Oh yes, you did read that correctly. I honestly don’t think The Joker should be in Batman: Arkham Origins. Don’t get me wrong, I love The Joker, but I’m not blindly going to get something because The Joker is in it. Also I’m not saying they should take him out last minute or anything, or generally saying they should undo all of their hard work; though I will concede that this is basically “he never should’ve been in it in the first place”. I also will make a follow up article after I have played the game stating whether I hold true to this opinion, or if the game has made me change my mind. Remember, this is written having not played the game yet, so my opinion could easily change once it’s released.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand exactly why The Joker seems to be in everything and is everywhere; he’s an iconic villain and the character has earned that spot. However Joker has been the main focus of both previous Arkham games. Sure, he was the main villain in Arkham Asylum, so that gets a pass, however he also hogs the spotlight in Arkham City; a game where the main villain is SUPPOSED to be Hugo Strange (or Ra’s Al Ghul, or both). Don’t believe me? His story ends AFTER the main plot does. I will admit it worked due to how they handled the conclusion of that story, but the fact remains that a sub-plot concluded after the main story.
Now, we come to Arkham Origins, where the main villain is supposed to be Black Mask, which automatically drew me to the game out of curiosity as to how that would play out, with Deathstroke’s inclusion being what sealed the deal for me. But what will most people like me (comic adaptation fans) most likely care about? The Joker is in there! Come on guys! Even Batman Begins didn’t have Joker! Why should this? I get it, I get it…”Joker sells”, fine, but come on guys, if you’re going to include him, make him a flat out side villain with guys like Anarky, or flat out diminish him to a cameo appearance like Mad Hatter got in Arkham City.
Hell, think about it. If they’re trying to “fall back in mainstream known villains”, and that’s their logic for using Joker in every game, guess what? THEY DID A POOR JOB OF THAT IN ASYLUM!
Riddler – voice only
Two-Face – only verbally mentioned right at the end
Mr. Freeze – no verbal mention
Catwoman – no verbal mention (Yes I know she isn’t always a bad guy but still)
The Penguin – no verbal mention
They didn’t seem too preoccupied with trying to throw in a bucket load of well-known (mainstream wise) Batman villains. Hell, even the biographies in Arkham Asylum are filled with a bunch of villains I had no idea existed at the time (Great White Shark, Tweedledum & Tweedledee, Killer Moth, etc.). Honestly I wish that trend had continued with the Arkham City biographies, but oh well, a man can dream.
Actually, that’s a whole other thing I’d like to bring up. Fine, Joker’s in it. But guess what? I actually find myself being drawn towards EVERY OTHER VILLAIN more than Joker, purely because I don’t know as much about the other villains. Does that mean I’ll necessarily like all of the other villains? No. But to me the unknown is a lot more fascinating in this sort of case. Mad Hatter was a case for this in Arkham City, and he turned out to be one of my favourite villains despite only making a cameo appearance, so I’m excited to learn he’s having a (probably only somewhat) larger role in Arkham Origins. As far as Joker goes though, I honestly do not care about Joker’s storyline at all as of writing this. He wants to blow up a bunch of buildings on Christmas Eve? Seems more like a Calendar Man scheme to me. Seriously, switch out Joker for Calendar Man in that scenario and see if it changes anything. Makes more sense with Calendar Man doesn’t it?
Going along with that, Joker’s sub-plot seems entirely tacked on and pointless to me. Here we’ve got a game where the main plot is that, for some reason, Black Mask has hired eight assassins to try and kill Batman; so Batman has to survive their attacks and find Black Mask, also trying to figure out why this is even happening in the first place. Sounds like a basic, yet strong, story to base a game around to me. If Joker is a major player then it just throws everything out of balance, considering we have NINE main villains already. There are enough characters to focus on without needing Joker as a major player, or even a minor player. Once again, Batman Begins didn’t need The Joker, so why does Arkham Origins? As of now it’s a completely unnecessary addition to an already appealing game in my eyes; whether it’s handled well or not
That aside, I realise I could actually end up being wrong about how large a role Joker even plays in this game. For all I know, he could actually just be stuck in the same boat as Anarky and be a side-mission villain (ala Riddler, Zsasz & Bane in Arkham City), rather than a major sub-plot villain. If that’s the case? Then fine, I won’t mind as much, and I’ll admit that in a follow up article. But as of right now, I firmly believe this game does NOT need The Joker. And I honestly doubt that his story being well done will change that. Whether it does or not, I do intend to do a follow up article.
