Wrestling

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Sunday Link-Off: A Slamming Good Time

gigi-hadid-guess15-01Just when you thought it was safe to go outside again, there was snow in Northern Ontario over the weekend. I guess we were spoiled by above zero weather. And I suppose there’s this WrestleMania thing happening in a week that’s a big part of this Sunday’s linkdump. I suppose that’s worth mentioning and covering on top of the usual stuff.

Anyway, it’s Sunday so it’s time for the links. Let’s kick things off with Gigi Hadid. I can finally understand why she was a frontrunner for this year’s SI Swimsuit cover.

How will possible Republican Presidential hopeful and Wisconsin governor Scott Walker help the state’s budget problems? Not paying back the state’s debt. (Washington Post)

Just to make things worse for the Republicans, it turns out that Obamacare isn’t too back for the creation of new jobs. (Bloomberg)

SXSW is ongoing right now. What is SXSW? No one’s really sure anymore. (Fusion)

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WWE Fastlane 2015 Review

wwe-fastlane-2015-banner
Just five weeks from WrestleMania 31, the actual 30th anniversary of WrestleMania, the WWE was still working on setting the stage for their big annual show. They were scrambling to make up for the underwhelming and nearly riot inducing Royal Rumble by putting Roman Reigns’ hated WrestleMania title shot up for grabs in a match against Daniel Bryan. They pretended the US Title mattered by having John Cena challenge for it. And… Nothing much else worth hyping. But the Uppercats were on the card. They’re cool.

But the first WWE Fastlane pay-per-view was something closer to a go-home show for WrestleMania 31. Getting on the fast lane to WrestleMania seems to have meant fast tracking the creative for WrestleMania too.

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Sunday Link-Off: It’s the Law

candice-swanepoel-maxim15-03I kind of wanted to title today’s linkdump with a bit of a Judge Dredd reference but this title fit best. I’ve finally caught up on my back issues of Judge Dredd. Now it’s to catch up on Justice League and Superman. I don’t even have that big a file at my local comic book shop and I’m always behind. Some people order in like five times the number of comics I do. How can they pull that off?

Anyway, it’s Sunday which means that it’s time for the links. Something like nine months after being named Maxim’s hottest woman of 2014, we finally have Candice Swanepoel’s Hot 100 shoot. It’s too bad that there’s only one photo that’s remotely SFW.

When the chief economist for America’s biggest conservative think tank can’t come up with an actual fact to back up his claims that the Affordable Care Act has been a failure, isn’t it time to give up that fight? Then again, lying to electorate seems to work so why the hell not. (Daily Intelligencer)

A former CSIS officer says that the Harper government’s new anti-terror bill will completely backfire. (National Post)

Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein went from petty criminal to shooter in a short period of time. What happened to him to cause that change? (Time)

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NXT Takeover: Rival Review

nxt-takeover-rival-logoWhile the first stop on the Road to WrestleMania 31 was a disappointment, the WWE’s developmental territory was here to save the day last week. The last time NXT had a live special, it completely overshadowed the main roster pay-per-view that followed only a few days later.

NXT Takeover: Rival was the fifth NXT live special and it had massive expectations to live up to after the critical success that was R-Evolution. Fortunately, NXT doesn’t have to live up to this weekend’s WWE Fast Lane pay-per-view because it’s likely to be terrible. But could NXT live up to its own standards?

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Royal Rumble 2015 Review

wwe-royal-rumble-2015-bannerOkay, I’ll be the first to admit that I probably shouldn’t be writing wrestling reviews on any sort of basis. I don’t watch the WWE regularly apart from watching their NXT developmental territory. I’ve probably watched more New Japan in the last month than WWE since WrestleMania 30. But it’s the Road to WrestleMania and what better time to tune into the WWE for three months.

But even I with my limited WWE viewing knows that what’s best for business is paying customers. With the relative failure of the WWE Network launch, TV ratings that are stagnant at best and fans who are growing increasingly discontent with the product on-screen, the Royal Rumble had to be bigger than just your standard hype machine for WrestleMania.

