WWE Summerslam 2015 Weekend (NXT Takeover: Brooklyn, WWE Summerslam, and Monday Night RAW 8/24/15) - Results & Afterthoughts

Hey guys, we just went through an ENORMOUS weekend full of WWE programming from Saturday, August 22 to Monday, August 24.

NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn Results:

1. Jushin Thunder Liger defeated Tyler Breeze. Breeze’s entrance involved models dressed like New York monuments, including the Statue of Liberty. Liger got the pinfall after a running Liger Bomb.

Unlike most people, I wasn’t really blown away that Liger was wrestling in WWE (nor was I when Sting wrestled his “first” WWE match at WrestleMania) because I have literally just seen Liger wrestle nearly the exact same match against Cheeseburger and Dalton Castle a few weeks ago in Ring of Honor. In Castle’s defense, he’s MUCH more talented as a worker than Tyler Breeze is so I have to give him props there.

That being said this wasn’t a bad match at all and did its job to get the crowd hot for what’s to come for the rest of the card. Even though it’s an honor to work with a legend like Liger, I still have to worry about how low on the ladder is Tyler Breeze at this rate in terms of getting another title shot for the NXT title at this rate. After NXT Takeover: Fatal 4 Way last year, he’s been thrown to the back of the line since all of the big top indie stars started flooding in.

2. NXT Tag Team Championship Match: The Vaudevillains defeated Blake & Murphy (c) to become the new Tag Team Champions. The Vaudevillains’ plan to counter Alexa Bliss was Blue Pants, who prevented Bliss from interfering. The Villains hit the Whirling Dervish to win the NXT Tag Team Championships.

Right off the bat, I was confused to who I was supposed to be cheering for. You have two teams here who have been struggling with heel/face turns over the last few months with it seems like Blake & Murphy have settled on the douchebag heel stick while the Vaudevillains have abandoned being “villains” – despite their name – and are the heroic babyfaces in this match. It was a wise decision to bring in Blue Pants (indie veteran Leva Bates) to add  but I felt that they gave it away once the Vaudevillains came out all wearing blue tights and ring gear.

As for the match itself, it was pretty standard stuff and your run of the mill average WWE tag team match. I’m not really saying that’s a bad thing, but the Vaudevillains got the job done. If I’m completely honest here, this win was LONG overdue. Blake & Murphy have been like the most boring and bland tag team champions on NXT in a while and that’s saying much as I really didn’t much care for the Ascension either before they got called up to the main roster. As for the Vaudevillains, I feel like they were robbed of a tag title run after their short-lived feud with the Lucha Dragons before they were called up to the main roster. It just seems like awkward timing here. You would have thought that Enzo & Big Cass would have been the next champs after their feud with Blake & Murphy over the last few months.
(Shrugs) Whatever, either way let’s see where this goes. The tag team divisions on both the main roster AND NXT could use some work.

3. Apollo Crews defeated Tye Dillinger. This was Crews’ debut. He pinned Dillinger after a press slam into a standing moonsault.

For those who don’t know Apollo Crews is the indie sensation Uhaa Nation while Tye Dillinger is Shawn/Gavin Spears (most will recognize him from his ECW run). Another average match with both guys putting on a decent performance here. I think that one rest hold in the middle of this match sucked all of the energy out of this arena at that moment as this match slowed down to a crawl. They managed to turn it around with the finish though. While I’m not completely sold on Dillinger’s “Perfect 10” gimmick, Crews shows promise, but I have my fingers crossed that he doesn’t end up having the typical black guy WWE career – i.e. Big E, who was great on NXT but stuck with facepalm-worthy gimmick on the main roster. I know people LOVE the New Day but I’m sorry I want and expect a LOT more from black wrestlers in WWE. I’m sick of this goofball glass ceiling that they are saddled with.

– William Regal announced the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Tournament, with the finals taking place at the next TakeOver event on October 7.

Hopefully this means that WWE will take the initiative to improve the tag team divisions in the company as a whole (and not just NXT) in this tournament. They would benefit bringing in some indie teams to fill in the gaps and give their rookies and veterans the incentive to raise the bar even further.

