AJ Lee's Days as Divas Champion are Numbered - Who will be the next Divas Champion?

AJ Lee is currently the longest reigning Divas Champion in the belt's fabled history, currently surpassing Maryse Ouelett's previous record of 265 days at 279 days (as of this posting).

Unfortunately for her and to the dismay of her dysfunctional fan-base (I know not all of you are delusional as the bulk of her fans - like CM Punk's, but still...), her days of reigning supreme as WWE Divas Champion are numbered for a multitude of reasons:

• The other WWE Divas, especially the bulk of the cast from Total Divas, have been stepping up their game over the past year.

• Due to her personal relationship to CM Punk as his real life girlfriend, WWE may do like they have done in the past and punish her as a means of sending a message to CM Punk. We all know about Punk's situation of walking out on the company and going home at the start of WrestleMania season. If it hasn't been obvious on the last few broadcasts, then you need to clean your glasses - WWE is beyond pissed off that Punk would not return to participate in WrestleMania XXX. 

• The struggle of the Divas Champion would make a powerful topic to cover on Total Divas. It's a position that hasn't been touched upon on Total Divas this far. They have already established on what's it like to be the rookies (Eva Marie and JoJo), the veteran(s) - Natalya and arguably The Bella Twins (Nicole and Brie), and the girls struggling to find their identity (Naomi and Cameron) on the WWE brand. Season 2 has added Summer Rae to the cast to highlight what is it like to be a Diva from developmental (NXT) being promoted to the main roster and how that adjustment goes. 

Who Should Succeed AJ Lee as the Next Divas Champion?

Aksana

Aksana may not be the most talented Diva on the roster, but she's definitely a work horse. With a little polish she could definitely see a title shot in the possible near-future, but it's a huge stretch that she would be the one to dethrone AJ at this stage.

Alicia Fox

Alicia Fox is easily one of the most (if not the most) hardest-working women on the WWE Divas roster. A former Divas Champion in her own right, a match between her and AJ would be rather interesting since these two Divas haven't been granted a platform to perform to fight with the coveted title on the line. 

Sadly, Alicia Fox is one of the many victims to WWE Creative and piss poor booking. One week, she is a bubbling babyface on Superstars or Main Event, the other she's vying for a spot in the BFFs on NXT. C'mon, girl, ask them to give you some consistency with your character. 

Emma

The infamous "Dancing Queen" and leader of the #EMMAlution has recently joined the main roster, so it would be expected that she would be in contention for the Divas Championship in due time. So far, she hasn't even encountered AJ Lee in the ring. Instead, she is still somehow a pseudo-#1 contender to Paige's NXT Women's Championship - when she's not Santino Marella's comedy-induced love interest. I won't deny that her and Paige put on a wrestling clinic - in terms of standards for women in WWE anyway - at NXT ArRIVAL. 

Unfortunately, I can't see Emma dethroning AJ. The Divas Champion hasn't even acknowledged her existence, despite boasting that she has defeated everyone that the Divas division has left to offer. On top of that, Emma's current comedy bit with Santino isn't doing her any favors. While it's mildly entertaining, it's doing nothing but keeping her away from being considered as a serious challenger to the Divas Championship. It's damn shame too, especially for a former student of Lance Storm.

Layla

Layla has been MIA from action for months now, creating a gaping hole between her alliance with AJ Lee after deceiving Kaitlyn to no payoff to that angle in the least. Now Layla is back and allied with Alicia Fox, running with a heel tag team. 

Layla versus AJ Lee would be an interesting contest but at the end of the day, it would be similar to the fallout between current TNA Knockouts Champion Madison Rayne and the returning Angelina Love. I'm not necessarily saying that's a bad thing, but it's not that far of a stretch that Layla would come back and take the gold. She did that to the Bella Twins back in 2012 when she came back from injury, so it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to see Layla swoop in and take the gold until WWE grooms the next suitor for the Divas title. 

Naomi

By this point, you're possibly wondering why I'm only mentioning one of the Funkadactyls. Cameron already had her chance at AJ's title at Elimination Chamber. If I'm perfectly honest, I wouldn't mind seeing both Funkadactyls and Tamina challenge AJ for the title at WrestleMania in a Fatal 4 Way. All friendships/relationships would be tested here, but the ideal situation would be that Naomi gets the one on one match against AJ Lee that she was denied when she was sidelined with an injury, thanks to a poorly executed Knee Smash by Aksana.

While Naomi is easily the more gifted out of the two Funkadactyls in the ring, I still feel like she needs something more before she captures the gold. I could be wrong, as I'm not part of the group of chimps who does WWE's creative writing and match booking. As it stands, Naomi is the strongest candidate to take dethrone AJ - she hasn't had multiple opportunities to crash and fail against AJ in an one-on-one environment, she has room for growth after winning said title, and unlike the bulk of the other cast members from Total Divas, she's not shoved down our throats on a constant basis.

For those wondering, she's only wearing the eyepatch for show until Total Divas covers her road to recovery on the current season. 

Natalya

Natalya is arguably the best WWE Diva on the roster, but she has been burdened with awful gimmicks and even worse "dancing partners" for feuds/angles. If you want proof of her talents, look no farther than her bouts with both Emma and Paige on NXT at the end of 2013. If that's not enough, she has been a regular on Main Event, showcasing her talents when she's not accompanying Bayley to the ring on NXT.

She clearly has the passion and determination to be the next Divas Champion, but AJ has defeated, pinned or made Natalya submit too many times during her title reign for a win at this rate to not seem like a fluke. Natalya is another WWE Diva work horse who deserves to be wearing gold, but I doubt she is a strong candidate to take the gold from around AJ's waist as far as WWE is concerned at this stage.

NXT Women's Champion Paige

The complete fan service and dream match for most WWE Diva fans would be a champion vs. champion scenario for WrestleMania XXX between Paige and AJ Lee. Almost everyone with a fan fiction or doing fantasy booking has already played out this potential feud in their heads in some shape or form.

As much as many women's wrestling fans would love to see this match-up, it's a better idea to keep the Divas division and NXT Women's division separate entities - at least until Survivor Series for a Team WWE Divas vs. Team NXT Divas-style match. Hopefully, that won't be a clusterfuck like last year's 2013 Divas Survivor Series match. Paige needs to focus on the looming threats of the BFFs (Sasha Banks and Charlotte) looking to take her gold from her.

Summer Rae

Summer Rae was easily the best female heel to come out of NXT before her debut on the main roster. If AJ Lee was still babyface, I would have loved to see her feud with Summer Rae while still in her Mean Girls-esque gimmick from NXT. Much like Alicia Fox, Summer Rae is a victim of WWE Creative and booking. Her current NXT gimmick (leading the Mean Girls-inspired stable, the BFFs with Sasha Banks and Charlotte) and her main roster gimmick as Fandango's dance partner are completely segregated from each other. I don't see why WWE continues to do this as it's only going to confuse younger fans while holding Summer Rae back from further developing her character on-screen. 

As it stands, she is as close to capturing the WWE Divas Championship as Emma and Aksana are.

Tamina

Following AJ Lee's recent loss on Monday Night RAW (3/17/14), WWE went into deja vu territory as they pulled the same fallout between Tamina and AJ Lee that occurred the previous week between Lei'D Tapa and Gail Kim on Impact Wrestling. 

I'm still in the minority that didn't see a good reason to pair AJ Lee with Tamina in the first place. Tamina was the same chick who was beating the shit out of her about two years ago after she lost her precious General Manager position and Vickie Guerrero used Tamina as her hired help/bodyguard. While that feud got no real closure, Tamina is just left to do AJ's bidding without question. That duo just seemed insanely retarded to me. It just couples along with the fact that WWE never did anything with AJ's pairing with Layla either. 

That being said, Tamina does have an aggressive style in the ring that should be put on display more often. If WWE wishes to drop the belt to Tamina after their fallout then they need to properly build Tamina up as a monster. Making her look like Kevin Nash/Diesel in drag isn't doing it for me. Kicking the shit out of Nikki Bella was a great start, but nothing came from that afterwards, especially when she lost to Nikki with minimal effort a few weeks ago. 