It’s just too bad that the WWE failed entirely to get anyone interested in their annual showcase.

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The OSW Review ECW Playlist

osw-review-ecw-bannerI’ve never made it a secret that I’m a big fan of the OSW Review podcast. It features three self-described racist Irishmen, Jay, Steve (V1) and Steve (Mr. OOC), as the chronologically critique wrestling storylines pay-per-view by pay-per-view.

Having looked at the Hulkamania era of WWF and the David Arquette era in WCW, the boys’ most recent chronological critique looks at the rise, fall, rebirth and subsequent final death of ECW and WWECW. What was supposed to be a four-part ECW retrospective ended up becoming a six-part ECW saga.

Since the final part of OSW’s ECW saga drops today, you can catch up with the first five parts provided that you can spare nine hours to catch up on all five episodes.

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The Best of Botchamania

Well, I absolutely botched my writing for the blog today. I completely forgot to write a post for today. That realization was a perfect mental segue to an idea for a post for today. It’s a return to our Best of the Interweb series. This time, it’s a look at the funnier, nonsensical and insane side of the wide world of professional wrestling in Botchamania.

For today’s Best of the Interweb, here are ten of the best episodes of Botchamania. At least, ten of my favourite Botchamanias. I might have botched getting the best ones.

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Wednesday Link-Off: The World (Cup) is Not Enough

irina-shayk-twinset14-07World Cup month is finally over and the whole world can move on so we can forget about the billions of dollars wasted by the Brazilian government… Well, that’s until we talk about the billions of dollars wasted by the Brazilian government on the 2016 Summer Olympics. And just wait until we have to deal with the Qatar World Cup of 2022.

Anyway, there’s a lot more to today’s links than the World Cup. But let’s keep with a quasi-soccer theme with Irina Shayk.

Canadian government staffers have been deleting Canadian government staffers from Wikipedia. Gee, what are they hiding and who are they hiding it for? (Vice)

The FCC has been so inundated with comments about the future of net neutrality that it’s repeatedly crashed their website and forced them to extend the comment period. (PC Magazine)

NASA thinks that we’ll find other life in the universe inside the next 20 years. That would be pretty cool. (CBS)

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The Best of the Ultimate Warrior

the-ultimate-warrior-wwe-hall-of-fameI was planning to do a best of the interweb post today but I thought that I would use this space to pay tribute to The Ultimate Warrior instead. I had a few favourite wrestlers growing up. I was a Hulkamaniac like everyone else. Being Canadian, Bret Hart was one of my favourites. Then there were the heels, Mr. Perfect and Ted DiBiase, who were just too good to hate (and/or feuding with Virgil who was terrible and not worth the time, even to a kid).

The most unique wrestler of them all, and another of my favourites, was the Ultimate Warrior. He wasn’t as swollen as Hogan but he looked more muscular. He didn’t have the most coherent interviews but you couldn’t help but be captivated. He had the coolest ring music and entrance in the Fed. And many, many years down the road, I figured out that he could work matches too. (I’ll explain.)

So let’s look back on some of the best and most memorable moments of The Ultimate Warrior’s career.

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Wednesday Link-Off: Almost Time to Go Home

So with the SI Swimsuit Issue out yesterday, I’ve been wondering if I can say that I was right. I did predict a group cover, even if I called it an “All-Star Cover.” I think I should get double points because I had Kate Upton ranked second on the list and she was on the back cover.

However, today’s set of links isn’t going to feature any of the Swimsuit cover girls. Let’s start this off with the living legend Heidi Klum.

Russia isn’t the only place the world that hates gays. The Kansas government has created a law that allows business owners to discriminate based on sexual orientation. Not only is the law terrible but their reasoning is too. (The Dish)

Just because I’m boycotting the Sochi LOLympics doesn’t mean that others are. Some folks are tripping over themselves to praise these Olympics and Vlad Putin. (Toronto Star)

An Italian transgender former-MP was arrested for protesting that it was okay to be gay at the LOLympics. It is okay to be gay. Just not in Russia (or Kansas). (The Daily Beast)

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