No rhyme or reason to this one. These are just ten televised poker hands I find quite interesting for one reason or another. I’ll write a bit about each.
Doyle Brunson Makes a Big Fold Against Chip Reese – 2006 WSOP 50K HORSE Final Table
This blew my mind at the time, and still kinda does actually. Stacks are unknown, but both had to be fairly deep (I think Chip was a big chip leader) for this to play out like it did. Obviously they are playing No Limit Hold’em here.
Both are in mid position. Doyle Brunson makes it $70,000 to go, which is 3.5x the big blind (huge by today’s standards) with two queens. Chip Reese smooth calls with Kings, tricky, tricky. Norman Chad here makes a comment that Doyle should know Chip has Kings here, albeit sarcastically. David Singer as the button also calls with two sixes.
Flop comes 2-3-7 rainbow. Doyle makes it $220,000 (about a pot sized bet, again big by today’s standards, but this was the norm of the old guard). Chip min-raises to $440,000. Singer folds. Facing about 4 to 1 (he has to call $220,000 to win $924,000) folds! Again it was insane to see this at the time. No one at the table believe Doyle had queens.
This hand to me showed how important it is to know your opponent. When you’ve been playing someone for thirty years, I guess you pick up on things like this. Still insane to see someone fold Queens in that spot though.
Johnny Chan Perfectly Reads Huck Seed – Poker After Dark
I’m not sure which Poker After Dark it is (although I assume it’s a WSOP Main Event Champions episode, seeing as all five players here have accomplished that feat).
It’s five handed and Johnny Chan raises three times the big blind in second position with AA. Joe Hachem calls from the small blind with KQ and Seed from the big blind with 66. All reasonable so far. Seed flops gin: Jacks Full of Sixes. It gets checked around, which isn’t too crazy I guess. Hachem has nothing, Seed is trying to trap Chan (in hopes that Chan has a big pair or a Jack, he did raise pre afterall) and Chan could be slowplaying his Aces, risky as that sounds (hard to connect with 6JJ board afterall).
Turn is a three and now the hand gets a little weird. Hachem checks and Seed checks again, but Chan checks a second time as well. The river is a deuce and Seed makes a pot sized bet…to which Chan (and Hachem obviously) fold instantly. How the heck did Chan check-check-fold AA correctly on this board? I have guesses (probably incorrect because what the heck do I know about the playing tendencies of Huck Seed and Johnny Chan?!) but it’s probably down to some kind of live tell Chan picked up on Seed.
I learned here too to never get too attached to your cards. Johnny Chan picks up the moneymaker, AA, and loses the bare minimum!
‘Phil Hellmuth Makes a Great Call Against Hoyt Corkins – 2005 WSOP Tournament of Champions
Not a lot of information here, but in the blinds Phil Hellmuth called the small blind with KT, and Hoyt Corkins made it $40,000 with QJ (not sure how big of a raise that is, my guess is that it was 5x, and he made it $40,000 more). It’s safe to assume about $112,000 is in the pot, based off of the pot size given on the river.
Flop comes 9-8-9 and Hellmuth checks in the dark. Hoyt checks back. I don’t think this check back is good particularly, which I’ll get into afterwards. The turn comes a 7 and Hellmuth bets $45,000 with his new straight draw. Corkins calls it and an 8 hits the river. Hellmuth checks and Corkins fires $60,000, making the pot $268,000 (according to the video). Hellmuth only has to be right a small percentage of the time here ($60,000 to win $268,000!), and he calls correctly. Hoyt says he thought he represented an ace the whole way. I don’t know if he would have checked the flop if that was the case, especially considering his aggressive nature overall.
There’s history here. Hellmuth lost to Corkins back at Foxwoods in 2003, complaining that Corkins was”Mr. Move All-In”. Corkins was similarly aggressive at this table as well, and I think that tipped Hellmuth off to what was going on here as well. Obviously not great analysis, but the best I can make given the video.
Gus Hansen calls all-in…with 10 high?! – WPT Season 1 Bad Boys of Poker (2003)
Even though poker may have passed Gus Hansen by (he’s been described as a very good player constantly taking on the great players), there is no doubt he provided a totally different strategy in regards to winning poker tournaments. Hansen’s success from 2002 through 2007 was ridiculous, with four major No Limit Hold’em Titles (three WPTs, the 2007 Aussie Millions Main Event). It also led to him trying out different things, as this hand shows.
With four players left Antonio Esfandiari makes it $29,000 (blinds are $6,000-$12,000) in second position. Hansen makes it $100,000 to go in the small blind. The Magician (Esfandiari for anyone who doesn’t know) moves in for $434,000. So, Hansen has to call $334,000 to win $559,000. Not good odds at all.
The crazy thing is Gus did call, obviously putting Antonio on the small pair he had or some A-x (10-8 suited isn’t that bad against, say, A-6). Of course, he would have to be right about Antonio’s range 100% of the time to make this play acceptable, and even then it’s questionable. What if the A-x was A-8? What if it was A-J? My guess here is Hansen made the original raise to $100,000 because he though Antonio was on a steal (which is fine), but when he saw Antonio think and think and then shove, he figured it wasn’t a monster hand at that point. Add into this that Gus knows that Antonio knows that Gus in 2003 was a lunatic, and that $100,000 raise didn’t mean anything (for example, he has 10-8 here!). But the call is still pretty crazy.
Of course Gus flopped an 8 and ended up winning the whole thing. Never be afraid to try things out is what i learned here. If you think it’s right, then go with it. Either you’ll learn you are wrong or you’ll discover something other players are lacking.
Cory Zeidman gets lucky against Jennifer Harman – 2005 WSOP Main Event
Once again we are missing a lot of information, but I assume here the blinds are 25-50, it’s Day 1 of the main event for sure. Harman makes it 200 with QQ. Zeidman calls with 98dd. Brady Davis calls as well with A6 off, but he’s irrelevant to the hand really.
It comes TJQ rainbow, which for the most part seems great for both Harman and Zeidman. Both hands are vulnerable though, but still. Harman bets 500 into about 600, and Zeidman quickly makes it 2,000. Harman looks pained as she makes the call. She probably has a clue at this point she could be up against a monster hand (or is acting, either one). The turn is the 10 of diamonds, giving Zeidman a gutshot straight flush draw to go along with this straight…but little does Zeidman know he’s up against Queens Full.
Jen checks and Zeidman bets a small $1,000 (a defensive bet if I ever saw one. He made it $2,000 to go last round!). Harman makes it $3,000 to go, prompting Zeidman to actually say “I think you might have Ace-King”. This right here tells Harman exactly what Zeidman has here (well almost, it’s either K-9 or 9-8). Remember, Zeidman showed a lot of strength on the flop too. He obviously wouldn’t be scared of AK if he had JJ or TT here.
The river is the 7 of diamonds, giving Zeidman the unlikely straight flush. Now perhaps it is impossible that Harman can check fold here, but is there really anything else Zeidman can have here? Just look at his demeanor change when that card hits. When Zeidman calls the all-in bet (after some unnecessary talk), Harman says she knew he had that hand. Honestly, I bet she did too.
It’s an interesting hand because if this was a deeper stack tournament, I think Harman can actually get away from this. It’s amazing that a player such as Zeidman, who would later win a WSOP Bracelet, exhibits so many tells regarding one hand.
Anyway, those are my random thoughts on some hands. I’ll perhaps do this again at some point.
WWF Royal Rumble 2001
January 21, 2001
New Orleans, LA
It’s over.
WCW didn’t really believe it to be so, but at this point it really was. The WWF vs. WCW war hadn’t really mattered to the WWF in over a year. WCW then proceeded to put on one of the worst years, if not the worst year, that a major wrestling promotion had ever put together. While WCW would have some strong moments in 2001 before its demise, it was way too little and way too late.
Meanwhile, the WWF was riding high. New stars such as Kurt Angle had really hit their stride. The WWF was also pushing the hell out of former WCW stars Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit, and even taking chances with guys like Rikishi. The WWF had all of that talent while also having their mainstays be at the very top. Stone Cold, HHH, Undertaker, Kane and The Rock were still at the top of their games. While that wouldn’t actually remain viable forever (not enough top spots), at this point the WWF was simply rolling.
Then again, there was some small concerns. Ratings in December were low comparing to past years, and that’s with the ultra-hot Austin comeback. Shouldn’t be a problem on the Road to Wrestlemania though…right?
From 2000 on, it’s just safe to assume the Hardyz, E and C and Dudleyz were feuding with one another. The con-chair-to was an awesome move. Shame we won’t ever see it again, although it’s for the best.
I always thought the chemistry between the three teams was awesome…especially since the Dudleyz adapted to the WWF style practically instantly.
This whole match revolves around the Dudleyz having concussions. My how times have changed.
Edge and Christian miss the con-chair-to and D-Von hot tags Bubba! The crowd is very into all of this.
“D-VON! GET THE TABLES!”
The Dudley Boyz win when D-Von Dudley pins Edge in 9:59. Edge and Christian go for the Dudleyz’ WASSUP! Headbutt, but it’s reversed. Edge eats the 3D, and the Dudleyz win the title! Crowd pops huge for a very good opening match. Chemistry was just perfect with these teams.
Drew Carey is here! I think he’s promoting a PPV or something. He talks to HHH and Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley and promotes his PPV.
Crash Holly then threatens The APA about the Rumble. Good for a laugh.
Their entire promo video is just them beating the hell out of one another throughout 2000. Sounds good to me.
Benoit and Jericho just go at it right away. No time to waste here.
One of the most cringeworthy moments I’ve ever seen: Benoit goes for a tope…and Jericho whacks him right in the head with a chair. Worse when you think about what ultimately happened with Benoit. What a sick spot.
This is just hard hitting stuff back and forth, not a lot of flying. It’s an old school ladder match and it’s awesome.
Ridiculous ladder teeter-totter spot that got Benoit in the face. Jeez.
Walls of Jericho on top of the ladder!
Benoit misses a top of the ladder diving headbutt. Sick.
Chris Jericho wins the title in 18:48. Jericho nails Benoit with a chair, then shoves him off the ladder and over the top. It’s enough time for Jericho to grab the IC Title. Great great match. One of the best ladder matches of all time. It’s forgotten because of the Benoit deal. Hard hitting, great spots and a great crowd. 2/2 so far tonight!