4. Samoa Joe defeated Baron Corbin. Joe won a back-and-forth match by submission with a Coquina Clutch.

I went into this match saying to myself that if Samoa Joe jobs to Baron Corbin then someone on WWE Creative needs to be slapped. Samoa Joe is an easy shoe-in for the main event scene of NXT and regardless of his history in TNA, there’s no need to tarnish a potential moneymaker main event between Joe and Finn Balor. Corbin benefited from working with a veteran like Joe in this match as we finally got to see Corbin in a match that lasted more than a few seconds. With a bit more in-ring polish and solid victories against legitimate threats like Joe here, Corbin could be built up to be a major player in a few more years. Let’s just scrap the whole jobber streak thing right now and start booking Corbin normally.

5. NXT Women’s Championship Match: Bayley defeated Sasha Banks (c) to become the new NXT Women’s Champion. Bayley followed up a reverse hurricanrana from the top rope with a Belly-to-Bayley to become the 4th NXT Women’s Champion. After the match, Charlotte and Becky Lynch joined them in the ring for a “curtain call” for NXT’s “Four Horsewomen.”

Without a shadow of a doubt, this was the match of the evening and I have no idea why they didn’t book this match to go on last. I wouldn’t go as far as everyone else saying this was the best women’s wrestling match that I have EVER seen, but it was great by WWE Diva standards, I’ll give them that much.
If I can be nitpicky about this match, I had about two major issues with it. First, I didn’t care for Sasha’s leapfrog plancha over the referee and out of the ring spot. I have a pet peeve against heels in wrestling doing “flashy” moves to get a pop from the crowd (I’m looking RIGHT at you Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins) and it just seems like you’re going into business for yourself to get yourself over instead of the babyface. That spot was really unnecessary. The same result to keep Bayley down could have been done with a baseball slide between the referee’s legs – less flashy but still keeps the crowd hot against the heel. Secondly, I had an issue with Bayley pretty much completely stopped selling the “injured” hand/wrist in the latter half of the match. I understand that they were going for sympathy to get the crowd behind Bayley, but if the hand/wrist was an issue then why didn’t she have any issues against Becky Lynch after she applied the Dishonor a few weeks ago? I would have had planted the seeds of targeting that potential weakness then and there instead of waiting until the PPV.
Other than these two issues that you can EASILY overlook and forgive these two Divas for, give yourselves a hand, ladies. You both did a splendid job here.

– Triple H announced that in December, NXT will head to the UK.

6. Ladder Match for the NXT Championship: Finn Bálor (c) defeated Kevin Owens. Bálor hit a Coup de Grace from the top of a ladder. That kept Owens down long enough for Bálor to climb the ladder and pull down the NXT Championship.

After following up the Divas, it was hard to top their performance. To Owens and Balor’s credit, they gave it their best shot. To me, this match came off more as a Street Fight than a Ladder match. Balor stated that this was his first ever Ladder Match and it shows in some aspects. For fans like me who have seen what Kevin Owens is capable of in Ladder Matches (ROH’s Ladder Wars vs. El Generico immediately comes to mind…) were a little letdown as this match was a bit too tame for my taste. I understand that WWE isn’t going to go all out in these matches anymore as it’s easy to get injured here so I doubt that WWE want these two potential major players to get sidelined from taking too many risks here tonight.

In the end, I was glad to see Balor retain the title as Kevin Owens needs to focus on what’s ahead of him on the main roster and put NXT behind him. Kevin Owens is one of WWE’s best natural heels and he’ll definitely find a way to bounce back from this loss.

WWE SummerSlam 2015 Results:

– SummerSlam host Jon Stewart tried to get Mick Foley to help him confront Brock Lesnar, but Foley revealed he was scared of Brock, so nothing happened.

Typical pointless opening segment.

