he could. The two then fought on the outside, Moxley grabbed two chairs, passing one to Ishii. They then fought with the chairs, until they were both destroyed and Moxley threw the empty frame at Ishii. Moxley then introduced a table, but it wasn’t used for a while. Both tried to pet each other through it, but it did not work until Ishii gave Moxley a splash through it on the outside. Ishii then gave Moxley a superplex for a great near fall. The two then exchanged headbutts in the middle of the ring, which Ishii got the better of with a huge headbutt to the chin. Ishii then drilled him with a pair of huge lariats, neither of which sent Moxley down, and was able to hit a death rider for a close near fall. Moxley then picked up Ishii, and hit a high angle Death Rider for the win. Moxley: 6, Ishii: 4.

Grade: A. Really good stuff here, This was the match I was most looking forward to in B block, and they totally delivered. They hit each other just as hard as Ishii hits Suzuki, and it was really really good. Moxley is looking great right now, although I still don’t think he will win the block. Ishii looked great too, and he will still be a frontrunner of the block. Match of the night right here, possibly even the match of B Block. 

Overall Grade: B

Pros: Takagi vs. Taichi; Goto vs. Naito; Moxley vs. Ishii

Cons: Robinson vs. Cobb

#hazyheel #new japan #njpw #new japan pro wrestling #g1 climax #g1 climax 2019 #g1 climax 29 #pro wrestling #new japan review #njpw review #new japan pro wrestling review #g1 climax review #g1 climax 2019 review #g1 climax 29 review #pro wrestling review #njpw g1 climax 2019 day 6 review #toru yano #hirooki goto #tetsuya naito #tomohiro ishii #jon moxley

[thecompostpile]

Every Match From Night 10 of the G-1 Climax

Ishii vs Juice Robinson 

This is exactly what the G-1 is supposed to be about in my opinon or at the very least it is what I love most about the G-1. Two badass dudes just beating the ever-living shit out of each other. Sometimes that is all wrestling needs to be. I love stories, I love gimmicks, I love the whole charade but man sometimes all the story needs to be is “I want to beat you up and I don’t want to show you I am in pain.” 

Juice is one of my favorites every single G-1 for this exact reason. Robinson never gives an inch. He has to go into every tournament knowing he doesn’t have the best chances of winning but that never stops him from giving his all. He became one of my favorites last year when he competed even with a broken hand and still had some great matches. 

I also fell in love with Ishii because of his G-1 performances. Two years ago I was watching my very first G-1. It was my introduction to a lot of the New Japan Roster including of course Ishii. He is one of the best wrestlers in the world in my opinion. He matches everyone he goes against with just some of the toughest no bullshit wrestling and that is great. Wrestling is a versatile sport that can be performed anyway the wrestler wants to but Ishii’s style is one of the best. Just no-nonsense badassery. 

This match was exactly that. Juice is doing pretty well this year and it didn’t seem impossible for him to win this one. They start of fast neither one getting much of an advantage. The two slugged it out. Juice seemed like he wanted to take all of Ishii’s best shots and keep going and so he did just that. He goads Ishii on at one point screaming

 “Come on Motherfucker!” at Ishii. Ishii no sells at lot of his attacks pretending they don’t hurt. Juice keeps standing over Ishii as if to remind him that he is taller which is kind of great. Ishii really lays it into Juice with chops and strikes. Things pick up and both men try to no sell the other but also both men end of collapsing to the ground. 

Taichi vs Jeff Cobb 

Taichi has to be one of my least favorite wrestlers. I just don’t like anything about him. I do like Jeff Cobb his stuff on Lucha Underground remains some of my favorites. But Taichi rubs me the wrong way I don’t like his gimmick I don’t like his wrestling I don’t like anything about him. 

I wasn’t really interested or invested in this match. I watched the first half of it and skipped through when they were getting kind of boring. It just wasn’t doing much for me and  I am so behind so I skipped forward after they brawled on the outside. Watched Jeff Cobb give a Tour of the Island and it was over. 

Jay White vs Shingo 

Jay White doesn’t do much for me but that Black Parade jacket does. I’ve been really into that My Chemical Romance album a lot. I saw them perform the album in full and they had the uniforms on and everything. I wonder if anyone in My Chemical Romance likes wrestling. 

Shingo is great. I enjoyed his Best of Super Junior run extremely and think he should’ve faced off with Dragon Lee instead of Will Ospreay but who am I?

Jay White runs out of the ring and when Shingo comes he attacked him. Jay White is being a coward and Shingo wants to fight so bad. I started listening to The Black Parade. How I Disappear is such a banger. Jay White wants to see how far down he can sink? 

I forgot how good Sharpest Lives is. I also can watch Shingo hit lariats all fucking day man. I’m listening to the title track of Black Parade and they are beating the crap out of each other. Shingo drops Jay White. Shingo hits the ropes and Jay White just drops to the ground. Shingo picks up Jay White into a german and fuck is it cool. 

Shingo goes for the Pumpkin Bomber but Gedo pulls his foot just as the Black Parade ends. Jay White drops to the ground again to dodge a Pumpkin Bomber which is good coward heel work. I Don’t Love You starts to play when Shingo hits the Pumpkin Bomber.  Jay uses the ref to get out of Last of the Dragons and then kicks out of Pride of Japan.

 “Baby when they knock you down and out is where you oughta stay” 

Jay White is in control. He hits a cool brainbuster where he holds both of Shingo’s wrists then does a pinkie up throat slash and his the blade runner and gets the win just as House of Wolves plays. 

Moxley vs Naito 

Fans are already chanting Naito’s name as he makes his way to the ring. He starts by playing mind games slowly taking off his clothes. He apologizes for taking so long as Red Shoe’s tries to get him to speed up. Once his pants are off he throws them at Moxley and the match begins with hard strikes in the middle of the ring. 

Mox ends up outside of the ring. Natio fakes out as if he is going to dive but does the Tranquilo pose instead. Mox is getting mad, Naito is making sure of that. Moxley ends up inside the ring while Naito ends up outside. Moxley lays down so Naito will come to pin him but Naito just rolls in then out. Then the opposite happens Naito is laying down in the middle of the ring and Moxley is outside. 

The mind games are over for a little and the two fight outside. Brawling into the crowd. Each using the guardrail to gain an advantage. Moxley does the Tranquilo pose. They brawl some more. Moxley gets in the ring and does the Tranquilo pose again. He is showing Naito he can dish it just as well as Naito can.

Moxley wraps up Naito in a chair and goes to hit his leg with another chair but Red Shoes pulls the chair away. Naito gets the advantage by dropkicking the chair Jon is holding into his face. Natio sets Moxley in a chair and runs at him down the apron. 

They both spit on each other and they both bite each other. Moxley is getting close to losing his temper and that is exactly what Naito wants. Moxley hits a fantastic butterfly suplex off the top rope. They trade hard strikes. Naito hits a ddt off the ropes after evading Moxleys Regal Knee but only gets a two. 

The two bite each other. Moxley hits a ddt and Naito barely kicks out. Moxley hits the Regal Knee and lands it. He hits Death Rider but Naito kicks out. Naito hit Destino, my favorite move when Kevin Kelly calls it. Moxley kicks out. When the second Death Rider hits Naito doesn’t kick out. 

I have no idea what is going on in the G-1. We know Moxley is signed to AEW so it is really fucking weird that New Japan is letting Moxley beat everyone. Don’t get me wrong he is great he fits with New Japan really well but he is a fleeting case. There is no reason to make him into a star if he is going to leave. This G-1 should be really interesting. It doesn’t look like anyone can catch up to Moxley in his block and Okada looks about the same. 

#new japan pro wrestling #New Japan #jon moxely #my chemical romance #all elite wrestling #aew #G1 Climax

[bucklebombreviews]

Bruised and Barbed 1: ECW Hardcore TV episode 1

Hello everybody and welcome to this the first entry in the bruised and barbed series.  Today we will be starting our journey and look at the very first episode of ECW Hardcore TV, that’s ECW as in Eastern Championship Wrestling.  This takes place on April 6th, 1993 from the ECW bingo hall.  I watched the WWE Network version of this so any music or video that has been changed I am unaware of on this one.  Anyway let’s start this journey through the Saved By The Bell era nineties and get into the show.  

Our show starts out with the most knackered early 90s music as we get a super low quality video that looks like it was filtered through and edited by a teenager taking a break from PornHub and first discovering Windows Movie Maker.  Oh boi what have I started.  It gets better though as we are sent over to part of the commentary team of Stevie Wonderful and Jay Sullie, and holy shit look at the fucking ramen mullet on Wonderful.  It’s Joe Dirtyful and gives me the weirdest feelings in my pants.  Aside from that I can already tell that Sullie is as boring and bland as wall paper paste, oh well still better than most of the commentary team on modern WWE.  Soon after the commentary team introduces itself they bring out the owner of ECW Tod Gordon.  Gordon looks like every Jewish big businessman from every movie and TV show in the 80s.  Anyway Tod announces that on this week's episode and upcoming episodes they will be holding a tournament for the tv title, awesome I’ll mark my calendar.  After this the commentary team announces that there will be a third man with them and out comes Hot Stuff Eddie Gilbert.  Gilbert tries to get himself over as the first heel on screen by trying to get into the commentary team and yelling when it is revealed that the third is Terry Funk.  Funk comes out and is just wonderful, corny but wonderful.  Funk is an obvious and predictable face here as it is pretty apparent that he is going to be more than a commentator soon.  During all this Terry is called a living legend, holy shit this is 93 and he is called a living legend that was over 25 years ago.  Man’s fucking old and been through some serious wars.  

First Match: Super Destroyers © V Hell Riders

Our First match on ECW Hardcore TV is that of the Tag Team Champions Super Destroyers versus the Hell Riders.  Before The match even starts our ears are assaulted by the Super Destroyers manger and mouth piece who is horrid, and I’m sorry guy if these big lads can produce poetry in motion I’ll put my wiener in a vice.  The match starts with the Hell Riders rushing the Super Destroyers followed by a shit brawl, riveting.  Throughout the match the commentary team cannot decide which Super Destroyer is which, honestly at this point I don’t care because it is obvious that this is a glorified squash match for the champions and not even a good one.  The match drags on and on with some tame spots here and there and ends with a standing splash thing from one of the super destroyers to end the match, fucking yawn.  

The whole match the crowd is dead silent, not a good sign for the champions especially on the first televised episode.  Even more so since it was a squash match where they could get all there shit in to try and get the crowd to pop even a little bit, even if they are heels they should have been able to get some sort of heat reaction but nothing at all.  After the match the Funker goes out to get an interview with the Super Destroyers manager, who at this time we learn is named Hunter Q Robins the Third as if it fucking matters at all.  An this guy would not quit screaming for the life of him.  Terry manages to quip something at the sad man and gets the biggest pop of the match.  This is beyond sad and signifies to me that it would not be surprising to me if these guys lost the tag belts within the next 3 or so episodes.  

Segment: Sandman

Let me first explain how I remember the Sandman.  Now remember that I have very limited exposure to ECW but I remember him as a cane swinging, beer chugging, ruffian.  Holy shit where the early nineties a different time for the Sandman.  

The Sandman is a surfer gimmick, in retrospect that makes sense but holy shit did he make a big jump not too long from 93.  In the veneit he wears a shoot wet suit, giving me weird flashbacks to Kaval.  The surfboard he brings to the ring puts this whole thing over the top for me, sunglasses sure fine whatever, but a surfboard?  This guy is an obvious face what the fuck is he going to do with a surfboard in the ring besides have the heels hit him with it.  I think we can all agree that if this guy isn’t using the fisherman's buster/suplex for his finish or at the very least the surfboard stretch then they were missing out in the creative department.  

    I’m not sure if the music here on the network is the original or not but it sounds like the worst Beach Boys knock off ever, and the editing looks like that same teenager from the beginning found the fade out tools in Movie Maker and made it take an uncomfortably long time.  At the end it tops it all off by saying that this guy is the current Heavyweight Champion, on a show that just started.  This guy, everybody praise Saved By The Bell.  

    Match 2: TV Title tournament Sal Bolomo V Tommy Cairo

    Before the match starts we go to Terry Funk who gets a small interview with Tommy Cairo who is at this time undefeated.  Cairo tries to get over ECW as a whole, I’m sure to try and get some more money out of his appearance, as well as saying when the iron man comes to town everyone else goes down.  OH MY!  Terry gets really animated and excited for this guy and the crowd pops a little bit, holy shit the crowd isn’t silent.  I think this guy is the first likeable character to come on the screen besides the Funker.  

    The announcer starts by introducing Sal’s manager the Cosmic Commander, who is the second likeable figure to be on the screen just for the fact that I am wondering what type of drugs they had to consume to come up with not only that name but the gimmick as well.  Let's combine businessman attire with a red coat and space turban, holy shit this is the next great cosplay move over Max Moon.  We also find out that it is Sal “Wildman” Bolomo, makes sense a wildman in roman soldier garb, fuck yes makes so much sense.  