Drew Carey hits on Trish Stratus…but here comes Vince! Vince isn’t happy…so he has Drew enter the Royal Rumble! When Trish says it would impress her…Drew goes for it!
Storyline here: The Right to Censor injured Chyna’s neck…and Chyna wants revenge.
It may have been fun to see Chyna destroy Ivory at the time, but in retrospect this killed the Women’s title until Trish revived it at the end of the year.
Ivory retains the title via pin in 3:32. Chyna goes for her cartwheel elbow, but goes down and holds her neck. Ivory pins her. Chyna is stretchered out. Really a glorified angle. Chyna would crush Ivory two months later anyway.
Weird match here. HHH and Angle had feuded in 2000 in the love triangle storyline, but we got past that randomly in the last couple of months…and HHH had turned heel on Stone Cold. Suddenly HHH is the #1 contender causing Angle to think he’s against the McMahon family…but he’s still a heel and enlists Trish to help him, which infuriates Stephanie (well that and Vince’s flirtations with Vince). Still, both are heels, and the match actually feels like a backdrop of the Steph-Trish feud sadly.
As a result, except for some early “Angle Sucks” chants, the crowd really isn’t into it.
HHH works on the knee, even using a chair against Angle’s knee against the post. This makes Angle the face of the match then?
HHH with a strange Indian Deathlock. He had been using the Indian Deathlock in late 2000, notably against Benoit at No Mercy 2000.
Trish breaks up a Figure Four, leading to a Steph-Trish catfight…and the crowd goes nuts.
Razor’s Edge! Angle kicks out.
Moonsault from Angle! HHH survives though.
The crowd is on HHH’s side now.
Ref gets taken out…twice! HHH has it won…
Kurt Angle retains by pin in 24:16. Stone Cold comes out and beats the hell out of HHH…and hits him with a Stunner. Angle gets the pin. While this is a very good match, the Trish-Steph angle was distracting, and we didn’t even get remotely a good finish. I mean, I know Angle is a chicken-shit heel, but he really struggled to beat anyone during this reign…this match included.
The Royal Rumble
#1 is Jeff Hardy. #2 is Bull Buchanan.
#3 is Matt Hardy, pretty much ending the Bull Buchanan run.
The Hardyz oddly don’t wait for the next guy and go at it after dumping Bull.
#4 is Faarooq, who fends for himself pretty well for a minute before getting eliminated.
#5 is Drew Carey! Carey watches on the outside…and the Hardyz eliminate each other at the same time! Drew wins!
#6 is Kane. Kane slowly walks around the ring and Drew begs him not to hurt him. Drew hilariously offers money, but Kane says no. Kane is about to chokeslam drew, but #7, Raven saves him with a kendo stick shot. Drew eliminates himself.
It’s a Hardcore Rumble!
Al Snow runs in early and attacks Raven he confirms himself to be #8 shortly.
Raven takes a bowling ball to the nuts. Ouch.
#9 is Saturn. Interestingly, Saturn’s titantron has the same style that would be used for Chris Jericho’s Save.Us campaign later.
#10 is Steve Blackman as the Hardcore Division keeps coming out.
#11 is Grandmaster Sexay. It would be his last appearance until 2004.
Kane literally has a “fuck this moment”. Trash can shot knocks out Grandmaster. Blackman is next. Then Al Snow. Raven goes afterwards….then Saturn as well. Kane has cleaned house!
#12 is The Honky Tonk Man! He wants to sing his song. He does so, before Kane whacks him with a guitar and throws him out.
#13 is The Rock. Business has picked up!
#14 is The Goodfather! Goodfather never recovered from his RTC heel turn sadly.
And Rock takes out the Goodfather. That was fast.
#15 is Tazz, and he lasts less time than the Goodfather does. Kane knocks him out in about 5 seconds.
#16 is Bradshaw. He actually kicks some ass and takes Rock out with a clothesline.
#17 is Albert.
#18 is Hardcore Holly. Five guys in there now.
GETTING ROWDY! #19 is K-Kwik. Amazing that Killings never really got higher than this spot other than his heel run in 2011.
#20 is a Right to Censored Val Venis. It seems like we are just waiting for someone to clean house here.
#21 is William Regal.Test follows at #22, and dumps Regal.
Business picks up now as The Big Show returns and is #23. Show was last seen in July after being sent to OVW to lose weight (which he didn’t do, for the record). He chokeslams everyone in sight and gets rid of K-Kwik and Test. The Rock counters the chokeslam and out goes Show.
Big Show drags Rock under the ropes as #24, Crash Holly gets in. Big Show chokeslams The Rock through the Announcer’s table before leaving.
Undertaker is #25, and he and Kane clean out the ring…and DON’T attack one another (see Hardyz, it works!). Scotty 2 Hotty comes out in total fear, and is promptly chokeslammed and eliminated.
#27 is Stone Cold Steve Austin, leading to one of my all time favorite Rumble moments. Taker and Kane in the ring where Stone Cold comes down with no fear. HHH ruins the moment though by attacking Austin. Austin doesn’t make it to the ring. Rock gets back in and fight Taker and Kane.
#28 is Billy Gunn. Gunn gets some good offense in, probably the last good offense he’d get in until 2013.
#29 is Haku. Haku is the current WCW Hardcore Champion! You knew it was a death knell for WCW when the WWF didn’t even acknowledge that they stole Haku.
#30 is Rikishi. Rikishi sees Austin trying to get back to the ring and tries to take advantage, but Austin springs into action and attacks! Anyway, Rikishi, Gunn, Austin, Rock, Kane, Haku and Undertaker are the final seven.
Austin dumps Haku.
You can see there is a little Austin fatigue at this point. It’s not that Austin couldn’t be a top draw, but his out of nowhere attack of Rikishi would have gotten a huge reaction before. Now, it’s just something Austin did.
Rikishi superkicks Undertaker out!
Rikishi goes for a Banzaii Drop, but Rock knocks him over the top rope. Really bad showing from Rikishi here kayfabe wise. All that hype for #30 and he ended up lasting 5 minutes?
Austin, Gunn, Kane, Rock is the final four. One of these is not like the other.
Gunn hits Austin with the Fameasser…then Austin throws Gunn out just like that. Down to three.
Austin and Rock have locked eyes. These two went at one another at Armageddon the month prior as well.
Austin and Rock going at each other here was a huge deal. It was funny when WWE tried to replicate it with Orton and Cena in 2011.
Austin and Rock keep going at it and Austin even gets a Stunner. Austin tries to dump Rock, but Rock counters and tries to dump Austin. Kane comes from behind and tries to dump both, but only succeeds in dumping Rock (the record setting 11th elimination).
Stone Cold wins the Royal Rumble at 61:55, last eliminating Kane. Austin and Kane go at it, and Kane grabs a chair. Austin gets the chair though and whacks Kane a few times, before clotheslining him over the top for the win. Very good Royal Rumble. Had some slow moments…but clearly had its moments as well.
A really good PPV here. Only one match was lacking, and it only lasted three minutes. Everything else ranged from awesome (the IC Ladder Match) to very good (the WWF Title match). Historically this was Austin’s last great babyface moment of the Attitude Era, and Kane got a historical accolade that took 13 years to beat. Kane did kinda get wasted though after this.
Royal Rumble really had some good stuff. Comedy with Carey, Honky Tonk and Scotty 2 Hotty. Kane’s reign of terror. The hardcore part of the Rumble. The Austin-Rock staredown. The Big Show comeback (it got a good pop and he was a main guy always before this).
The entire show did provide good build-up for Wrestlemania as well. Can’t go wrong there.
Your NFC South Division “winners”, the Panthers, have not lost in December after a seven game non-winning streak (six losses and one tie). They’ve only beaten one team with a winning record (Detroit), and that was week 2. While they’re obviously hot, it’s not like they beat the cream of the crop in these last four weeks. It is impressive though that they beat both New Orleans and Atlanta on the road by a combined score of 75-13.
Yet the Panthers are big favorites over the Cardinals. The Cards have been lost after losing QB Carson Palmer for a second time this season…and for the remainder of the season. While Drew Stanton filled in at least respectably, he went down as well and left the Cardinals with Ryan Lindley. To give you a perspective on Lindley’s career, it took him to his sixth NFL Start to throw his first touchdown pass. He had seven interceptions already. Even tossing his first two TD scores wasn’t enough to lead the Cardinals past the downtrodden 49ers in week 17.
Look, the Cardinals have a much better defense, a better coach (Bruce Arians over Ron Rivera for sure) and really probably a better everything else, but this quarterback situation is brutal. There were stories that the Cards were calling Kurt Warner to play for him. Kurt Warner! He hasn’t played in five years! And anytime your QB is so bad that your fans are clamoring for the return of Drew Stanton…you aren’t winning a playoff game. It’s a shame for the Cardinals season for sure, but that’s just the way it goes.
For anyone who thinks a losing team can’t win a playoff game, history is actually on Carolina’s side here. The 2010-2011 Seahawks won their division at 7-9 and then beat New Orleans 41-36.
Pittsburgh won the tight AFC North Division, a division that seemed to be going Cincinnati’s way all season long. Unlike the Panthers, who won all December games over subpar competition, the Steelers won all their December games against good competition, beating the Bengals twice and the 9-7 Chiefs as well. At one point the entire AFC North was close and it looked as if any of the four teams could win the division, but the Steelers won all their key games down the stretch, including a huge victory over the Ravens on November 2nd
The Ravens though, were no slouches toward the end of the season either, winning five of their last seven. They got a random career year out of running back Justin Forsett and Joe Flacco had what can arguably be considered his best career regular season. The Ravens also had top 10 offenses and defenses per DVOA, which shows a solid balance. John Harbaugh has this Ravens teams going for sure. A bonus too is that the Steelers will be without their star back Le’Veon Bell.
So why am I not sold on Baltimore? Well of their ten victories, they won one game against a team with a winning record, which was Pittsburgh in Baltimore during week 2. After that? They beat Cleveland at Cleveland, Carolina, the Bucs, the Falcons, the Titans, New Orleans, Miami, the Jaguars and finally Cleveland again. All of their losses came against teams with winning records. Not inspiring to say the least.