Does anyone actually agree with me? Do you disagree? Either way leave your opinions below (Negative wise only if you actually have something constructive to say) and I’ll see you all again next time.
A few times in my life I have had a conversation that basically went like this (granted said example is an exaggeration).
Someone: Oh hey this reminds me of *insert movie here* Me: Oh…I haven’t seen that movie. Someone: WHAT? REALLY? Me: ……yeah Someone: WHY? Me: I don’t know, just haven’t bothered to yet.
In some cases it can be explained away by age difference, but there have been plenty of times where people my age have seen PLENTY of movies I know exist, but have never actually seen. As such, I figured I would make a list of some of the movies and/or franchises I have yet to see as of writing this article. I may do more lists like this in the future, but I figure ten is enough for now. I would also like to point out that this is mainly going by movies/franchises that the vast majority have seen, so lesser-known/cult-status movies probably won’t show up here.
Mission: Impossible Franchise
The first of three action franchises I’m going to bring up, and I must say I have absolutely no idea what this film series is about. All I honestly know about these movies is Tom Cruise is in them, and one of the movies had a thing where two guys jump at each other on motorbikes, and the motorbikes explode or something like that…that is honestly all I’ve got. I’m not kidding. I honestly know nothing else about this franchise and I refuse to look it up to give a synopsis, because that’s the beauty of the thing. Considering I do know this franchise exists, yet know next to nothing about it, is actually quite amazing. That reminds me, I’ve also only seen three movies that actually have Tom Cruise in them, and that’s without even trying. Weird.
4/5’s Of The Die Hard Franchise
Ok. This one has Bruce Willis in it and he’s all “Yippee ki-yay mother fucker!” and stuff. And his character’s name is John McClane. Yeah, again that’s about all I know, but in this case I have seen ONE of the five movies. In a way I’m probably cheating, but the one I have seen is Live Free Or Die Hard/Die Hard 4.0, so I think this still counts in that I haven’t seen the three everyone actually seem to like (and “A Good Day To Die Hard”). Hell, I only ever saw the fourth one because it came on TV once and my dad was watching it, so I decided to give it a shot. The thing that strikes me as odd is, as well known as these movies are, I have never once had someone tell me I NEED to watch them. Ok actually maybe ONCE that happened, but still. Regardless I’ve honestly never felt compelled to watch the first three movies, or the fifth, so I’m not sure if I ever will watch them.
Lethal Weapon Franchise
Stars Mel Gibson & Danny Glover. Action movies. Yeah wow, I have no idea what the hell these movies are about. Hell, I had to look it up to remember Danny Glover was in the movies. Accidentally found out it’s a cop duo series, but I didn’t bother to read the plot synopsis for any of the movies. I’d honestly rather go in blind at this point if I ever watch these movies. How did I first find out about Lethal Weapon I hear you ask? Well that’s easy, there is/was a Lethal Weapon mini-rollercoaster at an Australian Theme Park called Warner Bros. Movie World. Yep. Had no knowledge of the movies as a kid, so that one ride being named after Lethal Weapon is where I first heard about it. Never got to ride it though, not that I’d have wanted to.
Star Trek Film Franchise
Funny thing about this? I’ve only ever watched one episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, so you could basically say I’ve pretty much never watched Star Trek period, let alone the movies. Being a Star Wars fan has nothing to do with it by the way, I’ve just never been compelled to watch Star Trek for some reason, and therefore have yet to pay attention to the films. Also, that does include the new “everyone’s younger” movies too, not just the movies William Shatner & Patrick Stewart’s respective eras had.
