Top 5 WWE Attitude Era Mishaps

Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

Television ratings were at an all-time high. Interest was at an all-time high. Live attendance was at an all-time. WWE couldn’t do any wrong. Their business was booming, and WCW (and ECW) were falling behind in the wrestling war. Vince McMahon and his team had found the right formula and made a fortune during the late 1990’s. It is an era that will never (ever!) happen again and looked back on with many fond memories.

However, let’s be honest. There was plenty of garbage sprinkled in as well. Fans can reminisce now with rose-tinted glasses on, and that is understandable. For lots, it was their childhood. Of course, only the good moments will stand out. The bad? Who cared, right? WWE was on fire, and the top stars made you instantly forget about the previous 15 minutes of terrible television. Well, lucky for all of you, I do not wear rose-tinted glasses. For all the of the amazing moments, I also seem to recall plenty of not-so-amazing moments. Here are just a few…

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5. Wrestling – If you think a 2014 edition of Raw features little in-ring action, go watch a 1998 or 1999 edition of Raw. Oh my! You will appreciate the action you see today A LOT more real quick. Outside of big pay-per-views, the actual ‘wrestling’ during the Attitude Era was non-existent until the year 2000 when guys were brought over from WCW and ECW such as Taz, Chris Jericho, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero , Chris Benoit, Raven and more. Nearly every match featured Hardcore rules or just broke down into an all out brawl. Very entertaining, just not any kind of mat classic some expect.

4. Risks – It is just cringe worthy to watch some of the stunts from the Attitude Era back now. The obvious culprits came from ECW, but Mick Foley brought that type of thing to WWE. He knows it. This is not some sort of knock on him. He is one of my all-time favorites. However, he just rose the bar so high. Everybody remembers his falls off the cage, but there was just so much more. Not just Foley but everyone! The unprotected chairs. The excessive blood. The ladder matches. The table bumps. The piledriver spots. Absolutely amazing to think that was ‘normal’ back then but now 90% of those Attitude Era stars regret even doing those things in the first place now looking back at it.

3. Stories – Where to begin? The ‘Higher Power’ was Vince McMahon the same man who won the Royal Rumble and WWE Championship in 1999. Yay! I think Jim Ross’ instant reaction after the reveal summed up that story line. A “Vince Russo swerve” took place every week. The WWE Title changed hands over ten times in 1999. If that happened today, the uproar would be unreal. A Hardcore title that just gets passed around? The WrestleMania XV scenario with Triple H and Chyna made zero sense. That brings us to the actual story lines. Mae Young gave birth to a hand. Road Warrior Hawk fell off the stage. Val Venis and his ‘Choppy Choppy’ moment? Big Bossman was ‘hung’ after a match?!?! Come on folks, I could go on forever here. People can smile back on Stone Cold and The Rock feuding, but don’t just forget about THAT programming either folks!

2. WrestleMania 2000 – As noted before, WWE was on FIRE during the Attitude Era. They could do NO wrong. Fans ate up anything given to them and accepted it. That is fine. Sadly, that was the complete opposite of WrestleMania 2000. There were about 800 million problems with this event. I won’t go through every single one of them, but this whole show just never clicked with me. In 2000 and even now! Outside of the triangle ladder match, this event was not Mania worthy at all. There was not even one single’s match. On top of that, the entire main event scene was a mess. The OFFICIAL WWE Title match for WrestleMania was not even announced until less than two weeks before the show. Think about that. Under 14 days, and there was no WrestleMania main event! To this day, the show ranks as one of my least favorite pay-per-views ever put on. Too bad it was smack dab in the middle of the Attitude Era…

1. Stone Cold Turns Heel – It is fitting that many remark WrestleMania X-7 as the final Attitude Era show. The WCW crew was watching from a luxury suite. ECW was about to be bought out. WWE delivered an epic event with tons of great main event matches. A jam packed stadium and tons of rabid fans? Yet, it fell into the same trap as before. A No DQ brawl as a min event with Vince McMahaon getting involved! To make matters worse, Stone Cold turned heel…in his home state…to get back the WWE title…after returning from serious neck surgery! We were supposed to boo that?!?! Sorry, the whole thing was doomed to fail from the beginning. I’m not big on ‘fantasy booking’ at all, but everyone had to know better. They just had to. Sadly, it happened. Vince McMahon shaking hands to ‘end’ the Attitude Era? Perfect on so many levels.