The Bella Twins

Nikki Bella

Nikki Bella spent most of 2013 on the sidelines watching Brie improve with match after match until she was cleared to return to the ring. When she did return to action, Nikki showed some promise as she has been clearly working with her boyfriend John Cena on adding a more power-focused game to her arsenal - namely the Rack Attack (Backbreaker Rack).

Is that enough to warrant her a Divas Championship title reign? I don't think so, but after the past Monday Night RAW, it seems like WWE has their hearts set on a Bella Twin holding gold again.

If I'm perfectly honest, I don't have anything against Nikki (nor Brie) like most Divas fans, but I think she would be best to try to master the importance of playing a manager/valet for a while. It kills me that so many women in WWE seem to underestimate the role women can play in a match outside of merely wrestling. Just ask Lana, she has the right idea in mind...

Brie Bella

Brie Bella has definitely been training with Daniel Bryan as it is obvious in her vast improvement in the ring over the past year. The only thing that would solidify her changes for the better is a new finisher. Nikki already replaced the Bella Buster (Facebuster) for the Rack Attack (Backbreaker Rack), I would like to see Brie pick up something new as well. Hopefully, it's not something out of Bryan's playbook like how Nikki did with John Cena's arsenal.

As for winning the Divas Championship, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch at this point. If one of the Bella Twins win the title from AJ, I can see them feuding among themselves over the summer, with Nikki going heel. 

Decapre Revealed as the 5th New Character for Ultra Street Fighter IV - Details, Gameplay Footage, and Afterthoughts

The biggest news that came out of Final Round XVII last weekend was Capcom's reveal for the last remaining character to be added with Rolento, Poison, Hugo, and Elena - all mainstays who were crossing over into Street Fighter IV from 2011's Street Fighter X Tekken, which received lukewarm receptions from both hardcore and casual fans of both Street Fighter and Tekken.

After dragging out the reveal for months, Capcom dropped very few hints here and there about the identity of this last fighter until Canada Cup where Yoshinori Ono himself would only give the following hints: (1) This was a character who has NEVER be playable in a previous fighting game in any shape or form. (2) This character would be female.

This news would start even more speculation between players and fans, until after the Grand Finals of Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition ver. 2012 saw Ryan Hart take the crown and Capcom aired the following trailer.

Poor R.Mika and Retsu...

All jokes aside though... I was bloody pissed off about this reveal on Sunday evening. That's one of the reasons it took me all week to get this posted, along with the fact that I wanted to get most of these details correct since things changed for her dramatically from the Final Round XVII reveal trailer and the launch trailer and demonstration for her in Japan over the next few days. Now that I have had a few days to think about it - it's not so bad.

Despite the fact that's recycled resources from both Cammy and Vega, Decapre does bring a few new things to the table. I won't lie though, but I did want the Dolls back into a new Street Fighter game since Street Fighter Alpha 3, but I wanted Juni and Juli back in again as a boss fight before Seth like the 2-on-1 encounter against them in Alpha 3 before squaring off against M.Bison (Dictator) himself at the end of Arcade Mode.

Who is Decapre?

Originally appearing along with the rest of the Dolls during the introduction of Juli and Juni's boss battle in Street Fighter Alpha 3, she has appeared numerous times in the UDON Street Fighter comics. She makes her playable debut in the upcoming Ultra Street Fighter IV.

Appearance

Originally from Russia, her appearance resembles Cammy, albeit with the Shadaloo Doll outfit and a blue mask. Her hair is platinum blonde, and is styled in the same long pigtails as Cammy. In the UDON comics, her face is shown to be burned on the left side, hence the mask. Decapre wears a pair of retractable daggers, originally simply claws, that she uses as weapons.

Story

Super Street Fighter IV OVA

Decapre, along with the other Dolls, is attacked by Juri in a secret Shadaloo mountain base and is easily defeated. She is placed in a stasis pod and loaded onto a plane alongside the other Dolls by Juri who takes them to Seth at an unknown location for him to perform experiments on. These stasis pods can be seen later in Super Street Fighter IV and later iterations in Seth's Crumbling Laboratory stage, although the identities of the occupants are not clearly visible.

Gameplay Notes

Credit to Capcom Fighters, Nico Nico, IGN, Eventhubs, and Shoryuken for the information below.

Decapre's fighting style revolves around her great speed and unpredictable cross-ups, along with the use of her Psycho Power-infused daggers. Similar to fellow doll Juni, many of her moves require charge motions, making her the first new charge character Capcom has created since Q and Remy in Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike.

Exhibition Match - Decapre (ComboFiend) vs. Sagat (Ryan Hart)

This match took place after the reveal trailer transpired at Final Round XVII, so it is not the newest build of Ultra Street Fighter 4. 

Combo Video by ComboFiend

Decapre notes from Final Round 17 stream and IGN breakdown

• Decapre is a charge character who is very mix-up heavy.

• She plays similarly to Juni from the Street Fighter Alpha series.

• She can perform her Spiral Arrow attack in the air, but being that it's a charge move, it'll mostly be used when jumping backward.

• Has a command dash special move in which she becomes invisible for a portion of it. It can travel horizontally, or take her up into the air, (the stream notes that she goes up at around 45 and 70 degree angles.)

• She has multiple follow up moves from the command dash, including a dive kick, returning to her starting point, dropping straight down, a ground pound, and more.

• She has an uppercut move that is performed like a Flash Kick, (holding down for 2 seconds, then hitting up and attack.)

• Her normal attacks are similar to Cammy's.

• Her Psycho Stream Ultra is very much like Dhalsim's Yoga Catastrophe, but travels further. It moves slowly across screen, and hits a total of 9 hits. It has a fairly slow start up, so using it when an opponent is getting up could leave you susceptible to a reversal Ultra.

• If you use her air command dash and do not use one of the follow ups, once the dash animation is over you can proceed to hit air normals. The stream notes that ComboFiend showed a particular set up where Decapre used the medium version of her air command dash from about 80% of the screen away from the opponent, and was able to successfully hit a cross up attack.

• She has an overhead attack that hits from a very far distance away.

• Her Super and command dashes, although resembling teleports, do not have projectile invulnerability.

• Decapre also has a Hundred Hand Slap type move where she runs forward and hits multiple times.

• She can perform target combos as well, one of which puts the opponent into a juggle state.

• Decapre's DCM (Ultra 2) is a combo Ultra with a 3 frame start up. There are three different versions of U2: a ground version that moves horizontally, an anti-air, and another anti-air that hits at a different angle, (like her air command dash moves). ComboFiend hit a crouch heavy punch into DCM on stream. He also hit teleport - EX ground pound follow up into U2.

• The regular ground pound move isn't safe on block, around -7.

• Her close heavy punch hits twice, like Vega.

• Command dashes have a red line as a visual indication of which she is using. The EX version of ground command dash can be used to escape pressure after she's knocked down. ComboFiend notes that she has escape options that don't necessarily lead to attacks, but will get her out of harm's way.

• The Capcom team is focusing heavily on balancing Decapre in order to avoid her being overpowered upon release. Due to the utility of her Ultras, ComboFiend mentions that she will be more inclined to use Ultra Combo Double, as opposed to characters that will benefit more from single Ultras.

• As she stands right now, Decapre is only 85% complete. She is subject to change by the time Ultra Street Fighter 4 is released in June.

The build of Ultra Street Fighter 4 that Capcom's Peter Rosas (Combofiend) used to show off Decapre at Final Round 17, isn't actually the latest one, Capcom Japan's producer for Ultra Street Fighter 4 Koichi Sugiyama revealed on an official "Hagi Toko" live stream earlier this week.

Even before players have got their hands on the new character at location tests, Capcom has already begun tweaking her moves for balance reasons -- and producer Sugiyama insisted on saving the latest build, which was just compiled last week, for a world exclusive on the Capcom Japan live stream.