2001: A Space Odyssey
“I’m afraid I can’t let you do that Dave” “Daisy, daisy, give me your answer do”. That’s pretty much all I have off the top of my head. I know the basic plot somewhat, and I DID almost watch this the other week, but I missed it due to doing something else, so I am still yet to see it. That’s honestly it. Aside from HAL-9000, I have no idea of the full names for characters or anything else like that. Hell, I don’t even know what actors are in it! And that’s worse than anything I’ve brought up so far!
Citizen Kane
I know absolutely nothing about this movie aside from the quote “Rosebud” and the fact it’s in black and white. That is seriously all I know. I have no idea what the plot is, I can’t remember if I know any of the actors in it, and have no idea what decade this was even made in! Honestly I think that’s about all I need to say.
Indiana Jones Franchise
Now, I count the entire series instead of “all of them except Raiders” because I barely remember anything from Raiders, as I think I’ve only seen bits and pieces of the movie, and not the whole thing from start to finish. As far as I’m concerned that means I’m not cheating, so there you have it. I have seen Spice World, Master Of Disguise and at least one of the Care Bears movies…but I’ve never seen any of the Indiana Jones movies the entire way through or at all. Granted, depending on who you ask, not having seen Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull is probably a good thing.
Donnie Darko
Just what the hell is this movie about anyway? I can’t remember any of the actors that are in it and the only quote I know is “Go suck a fuck” and the titular Donnie’s response asking how one does so. I actually know how to suck a fuck, but I’d rather not explain it to keep this article “Safe For Work”. Let’s just say if you watch enough porn, you’ll figure out how.
The Evil Dead
I didn’t add “franchise” because I have seen Army Of Darkness, and Evil Dead 1 & 2 are basically the same movie from what I’ve been told. I’ve wanted to watch at least the first Evil Dead for quite a while, but for some reason I’ve just never gotten around to watching it. Not much of an excuse I know, but hey, it’s the only excuse I’ve got it seems.
Ghostbusters Franchise
Well, if none of the previous ones made you hate me, this just might. Sure there’s only two movies so far, but I have yet to see the second one at all, and I’m fairly sure I’ve never seen the first one the entire way through, only seeing bits and pieces when I was little. I honestly have no excuse for not having watched these movies other than “I just haven’t watched them yet”. Considering the hype behind them I’m almost as shocked as you are that I haven’t seen them, but the fact remains that I simply haven’t yet.
And that’s all for now. Is there any well-known movies/film franchises you’ve never seen that surprises people? If so, is it a case of not finding them appealing, or just not getting around to seeing them yet?
I’ll be back soon-ish with another article. But for that one, it’ll be a case of me trying to get you to watch something I’m fairly sure you haven’t seen, instead of talking about things I haven’t seen. See you all next time.
Hello everyone. I’m still having computer issues, and as such I am also doing this on my dad’s laptop (which I seem to have hijacked since the issues started). Anyway, to pass the time I’ve been watching episodes of the revived version of Doctor Who that I hadn’t seen (or at least hadn’t seen all the way through yet). After watching the episode with a moment that will steal the #1 spot no question, I decided to make this list. So here we go. Here are, in my opinion, the top 5 most emotional moments in New Who history…so far anyway.
Before that though actually, I have one honourable mention.
Honourable Mention: The Unfilmed “P.S.” Epilogue (The Angels Take Manhattan, Series 7)
Since this moment was unfilmed I decided to keep it off the list, but I couldn’t go without mentioning it. In this scene, Brian Williams, father of the character Rory, finds out through a letter from Rory that he’ll never see Rory & Amy again, with the letter itself being delivered by Brian’s own grandson, who happened to be older than him due to the “wibbly wobbly, timey wimey” events of The Angels Take Manhattan.