Ben Roethlisberger has also posted a career near 5K yard year. I don’t think he’s going down in one playoff game after that.
Steelers 24, Ravens 13
Cincinnati Bengals (10-5-1) @ Indianapolis Colts (11-5)
I could probably just write Andrew Luck vs. Andy Dalton and be done with it…but football doesn’t really work that way.
To be honest though, my confidence in each of these two QBs is what makes the result easy to determine. I mean, you watched last year’s playoffs right? Andrew Luck willed his team back from a 38-10 deficient to beat the Chiefs. The Bengals meanwhile got beat at home against the Chargers 10-27.
This year? The Colts are clearly one level below the elite, beating Baltimore, Texans and even the Bengals, but also had all five losses come against top teams (Denver, pre-Sanchez Philly, Pittsburgh, New England and Dallas). The Bengals even recently had a victory over Denver, but that’s amidst a lot of questions about Peyton Manning. The Bengals had a chance to lock up the division last week and in typical Andy Dalton Marvin Lewis Cincinnati Bengal fashion, they lost.
I just can’t not take a team quarterbacked by Andrew Luck here…in Indy no loss.
Colts 31, Bengals 10
Detroit Lions (11-5) @ Dallas Cowboys (12-4)
Two long suffering franchises (in Detroit’s case, very long) that have a chance to make a run in the NFC. This is Dallas’ best crack at a Superbowl appearance since they blew the 2008 NFC Divisional game to the Giants. As for Detroit, well, this is their first real chance since Barry.
I’m not sure what to make of this Lions team to be honest. If I told you before the season that your new coach would be Jim Caldwell and your megastar receiver, Calvin Johnson, would have an off year, would you think you would be 11-5 and heading to the playoffs? Of course not. So what’s changed? Well, Detroit suddenly has one of the best defensive units in football, and the best rushing one at that per DVOA. And with Ndamukong Suh leading the way and appealing his one game suspension, that defense is going to be the key to victory for Detroit.
On the opposite Dallas has the best rusher in football: DeMarco Murray. Tony Romo has put together his best season in what feels to be a last gasp to repair his reputation and prove he is in fact one of football’s best QBs. Overall I think this Cowboys team is just too good from top to bottom to lose to Detroit. It doesn’t help that Detroit still feels like an undisciplined team after Suh stepped on Aaron Rodgers.
The Cowboys have had some convincing wins this season and I’ll be surprised to see Detroit be the one to end it just like that.
The NBA’s Christmas Day games are a tradition that dates back to 1947 in the old BAA. While throughout the 70s and 80s anywhere from four to seven games were played on Christmas, the late 80s ushered in an era where only top teams played…or at least teams with high market value. This article isn’t going to analyze anything about the XMas Day games. Instead, it will be a collection of scattered thoughts.
It’s too bad the NBA season can’t begin on Christmas
I know right? The NBA season starts at the very end of October/early November…and other than opening day no one cares about the NBA for two months until XMas. Why is this the case? The biggest issues for the NBA is that the NFL season is in full swing. The NFL of course is the king of American pro sports until Roger Goodell kills the league (might happen sooner than you think) and the NBA isn’t yet (or maybe ever) topping that. MLB sometimes really hurts the NBA as well. If the MLB postseason takes up those crucial last days of October/first days of November, it’s something else to talk about that isn’t basketball. And while they each aren’t nearly as big news wise, the NBA sharing ESPN space with the NHL and the NASCAR Chase doesn’t help.
It also doesn’t help that the first two months of the NBA season…don’t really matter. This is true for all of the major American professional sports other than football. 2014 was an especially lucky year for the NBA as they had two major stories going: LeBron’s return to Cleveland (and the Cavs “struggles”) and the injury plagued Oklahoma City Thunder. Still, other than LeBron’s literal return to Cleveland has him being back in Cleveland been THAT big of a deal these first two months? Not really right? Hell, even the ratings for LeBron’s return weren’t that great and even paled in comparison to his Heat debut four years prior (I do have a theory on this…which is people like to watch villains. Feel good stories are fine, but unless you’re Michael Jordan basketball feel good stories aren’t that big of a deal).
Do you know when the last time the first two months of a NBA season mattered? The 2011-2012 season! The lockout shortened year actually grabbed headlines before the season began (with the lockout and the Chris Paul-Lakers-Clippers-David Stern Veto situation) and had XMas day games that felt like they mattered. Why did they all feel like they mattered? Each game had either a situation attached to it and wasn’t tarnished by a team not performing as well as they should (you know, since they were all 0-0 at that point). For example: Carmelo lit up the Celtics and made it seem like the Knicks were going to be a real power (they were okay…although they had to be saved by Linsanity at one point), Chris Paul was making his Los Angeles Clippers debut against the Warriors with young Stephen Curry (who did not play well), the Heat and Mavericks had a Finals rematch, Oklahoma City took on Orlando in a game full of future (or even current) superstars (Durant, Westbrook, Dwight), and lastly Kobe and the Lakers took on DRose and the Bulls. All five games felt like big deals. Does this happen in a normal season? I say no. Clippers vs. Warriors loses appeal as the Warriors still weren’t ready and Chris Paul would have made his debut two months prior. The Knicks might have been in their slump (they were 12-15 at one point). Maybe even Orlando vs. OKC gets tarnished as Dwight battled injuries all season. This all leads me to my second thought.
There are one too many games on XMas…which tarnishes the sifnoficance a bit
While in the 70s and 80s there were anywhere from four to seven games on Christmas, that changed to one or two games throughout the 90s. As a result, you always had a big time game on for Christmas (although, oddly never the biggest game, you’d think MJ would be there every year). I’m going to pick 1995 as a starting point here…and only pointing out how games were marketed. Injuries would just be bad luck.
1995 (2 Games): Rockets @ Magic (Finals Rematch, Hakeem and Drexler vs. Shaq and Penny), Spurs @ Suns (Robinson vs. Barkley)
1996 (2 Games): Pistons @ Bulls (Grant Hill vs. MJ, Pippen, etc…Pistons were 20-6 at this point), Lakers @ Suns (Shaq’s first season as a Laker, Suns were an odd choice though)
1997 (2 Games): Heat @ Bulls (ECF Rematch, Tim Hardaway and Mourning vs. Jordan, Pippen, etc.), Rockets @ Jazz (WCF Rematch, Hakeem, Barkley and Drexler vs. Malone and Stockton)
1998: Lockout
1999 (2 Games): Knicks @ Pacers (ECF Rematch, Knicks vs. Reggie), Spurs @ Lakers (Duncan, Robinson vs. Shaq, young Kobe)
2000 (2 Games): Magic @ Pacers (TMac vs. the defending EC Champs w/Reggie, ambitious because the magic weren’t quite there yet, but TMac was surely a rising star), Trail Blazers @ Lakers (WCF Rematch, Rasheed vs. Shaq, Kobe)
2001 (2 Games): 76ers @ Lakers (NBA Finals Rematch: Iverson vs. Shaq/Kobe), Raptors @ Knicks (Carter vs. Knicks…the overrated draw of the Knicks starts to show around this time though)
2002 (3 Games): Kings @ Lakers (Best rivalry at the time and WCF Rematch, Webber vs. Shaq, Kobe), Celtics @ Nets (ECF Rematch, Pierce vs. Kidd), Pistons @ Magic (TMac and Hill vs. Detroit’s D), this could be an example already of one game too many though.
2003 (3 Games): Rockets @ Lakers (Yao, Francis vs. Shaq, Kobe), Cavs @ Magic (rookie LeBron vs. TMac), Mavericks @ Kings (7 Game WCSF rematch, Nowitzki vs. Bibby, Peja)
2004 (2 Games): Pistons @ Pacers (One of the best rivalries at the time), Heat @ Lakers (the much anticipated Shaq vs. Kobe…Wade was there too obviously)
2006 (1 Game): Lakers @ Heat (Really pushing that Shaq vs. Kobe draw)
2007 (3 Games): Heat @ Cavs (Wade vs. LeBron…whole thing was wrecked though as this was Miami’s 15-67 season), Suns @ Lakers (Nash vs. Kobe), Supersonics @ Trail Blazers (was supposed to be rookie Durant vs. rookie Oden and Roy). This represented probably the weakest set of games of the last 13 seasons.
2008 would begin the five game setup we have now. Let’s go over these 13 season of XMas games though: don’t most of these feel like a big deal? The NBA smartly pushed their top teams and talents into these games, and also gave the younger stars a chance to shine. Let’s look at 2008.
2008 (5 Games): Wizards @ Cavs (A budding rivalry which was really LeBron destroying them over and over…LeBron vs. Arenas), Celtics @ Lakers (NBA Finals rematch), Hornets @ Magic (CP3 vs. Dwight), Spurs @ Suns (Another good rivalry, Nash and Shaq vs. Duncan, Parker and Manu), Mavericks @ Trail Blazers (Nowitzki and Kidd vs. Roy and if Oden is there somehow?). Wizards don’t belong here, and Mavericks vs. Trail Blazers is one game too many.
Each year would still have its monster games of course, but then also a 4th or 5th game which took the significance away from the Christmas games. 2009 had Lebron vs. Kobe…and for some reason the godawful Knicks vs. Wade and a bunch of nobodies. Let’s look at 2014’s games.
2014 (5 Games): Wizards @ Knicks (Wall vs. Carmelo?), Thunder @ Spurs (Durant and Westbrook vs. the legendary Spurs trio), Cavs @ Heat (Lebron returns), Lakers @ Bulls (Kobe vs. DRose), Warriors @ Clippers (Curry vs. Blake and CP3)
The two obvious games that don’t belong? Wizards @ Knicks and Lakers @ Bulls. Lakers and Knicks combined records: 14-44. The Wizards are a fun up and coming team sure, but the Knicks are awful and most thought they would be as well. The Lakers too are the same way, and XMas day does not need the draw of Kobe (we didn’t see Wizards Jordan on XMas). Nevermind that it was a crapshoot we’d even get Derrick Rose playing. The other three are good choices. OKC vs. the Spurs lucked out (as long as Pop doesn’t bench anyone) since Durant and Westbrook are healthy. Cavs @ Heat was always going to be a big deal, even if the Heat aren’t anywhere near what they were and Bosh is out (it’s no different than Lakers-Heat in the mid 2000s). Golden State and LAC will be a great game. This is just two games too much.