    The match starts off about as fast as a snail in a tar pit with a collar and elbow into an armdrag, and we repeat that spot because it was so exciting.  Then Cairo shows his strength by pretty much shaking off a hammer lock.  This is followed by some boring corner brawling and a submission attempt by the Wildman.  Then some tape degradation, wonderful.  Cairo gets rolling again and it becomes pretty obvious that the Wildman has no gas in his tank and goes from rest hold to rest hold.  So far there has been a mediocre amount of selling and very little attempts to target any sort of limb to even make all these rest holds and dead submissions even make a little bit of sense, it's super disappointing.  At one point Cairo no sells a headbutt to do a standing splash.  This is followed by the Cosmic Commander distracting the ref just for his guy to get hit by an interfering Johnny Hotbody.  This is super confusing because the distraction led to his own guy suffering and ultimately getting counted out.  

This leads to even more immediate confusion because I presumed that Cairo was the face, he did break a few rules during the match such as getting up on the middle rope, the most dangerous rope, to do some punches to Bolomo but nothing so serious I would consider him a heel.  This is soon washed away though when Hotbody goes to the ring to attack Cairo, only to end up brawling to the back.  A disappointing end to a disappointing match.  

Match 3: Tony “Hitman” Stetson V Rockin’ Rebel

During the introduction and very early in the match it is revealed that Rebel is the number 1 contender for the heavyweight belt and Stetson is a part of the number 1 contenders for the tag belts.  I love this and think that it is something lost on modern wrestling today,  just because you are at the top or near the top of your division does not mean that you should not have interesting matches with people at or near the top of other divisions.  I think this is especially so for tag team wrestlers.  Just because you are a tag team specialist should not mean that you forgot how to work a singles match, and through singles matches maybe some tag guys could get over parts of their character that may not get to be showcased in a tag match against a really good singles opponent.  This type of match also shows that the whole locker room is aware of the rest of the card instead of being delegated to there own little bubble.  Over all I think booking like this could lead to some very interesting interactions.  Go early ECW.

I’d like to start off this match by pointing out some obvious gimmick infringement, by this time Bret Hart had already been at the top of the card in the Fed.  Stetson needed to change at least his moniker to avoid obvious comparisons that I will jump off a limb and predict that he couldn’t live up to.  

Hey do you remember how the last match started because that’s how this one starts, arm drags for everyone.  This is horrid on the part of these guys because it means that they did not watch the last match nor care to ask the guys in the match before what some of their spots were going to be .  This shows laziness and is something that could’ve been easily avoided.  I am at least happy to say that in the early parts of this match Stetson starts working the left arm of Rebel, good on him.  The only problem is that Rebel doesn’t sell this at all, boo.  This confuses me because at this time we are in the NWA associated Eastern Championship Wrestling which is supposed to be built on some old school principals, the fact that there has been a lack of selling and limb targeting confuses and upsets me.  Anyway these two have a pretty good back and forth game some drop kicks some splashes what have you, pretty much the same shit we’ve been seeing all night.  This culminates in Stetson getting a near fall on Rebel being stopped by a rope break.  This is followed by Rebel doing almost a lazy pin in the corner winning by putting his legs on the ropes.  This gets him a little heat, not much though.  

This is followed by a ringside interview where I can see where Rebel’s talents really lie.  He’s obviously not the best talker ever and he has some very annoying things that he does, such as continuously pointing at the camera.  He gets over how it’s a privilege to get an interview with him and how he is going after Sandman.  At the end he does gimmick infringe a bit on Ric Flair and he does yell a bit much for his style of talking but overall it was far from the worst thing on this show.  

Match 4: TV Tournament Jimmy Snuka V Larry Winters

Holy shit Jimmy has obviously been banging the roids, if the camera was better I’m sure he would have backne everywhere.  He’s fucking huge.  

Jimmy Snuka also cannot talk, this is made evident almost immediately.  He reveals that he has a new manager Hot Stuff Eddie Gilbert.  Gilbert comes out and tries to get over his managerial firm (?) of Hot Stuff International.  

  The match starts with Snuka dominating Winters with strikes and putting him on the ropes.  Gilbert is cheating often by choking Winters.  Snuka does an atrocious botch on a back body drop, ends up falling with Winters, way to go roidy magoo.  The match rolls on with Winters getting squashed and Gilbert continuing to get involved.  Winters did get momentum for about 2 seconds before Snuka continues beating him down.  Winters did get another head of steam with some nicely times whips and tackles, even doing a correct back body drop.  Gilbert gets involved and causes Snuka to take momentum again.  Snuka ends up winning with a top rope splash.  After the match ends Snuka throws Winters out cementing himself as a top heel.  Oh my what have we done to deserve this.  

Match 5: Sal Bellomo V Ernesto Benefico

This Match sucks.  This big slow boring fuck in Sal Bellomo who we seen earlier inserts himself into this match and squashes Benefico in a matter of seconds.  This did nothing for him at all considering the lazy show he put on earlier.  This was short, boring, and all it did was hurt Beneficos character.  

Ending Segment

The show ends with Tod Gordon and Terry Funk getting over the continuation of the TV tournament and that sandman would be there next week.  Terry tries to get over that this show is new different and fresh,  now I don't think it is but in the future it could be.  

Closing Remarks

This show was obviously done on a shoestring budget,  the cameras were crap with the second camera especially having its color balance off drastically in a few matches mainly the Rebel match, the sound was hardly there in a lot of spots, and the venue was obviously a community center.  I admire that they did everything they could with what they had but man does that make this a hard watch at times.  

The Wrestling was very underwhelming even for what I thought it was going to be.  I knew that the amount of high spots would be nonexistent but I was at least expecting some good ring psychology and limb working.  I didn’t even get that, what you end up with is 5 matches that all feel mostly the same with everybody pretty much working the same moveset.  I can’t even say that many of them got there characters over that well in this episode besides the big heels in Rebel, Gilbert, and Snuka.  And even then what exactly are there characters and motivations.  I can't tell you much more than Rebel wants the Sandman's title, Gilbert is full of himself and doesn't like Terry Funk, and Snuka might want to be the tv champion but that isn't even exactly clear.  

As far as the commentary team goes I can tell that they were still finding what they were supposed to be.  Wonderful was the heel but didn't exactly get a whole lot of heel dialog in.  Jay Sullie is boring and bland but gets out some information.  Terry Funk does the most in trying to get himself over as a top face and try to slowly build to a match with gilbert.  

Over all this episode was tough to get through but had some fun moments.  I know that the first year of ECW will be a hard one to get through because it is before it really finds its feet but i'm excited to get through it.

Show rating: 2 out of 5 yams

#Wrestling #Buckle Bomb Reviews #Buckle Bomb #ECW #ECW Hardcore TV #Bruised and Barbed #New #Sports Entertainment #90s #Terry Funk #Review #Humourous

[wrestlingisfake]

All In preview

This is the big independent show everyone’s been talking about.  Several big promotions have allowed their talent to do this show, but none of them are directly running this show.  Cody Rhodes and the Young Bucks are promoting this out of their own pockets, which is pretty amazing when you think about it.

This all came about because some guy on Twitter asked Dave Meltzer asked if Ring of Honor could run a 10,000-seat venue and Dave was like “not anytime soon” and Cody was like “I’ll take that bet.”  Then everyone was like “what market is going to have enough hardcore fans to fill a building that big?” and Chicago was like “hold my beer” and the place sold out in 30 minutes.  So yeah, fuck Wrestlemania going to New York and Florida all the time, we’re gonna do our own Wrestlemania with indy guys and stupid storylines off of Youtube!

This will be airing live on pay-per-view, ROH’s Honor Club service, and Fite.tv, with a one-hour pre-show on WGN America.  September 1, 6pm Eastern/5pm local.

Nick Aldis vs. Cody Rhodes - This is for the NWA world heavyweight championship, which Aldis won last year--the same title Cody’s father held in 1979, 1981, and 1986. 

Aldis is probably best known as Magnus for his run in TNA, where he held what is now the Impact world title.  (He also held the Global Force Wrestling world title for most of that group’s existence.)  Cody is, of course, a former ROH world champion and WWE intercontinental champion; he’s a top act in ROH and part-time special attraction with New Japan Pro Wrestling.  He’s also one of the promoters of this show, which may or may not give away the finish.

The great irony here is that “independent wrestling” used to mean “wrestling unaffiliated with an NWA member,” but now the NWA has no members, which means it has the most prestigious championship that is truly independent of the major players today.  The current NWA business model, under Billy Corgan, is to fly the champion around to other people’s indy shows, resembling the old-school pattern of Harley Race or Ric Flair coming to an NWA territory once or twice a year.  Since this show isn’t being promoted by a group with its own world champion, it’s a perfect fit for that model.  So it’s a good thing Aldis got booked, because if he hadn’t the NWA would’ve looked pretty bush-league.

The main story here is that Cody and Corgan arranged this title match without consulting Aldis.  Aldis then tried to hold out for added incentive to defend the title, suggesting that if Cody regained the ROH world championship they could have a double title match.  Cody came up short, but still managed to goad Aldis into accepting the challenge.  Obviously the crowd for this show is going to be solidly behind Cody simply for making this show possible, and moreover they’re going to be into the angle that Cody has a chance to recreate one of his father’s career highlights.

I don’t foresee a lengthy NWA title reign for Cody, since his obligations to ROH and New Japan probably don’t line up with Corgan’s business plans.  However, if I was Corgan, I’d want to get the belt on Cody while he’s the talk of the wrestling world.  At the very least, I’d want to set up a Cody/Aldis program to run through October’s NWA anniversary show and maybe even the ROH/NJPW Madison Square Garden show in April.  So a title change makes sense, but it’d depend on a lot of things falling into place behind the scenes, so it’s not a lock either.  In the end, though, this is a bad weekend to bet against Cody.

Kenny Omega vs. Pentagon, Jr. - Omega holds the IWGP heavyweight championship--the top title of New Japan--but the title is not at stake here.  Penta works all over the place but is probably best known from AAA and Lucha Underground.  His biggest accolade is possibly the LU championship, but he also briefly held the Impact Wrestling world title earlier this year.

This is easily the biggest dream match that this show could book.  To the average US wrestling fan, Omega is the hottest guy in Japan and Penta is the hottest guy out of Mexico.  But since Penta’s never really been to NJPW or ROH, and since Omega’s never really been to AAA or Impact, there’s never been a way to book this match on a big show...until now.

I don’t really know anything about Pentagon except that he’s fucking scary, dude, and I’m pretty stoked to finally see what this cat’s deal is.  Omega has made a name for himself delivering some of the best matches of the decade, but Penta is a brawler so this won’t be a wrestling clinic.  It should be a unique spectacle, worthy of this one-of-a-kind event.

I feel like New Japan would not authorize this appearance if their champion was going to lose, so I would be very shocked if Penta wins.

Kazuchika Okada vs. Marty Scurll - Okada isn’t quite the ace of NJPW, but he’s getting there, especially after a record-setting 720-day run with as IWGP champion.  Scurll is a junior heavyweight in NJPW, but in ROH he’s approaching the main event level, and if he sticks around long enough he’ll probably become their world champion.  In Japan, heavyweights and junior heavyweights almost never compete against one another one-on-one, so this match is automatically a rarity.

Scurll is sort of just there in the grand scheme of things, but within the context of a 10,000 indy wrestling fans in Bullet Club shirts, he’s practically the second coming of Christ.  Between the quality of his opponent, the historic nature of the event, the favorability of the crowd, and the timing of his peak popularity, this could be the match of Scurll’s life.  But that said, he’s bound to lose, because I can’t imagine New Japan allowing an upset to disrupt their pecking order among the weight classes.  That’s fine with me, because while everyone else will be whooping for Scurll, I’ll be there to see Okada.

Rey Mysterio & Fenix & Bandido vs. Kota Ibushi & Nick Jackson & Matt Jackson - Fenix is the brand-new AAA heavyweight champion.   Mysterio is a former WWE champion and the current champion of Mexico’s #3 group, The Crash.  There isn’t much info (at least, not in English) on Bandido except that he’s worked in CMLL, AAA, and various smaller promotions.  Aside from being a finalist in NJPW’s G1 Climax tournament this year, Kota Ibushi is legendary for his high-risk style and his preference to be a freelancer rather than commit to a single company.  Nick and Matt, the Young Bucks, are currently the IWGP heavyweight tag team champions, and have become synonymous with the post-ironic style that has defined the modern age of indy wrestling.

There really isn’t a story or direction to this match beyond getting all these guys in the ring at the same time to work with each other.  The Bucks do their spots with everyone in the indies, this is their big special show, and so as a special treat they’re going to do their shit with Rey and Fenix.  Ibushi seems to be here because Kenny Omega is occupied elsewhere, and to get his last chance to work with Rey before Mysterio returns to WWE.  Bandido seems to be here primarily to do the job, which kinda suggests Ibushi and the Bucks are winning.

Hangman Page vs. Joey Janella - Page is one of the lesser white guys in Bullet Club, but he had a decent run in the G1 Climax recently, and it seems like he’s starting to move up in the world.   Janella is best known for a) Joey Janella’s Spring Break, GCW’s Wrestlemania weekend event and b) a 2016 match with Zandig where they did an insane rooftop bump into a pickup bed filled with glass and barbed wire.  This is being billed as a Chicago street fight, which could mean anything really but generally means no count-outs, no disqualifications, so you can fight all over the place, but you still have to score a fall in the ring.