This moment is very well done, and actually brought me close to crying without even being a filmed scene. It really is a shame that this wasn’t filmed, as I feel, like many other fans, that the character of Brian Williams should’ve had a proper send off, despite not showing up much. Not much else to say on this one I’m afraid, but if you haven’t given it a watch (and are a New Who fan) please, give it a watch. You won’t regret it. With that said, onto the proper list.
Number 5 – “I was gonna be with you…forever.” (Journey’s End, Series 4)
Due to a “two-way biological metacrisis” creating a half-human Doctor and giving Donna Noble the knowledge of a Time Lord, the heroes are able to defeat the Daleks for the umpteenth time. When all of that is over and done with, The Doctor sends Rose and the half-human Doctor to the parallel universe, and notices that Donna seems to be having some sort of issue that makes her get stuck on one word or generally start listing off random things, with the cause being the fact a human is incapable of having a Time Lord consciousness without it killing them. As a result, The Doctor essentially makes Donna forget she ever met him as a way to save her, telling Donna’s mother and grandfather that if she ever remembers her mind will burn and she’ll die (a fact they later write off).
Say what you will about Donna Noble, but I actually really like the character, and she may be my favourite female Tenth Doctor companion. Granted that may simply be because she was the only one who didn’t fawn over the Doctor like a lovesick schoolgirl, but still, I actually found Donna’s farewell to be the most emotional because they were just such great friends, and the friendship had to end with Donna completely forgetting about The Doctor, and interacts with him in a brief scene afterwards like nothing ever happened, which is very powerful and heartbreaking stuff. Also this shows that The Doctor or his companion don’t need to be in love for a farewell to be emotional, since being such great friends means they’d have a strong emotional attachment anyway
Now I’m not saying The Doctor should NEVER be in love with someone, but Rose/The Doctor and Martha’s one sided affection for The Doctor never had me interested. I actually kind of like Rose’s stuff before she becomes a lovesick idiot. Therefore it was a nice change of pace to see The Doctor having a best friend, so seeing that being forced to come to an end, and Donna having to forget ever meeting The Doctor is why Donna’s exit as a companion take my number five spot.
Number 4 – “This is the story of Amelia Pond. And this is how it ends.” (The Angels Take Manhattan, Series 7)
At the end of The Angels Take Manhattan, all seems well until Rory gets “touched by an Angel” and sent back to 1930s NYC again, with a tombstone that previously had his name on it now having the year he died on it. Realising the only way she’ll ever see Rory again is to let herself be touched as well, Amy says a final farewell to River Song & The Doctor and also gets transported back to 1930s NYC, leaving The Doctor in an emotional mess of a state. Later when River says she’ll get Amy to write an Afterword in the book she has to write, The Doctor rushes back to the picnic spot where he, Rory & Amy had been sitting and finds the last page of the book, which he’d previously ripped out, and reads it. In the Afterword Amy reassures The Doctor that both she and Rory are fine, and encourages The Doctor to visit Amy as a young girl and tell her about the adventures she’ll have when she’s older
Seems fellow gingers are my favourite New Who companions. Who knew? Also, the only ginger companions of New Who (thus far) are both female friends of the Doctor rather than love interests…interesting. Anyway, Amy’s departure hit me pretty hard, despite not having previously seen most of her run until now. No lie, I saw all of Series 7 before I’d seen any of Series 6 or most of Series 5, so the fact Amy’s epilogue ALMOST made me cry is a reflection of how well the dialogue was both written and acted. Oddly that’s about all I have to say, so let’s move on.