I think I’ve had enough scattered thoughts about the NBA XMas day games. The NBA is still about a month and a half before they monopolize ESPN (post Super Bowl and All Star Weekend), and truthfully I can’t wait. And we usually get the ball rolling on XMas. I just wish 33% of the league wasn’t playing today. It would be a lot more special that way.
2006 December to Dismember Originally Posted on 2/27/2014
December 3, 2006
Augusta, GA
Background: It is quite incredible how badly WWE botched the initial vision of the ECW Brand. Starting with the Rise and Fall of ECW Documentary in 2004, ECW still had an opportunity to make bucketloads of money in professional wrestling. For all intents and purposes, that idea dies with December to Dismember 2006. While ECW on SyFy would actually be a fun show later on, and actually be the show that leads to NXT, at the time, fans thought ECW would be the Touchstone Pictures to WWE’s Disney. From June 2006, the 2nd One Night Stand Pay-Per-View, to December 2006, every former ECW wrestler, except for maybe sorta [b]Rob Van Dam[/b] was pushed to the side for the WWE’s version of “extreme” wrestlers. That will be clear in the main event of the PPV. I remember this one being a bad one, so let’s see if that vision remains.
The main story revolves around Bobby Lashley, as he had moved to ECW to be the new big face of the brand. Lashley would last seven more months in WWE. Big Show had been ECW Champion since late June due to the South Philly Screwjob. To be fair, that was RVD’s fault.
The fact that this show is in August, GA is probably as good as indicator that ECW has missed the mark.
The fact that it is a mere 2 hours and 14 minutes is another bad sign.
The Card
The idea of the Extreme Elimination Chamber…I think is actually pretty good. A lot of hardcore stuff can happen in a Chamber. It usually would happen to Chris Jericho though.
Joey Styles mentions that Augusta was best knows for Golf’s Masters. Sounds Extreme!
He also just said a new ECW Champion will be crowned. How’s that for a spoiler. Unless Show was stripped up the title ahead of time and I don’t remember.
The Hardy Boyz vs. MNM
This was one of two matches advertised beforehand, and none of these men are even in ECW. The Hardyz made an open challenge that was actually answered by the Voodoo Kin Mafia (New Age Outalws) in TNA. MNM reunited to accept.
Melina’s entrance is pretty awesome. Why hasn’t a Diva copied it yet?
Good start with Mercury and Matt Hardy. I don’t know what Mercury’s personal life was like at the time, but it seems like he’s excited to be on Pay-Per-View, like he’s getting a 2nd chance or something.
The fact that Nitro can do a standing Shooting Star Press is ridiculous.
Nitro and Jeff Hardy were trading the IC Title around this time I believe as well, which makes this match make more sense in storyline context.
There are a lot of great double team moves happening here. If MNM got bigger, the Hardyz vs. MNM would have been one of those Dream Matches mentioned somewhere down the line.
I can’t believe Johnny Nitro, John Morrison didn’t become a bigger star than he was. I know he can’t talk, but he literally has everything else from a wrestling standpoint.
Melina just screamed and it was horrifying. Absolutely horrifying.
Nice double vertical suplex reversed into a double neckbreaker by Matt Hardy. It is interesting that these four are having a good tag team match that isn’t involving a lot of high flying stuff.
Awesome heel spot with Mercury setting up the Twist of Fate and Morrison teasing the Swanton, but Matt countered. They did a Poetry in Motion right before as well.
Here comes the high flying stuff! Nitro and Jeff Hardy hit over the top rope dives to the floor onto the others.
Melina needs to stop screaming. It’s distracting to the match.
Surprised WWE Network didn’t block out Melina yelling out “Crack Whore”.
The Hardy Boyz def. MNM when Jeff pinned Nitro at 22:33. The finish is awesome. Nitro accidentally dropkicks Melina off the apron, and Jeff gets a near-fall. MNM hit the Snapshot (a great double team move) on Jeff, but matt just breaks up the count in time. MNM goes for a top rope Snapshot…but Matt breaks it up and hits a double Diamond Cutter to MNM off the rope. Swanton on both MNM members then Jeff pins Nitro for the three. Very good match. Knowing that this PPV ends to early, they shoulda let them go 10 more minutes.
Striker’s Rules Match: Matt Striker vs. Balls Mahoney
I do think the Matt Striker teacher gimmick was pretty solid. It seemed like a take off of Steve Corino.
Striker says this will be an Extreme Enforcement of the Rules match. No top rope moves, no eye goughing, no foul language. I mean, it’s not like Balls Mahoney is coming off the top anyway…
Striker has a picture of his face on his ass. I hope that isn’t the highlight of the match.
Joey Styles and Tazz keep hyping up Balls Mahoney’s amateur background. Look, if the aspect we are selling about Balls Mahoney is his wrestling ability, once again, we’ve missed the point.
I was wrong. Mahoney to the top! Striker shakes the top rope though. This match sucks by the way.
Give the crowd credit. They are behind Balls.
Balls Mahoney def. Matt Striker by pin in 7:12. Balls got the pin after the Ball Breaker (although they don’t call it that). I understand the lack of weapons in the opener. But Balls Mahoney was called the Chair Swingin’ freak for a reason. This match was boring and was not good.
Now for the worst moment of the show I think: Sabu found unresponsive backstage. Fans chant bullshit. Will Sabu make it to the Chamber?!?!
Elijah Burke and Sylvester Terkay vs. Little Guido Maritato and Tony Mamaluke
Burke cuts a promo about the Elijah Experience. I didn’t like Burke at all in his whole WWE run…but I loved his TNA run as the Pope.
I forgot about Trinity!
I hate that Taz is trying to be Jerry Lawler on commentary. He’s not good at it.
Little Guido owns. Always has. He steals Burke’s beanie hat and wears it himself. It’s funnier to see than it is to read here, I promise.
Terkay almost botched throwing Little Guido over the top rope. So much for putting that power on display.
The FBI are the faces here right? I just realized that although the FBI had never been faces. But it surely isn’t Burke and Terkay.
I don’t see why I am supposed to care about anyone in the ring. I care about Little Guido by default. If this match was supposed to put over Burke and Terkay, it isn’t doing a good job.
Elijah Burke and Sylvester Terkay def. The FBI when Burke pinned Mamaluke in 6:41. Burke uses the Elijah Experience, AKA the Stroke or the Skull Crushing Finale for the win. Terkay nails Guido with a Muscle Buster at the end. Take that Samoa Joe! Match was okay at best. No surprise Terkay didn’t last.
Sabu’s heading to the hospital! He might have a broken neck!
Daivari vs. Tommy Dreamer
Here comes Muhammad Hassan! No, it’s just Daivari. I never understood how Hassan had to go but Daivari kept his job doing the same exact gimmick. He also has The Great Khali with him. Khali just debuted back in May and destroyed Undertaker for a bit. Now he’s in Daivari’s corner n the ECW PPV. He’d be World Heavyweight Champ six months later. Wrestling is weird that way.
Poor Tommy Dreamer. Maybe we’ll get a chair shot in this one!
On commentary they are talking about the Sabu deal, and I totally forgot that Paul Heyman was actually a heel here.
Tommy Dreamer clearly sees Khali pull down the top rope but he goes flying over anyway. Ref saw it too and sends Khali to the back.
We get a “fuck’em up Dreamer, fuck’em up” chant. Yeah. I don’t think there will be any fucking up tonight.
Daivari def. Tommy Dreamer by pin at 7:22. Dreamer was gaining some momentum with a tree of woe dropkick. Crowd was behind him. Goes for the DDT, but Daivari escapes and uses a roll up…a fucking roll up with the tights being held to get the win. Dreamer runs after Daivari which leads to Khali meeting Dreamer on the ramp. He does the double choke bomb and Dreamer crashes hard on the ramp. Pretty damn sick move to be fair. Who knew Khali would have the most Extreme moment on the show so far? Match was pretty uneventful. Tommy Dreamer putting over Daivari on an ECW Pay-Per-View isn’t a good decision.
Poor Dreamer.
Heyman inserts [b]Hardcore Holly[/b] to replace Sabu in the Chamber. Fans boo. Hell, I think even WWE fans would didn’t care for ECW would boo. I would boo. And I like Hardcore Holly.
Mike Knox and Kelly Kelly vs. Kevin Thorn and Ariel
Knox’s theme music is the same that they used for a promo video of when Jim Ross kissed Vince McMahon’s ass and Undertaker turned heel.
Kelly Kelly wishes CM Punk good luck in the Chamber, much to the chagrin to Mike Knox. Damn, CM really stands for chick magnet doesn’t it?
Kelly Kelly’s gimmick is an exhibitionist. Boy fans were disappointed by that one.
Is it just me, or is Ariel a lot hotter than Kelly?
Why didn’t WWE keep Ariel? She could wrestle. Had a great look.
Ariel and Kevin Thorn def. Mike Knox and Kelly Kelly when Ariel pinned Kelly in 7:43. Mike Knox heel turn! Crowd chants CM Punk. Knox leaves Kelly and she doesn’t stand a chance against Ariel. To be honest, this was the rare match that would have been better if it was just the women. But it wasn’t terrible.
The Sandman shows up. Gets a good reaction and beats the crap out of Thorn. I assume this was all setting up the New Breed vs. Originals feud in 2007? But it was a solid segment.
Bobby Lashley interview. Crowd boos, of course.
Let me say something about Big Show before the main event. You can tell here that he was hurting and very out of shape. Probably why he took a year off after this. That and he’s in the Chamber for like 3 minutes.
[b]Paul Heyman[/b] comes out first. He’s about to cut a promo, which apparently he told Big Show backstage before this that he was so upset about the show and how it was going that for the first time ever he didn’t want to come out for it.
Heyman actually calls the six men in the match the six greatest ECW superstars ever. I wonder how sick that line made him.
I believe this is the last time we see Paul Heyman until he comes in to aid Brock Lesnar in 2012.
Once again, I think the match idea is great. This match has loads of potential.
Champ Big Show is here first. He takes the pod with the barbed wire bat.