The, uh, storyline in this match is that Page, yeesh, either murdered Joey Ryan or believes that he did.  Joey Ryan is arguably the most popular American indy wrestler who is not booked on this show, and he’s conspicuous by his absence since a good chunk of the build for this show is about his fate.  Anyway, Page is, uh, afraid to wear his cowboy boots because they keep...well...talking to him about how he’s going to kill “another Joey,” apparently meaning Janella.  So yeah, the big idea is that it’s significant that Ryan and Janella have the same first name.  It’s like that whole “Martha” thing in Batman v. Superman, only dumber.  This is what happens when the main television for your show is Being the Elite, which is slightly less absurd than Southpaw Regional Wrestling or Z! True Long Island Story.

In any case, Page is suitably deranged enough to brutalize Janella, which means Janella has sufficient motivation to go sickhouse on Page.  These two ought to give us a good brawl and some nasty hardcore spots.  Dave Meltzer seems to think this could steal the show, and I wouldn’t go that far, but it might have everyone talking afterwards, if only for sheer wtf-ness.  I’m not sure it matters who wins, but Page is the one who’s friends with the promoters so I’d bet on him.

Jay Lethal vs. the winner of Over Budget Battle Royal - Lethal (probably best known for his Randy Savage impression in TNA ten years ago, and a sexual harassment scandal this summer) is defending the Ring of Honor world title against whoever wins the battle royal in the pre-show.  Since the battle royal includes at least one woman, there’s at least a chance this could become an intergender match.  This is the biggest match on the show that does not involve any members of Bullet Club, although I suppose the battle royal winner could, like, join Bullet Club or something.

Being the Elite has been setting up the idea that Lethal’s “Black Machismo” persona is re-emerging, so the big angle for this match is the hype that Lethal might bring that stuff back.  I don’t know how that will play off of whoever wins the battle royal, but I guess they have some crazy idea.

For historical purposes, a title change at this show would be a feather in ROH’s cap.  But I don’t expect them to see it that way, or for the battle royal winner to be anywhere close to ROH’s ideal world champion.  I’m picking Lethal to retain.

Christopher Daniels vs. Stephen Amell - Daniels has been around so long that he appeared (as a jobber) on both sides of the Monday Night Wars, won the first King of the Indies, held the IWGP junior tag title with Daniel Bryan, and became a founding father in the early history of both ROH and TNA’s “X” division.  These days he’s primarily known as the leader of ROH’s SoCal Uncensored faction.  Amell plays the superhero Green Arrow on TV, and became friends with Cody Rhodes through Cody’s appearances on that show and a celebrity tie-in match at Summerslam 2015.

During the whole “Joey Ryan was murdered” storyline, Amell was arrested but then later it came out that Daniels framed him.  I feel like that should leave Daniels in deep legal shit but I guess we’re not worrying about that.

Amell is looking to prove he can hold his own in the ring despite his limited experience, and Daniels has the challenge of making him look even better than that.  I think they’ll probably do fine.  That said, I don’t watch Arrow or Being the Elite and I barely even pay close attention to ROH weekly television, so I sure don’t give a fuck about this match.  I guess Amell wins. 

Tessa Blanchard vs. Madison Rayne vs. Chelsea Green vs. Britt Baker - Blanchard is the reigning Impact women’s champion and WSU world champion; neither title is not at stake.  This is presumably a standard four-way where the first wrestler to score a fall wins the match.  This is the only women’s match on the card--okay technically Jordynne Grace is in the battle royal but that’s not really the same thing.

Rayne is probably best known for her tenure in TNA/Impact (she held the women’s title five times), although she recently competed in both the ROH Women of Honor tournament and WWE’s Mae Young Classic.  Green wrestled as Laurel Van Ness in Impact and is of late appearing in Lucha Underground.  Baker has yet to really move up into the bigger indies, so her biggest claim to fame may be as one of the jobbers Nia Jax squashed early in her run on WWE Raw.

There really isn’t anything at stake in this match.  In theory a victory over Blanchard would set up a title match, but this isn’t Japan and I don’t know if Impact or WSU will really care who wins here.  So it kinda just comes down to whoever Cody and the Young Bucks want to go over.  I tend to think that’ll be Blancard since she’s the next big thing in women’s wrestling.  Although if somebody’s looking to make a statement about the next next big thing, that could be a case for pushing Green or Baker.

Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe vs. Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky - This is currently scheduled for Zero Hour, the free pre-show.  The Briscoes are the current Ring of Honor tag team champions, but as far as I know the title is not on the line.  To build for this match, SoCal Uncensored made a video where they’re training like it’s Rocky III.  The Briscoes responded with a video in which they can’t really be bothered to watch a damn 12-minute YouTube video, but then they do and they like go all dark and shit like it awoke something inside of them.  I don’t understand why every angle for this show has to be like one of those Channel Awesome crossovers where they team up and fight supervillains or whatever.

Anyway, I always kinda dug the Briscoes, it’ll be neat to see ‘em live finally, and I think they’re gonna win.

Over Budget Battle Royal - This is set for the pre-show.  Assuming it’s a standard battle royal, the match begins once everyone has entered the ring, and can only end when all but one participant has been eliminated.  The last one left is the winner, and qualifies to challenge Jay Lethal for the ROH world title later in the show.

This has been announced as a 15-person battle royal, although I doubt the exact number is a hard requirement.  Named participants so far are:

Colt Cabana (ROH)

Moose (Impact Wrestling)

Brian Cage (Impact X division champion)

Jimmy Jacobs (Impact Wrestling)

Punishment Martinez (ROH television champion)

Rocky Romero (New Japan)

Billy Gunn (WWE legend)

Austin Gunn (Billy’s son)

Jordynne Grace (WSU Spirit champion)

Ethan Page (Chandler Park from Impact Wrestling)

Marko Stunt (a very small indy guy)

Brandon Cutler (PWG)

It’s worth pointing out that CZW champion MJF was booked for All In but as of this writing hasn’t been put in a match.  So I’m kind of expecting him to end up here, although I don’t see the point of withholding that information until the last minute.  Similarly, a huge part of the All In promotion has been Flip Gordon’s failed attempts to get on the show, and it seems ridiculous to resolve that by just not using him anywhere.  Also similarly, I can’t believe the “murder” of Joey Ryan is such a big deal with this show and that the actual real live Joey Ryan won’t be wrestling on it.  The promotion of All In has been really weird, basically.

Other surprise entrants that I could see happening include Pac (formerly Adrian Neville, who has very recently been released from WWE), and Austin Aries (the Impact world champion).  Considering Jordynne Grace is already there, it wouldn’t be a big deal to add additional women.  However if there’s any group that I believe Cody and the Bucks want to see more represented in this match, it would be one-note running joke performers like Papa Buck, Cheeseburger, or Chico El Luchador.

The finish here is going to depend on which winner can have the most entertaining title match with Jay Lethal.  If we’re talking “biggest match possible,” that’d probably be Brian Cage or (if he’s available) Austin Aries for the “ROH vs. Impact” vibe.  If we’re talking “local guy hometown pop,” then Cabana is the obvious choice.  But if the plan is to follow through on an angle that’s particularly important to the target audience, then it pretty much has to be someone who hasn’t been announced for the match yet, which means literally anything is possible.

#all in #cody rhodes #the young bucks #kenny omega #pentagon jr #nick aldis #kota ibushi #rey mysterio #kazuchika okada

[some-sort-of-sidewalk-slam]

The Big Wrestle Kingdom 12 Thoughts Post

Some spoiler-free thoughts before we get into specifics under the cut. I thought it was an overall excellent show. This is the second Wrestle Kingdom I've ever watched, and while I thought 11 was better, I still think this is probably going to be the best wrestling show of the year, and I feel sorry for the Royal Rumble having to follow it later this month. I thought the undercard matches, especially the various tag matches, were better than 11's, but the major singles bouts were not quite as good. I did like the end of the main event because it makes me curious and interested for the future, and it was also just a fantastic match to boot. The Junior Heavyweight Championship four-way match was probably my favorite of the night, though the NEVER Openweight Championship and United States Championship came damn close to being my favorites. I wouldn't say there were any bad matches on the card per se, but a couple of them were disappointing for various reasons, which I'll get into in the spoilery section. Considering this was a four hour show (five if you include the pre-show rumble, which I didn't watch), I was entertained the whole way through, which is no small feat. Get New Japan World and watch this show.

I'm going to go through this match-by-match, and give a sort of general summary at the end.

Match 1: Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships- Roppongi 3K vs The Young Bucks

I should note that I'm generally not a fan of the Bucks, but they really impressed me here. Sho and Yo are a team I'm not super familiar with but I saw two of their matches before this and I was on board with them almost immediately. So I was expecting this match to be like... fine. Not great, but not bad. Just fine. But color me surprised, this is probably the best Young Bucks match I've ever seen. They set up a storyline pretty early in the match where one member of each team had a back injury and they would struggle with doing certain moves that require a lot of lifting. It's simple stuff but it's effective nonetheless. The only downside I found is the result. I'm not sure The Young Bucks needed a 7th run with the belts this soon, and I feel like they were wasting some of the momentum that Roppongi 3K had built from their strong debut. I only hope that this is the start of a larger feud that sees Sho and Yoh reclaiming the belts.

Match 2: NEVER Openweight Six-man Tag Team Championship Gauntlet Match 

This match was a mess, but a fun one. It's still one my least favorite matches on the card, mostly because it doesn't feel like a lot of care went into the booking. Trent getting the pin was a good for him and a good sign that his transition into the heavyweight division is going to go pretty well, but he didn't actually do a lot of wrestling. I mostly remember him breaking up a lot of pins. It was nice to see War Machine again, especially considering it's rumored that this is their last match with New Japan. Wasn't crazy about them teaming with Elgin, though. Like, visually it makes sense but ever since I read the news that he's a dong in real life, I've gotten real hesitant to watch him. I also don't feel like Suzuki-Gun brought their A-game. Aside from finding Zack Sabre Jr. a boring wrestler, I feel like they should have maybe replaced Iizuka with El Desperado or something to have some more athleticism. Also a side note: in the graphic for Taguchi's team, it said David Finlay was on the team, whereas it was actually Juice Robinson in that spot.

Match 3: Cody vs Kota Ibushi Special Match

I think this is my least favorite match on the card, which kind of hurt because Kota Ibushi is in it. I put this mostly on Cody's shoulders, who has slowly started to become one of the most embarrassing acts on the indies. He left WWE with all the hype in the world, and everyone was so excited to see the creativity and in-ring prowess that he wasn't allowed to show. But then he just sort of became a cog in the Bullet Club machine, who is a shockingly average wrestler, and gets pissy at Roman Reigns on Twitter. Brandi calling everyone who doesn't think she's the most attractive woman in wrestling “marks” while on the way to the ring really set the scene for this slightly mediocre match with an admittedly impressive Cross Rhodes off the apron onto the floor. If you can't have a good match with Kota frigging Ibushi at goddamn Wrestle Kingdom, you might not be as good as you say you are, Cody.

Match 4: IWGP Tag Team Championship- Killer Elite Squad vs EVIL and SANADA

I wasn't super hot for this match in the beginning. Lance Archer and Davey Boy Smith Jr. are both really big dudes who are excellent at being dominant powerhouses, which was definitely the case in this match. I do admit to being slightly annoyed at how long SANADA spent on his back while Archer and Davey Boy kicked the hell out of him. SANADA and EVIL's strengths are sudden explosions of athleticism, which was good counter to KES's slow style. SANADA and EVIL didn't get to do as much as I would have liked in this match, but they got some great moments to shine, and I think putting the title on them was a good move.

Match 5: NEVER Openweight Championship Hair vs Hair Match- Minoru Suzuki vs Hirooki Goto

This match was rad from start to finish. There wasn't a lot of flashy stuff in it, but flashy is not the strong suit of either of these guys. This was an old-fashioned, no-nonsense fight. Minoru Suzuki looked like the monster he is, coming out of most exchanges on top. But slowly but surely, Goto managed to make comeback after comeback. It's a pretty simple story of an underdog overcoming a powerful adversary, but as I said before, simple storytelling works. The whole match was stiff and powerful, as expected, and they told a hell of a story through the match. It built to an excellent crescendo of Goto hitting a backwards and then a proper GTR for a well-earned victory. I also very much enjoyed the moment where Suzuki walked away from his faction to shave his own hair. It's a character-defining moment that shows that even sadistic heels like Minoru Suzuki still have a sense of honor.

Match 6: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship Four-Way Match- Marty Scurl vs Will Ospreay vs KUSHIDA vs Hiromu Takahashi

This is probably my favorite match of the night. It was fast-paced, exciting, full of storytelling, and had some frankly ridiculous spots. I loved watching the storylines between KUSHIDA and Hiromu, Ospreay and Scurl, and even Ospreay and Kushida, all woven through this match, with a sprinkling of excellently devious heel tactics from Scurl. Seeing what he's capable of, I refuse to believe that Will Ospreay is a human being. He has to be some sort of human/cat hybrid or something. Seeing KUSHIDA incorporate some of Hiromu's moves into his own is a great callback to their feud. Probably my favorite moment was the brief unspoken alliance between Ospreay and Scurl. I think I would have preferred Scurl to retain here, but I would have been 100% fine with anyone winning this match, and I think this way Opsreay and Scurl can continue to have a one-on-one feud, which is always exciting.

