I remember seeing Apollo Crews for the first time and thinking “this guy is a mid-carder at best” and since I made that prediction, the WWE hasn’t done anything to elevate or make Crews even remotely relevant. Crew’s more notable feud on the main roster was teaming with Kalisto and the going against Dolph Ziggler in a handicapped match. Nothing else comes to mind when I think of Crews. Then came his gimmick change where he became African and teamed with Commander Azeez, which was one of the worst character changes to both men’s careers.
Now Crews is on NXT. He is putting together a string of good matches. His last feud with Carmelo Hayes was good, but it didn’t elevate Crews at all. After the match was over, Azeez attacked Crews to start a new feud, which will end……..I don’t care. Both men aren’t doing anything of value now. This feud won’t propel them to title shots or faces of the company. They are B or C- wrestlers, not by their own ability, but by the creative decisions around their characters. Maybe a fresh start in a new company might be the best thing. Zack Ryder took full advantage of his WWE release to become Matt Cardona and now looks ready for the big stage.
What do you think about Apollo Crews and how would you book him going forwards?
I said many times that I have a Love/Hate relationship with Brock Lesnar. I’ve seen many fantastic matches where he fought Kurt Angle, Eddie Guerrero, John Cena, Triple H and others, but there have been a lot of terrible matches with Lesnar as well. the bad matchres consist of German Suplexes followed by an F5 and sprints to the finish of the match. A lot of high spots that get a quick reaction, but nothing long lasting.
This match was a bad Lesnar match in reverse. Slow, painfully slow. To the point where I questioned if Sami Zayn is even a good wrestler anymore. Zayn’s last couple of years in the WWE have been more theatrical than focusing on in ring ability. Yes, he was great in NXT, but I would say the most impressive thing he did on the main roster was his feud with Braun Strowman in 2016, which was 7 years ago. Since then, he has been bottom tier on the roster, lackluster feuds and essentially struggling to hold any type of spotlight. This could very well be the first time watching a wrestler be elevated to potential WrestleMania Championship match based on emotional storytelling and not in ring ability.
All this match did was show that Roman Reigns can command an arena doing very little wrestling. Roman yelled at the crowd, yelled at Zayn’s wife, mouthed off to Zayn’s father, yelled at the crowd again. Every now and then Zayn caught Reigns monologuing and took advantage, but not for long. It felt like watching a retirment match where Zayn’s career was on the line and we saw glimpses of great moments from his past.
Of course the referee went down, bringing in Jimmy Uso to Superkick Zayn until the ref woke up. The Jey Uso hesitation with the chair was interesting, but makes me wonder if this is leading to Jey and Zayn winning the tag titles, which wouldn’t surprise me, but would be an immense letdown of storytelling. Zayn winning the title from Reigns is the only outcome that makes sense. Anything else is a massive letdown.
So what did this match accomplish? That Zayn isn’t at the level that Reigns is? That the fans will chant for you more if your parents had unprotected sex in that city? This feud is over to me. Obviously, we have WrestleMania and an unfinished Jey Uso moment of truth, but this is now Cody Rhode’s time.
Did they bring back Rhodes to win the Royal Rumble and not be the focal point. That we are getting a Triple Threat Match for the titles that again reiterates the fact that Zayn can’t win the big one? So now, they’re sacrificing Rhode’s potential WrestleMania moment for Zayn, when his moment should’ve been in Canada. What a waste.
On par with the rest of the writing of Phase 4 of the MCU, Wakanda Forever wanted to put a callback to a previous, better written, movie and just change it up hoping nobody would notice the absolute ridiculousness of it. The scene I’m talking about is Shuri sparing Namor in the final battle. The setup was similar situation to Civil War, where her brother T’Challa spared Zemo in the end and essentially made peace with him, to an extent.
Now let’s take a look at why T’Challa’s act of mercy made more sense. In Civil War, Zemo came up with the plan to take the Avengers apart because he was upset that they caused the death of his family in Age of Ultron. He planted a bomb during a massive political meeting and framed Bucky for the blast. In the collateral damage, King T’Chaka was killed.
Afterwards, T’Challa sought revenge on Zemo and even paired up with Iron Man and others to ensure that. T’Challa finally got Zemo alone and you can clearly see he’s moments away from killing this man, the only reason he didn’t was because he let Zemo monologue. The movie does a fantastic job of showing T’Challa’s face as Zemo explained how his family died. You can see the man seething for the beginning of it and then he looks down, almost ashamed that he wanted revenge on a man who has lost everything. I consider this scene the greatest acting performance of the late Chadwick Bosman’s career and he was even blurred out for most of it and the rest he stood there silent.