CM Punk is next. Crowd is clearly on his side. Punk takes the pod with a chair.
Here comes Test. Him and Big Show are on the same side in the story. Test takes the crowbar pod.
Taz mentions he’s wrestled some crowbars. Was that an undercard match on Flair vs. Broomstick?
Bobby Lashley time! And the crowd goes mild! I do think Lashley was fine in everything he did before ECW. He takes the table pod.
That means we start with RVD vs. Hardcore Holly.
Looks like Holly is also on the Show-Test-Heyman team!
RVD does some nice Spiderman spots. Does a springboard press, but misses Holly and catches the chains of the chamber. He misses the 2nd press and hangs himself up on the top rope.
RVD hits a Rolling Thunder over the top rope onto Hardcore Holly and the steel. Holly vs. RVD has been an entertaining five minutes.
CM Punk is in. He does a Sabu throwing chair spot to Hardcore Holly, then a springboard clothesline. RVD gets his revenge, doing a real Sabu throwing chair spot which hits Punk perfectly on the head.
It’s a shame we never got RVD vs. Punk in a major program.
Punk sends RVD into the corner with a chair propped up. This match is getting good!
Holly takes control, gets a superplex on Punk.
Predictably Test is next, and nails Punk with the crowbar and then tries to skin RVD with it (RVD had been busted open). RVD is starting to get chair happy, nailing both Test and Holly before hitting Punk with the skateboard.
Five Star Frog Splash to Punk and Punk is gone. Wrong man to go first, but it was smart to make RVD the one to do it to minimize the boos.
Test nails Holly with a big boot and surprisingly eliminates him.
RVD goes to the rope of Show’s pod, but Show holds RVD’s foot down. Test hits two chair shots then sends RVD crashing to the mat. He puts a chair on RVD’s face, then drops the elbow from the top of the pod. Test eliminates RVD. Great spot. Horrible result, as the two guys who were most over with the crowd are the first two of the first three out. “Where’s my refund” chants start up.
Heyman’s riot guys keep Lashley in his pod when he’s supposed to get out, but Lashley uses the table to break through the chains on the roof (wha?). Lashley beats the crap out of Test, slamming him through one of the pods (which because of the table left in there doesn’t really create the same impact it normally does). Test eventually is gone after a Lashley spear.
We await the Lashley-Big Show confrontation. Lashley is throwing furniture at Big Show’s pod.
When Big Show gets in, he beats on Lashley’s chair with the barbed wire bat. It eventually gets caught in the chains and he loses it. Lashley promptly throws Big Show through a pod.
Bobby Lashley wins the ECW Title and Extreme Elimination Chamber, last defeating Big Show at 24:42.Lashley counters a Show Chokeslam into a DDT. Eventually Lashley hits a spear and gets the pin. There is a small crowd pop there. Then it gets all silent.
Gotta love how the table was just used to break through the pod and nothing else.
The match isn’t awful, but the people and booking decisions surrounding the match made it a lot worse. The crowd did not want to see Bobby Lashley beat up Test before finishing off the Big Show to win the title.
The opener was fun. But then the next four matches are completely whatever. In fact, all of them are matches that belonged on TV and not PPV. Dreamer losing to Daivari served what purpose exactly? Were they really pushing Daivari? Other than the opener and the main event, there were no videos to promote why these matches were happening (although the Mixed Tag had a storyline to it at least).
There are some bright spots though. Opener was very good. Sandman appearance was okay. Extreme Chamber was pretty okay quality wise.
And that’s enough to avoid a flat out F for me.
Note: After I posted this, I learned either through Hardcore Holly’s book or Sabu’s Talk is Jericho…I don’t remember which…that Sabu failed a drug test and that’s why he was taken out of the Chamber. Doesn’t change anything grade wise, but it’s interesting to note.
Rajon Rondo is one of the most polarizing figures in the NBA. Public expectation of Rondo has zig zagged throughout this entire career. In 2006 when he was drafted by Boston (or sold by Phoenix, however you want to look at these things), he was the point guard who couldn’t shoot. In 2007 he was expected to be competent enough to not screw-up the new big three and hopeful NBA Champion Boston Celtics. From 2009 through 2012 he was supposed to be the best player AND future of the Celtics. In 2014 he was supposed to lead the Celtics after a terrible ACL injury…but no one knew despite his statistics how good he really was or if he could be good without a Hall of Fame cast. Now, he’s supposed to be the missing piece to get Dallas over the hump and deliver Dirk Nowitzki a second ring.
The trade is constructed as follows: Boston sends Rajon Rondo for Brandan Wright, Jameer Nelson, Jae Crowder, a 2015 1st rounder from Dallas if it falls between #4 and #14 (it won’t) or a top 7 protected 2016 1st (very likely). I’m not sure, but I believe a second pick is in there somewhere as well.
Let’s first look at both of these teams. First, Boston. The Celtics have built towards the future obviously and have built quite well. They absolutely shackled the Nets with the Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett trade (the Nets have to swap their 2017 1st with Boston, as well as give up their 2016 and 2018 1st rounders…I think. They also got their 2014 1st rounder too. They selected James Young.) If you’ve seen the Nets and what their future looks like, you probably are expecting another Boston dynasty in about five years. Boston also has a late 1st round pick in 2015 from the Clippers in the Doc Rivers deal and a 2016 1st from Cleveland in the Keith Bogans deal. Garnett’s a shell of a shell of his former self…and Pierce currently plays for the Wizards. While Boston didn’t get enough for Rondo here, it’s not as bad as many have made it out to be.
The Mavericks are in contention mode right now and are absolutely doing the right thing in trying to upgrade their roster short term. You don’t waste players like Dirk Nowitzki. Nowitzki’s entered that Reggie Miller part of his career where his raw stats may not look like anything special, but he’s still a ridiculous player who can hit any shot and wins games…playoff games included…at any time. You can definitely win a championship in 2014 with this Dirk Nowitzki. Monta Ellis, traditionally a volume shooter than hurts his team more than he helps, does well enough alongside Nowitzki on the offensive end. He gets opportunities he didn’t get in Golden State and Milwakuee playing with Nowitzki. He and Nowitzki’s defensive shortcomings are all covered up by a rejuvenated Tyson Chandler, who also doubles as one of the most efficient offensive players in the league (currently shooting 68% from the floor, which is basically all put backs and dunks. Some would use that as an argument to say Chandler isn’t a good offensive player…which doesn’t make any sense at all.) Chandler Parsons of course is a solid offensive player himself. Considering their starting point guards have been a washed up Nelson and a washed up Devin Harris and they STILL have an incredible offense that leads the league in both PPG and Offensive Rating, well, Rondo has to be considered a huge upgrade, right? And defensively, Nelson and Harris are average at best. Again, Rondo can only improve that, correct?
Well, yes and no. Rajon Rondo is polarizing as his resume reintroduces the question of whether good stats means a good player. Rondo’s stats are pretty great for a point guard. He’s led the league in assists per game three of the last four seasons (counting this season so far). His last six season APG averages? 9.8, 11.2, 11.7, 11.1, 9.8 and 10.8 this season. I mean, those aren’t just good…those are incredible. He’s usually close to averaging two steals a game. He doesn’t shoot a lot and always looks to set up teammates. He sounds like a perfect player for this Mavericks team. But the downside is after 8 seasons Rajon Rondo still can’t hit an outside shot. He can barely hit a 15 footer. While Nelson and Harris aren’t exactly Stephen Curry out there, and Nelson is even shooting 37%, they are still players that should be guarded from the outside. That’s part of some past reputation. But Rondo? Why guard him at all if you can just double Nowitzki? Clog up the middle and make Rondo shoot. That’s what the Lakers did in the 2010 Finals afterall. This glaring weakness is huge and has prevented Rondo from becoming a truly elite point guard along the lines of Chris Paul. He’s a new age Jason Kidd…although Kidd was always able to get the best out of subpar teammates. Rondo hasn’t been able to do that. All of this coupled with his ACL history creates something that kind of make sense of why he was traded for 50 cents on the dollar.
Do I think Boston could have and should have gotten more? Yes. But it was still okay. Dallas won this trade though not just because they traded very little of value to upgrade from Nelson and Harris to Rondo…but because of who Rondo can be when he’s motivated. His 2009 playoff box scores when carrying the Kevin Garnett-less Celtics were incredible. (29-9-7, 19-12-16, 20-11-6-5, 25-11-11 and 28-11 against Chicago in the first round, 14-10-8, 15-11-18, 21-12-14 vs. Orlando in round 2). He was the best player in the Boston-Cleveland series in 2010, and put up a gem of a game (29-18-13) in a crucial game 4. You really think Damian Lillard, Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul, Tony Parker and Stephen Curry want to deal with Rajon Rondo in the playoffs?
Great move for Dallas, good but could have been better move for Boston.
(Note: I began reviewing pro wrestling PPVs on a message board since the advent of the WWE Network. These are not quite structured well, but more of a result of random notetaking).
2008 Royal Rumble Review (Originally Posted on February 24, 2014)
January 27, 2008
New York, NY
Background: The WWE was in a transition period here as 2007 was far from their best year. John Cena, who had been the longest reigning WWE Champion in almost 20 years, suffered an injury that had him vacate the title and had him missing Wrestlemania. Hell, 2007 was basically the year of the injury. On the Smackdown side, Undertaker won his first World Title in 5 years and tore his pectoral, missing most of the year. Edge came in and snatched the title with a Money in the Bank Contract…only to get hurt byKane. This led to a Great Khali title reign best forgotten. On the Raw side, Triple H tore his other quad in January, and he wouldn’t return until Summerslam. I already mentioned Cena. Not injury related, but Rob Van Dam and Booker T also left the company.
We won’t even get into the worst 2007 tragedy, which was the Chris Benoit situation.
The ECW Brand had suffered through 2007 despite being an entertaining show. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t what original ECW fans had in mind.
Overall, WWE just had tons of issues.
Some new stars were coming up though. Mr. Kennedy, MVP, CM Punk, Umaga and John Morrison were making names for themselves. Some old favorites returned, such as Chris Jericho. 2008 looked like a bright year. With New Year’s Revolution gone, the Royal Rumble was the first PPV of 2008.