Match 7: IWGP Intercontinental Championship- Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Switchblade Jay White

I missed the build to this match but the video package did a decent job explaining the kayfabe reason for this match. What I can't understand is the out-of-kayfabe reason for it. His character is supposed to be an assassin of some kind? Or at least some sort of violent dude with a knife fetish. I do like that he's not part of any factions. It helps sell the lone wolf thing he's got going on. But once he takes off the leather coat and knife necklace, he just sort of looks like a scrawny dweeb. He just doesn't have the experience to carry a big feud like this yet. They want to make Jay White a big deal right off the bat by putting him up against Tanahashi at Wrestle Kingdom but I had a really hard time believing it. He's a pretty good in-ring worker, and he had some pretty good smack-talk in the ring, but this was not a Wrestle Kingdom-worthy performance.

Match 8: IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship No Disqualification Match- Kenny Omega vs Chris Jericho

This was probably the biggest draw for most of us Western fans. To see Chris Jericho in a New Japan Pro Wrestling ring, and wrestling one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, was something we all wanted to see. And... I wish I liked it more than I did. Don't get me wrong, I thought it was very good, and the biggest reason that I wasn't a fan of it wasn't the fault of the performers or the match. I'm just generally not a fan of weapons and hardcore brawls, which the first part of this match definitely was. I understand that it was an important part of the match's story that needed to happen. It's Jericho's American brawling style contrasted with the second half of the match, which was done in Omega's cleaner Japanese style. Despite the stuff I didn't like about it, it was still a phenomenal match that told an awesome story.

Match 9: IWGP Heavyweight Championship- Kazuchika Okada vs Tetsuya Naito

The one for all the marbles. This match had a lot to live up to, having to not only follow last year's 6-star main event, but also the four-year build of the Tetsuya Naito storyline development. This one was a conflicting one.  First thing's first: it was not better than last year's main event, but that was going to be hard to top so I'm not holding that against it. The match was excellent in its own right. I watched it in stunned silence as it built to its crescendo, watch two of the best wrestlers in the world go at each other. But the finish was conflicting. On one hand, it felt like it made narrative sense for Naito to finally win the belt at Wrestle Kingdom, as a glorious payoff for a four-year storyline, and having Okada retain instead feels kind of like wasted potential. On the other hand, the impression I get from the promo Okada gave after the match, and the way Naito smiled as he walked away from the match is that this story is not over. I, personally, thought the ending was fine. If nothing else, it intrigued me for what's coming next.

Wrap up

Wrestle Kingdom 12 was a spectacular show. It had some hiccups, as all wrestling shows generally do. I enjoyed 11 more because I liked its last three matches better. But 12 had better undercard matches, and I understood more of the stories going into it because I've actually been watching some of the stuff leading up to it. If nothing else, this confirms to me without a doubt that New Japan is the best wrestling in the world. The match quality is so high, the stories so effectively told, even in a language that I don't speak. Pro wrestling is so goddamn cool, and New Japan is the best place to watch it. If there was anything you wanted to convince you, let this be it. Start watching New Japan Pro Wrestling. It's so worth your time.

#NJPW #njpwworld #new japan pro wrestling #wrestle kingdom 12 #wk12 #pro wrestling

[loveandpainfanfic]

S L E E P O V E R PT. 2

- J O R D A N

“Omg like this place is sick as hell!” Treasure said as she gawked at the living room as we walked through. She was always like this when she  came over.

“T it's just a house.” I said giggling at her facial expressions every time she saw something.

“I know but it seems so , magical. I wish my house was as lavish as this.” She said following me down to the basement where Raye and Cam was putting up decorations.

After leaving Treasure , I headed towards my room to get myself ready seeing as everyone should be arriving within the next 30 minutes. I walked into the connected bathroom that was in my room and turned on the shower , adjusting the temperature. Once I was satisfied , I waltzed over to my closet to quickly find something to wear , huffing loudly because out of all the damn clothes I had , I couldn’t find shit to wear. Becoming overly annoyed , I just left my closet and went back into my bathroom for my shower. Deciding on a song to play through my beats pill , I stripped out of my clothes just as Rihanna’s Love on the Brain blared through my speakers.

Letting the steamy water engulf my body rapidly, I hummed to the outstanding vocals of the one and only RiRi. Since I knew that my hair was gonna frizz up , I went ahead and washed it and contemplated on what I was gonna do to it as I lathered my Vanilla Creme & Strawberry body wash onto my pink loofah washing the rest on my body.

Rinsing under the shower head , I quickly wet my hair and repeated the same process to my hair as I did my body. Shutting the shower off and and stepping out I hissed as the cold air from the vent slapped onto my skin. Cursing myself for forgetting my towel I walked out of my room only to see my sister sitting on my bed with her head in her phone as she sang to You Belong To Somebody Else by Dej Loaf and Jacquees.

“You’re creepy as fuck Cam. You waiting on me to get out the shower and shit.” I said walking over to grab my pink silk robe to wrap around my naked body.

“Nah hoe you just so damn fine. I had to come see that ass.” She said playfully grabbing my booty as I reached for another towel to dry my already half-dried curls.

Laughing as I playfully slapped her hands away , I walked into my closet to glance at my wardrobe again. Turning my head from side to side multiple times I still saw nothing. I turned to my sister and she caught my drift as she joined me and began to look through my clothes.

“You wanna wear sneakers?” She asked. I nodded my head as she continued to look diligently. Feeling the need to do something I walked over to my dresser and pulled out my hair and makeup supplies.

Quickly deciding to leave my hair curly , I applied my makeup seeming as it took forever and a century. After I played around with my make-up, I smiled once I saw what Camilla had put together. My sister could dress like a mofo. I don’t even remember buying half of this stuff.

After what seemed like literally hours , I emerged from my room and joined the rest of the household , who seemed to be having quite the time. I walked into the kitchen where everyone seemed to be and spotted Cam and Mike making goo-goo eyes at each other. I walked over and tapped on her shoulder causing her to look my way but ducked down so she couldn’t see me. Giggling at her confused facial expression I stood up and stuck my tongue out at her. 

“Well aren’t you cute girly.” She said as she poked my exposed belly button.

“Thanks you’re quite the looker yourself.” I complemented back. 

“Wassup Jay.” Mike said as we dapped.

“Where’s thing two?” I asked referring to Chris.

“Now how come I always hear you talking bout me?” Chris said as he came from behind me and into my view.

“I just wanted to know where you were that’s all.” I said politely.

“Why?” He asked as he leaned down closer to my face. I inhaled his cologne and moved back a step. I wasn’t trying to get caught up in Chris but he makes it so hard not to.

“Just because.” I replied staring back into his eyes. I wanted to look away , but I couldn’t. It was like he had me on a leash , or under some magical spell. He was hypnotizing me.

“Well here I am.” He said deeply as his face was only inches away from mines. I stared at his lips and then back at his face which displayed a satisfied grin upon it.

“Found you.” I said moving away from him and going into the living room where I saw Deja and Mijo passing a blunt back and forth.

I sat next to Deja who looked at me and nodded her head. I did the same and looked at the blunt between her hands. I’ve always wondered what it was like to get high.

“What does it taste like?” I asked Deja who just smiled at me before answering my question.

“Like .... The Earth.” She said as Mijo started laughing.

“So like grass and dirt and shit?” I asked confused.

“No like plants , more like herbs.” Mijo said.

“You wanna hit?” Deja asked me while holding the object my way. I looked at it really thinking about the side affects it could possibly have on me. I wasn’t scared per-say but I was anxious.  I grabbed the blunt from her hand and placed it to my lips and exhaled it slowly. I figured it was just like smoking a cigarette so I guess I could get the hang of it.

“For someone who has never smoked before you seem to know what you’re doing.” I heard Maya say.

“I’ve seen it done before so I guess.” I said as Deja gave me the okay to continue.

I repeated the same steps over and over until the blunt was almost nothing. I felt my body become heavier but lighter at the same time if that was even possible. I looked at Deja who was looking at me and started laughing hard as hell. I didn’t know what was so funny but all I know is I couldn’t stop laughing for the life of me. I clenched my sides as my stomach started to cramp from laughing so hard. I tried to catch my breath but I couldn’t , all I could do was laugh. I felt weightless but once I tried to stand , I almost fell on my ass. Sitting on the floor I died of laughter once again.

“Yo Jay is high as a kite.” I heard Mijo say. 

“I know , shit is hilarious.” Deja said as I laid back on the floor and continued to laugh.

“CAMILLA!” I heard someone shout. It kinda hurt me ears and my body jerked up but once I saw nothing exciting I started laughing again.

“What?” I’m guessing Camilla answered.

“You’re sister is um ..”

“High?” I heard my sister say. I just laughed and clapped my hand.

“Deja did you get my sister high?” My sister asked.

“She asked to smoke , I didn’t make her.” Deja said.

Camilla came over to me and sat on my stomach and held my face in her hands and examined me. I laughed at her face when she saw my eyes and she hopped off of me and ran to the kitchen. Minutes later I heard Chris’ voice booming through the living room.

“What do you mean she’s high?” He asked as she walked over to where I was laying almost asleep.

“Look.” Cam said as she pointed to my almost lifeless body on the floor.

Chris leaned down and looked in my face then lifted my eyelids , revealing my red eyeballs. I picked me up and stood me on my feet. I focused on catching my balance. Once I did I saw Camilla’s phone sticking out of her back pocket of her jeans. I snatched it and attempted to run. 

“Jordan gimme my phone!” I heard her yell as she chased me around the house.

I kept laughing at how care free I felt running around the yard while the wind spun around me and Camilla ran angrily behind me. Looking back I saw that Chris and Ty were also behind me and I knew that if they caught me I was gonna be up Shit Creek.

Seeming as if that only boosted my energy if possible , I ran faster and faster, swiftly moving around the yard as if I was running from the cops. I heard Cam shouting at me from behind.

"Dammit Jordan! Bring your ass here!" She screamed with her and Chris right on my ass. I was beginning to get tired but for some reason my body wouldn't stop running. I suddenly came up short when I tripped over a basketball in the yard and fell 3ft away from the 12ft deep in ground pool.

Shaking my head and trying to get up , I was suddenly pushed back down by an angry Camilla. She was yelling in my face but I couldn't make put the words exactly. Reality didn't hit until I felt an excruciatingly painful sting to my cheek.

"NOW DO YOU HEAR ME JORDAN!?" She yelled almost going blue in the face. I instantly became angry. Fuck that I was vexed. Cam had never hit me. Ever.

"What the fuck Camilla?! Why'd you hit me?!" I yelled just as she had. I couldn't bring myself to hit her back because she was my sister. That is until I felt another sting to my other cheek.

Then I lost it.

- C H R I S

Jordan. Was. Whooping. That. Ass.

I mean don't get me wrong Cam's ass was getting some good hits in, but Jordan was knocking her tf out. It was like every hit Camilla managed to get , her sister would give her 3 hits to follow that one. And they were hard.

"Yo we gotta break them up before Jordan kills her sister." Trey said before looking at Mijo , Mike , Raye and myself.I looked at that nigga like he had 3 heads.

"Alright you first." Mike said pushing him up closer to the vicious brawl before us.

"Y'all niggas scary as fuck. Help us get them apart!" Treasure yelled making us all snap into reality.

I reached over and tried to grab Jordan but it was no use. She had her legs around Cam's neck while she was punching her in the head. Can just so happened to bite the living shit outta her causing her legs to free her neck. Using this time as an advantage, I pulled Jordan by her waist and stood her up with her feet a little from the ground. She yelled Spanish obscenities at her sister while Cam fought to get from behind Mike.

"Tu puta te odio a la mierda!" Camilla yelled angrily at her sister.

"Vete a la mierda puta te odio también!" Jordan spat back.

"You get on my fucking nerves!" Cam yelled back.

No lie , this little engagement they had going on was petty as fuck but I guess letting them get it out was best for them. I'm hungry though so they need to chop chop.

"I haven't even done shit to you Cam. I'm sorry about your precious little phone you're acting like shit cant be replaced!" Jordan said back.

"Not everything can be replaced Jordan. You've always thought when you fuck up , it was okay because DAD would come to the rescue. You always had dad's love and the shit he never gave me will NEVER be replaced." Cam said in a more somber tone.

So this was about their parents?

"You think I had it easy when he left us? It isn't my fault that mom was so wrapped up in perfect little Camilla and dad came to my rescue. You always act like everything is my fault. Its not-" she was cut off by her sister.

"IT IS YOUR FAULT! ITS YOUR FAULT WE CANT SEE DAD ANYMORE! ITS YOUR FAULT WE KEEP MOVING! ITS YOUR FAULT DAD NEVER LOVED ME! ITS YOUR FAULT MOM AND DAD GOT DIVORCED BECAUSE SHE DIDN'T EVEN WANT ANOTHER KID!" Camilla yelled at the top of her lungs making the argument come to a complete halt.

Tears were running down Cam's face as she stood there holding on to her sides. Mike came and hugged her as she held onto him for dear life. I looked at Jordan and to my shock, she hasn't shed one tear.