This wasn’t a personal attack on Wakanda, on T’Challa or King T’Chaka. As bluntly put, it was simply collateral damage and Zemo even apologizes to T’Challa for his actions before trying to kill himself. T’Challa didn’t kill Zemo for that simple fact. And it wasn’t worth it. He didn’t kill Zemo, but he didn’t let him escape either, why? Because it was the right thing to do.
Now take Wakanda Forever. When Namor killed Queen Ramonda, it wasn’t by accident. He MEANT to kill her. He stabbed the glass with his spear with her on the other end. It didn’t break and you can see the frustration on his face. Then he throws some water grenades at her and she drowns.
Shuri then wants to get revenger on Namor. She defeats him, puts a spear to his neck and then she steals T’Challa’s line about vengeance has consumed you line and she doesn’t kill him. Shuri spares his life and even offers peace between the two nations in the hopes to working towards a better future.
T’Challa spared Zemo because his father’s death was a product of collateral damage and grief.
Shuri spared Namor after he waged war against the surface world and Wakanda, tried to drown it and tried to kill her mother twice and succeeding.
It is hilarious to think that these two scenes are seen as similar by fans. Shuri sparing Namor wasn’t an act of mercy, but one of stupidity alone. Namor is one of the most powerful beings we’ve seen in the Marvel world, a man whose strength and abilities can even rival those of Ronan, Hela and even Thanos. Namor even tried to kill Shuri by stabbing her through the stomach with his spear. The only reason he walked away was because he thought she was dead and not of mercy. This man does not deserve mercy in the slightest.
Zemo was sitting on a rock when T’Challa approached him, moments away from killing himself. He didn’t attack T’Challa, he didn’t try to escape, he was just sitting there ready to end it all. And it was after T’Challa heard Zemo’s backstory and his apology, that T’Challa deemed it the right thing to do to spare him so he can face justice for his actions.
The writing in Marvel has taken a massive step back and the writers are so desperate to make something good that they are taking previous scenes and butchering them. Some people say its “fan service”, but I see it as laziness. and you could’ve achieved the same result by having Namor “accidentally” be the cause of Queen Ramonda death. Maybe he attacked a plane that crashed into the tower killer her. Maybe he was holding a water grenade and it came loose and into the tower, and still drowning her. Whatever the way, accidentally killing a Queen is a better arch for redemption than trying to flat out kill her.
Marvel, why are you terrible at everything now? Spider-Man 3 did revenge and redemption so much better and that movie came out God knows how long ago. Recycling similar story arches is just lazy and you can’t even do it right anymore.
Everything that Marvel did right died when Tony Stark snapped his fingers. No Way Home was the brightest part of Phase 4, even though it was essentially Member Berries the Movie. Not saying that Marvel can’t find success recycling previous story arches and reinventing old characters, but if you’re not going to bother to put in the work and remember why these characters were great to begin with, then what’s the point.
Wakanda Forever is thankfully the final product of the disastrous Phase 4 of the MCU. I only hope since most upcoming Marvel products are being massively delayed, that the studio has heard our complaints and is trying to reinvent themselves, plan their stories out and do right by the fans who have watched these movies for over a decade.
I feel like its a fiar question. How does a group of survivors make a dent against a fully automated killing force that doesnt get tired and knows no mery?
Inside might be one of the coolest videogames I played in a long time, but I really wished that the game would’ve told me what was going on vs reviewers online
Hook might be one of the best written characters in AEW. They are smartly pacing his build, picking the perfect opponents and setting up meaningful feuds. But aligning Hook with Danhausen might be a detriment to his character.
The title picture in AEW is very crowded, but I can see Hook making that jump next year. Right now, the goal is building him more. Fighting against Tony Nese is a fantastic move in the right direction. Nese is highly athletic and is skilled enough to put on a show against anyone in AEW. I would make this a main event match for Rampage and give them a 20-minute match of pure wrestling and hard hitting. Hook needs to win the match, but only by a hair. Not his usual endings, where he puts his opponent in Red Rum and walks away after a tap out. I want to see Hook get the submission and then lay there in the middle of the ring, exhausted and beaten.
Now, to HookHausen….no…..just no. I don’t like Danhausen at all. When I said that online, I was sent a bunch of matches of Danhausen’s top matches and I wasn’t impressed at all. Danhausen isn’t good for AEW. The company is going in a more serious direction with its signings.
I will admit, I find some of Danhausen’s antics humorous. I was at Revolution and jumped and pointed to Danhausen appearing from under the ring and then cursed Ricky Starks, However, antics doesn’t translate over to money. Maybe merchandising, but try booking Danhausen as a main event fighter and see how that does.
So, pairing the men together isn’t going to be good for anyone. It might seem “fun” on paper, but overall, we aren’t going to see the duo going against FTR, the Young Bucks reDRagon, The Gunn Club, the House of Black and the Lucha Brothers.