"Hagi Toko" live stream Decapre notes

• (Changed from FR17) Decapre's HP -> HK target combo has been changed to MP -> HK. After launching your opponent, if you're close enough to trigger close standing HK, you can now jump-cancel the target combo and follow up with additional attacks -- including Decapre's aerial grab. There also appears to be a new MP -> HP target combo.

• (Changed from FR17) Ground Cannon Drill or Spiral Arrow has been removed. The special move can now only be performed in the air.

• (Changed from FR17) Some of Decapre's teleport attacks now generate an afterimage, which makes them easier to track and defend against.

• (Changed from FR17) Psycho Stream ultra in the latest build will now knock down an opponent on hit, and launch the opponent to put it in a juggle state on counter hit.

• As she's a charged character, producer Sugiyama thinks that even for players who can't yet perform the dragon-punch, they'd be able to play Decapre.

• Light, medium and heavy variants of Psycho Sting have different invincibility properties. One version has strike invincibility, while another has projectile invincibility.

• Hundred hand slaps (claws?) hit from pretty far -- even after you've pushed your opponent away with three crouching light jabs.

Afterthoughts

I think Decapre is going to be OP (over-powered) right out of the box. If basing her off the already over-powered Cammy, then allow me to clue you in. I'll give 3 big examples from gifs.

Why the FUCK does she have a Street Fighter X Tekken-style chain to launcher that gives her a free air throw? Guile, Vega, Ibuki, Cammy, nor Chun-Li (all characters with air throws by default) have setups like this with or without meter. To make matters worse, the Japanese streams say this is off her MP-HP chain. Just wow. So free launcher to setup her aerial attacks which could potentially lead into resets and more importantly free damage for her Ultras, especially her Ultra 2 - DCM. Yay (sarcasm).

If they are going to give one character SFxT style mechanics, Capcom might as well add the tag system from that game into Ultra Street Fighter 4 as a bonus mode or something. That way they can share that style of juggles and chaining all around. 

Combofiend has assured players that even her dive kick is a charged move (but still can be done right off the ground like vanilla/Super Cammy) and her grounded Spiral Arrows have been removed from the current build of the game, but I have a CRAZY theory on her teleports. Okay... one of Cammy's buffs in Ultra is that she can do ALL of her aerial options out of EX Hooligan now, including dive kick. That brings me to the following...

Last night on UltraChenTV they broke down her strengths and weaknesses from their experience playtesting her on Sunday. They were worried about her threats being neutralized after she starts moving forward. Anyone who plays charge characters can tell you that you can "pre-charge" and keep moving forward to maintain pressure on your opponent while still having access to your characters' special moves. James Chen said that if you do the MK Teleport that propels her into the air and NOT do any of the follow-ups, Decapre has access to all of her aerial moves AND can cross up from fullscreen.

That being said, let's return to my crazy theory - what if Decapre doesn't have to "move" in a traditional sense but just rely entirely on her teleports to get her where she needs to be? Given that her teleports aren't potentially safe at all from early reports, but it wouldn't be that much of a stretch to see that become a viable strategy for her gameplay, especially if those teleports are special move cancellable. Plus think about it, movement from specials isn't that much of a stretch, especially since Combofiend is encouraging Gief players to use LP Green Hand for mobility in Ultra.

UltraDavid stated that he used Dhalsim in training mode with her and keep throwing projectiles at her Ultra 1 - Psycho Stream here and said it absorbed roughly 2 Yoga Catastrophes and about 3 Yoga Fires before disappearing. That amount of projectile durability sounds like she needs to be a Marvel vs. Capcom game than a Street Fighter IV add-on.

Another thing to note is her insane damage output. We don't want a rehash of vanilla/Super Cammy or Arcade Edition Yun here. For Capcom's sake, I hope they find that middle ground with her and everyone else in this game in terms of balance or it's going to be the same problems that plagued this game and Injustice: Gods Among Us in early tournament outings with Top 8 finals with every over-powered and broken character doing mirror matches.

REVIEW -- RoboCop (2014)

RoboCop is back with a reboot, folks. RoboCop debuted in theaters on February 12, 2014, but I haven't had a chance to write and post this review due to the craziness (and lack of enthusiasm to get anything finished for a while...) in my personal life at the moment.

Now that's over and done with... I'm glad to start providing some more new content for my fans here on Method to Madness.

Cast: 

Joel Kinnaman as Alex Murphy, a police detective who is injured in an explosion and transformed into the cyborg RoboCop.

Gary Oldman as Dr. Dennett Norton, Omni Foundation Chief Scientist who creates RoboCop.
Michael Keaton as Raymond Sellars, the CEO of OmniCorp.

Samuel L. Jackson as Patrick "Pat" Novak, host of The Novak Element and prominent supporter of mechanized crime control.
Abbie Cornish as Clara Murphy, Alex's wife.
Jackie Earle Haley as Rick Mattox, a drone controller and automated military tactician expert responsible for training RoboCop.
Michael K. Williams as Jack Lewis, Alex's former partner.
Jennifer Ehle as Liz Kline, the head of OmniCorp legal affairs.
Jay Baruchel as Tom Pope, the head of marketing for OmniCorp.
Aimee Garcia as Jae Kim, a scientist who works with Dr. Dennett Norton.
John Paul Ruttan as David Murphy, Alex and Clara's son.
Patrick Garrow as Antoine Vallon
Marianne Jean-Baptiste as Karen Dean, Detroit Chief of Police.
Douglas Urbanski as Mayor Durant, the Mayor of Detroit.
Zach Grenier as Senator Dreyfus

The Plot: (FULL Spoilers)

In 2028, multinational conglomerate OmniCorp is at the center of military "robot soldier" technology, supplying the US Military with mechanical soldiers that are used overseas. OmniCorp wants to sell their products for use in civilian law enforcement in the United States but public opinion, embodied by the Dreyfus Act, prevents this. OmniCorp CEO Raymond Sellars (Michael Keaton) asks his marketing team, in conjunction with scientist Dr. Dennett Norton (Gary Oldman), to create a new law enforcement product by combining human and machine that he believes can be "sold" to the American public. They begin looking for a permanently injured police officer to act as the core of their prototype.

Policeman Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman) is severely injured by a car bomb planted on orders from crime boss Antoine Vallon. Norton picks Murphy for the RoboCop program, and with consent from Murphy's wife, Clara (Abbie Cornish), has him outfitted with the RoboCop body and software. Alex at first rejects his current condition, but is convinced by Norton to be strong for his wife and son. Rick Mattox (Jackie Earle Haley), OmniCorp's military tactician, is skeptical of Alex's abilities, saying he will never be as efficient as a fully mechanical robot. In order to make Alex perform better, Norton tampers with Alex's brain, making him believe that his tactical decisions are his own when he is actually executing programs.

While preparing for a public press conference to unveil RoboCop, Alex is emotionally overwhelmed and has a seizure while Norton is downloading the police database information into his brain. Pressed for time, Norton alters Alex's brain chemistry, lowering his dopamine levels until he no longer displays any emotions. Under control, Alex attends the press conference, where he ignores his waiting wife and son, and efficiently apprehends a criminal in the crowd. RoboCop is a public relations success, and drastically reduces the crime rate in Detroit. Public opinion on the Dreyfus Act begins to turn. Norton is told to prevent Alex from seeing his wife and son.

Clara manages to confront her husband as he is leaving the station, telling him about his son David's nightmares. Alex leaves, but then overrides his programming and detours from his current case to go to his house. He reviews the CCTV footage of his accident and realizes that David saw his body and was traumatized. Alex pursues Vallon for revenge. When Alex arrives at his hideout Vallon nearly succeeds in killing him but fails and is shot by Alex. At the station Alex arrests one of the corrupt cops and shoots the other. Alex is about to arrest the Chief of Police when Mattox shuts him down by remote control, and has him taken back to OmniCorp.

Sellars decides to spin this turn of events to his advantage, via television presenter Pat Novak (Samuel L. Jackson), who thanks RoboCop for revealing the fallibility of the police, and points out that drones are incorruptible. A repeal of the Dreyfus Act goes underway, with votes overwhelmingly in support of the repeal. Clara goes to the press and angrily demands to see her husband. Sellars, seeing Alex is no longer useful and fearing that the truth of what has been done to him will be exposed, orders Mattox to kill him. Norton reaches the lab first and revives Alex, telling him everything. Alex, feeling betrayed, goes after Sellars.