."Fuck you Camilla. On moms." She said with hurt lacing every word she spoke. She then turned around to walk back into the house but stopped and ripped something from her neck.

"Here. I don't need it anymore." She said throwing what looked like a necklace at her sisters feet.

The necklace read 'Faith' in gold , cursive writing.

She then turned and walked into the house and closed the door. Everyone stood in the back yard confused as hell. Camilla held on to the necklace her sister had angrily snatched off and cried even harder.

"I lost sister Mikey" she said wailing loudly into his chest. He whispered in her ear and they sat down on the grass as he held her while she cried.

Raye and Dej had gone into the house along with Treasure and Trey , probably going to find rooms. Mijo and I slowly walked back into the house still dazed about what had happened within the last hour. Shit was sad to be honest. Like they were fighting like dogs in the street or something. "Yo you should go check on Jordan" Mijo said before dapping me up. I walked upstairs slowly, searching for which room that would be hers. I stopped at a door with a pink-glittered 'J ' on it.

I knocked on the door softly and then turned the knob revealing Jordan sitting on the bed with her knees at her chest, looking at a picture. I walked over to her and sat next to her but leaving comfortable room. I stared at her as she stared at the family photo with watery , red and puffy eyes.

"She's right. It is my fault. I just hate that it's taken me this long to come to that realization." She said, her voice soft and hurt.

"No she wasn't Jay. She was just angry and had feelings bottled up and she just said that to hurt you." I said moving closer to her.

She looked at me and and put her hands over her face and began to sob loudly. I pulled her into my lap and held on to her waist as she buried her head into my chest. She cried for what seemed like hours. She began to hyperventilate as she clenched my soaking shirt between her fists. Fearing that she would pass out, I lifted her chin and made her look at me.

"Calm down Jordan." I said softly as I looked into her eyes and rubbing my thumb across her cheek. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. I wiped her face as she smiled faintly.

"Thank you Chris." She said once her breathing regulated.

"No problem. Didn't want you to die on me." I said making her giggle. We stared at each other for a while until she began to caress my cheek. Leaning in , I placed my lips against hers and felt my body heat rise rapidly.

She linked her arms around my neck and straddled me as I gripped her waist. She moaned at the contact my hands were giving her body. I began to grind my semi-hard area into her warm middle as I placed soft kisses on her neck. Just as I was about to remove her tank top , she stopped me placing her hands on top on mine.

"We can't do this, Chris. This is so wrong." She said breathing heavily.

"But it feels so right baby." I said putting my head into the side of her neck and bit the exposed skin.

She threw her head back and moaned once I sucked on what seemed to be her spot. She ran her fingers down to my shoulders and gripped them while I rolled my hips into hers. I leaned back and took off my shirt allowing her eyes to roam all over my body with hunger. I pushed my mouth against hers and bit down on her lip before sucking on it to soothe the bite.

"Chrisss" She moaned. I tried once again to take off her shirt and she stopped me again. This time she got completely off of me and went to the other side of the room.

I walked behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist. She was quiet for a moment until she turned to face me. The look on her face told exactly how she felt.

"What's wrong Jay?" I asked.

"You. You come up in here comforting me then try to fuck me. Was that all you wanted to do in the first place? Get a quick piece of ass?" She semi-yelled.

Okay , low key I was but I had no intentions of coming in here just to get some. My comforting her was real and the kiss just felt right. But I'm not gonna say that I don't wanna fuck her though.

"No. I came in here to check on you to see if you were okay. I didn't plan on kissing you Jordan." I said back.

"So you don't wanna fuck me?" She asked putting her hands on her hips. She too sexy. Especially since she mad.

"I didn't say that. I wanna fuck the shit outta you to be honest." I said boldly as her face turned a light shade of red from blushing.

Instead of saying something, she just sat back down on the bed and turned on the TV. Is she fucking serious? I'm up here with a hard dick that probably won't go away and she wanna watch cartoons and shit. I calmly sat next to her even though I was sorta mad but not really. I was about to leave until she spoke.

"You don't even know me like that so I don't understand why would you wanna fuck a stranger." She said looking up at me.

"Strangers fuck each other everyday, Jordan." I said irritated. I was ready to go relieve myself and she wasn't helping me at all.

"I'm not that kind of girl. I can't just be fucking strangers , Chris." She said in the same tone.

"Well maybe we should be more than strangers then." I said walking over to her.

"Well I might like that." She said lowly. I leaned in a placed a soft kiss on her lips before pulling back. She looked at me with nervousness before putting her head down.

"I'm still a virgin."

#chris brown #india westbrooks #crystal westbrooks #johannapaige #tyga #chrindiaa chrisbrown indiawest crystalwest tyga

[puroresu-musings]

NJPW Road To WRESTLING DONTAKU & WRESTLING HINOKUNI 2018 Reviews

April 23rd, Tokyo, Korakuen Hall:

IWGP Jr. Tag Title Match: Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado (c) vs. Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI  ***1/2

April 24th, Tokyo, Korakuen Hall:

Tomohiro Ishii vs. Toa Henare  ***3/4

IWGP U.S. Title Match: Jay White (c) vs. David Finlay  ***3/4

April 27th, Hiroshima:

NEVER Openweight Title Match: Hirooki Goto (c) vs. Juice Robinson  ****1/4

Kazuchika Okada & Will Ospreay vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi & KUSHIDA  ***3/4

WRESTLING HINOKUNI 2018, April 29th, Kumamoto, Grand Messe:

Yuji Nagata & Ren Narita vs. Tomoyuki Oka & Shota Umino  ***

David Finlay & Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Jay White & Rocky Romero & Sho & Yoh  **¾

Togi Makabe & Toa Henare vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano  **½

Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi & Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Takashi Iizuka & Taichi & Taka Michinoku   ***

Hiroshi Tanahashi & Juice Robinson & Michael Elgin & KUSHIDA vs. Kazuchika Okada & Hirooki Goto & Will Ospreay & YOSHI-HASHI  ***¼

BUSHI vs. El Desperado  **1/2

Hiromu Takahashi vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru  ***

IWGP Tag Title Match: EVIL & SANADA © vs. Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr.  ***1/2

IWGP Intercontinental Title Match: Minoru Suzuki © vs. Tetsuya Naito  ***1/2

Photos.

This has been a very long tour indeed, and I must admit that I’m not too fussed about it anymore, just get to the Fukuoka shows already. And even then the Bullet Club: Civil War show on the 3rd does nothing for me either, so just get to the 4th. The gimmick for this tour is LIJ vs. Suzuki-gun, CHAOS vs. New Japan, and Bullet Club vs. Bullet Club, which we’ve thankfully pretty much been spared so far.

The Korakuen Hall shows were your standard Road To... shows with some strong matches. The Suzuki-gunners retained the IWGP Jr Tag belts against the LIJ Junior Heavy squad in a match which started slow and oh so very familiar, but then turned into a very good outing. Desperado pinned BUSHI with Pinche Loco after a lot of silliness, as is prerequisite with most of Suzuki-gun bouts these days. Henare and Ishii finally squared off in a hard-hitting singles collision on the 24th. This was great, with both guys killing each other with strikes, including a great exchange later on. Ishii did a tremendous job of selling a body blow, before unsurprisingly putting the rookie away with the Vertical Drop Brainbuster in 15:20. And in the main event of that show, Jay White beat David Finlay in another great outing, after pinning him with Blade Runner at the 26:49 mark. The main problem here is that no one bought Finlay really winning, and neither are especially over as main event guys. Beyond this though, the match was really good. Also these shows drew fairly disappointing houses to Korakuen.

The Road To... show in Horishima was a lot of the same, in terms of all the usual tag variations we’ve seen all tour, but it did feature an excellent NEVER Title defence by Goto, taking on the fiery Juice Robinson. This went a little long for my liking (26:36), but it was great stuff, and the best match on the entire tour so far. The finishing stretch was highly believable as Juice nailed a devastating Brainbuster on Goto, which looked like it nearly killed him, for a great near fall, then Goto busted out the old Shouten Kai for a super-close near fall, before finally hitting the GTR to retain. Both guys looked tremendous here, especially Robinson, who has come such a long way in the last two years. Of all the people in the world to be Goto’s next challengers, Michael Elgin and Taichi came out to set up some kind of three way. This is as random as it gets folks. Then in the main event, Tanahashi pinned Will Ospreay with the High Fly flow in 18:15 to end another really good tag bout.

The returning Wrestling Hinokuni show (its been on hiatus since Kumamoto was devastated by that earthquake in 2016) was a really disapointing show in my opinion. It featured nothing bad at all, everything was pretty much good, but the top two matches didn’t deliver like I thought they would at all. The main theme of this show was LIJ vs. Suzuki-gun as BUSHI took on Desperado and Hiromu battled Kanemaru in singles contests, K.E.S. looked to regain the tag belts from SANADA and EVIL and Suzuki put the I.C. Title on the line against Naito. BUSHI beat Despy by DQ in an OK match after Kanemaru interfered, then Hiromu came in to make the Kanemaru match immediate. Takahashi won this after the Suzuki-gun guys interfernce backfired, BUSHI misted Kanemaru, then Hiromu hit his Dynamite Plancha, the Death Valley Bomb into the corner and the Time Bomb to win in 11:28. All of this was fine, but I don’t fully understand the reason for it. I have no real interest in seeing them square off in the BOSJ either. EVIL and SANADA retained the Tag Titles over K.E.S. in a very good brawl which was on a par with their WK12 match. This featured some good action, including K.E.S. hitting a Killer Bomb on SANADA off the apron and through a table, which took him out for a while and EVIL had to go it alone. He put up a brave fight, even kicking out of an assisted middle rope power slam and a Magic Killer, which put him away at Sakura Genesis. The LIJ duo rallied back, hitting a Magic Killer of their own, and EVIL hit Smith with a chair, before scoring the win with the STO at the 17:58 mark.

And Tetsuya Naito won the I.C. Title in something of a shock in the main event. This was a very good match but was just missing something. Suzuki worked over Naito’s knees in glorious Suzuki fashion throughout, locking on kneebars aplenty, and Naito did a really great job in selling this, but the Kumamoto crowd just didn’t buy Naito submitting for whatever reason. I mean it was all believable, but they were dead for his peril and struggles. For example, there were points where Suzuki had Naito trapped in a figure four and the same kneebar he defeated Tanahashi with, but you could probably literally hear a pin drop in the building. This kind of fell apart in the closing moments for some reason, as Suzuki locked in a choke, but Naito tried to counter with a neckbreaker (possibly), but they totally botched it and fell to the mat unceremoniously. They had a tremendous slap exchange, which resulted in Suzuki bleeding from the nose and mouth. Naito then hit what looked like a Northern Lights Bomb, but it too looked maybe like a botch, before hitting a Destino out of nowhere to end the match unexpectedly, and give LIJ the clean sweep. The crowd certainly weren’t expecting the finish, but popped for the Naito title win. As I say, there was nothing wrong with this match, but it just didn’t do much for me. Their encounters in the 2013 and 2014 G1s were much better in my opinion, and the finish just seemed kind of flat. One problem was it was maybe too long (30:22) and with the quiet crowd, this made it seem much longer. Naito winning is a surprise, but I suppose it keeps him at the top end of the card, and at nearly 50 years old, Suzuki, though still great, maybe can’t go at the top level as much as he’d like to, so could do with some time in the mid card and in multi-man’s. All in all, these are decent shows and the Goto/Juice match is well worth going out of your way for.

NDT

#njpw #njdontaku #review #wrestling dontaku 2018 #wrestling hinokuni 2018 #tetsuya naito #minoru suzuki #hirooki goto #juice robinson #sanada #evil #bushi #hiromu takahashi #davey boy smith jr #lance archer #el desperado #yoshinobu kanemaru #los ingobernables de japon #suzuki-gun #new japan pro wrestling #puroresu #wwe

[redrobin-detective]

Prompt idea - Deathstroke has kidnapped a wounded Dick Grayson. Batman and Dick's siblings come to the rescue. Points for some interesting introspection as Deathstroke tells bat family why he thinks Dick is the perfect son/protégé for him and manages to his some nerves.

This ended up being… very curious. Let’s see what you all make of it.

“Can’t this thing go any faster?” Batman, Bruce, chastises in a very rare loss of composure in the cowl. Tim shifts slightly in the seat beside him, he’s been the one who’s been toying with the jet to increase speed and efficiency so the comment really was directed at him.

“We’re going as fast as we can given the size and weight of the ship,” he responds lightly. “We’re going to get him back B, you know how tough Wing is.”

“That doesn’t mean I want to leave him in the hands of that lunatic for any longer than necessary,” Bruce grounds out turning to glare at his middle son. “You don’t understand what Deathstroke is capable of Tim, the Titans have only gotten a taste of what that man is capable of, and he’s had Dick for hours.” Even Tim, who’s well-practiced at the art of ignoring Batman’s glares, shrinks a bit under the force of this one.

“Alright, I know it’s good fun to beat up the kid but lighten up B.” Jason says from the back, giving Bruce’s chair a kick to stop his lecturing. “Besides, we all know that Slade is super in love with Dickie Bird and won’t touch a hair on his head, it’s been that way since I wore short pants.” Jay shrugged as we went back to lounging in the back seat, completely unworried. He bets by the time they get there, Dick will have already beaten Deathstroke and be waiting for pick-up.