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SENYCC: WWE Superstar Batista Interview

Julian Cannon 1 Comment

WWE Superstar “The Animal” Batista was at the Special Edition of New York Comic Con last weekend and I with a few others had the opportunity to interview him. He is also co-starring in Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” as he plays as Drax the Destroyer. The film will be released on August 1, 2014

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SO BATISTA, YOU HAVE RETURNED TO THE WWE AFTER AN 4 YEAR ABSCNECE, WHAT IS THE LOCKER ROOM LIKE NOW COMPARED TO 4 YEARS AGO?

“Well not much has changed really except for the new hungry kids from NXT I have seen for the first time a couple of weeks ago. Guys like Adrian Neville, Sami Zayn, The Ascension and many more young guys who want to come up to the main roster, NXT is the future of this business and just like guys like me, John Cena, Randy Orton and Brock Lesnar, we went through the system in OVW. But to end the question, the locker room has been great to me.”

NOW YOU HAVE HAD MANY MATCHES AT WRESTLEMANIA, IF YOU HAD TO CHOOSE TWO OF THOSE MATCHES AS YOU’RE FAVORITES,  WHAT WOULD THOSE MATCHES BE?

“(Laughs) well the first one would be against The Undertaker at WrestleMania 23 because we stole the show on that night. When his music hits and he made his entrance, I was a bit nervous. But I was happy that we tore the house down and he trusted me. Undertaker is a good friend of mines and we have that chemistry that some others have in the ring. I would also say that my feud with him that year was one of my personal favorites as well. My second favorite is the match against Triple H at WrestleMania 21. He was the teacher and I was the student. I felt the buildup was great and the match was great. We both beat each other up in that classic match. People can say what they want about Triple H but he is the true ring general and he wants to see the younger talent go up to the level that he was.”

THAT IS GREAT TO HEAR BATISTA. NOW YOU WERE PART OF EVOLUTION FOR A FEW YEARS, FROM YOU’RE VIEW, WHAT DID YOU LIKE ABOUT IT?

“Evolution to me was great. I can tell you that it was also an learning experience too. You have Ric Flair who is one of the greatest champions of all time and Triple H who is (at that point) becoming the greatest of all time and beginning to submit his legacy, and me and Randy Orton being groomed to becoming the next faces of the WWE. Most factions like DX or NWO Didn’t have the younger stars setting out to be ready for the main event scene with the exception of Triple H. This is what is missing with factions these days. But look at The Shield. Those 3 guys ( Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns) can work their butts off and I love working with the 3 of them. Those 3 will have a great future.”

YOU ARE STARRING IN MARVEL’S “GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY” AS “Drax the Destroyer”, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT PLAYING THIS COMIC CHARACTER WHEN MARVEL SIGNED YOU?

“I have been a fan of Marvel Comics and playing Drax has been a great experience. Originally it was going to be either Isaiah Mustafa, Patrick Wade or Jason Momoa but I was selected. The movie has ties to The Avengers and will connect to other Marvel movies in the future. Drax is a human resurrected as a green warrior for the sole purpose of killing Thanos (the villain in the final-scene tease of Avengers). His powers include flight, super-strength and energy blasts and when the movie premiers in the United States, everyone will see how I will pull the character off. but it was very fun and Chris Pratt was a great guy to work with as well. The makeup took very long to put on though. I believe it was about 4 hours and after we were finished shooting, and then it took nearly 90 minutes to take it all off of me.”

WHAT ARE YOU’RE THOUGHTS ON THE WWE NETWORK?

“The WWE Network is great, I have waited a long time for it to finally launch. For Fans who have never seen what the days of the WWE or WCW was like in the 1980’s or early 1990’s, you need to check the stuff out. It is not only great stuff and matches, but it also educates the fans of the superstars of yesterday who were big such as Hulk Hogan, The Ultimate Warrior, Randy Savage, Paul Orndorff, The British Bulldogs, Andre’ The Giant and many more. There is a lot of variety for the fans to watch and the Network can change the way we all watch TV very soon. Even a lot of my matches are on the WWE Network right now as we speak.”

IF YOU WOULD BOOK RAW FOR ONE NIGHT, HOW WOULD YOU BOOK IT?

“That is a great question. Well I would not get into the whole details but I would have more in ring wrestling, less segments and little comedy. I think the fans would want that too so that way it can balance everything in a good flow. I left a few years ago due to me not agreeing with the direction with the company that it was going too. But now I am happy to be back.”

YOU HAVE RECIEVED MUCH HEAT FROM THE FANS SINCE THE ROYAL RUMBLE, DO YOU LET THAT BOTHER YOU WHILE YOU ARE IN MATCHES AT ALL?