Sellars has the OmniCorp building shut down and armed with drones. Alex gains entry with the help of his former partner, Jack Lewis (Michael K. Williams) and other police officers. Lewis shoots Mattox while Alex reaches the roof, where Sellars is waiting for a helicopter and has Clara and David as hostages. Alex's programming prevents him from arresting Sellars, but he manages to overcome it and shoots, killing him.
OmniCorp's parent company, OCP, decides to review the drone and RoboCop program. The President vetoes the repeal of the Dreyfus Act based on the testimony of Norton, who confesses everything they'd done in the RoboCop program. Alex's body is rebuilt in Norton's laboratory, and then he waits for Clara and David, who are coming to visit him.

The Verdict: 

Those of you who read my regular posts on Facebook know that I have been skeptical of this reboot since the debut trailer, especially when it was announced that the film would sport a PG-rating. Going into the theater, I didn't have my hopes up at all, but I'm glad to say that I was rather pleased with what I saw.

First things first, let's address the elephant in the room - PG-13 rating. The original RoboCop film went with a R-rating to compete with every other heavy duty, "macho man" action film in the '80s, especially following in the wake of the commercial success of the original Terminator film. In today's culture, media is slowly trying to shy away from over-the-top violence, while presenting most new franchises as family friendly affairs. Looking back, it was pretty silly that the original RoboCop spawned a regular television series and two cartoons despite the fact of how violent the original two films were. I honestly can't blame Hollywood for going with a much more tame approach to this film. Sure, it's going to piss hardcore fans, but let's face facts, people. It wasn't the end of the world after the PG-13 rating for the Total Recall reboot.

Hardcore RoboCop fans may feel alienated that most of the adult charm and satire found in the original film is absent here, but there are enough inside jokes and references to the original film to make fans proud. I honestly laughed when I understood why they changed the armor to look more "tactical". That was really smooth there, Michael Keaton.

Secondly, let's discuss the narrative. I felt that this was a film about the value of humanity. It was told in a fashion similar to the live-action Casshern (2004) film from Japan with a few subtle nods to Kikaider, but not as depressing as the Casshern: Sins anime. It's not as a boring narrative as Casshern, but this film suffers from the same problematic issues that plagued that film.  This is a film that weaves an intelligent story about the merit of humanity over an emotionless machine while at the same time blurring the lines of what does it truly mean to be human. I did appreciate that this version of RoboCop's origin took the time to flesh out Murphy's relationship with his wife and son, instead of phasing them out of the continuity. Before anyone says it in the comments, NO RoboCop: Prime Directives is NOT part of the canon as far as I'm concerned, even though that was the last time that RoboCop's family was referenced in somewhat positive light in this franchise. The film takes a few subtle nods to Kikaider in a sense in the way that Murphy is given the illusion that he is still human - much like Jiro's "conscience circuit" - when the scientists render him into simply into a machine that thinks its human until he overrides his programming with his own free will and humanity. The narrative is unique enough that it stands on its own as its own identity instead of hanging onto the original RoboCop narrative. Initially, I thought the human hand being added to the armor was a bit lame, but in relation to the narrative, I can see why they went with that design. The hand is a symbolic reminder of RoboCop's humanity and it is the same hand that he held his son with. 

The narrative also has a few links to the original story, so hardcore fans will enjoy a few subtle hints thrown in between the lines - one major point being that OmniCorp is the bare-bones precursor to the OCP conglomerate that plagued New Detroit in the original RoboCop trilogy. Another example is how RoboCop cannot harm OmniCorp employees, which acts as reference to one of RoboCop's prime directives that are part of his core programming after he was constructed by OCP. 

I wish we got to see more scenes of Samuel L. Jackson's The Novak Element, but I could understand why they didn't plaster this concept across the entire film. For fans of the original RoboCop, this is as close as you're going to get to satirical commercials found in the original film.

As we switch gears about the action in this film, I'm going to voice my major gripe about the action in this film. There's not enough of it. The action often times takes a backseat to progressing the plot at snail-like pace. When there is action, it's very short-lived, with the very minor exception of the last sequence near the film's ending where RoboCop faced off against the drones guarding OmniCorp. That being said, this is a visually gorgeous film to watch. From RoboCop's armor to the streets of Detroit, this is a future I wouldn't mind living in. I honestly had to laugh at the beginning moments of the film where the city looked exactly like the opening minutes of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. I'm sure Hideo Kojima would be proud. To say that Detroit is apparently run down and plagued with crime, it doesn't look that bad on the surface. In the original RoboCop film, you could tell that was a horrible town to live in. Here, it doesn't look that bad at all on the surface. That was one major oversight that bothered me in the opening minutes of the film, along with the fact that normal police are rare and far away from the action. A little attention to small details would have benefited this film in the long run if this reboot expected to be taken seriously. 

RoboCop has received a mixed reception from critics, with most citing that it's not as good as the original RoboCop. In my opinion, that's not a fair assessment. Sure, we want this film to recreate the magic that made many of us children of the '80s (and '90s) fell in love with the original RoboCop trilogy, but this is a different time and our culture has changed. Can't necessarily say evolved, but society is trying to shy away from the heavily violence that made the original film such a hit. While I would have loved to see more of the clever satire in this film, I won't bash the film for not doing it. There's enough cheap jokes and references to make most fans of the original RoboCop trilogy smile. Is it a bad film? No, not really. I have seen far worse films than this. RoboCop 3 and that mess called RoboCop: Prime Directives still ranks worse than this film. 

I'm giving RoboCop (2014) a 7.5 out of 10. The narrative has enough meat on its bones to keep you invested for the entire film from start to finish, but at the cost of VERY few thrills on this roller coaster ride. It's a shame too as there's not enough action to justify the amount of gorgeous computer-generated environments and characters.

WWE Network -- The Good, Bad, and The Ugly

The WWE Network - the latest live streaming craze that has taken most wrestling fans by storm. In this article, I look at the good, bad, and ugly stemming from this service after its launch to help provide a resource for my fellow wrestling fans to weigh in on whether or not if this paid-subscription service is worht 

About The WWE Network: 

The WWE Network is a subscription-based video streaming service owned by WWE. The concept was originally announced in 2011. On January 8, 2014, WWE announced the network would launch on February 24, 2014 in the United States, with launches in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the Nordic countries set for late 2014/early 2015.

Scheduled Original Programming: 

• All WWE pay-per-view events (12 per year) broadcast live.
• WrestleMania Rewind - The first show named to be part of the network. It will be a retrospective look at WrestleMania's memorable moments.
• The Monday Night War - A television series about the Monday Night Wars.
• WWE Legends' House - A reality television series featuring several WWE legends.
• WWE Countdown - An interactive program.
• Pre and post shows for Raw and SmackDown.
• While Raw and SmackDown will continue to air on cable television, encore presentations will air on the WWE Network.
• A new live daily studio show.
• Weekly airings of WWE NXT.
• Weekly airings of WWE Superstars.
• More than 100,000 hours of archive content from WWE Libraries, including virtually every WWE, WCW and ECW pay-per-view event ever produced, will be available for on-demand streaming. There are at least four past WCW PPV events which WWE has not listed as available, specifically the four overseas events which WCW co-produced with New Japan Pro Wrestling (WCW/New Japan Supershow (1991–93) and Collision in Korea (1995)) and the German-exclusive pay-per-view, Millennium Final (2000).