“Nightwing took several bad hits before he was taken,” Damian interjects, about as edgy as Hood was calm. He’d been unable to stop his partner from being viciously beaten nor stop his kidnapping. If something happened to Grayson he would never forgive himself. “And it’s unwise to underestimate Deathstroke. Even my Grandfather holds him in high regard which goes to show how cunning and skilled he is. He must be if he gives Grayson such a difficult time.”

“It’ll be fine,” Tim concludes quietly, “Dick is tough and has handled Deathstroke before. Besides he has all of us there to back him up if need be.”

“Amen to that Little Red,” Hood says cheerfully. “And look at that, it seems we’re coming up on Wing’s location.” Batman takes over manual control of the plane, as the tracking device in Dick’s suit alerts them that they’re nearing their destination. He rolls in shoulders in preparation of, what he hopes, is a pretty awesome brawl.  

“Oh man, what is going on down there?” Tim mutters quietly as he looks out the window. Immediately Dami looks out his while Hood unbuckles from his seat and crowds over Damian.

“What the hell?” Jason mutters as they fly over a deserted beach and see Deathstroke and Nightwing, sitting on the sand seemingly without care. “What are you doing Dick?” He asks to himself as B, observing their reactions, brings the plane down into a dive and lands in a rough, but still passable manner just a few hundred yards from where Dick and Deathstroke were sitting.

“Be prepared for anything,” Batman growls as he throws off his seatbelt and makes last second additions to his belt. “Deathstroke is known for his unpredictability but priority one is getting Nightwing out safely." He continues curtly before stalking off the plane, completely forgoing any attempt at stealth. Deathstroke was changing the rules, the usual techniques no longer applied.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Wayne,” Deathstroke says once the four Bats are in ear shot, “and Mr. Todd-Wayne, Mr. Drake-Wayne and the young Mr. Wayne as well. Lovely day out isn’t it?” Slade is methodically sharpening a collection of knives on the beach, not even in a threatening manner, just in a professional, casual way.

“What have you done to Nightwing?” Batman barks taking a few more steps closer but the knife Slade is sharpening comes up and the Bat halts. They stay that way for a moment before Slade goes back to his task.

“We’re just talking, nothing big, just normal stuff.” And true to form, Dick doesn’t look to be in any harm. The injuries from earlier appear to have been attended to, his belt and gloves are not on him but laid to the side about a foot away. Other than that, he’s just sitting there with a relaxed look on his face. “He was a bit of trouble when I was patching up his injuries so I gave him a muscle relaxant. He’s a little less chatty than normal but still perfectly aware of what’s going on.”

“Let him go Deathstroke, you’re through hurting him.” Robin spat out vicious, running forward to attack the assassin only to be stopped in his tracks by both Batman and Hood grabbing at his shoulders.

“Hurt him?” Deathstroke says innocently, “I would never dream of hurting him. Look at him boy, does he look hurt to you?” Damian’s face draws up into a sneer but the man continues. “Have I not treated his injuries? Brought him to a relaxing location to put his busy mind and body at ease? He’s not even bound, should he wish to leave, he could have done so at any time.” Through the black and orange mask, they could feel him smiling. “In fact, the ones who regularly hurt him have just interrupted our little chat.”

“You dirty liar,” Damian said, squirming and kicking but the elder Bats held on firm as much as they wanted to rush into the assassin. Whatever this was, it was new and they couldn’t just dive in and risk setting whatever trap Slade had set.

“Guys relax, it’s okay,” Dick said suddenly from his spot, still looking a bit dazed but there wasn’t any fear or anger in his tone. “We were just talking.”

“You see?” Deathstroke nodded, lightly gesturing to Dick with his knife. “We’ve been having a great conversation. Dick’s told me some stories from his time in the circus, we compared training regimes, I even shared with him one of my prized slow cooker recipes. Just guy talk.”

“The hell are you up to?” Hood demanded, debating if he should let the brat go at it so they could end whatever the hell was happening.

“I just decided to switch things up a bit, thank to you Timothy.” Slade said gently with a nod in the direction of Red Robin. “The Titans stole two of my children from me, when Rose finally betrayed me, the Robin at the time commented how they always turned because I never treated them with the love and respect they needed. I never gave them a reason to stay.”

“Rose and Joey left you because you were a manipulative, abusive asshole and talking recipes isn’t going to change that, or make Dick want to stay with you.” Red Robin said sternly, feeling a bit uncomfortable at the silent accusations coming from his team.

“Oh I agree. After all, what kind of father would take a young, vulnerable child who’s already suffered enough to last a lifetime and put them in a costume and throw them out into the rough, unrelenting world of capes and criminals.” Batman tensed up, “now that sounds pretty abusive to me, I think Dick agrees too.”

“You don’t-” Batman started before he was cut off.

“Of course if I’d treated Joey or Rose with more respect, allowed them to grow on their own instead of confining them to my side, forcing them to aid in my growth and progression while denying them their own, they might have stayed. They might not have run off to join the Teen Titans or anywhere really just to get away from their cruel, merciless father who can’t see beyond the mission.” Dick’s eyes narrow on Bruce as Deathstroke keeps talking and even the other Bats are side-eyeing their mentor. It’s one thing to live through it, another to have it stated so plainly.

“Maybe if Joey and Rose got on better it would have been different as well,” the assassin sighs. “I was an only child so I can’t imagine the heartache siblings would cause. Reckless younger brothers who refuse to listen, taking advantage of the older sibling’s good will and cheer and use and abuse him for their own purposes. No wonder the children left me.” There’s more wincing from the Bats and Deathstroke can only smile. That’s enough for one day, the seeds have been planted, not just in Grayson but all of them. He bets by the end of the year, Dick will be on the outs with his supposed family again and maybe, just maybe, might end up on his doorstep. He sets down the knife and begins packing up.

“Well it has been an illuminating talk but Dick here probably does need his rest and I’m sure you’re all tired from the rather bruising battle this morning. Why don’t you take him back home and we’ll fight it out again some other time?” He leaned over and patted Dick’s knee. “Time to go, your weapons are to your right. I’m sure your family will take the very best care of you, after all, they don’t want to follow my example now would they?” Deathstroke carefully got to his feet. “It’s been a pleasure as always, safe flight home.” And with that, he picked up the bag at his feet and began to walk away from the small, tense group.

Damian wriggled out of his captors’ grasp and ran over to his brother. He knelt down and gently patted the older man to assess for any unknown injuries. He was surprised and more than a little hurt when Dick brushed his hands aside.

“I’m fine,” the acrobat said, struggling to his feet. “The relaxant is wearing off, I can walk on my own.” He says in a quiet monotone, walking silently past Damian and the others to get back onto the plane.

“Dick,” Bruce said calmly, reaching out a hand to his oldest. “You know what he’s trying to do. He’s trying to put cracks in our infrastructure, to plant doubt and conflict in an attempt to draw you onto his side. You know he’s just saying those things to manipulate you.” Dick frowns and steps out of the reach of Bruce’s hand.

“Yeah, I know he is but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t bring up valid points. I just,” the man sighed, feeling far older than his 25 years. “I just need some time to think.” With that, he walked silently onto the plane and the Bats exchanged worried looks with one another. This was going to be a long, awkward flight back to Gotham.

#DC writing prompt #idk what to make of this #but here it is

[markoutmania]

NJPW G1 Climax 29 Thoughts

G1 Climax 29 Thoughts -Couldn't watch all of the G1, hard to find time, but binge watched a bunch for the podcast today. Here are some thoughts!

Day 9: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Sanada -What a match! Loved how this built up to where the big moments & nearfalls felt huge! I bought the small package & dragon suplex nearfalls as they were going to be the finish, but secretly I knew Sanada was going to pull this out. Nope, he doesn't! Totally blown away, 2 High Fly Flows seal the win for Tanahashi! Really good match! 3.75 stars!

Kazuchika Okada vs Kenta -OMG!! THIS RULED! So hard fought! SO STIFF! Kenta's kicks & palm strikes were BRUTAL in this match! That moment when Okada had enough of Kenta's shit midway.. DANG! But Kenta kept blasting Okada with hard shots. The catching air dropkick on the outside and then the one inside by Kenta, wow! But when Okada hit his own dropkick and then hit his OWN catching air dropkick... WOWZA! The final stretch of back & forth leading to the finish, I bought so many things as the finish! So good! Top notch match, definitely go out of your way to watch this! 4 stars!

ZSJ vs Evil -WOW!! This was GOOD! ZSJ SOLD! I am all into this new development of ZSJ actually selling stuff! Between his selling, the fast pace & mix of Evil's hard hitting style vs ZSJ's catch wrestling, submissions and kicks.. Heck of a match! Evil picks up quite a win here, which surprised me. I thought it was building to ZSJ getting the win. Good stuff! 3 stars!

Day 10: Jay White vs Shingo Takagi -HOLY MOLY! Are you kidding me? That was SO FRIGGIN' GOOD! Jay White has developed into a helluva heel. Watching him sneak, snake & cheat his way through a match is a lot of fun. And that smirk he puts on, letting his opponent & crowd know he's getting away with it.. Sooooo hateable! So great! Shingo had so much fire, fury & bombs though! It took everything between Gedo & White to make it past Shingo who was put over huge here despite losing the match. So good, such good language & drama! Helluva match! Definitely watch this one! 4 stars!

Jon Moxley vs Tetsuya Naito -OMG! That was SOO MUCH FUN! Naito's stalling antics at the start of the match, playing mind games and making Moxley wait well.. kinda' backfired. Moxley just EXPLODED with offense, wild start as they brawled all over the arena. This was an interesting match in that Naito came up against someone who was even more unorthodox than himself. He spit on Mox, Mox spits back. Mox bites him, he bites Mox back, Mox bites him again! They kept up a good pace, action packed back & forth match though that supercanrana spot was a bit botched and a bit scary. Moxley survived El Destino and hit two Deathriders, the last one  SPIKING NAITO RIGHT ON HIS HEAD!!! WOWZA! Moxley gets to 10 points! Really good match, super fun! 3.5 stars!

Juice Robinson vs Tomohiro Ishii -HOLY MOLY RAVIOLI! OMG! What a WAR! This was HARD HITTING! Two guys just STIFFING THE LIFE out of each other, no selling total BOMBS in displays of FIGHTING SPIRIT, and coming down to the one who could outlast the most bombs and deliver a deathknell to the other! Oh man. I JUMPED OUT OF MY CHAIR SO MANY TIMES DURING THIS!! These two guys just DESTROYED each other, SOOO MARKING OUT! Again, THIS WAS A WAR AND I MARK OUT MANIA LOVED IT! WATCH THIS WATCH THIS! 4 stars!

Day 11: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Evil -Good match! Evil went after the legs and Tanahashi did a great job selling his age and damage, making it seem like his time was gone and Evil had his number. But Tanahashi kept working through it all and not letting Evil build an insurmountable amount of damage on him until the old man chipped away at the younger stronger foe and pulled off the win. Good story, good match. 3 stars!

Will Ospreay vs ZSJ -OH MY GAWD!! That was MARK OUT MANIA FANTASTIC!! The chain wrestling, submissions, back and forth counters at lightning pace.. SOOOOO KICK ASS!! I am digging this new selling stuff ZSJ in the G1! Ospreay is of course currently amazing and this clash of Ospreay's offense vs ZSJ's catch wrestling offense was just phenomenal! I really loved this match! I recommend watching this match for sure! 4 stars!

Day 12: Hiroki Goto vs Tomohiro Ishii -OMG!! Another STIFF WAR! Goto & Ishii WRECKED each other in this battle! Just stiff shots left & right, back & forth! It really was two men just stiffing each other until one of them was left standing. No complex story or psychology, just BEAT EACH OTHER TO A PULP! Great stuff! 3.5 stars!

Shingo Takagi vs Jeff Cobb -WOWZA! What a match! Stiff lariats, AMAZING suplexes, amazing displays of power, both guys surviving bombs back and forth.. Great action packed hard fought match. There is just too much awesome in this G1 tournament! Heck of a match IMO, 3.5 stars!

Day 13: Kazuchika Okada vs Sanada -OMG HOLY MOLY RAVIOLI OMEGA SUPREME BREAKDANCING MARK OUT MANIA!!!! GREAT MATCH!! Okada so arrogant and cocky early on. Sanada seeming possibly out of his depth after having lost the New Japan Cup final to Okada and then losing his IWGP Title challenge months later and now cocky Okada dominating him in the early goings. But Sanada kept at it. He kept fighting. Sanada survived Okada's bombs and kept going to Skullend. But Okada bounced back from that, hit Rainmakers, seemed like he'd pick up the win after all, all his early arrogance justified. But no, Sanada survived again and SKULLEND!! Nearly 2-3 minutes of Skullend sapping Okada's energy & fighting spirit, building an insurmountable advantage. But then Sanada let go of the Skullend with a minute left, moonsault.. KNEES UP! Okada seemingly on the verge of pulling it off after all once again but.. TKO BY SANADA! MOONSAULT TO OKADA'S BACK! MOONSAULT TO OKADA'S FRONT! SANADA FINALLY DEFEATS OKADA WITH LESS THAN 30 SECONDS LEFT IN THE MATCH!!  HOLY FUCKING SHIT! I was JUMPING UP AND SCREAMING AT THE TV AND LOSING MY SHIT! OMG THIS RULED! I don't think it was as good as their New Japan Cup Final but it was REALLY great still! I'm in MARK OUT MANIA amigos! YOU GOTTA' WATCH THIS! 4.25 stars!

