Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales – Review

I recently treated myself to back to back movie viewings at my local theater. This is something I used to do all the time. I keep planning to do them but something would always come up at the last minute. This time…success! My two escapes were a bumbling pirate and a deadly extraterrestrial.

The fifth outing in the popular Disney franchise tells the story of a down on his luck Capt. Jack Sparrow who is looking to escape the ghostly wrath of the revenge-laden Capt. Salazar. Jack’s only hope is to find the legendary Trident of Poseidon, and to do it, he will need the help of an astronomer and a young Navy man with ties to his audacious past.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales brings fun and adventure back to the franchise, and it is the best film since the original. That may or may not be high praise since Pirates 2, ,3 and 4 left a lot to be desired. Still, this was an enjoyable movie-going experience that had some hits and misses.

Continue reading “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales – Review”

NJPW’s Best of the Super Juniors Finals Determined

The finals of NJPW’s Best of the Super Juniors 24 has been determined.

Will Ospreay emerged as the Block A winner when he pinned Hiromu Takahashi on Tuesday in Osaka. KUSHIDA cemented his place on top of Block B by defeating Volador Jr. last night, thus punching his ticket to the finals.

Continue reading “NJPW’s Best of the Super Juniors Finals Determined”

WWE Announces First ever Women’s Money in the Bank LadderMatch

WWE will make history at Money in the Bank on June 18th. Charlotte, Becky Lynch, Natalya, Carmella, and Tamina will compete in the first-ever women’s Money in the Bank ladder match. Shane McMahon made the announcement last night after a fatal five-way didn’t happen when a brawl ensued between the participants.

Continue reading “WWE Announces First ever Women’s Money in the Bank LadderMatch”

Five Star Drama

Tyler Bate

Two weeks ago, British wrestling standouts Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate tore the house down in a superb encounter at NXT TakeOver Chicago. If you’re unfamiliar with WWE’s U.K. initiative, watching this match will serve as the perfect introduction.

Seemingly, however, online drama coming after the match has fans voicing their displeasure at journalist Dave Meltzer, who, based on his popular rating system, gave the Dunne vs. Bate match 4 ¾ stars out of 5.

We’re talking about a smidge of a point away here. Yet, a lot of fans are left shaking their heads wondering what would this match had to have done to earn five stars. 4 ¾ is an excellent score, however, there is a bigger issue here.

Continue reading “Five Star Drama”

NJPW Best Of The Super Juniors Updated Standings

Artwork by TAPLA – http://tapla.deviantart.com/

 

Eight shows have thus far encompassed NJPW’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament. Sixteen wrestlers divided into two separate blocks have faced each other in round-robin competition where each win is two points, a draw is worth one point, and a loss is zero.

The two top scorers in each block will advance to the finals on June 3, which will air live on New Japan World, where the winner will get an IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship match on June 11 at Dominion in Osaka, Japan.

Opening night kicked off with two standout matches. ROH TV Champion Marty Scrull defeated last year’s BOSJ winner Will Ospreay by submission after catching him in mid-air and locked in the chickenwing.

Continue reading “NJPW Best Of The Super Juniors Updated Standings”

Ricochet & Ospreay Are Changing the Game

Last year’s Best of the Super Juniors (BOSJ) match between Ricochet and Will Ospreay drew highly divisive opinions from the pro wrestling community. Chris Jericho praised the match for its aerial evolution while Vader panned it due its choreographed nature. Fans were equally torn on the matter.

Continue reading “Ricochet & Ospreay Are Changing the Game”

WWE Money in the Bank Ladder Match Announced

WWE announced the six participants in this year’s Money in the Bank ladder match, last night, on SmackDown. Money in the Bank will air live on the WWE Network and will emanate from the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri on June 18th.

Continue reading “WWE Money in the Bank Ladder Match Announced”

WWE Backlash 2017 Review

Backlash was the first SmackDown Live PPV since last month’s “Superstar Shake Up.” The Allstate Arena in Chicago hosted the nine match card. The two main pieces of business were Jinder Mahal vying for the WWE Championship and the WWE in-ring debut of Shinsuke Nakamura. Despite the slower pacing of the matches, was the blue brand able to deliver?

Continue reading “WWE Backlash 2017 Review”

Randy Orton Sparks the Great Indy Wrestling Debate

Randy Orton knows how to cause drama of the off-screen variety. In fact, he’s something of an artist at it. Last weekend, Orton retweeted a message from his original trainer in OVW, Rip Rogers, that criticized the current style of independent wrestling.

“Every Indy match now: handshake, drawn out move exchange, this is awesome chant, strike exchange, dive, no sell Indy strongstyle, dive, more strikes, no sells, dive, flippy floppy sequence, dive, hit everyone with each other’s finisher, then Humpty Dumpty, we all fall down. Fight forever chant, rinse and repeat until every move is useless and means nothing, dive, take unsafe shot that looks like shit and hurts like hell then roll-up finish. Handshake and hug after match. Everyone’s hand raised. All these guys chant. Go home and type on social media thanking your opponent and company for the match and telling others they should book these guys…dive.” 

Continue reading “Randy Orton Sparks the Great Indy Wrestling Debate”

Favorite Matches #6: Bret Hart vs. Mr. Perfect

The night before the Summer Slam 88, a Mega Powers’ promo hyping their match against the Mega Bucks got me hooked on professional wrestling. The actual matches were ancillary as it was all about the drama and interviews ending in “whatcha gonna do.” Three years later, my wrestling fandom got flipped turned upside down by an amazing match between two all-time greats.

The Intercontinental Title match at Summer Slam 1991 between Mr. Perfect and Bret Hart completely changed how I looked at wrestling. I didn’t know anything about booking or storytelling at the time, however, the match was a masterful display of the art.

Continue reading “Favorite Matches #6: Bret Hart vs. Mr. Perfect”