Although the United States parental guidelines rating system rates most weekly WWE television programs TV-PG, the WWE Network broadcasts a wider range of content. A parental controls block is available and content rated TV-14 and TV-MA are preceded by an advisory warning. The network airs footage featuring Chris Benoit, but an advisory warning is displayed before each airing; it marks the first major airing of Benoit footage since his infamous murder-suicide in 2007. Harsh profanity and sexual phrases are completely censored on ECW pay-per-views, despite having originally aired without bleeps. Over the Edge 1999, infamous for Owen Hart's death at the event, is also available for the first time since its original air date, however some portions of the event have been edited out of respect to the Hart wrestling family. There is also an "in memory of Owen Hart" message at the start of the event. Matches called with Jesse Ventura on commentary, which have previously been dubbed over due to a 1991 lawsuit, air with the original commentary. Footage featuring nudity is largely censored on the network, including that of Stacy Carter going topless at the 1999 Armageddon event and William Regal's unintentional showing of his penis at the 2006 No Mercy event, as well as various non-thong shots of the buttocks, most of which were unintentional wardrobe malfunctions.

The Good: 

The Content: 

Other than original programming - including the upcoming Legends' House reality TV show, live broadcasts of both NXT and WWE Main Event, and live preshow and post show coverage for Monday Night RAW, Friday Night Smackdown, and for every WWE PPV event, there is an extensive archive of WWE archive footage from WWE, WCW, and ECW

The following WWE, WCW, and ECW events are available at launch in their entirety:

WWE

WrestleMania
The Wrestling Classic (1985)
WrestleMania 2
The Big Event (1986)
WrestleMania III
Survivor Series (1987)
Royal Rumble (1988)
WrestleMania IV
SummerSlam (1988)
Survivor Series (1988)
Royal Rumble (1989)
WrestleMania V
SummerSlam (1989)
Survivor Series (1989)
Royal Rumble (1990)
WrestleMania VI
SummerSlam (1990)
Survivor Series (1990)
Royal Rumble (1991)
WrestleMania VII
SummerSlam (1991)
Survivor Series (1991)
This Tuesday in Texas (1991)
Royal Rumble (1992)
WrestleMania VIII
SummerSlam (1992)
Survivor Series (1992)
Royal Rumble (1993)
WrestleMania IX
King of the Ring (1993)
SummerSlam (1993)
Survivor Series (1993)
Royal Rumble (1994)
WrestleMania X
King of the Ring (1994)
SummerSlam (1994)
Survivor Series (1994)
Royal Rumble (1995)
WrestleMania XI
In Your House #1 (1995)
King of the Ring (1995)
In Your House #2 (1995)
SummerSlam (1995)
In Your House #3 (1995)
In Your House # 4 (1995)
Survivor Series (1995)
In Your House # 5 (1995)
Royal Rumble (1996)
In Your House # 6 (1996)
WrestleMania XII
In Your House # 7 - Good Friends, Better Enemies (1996)
In Your House # 8 - Beware of Dog (1996)
King of the Ring (1996)
In Your House # 9 - International Incident (1996)
SummerSlam (1996)
In Your House # 10 - Mind Games (1996)
In Your House # 11 - Buried Alive (1996)
Survivor Series (1996)
In Your House # 12 - It's Time (1996)
Royal Rumble (1997)
In Your House #13 - Final Four (1997)
WrestleMania 13
In Your House # 14 - Revenge of the Taker (1997)
In Your House # 15 - A Cold Day in Hell (1997)
King of the Ring (1997)
In Your House # 16 - Canadian Stampede (1997)
SummerSlam (1997)
Ground Zero: In Your House (1997)
One Night Only (UK) (1997)
Badd Blood: In Your House (1997)
Survivor Series (1997)
Degeneration X: In Your House (1997)
Royal Rumble (1998)
No Way Out: In Your House (1998)
WrestleMania XIV
Unforgiven: In Your House (1998)
Over the Edge: In Your House (1998)
King of the Ring (1998)
Fully Loaded: In Your House (1998)
SummerSlam (1998)
Breakdown: In Your House (1998)
Judgment Day: In Your House (1998)
Survivor Series (1998)
Capital Carnage (UK only) (1998)
Rock Bottom: In Your House (1998)
Royal Rumble (1999)
St. Valentine's Day Massacre: In Your House (1999)
WrestleMania XV
Backlash: In Your House (1999)
No Mercy (UK only) (1999)
Over the Edge (1999)
King of the Ring (1999)
Fully Loaded (1999)
SummerSlam (1999)
Unforgiven (1999)
Rebellion (UK only) (1999)
No Mercy (1999)
Survivor Series (1999)
Armageddon (1999)
Royal Rumble (2000)
No Way Out (2000)
WrestleMania 2000 (16)
Backlash (2000)
Insurrextion (UK only) (2000)
Judgment Day (2000)
King of the Ring (2000)
Fully Loaded (2000)
SummerSlam (2000)
Unforgiven (2000)
No Mercy (2000)
Survivor Series (2000)
Rebellion (UK only) (2000)
Armageddon (2000)
Royal Rumble (2001)
No Way Out (2001)
WrestleMania X-Seven
Backlash (2001)
Insurrextion (UK only) (2001)
Judgment Day (2001)
King of the Ring (2001)
Invasion (2001)
SummerSlam (2001)
Unforgiven (2001)
No Mercy (2001)
Rebellion (UK only) (2001)
Survivor Series (2001)
Vengeance (2001)
Royal Rumble (2002)
No Way Out (2002)
WrestleMania X8
Backlash (2002)
Insurrextion (UK only) (2002)
Judgment Day (2002)
King of the Ring (2002)
Vengeance (2002)
SummerSlam (2002)
Unforgiven (2002)
No Mercy (2002)
Rebellion (UK only) (2002)
Survivor Series (2002)
Armageddon (2002)
Royal Rumble (2003)
No Way Out (2003)
WrestleMania XIX
Backlash (2003)
Judgment Day (2003)
Insurrextion (UK only) (2003)
Bad Blood (2003)
Vengeance (2003)
SummerSlam (2003)
Unforgiven (2003)
No Mercy (2003)
Survivor Series (2003)
Armageddon (2003)
Royal Rumble (2004)
No Way Out (2004)
WrestleMania XX
Backlash (2004)
Judgment Day (2004)
Bad Blood (2004)
The Great American Bash (2004)
Vengeance (2004)
SummerSlam (2004)
Unforgiven (2004)
No Mercy (2004)
Taboo Tuesday (2004)
Survivor Series (2004)
Armageddon (2004)
New Year's Revolution (2005)
Royal Rumble (2005)
No Way Out (2005)
WrestleMania 21
Backlash (2005)
Judgment Day (2005)
Vengeance (2005)
The Great American Bash (2005)
SummerSlam (2005)
Unforgiven (2005)
No Mercy (2005)
Taboo Tuesday (2005)
Survivor Series (2005)
Armageddon (2005)
New Year's Revolution (2006)
Royal Rumble (2006)
No Way Out (2006)
WrestleMania 22
Backlash (2006)
Judgment Day (2006)
Vengeance (2006)
The Great American Bash (2006)
SummerSlam (2006)
Unforgiven (2006)
No Mercy (2006)
Cyber Sunday (2006)
Survivor Series (2006)
Armageddon (2006)
New Year's Revolution (2007)
Royal Rumble (2007)
No Way Out (2007)
WrestleMania 23
Backlash (2007)
Judgment Day (2007)
One Night Stand (2007)
Vengeance: Night of Champions (2007)
The Great American Bash (2007)
SummerSlam (2007)
Unforgiven (2007)
No Mercy (2007)
Cyber Sunday (2007)
Survivor Series (2007)
Armageddon (2007)
Royal Rumble (2008)
No Way Out (2008)
WrestleMania XXIV
Backlash (2008)
Judgment Day (2008)
One Night Stand (2008)
Night of Champions (2008)
The Great American Bash (2008)
SummerSlam (2008)
Unforgiven (2008)
No Mercy (2008)
Cyber Sunday (2008)
Survivor Series (2008)
Armageddon (2008)
Royal Rumble (2009)
Now Way Out (2009)
WrestleMania XXV
Backlash (2009)
Judgment Day (2009)
Extreme Rules (2009)
The Bash (2009)
Night of Champions (2009)
SummerSlam (2009)
Breaking Point (2009)
Hell in a Cell (2009)
Bragging Rights (2009)
Survivor Series (2009)
WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs (2009)
Royal Rumble (2010)
Elimination Chamber (2010)
WrestleMania XXVI
Extreme Rules (2010)
Over the Limit (2010)
Fatal 4-Way (2010)
Money in the Bank (2010)
SummerSlam (2010)
Night of Champions (2010)
Hell in a Cell (2010)
Bragging Rights (2010)
Survivor Series (2010)
WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs (2010)
Royal Rumble (2011)
Elimination Chamber (2011)
WrestleMania XXVII
Extreme Rules (2011)
Over the Limit (2011)
Capitol Punishment (2011)
Money in the Bank (2011)
SummerSlam (2011)
Night of Champions (2011)
Hell in a Cell (2011)
Vengeance (2011)
Survivor Series (2011)
WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs (2011)
Royal Rumble (2012)
Elimination Chamber (2012)
WrestleMania XXVIII
Extreme Rules (2012)
Over The Limit (2012)
No Way Out (2012)
Money in the Bank (2012)
SummerSlam (2012)
Night of Champions (2012)
Hell in a Cell (2012)
Survivor Series (2012)
WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs (2012)
Royal Rumble (2013)
Elimination Chamber (2013)
WrestleMania 29
Extreme Rules (2013)
WWE Payback (2013)
Money in the Bank (2013)
SummerSlam (2013)
Night of Champions (2013)
WWE Battleground (2013)
Hell in a Cell (2013)
Survivor Series (2013)
WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs (2013)
Royal Rumble (2014)