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kota Ibushi -Oh Man! That was a good match! It started off with Tanahashi kind of doing his thing going after the knee and then Ibushi hit that hurricanrana when Tana was gonna go for the High Fly Flow out of the ring and from there it was Ibushi having a counter for all of Tanahashi's signature offense! Hiroshi slaps at Ibushi, trying to old man vet put him in his place but then it turns into a STRIKE FEST, Ibushi fighting back and from there Ibushi is just picking his moments and putting Tanahashi away bomb by bomb. Ibushi's Nakamura tribute knee strike and then the close range knee strike and IBUSHI DEFEATS TANAHASHI!!! Good match! 3.5 stars!

Day 14: Tetsuya Naito vs Shingo Takagi -MIND BLOWN SUPER DUPER ELECTRIC GUITAR COMET SHATTERING MARK OUT MANIA! WOW! WOW WOW WOW!! What a match! The back & forth action, the hard shots from Shingo, the disrespect by Naito, Shingo hitting him even harder and harder as the match went on! So much action, so many advantage shifts, so dramatic in the last 7-10 minutes! It really looked like it could go either way. And SOOOO many moments I was yelling at the TV, jumping out of my seat, sure something was over and it kept going and it was AMAZING! Another star making match for Shingo out of a string of them he's put together this summer in NJPW! Naito picks up the win in just an EPIC hard fought match! INCREDIBLE! I am TOTALLY MARKING OUT!!!!! HOLY MOLY!!!! 4.25 stars!

Day 15: Kazuchika Okada vs Evil -WOW! What a hard hitting back & forth match that had me on the edge of my seat yelling at the TV in the final 7 minutes! Evil seemed to have Okada figured out in so many parts of this match, I legit thought maybe Evil was going to pull this off but no.. Okada has a level that no one else can go to! Okada finds a way to get the win after surviving some MAJOR abuse from Evil! Helluva match! 3.5 stars!

Day 16: Shingo Takagi vs Tomohiro Ishii -NO FREAKING WAY MIND BLOWN AWAY INTO SPACE AND OUT OF ORBIT AND BEYOND SUPER SONIC MARK OUT TO INFINITE AND BEYOND MANIA!!! THIS WAS ABSOLUTELY MIND BLOWING FREAKING AMAZING!!! HOLY MOLY! The Ishii formula, ie 2 guys beat the FUCK out of each other until one dies, but taken to an ABSURD MIND BLOWING NEW LEVEL!!! Ishii & Shingo TORE THE HOUSE DOWN with this match! So STIFF! So back & forth! So AMAZING! So dramatic! I'M JUST TOTALLY 100 PERCENT BLOWN AWAY RIGHT NOW!!! No words other than WATCH THIS MATCH RIGHT NOW!! DEFINITE MUST SEE! 4.5 STARS!!!

Day 17: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Will Ospreay -OMG!! This was a good match! Very action packed, kind of formulaic but it worked really well. Much like vs Ibushi, Tanahashi tries to do his regular thing but once again he faces a  younger opponent who has counters ready. But where Ibushi felt like he had finally surpassed Tanahashi and was confidently moving past one of his idols, Ospreay is in a more desperate situation here and he can't let up in the finishing stretch cos he knows that he hasn't surpassed the old man yet and so if he's gonna win it he can't allow the old man to get his stuff in cos then he'll be curtains. Ospreay gets a HUGE win over Tanahashi in a good match. Good stuff! 3.25 stars!

Kazuchika Okada vs Kota Ibushi -WOWZA HOLY MOLY! What a match! Hard hitting, back and forth, outstanding sequences and dramatic counters & nerfalls! Ibushi wasn't as confident here as he was when he surpassed Tanahashi but he did have an air about him that he was at least on equal terms vs Okada and in the end it was surviving the Rainmakers so he could hit the knees and put away Okada. It took 2 of them but he did it! Helluva match! 4 stars!

Day 18: Jon Moxley vs Juice Robinson -Fun match! I liked how Moxley kept introducing weapons & plunder into the match and everytime Juice resisted temptation and didn't use them. In the end Moxley let his wild side get carried away and it distracted him from putting Juice away and in the end he paid for it and Juice picked up the win and revenge for their US Title match earlier in the summer. Fun stuff! 3 stars!

Tetsuo Naito vs Jay White -Good match! The Switchblade was not as heelish here as he was in other matches, so it was more of a straight forward action packed match. They did have some good action, especially the 2nd half of the match. Naito seemed so confident & assured of his victory but the sequence of 20 million counters back & forth led to White getting the upper hand and wiping Naito out with a wave of offense that no one could withstand! The Switchblade wins and will meet Ibushi in the finals! Good match! 3.25 stars!

Finals: Kota Ibushi vs Jay White -EPIC HOLY MOLY WOWZA POWZA COSMIC EXPLOSION MARK OUT MANIA! GREAT MATCH! EPIC GREAT MATCH! These two had an epic G1 final! The Switchblade went after Ibushi's ankle repeatedly throughout the match, it was his in to gaining advantage repeatedly. Ibushi struggled through it and Bullet Club antics but kept dropping bombs on the Switchblade who could only survive so many times before his luck was all out. I like this new thing where Ibushi goes to a new level when you slap him. Slap Ibushi and invite your doom, apparently. Only nitpick I had about this match was Ibushi's at times spotty selling of his ankle. There had to be a way to do more things one legged instead of just dropping the selling at times to hit his moves like usual. But in the end, after epic back & forth struggle with both men surviving devastating bombs, Ibushi finally wins the G1 Climax! Great match, definitely watch this match! 4.25 stars!

Overall: WOW! There isn't anything like New Japan Pro Wrestling and the G1 in today's pro wrestling. There are lots of tournaments, lots of good ones at that, but none that will give you this many high end matches. Excellent G1! I watched 20 matches in one day, won't attempt that again hopefully!

[hazyheel]

NJPW G1 Climax 2019 Day 8 Review

We started up with Toru Yano vs. Juice Robinson. These two have met twice, both in the G1 and both with Robinson winning. Juice was very skeptical to even lock up in the early portion of this match, while Yano desperately tried for some rollups Juice wasn’t having any of his cheating ways and was mostly annoyed, but Yano nearly snuck a countout win early on, thanks to some athletic tape tying him to the barricade. Yano kept trying to hit a low blow to get the win, which only angered Robinson more and more. After Robinson caught a low blow, he nailed the left hand to god and hit pump friction for the win. Robinson: 6, Yano: 4. 

After the match, Robinson shook Yano’s hand as he lied on the ground. 

Grade: C-. Normally I really like the stupid Yano matches in the G1, but this was not really a fun one. They didn’t really blend together super well, and they didn’t go long enough to be very funny. That’s fine though, they won’t all be winners. Good for Juice to keep winning his matches. 

Then we had Taichi vs. Hirooki Goto. The record going into this match was 2:1 in favor of gotoBefore the match, Taichi made sure to beat the crap out of one of the LA Dojo guys, because Goto trained there for the G1. These two had a rivalry over the NEVER Openweight championship late last year, and that rivalry was renewed in this match. And naturally, anyone who has had problems with Taichi absolutely hate him, so Goto was vicious here. They quickly fought on the outside, Taichi continued to hit Karl Fredericks and even threw him into Goto to get the advantage. He brought the anger right out of Goto, who absolutely destroyed his chest with overhand chops. The two then exchanged a series of strikes and kicks, which Taichi actually came out on top of. We actually saw shades of big match Taichi in this match, as he busted out some huge kicks and often refused to let Goto put him down, but that didn’t stop him from cheating. At one point, Taichi pushed the ref into Goto to stun him, and then nailed a saito suplex for a near fall. Taichi then grabbed the mic stand, but Goto grabbed it and threw it out of the ring. Goto then nailed his mid kick, and went for the GTR, but Taichi grabbed the ref. They struggled a bit, and eventually the ref went down. Taichi then caught a kick to the gut and nailed a low blow, followed by a Gedo clutch for the win. Taichi: 4, Goto: 2. 

Grade: C. This match started off pretty week, but got better towards the end. They didn’t seem to have the fire or the chemistry that they had last year, but when Taichi started some shenanigans, I got into it a bit more. Goto’s run in the G1 this year makes sense. He hasn’t been doing all that much, but he beat a big rival already, and now he is just doing the job for a lot of his compatriots. Taichi was the correct winner here. He is having an entertaining run for sure, one that I am happy to watch. But this match was not the best. 

Then we had Jon Moxley vs. Shingo Takagi. Exciting stuff, and they were in the same stable in Dragon Gate USA a while back, so that is interesting. The two squared right up the second they were both in the ring together. And they started the brawl before the bell even started. Moxley quickly resorted to his now signature bit to the eyebrow. The two blasted each other with strikes and chops in the corner, before trying for a quick test of strength that Moxley came out on top of. Moxley then overextended a bit, going for a suicide dive, but Takagi caught it and hit a death valley driver on the outside. After Moxley gained the advantage again, he set up a table on the outside, but it wasn’t used right away. Instead, Moxley started to target the leg a little bit to weaken the base. Any time that Shingo started to get some momentum, Moxley went right to the leg and knee. It absolutely crippled Shingo’s offense. He was able to get flashes of offense, such as a nice german suplex, but it would be immediately countered, such as when Moxley responded with one of his own. At one point, Moxley tried for an Irish whip, but Takagi just collapsed as he ran. Moxley tried to follow that up with a regal knee, but Takagi caught him with a noshigami. He followed that up with a pair of pumping bombers, the adrenaline pushing the pain to the back of his mind. However, when he got Moxley up on his shoulders, Takagi couldn’t finish the move. That allowed Moxley to hit a short death rider for a near fall. The two then spilled to the outside, and Moxley started to use weapons to attack the knee. He dropped him knee first on the table, and then wrapped his knee in a chair and smashed it. He was nearly counted out, but when he got into the ring, Moxley blasted him with a regal knee. He tried for another short knee to the ribs, but Takagi grabbed it, and was able to twist him around for a short Made in Japan for a near fall. The two then battled in the middle of the ring, countering several attempts at finishers, before Moxley forced Takagi to the mat with shots to the knee, and then hitting a pair of regal knees to the back of the head, but still a near fall. Moxley then wrapped Takagi up in a cloverleaf for the submission victory. Moxley: 8, Takagi: 4. 

Grade: A-. Really good stuff between these two. Moxley is phenomenal with other brawlers, but it also showed an interesting side of him that has technical prowess. He worked the leg in an interesting and exciting way, which seemed like it was only to weaken the offense, but he got a submission win. It was such a great finish, because Moxley never gets submission wins. It came out of left field but it made a lot of sense. Takagi suffered his first submission loss, but it was to the strongest competitor in B block right now. Takagi is having a rough tournament, but moving up a weight class isn’t easy. Match of the night. 

Next up was Jay White vs. Jeff Cobb. Neither have had a particularly impressive tournament so far, sitting at 0 and 2 points respectively. Gedo was of course out to corner his protege. White started the match by retreating out of the ring, but unlike opponents before him, Cobb opted to stay inside of the ring. Cobb totally manhandled White, throwing him all over the place, and only pursuing him to the outside when White was on the backfoot. Gedo still tried to interfere, so Cobb threw him into the ring and was about to beat on him when White came soaring in with a knee to the back. White opted to target the neck of Cobb, which is an interesting part to isolate due to his massive neck muscles. Of course, White tried to intimidate Red Shoes when he went for a pin after an illegal move, which made me sad. He is just doing his job. The damage to the neck actually made Cobb slow down quite a bit. His power moves took that much more energy, so he couldn’t go as fast as he usually does. However that did not lessen the impact of his suplexes and throws. He still ragdolled White around like anyone else I’ve seen him handle. White too showcased his strength, giving Cobb both a saito suplex and an uranagi. At one point, Cobb was trying to give White a suplex out of the corner, but White was holding the ropes. So, Cobb popped him up into a cradle position and just chucked him halfway across the ring. He then tried to give Cobb a superplex, but Gedo held White’s leg. White thought he had escaped to the apron, but Cobb then gave him a deadlift superplex. He went for the pin, White kicked out with probably the weakest kickout that I’ve ever seen. He just barely lifted his shoulder off the mat. Cobb and White then battled as Cobb went for tour of the islands, which ended when White was accidentally sent into the ref. Was the ref down, Gedo tried to blast Cobb with the brass knuckles, but ate a slam for his troubles. However, the distraction landed white a low blow, which he converted into a sleeper suplex. White then went for a blade runner, but Cobb countered that into a German Suplex. Cobb went for Tour of the Islands again, only for White to slip out once again and land Bladerunner for the win. White: 2, Cobb: 2. 

Grade: C+. Very slow match. It was cool to watch all the power moves from Cobb and seeing how strong White is, but other than that it was just too slow for my liking. I thought the closing stretch was pretty nice, always love to see Gedo taking bumps. White’s losing streak is over, and I’m sure that will transfer right into a winning streak. As for Cobb, I don’t know. I don’t see him passing six points. But this match was fine, nothing worth going out of your way to see. 