Number 3 – “EVERYBODY LIVES!” (The Doctor Dances, Series 1)
It was honestly kind of hard to find a way to describe the moment in question, so here’s a video featuring the moment
The first time I gave The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances a proper watch; I did legitimately tear up somewhat at this moment. Not all that much, but there were some actual tears at least. What makes this moment work so well is the Ninth Doctor seems to have accepted beforehand that “everything has its time, and everything dies”, which goes along with PTSD nature of the this incarnation. So to see him hope against hope that this time it could be different, and it actually works out for him, after ALL the crap he’s been through, is just amazingly touching. Generally the way Christopher Eccleston plays this like a kid at Christmas is great to watch and what makes everything work. Here’s a guy who’s the last of his race and has seen so much death and destruction over his long life FINALLY getting a day where everything works out fine and no one dies.
This may actually be my favourite moment of the Ninth Doctor’s series aside from being the series’ most emotional moment, purely because of how legitimately happy Eccleston plays the whole thing and that Ninth’s mood isn’t brought down at all in the closing moments of the episode. All that and Rose not being all that annoying (yet) make this an easy choice for the number three spot. However, this was originally going to be in the number two spot. But then I saw an episode that I had a more emotional reaction to compared to this moment, which leads us to…
Number 2 – “Whatever you are, whatever you do, you’re my son, and I will never, ever send you away” (Night Terrors, Series 6)
Near the end of the episode Night Terrors, The Doctor, Rory and a man named Alex are surrounded by a bunch of human-sized, freaky-as-hell Dolls (one of which being Amy, whom was turned into one) until Alex’s “son” George shows up and the Dolls start to go after him instead. Realising George is still afraid that Alex and his wife would send George away, The Doctor convinces Alex to actually tell George this. After doing so, the alternate reality they were in ceases to exist and everyone who’d been trapped there (or turned into a doll) reappears where they were in the real world before they ended up in this mess.
Trust me; you’re better off seeing the episode than having me explain what happened, it was hard trying to do so and none of it really makes sense unless you’ve seen the episode. But in any case, the line that got this the second spot did get the tears flowing a bit for me, and remains only one of 3 Doctor Who episodes to date to actually do so (aka the top 3 of this list). There still weren’t rivers of tears or anything, but the tears flowed a little more freely than when I watched The Doctor Dances. These days family oriented stuff like this really can get to me a lot easier than it used to, especially when it’s well acted. Seriously, here are two characters that haven’t existed in Doctor Who before and never show up again, but there I was, lightly crying over an emotional moment between the father and son. That’s what you call good writing and acting.
However this moment, nor any moments prior to it, can even come close to what was always going to be the number one moment in my eyes.
Number 1 – The entire final act of “Vincent And The Doctor” (Series 5)
After the stuff involving the “monster-that-didn’t-really-amount-to-anything” is over with, and Vincent Van Gogh has a moment with The Doctor & Amy, The Doctor decides to show Vincent just how respected his work has become, bringing him to tears when an art curator played by Bill Nighy lauds Vincent Van Gogh as the greatest artist to ever live. Having seemed to restore his will to live, Amy & The Doctor return him to his time period and go back to the present, only to find that history didn’t change and Vincent still committed suicide. This hits Amy hard as she thinks they changed nothing, with The Doctor comforting Amy and telling her they did make a difference, and some minor changes, such as Vincent dedicating his sunflower painting to Amy.
As anyone who follows me on Twitter, Tumblr, or is a friend with me on Facebook may already know, this episode broke me. For the first time when watching an episode of Doctor Who, I openly wept. The “Feels Floodgates” were opened all the way. There I was, sitting in my room, silently sobbing and crying my eyes out for a good 2-3 minutes. I even continued to cry well after the episode was over, only coming around when I saw some funny images people had posted on Facebook and/or Tumblr. What makes this more impressing is that I’m not an “art aficionado” so I never knew much or cared about Vincent Van Gogh. The fact this show was able to make me cry about a famous artist I don’t care about is amazing in its own right.