WCW

Starrcade '83
Starrcade '84
Starrcade '85
Starrcade '86
Starrcade '87
Bunkhouse Stampede (1988)
The Great American Bash (1988)
Starrcade '88
Chi-Town Rumble (1989)
WrestleWar '89
The Great American Bash '89
Halloween Havoc '89
Starrcade '89
WrestleWar '90
Capital Combat '90
The Great American Bash (1990)
Halloween Havoc (1990)
Starrcade '90
WrestleWar '91
SuperBrawl (1991)
The Great American Bash (1991)
Halloween Havoc (1991)
Starrcade '91
SuperBrawl II
WrestleWar '92
Beach Blast (1992)
The Great American Bash (1992)
Halloween Havoc (1992)
Starrcade (1992)
SuperBrawl III
Slamboree (1993)
Beach Blast (1993)
Fall Brawl (1993)
Halloween Havoc (1993)
BattleBowl (1993)
Starrcade (1993)
SuperBrawl IV
Spring Stampede (1994)
Slamboree (1994)
Bash at the Beach (1994)
Fall Brawl (1994)
Halloween Havoc (1994)
Starrcade (1994)
SuperBrawl V
Uncensored (1995)
Slamboree (1995)
The Great American Bash (1995)
Bash at the Beach (1995)
Fall Brawl (1995)
Halloween Havoc (1995)
World War 3 (1995)
Starrcade (1995)
SuperBrawl VI
Uncensored (1996)
Slamboree (1996)
The Great American Bash (1996)
Bash at the Beach (1996)
Hog Wild (1996)
Fall Brawl (1996)
Halloween Havoc (1996)
World War 3 (1996)
Starrcade (1996)
Souled Out (1997)
SuperBrawl VII
Uncensored (1997)
Spring Stampede (1997)
Slamboree (1997)
The Great American Bash (1997)
Bash at the Beach (1997)
Road Wild (1997)
Fall Brawl (1997)
Halloween Havoc (1997)
World War 3 (1997)
Starrcade (1997)
Souled Out (1998)
SuperBrawl VIII
Uncensored (1998)
Spring Stampede (1998)
Slamboree (1998)
The Great American Bash (1998)
Bash at the Beach (1998)
Road Wild (1998)
Fall Brawl (1998)
Halloween Havoc (1998)
World War 3 (1998)
Starrcade (1998)
Souled Out (1999)
SuperBrawl IX
Uncensored (1999)
Spring Stampede (1999)
Slamboree (1999)
The Great American Bash (1999)
Bash at the Beach (1999)
Road Wild (1999)
Fall Brawl (1999)
Halloween Havoc (1999)
Mayhem (1999)
Starrcade (1999)
Souled Out (2000)
SuperBrawl 2000
Uncensored (2000)
Spring Stampede (2000)
Slamboree (2000)
The Great American Bash (2000)
Bash at the Beach (2000)
New Blood Rising (2000)
Fall Brawl (2000)
Halloween Havoc (2000)
Mayhem (2000)
Starrcade (2000)
Sin (2001)
SuperBrawl Revenge (2001)
Greed (2001)

ECW

Barely Legal
Hardcore Heaven '97
November to Remember '97
Living Dangerously '98
Wrestlepalooza '98
Heatwave '98
November to Remember '98
Guilty as Charged '99
Living Dangerously '99
Hardcore Heaven '99
Heatwave '99
Anarchy Rulz '99
November to Remember '99
Guilty as Charged 2000
Living Dangerously 2000
Hardcore Heaven 2000
Heatwave 2000
Anarchy Rulz 2000
November to Remember 2000
Massacre on 34th St. 2000
Guilty as Charged 2001
ECW One Night Stand (2005)
ECW One Night Stand (2006)
December to Dismember (2006)

The Price:

$9.99 a month for EVERY WWE Pay-Per-View. Most people were expecting that it would be in the range of $14.99 to $24.99 a month. This price easily eliminates the need to purchase $39.99 to $74.99 WWE PPV a month.

1-Account for ALL Devices

You subscribe for the Network and you can access the Network on ALL of your devices, supporting multiple users sharing/accessing the Network from the same account. This means that one family member can use the Network on your PlayStation 3 while another watches in the bedroom on his/her tablet or iPhone - all on the same single account.

The Bad: 

From Botchamania:
Someone e-mailed Meltzer a list of edits on the Network…so let’s dump them on here!

• WWE’s 1997 UK PPV (One Night Only) is the edited home video version that WWE released towards the end of ’97 and cut down to 2 hours. It omits 3 matches, including the Bret Hart vs. Undertaker match that WWE mentions in the description underneath the video player. This is very strange because in 2012, the full 3-hour show was aired on the Classics On Demand channel. WWE Network live chat was no help at all when I informed them about One Night Only.

• New Jack’s matches on ECW PPVs have been edited out (with the lone exception of his bout with Mustafa at Living Dangerously 1999). His return to ECW at Heat Wave 1999 (running in and attacking the Dudleys) has also been removed. His run-ins into other wrestlers’ matches on other ECW PPVs are still intact.

• The Network’s airings of The Big Event 1986, King of the Ring 1993-1997, SummerSlam 1995-1997, and several In Your Houses are all taken from the Coliseum Video releases rather than the live versions.

• WCW Bash at the Beach 1996 is WCW’s home video release that omits footage of a fan run-in after Hulk Hogan’s heel turn. Whenever WWE has put that match on a WWE Home Video release, the fan run-in has been included, so they are in possession of the live PPV version.

• WCW Halloween Havoc 1990 is the Turner Home Entertainment home video release that was reduced from 3 hours to 2.

• Most of the WCW theme music that Jimmy Hart wrote is included on the WCW PPVs(Wolfpac, 3 Count, Disco Inferno). However, some of Hart’s other WCW music has been edited out and replaced (DDP’s “Self High Five” theme, Shane Douglas’s 2000-01 theme). This makes very little sense because WWE did not do this to any of Hart’s WCW music when WCW footage aired on Classics On Demand.

• On SummerSlam 1991, the song “Together” (written by Jim Johnston and Jimmy Hart) during the Randy Savage and Elizabeth video before their wedding has been replaced by different music. Basically, WWE dubbed over one of their own, in-house songs.

• Several shows still have “WWF” references edited out even though that was supposed to be a non-issue after 2012.

• My own note, sent in by Jesse Ojala: Everything is region-blocked now (meaning only USA can access it unless you’re using a proxy network like Unblock US) apart from WCW Uncensored 1995. It’s absolutely awful (aside from the Sting vs. Big Bubba match) but you wouldn’t be on this site if you liked a bit of crap now and again.

