Macho Madness Review: Ooooooh Yeah!

Reliving Randy Savage’s WWF/WCW career was quite a trip down memory lane, but there were definitely potholes in this road. It had some key matches of his along the way, but I definitely felt something lacking, sans other superstar interviews.

We start from Savage’s WWF debut, which was a little disappointing, he had plenty of action in AWA and other territories that they could have covered. One thing that really drives me crazy is how the WWE continues to mess with the soundtrack of the original footage. Often they play a badly looped audience track over the original music, and then the replacement music on top of that. It becomes painfully obvious that they’re tampering with the music when you can no longer hear the announcers or interviews over the garbled mess of noise that was produced just for this DVD, lucky us. For some reason, they dub over Ric Flair’s 1992 entrance theme with his current theme, only later to freely play his actual theme from that era in a different match. Why WWE?

Also, a little more back story would have helped in between matches. Matt Striker and Maria set some of the story up for us, but who is going to remember them in 4 years? I was shocked that they edited out Jake Roberts slapping Elizabeth (Savage’s then wife) at their Tuesday in Texas match. Seriously that was a huge selling point of the feud, scrapping it on the DVD is just awful. Savage’s interview pouring emotion out after that match was the cherry on top, which is also absent from this set. Where is the rematch with the Warrior, also?

There were plenty of extras on the DVDs, interviews, his wedding to Elizabeth, although they were distributed a bit oddly. The chronology of the extras didn’t match that of the features. For example, Macho’s wedding took place in 1991, which is found on the first DVD, which covers 1985 – 1988. At least they had it there. His proposal to Elizabeth was pretty much a footnote during Maria and Striker’s chatting.

I was pretty excited about this DVD and feel a little disappointed, but it is nice to have some of these matches on DVD. It was very nice that they didn’t bury him like they did the Warrior. Randy Savage and the WWE are not known to be on good terms and the WWE has a record of really ripping to shreds big name wrestlers who have fallen out of their good graces. If you’re a big Macho Man fan, this DVD is still a must have. I’m not sure if it would make an addition to every wrestling fan’s library, however. For me, hearing “Pomp and Circumstance” and watching this maniac come out in some of the most fashionable robes I’ve ever seen, with a lovely lady by his side, exclaiming “Oooh yeah” and eventually dropping the big elbow on his opponent brought a smile to my face. There is no one in wrestling right now like the Macho Man, I’m not sure there ever will be.

Rating:

My Late WWE Legends of Wrestlemania Review

WWE Legends of Wrestlemania has been something I have been waiting to play for quite a while. I don’t mean when it was announced, I mean back when Acclaim gave us “Legends of Wrestling.” Although there were some good things about Legends of Wrestling, it came up short. One of its big vices was that it contained wrestlers who were indeed legends, but a good deal of them were WWF legends and Acclaim did not have the WWF licensing to recreate all of the elements in quite the harmonious fashion I was hoping for. I wondered if the WWF were to release an all legends game, how it would fair. I felt like this may actually be that game. Again, we came up short.

The game features a nice roster, although conspicuous by their absence, some of the legends that you would expect to be in this game. Namely, Macho Man Randy Savage and Demolition were missing from the roster. The character models looked great for the most part, except Hulk Hogan and Andre were blown up a bit. The animations were very nice and the presentation really brought back memories. Unfortunately, THQ in their lacking wisdom, decided to rig the controls so that any nostalgic fan could pick up a controller and play. While this is great for the casual fan (who will most likely not buy the game), it was an excellent way to drive away fans who would feel much more at home having the same engine that Smackdown! Vs. Raw uses.

Your range of motion is very limited and after years of playing games like No Mercy, Fire Pro, and Smackdown! Vs. Raw, you feel like you’re being cheated out of gameplay elements. Due to the lacking range of motion, the action grows repetitive. I was also unhappy with some of the theme music. Apparently the WWE felt it necessary to change some of the wrestler’s signature themes to music that just did not belong. Luckily I have all of this music on my computer and ported it into the game and did some handy work to change the music appropriately.

