Mad Dog

Watching Final Resolution now. Madison Rayne is a shockingly decent color commentator.

The Kenny Omega vs. Laredo Kid match was really good once it got rolling. I really wish there was a crowd there for what they were going for. There were just some straight up negligent spots in the main event. Those table spots from the top were fucked up and Chessman is lucky he didn't get paralyzed on that second one.

Delano's writing feels outdated at points. I think it would have been fine for me at the time but it feels a little old now. If you look at Gaiman on Sandman, that feels very modern even when it's wordy.

Yep. The main events have just been tiresome for a long time now. There's also a reason they reigned the style in back in 2002.

I doubt it means much but pro wrestling doesn't have a lot of manga based on it past Kinnikuman (MUSCLE) and Tiger Mask. There's more manga out there devoted to volleyball than there is to wrestling.

Yeah. The Japanese argument feels like a way to avoid the actual merits of Omega as a candidate and still shit on him.

I mean my niece is 18 and her dad is 34. Shit happens.

It also got weird after WWE freaked out over the Kevin Steen action figure. That's when they started hording talent and trying to freeze promotions like RoH out. It started a sort of arms race with all of these promotions trying to do more to protect their rosters from getting poached. I think it sucks but it has probably helped the American indy scene to not end up like the UK indy scene did.

I kind of blame Gabe and Evolve. That's when companies started getting into signing guys to "contracts". Personally, I think it's bullshit. If you are paying a guy enough to not have a day job and just work for you, then offer contracts. If you are just paying them a couple thousand a year then you should have limited say in what they can do. Granted, the wrestlers need to stop agreeing to that shit.

I don't see the problem with Joey Janela honestly. He's a low end mid-carder. He sells well and his offense looks decent. He's good enough to get offense in and push other mid-carders and stars in loses. As far as looking low rent. He doesn't look any worse than guys historically look at his spot on the card historically. I think he's worth keeping around just for creative input.

It sounds to me like the management was trying really hard to not give up on him and find someway to get him to succeed. Based on these glimpses of his behavior I would hide him to if anyone important was wandering through.

He offers digital downloads of all of his trades. I think you can get the whole series for $100 but he says on the site that you can pirate it and he doesn't care.

I thought the manga for Attack on Titan got better but that middle part of the story before the big reveal was a total slog to get through and the art was just terrible at times. I think Jaka's Story is great but Church and State is probably my high mark for the story. I think it's interesting and kind of brave creatively that he essentially sidelines Cerebus for most of Jaka's Story. Sim really is probably one of the best creators ever. Another good recommendation is Box Office Poison by Alex Robinson. Very good book and you can get the whole series for pretty cheap on ComiXology.

Dave Sim goes backshit insane after Jaka's Story. It's still a good series but his emotional baggage starts to drag it down.

Sandman is up there for me. I think nothing will ever touch about the first 150 issues of Cerebus for me though. That book is just on a different level from anything else I have ever read.

I tried a more recent trade of Spawn because the 300th issue came out somewhat recently. It was nostalgic and fun but I had zero desire to keep going with it. There's just something so empty about Spawn. Of those super early Image titles, Savage Dragon is just a better read on a monthly basis. I am about 5 issues into The Sandman. It's been a long time since I have read it but it holds up and is still a great series.

Comic Geek Speak is good especially for things like their highlights of characters over the eras. A lot of those guys are very knowledgeable and they have helped expose me to a lot of new comics over the last 15 years like Blacksad. I don't listen to every episode they do because they do a couple a week. I also recommend digging around and seeing you can find the mini series they did on Pulp Heroes a really long time ago. It's really interesting and got me reading old pulp novels for Doc Savage.

We are like 7 years past the point that Orton should be holding a World Title. This would be like JCP tossing the World Title on Harley Race in 1989.

I say go different and try a month of the Stardom service. You get that back catalog with Io Shiari and Kairi Sane having great matches. They also subtitle promos and make it very English friendly which might help you invest enough into the characters to get over the violence obstacles.

Has Shane done anything on the creative end ever?

Sorry, that came out wrong. I meant to type he had been back a year before taking over Raw.

I think it was right before they divided up responsibilities and brought Bischoff in. My guess is he's been back around a year and a half.

But he had been back with the company for 5 years before taking over Raw. I get that if he was coming in cold but he had been with the company long enough that he should at least be pushing some younger guys.

I agree it falls on Vince but we have seen other bookers pull watchable stuff out of those limitations. Bruce's stuff on Raw has been almost unwatchable. He also came in and started booking it like someone that hadn't watched wrestling in 5 years.

So it's been a few years. How about Bruce Prichard? Raw has been absurdly terrible with him at the helm. Smackdown also saw almost instant improvement with his departure. We have the eye angle. People turning on each other and back to teaming within weeks. The show just makes no sense.