Online Only, Internet Connection Required

This is NOT a channel via your cable or satellite provider. You must ALWAYS have an internet connection to access and utilize this service.

Live Schedule

Unlike TiVo or DVR, you cannot rewind back to the beginning of a live scheduled event on the WWE Network if you just happen to walk into the middle of it while watching something else. You have to wait until the complete event is over, then hope and pray that it has a replay airing soon on the Network.

Good luck on finding the pre/post-show events for RAW, Smackdown! and Pay-Per-Views. Those are not available in any shape or form to watch on the WWE Network if you missed them live.

No Chapter Options, VHS-Style Fast-Forward & Rewinding

You would think that since most of the Pay-Per-View uploads on the WWE Network are essentially most of WWE's DVDs and/or Blu-Rays, that you can skip around like those hard copy events. Nope. You have to manually fast-forward if you just want to skip to the end of an event to see the main event or that particular match of your choice.

The Price: 

While the price is $9.99 per month, but you are forced into a 6-month commitment. For some people, they would be more comfortable in merely purchasing the Network for a month or two to see if it was worth their time and stop, but forcing customers to a 6-month commitment is a bit harsh.

Censoring Galore

WWE advertised the archived material to be in their original uncut, unedited formats, and that statement is completely false. Most of the content is ripped directly from Home Video formats for earlier events, while others are merely uploads from the heavily edited DVD releases.

Login Issues Plaguing Xbox Live

This issue as been remedied after the second week, but throughout the course of the initial launch week, Xbox Live users were blocked from accessing the Network via the WWE app, despite inputting the correct login information.

As of today (3/18/14), ECW and WCW PPVs are now viewable on Xbox 360 via the WWE app. Prior to this fix, fans were unable to view that content in the Network's archives.

Not trying to start a console war here, but if you plan on watching streaming video from your consoles, your best bet is to go with PlayStation 3 anyway. That's saying a lot from a guy who pretty much watches nothing but TwitchTV via his Xbox 360 more than actually playing video games throughout the week.

Missing Pay-Per-Views

Many users have reported that sporadic events from the Archives were missing or disappearing randomly.

The Ugly: 

Poor Tugboat Taylor... err, The Shockmaster

• Searching through archives is limited to only by Superstar/Diva's name or name of the event. You CANNOT search by a specific date of an event, such as "Monday Night RAW 2-24-14." Instead, you must search by "RAW" then scroll through ALL of the archives until you find the one you want. Call it lazy for people who are very nit-picky about the lack of options here, but remember it was the same people who complained about bare bones functions missing from both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One at launch.

• As of this posting, the Monday Night RAW archives are limited to the years of 1993, 1999, then 2012 to early 2014. Friday Night Smackdown! is limited to 1999, then 2012 to early 2014 as well. No Monday Night Nitros nor WCW Thunders are in the archives. There are a few episodes of ECW Heatwave though. I thought it was very odd that very limited episodes of NXT are available, but I will guess that has to do with WWE's partnership with Hulu Plus for the episodes airing there.

• Many people have informed me that as of Monday (March 3, 2014) WWE was still charging people for the full 6 months, despite cancelling the subscription after the 1-week free trial. I didn't suffer from that unfortunate turn of events, but one of my Twitter followers was unfortunate enough to have one month cancelled by WWE's customer service line, but they refused to refund her the remaining 5 months. Sign-up for the 1-week trial at your own risk folks.

• Many people, including WWE themselves, have said that the buffering/loading issues with streaming videos via The Network is dependent on subscribers' individual ISPs (Internet Service Providers). This statement is completely bullshit. How are people with high-speed ISPs are having the same buffering and/or loading issues as people with lower quality ISPs? It's because WWE's servers are being pushed to the limit with the amount of heavy traffic that they didn't consider that would be problem. So much for the people who thought this Network launch was going to go without any problems. 

• NXT ArRIVAL - While the show itself was a stellar affair by giving a widespread audience a glimpse of the future Superstars and Divas of WWE, but watching it over the Network was a complete pain in the ass. The stream blanked out for the duration of 10-15 minutes, causing me (and countless other subscribers watching live) to miss an entire match. Fortunately, the issues were ironed out and customers were able to watch the duration of the event. 

The Verdict:

It makes me scratch my head that WWE would make a lot of bad choices with this service right out of the bat, despite the acclaimed praise coming from WWE loyalists that this is better than Netflix. 

I wish I had the opportunity to write an extensive rundown on Netflix from my usage of it while subscribing to it while studying film theory in college, but I took the week long trial to make a few notes on a few problematic areas that I can only hope WWE remedies before this becomes WWE's focal point of seeing everything underneath their tent.

As of this posting (3/17/14) WWE has promised that there will be NO problematic issues during the WrestleMania XXX live PPV broadcast. For WWE's sake, I hope this is the truth. WM30 is going to be make it or break it time for them.

As far as the overall package goes for the WWE Network, it's a great deal if you don't already have an extensive WWE, WCW, ECW broadcast and PPV library from their VHS, DVD, and Blu-Ray releases from over the last three decades, along with a few torrent downloads of full episodes of RAW and Smackdown. The WWE Network is a powerful asset for younger WWE enthusiasts to see where the sport came from and how it evolved over the last three decades. Now fans have the chance to see for themselves that the Attitude Era wasn't as great as everyone made it out to be, while other fans can see ECW and WCW in their original, untainted states.

The WWE Network is also a great asset for re-discovering Superstars, Divas, and Legends that you may have never heard of or may have long forgotten, such as "9th Wonder of the World" Chyna, Madusa/Alundra Blayze, KAIENTAI (TAKA & Funaki), Justin Credible, Sabu, Terry Funk, Ivory (why hasn't she been considered for a Hall of Fame induction baffles me...), The Road Warriors, Naked Mideon (cringes), and even no matter what your opinion of the guy nowadays... Chris Benoit.

For fans like myself, who have collected an extensive amount of WWE, WCW, and ECW content over the years, this isn't really worth the money. Sure, the cheaper price on the PPVs is a steal, but I haven't purchased a live WWE PPV event since No Way Out 2008. There's always someone around with a live stream in HD. Besides, if you're one of those people who is already subscribing to the other miscellaneous sports packages, Netflix, Hulu Plus, and possibly a Xbox Live and/or PlayStation Plus account(s) then you might not be too thrilled about adding yet another subscription service to your monthly set of bills.

Another thing I have to wonder from the way how people were raving about this service when it launched, is exactly how many people are aware that TNA/Impact Wrestling have a streaming service similar to this with their On Demand and TNA Wrestling PLUS paid-subscription YouTube Channel ($4.99/mo or $24.99/yr.)? The WWE Network is essentially the same entity with a few extra bells and whistles, with the differences being few and in-between, such as PLUS has TNA's complete library (PPVs, live broadcasts, and even DVD releases) available for viewing while the Network features both archived and live streaming content.

Another personal gripe I have with the Network is that the archives are pretty limited. Great, this thing has an arsenal of PPVs in the archives, but what if I want to watch the build up to all of these events? Nope, only particular years are scattered around this thing so far. When I started up the free trial during the launch week, the first thing I wanted to check out was to see if the old WCW Nitro or WCW Thunder broadcasts that I grew up on were on here. Nope, no dice. Or what if I miss Monday Night RAW and/or Friday Night Smackdown! (like if I would care if I did...) and wanted to watch the replays on the WWE Network. Nope, no option for that either. I get that WWE can't air those events live on the Network, but it's pretty damn strange that you can't even find the archived replays for the bulk of the broadcasts this year already. Pretty much, I'm still reduced to searching YouTube or DailyMotion for archived episodes if I do miss my weekly wrestling fix, so the WWE Network doesn't really provide a simple solution for people who can't sit at home and watch all 5 days (6 if you count Saturday Morning Slam...) worth of WWE programming, thanks to their busy day-to-day schedules.