The funny thing is, I’d been joking with a friend that I was expecting “feels” from this episode anyway, but when it was over I was shocked at just how hard it’d hit me. I felt like I needed a hug after all that crying. To make matters worse I, by chance, happened to get a nose bleed when I was starting to calm down again…so that was weird. Anyway, this easily got the top spot simply due to that final act. A live-action TV show has NEVER made me cry like that before, if ever. So it was a very easy pick. If you haven’t seen this episode, I beg you, please give it a watch. Yes, most of the episode is pretty forgettable, but it more than makes up for it in the last few minutes. In case you react the same way I did though, I suggest having a box of tissues or a hanky at the ready.
Well, that’s it. I actually had four out of five moments picked out before I’d even finished watching the episodes I hadn’t previously seen, but even finally finishing Series 6 didn’t change much, aside from the addition of the moment from Night Terrors to this list to round it out. What making this list has taught me is that no matter what people say about New Who, and no matter what low points and head scratching/silly stuff the show does, it can still have a heavy emotional impact when it wants to, as can any form of fiction. In the future I may do more things like this about New Who, but for now I’ll leave it at this. I’m glad I got to finish this when I did, as I won’t have access to a computer/laptop for possibly a week, so it’s good to know I was able to post something here this week to make up for that. I’ll see you all next time with another article of some kind when I have computer access again.
Welcome to the first music-related podcast on ThatRuled! Jimmy and Skeletroy will talk about Jimmy’s history in the industry, as well as their shared trials and tribulations being musicians throughout life. Once in a while, they’ll have guests, and this guest was so awesome, we decided to make the conversation our first episode!
Here is a wonderful conversation with Sam Bean about The Berzerker, The Senseless, his current projects, on writing the Jimmy TR theme, and some exclusive news!
Hello everyone, and welcome to my first ever written wrestling review. Alas my family’s computer has essentially snuffed it, so until either the memory is recovered or the hard drive generally fixed so it’ll start working again (or we just flat out get a new computer), I can’t edit/make/post any videos. As a result, I’ve decided to do some of those “written reviews/articles” I’ve heard so much about. Anyway, Night Of Champions 2013, the PPV absolutely no one with half a brain was hyped for. How did it actually turn out though? Well, let’s get on with the review then.
For the record, I’m skipping the pre-show match because the WWE cared so little for it they decided to essentially put “ads” over it in two places. It wasn’t necessarily bad, but if WWE didn’t care, why should I?
Curtis Axel (c) vs. Kofi Kingston for the Intercontinental Championship – This match was a very nice surprise. Before the match Curtis had a go at HHH for ignoring Heyman’s pleas to cancel the handicap match, which led to this match being made when HHH pointed out that every title was supposed to be defended. This was honestly a great move, as I had absolutely no idea who was going to win; it really could’ve gone either way and worked. The match itself was pretty damn good, with only one or two botches here and there, fortunately nothing major. Surprisingly I found myself rooting for Axel to retain, so when he did indeed win, with his modified Snapmare Driver, I was actually relieved. I mean, I’m not a HUGE Axel fan, but I do think he’s better than most people give him credit for. God awful on the mic of course, but wrestling wise he’s good. Another nice touch was how Paul Heyman could go from being completely apathetic about the match, to actually giving Axel advice, to being outright paranoid that Axel may lose. And even when Axel retained the title, Heyman still seemed unconvinced that Axel would be able to hang with CM Punk.
Match Rating: 7/10 – A good opening match that definitely got me pumped for a PPV I didn’t care about in the slightest beforehand. An extra point or two were given due to the fact I had absolutely no idea who was going to win, making the match that much more exciting than it would’ve been normally.
AJ Lee (c) vs. Natalya vs. Naomi vs. Brie Bella for the Divas Championship – As expected this match didn’t really go all that long, though it was longer than most typical Diva’s matches. Granted I stopped and started it a few times so that might be why it felt so short. Anyway, the match itself was pretty good for what it was. Naomi was the stand out woman of the match with half the things she did, though the moment of the match was Natalya getting both Naomi and Brie in a Sharpshooter at the same time. I have never seen that done before, let alone by a female wrestler. AJ Lee retains in the end in what felt like an oddly anti-climactic moment. Though I guess it at least meant Naomi & Brie had to actually sell the double Sharpshooter, so that’s fine I guess. Either way, the match was better than I expected, which was a very nice surprise.