“When I came back earlier this year, it was one of the best moments of my career. I went into the Rumble match and won it and I got booed out the arena. The names such as “Bluetista” or “Bootista” does not bother me. If the fans were in my shoes getting that kind of reception, they would either take it as it is or let that distract them. Whether the fans cheer or boo, I do not care at all as long as I am getting an reaction. It is better than no reaction at all because if you were in the ring with dead silence from the crowd, then that is a problem. Some fans take the sport too seriously with them attacking other fans and wrestlers on twitter and I can say that it has gotten out of hand, but the fans can say whatever they want.”

TO END THE INTERVIEW, DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR ANYBODY WHO WANTS TO GET INTO WRESTLING? “Yes I do. if this is for you, go for it. What we do in that ring, we do it for about 300 days a year. You have to have the passion to succeed and to be happy wrestling. Don’t let anybody tell you that you cannot do it because if you believe that you can do it, you will make it. When I was training in the WCW Power Plant, some of the trainers thought I would not make it. but I proved them wrong once I got trained more in WWE. There are other promotions out there but the WWE is the MLB of wrestling. Every night feels like the World Series and WrestleMania is the one major show you would want to make it too. Dreams come true if you stick to what you are planning and what you want to get out of it.”

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Why do I believe that the New Generation Era is the most underrated era in WWE history?

Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

In my opinion WWE New Generation Era (1992-1997) is the most underrated era of all time.

I mean a lot of WWE Fans consider Ruthless Agression Era great and only second to Attitude Era. I don’t know how we can call that underrated. Yeah, Ruthless Agression Era is a very good era. We have awesome wrestlers and matches.

But, with WWE New Generation Era, a lot of WWE Fans consider it’s slow and cartoonish. Yeah, that’s true. WWE had a lot of stupid cartoonish unrealistic gimmicks during this era. But, anyway this era is pretty much underrated.

WWE New Generation is the era which made The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, and Bret Hart Legends what we saw today. It wasn’t Attitude Era which made them what they are today, instead during Attitude Era they’re just helping newer stars such as The Rock and Steve Austin.

And also WWE Fans shouldn’t keep saying this era is bad. I mean, we have Bret Hart as our Icon. This man put on great matches after great matches every single night. Who can forget Bret vs Owen at WM 10 and Steel Cage Summerslam 1994? Also who can forget Bret vs HBK at WM 12 IronMan match? And HBK vs Razor Ramon Ladder WM 10 and Summerslam 1995? Also the great battles in Boiler Room Brawl and Buried Alive matches between The Undertaker and Mankind?

Also, Diesel has held the WWE championship for over a year.

I know WWE New Generation Era had a lot of bad things, but it’s one of the best era ever in WWE History and the era I started watching wrestling back In 1993. Those matches mentioned above are Legendary matches and it made many careers out if it. But in my conclusion, The ruthless Aggression (2002-2008) and The New Generation Eras (1992-1997) are my favorites. The faces of this era were Bret Hart, Diesel (Kevin Nash), Razor Ramon (Scott Hall), Undertaker and Shawn Michaels and Sid.

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Speaking Geek: Is Godzilla too fat?

Rob Leave a Comment

By Robert ” RobBase” Greenwood

The subject at hand is based on an article originally posted on Rocket news:

http://en.rocketnews24.com/2014/04/30/japanese-fans-new-american-godzilla-is-too-fat/

Is Godzilla supersized for no other reason but to be big? I love the new look to this King of all movie monsters and his transformation over the years has always upped the ante, so to speak.

Over the past 60 years, Godzilla has evolved and morphed, sometimes with Godzilla having a rather heavy bottom with a leaner top half.

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Godzilla seems more of a monster than dinosaur in this new version. I hope this film delivers a great story that can wash the foul taste of 1997’s debacle of a film.

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The Japanese fan base is split with most people laughing at Godzilla’s size and so called lack of a neck. But I think the new film honors and updates what we have come to love about the mean-green-fire-spewing-machine, Godzilla.

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Speaking Geek: Star Wars 7 is cast

Rob Leave a Comment

By Robert “Rob Base” Greenwood

In the annals of Geek history, I can’t think of anything more controversial than the casting of the newest Star War films.

Ever since George Lucas sold the rights to Disney, the Star Wars community have been very split in all the rumblings online.

First it was J.J. Abrams being brought in as director, then the hint of the original cast reprising their roles.