The gameplay modes are mixed. The tagline of the game was “Relive, Rewrite, Redefine.” Relive is a mode where you, as it sounds, relive a Wrestlemania bout. What’s nice about these matches is that you have objectives to recreate from the match’s real life counterpart. Executing certain moves begins a string of actions which actually took place. Slamming Andre prompts a quick follow up leg-drop and a victory. Steve Austin picks up a bottle of water at ringside to spit it into the Rock’s face. Rewrite has you change the outcome of a match, basically the original loser goes over. Not exactly the most fun mode, but I guess if you were unhappy with an outcome, now is your opportunity to change it. Redefine is pretty fun, Wrestlemania (the first) hosted an Andre Vs. John Studd match, now we see that match take place in a Hell in a Cell match. Although this mode is interesting, I would have rather left the Rewrite and Redefine modes to my own exhibitions and had 3 times as many Relive matches.

For your Create A Legend, you have a set of gauntlets to run. The wrestlers you fight against are divided up in somewhat arbitrary groups of 10. After finishing a few of these you gain attribute points along the way. Eventually you end up at the gauntlet of the entire roster, all 38 legends. Finally, after porting the SvR roster into the game, you have one last gauntlet of 10 current WWE wrestlers to burn through. After this, there is really nothing left to do but replay the game. Because of the repetitive gameplay, however, you don’t really care to do this any longer. Plus, if you had any interest in playing this game before, the 38-man gauntlet has taken it out of you. It felt like they threw that mode in to artificial inflate gameplay time.

As for the create a legend mode, the physical appearance looks very good. The moves you have to choose from aren’t horrible, but why do they limit the finishers so much? The finishers are all chains (a succession of 3 moves). The finisher chains that exist for the superstars are the only ones in the game. You cannot designate your own. What does this mean? If you created, let’s say, the Macho Man, there is no way to make the elbow off of the top rope your finisher. very shabby. A good number of moves are locked until you import the SvR roster, but still, then you only have those finishers to choose from as well.

Sound: Rating:
It’s a sports game, so I can’t really beef with the sound too much, although having to do my own handy work to make the real themes be part of the game annoyed me. Is it so hard to get the same music you used back in the day WWE?

Graphics: Rating:
Although some of the character models are a little glorified, the game looks great, for the most part. The crowd still looks crappy, but I guess I shouldn’t be that picky about the crowd appearance.

Presentation: Rating:
I’m going to double dip with the incorrect theme music and take points off for presentation also. There also could have been a ref in the ring. That having been said, the game has a good deal of little things that were awesome. Having all of the venues for the event replicated in the game is really nice. The lower thirds for the wrestlers match how they really looked for each Wrestlemania is a nice touch also. The highlights of the matches you are playing with in the “Relive, Rewrite, Redefine” mode was also nice, personally I would have liked to see the whole match, but that may not have been possible with the remaining space on the disc.

Control: Rating:
I’m throwing off the gloves for this one. The control was balls. Seriously, it’s a steep learning curve with very little payoff once you learn it. There just is no depth. Once you master the controls, you’re just frustrated that it isn’t easier to do things that you want to do. The worst scenarios are when you have to have your opponent in the right place outside the ring and cause him to be groggy before grappling with him the right way. When you have to do this to fulfill an objective, it’s the worst. I take that back, kicking out of a pin is the worst. The amount of button mashing you have to do should be illegal. It doesn’t feel like it makes any sense. You can be winning a match and when you’re the victim of a small package, kicking out require way more effort and physical energy than it should. I also feel like limiting the buttons that are used complicated things more, as more combinations are required to execute simple tasks. You sometimes will find yourself doing something other than what you intended due to the same buttons being used for multiple tasks.