Match Rating: 5/10 – A point was taken off due to the ending feeling a bit anti-climactic. That and because Brie never once did a Flying Mare. The Bella Twins used to do those all the damn time when they debuted; now they NEVER do them? What the hell guys? Also Brie Bella looked like jailbait in that outfit; just putting that out there.
Alberto Del Rio (c) vs. Rob Van Dam for the World Heavyweight Championship – The more I thought about it, the more I realised how much potential this match had, and definitely lived up to it. Plenty of good spots, including Alberto getting his knees up to block the 5-Star Frog Splash and locking RVD in the Cross Armbreaker from the mat instead of standing. There was at least three notable things that could almost be considered botches, but the only blatant looking botch was Alberto either completely missing with the “Back Stabber”, or RVD generally reacting too late and missing Alberto’s knees, landing back first on the mat. The ending…ok yeah I’m probably in the boat of people calling BS on it, but it made sense. RVD/Del Rio is going to continue so RVD gets the DQ win but no title, and neither man gets pinned or taps out. If this was their “feud ender” then I’d be more annoyed, but it didn’t really bother me too much. If it did, it was one of those cases where the match was going so well that the DQ finish kind of wrecked it a bit. Either way, the match was good; and the post-match Van Terminator after Del Rio tried attacking RVD was a nice touch.
Match Rating: 8/10 – This didn’t really have any points taken off, since I don’t think I would’ve given it a nine. However it was held back a bit by the DQ finish, despite me not really having much of an issue with it.
The Miz vs. Fandango – To be perfectly honest, the only thing worth mentioning about this match is that Fandango pulled out a Falcon’s Arrow; that move doesn’t get used in WWE nearly enough. Not a terrible match, but it was extremely forgettable.
Match Rating: 4.5/10 – Miz won by the way
CM Punk vs. Curtis Axel & Paul Heyman in a No DQ Elimination Handicap match – I had no expectations going into this match. Honestly? That was probably a good thing, because this wasn’t necessarily a great match. It was good for what it was (and over-gimmicked way of getting Heyman into things), but it was by no means great. Regardless I did enjoy it. Axel not being completely squashed by Punk was nice. It made sense that Punk would get passed Axel in the end, unless Heyman had gotten involved to save himself, which I’m kind of surprised didn’t happen, given the “thrown-on-at-the-last-minute” No DQ stipulation. Heyman got the beating of his life, and I’ll be damned if most of those screams weren’t legitimate. Punk didn’t seem to be holding back at all with his kendo stick shots, especially after having handcuffed Heyman at one point, and it was kind of hard to watch or listen to after a while.
I figured if Heyman & Axel won that a run-in would happen, even if it was just Axel coming back in. But I can tell you right now, I had absolutely no idea the run-in would’ve been Ryback. Yet another nice surprise; and Ryback showing up allowed the table to finally get used. Due to Ryback’s involvement Punk loses, and Heyman remains undefeated as far as being involved in multi-man matches in the WWE goes, having defeated the likes of The Hardy Boyz (pinning Jeff Hardy specifically), RVD, and Eddie Guerrero; with CM Punk now being added to that list. Clearly Paul Heyman should be WWE Champion by now.
Match Rating: 6/10 – Yes. This match has a lower rating than Axel/Kingston. Deal with it, that was a better overall match.
Dean Ambrose (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler for the United States Championship – Oh, for a second there when The Shield’s music hit I thought we were getting the Tag Title match. I honestly had no idea this match was happening. Then again, aside from having boycotted RAW, I’ve been unintentionally missing SmackDown a lot lately. This was a relatively short match, and despite not being terrible, nothing much to write home about. Granted the roll-through Ziggler did after Ambrose locked him in a full nelson, turning it into a pinfall, was pretty interesting. That’s about it though. Oh, and Ambrose wins…thank God.