The Card
Michael Cole tells us that this is the first ever PPV that is in HD. I think that’s a bit crazy that HD was happening six years ago.
I love the tunnel entrance for MSG. Shame we’ll never see that again.
Career Threatening Match
Ric Flair vs. MVP
This was a few weeks after Vince McMahon told Flair that the next time he loses his career was over. This is one of those exceptions to the rule of a match being less interesting when you know who will win. We all know Flair is winning.
I do think this speaks volumes about how MVP was thought of, considering one of Ric Flair’s final matches was against him.
Flair starts out by telling NY how much of an honor it was to wrestle in Madison Square Garden. MVP interrupts.
MVP was pretty damn over as a heel. I’m surprised that he didn’t become a top guy, but I felt the same about Mr. Kennedy at the time too.
I wonder if Charles Robinson did all the late Ric Flair matches.
Ric Flair def. MVP by Submission in 7:48. Flair counters the Playmaker into the Figure Four. Pretty good match. Flair could still go even at 59 years old, and MVP was a good heel here.
We get some Vince and Hornswoggle stuff, as at this point he was still Vince’s son. He’s trying to get Hornswoggle to distrust Finlay.
Oh man Mike Adamle debut. Totally forgot this. He hypes up JBL vs. Jericho, which even today to me is a bit of a mind boggling feud.
Chris Jericho vs. JBL
Jericho had returned back in November as part of the Save.Us campaign, which led to a match with World Champion Randy Orton. Orton threw Jericho into Smackdown commentator JBL, and JBL cost Jericho the title. The angle took an extreme turn quickly, including JBL hanging Jericho at one point. JBL claimed that he was the real savior of WWE, not Jericho. This was also JBL’s return to active competition after retiring back in 2006. I like JBL and I like Jericho, but this feud really didn’t need to happen and I’m still confused on why it did, especially with a hanging angle in there.
The match is rather forgettable until the end, as Jericho goes nuts.
JBL def. Chris Jericho by DQ in 9:23. The match is rather forgettable until the end, as Jericho goes nuts. Wearing the crimson mask, he bashes JBL with a chair and actually hangs JBL back. Once again, this feud really didn’t need to be this violent.
We see Ashley Massaro trying to take to Maria. Santino is funny here. He’s Maria’s boyfriend, and he isn’t happy that Ashley wants Maria to be in Playboy.
Edge had taken over Smackdown as the top guy in 2007, but injuries messed that up. He returned at Survivor Series and beat Undertaker and Batista in a three way match using the Edgeheads (Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins) as decoys to win the title.
There’s also a love interest with Edge and Vickie Guerrero, which I always thought was weird since he was with Lita two years prior.
Fans were not into Mysterio here, for some reason. Edge was one of the hottest heels the business had seen in quite a while, he was practically what WWE was hoping Randy Orton would eventually become. Edge gets cheered in his introduction. A “Let’s Go Edge” chant breaks out as well.
Mysterio does botch a couple of moves here. I wonder if he was hurting here, as he would do an injury angle at No Way Out and not even be at Wrestlemania.
Mysterio is getting booed out of the building here.
I think Edge tried to bust out a Brock Lock there. Match revolves around Mysterio’s knee.
Mysterio does some things I don’t remember him doing in other matches. A top rope double stomp for example. A sweet slide under the bottom rope into a Tornado DDT was also a great spot.
Edge def. Rey Mysterio by pin to retain the title at 12:34. There is a great finish here. Vickie comes out of her wheelchair to pull the ref out when Mysterio had the title won. Edge goes for a spear, but Mysterio dodges to go for a 619. Mysterio ends up hitting Vickie with the 619 as she was protecting Edge, distracting Rey. Rey goes for a springboard…something…but he’s speared in midair. That spot has been copied, but it was incredible to see for the first time. Good match, crowd though hated Mysterio and I don’t remember why. Maybe because of just how awesome Edge was at this point.
Kennedy is in Flair’s locker room congratulating him. Looks like he’s about to challenge Flair at No Way Out until HBK comes into the picture. HHH and Batista eventually join them, all talking about how the best man will win the Rumble.
Maria comes out to accept the Playboy deal. Somehow we get Big Dick Johnson dancing in Patriots 19-0 body painting. This was right before the Giants-Pats Superbowl. Anyway….
Mike Adamle with the classic Jeff Harvey line. But…it’s fixed! How disappointing.
Anyway, one of my favorite promo vids happen here for Hardy vs. Orton. Unfortunately, the music is different for the Network as well! Original theme was Rooftops by Lost Prophets. I don’t know what this is. Sigh.
Jeff had been getting a megapush beginning in November, even beating HHH to get this title shot. Fans were very behind Jeff Hardy here, and I even believed he had a shot to win the title here. Orton was finally reaching his potential as a dick heel with that Viper focus and beginning his best two year run. He injured Matt Hardy in the build-up, and Jeff hit a Swanton off the stage the Raw before this.
Hardy gets a lot of near falls in this and the fans are with him the whole way. Orton is playing a great heel.
Hardy starts hitting some risky stuff, a flying bodypress off the apron comes first.
Orton even gets creative in his restholds. A leg grapevine and a headlock?
Jeff eventually hits a moonsault off the top rope onto the floor, which looked as sick as I remember it.
Randy Orton def. Jeff Hardy by pin to retain the title in 14:03. Orton and Hardy get back into the ring after the moonsault, and a Hardy Twist of Fate attempt turns into a RKO. I remember not being happy at the time, but the finish made sense. It showed Jeff could hang in a World Title match main event, and put over Orton’s RKO is a legit finisher that shouldn’t be kicked out of a billion times. Jeff’s time will come.
The Royal Rumble
We’ve got six commentators for this one.
At the time, the smart money was on HHH winning. Undertaker winning a 2nd in a row was also a popular choice. Mr. Kennedy was the IWC darkhorse that in hindsight didn’t stand a chance.
Also, it was assumed Big Show would return after being gone for a year.
Michael Buffer doing the “Let’s Get Ready to Rumble” bit was great.
#1 and #2 were the last two of the 2007 Royal Rumble…Taker and HBK. Buffer introduces HBK as The Heartbreak Kid and not Shawn Michaels, which is a bit funny. Nonetheless, one of the all-time great starts and one of the little things that made the Taker-HBK rivalry that much better over the last two years of HBK’s career.
#3 is the comedy Santino spot…which had him trying to pretend to be as tough as Taker and HBK. He gets superkicked in 10 seconds and is gone.
#4 is The Great Khali. Gets the “You Can’t Wrestle Chant”. Taker eliminates him before #5. One great thing about this Rumble is HBK is on Taker at all points. Everytime Taker tries to eliminate someone, HBK is right behind him.
#5 is One-Half the Tag Champs, Hardcore Holly. John Morrison, half of the other Tag Champs follows at #6. Tommy Dreamer gets in at #7 to a good response.
Batista comes in pretty early at #8. Early face-off with Undertaker. They had feuded for most of 07. Dreamer tries to get involved, but he gets dumped by Batista for his trouble.
Hornswoggle comes in at #9…and just hides under the ring. People were worried he would be winning after that…
We get Chuck Palumbo at #10, who was doing a biker gimmick. An injured Jamie Noble is #11, who was feuding with Palumbo at the time. Palumbo gets rid of him quickly.
#12 is CM Punk, who a few days earlier lost his ECW World Title to Chavo Guerrero. He gets rid of Palumbo.
The other half of the Tag Champs Cody Rhodes is next at #13. He’s got awful music. This is when he was a meat and potatoes babyface.
#14 is Umaga. Umaga was an awesome monster heel at this point. Holly seemingly stiffs him with chops, but Umaga no sells and Samoan Spikes him over the top rope.
#15 is bald Snitsky. Not nearly as good at the monster heel thing as Umaga was. #16 is Morrison’s tag partner, The Miz. Some faint Miz chants in there.
JR at this time mentions that Morrison reminds him of a young HBK…but isn’t sure about the heart. Interesting. Seemed right on the money.
#17 is Shelton Benjamin, who does some really cool jumping spots, and gets superkicked out by HBK 20 seconds later.
#18 is Superfly Jimmy Snuka. Gets the legends pop. Takes out everyone. Taker does the headbutt spot where he hurts himself. Roddy Piper follows at #19, and gets a massive reaction. Of course, we get Snuka vs. Piper. Piper was recovering from Hodgkin’s Disease here, and it’s amazing he was in the ring at Mania 14 months later.
#20 is Kane, and he dumps Piper and Snuka, to the chagrin of the crowd. Carlito follows at #21. Him spitting the apple at Cody right away was a nice spot. I think at this point we were past Carlito being any more than he was.
#22 is Mick Foley, who gets a great New York response. Huge Foley chants. He looks pretty solid here.
We get Kennedy at #23, and he gets a solid reaction as well. Didn’t remember that Kennedy used that running kick in the corner than Zack Ryder uses.
Takes starts kicking ass at this point. We get Big Daddy V at #24. During that, Taker eliminates Snitsky, but HBK kicks Taker out right afterwards. Kennedy then tosses HBK. Just like that, we were sure HHH was winning. HBK and Taker put in a really good half hour.
#25 is Mark Henry…who at this point still hadn’t been a total badass yet. That transformation would happen this year (2008).
Hornswoggle comes out from under the ring and takes out the Miz, which was hilarious.
#26 is ECW Champion Chavo Guerrero. Shows how low the ECW title had come…as last year the Rumble winner was allowed to challenge for the ECW Title. Kane takes out Morrison. Hornswoggle tries to take out Cody Rhodes…but Mark Henry pulls him in. Finalyis technically #27, but gets DQed for jumping the gun. We lose Hornswoggle and Finlay here. #28 is Elijah Burke. Chavo takes out Punk…which is probably Chavo’s career highlight.
#29 is HHH himself, leaving what probably is the Big Show at #30. Crowd pops for the Game. Seems obvious at this point it was coming to Batista vs. HHH. HHH takes out Rhodes, Big Daddy V and Cody Rhodes. He also sends Foley out…who clotheslines Burke out at the same time. HHH hits a little bit of everyone waiting for #30.
#30 is one of the best surprises WWE has ever done, as a recently injured John Cena comes out. Cena was slated to not be back till April or May. Complete stunner.