And in the main event, we had Tetsuya Naito vs. Tomohiro Ishii. Intercontinental Champion vs. NEVER Openweight Champion. These two are longtime rivals, and unfortunately, I can’t look up their record against each other because of spoilers. Drawbacks of falling behind in the G1. Of course, Naito took his sweet time removing his ring attire, but Ishii was cool as a cucumber. They started with a striking contest, going until one of them was worn out and then continuing as soon was they could. Naito was naturally fighting dirty during the match, stomping on Ishii as he was grounded and spitting in his face when the mood struck him. Naito targetted the neck in order to nullify some of his power moves. The attacks on the neck, however, did not affect his striking, where Ishii had an advantage. Both men took loads of punishment whenever they started to hit each other. The forearms were stiff, the chops were blistering and they moved very quickly.  Naito was taking advantage of his speed and agility edge in the match, using some high flying offense like in his junior heavyweight days. After escaping out of a powerbomb situation, Naito started to disrespect Ishii by slapping him lazily and spitting on him. In response, Ishii trapped him in the corner and destroyed him with chops and strikes. Even when he was about to collapse, Ishii would pick him back up and keep going. He followed it up with a saito suplex for a near fall. He tried for the powerbomb again, but Naito countered with a spike hurricanrana. Naito then tried for a flying forearm, but Ishii countered this time with a straight jacket suplex. Ishii then tried for a superplex, but Naito slipped out and hit a hangman’s neckbreaker off the top, and followed it up with a hurricanrana from the top rope for a near fall. Naito continued to target the neck with his offense, and Ishii was starting to slow down. The injuries were piling up. Naito went for Destino, but Ishii caught him. He tried to go for a lariat, but Naito countered with a high angle german suplex. Ishii popped right back up, but Naito nailed a poison rana. Ishii’s strikes became absolutely desperate, which is normally a bad thing, but with Ishii’s strength, he was still able to floor Naito. He converted those huge hits into a superplex for a near fall. That allowed Ishii to get his second wind, and he just annihilated Naito with various headbutts, strikes and lariats. The two exchanged blows back and forth, when Naito hit a short Destino out of nowhere, but Ishii kicked out! Naito tried for the full hit, but Ishii caught him. The two battled for control, each trying to hit their finisher, ending with Naito hitting a DDT, and Ishii popping right up and hitting the sliding lariat for a near fall. Naito then nailed a brainbuster of his own, but still Ishii kicked out. Neither man was willing to lose here. Naito then hit Destino one final time for the win. Naito: 4, Ishii: 4. 

Grade: A-. Another great match out of these two. Ishii was actually fighting from behind a lot in this match, and I think the only reason why he was actually able to stand up to Naito in this match was his raw strength and endurance. He was at a disadvantage from the start, because Naito picked the best body part that he could have to work over. It nullified a lot of his offense, and given how much he uses various suplexes, Ishii injured himself over time as well. Naito played this one smart. In the end, Destino did it. He broke the neck down and got the win. Good stuff from Naito, glad to see that he is coming into his own now. Ishii is still the MVP of the G1 in my opinion, delivering his fourth great match in as many matches. Definitely the best in the block. Great stuff from both guys, two of the best in the entire tournament. 

Overall Grade: B-

Pros: Moxley vs. Takagi; Naito vs. Ishii

Cons: Robinson vs. Yano; Cobb vs. White

#hazyheel #njpw #new japan #new japan pro wrestling #g1 climax #g1 climax 29 #g1 climax 2019 #njpw g1 climax 2019 day 8 review #pro wrestling #njpw review #new japan review #new japan pro wrestling review #g1 climax review #g1 climax 29 review #g1 climax 2019 review #pro wrestling review #jon moxley #shingo takagi #jeff cobb #jay white #tetsuya naito #tomohiro ishii

[mrmichaelchadler]

S. Craig Zahler on Dragged Across Concrete, Casting Mel Gibson, His Writing Process and More

In “Dragged Across Concrete,” the new film from S. Craig Zahler, police detectives Brett Ridgeman (Mel Gibson) and Anthony Lurasetti (Vince Vaughn) cuff a suspect and apply a bit of excessive force in the apprehension; subsequently they’re both suspended from work sans pay. Brett’s wife is stricken by MS. Anthony wants to buy a ring to propose to his girlfriend. Their dual financial needs motivating them in their “violently earned” leisure time, as one character puts it later on, Brett and Anthony pick a criminal they know happens to be loaded and relieve him of his cash. At the same time, Henry (Tory Kittles), an ex-con fresh out of prison, short on funds but rich in woes, reluctantly takes a gig with the same criminal the cops want to rip off. 

It’s a Zahler movie, so everything ends in tears and no small amount of blood is spilled. “Dragged Across Concrete” is in many ways his most ambitious film to date, epic in the way great classic crime fiction can be while also zoomed in on threads that at a distance might read as trivial. Each minute of its 158-minute running time is as engrossing and absorptive as the last, which is the effect of writing characters who speak like they’re in a David Milch production. But “Dragged Across Concrete” runs on human desperation, the common element binding together racist cops and marginalized people simply trying to make life better for themselves. Motivations do vary across characters, but the fuel driving them is universal. 

In a conversation with RogerEbert.com, Zahler talked about that drive as a result of his specific writing process rather than the product of top-down aesthetics, as well as the consequences casting an actor with Gibson’s notoriety can have on a movie’s story and visibility. 

I feel like in a lot of ways, this movie reflects Gibson as a person, and really I’m wondering if that’s why you wanted him to be in the movie in the first place? Did this have to be Mel’s role, for you?

No. The way this came about was, I finished the script maybe two weeks before I met Vince [Vaughn] when he came on board “Brawl in Cell Block 99.” So, when I'd initially written it, it was for a 30-year-old and a 50-year-old, and actually Anthony Lurasetti was supposed to be notably short. And that was my original conception of it. I had a great working experience with Vince Vaughn on “Brawl in Cell Block 99”; I was blown away by his range, I enjoyed working with him—he’s a funny guy on the set and in real life, which is a surprise to nobody—and when we got towards the end of that piece I started thinking about him for Anthony Lurasetti, reimagined as a bigger, slightly more menacing guy than I had originally seen it. But I knew that he could pull it off. And actually coincidentally his middle name is Anthony, as a good deal of his heritage is Italian. 

So I offered him the role, and then when I started thinking about who is going to seem to be a match for him on screen, and who also will seem like a senior person who is further down the road in the career, Mel Gibson was one of the first people I thought of, and Vince already had a relationship with him. So it was really from the root of working with Vince, having that relationship with him, putting him in the role of Anthony, and then thinking who would fit as a senior guy, and a more grizzled guy, and have a comparable amount of charisma up on the screen. 

So no, when I wrote this, neither of these people were people I had in mind, though in general, and specifically in this case, I don't have actors in mind when I'm writing roles.

I try and avoid that. Occasionally Fred Melamed sneaks in there; he's been in all three of my movies, and even before I knew who he was, I was writing characters that were similar to him. That's how it went about, and Vince obviously had the pre-existing relationship with Mel from “Hacksaw Ridge,” and facilitated that submission. Mel read it and said a lot of complimentary things; I spoke to him, and he was on board, and that was how it came about.

Circling in my mind is his public notoriety, notably during ... the first 20 minutes of the film where they're pining for the good old days. That's fascinating because you have such a complicated figure with Mel in the movie. Was it easy for you to work with that, to have him folded into the movie, because it’s about such complicated figures on its own?

We shot the script as I wrote it. I didn't change anything other than the age of the characters when I cast it. That again is the pre-existing script, and obviously there's the stuff that you're mentioning where it kind of overlaps some stuff that people might be bringing into the theater, which is, you know, a consequence of that casting choice. But I wasn’t going to change the material or change the characters that I wrote because of the stuff going on in their personal lives, just like I'm not really interested in discussing their personal lives. I just don't know that much about it, I mean.

Sure. 

He was good to work with, and he came on board and delivered what I wrote and brought up a lot to the role. To quote him, he's a good soldier, and he came in and did his work. My directing style is obviously extremely different from his, and he was always comfortable with letting me do what I wanted to do, showing up as a performer, and delivering the goods.

So those complications are really immaterial; what you're looking for is somebody who can take your creation and make it work on screen?

Yeah, exactly. I put him in the role because I thought he would be fantastic for the part— and he is fantastic!

You used the word “consequence” a few moments ago. Is there a point where you consider that there may be consequences for the movie from him being in it? This is something that’s spoken to in the movie, but it’s kind of the time that we live in right now.

I want to make the best movie possible, and I put him in the role because he's fantastic. I mean, there are a couple of consequences of putting him in the movie; one is you and I are having this conversation, and the major part of your interview time is going to be spent discussing it. And there are also people who won't see the movie because of that casting choice. But I have a target with what I do, and the target is the best version of the movie possible. Once I put Vince with someone with that stature and that charisma and that presence in that role, and I needed a senior guy who could hold his own and seem legitimately his superior in some ways, his equal in others, of the same breed but further down the line and more embittered, he was the choice for me. 

So I make a lot of choices that aren't going to make the movie the most popular for everybody, but everything that I do will appeal to only a certain amount of people. Appealing to the largest group, or going after the biggest demographic, has never been a concern of mine. It's just not what I do. I would not write “Bone Tomahawk,” and “Brawl in Cell Block 99,” and “Dragged Across Concrete,” nor the violent Western novels I've written, or any of this stuff if I was chasing a big audience. I'm chasing self-satisfaction, and I hope that enough people enjoy it that it’s successful enough that I get to make the next one.

I actually think the casting plays very well with what the movie is trying to accomplish, and I'm curious about the movie's layers of racism and how people—white characters, black characters—interact with each other throughout. Is this something that came to you after taking the temperature of the moment that we're living in? It feels like a very of-the- moment movie. 

You're not the only person who’s said it’s very of the moment. I conceived of it in 2015; we had a very different president, and it was a very different moment. This comes from my interest in building a larger world and showing different people with different plights from different backgrounds and how they converge: Kelly Summer, Jennifer Carpenter's character, and Melanie Ridgeman, Laurie Holden's character, Tori Kittel, Mel Gibson, Vince Vaughn, these are all different people with different histories. A lot of what I'm interested in doing in my novels and music and movies is world building. If you're painting with a lot of a lot of different colors, and using a lot of different strokes, and going on a wider canvas, the world will be richer. Not every piece calls for that; my first [movie], “Bone Tomahawk,” was an ensemble piece, and I feel you got a lot more different viewpoints than that. And then the second one wasn't. “Brawl in Cell Block 99” is really driven by a guy, and there are the people around him, so it's a little bit more singular that way. The world-building in that is more specific to the environments, particularly the prisons. 

In this one, showing all these different facets of society in the fictional town of Bulwark, gives you a larger world that is unique to the movie and something to take away in addition to the story and what happened to the characters. There's an environment, and there's a sense of place, which is also something that gets lost if a movie just gets whittled down to 2 hours or 90 minutes. That sense of place and space, and the feeling like you're in the environment and inhabiting the environment. So that's that's a lot of my interest in exploring a lot of that stuff. 

But certainly in terms of your comment of it being of the moment, if you're writing from the viewpoint of all the characters which I do—I mean, if I'm writing a scene with Henry Johns [Tory Kittles] and Biscuit [Michael Jai White], I'm thinking about where they're coming from, why they're doing what they're doing, and the same with Anthony and Ridgeman. So if you're writing from their viewpoints for their sequences, and then you bring them all together, ideally you have a complicated conflict and you have a rich world. 

What really struck me is that you've woven all these different stories from different perspectives together, and the thing that binds them all as far as I see it is need; everybody here has the same pressing driving need. And then ultimately the film becomes about whose need is greater, who deserves it more. Was that the intention you had when you when you began writing, to create a space for that need to foment?

I don't come at a piece with any larger thematic ideas, any agenda, any thesis statement that I want everything in support of. I write from the characters’ points of view and inhabit them. What you're talking about in terms of the need and that being there very much comes from that I want all of these characters and their goals to be clear. I don't get the question from actors almost ever, or maybe ever—I can't recall an instance on any of these movies where they asked me what their motivation is. They know why they're doing what they're doing, and the audience knows why they're doing what they're doing. So I come from a place where I want to get that in the movie, so there are limits on the time. For me it's shorthand—considering the length of this movie for a lot of people it isn't shorthand—but I just want them driven, and to have purpose and goals that are identifiable. 

Certainly there are going to be people who see the movie and like some of the characters, who dislike some of the characters, who dislike most of the characters or all of them, or the other way around. So you understand why they're doing what they're doing, and then in terms of what you bring in terms of your own outlook, you can land in the camp of wanting group A to win, or group B to win, or want group A and B both to win or wanting everyone to lose. 

All of that comes from writing from the perspective of the characters and thinking about what those characters desire rather than there's a larger thematic point that I'm trying to underline, which a lot of times for me makes movies didactic if not pedantic and sort of makes the character subservient to the plot rather than the other way around, which is the way that I like to write.

from All Content https://ift.tt/2HN0ZRV