Monthly Archives: August 2016

Pro Wrestling

WWE Closed My Mind Towards Professional Wrestling

I didn’t truly realize this until a few days ago, but WWE over the years successfully had made me think that it was the true, elite brand of professional wrestling. Everything else was the minor leagues (other than WCW for a few years in the 90s). Extreme Championship Wrestling, Ring of Honor, New Japan Pro Wrestling, Xtreme Pro Wrestling, Combat Zone Wrestling, even TNA in its earlier years were all looked upon as inferior. So what if CM Punk was already a super hot heel in Ring of Honor, or that Bryan Danielson was potentially better than Kurt Angle. Did it matter that AJ Styles could probably work circles around anyone in WWE in 2003? What about Christopher Daniels? I never appreciated Tyler Black or Chris Hero. Japan was another story as no one went from there to WWE, and those who did were usually WWE castoffs to begin with. I had high hopes for Tensai after rave reviews of his Japanese run…and he proceeded to become a joke character within a year.

WWE did this to me early in my fandom. As a kid ECW was pretty much the coolest thing around. I wondered how Taz, Sabu, Rob Van Dam and all would fair in a WWF ring. Raven did okay for himself in WCW in 1998. Not great, but he wasn’t a joke or anything, so there was promise from my viewpoint. And the WWF killed that for me with Taz. When Taz showed up at the 2000 Royal Rumble I was all-in on him being a major star, fighting the likes of HHH, Rock and when he came back, Stone Cold. And he wasn’t even close. Two months later he’s fighting in the Hardcore Battle Royal at Wrestlemania. The MAN for ECW was just a lower-card guy in the WWF. Interestingly enough, The Dudley Boyz shook this and became one of the top teams in the WWF, but even then I attributed their success to them changing their attire and acting more “WWF like”, even if that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

At some point I decided that it’s obvious these guys didn’t have what it took to make it in the WWF. Even Raven had floundered in his WWF run. Tajiri, who I remembered fighting Taz for the ECW World Title at Heatwave ’99, became a comedy character who was a Cruiserweight mainstay. Only Rob Van Dam made a huge impact, but then again I always thought RVD was ahead of others in ECW. At some point I just said to myself that anyone outside WWE was probably inferior to anyone in WWE. There were exceptions…but even those exceptions didn’t have me thinking much. Yeah, AJ Styles was clearly great, but would he even go above the Cruiserweight Title in WWE? Same goes for Daniels. Samoa Joe seemed like a bad ass, but when there were rumors he was going to fight John Cena in WWE in the gimmick given to Umaga I just assumed Cena was going over him. And while CM Punk made his way to WWE, I didn’t think much of him or his character until 2009 and the Straight Edge Society. Even when he surprisingly won the World Title in 2008, he didn’t feel like a main eventer (didn’t help that WWE didn’t treat him like one either). There were other misfires along the way: Paul London, Brian Kendrick, Colt Cabana as Scotty Bowman. The indies were the indies and that was that.

CM Punk got the ball rolling for sure in 2011. But even then he was pretty much a WWE guy to me. Still, when he and Danielson ended up holding the World Titles at the same time in early 2012 I felt that perhaps someone like AJ Styles could have done this at one time (not like, five years later, no way). But when WWE rolled out NXT, I didn’t watch it. I’ve been burned too many times in the past. It didn’t help that Adrian Neville, who was also an Internet Wrestling Community darling at one time as Pac, hasn’t really gained much traction. Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens though has helped change the perception, and the Finn Balor push to the Universal title was also helping, but my perception ended up completely changed at Takeover: Brooklyn II.

Austin Aries was a former TNA World Champion and a stereotypical guy who I’d peg for not getting anywhere in WWE. He looked like a star. Bobby Roode I’ve never cared about once, and he GLORIOUSLY looked like a star. And then, the moment Shinsuke Nakamura made his entrance for his NXT Title match against the aforementioned Samoa Joe, I asked myself…

What the hell have I been missing all these years?

Video Games

Ranking the Banjo-Kazooie Worlds

Banjo-Kazooie even today can be argued as the greatest 3D platformer of all time. One major reason is its level quality. While I’m intending to rank these based on what I think is the best, the word best of course is subject to debate. Also, I am only ranking the main levels, so no Spiral Mountain or Quiz show stuff…

9. Clanker’s Cavern

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The only world I would say I don’t like here. The swimming is a bit of a pain (although swimming physics are top notch here) and the world primarily revolves around a metal fish. It looks dull. There’s still some good stuff in this though, including my favorite empty honeycomb piece spot, Wonderwing and a cool jumping mini-game in the fish.

8. Rusty Bucket Bay

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I appreciate the challenge of Rusty Bucket Bay, but the contaminated water and engine rooms are more pain than pleasure. Navigating the boat itself is fun though. Despite the engine room I appreciate the challenge of getting all 100 notes as well.

7. Bubblegloop Swamp

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I think the top 7 levels are significantly better than Rusty Bucket Bay and Clanker’s Cavern. Mr. Vile’s challenge is a lot of fun and being a crocodile is a lot of fun. What holds Bubblegloop Swamp back is that it’s more of a chore to get around with the wading boots…and it’s not like there’s an easy way back to Mumbo’s everytime you want to switch.

6. Mumbo’s Mountain

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One of the best examples of a first level teaching you through the ropes. You learn about Jinjos, Mumbo Transformations, throwing eggs and pretty much everything else you need. It’s a bit too easy for my tastes but still quite good. I think a terminate was an odd choice to introduce the Mumbo transformation though.

5. Gobi’s Valley

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We’re already in the “A” tier here, and having five of the nine worlds be at that level is quite an accomplishment. Gobi’s Valley has a lot of fun jiggies and characters (like Gobi!). There’s a lot to do here such as wading through sand, getting access to the running shoes and beating short clocks or flying through small holes with spikes. There’s a magic carpet ride too! I actually dislike Donkey Kong 64’s Aztec level mainly because Gobi’s Valley owns so much.

4. Treasure Trove Cove

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There are so many areas to explore in Treasure Trove Cove. Banjo-Kazooie smartly introduces flying here and it makes Treasure Trove Cove that much bigger. Fight an evil shellfish named Nipper, find gold for a pirate, fly up to the lighthouse or put some codes into a magical sandcastle. Just watch out for Snacker…

3. Freezeezy Peak

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This snow/Christmas themed level has a lot going on as well. I find this to be the rich man’s Mario 64 Snowman’s Land. There’s a HUGE Snowman to climb this time around, a Christmas tree full of presents to explore and some polar bears to race. There’s also the legend of the ice key that you may encounter…

2. Mad Monster Mansion

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We are now in the S tier. Mad Monster Mansion is super fun to explore. It has a clever Mumbo Transformation (Pumpkin!) and several smart jiggies. There’s a church and a haunted house to explore, and probably my favorite “race the clock” jiggy. My personal favorite world for sure.

1. Click Clock Wood

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A purely genius world. Click Clock Wood is actually four seasons, and each season presents its own challenges. What you do in each season affects the other. Something you do in Spring may effect something that happens in Summer, for example. It also has an amazing theme during the Springtime. A really fun 100 note challenge lies here too.