Cena takes out Carlito, Henry and Chavo. HHH, Kennedy, Umaga, Cena, Kane, Batista left. HHH and Cena go at it. Batista ends the Kennedy dream, and takes out Umaga as well. Batista and HHH eliminate Kane, leaving Batista, HHH and Cena. All three do their taunts.
Batista dominates early, so much for stamina being a factor. Cena eventually counters a Batista Bomb, and HHH clotheslines Batista out.
I didn’t even realize pointing at the Wrestlemania sign was even a thing at this point. Fans are solidly behind HHH here. Some obvious back and forth here. They both tease finishers and knock the other down. Cena teases the FU (AA) elimination spot, but HHH survives. HHH goes for the elimination, but Cena counters for the FU, to which HHH counters into a pedigree, to which Cena finishes it off with a FU elimination. John Cena wins the Royal Rumble, last eliminating Triple H at 51:26.
Very good Rumble overall. HBK and Taker carried it early on. The Snuka-Piper spots were nice. It lagged a bit between HBK and Taker being gone and HHH showing up. Cena surprise, while I didn’t like it at the time, was one of the best surprises WWE had ever done. HHH and Cena were #29 and #30, and were the last two remaining, which is how it should be storyline wise.
Last Thoughts and Grade
From top to bottom this is a solid Pay-Per-View. MVP vs. Flair was solid. JBL vs. Jericho was okay, but not bad. Edge vs. Rey had some tough moments but made up for it with Rey’s selling (unless he was really hurt, which he might have been) and spectacular finish. Orton vs. Hardy was done well. Rumble was good, surprise was shocking. A lot of good to very good, but I would say nothing great.
Myself, JonRoyalty and Matt F. (the future Mr. Anonymous) came together to discuss ideas that would lean to the creation of a Nintendo Cinematic Universe. With the multitude of characters that Nintendo owns there is more than enough content to create an entire universe.
I storyboarded all the film ideas where Matt and Jon provided ideas of what would work and what wouldn’t. Like the Marvel Cinematic Universe and I guess future DC Cinematic Universe, there are multiple phases to help understand the timeline. These films are also meant to be taken seriously as opposed to being a “kid’s movie series”.
This is Phase 1, with plot details, characters and even potential mid-credit and end-credit scenes. Remember that we’re just three fans of games who believe something like this would be awesome.
1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
2. Super Mario Bros.: Mario vs. Donkey Kong
3. Star Fox v. Samus: Rise of Ridley
4. Kirby Superstar: Legend of the Crystal Shards
5. Super Mario Bros. 2: Rise of the Koopa King
6. Super Smash Bros.
1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Link’s greatest journey kicks off the NCU.
Plot: Link is a 16 year old who lives among the Kokiri. While the Kokiri never grow, Link himself has. The Great Deku Tree decides now is the time for Link to face the evil that threatens Hyule. The Great Deku Tree explains to Link about the Triforce. Link defeats Queen Gohma as a test, and then is sent with the fairy Navi to help the Goron and Zora races. The Great Deku Tree’s last request before his death is for Link to seek out Princess Zelda. Link leaves behind the Kokiri. Link’s best friend Saria entrusts Link an Ocarina to talk to her whenever he needs.
Link heads to Hyrule Castle Town, hilariously stopping by the Happy Mask Shop at one point. The Happy mask Salesman tells Link to “just have faith…”. Also on this trip he stops by the Lon Lon Ranch and meets Malon and her horse, Epona. Link then sneaks into Princess Zelda’s castle. Zelda explains the prophecy that one day Hyrule will be taken over by the evil Ganondorf, who currently serves as a hope aid to the King. Link explains what the Great Deku Tree told him, and they both agree that Link should help the Gorons and Zoras. The Gorons and Zoras are at war, as lava and rocks of fire had fallen into Zora’s River. Lord Jabu-Jabu has led the way in blaming the Gorons for this, but the Gorons fight back, claiming a race called the Dodongos have caused the problem. Link proves this is the case by defeating the Dodongos.
Link returns to Princess Zelda only to find Zelda escape from Hyrule Castle. Ganondorf is in pursuit, and when Link draws his sword Ganondorf attacks him with an energy blast. With Zelda and Ganondorf long gone, Link finds the Ocarina of Time left by Zelda with a message. Link follows the message to enter the Temple of Time. When he uses the Ocarina of Time in the Temple of Time, he obtains the Master Sword. This leads to Link being trapped in the temple for 10 years and he falls into a deep sleep. He has a nightmare that Ganondorf himself has entered the Temple of Time because Link had opened it. When Link awakens he learns that his nightmare was in fact true. He also accepts his responsibility as the Hero of Time.
Link awakens in a world now covered with monsters. Ganondorf has ruled Hyrule for the last ten years and has left everywhere but his castle and Gerudo Valley in ruin. Link re-unites with a fully grown Epona and sets to save the Kokiri, Gorons and Zoras. Once he does so, he obtains the power of their leaders as Sages. A mysterious ninja named Sheik also helps Link on his quest. They all help Link infiltrate Gerudo Valley and the Spirit Temple, destroying Ganondorf’s defenses.
With a showdown with Ganondorf remaining, Sheik reveals herself to be Zelda, but Ganondorf captures here. The three pieces of the triforce are possessed between Link, Ganondorf and Zelda. Link defeats Ganondorf, and his monstrous form in Ganon, and restores peace to Hyrule.
Mid-Credits Scene: During a celebration, Zelda explains to Link that the war is far from over, and that the prophecy predicted much worse things than Ganondorf’s reign over Hyrule. (Setting up Super Smash Bros.).
Post-Credits Scene: The Happy Mask Salesman looks disappointed as he’s failed to lend any masks. He slowly packs his masks away, but stops to look at one. He laughs, and Majora’s Mask is shown. Majora’s Mask’s evil laugh is heard as the scene ends. (Setting up LOZ: Majora’s Mask).
Connection to the Games: Obviously follows Ocarina of Time’s story with some changes. The age change and time in the Temple of Time is done to use older Link throughout the Universe. The Goron and Zora stories were shortened and combined as I feel that it would create one too many subplots for a film.
Important Cinematic Characters: Link, Zelda, Epona, Navi, Ganondorf
2. Super Mario Bros.: Mario vs. Donkey Kong
We skipped the whole Jumpman thing…
Plot: The Yoshis are a tribe of friendly dinosaurs that one day have two babies delivered to them from the King of the Mushroom Kingdom. The King has requested that the Yoshis protect and train Mario and Luigi as they are predicted to save the Kingdom from an attack that’s coming in the next generation. The Yoshi’s train the Mario Bros. to become warriors over the next 20 years. Both Mario and Luigi become close with a specific green Yoshi, and Yoshi becomes Mario’s best friend.
Twenty years after the Mario Bros. were delievered, Kong Isle has attacked the Mushroom Kingdom and captured several women. The Kongs eventually capture Luigi as well. Mario and Yoshi head out to save them all and become the hero he was predicted to be. Mario uses all the jumping moves taught to him by Yoshi, as well as learns the ways of the mystical foods and items that are scattered around the Mushroom Kingdom. Using Mushrooms, Fire Flowers and Starmen, Mario eventually arrives to a showdown with the leader of the Kongs: Donkey Kong. Donkey Kong has personally kept Luigi and Princess Peach imprisoned. It is known that the King had passed away in the last 20 years.
Using those items and a hammer, Mario and Yoshi make their way through Donkey Kong’s buildings and structures. He ultimately causes Donkey Kong to fall off the highest structure, injuring but not killing him. Mario saves his brother, the King and Princess Peach, who he is immediately smitten by.
Mario, Yoshi and Luigi are welcomed to the Castle for cake. The King explains to Mario that many of the Mushroom Kingdom mushrooms have come alive and gone bad, and that the Mushroom Kingdom is still in danger. Mario accepts the responsibility of protecting the Mushroom Kingdom.
Mid-Credits Scene: Donkey Kong retreats home and, while not through words, is clearly apologetic for what he’s done. He then sees a light that asks him for his help… (setting up Super Smash Bros.)
Post-Credits Scene: The King and Princess Peach awaken to a loud commotion outside this Castle. When they look outside, they see Toads being captured by Koopa Troopas, Hammer Bros. and other minions. Bowser breaks into the Castle and captures Princess Peach, leaving us with a fearsome growl. (Setting up Mario 2)
Connection to the Games: Looks to create a Mario origin story combining Yoshi’s Island and the original Donkey Kong game. Also takes after Batman Begins.
Important Cinematic Characters: Mario, Donkey Kong, Luigi, Yoshi, Peach, Bowser
3. Star Fox v Samus
Can Fox and Samus work together?
Plot: All Fox McCloud knows about his father is that he was killed in battle when Pigma Dengar betrayed the original Star Fox team. Fox’s father James was killed, while Peppy Hare, a teammate, survived. Wolf O’Donnell, the leader of the Star Wolf team, was said to be the one who gunned down Fox’s father. Fox one day wonders when he’ll get his chance to take on the Star Wolf team with his Star Fox team.
Fox captains the Star Fox team and helps protect the Lylat System, although mostly as a mercenary. He often flies to Dinosaur Planet to keep the peace between the planet and the rest of the Lylat System. The planet’s ruler: Ridley, has kept the planet is check as it is heavily implied it was once ruled by Bowser. Disruptions begin to take place on Dinosaur Planet though, and Star Fox looks to find out what is going on. A bounty hunter named Samus is out to kill Ridley. Star Fox prevents this from happening which leads to Samus taking on the entire Star Fox team (in tanks) four against one. Samus holds her own and severely damages all of the Star Fox tanks.
Dinosaur Planet attacks Sector Z, and suddenly Ridley has gone from keeping Dinosaur Planet peaceful to looking to destroy the Lylat System. When Samus looks to stop him, team Star Fox again confronts Samus. Star Fox demands that Samus leave the Lylat System and allow Star Fox to handle their own issues. When Star Wolf arrives at Macbeth to help Ridley destroy it, Star Fox realizes they need Samus’s help and Ridley isn’t on the peaceful side any longer.