Then the most recent issue was 7 would not follow the expanded universe. Yet, here we are a few days before Star Wars annual celebration and a huge bomb was dropped with a single image:

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The cast is complete and the film is a go. Let’s take a look at the newest actors to become apart of the Star Wars Universe.

John Boyega: Best known for Attack the Block, the 2011 film in which a teenage gang defends their south London block from aliens. Boyega is 22-years old.

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Daisy Ridley: Probably the least known of all the cast members, Ridley has primarily done British TV work (Mr Selfridge, Silent Witness) along with these series of shorts that a young actors’ production company posted online.

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Adam Driver: Rumors that Driver had been cast as a “Darth Vader-like” villain began weeks ago, so the confirmation of his casting is no surprise. The 30-year-old is known mostly for this work on the HBO series Girls and small indie films. He has the voice and acting chops to pull off a villainous character.

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Oscar Isaac: After years of playing supporting roles in films like Robin Hood and Drive, Isaac took the eponymous lead in the Coen brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis.

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Andy Serkis: As Gollum nee Smeagol, King Kong, and Caesar the chimpanzee who would rule us all, Serkis has established himself as an actor so eerily good at imitation. He is no stranger to CGI and has the acting chops to make you believe it.

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Domhnall Gleeson: Gleeson, who played a Weasley in Harry Potter and a simpering bandit in the Coen brothers’ True Grit. He adds in the wow factor in the younger fan base who may not connect with the original cast.

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Max Von Sydow: Sydow’s resume reads like a brief summary of true greatness and diversity. He was the knight in The Seventh Seal, a priest in The Exorcist, and Harry Haller in Steppenwolf. He was in Conan the Barbarian, David Lynch’s Dune, Ghostbusters II, and has played Jesus. Not to forget his masterful performance as Ming the Merciless in Flash Gordon.

Add these amazing talents to Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew and Kenny Baker and we are shaping up to make us all scream at the title scroll.

So, who are you most excited for in this new film?

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Movie Review: Oculus

Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

Finally i return with a new post. Oh wait, i have to introduce myself first. Julian Cannon is back for another movie review and this time it is the horror film Oculus. Oculus is a 2013 American horror film directed by Mike Flanagan. The movie had its world premiere on September 8, 2013, at the Toronto International Film Festival and got a theatrical release on April 11, 2014.The movie stars Karen Gillan as a young woman that is convinced that an antique mirror is responsible for the death and misfortune her family has suffered. The Film was produced by WWE Studios.

 

Oculus

Cast and Characters

  • Karen Gillan as Kaylie Russell
  • Annalise Basso as young Kaylie Russell
  • Brenton Thwaites as Tim Russell
  • Garrett Ryan as young Tim Russell
  • Rory Cochrane as Alan Russell
  • Katee Sackhoff as Marie Russell
  • James Lafferty as Michael
  • Miguel Sandoval as Dr. Graham
  • Katie Parker as Annie
  • Kate Siegel as Marisol

Plot

Ten years earlier, tragedy struck the family of teenage siblings Tim and Kaylie Russell. Their parents were brutally murdered and Tim was charged with their deaths and convicted.

Tim (Brenton Thwaites), now in his 20s, is released from a mental institution and just wants to move on with his life; but his sister Kaylie (Karen Gillan) wants to clear Tim’s name. She’s convinced the Lasser Glass, an antique mirror in their childhood home, unleashed a malevolent supernatural force that killed their parents.

Kaylie tracks down the mirror and finds out similar deaths occurred to other owners over the course of the past 100 years. With the mysterious mirror back in their possession, Tim and Kaylie find themselves experiencing terrifying hallucinations, and realize, too late, that what happened to them 10 years earlier is starting to happen again.

Production

To me, I thought the special effects and the supernatural scenes were great although confusing. The one that had me the most was when Kaylie ate an apple but to find out in the next few seconds that she ate a light bulb but to only find out that it was a dream. The Camera setup and the way it goes from the past to present took me off for a bit but it was still cool. Final thought here is that I liked how the way the mirror was used during the entire movie.

Closing thoughts

The movie is pretty good but however, if you are not paying attention, you will be lost pretty quickly after about 20 minutes into the movie. There was a little suspense but the scenes that give you the chill factor make up for it. The actors did a mediocre job with the exception of Karen Gillian in which I thought she did pretty great. Everyone must have been thinking “why didn’t they just break the mirror from the start?’. Well there is about a few reasons why they couldn’t do it but you will have to see. The ending of the film felt flat although it made sense. This movie is best to just watch it in you’re house when you want to kill time. I give this film a rating of 6 out of 10.

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