Gameplay: Rating:
Once you have watch the intros and grown excited, the thrill is now over. This is sad, you want to have fun with your legendary wrestler, but the control makes this too difficult. There are some nice elements, like if you have a manager he’ll help you out by distracting the opponent or placing your foot on the ropes during what would be a 3 count. I’m not quite sure how the game determines when your opponent has had enough. Sometimes beating on him for a while will give you a pin. Sometimes, several finishers in, they will remain unbeatable. The game just doesn’t flow.

My big question: why couldn’t they just use the Smackdown! Vs. Raw controls? Making fans of the game and product learn a new control set up just seems pointless and aggravating. Maybe next year. THQ has done some boneheaded things with WWE games, they sadly made this game a rental and not a keeper.

Overall Rating:

Wii Punch Out!! Review

I think anyone who is roughly my age and older and had any interest in video games played Punch Out, or Mike Tyson’s Punch Out back in the late 80s. This game was awesome, there’s been plenty of great games from the past, but somehow, it was always very easy for me to pick up a controller and try my luck in the WVBA again. The characters were always so much fun to revisit. Sadly for me, over the years, defeating Mike Tyson/Mr. Dream grew more difficult as my timing declined with the lack of practice. The journey was always satisfying for me though.

For those who don’t know, Punch Out!! is a game for the original NES that takes place in a completely fiction boxing circuit called the WVBA. You play the role of Little Mac, a 17 year old kid from the Bronx, NY who weighs just over 100 pounds. Basically, the last person you would expect to be fighting pro boxers who are 6′3 and 250 pounds. Most of the fighters were flamboyantly patriotic to their respective countries, which made the colorful and gave them quite a bit of flair. After deciphering your opponents’ patterns and exploiting their weakness, you slowly overcome the odds and eventually become the World Champion and take on either Mike Tyson or Mr. Dream, depending on which revision of the game you got a hold of. Super Punch Out!! was released for the Super NES back in 1994. It featured new characters as well as characters from the NES version. It would be 15 years before we saw our friends from the WVBA again.

Once I heard that this game was coming out, I was psyched. I shot over to Video Game Buddy as soon as I got the call that this game was available. Lacing up the green gloves again was very exciting. We start with Glass Joe, as we did over 20 years ago. After a few snapshots of the opponent we are about to face in their element, the fight begins. I can’t help but wonder if the versions of the characters we see now are what the creators had imagined many years ago. Glass Joe yelling “viva la France” or Don Flamenco urging you to strike him with taunts of “vamos” and shouting “toro!” before throwing a punch at you. We have quick cut scenes between the rounds where your opponent will usually do something comical, followed by Doc giving you words of wisdom. By the way, the first thing I did during this was it the minus key, of course I heard a confirming jingle and when the next round started I had energy replenished. At the time of this writing, I’ve completed the Minor and Major circuit titles. So far, the game definitely feels like Punch Out!! I’ve opted to use the motion control instead of the old school method because, why not? It’s the Wii after all, I’m not so lazy that I can’t gingerly throw punches at cartoons yet. Let’s get to reviewing the game like they do on all the big websites.

Sound Rating:
Nintendo did a great job with the voice acting and sound effects. The music is excellent, borrowing many a track from the original Punch Out!! and glorifying it further.

Graphics Rating:
It isn’t a huge surprise that the graphics are not the strongest feature of Wii Punch Out!! This is one of those games where it just really doesn’t matter. The characters are cell-shaded, which probably was the best avenue to take since the characters are based on their original cartoon counterparts.

Presentation Rating:
I found myself getting very excited while watching the introductions for the boxers before a fight. The menus are flashy, but not too flashy. Load time is reasonable. For anyone who remembers what happens to Don Flamenco when you pound him enough in the NES game, you will not be disappointed this time around. One thing I don’t get, when did Doc develope this weird obsession with chocolate? They just throw it in, it feels kind of forced, but it is treated as if it’s something we’re just supposed to know like an inside joke.