Even having Danhausen manage Hook in some way is bad for business as well. Team Taz is a fantastic team and due to bad booking they could’ve been even better. Hook is an essential piece of that team and Team Taz having Danhausen walk to the ring with Hook doesn’t make the faction look as strong.
What do you think of the pairing of Hook and Danhausen and what teams do you picture them fighting?
Grayson Waller is who NXT should be building up as champion. I think Nathan Frazer is a good opponent, but shouldn’t be the focal point of the future of the 2.0 division. Waller is getting lost in the shuffle compared to his War Games teammates. I would’ve argued that Waller shoudlve been moved the main roster before WrestleMania in a match against AJ Styles, leading to a partnership between the 2 men.
Winner: Grayson Waller
The Creed Brothers vs. The Viking Raiders
The Creed Brothers have been sensational recently. I disagree how they won the titles, but if I had to put the belts on someone it would be them. The team is a more athletic Authors of Pain and even though they are very similar, you can see uniqueness in their moves. The Viking Raiders were a fantastic team on the main roster, I just don’t think they had the right opponents to create instant classics.
Winner: Creed Brothers
Natalya and Lash Legends vs. Cora Jade and Nikita Lyons
Nikita Lyons is the future of the Woman’s Division. This match will be focused on her mostly and the other women just adding her dramatic win.
Winner: Nikita Lyons and some other girl
Cameron Grimes vs. Solo Sikoa vs. Carmelo Hayes for the NXT North American Championship
Is the Bloodline going to interfere in this match? Is this all part of Roman Reign’s proficy to get all the gold in the WWE? I think it’s the perfect time for it. the Bloodline and Reign’s title run can only last so long. Sikoa needs to get himself in that group as soon as possible to make sure he gets proper screentime.
If this doesn’t happen then Carmelo Hayes is my favorite to win. The future ids bright for Hayes and I don’t believe in Cameron Grimes. I feel like he is a filler champion and that NXT really doesn’t know how to write him.
Winner: Solo Sikoa
Bron Breakker vs. Joe Gacy for the NXT Championship
Love Joe Gacy, but now isn’t the time to hold this belt. I think they’ve been playing title hot potato too much between Bron Breakker and Dolph Ziggler with all their matches. Fight for the title on a PPV and then it changes on RAW? Kinda weird to me.
The only way I see Gacy winning this match, is if we unveil a new teammate for him. Harland has been released, and Gacy needs a big on his team. I see Gacy as the new Bray Wyatt and needs to start recruiting the future faction of NXT.
With Johnny Depp cutting ties with Disney forever, I highly doubt we’ll see him in a Marvel movie. DC should take advantage of this by immediately firing Amber Heard (yes, I made the case to keep her in a previous video, but that was before the trial) and cast Depp in a role. My first choice for Depp would be Green Arrow, mainly because of his facial hair, but I think the perfect role would be Jason Blood.
Blood, and his counterpart Etrigan, aren’t the first character’s fans name when ranking their favorite superheroes, but Blood and Etrigan are a very interesting duo. I think DC, and Marvel alike, shouldn’t be focused on the bread-and-butter characters, but trying to make others in their universe work on the big screen.
Maybe a great time to introduce Blood into the DCEU would be during the rumored Zatanna movie. DC is starting to explore the supernatural with Doctor Fate and Constantine, so having Blood have some kind of a cameo in the movie makes sense. I would be ok with total tease of Etrigan, where we see the aftermath of a fight, a bunch of guards are torn to pieces and we see a slight glimmer of Etrigan as he is engulfed into flames and Blood emerges.
What do you think about Johnny Depp joining DC and who would you like to see him play?
Better Call Saul might be one of the best shows of the decade. Sadly, the show is in its advertised final season, and I think they are rushing things. With 7 episodes left, there is a lot to get through. At this point, Jimmy hasn’t even gotten his “Cathedral of Justice,” and Jimmy didn’t meet Walter or Jesse yet.
I imagine the series will end with Kim dying tragically and Saul being put in some kind of witness protection or on the run somehow. At the start of some of the seasons, we see Jimmy working in a mall, trying to lay low. I remember a line from Breaking Bad where Mike alludes to something bad that happened to Jimmy, but we never got an answer.
So now we are in the middle of a war between Gus and Salamanca, which I imagine that’s how Kim would be killed. We never really got a time frame on how long Jimmy had his practice in Breaking Bad, but it must’ve been long enough to go through a few seasons of Breaking Bad.
With only a few episodes left we have to finish the war, Kim’s death, Jimmy’s law firm, the arrest of Jimmy, AND the time jump into the future with some kind of ending there. That’s a lot to show in such a small amount of time.
Better Call Saul is one of the best-written shows in a while, but the writers have a massive undertaking to finish this show as strong as how it started. What do you guys think of Better Call Saul, and how do you predict it’ll end?
World War Joe 