Despite the rocky start, WWE seems to have this thing under control - for now, but they have a long way to go before this is a must-buy for the hardcore wrestling fans. We still have to see how the Network fares after the international release after the colossal clusterfuck of a mess they had with the week-1 launch registration process WWE and customers had to deal with stateside in the United States. That and combined with international trafficking on the service will be things to have an eye out for in the coming months as the Network continues to find it's legs.

I want to see the WWE Network succeed, not only for WWE's sake, but for the sake of fans of professional wrestling. If we want this sport to survive, professional wrestling needs just as an extensive archive of easily available content as the NFL, NHL, MLB, or NBA networks/channels provide. Maybe after WWE gets it right, all other promotions (Impact Wrestling, Ring of Honor, DragonGate, New Japan, etc.) will follow suit. 

PREVIEW -- J-Stars Victory Vs. Trailers Galore | Details

To make a long story short, J-Stars Victory Vs. is 45 years of Shonen Jump properties crammed into one action-packed fighting game. Simply put, think Marvel vs. Capcom 2 but limited to only anime properties for this fighting game. 

To say that this game is pretty much an anime fans' wet dream come true, I'm surprised that very few gaming websites are even covering this game's release at all. As of this posting, J-Stars Victory Vs. is limited to Japan-only release on PlayStation 3. So if you are dying for a copy, you're going to have to import and take full advantage of the PlayStation 3's lack of regional blocking. 

Official Trailers: 

This trailer is subtitled for those of you who can't read kanji. Most gameplay trailers for this AREN'T subtitled, so good luck finding any others with subs. I know that sucks royally...

13 minute trailer showing off roughly EVERY playable character in the game. 

Son Goku from Dragon Ball series has a character-exclusive trailer, showing off his abilities and techniques. I'm surprised he can't do the Spirit Bomb nor go Super Saiyajin 3 in this. I suppose Super Saiyajin 1/2 is enough for this game.

One Piece's Monkey D. Luffy represents for the Strawhat Pirates. While I'm glad Luffy is in this, I kinda wish that Roronoa Zoro and Sanji made it in too.

Another English subtitled trailer that explains the tournament and shows off the single player mode, J-Adventure. 

Details: 

About J-Stars Victory Vs.

The game was first announced in December 2012 under the title of Project Versus J, in Weekly Shōnen Jump's second issue of 2013. It was made to commemorate the 45th anniversary of Jump, and has been presented as the "ultimate Jump game." J-Stars Victory Vs features characters and settings from various Jump manga, both past and present, ranging from older properties such as Dragon Ball, YuYu Hakusho, and Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Kōen-mae Hashutsujo, current long-running series such as Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, to newer series such as Medaka Box, Assassination Classroom, and Beelzebub.

The first three characters that were unveiled and used to promote the game were Son Goku, Monkey D. Luffy, and Toriko. Also in December, it was announced that fans could vote for some of the characters that they want to be included in J-Stars Victory Vs. Naruto Uzumaki joined the list of playable characters in March 2013. Several other characters were announced over the following months via the "Weekly Shōnen Jump" and "V Jump" magazines, as well as characters' transformations which would be available as special moves. A limited edition version of the game was also announced that will include the theme songs from the player characters' television series, such as "Cha-La Head-Cha-La" and "We Are!". The game's own theme song is "Fighting Stars", performed by Hironobu Kageyama, Hiroshi Kitadani, and Akira Kushida. The game's adventure mode will also feature other non-player characters from the various series.

Gameplay

J-Stars Victory Vs. lets up to four players battle it out against one another in a gameplay and graphical style similar to those of Dragon Ball: Zenkai Battle Royale. Fighters can move and fight in all directions of a 3D battle field. Players should learn the lay of the land and formulate a battle plan with a character suited to it.

A defeated character comes back after a set amount of time passes. To win the battle, all three sections of the WIN gauge at the top of the screen have to be filled; the gauge fills one section each time an opponent is defeated. Fighters can use regular attacks, power attacks, area-based attacks, and finishing moves. Regular attacks are the main part of the battle, and all combos begin with them. Power attacks leave the user open, but they have a big impact if they connect and their power can be increased by charging them up. Area-based attacks allow to hit opponents over a wide area. By using different techniques, the player can lead his team to victory; learning each character's different power, range, and effects is the first step towards being unbeatable.

Characters

The game features 52 characters from 32 different Shonen Jump series. 39 of these characters are playable, while 13 of them can be summoned by players to provide support.

Playable characters

Assassination Classroom

Korosensei (Tomokazu Seki)

Beelzebub

Tatsumi Oga (Katsuyuki Konishi) paired with Beelzebub (Miyuki Sawashiro)

Bleach

Ichigo Kurosaki (Masakazu Morita)

Sosuke Aizen (Shō Hayami)

Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo

Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo (Takehito Koyasu) paired with Don Patch (Masaya Onosaka)

Chin'yūki -Tarō to Yukai na Nakama-tachi-

Taro Yamada (Motoko Kumai)

Dr. Slump

Arale Norimaki (Mami Koyama)

Dragon Ball

Son Goku (Masako Nozawa)

Vegeta (Ryō Horikawa)

Freeza (Ryūsei Nakao)

Fist of the North Star

Kenshiro (Katsuyuki Konishi)

Raoh (Tesshō Genda)

Gintama

Gintoki Sakata (Tomokazu Sugita)

Hunter × Hunter

Gon Freecss (Megumi Han)

Killua Zoldyck (Mariya Ise)

Jigoku Sensei Nūbē

Meisuke Nueno (Nūbē) (Ryōtarō Okiayu)

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

Jonathan Joestar (Kazuyuki Okitsu)

Joseph Joestar (Tomokazu Sugita)

Katekyō Hitman Reborn!

Tsunayoshi Sawada (Yukari Kokubun) paired with Reborn (Neeko)

Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Kōen-mae Hashutsujo

Kankichi Ryotsu (LaSalle Ishii)

Medaka Box

Medaka Kurokami (Aki Toyosaki)

Naruto

Naruto Uzumaki (Junko Takeuchi)

Sasuke Uchiha (Noriaki Sugiyama)

Madara Uchiha (Naoya Uchida)

One Piece

Monkey D. Luffy (Mayumi Tanaka)

Portgas D. Ace (Toshio Furukawa)

Boa Hancock (Kotono Mitsuishi)

Akainu (Fumihiko Tachiki)

Rurouni Kenshin

Himura Kenshin (Mayo Suzukaze)

Shishio Makoto (Masanori Ikeda)

Saiki Kusuo no Psi Nan

Kusuo Saiki (Shintarō Asanuma)

Saint Seiya

Pegasus Seiya (Masakazu Morita)

Sakigake!! Otokojuku

Momotaro Tsurugi (Hideyuki Hori)

Tottemo! Luckyman

Luckyman (Mayumi Tanaka)

Toriko

Toriko (Ryōtarō Okiayu)

Zebra (Kenji Matsuda)

YuYu Hakusho

Yusuke Urameshi (Nozomu Sasaki)

Hiei (Nobuyuki Hiyama)

Younger Toguro (Tesshō Genda)

Support characters

Bleach

Rukia Kuchiki (Fumiko Orikasa)

D.Gray-man

Allen Walker (Sanae Kobayashi)

Gintama

Kagura and Sadaharu (Rie Kugimiya)

Haikyū!!

Shōyō Hinata (Ayumu Murase)

Hunter × Hunter

Hisoka (Daisuke Namikawa)

Kuroko no Basuke

Tetsuya Kuroko (Kenshō Ono)

Majin Tantei Nōgami Neuro

Neuro Nōgami (Takehito Koyasu)

Medaka Box

Misogi Kumagawa (Megumi Ogata)

Nisekoi

Chitoge Kirisaki (Nao Toyama)

Pyu to Fuku! Jaguar

Jaguar Junichi (Keiji Fujiwara)

Sakigake!! Otokojuku

Heihachi Edajima (Unshō Ishizuka)

Sket Dance

Bossun, Himeko, and Switch (Hiroyuki Yoshino, Ryōko Shiraishi, and Tomokazu Sugita)

To Love-Ru

Lala Satalin Deviluke (Haruka Tomatsu)