Control Rating:
Spot on for the most part and simple are the controls. Sometimes I found myself not executing head punches with as much accuracy as I would like. In some cases, I’d dodge left or right when I meant to throw a head punch. You can activate optional controls to throw head punches via the trigger buttons rather than the analog stick on the nun-chuck. I’m guessing the regular control is as easy as the NES controls. Nintendo has always stuck by the KISS method which works perfectly as far as I’m concerned. I have heard that the balance board is a crappy addition to the gameplay and just frustrates you above all else.

Gameplay Rating:
Gameplay is the feature that made the Punch Out!! series so legendary. The basic pattern-based combat mixed with colorful characters and some of the exhibition modes are just really fun, which is how all games should really be, fun. As I have been known to say, “Gameplay is key.”

Overall Overall Rating:
Obviously, I’m very high on this game. It’s fun for anyone who played the original or SNES version, at the same time it introduces Punch Out!! to a new generation. I know not everyone has the same taste in games that I do, but I would say that Wii Punch Out!! is a must play. Maybe it isn’t a must buy, but I know it’s one of those games that playing it makes you want to play it more. Rent it, buy it, borrow it, play it at a friend’s house, just make sure you step in the ring at least once, you’ll be glad you did.

Terminator: Salvation

Walking into this movie, I had a bitter taste in my mouth from Terminator 3, but it occurred to me that my best hope to enjoy this movie would be to completely separate any connection to the first two movies. The third movie was of no concern to me. Clearly the producer just wiped his behind with some 8.5×11 sheets of paper a screenwriter translated it into a script. Enough seething with bitterness, onto the movie.

We aren’t travelling to the past anymore. We are now in the future and basically, just watching the war unfold. Watching this movie, it’s as if we’re forgetting the third movie anyway. We get to see the horror which Kyle Reese was describing to Sarah and all of us back in 1984. The homages to the previous movies was a nice little addition. The explosions are always welcome as well. The movie was really just fun to watch. The bonus of this fun movie was that it carried the Terminator license. I would actually recommend seeing this, highly. Again, it’s nowhere near the greatness of the first two movies, but frankly what movies are or ever will be? When this movie hits DVD, I’ll be watching it and cranking my speakers up. Anyone that knows me, knows that the amount of explosions affects the overall value of the movie. This flick was not stingy with the explosions, so there we have it. I was also thrilled to see McG’s name in the credits, the producer of Supernatural. Get out and watch this one! I’m done already.

My Late Star Trek Review

It took me some time to form an opinion of this movie. It’s difficult to form a complete opinion about this movie because there are two ways to look at it. As a stand-alone sci-fi movie it was pretty good. As a Star Trek movie, it did not fare well.

Beyond this point maybe some spoilers, consider that the warning. Star Trek has bent its own rules for time travel over the years so this movie was no exception. I was happy with the angle of the villain. Often the villain in sci-fi movies is just some war-like barbarian who is bent on taking over the world. This villain had a legit beef with Spock, which is also how the movie ties into the old movies/series.

Spock (by some miscalculation) caused Romulus to be destroyed in the future of the timeline that we are all familiar with. As a result, Nero (the villain) gets hurled into a worm hole and ends up back in time, back to the day James Kirk was born. He ends up destroying the ship that Kirk’s father is piloting. This completely alters his life and as a result, many other events. Nero’s plot is to wait for Spock to show up and destroy Vulcan right before Spock’s very eyes as an eye for an eye-type punishment. Spock also is hurled back into time. Now old Spock, who retains all of the memories of the events we all remember, exists in this alternate timeline, where things are wildly different.

The movie just didn’t feel like a Star Trek movie. It was nice to see the upgrades to the visuals. We haven’t seen the Enterprise since the third movie, The Search for Spock. I feel like the presentation of the ship was a little more futuristic, by a little, I mean a lot. The way the movie was shot though, it just seemed way too serious. Star Trek always had a fun feeling. This movie had some fun elements, but I felt like it was more like one of the Star Wars prequels, except of course, Star Trek was 1000 times better than those. Still, the first half of the movie seems to drag on for a long time. I get it, a new generation is getting exposed to these characters for the first time, but there isn’t enough time in the day, and Kirk’s rise to being the captain is done very poorly. He practically falls into it by accident.