It’s revealed that Andross has gained the trust of Dinosaur Planet. As a result Venom and Dinosaur Planet joined forces to overthrow Corneria. Star Fox and Samus come together and defeat Ridley. Fox only partially avenges his father’s death by shooting down Pigma, but Wolf and the rest of Star Wolf escape. Ridley is defeated. Samus and Fox shake hands and are both paid quite well by the Cornerian Army.
Post-Credits Scene: Samus and Fox head to a secret Space Temple, where they are shown a recording of Princess Zelda. Zelda explains that “we” need their help and a great evil has arisen. (Setting up Super Smash Bros.)
Connection to the Games: Takes elements from the Star Fox games. It does give a total new story for Samus and Ridley though.
Important Cinematic Characters: Samus, Fox, Wolf, Andross, Pigma, Zelda
4. Kirby Superstar: Legend of the Crystal Shards
The rivalry begins.
Plot: With King DeDeDe watching on, Kirby fights Metaknight. The battle is even, but when it seems Kirby is about to gain the upperhand, Dreamland is covered with darkness. Just as it seems that Kirby is about to meet his demise…he awakens from his nightmare.
Kirby finds that King DeDeDe had stolen much of Dreamland’s food and supply and confronts him. While King DeDeDe escapes the fight, he leaves a portion of the Star Rod behind, causing Kirby to wonder why King DeDeDe had it. Kirby heads to the Fountain of Dreams to check on the Crystal Shards. The Shards represent an unknown power and is activated by the 4 pieces of the Star Rod. It should be with the Shards, but Kirby sees that it’s missing and looks to find DeDeDe.
Meanwhile, Metaknight is shown to be working for the mysterious Nightmare. Nightmare explains that his plan is to cover all of Dreamland with Dark Matter to impress the ultimate master (Tabuu). Nightmare needs the Star Rod to activate and obtain the Crystal Shards in order to do this.
Kirby finds the three other pieces of the Star Rod before finding King DeDeDe once again. They battle, and Kirby ultimately defeats DeDeDe and puts the Star Rod back together. He goes to return it to the Fountain of Dreams, but is attacked by Metaknight. DeDeDe watched Kirby and Metaknight battle, just like Kirby’s dream. Nightmare and Dark Matter come to steal the Star Rod, but Kirby and DeDeDe defeat them. When the battle is over, Metaknight and the Star Rod are nowhere to be seen. Kirby checks the Crystal Shards…and they are gone.
Post-Credits Scene: Metaknight presents the Crystal Shards to the still unnamed Tabuu, who laughs. In the background, two giant hands slam the ground, with one twitching all over.
Connection to the Games: Takes elements from the Dreamland games and Kirby 64.
Important Cinematic Characters: Kirby, King DeDeDe, Metaknight, Tabuu
5. Super Mario Bros. 2: Rise of the Koopa King
Mario meets his arch-nemesis…art by solmatter.
Plot: The Mushroom Kingdom is in chaos as Bowser has captured Princess Peach. Mario, Yoshi and Luigi have travel through many different worlds, defeating Bowser’s generals all over the Kingdom. Still, after extensive searching, Mario has yet to find the actual Bowser. Mario, Luigi and Yoshi save one of Peach’s top Toads from Kamek. In her death, Kamek announces to Mario that they are in fact invited to the wedding of Bowser and Peach…if they can find Bowser’s Castle.
Mario, Luigi, Yoshi and Peach’s top Toad come across four different tunnels and decide to separate with each taking a tunnel. Each tunnel leads to a very different world. Toad lands in a dream world overrun by Shy Guys. While he finds some weaponry in the form of a potion that helps him hide from his enemies, he is captured by the evil monster Wart.
Yoshi ends up in a storybook world also overrun by Shy Guys. He at first fares better than Toad. The world is full of fruit that helps Yoshi keep up his strength. He is ultimately captured by a group of Koopas claiming to be Bowser’s children.
Luigi lands in a haunted mansion. While he does well to ward off the ghosts that reside in the mansion (despite his fears), but is captured by a giant ghost called King Boo.
Mario ends up in an art gallery and quickly learns he can jump into the paintings. He jumps into a painting that drops him in a world full of Bob-ombs. Pink Bob-ombs though, help Mario defeat the tyrant King Bob-omb. When he does so, a painting of Wart appears. Mario goes into the dream world and saves Toad by defeating Wart. He proceeds to jump into the storybook painting and defeats the Koopa Kids to save Yoshi.
The Koopa Kids run back to Bowser to inform him that Mario is coming. Mario meanwhile, saves Luigi from King Boo within a haunted mansion painting. As that happens, a painting of a huge evil castle appears.
Mario jumps in alone and faces off with Bowser as Peach looks on and the Koopa Kids cheer. Mario uses the inspiration of his friends…as well as a fire flower…to defeat Bowser. Bowser attempts one last attack on Mario, but Mario lights him on fire with the flower, then unlocks the chain that kept the bridge together. Bowser falls into the lava pit below. Upon learning of the defeat of Bowser, The Mushroom Kingdom rejoices, and sends all of the Koopa Kids into an exile of outer space.
Mid-Credits Scene: The Koopa Kids all mourn their fallen king, when behind them something that appears to be Mario startles them. They all chase after “Mario”, when they approach an egg. This “dark Mario” hits the egg causing it to spectacularly hatch. The Koopa Kids all begin to cheer as Bowser Jr. emerges from the egg.
Post-Credits Scene: Mario heads to a temple where he surprisingly meets Donkey Kong. Mario and Donkey Kong seem to still want to fight before the appearance of Princess Zelda stops them. Zelda explains that evil is about to attack and “we” need help. Just as this happens, a screen in the temple shows that the world is under attack.
Connection to the Games: Takes elements from Mario 64, Super Mario Bros. 2 (USA), Luigi’s Mansion and Yoshi’s Story…with the final battle taken from Super Mario Bros. 1.
Important Cinematic Characters: Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Peach, Bowser, Bowser Jr., Zelda, Donkey Kong
6. Super Smash Bros.
The War Begins.
Plot: A kid named Satoshi watches the attack on the world led by Metaknight on TV and wonders how soon this attack will come to his hometown of Kanto. Satoshi is known as a Pokemon Trainer, and has trained a Pikachu to the point where his Pikachu may be the best in the world…or what’s left of it. He wonders if it’s time to really test his Pikachu and help save the world.
The film moves to the attack by Metaknight. Metaknight and countless dark soldiers destroy buildings before Fox McCloud and Samus Aran arrive to stop him. Fox and Samus temporarily stop the attack as Metaknight retreats, but attacks elsewhere in the world continue. In another scene, Donkey and Diddy Kong fight off other dark soldiers deep in Kongo Jungle.
At the Temple of Time Zelda, Link, Mario, and Luigi discuss the best strategies to ward off this attack and look to solve how this could have come about. Zelda explains about there being several different items in the world that unlock portals to enter the world. The Triforce is for sure one. Soon the Temple of Time is under attack. Link, Mario, Peach, Zelda (as Sheik) and Luigi try to fight, but two giant hands, referred to as Master Hand and Crazy Hand, leave the Temple of Time destroyed and Luigi is captured. Mario expresses frustration with Zelda about the Triforce being used for this evil, but Zelda explains that the Triforce is still intact, and the Triforce of Power is the only piece in limbo in terms of possession…but that it alone wouldn’t be enough to cause this. Mario still leaves to try to rescue Luigi.
Back at Kanto, the war does arrive there, led by Metaknight. Kirby arrives to re-obtain the Crystal Shards, but is overwhelmed by Metaknight’s army. Satoshi comes out and unleashes Pikachu on Metaknight. Metaknight leaves Kirby defeated, but can’t overcome Pikachu and is once again forced to retreat. Satoshi curiously attempts to capture Kirby with a pokeball. After some confusion from both sides he realizes he needs to help Kirby as Kirby knows what’s keeping this portal open: the Crystal Shards.
In the aftermath of the Temple of Time being destroyed, Link finds that the attack’s origin point is the legendary Sky Temple. Link gets their via a special cannon and looks to fight Metaknight. He falls into a trap though…and is confronted by a shadow doppelganger with red eyes (Dark Link). Metaknight challenges anyone who wants to save the world to come to the Sky Temple and mentions he’s already captured Luigi and Link…although Link was still fighting Dark Link at this point.
Mario rides Winged Yoshi there. Kirby rides a Warp Star with Satoshi and Pikachu. Fox and Samus arrive together as well. Donkey Kong is teleported by Zelda. Metaknight, Master and Crazy Hand fight the Super Smash Bros. sans Link, who fights Dark Link elsewhere in the temple. They put together a fierce some attack using fire, laser, energy and electricity…but the Hands still survive. Ultimately Link defeats his doppelganger and receives the Light Arrow. The Light Arrow joins with the previous attack and the Hands are defeated. Metaknight escapes once again, but Kirby re-obtains the Crystal Shards. The Super Smash Bros. all acknowledge they work great as a team. Mario also obtains Luigi’s hat, fearing the worst for his brother.
Satoshi goes back home and he and Pikachu help rebuild Kanto. He finds a Squirtle and Charmander during this time and trains them. The Mushroom Kingdom announces the victory over Metaknight, but mourns the apparent loss of Luigi. There is celebration across all of the worlds: Hyrule, Kanto, Kongo Jungle and DK Isle, the Mushroom Kingdom and Lylat.
Post-Credits Scene: Several members of the crime syndicate Team Rocket are shown working diligently when one of them sees Pikachu on a television screen. The one says that Tabuu wants to know how to get “one of those” on “our” team. Team Rocket explains that they don’t want that one, but one better. They also explain that the only way to do this is due to unnatural means, and they must capture the rare Pokemon Mew to proceed.
Connection to the Games: Basically an Avengers film with Nintendo characters!
Anyway, whether you like it or you don’t, you’ve gotta admit a Nintendo Cinematic Universe would be awesome. Nonetheless, I’ll work on Phase 2 and Phase 3 and post them here.
Hi all, I’m Steve, a.k.a RDT. For years and years I’ve talked about sports and gaming and tons of other topics and it has always been a lot of fun to share opinions.
Well, that’s what this site is going to be about. Me (and maybe others eventually) talking and writing about video games and sports and comic book movies and really about anything else that comes to mind. I hope anyone who ends up reading anything posted here enjoys the content.