Match Rating: 5/10 – Relatively short and forgettable, but not as forgettable as The Miz vs. Fandango.
The Shield (Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins) (c) vs. The Prime Time Players (Darren Young & Titus O’Neil) for the WWE Tag Team Championships – This match was actually better than I expected it would be, despite also being relatively short. I mean, it wasn’t great, but I did enjoy it and it was definitely worth watching. That’s about all I can say though, not much else to really point out. Reigns & Rollins pick up the win and retain the belts after Roman spears the hell out of Titus when the referee was distracted. I am ok with this. I’m a fan of both teams anyway so either result would’ve been fine for me.
Match Rating: 6/10 – Bugs me that it was so short, but they did the best they could with the time given, and the ending didn’t feel like a cop out.
Randy Orton (c) vs. Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship – To be perfectly honest with you, this match did not live up to the hype. Like every other match it wasn’t terrible, but aside from a few big bursts from Bryan the rest was pretty standard fair for these two. The main interesting thing was Scott Armstrong managing a fast count. Like, wow, Scot Armstrong? Possibly the slowest ref in WWE managed a fast count? Just, wow. Also, this match will go down in the history books as containing the FASTEST referee change I’ve ever seen in my life. Seconds after Scott Armstrong goes down, a new ref shows up out of nowhere. That like…never happens. Or if it does, it’s usually a pretty rare occurrence. In any case, Bryan manages to pull out the win after Armstrong fast counts. Not that that’ll necessarily amount to anythi-oh.
Well…ummmm…yeah I got nothing.
Match Rating: 6/10 – Had some decent hype, and wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t as good as I thought it would be.
Overall PPV Rating: 6.07/10 – Worth at least one watch, but overall this is a PPV you wouldn’t necessarily feel bad about missing.
Match Of The Night: Rob Van Dam vs. Alberto Del Rio – This is going purely by the ratings I gave the matches by the way. Considering this match got the highest rating from me, it ended up being match of the night. I’d say it is pretty accurate though in any case.
Final Thoughts: I went into this with low expectations; and even though it surpassed those low expectations, the overall PPV was still pretty mediocre. The Punk match was nothing special; the main event was alright but could’ve been better, and generally I bet this PPV will be forgotten about fairly quickly, especially due to the main event’s outcome being rendered void the next night. If you haven’t watched it yet, I still suggest you give it a watch; if anything just to form your own opinion on the show. If you have seen the PPV, what are your thoughts? Do you agree with my opinion? Or do you think I’m incredibly wrong and need to be raped by a giant gorilla because of it? Hopefully the former, but I’ll leave it up to you guys.
Jimmy and Chris are joined by That Ruled producers Alanah Sees and Skeletroy Blockbuster to discuss the relationship between comic book universes on and of the silver screen.
Part 1 of 3 – only because we couldn’t shut up (and we really missed Alanah).
Jimmy and Chris talk about legendary and not-so-legendary partnerships between comic book characters, and the dreaded term of “sidekick” (and, no, not the Subaru).
Loyal Listeners, due to unforeseen circumstances, this week’s CoTD will not be released today. As a consolation prize, we are re-releasing the episode of When That Ruled The World (the podcast that started it all) on Comic Books. Hear Jimmy TR, Chris NNTV, Thomas Fyrehart, Samantha Maybe, and SkeleTroy Blockbuster discuss their various memories and opinions about growing up in a culture deeply influenced by Comic Books, circa November 2012.
Thanks for listening to our shows – You’re awesome.
Jimmy and Chris set out to talk about writers, attempting to continue their discussion of artists last week, only to get much more “big picture” in their discussion of the philosophies of mythology in the process.
Having finally read The Lord Of The Rings this year, Thomas decided to make a video pointing out some of the (albeit mostly nitpick-y) issues he has with the book.