As a sci fi movie, it was still pretty good. It’s just hard to separate it from the rest of the series, especially when they find a way to tie it back to the originals. I was pretty pissed at the product placement for Nokia at the beginning. Seriously, Star Trek isn’t supposed to have product placement. You never saw Luke Skywalker chugging a Pepsi. JJ Abrams couldn’t resist throwing in some Easter eggs about Cloverfield, I guess that was okay. Unfortunately, the movie is a juggernaut for these reasons: if you’re a fan, you’re going to want to see it anyway. If you aren’t a fan, you will want to at least try this version of the story. It’s definitely better than most of the garbage competition out there today.

On a personal note, watching this movie made me realize just how much I know about the Star Trek universe. I felt very elite. I actually had beef with the scene where they made mention to “external inertial dampers.”  The ship didn’t go into warp because the external inertial dampers were activate. Any Star Trek geek can protest this. I won’t bother though. My verdict, see the movie. I would watch it again, but wouldn’t pay to see it in the movies nor would I buy the DVD.

Friday the 13th Review

Let me start by saying, “best intro to a movie ever.” Now, this movie had one personal taint for me, which most of you won’t be bothered by. As a fan of the TV series Supernatural, seeing one of the Winchester brothers a) by himself and 2) not actually as one of the Winchester brothers, but facing a supernatural opponent, made me sad. Seeing Sam Winchester on the screen without Dean and having to accept that he was just “Clay” was rough on me. At least he was the main protagonist. I’ll tip-toe around the story to avoid any spoilers, but basically I was very happy with the movie. I think it brought Jason triumphantly into the 21st century, unlike that other movie that was released earlier this decade and shall remain nameless.

The interesting dynamic here is the audience. I’m willing to bet some people probably are too young to even give the Friday the 13th series of yesteryear a second thought. On the flip side, the rest are here to not only embark on a new Jason adventure, but compare it to the original.

Wisely, we get right to Jason and skip the Pamela Voorhees massacre of the first movie from 1980. It is summed up and mentioned, but we tag that as taking place in 1980 and move on. It was interesting to me, that in the original series, Jason drowns sometime in 1957 (if memory serves)  and his mother returns to the camp in 1979 to end those trying to open it again (the movie was released in 1980, but took place in 1979). The next movies with Jason as the killer take place all throughout the 1980s, which at the time is the present day. Although this movie appears to be a new take on the story overall, the original massacre from Jason’s mother seeking vengeance takes place in 1980. The movie, however, takes place in the present day. This may have been done on purpose to allow the audience to accept both the movie as a continuation or as a fresh start.

To make sure we understand that this is indeed the present day, they beat it into us from the get-go. Everyone has iPods, GPS, cellphones, just about anything that can establish we are up to date. There is actually some dialog about the technology and how important it is. Anyway, the way Jason is portrayed is different than before. Although Jason was always aggressive, he really seems clever and sometimes methodical in this movie. Jason is definitely very different than the mindless zombie killing machine we once knew. The movie also has a “back to basics” feel to it, the opposite direction of how gimmicky the later part of the original series became. Although watching someone in a sleeping back beaten against a tree to death is fun, the movie becomes less serious and more humorous, which is fine if that’s what you’re in the mood for. Think back to the original Nightmare on Elm Street. Most of the time, Freddy was simply trying to kill his victims, while having a little bit of fun messing with them. By the third movie, he was playing with stuff and had faces in his torso, turning into TVs, it was just a mess. There is nothing wrong with Jason grabbing a blunt object and bashing someone in the head with it, nothing!

I do wish I could experience this movie with virgin Friday the 13th eyes and see what I thought of it. If I had to compare it to the rest of the Friday the 13th movies, it would definitely be in my top 3 (following part 2 and part 6). So do you like horror movies? Do you like Jason movies? Do you like movies? Do you like pie? If you said yes to any of these, go see this movie in a theater and try to sit next to someone that scares easily, it makes the experience just that much better.

All things considered, I give this movie:

8 out of 10 Jason masks.

WWE The Best of Saturday Night’s Main Event DVD Set

This DVD set is absolutely amazing to watch as an old school wrestling fan. For those of you who do not know, WWE (formerly “WWF”) used to have a late night show which ran on NBC when Saturday Night Live was in rerun. There were no monthly pay per view events in those days and most of time, this show served as the main story progressing medium. This show ran through the era which Mean Gene Okerlund referred to as “the glory days.” For the most part, The Best of Saturday Night’s Main Event covers 1985-1992. In 2006, NBC and WWE restarted the Saturday Night’s Main Event program, although quite different and not nearly as crucial to progression as before. Luckily, there’s minimal 21st century covered on this set.

For me personally, I started watching wrestling in 1991. I back tracked heavily, renting all the videos I could leading up to the present. I watched all the ppvs I could get my hands on, but a lot of the events leading up to matches would take place on SNME, I could only get a glimpse of this action. I did not have cable in the sticks I used to live in, so seeing WWE on my TV at home was awesome. I only got to see a handful of them before they ended. The need for SNME was filled with the new, weekly, Monday Night Raw and Main Event vanished.

Now for this DVD set, hours and hours of big matches from Main Event, in full, with wrestler interviews about the action. Too keep it relevant to today, some of the active roster are on the DVD. The cast of characters is simply awesome. Hulk Hogan, Macho Man, Jake Roberts, Junk Yard Dog, Roddy Piper, Big Boss Man, Dusty Rhodes, Mr. T, Honky Tonk Man, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Ultimate Warrior, and of course, Andre the Giant are just some of the superstars you see throughout the set. Yeah sure, John Cena is there too, but again, that’s the 21st century stuff that may appeal to you, but I’m content with the “glory days.”

Anyway, if you couldn’t tell, I’m high on this DVD set. I have yet to tell you just how high, however. BUY THIS SET. Seriously, buy it now! This DVD set is by far the best collection the WWE has released, period. They have captured a great deal of action for the era that I grew up on and loved. I’m unbelievably happy with this set and it put a huge smile on my face multiple times. Wrestling was so colorful and larger than life back then and drinking it all in was quite an experience. All I have to say about this DVD collection is: 10

Audition (kinda) for the Examiner

I wrote this up for them and decided I should probably post it here as well:

During the WWE house show on 12/28/2008 at Madison Square Garden, I could not help but notice the increased amount of children (ages 5 – 12) in attendance. The WWE has made a very clear effort to become more family friendly over the last few months. Any fan that has attended a wrestling event, or any sporting event, knows that a New York crowd is one of the more unique crowds to experience. I felt a distinct change in the camaraderie that I had always felt before and cannot help but to believe this is due to the shift in the audience. Starting chants felt much more difficult and chants with adult themes (which had been more prominent in the past) were rarely started and did not last. The WWE is targeting a new audience now and although this change in style will eliminate some viewers, it was rather nice to see entire families together at the show together. The WWE maybe doing something right. Families coming out together to MSG for the evening to watch WWE Superstars while buying hot dogs, popcorn, and toys for the children during a struggling economy says a lot, I feel. I am going to keep a watchful eye on the audience the next time I visit MSG to see if this tend continues. Maybe I will see you there!

TV Show Rundown for this Week (Spoilers)

True Blood – So Will looks as though he is going to become a maker. Most of this season, I (along with most others) thought Sam was going to reveal himself as a werewolf. Instead, he’s a shape-shifter, although acknowledged the existence of werewolves and other things. I’m not sure how I feel about that jump. Also, the witch doctor who performed the exorcism, wouldn’t you have gotten you money back? Still no idea who the creeper is on the killing path. That “guilt is useless” thing was suspicious, however.

Sarah Connor Chronicles – I totally thought Cameron was gonna boink John when she lost her shirt and went in there with a see-through tank top. I thought the reason for him getting stuck in Mexico was weak. I would like to see where they plan on going with this story.

Heroes – Enough flashbacks. We get it, Arthur Petrelli is a bad guy. This episode filled in blanks I really didn’t need filled in. So we know how Arthur died…or didn’t die. We saw Sylar wrestling a little bit with killing people. We know that Claire’s mom is blue flame guy’s brother (I forget his name because he bored me). Let’s get on with the story already.

House – Nice seeing some more Cameron and Chase again. Are they going anywhere with this Cuddy and House thing though?

Supernatural – Does anyone have that glimmer of fear/hope that we will see a huge plot twist and Ruby will turn on Sam and Dean? I for one would be really shocked, although you can’t help but like her. Maybe she’ll be made an honorary angel or something. The show has gotten a little bit holy roller, but it’s still entertaining. Are they going to kill off Anna Milton right away? She’s pretty hot, I’d hate to see that. One thing I know I would like to see is Sam and Dean end the season by taking on Lucifer. I don’t want another Lord of the Rings, where we hear about a bad guy for a long time and then don’t actually get to see him/her.

Those are my thoughts for the shows this week. It would be nice if Pushing Daisies was on this week and not the Country Bumpkin Movie Awards or whatever that was.

WWE RAW Thoughts for 11/10/08

Stephanie McMahon’s appearance couldn’t have been more obviously recorded. After they finished playing her video, I actually found myself excited about an Orton/Batista match.

When Santino pulled up what was no longer the Honky-meter, I knew the title was going to change hands. What I didn’t expect was Santino jobbing like he did. I also wasn’t thrilled with Regal cutting a major babyface promo just because he was in England.

Kane’s promo complete with references about pulling wings off of insects and birds was awesome, give this guy a long heel title reign just once, will you? We haven’t had an unstoppable monster champion since Yokozuna pretty much. Guys like Khali, Big Show, Brock Lesnar, all seem to have short runs. Yoko was the champion for the better part of a year. Regardless, we have yet another Rey Vs. Kane match, but this one is different because it’s going to be the last one.

D-Lo did a job to Knox, I wonder if he’s glad he came back this summer so he could take a lot of time off and then get squashed.

Kane and Rey have their match. It was entertaining, Rey botched something at the end, but we’ll forgive him. Rey took some nice bumps, now that he won, can we get passed this whole thing. The feud never really felt strong to me, it was like Kane picked Rey’s name out of a hat. Let’s move on.

Here I was excited about Orton/Batista. Before the match, we saw Cody Rhodes with Manu confront and slap Orton, as they are mad that he injured DiBiase last week. So what does Cody do that all angry people do? He replaced the person he’s angry with at work and gave him the night off. Now we have Cody Vs. Batista, 110 looking Cody against the ANIMAL BATISTA. What was the point of Batista coming out with a squash? I have no idea. I guess we’ll be paying for Otron/Batista at Survivor Series.

Beth Pheonix over Mickie James. No one cares.

After a 90 minute video about the feud between HBK and Y2J, we have a last man standing match. This of course is not exciting at all, as the title is not on the line. What if Michaels wins, wouldn’t he want a title match and for the feud not to be over? Hmm, these questions manifest their own answer, HBK won’t win. I was pretty surprised when I thought the match was over a few times and they’d be up at 8 or 9. JBL costs HBK the match.

Other thoughts: What do we do next? HBK Vs. JBL at Survivor Series? Batista and Orton as well? Who will win the title match? I think we’ve seen just about ever combination of these guys in recent history. What about CM Punk? Remember when he was world champion? Too bad he’s co-holder of the tag team titles now and get no actual TV time.