1. Sheamus defeated Randy Orton. Sheamus pinned Orton after multiple Brogue Kicks.

This match would have been special or a treat if we haven't already seen this match up on RAW a few weeks ago. As a result, this wasn't doing it for me - or anyone else - as an opening match.

2. Tag Team Championship Match: The New Day defeated The Prime Time Players (c), Los Matadores and Lucha Dragons to become the new Tag Team Champions. Kofi Kingston blind-tagged Titus O’Neil during a Tower of Doom, then snuck in and covered Fernando to win the match.

As much as everyone else enjoys the antics of the New Day, they are at that point where they are trying too hard to be funny - much like Miz & Damien Mizdow. Don't get me wrong, Xavier Woods works as their "hype man" at ringside, but I just can't ignore how bad this gimmick is and what it represents - yet another bad stereotypical (borderline racist) WWE gimmick. From the few great spots in this match, all of these guys deserve MUCH better. I'm speaking for the tag team division as a whole. Get rid of the stereotypes and showcase the athleticism at the forefront.

3. DolphZiggler vs. Rusev ended in a double count-out. After the match, Summer Rae and Lana got into a catfight and had to be pulled apart.

Not a bad match, but dragged a little too long for my taste. I think we can all agree that was a horrible finish here.

4. Neville and Stephen Amell defeated Stardust and King Barrett. Amell hit a big dive to the outside, allowing Neville to hit Barrett with a Red Arrow for the win.

As much as I wasn't looking forward to this match much like any other celebrity guest star appearance in wrestling, I'll give Amell props where it's due. He came in there, took bumps, and executed a few moves like he's been doing this like a natural. Glad to see that he took the preparation for this match seriously. Aside from that, there's not much else to write home about with this match.

5. Intercontinental Championship Match: Ryback (c) defeated The Miz and Big Show. Big Show hit Miz with a KO punch. Ryback clotheslined Show out of the ring, then pinned Miz.

I wanted this match to get a bit more time, but I guess we have the previous match to thank for that. Straight-forward and to the point. As much as Miz has won me over in terms of being an entertainer lately, I wouldn't mind seeing him a bit higher up on food chain at this point of his WWE career.

6. Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose defeated Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper. Reigns pinned Wyatt after a spear.

Like I have been tweeting for weeks, I could care less about this feud as this is the perfect example of "great idea, but booked at the worst opportunity". WWE had the opportunity to garner this rivalry between the Wyatt Family and the Shield while the Shield were still together, but now it's like who cares? Seth Rollins has already established himself as a singles competitor, so this just seems like a step backwards for both Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose after their strides to breaking out as singles starts during the early part of this year.

That being said, I'm not saying this was a bad match, it's just there to fill up space on this card. If anything, I hope this feud leads into elevating Bray Wyatt as a stronger heel. Dean Ambrose needs to do something to save face as well or he's going to be lost into the shuffle as well.

7. Winner Take All for the WWE World Heavyweight and United States Championships: Seth Rollins defeated John Cena to become the new United States Champion. Cena had the match won, but the referee was knocked out. Jon Stewart ran out with a steel chair, hit Cena in the stomach and placed it in the ring so Rollins could Pedigree Cena onto it. 

Great back and forth match between Cena and Rollins, but once again, we've already seen this match on RAW for free a few weeks ago when Rollins broke Cena's nose. Despite channeling the powers of the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers' White Ranger, Rollins almost found himself at a lost here until Jon Stewart intervened.

Horrible finish, but that seems to be the common trend with this show tonight. I still feel like Rollins being awarded another championship just seems like WWE want to steal more good ideas from Ring of Honor lately, notably Jay Lethal's current reign as double champion - holding both the ROH Television and ROH World Championships.

8. Team PCB defeated Team B.A.D. and Team Bella. Becky Lynch pinned Brie Bella to win the match for her team.

I shook my head at Team BAD being eliminated first here. I understand that Sasha Banks was a bit too banged up from NXT Takeover the night before but they could have had Naomi and Tamina work the bulk of the match. Team Bella could have been eliminated first for the upset win to tease new contenders for Nikki's title. I'm sure the live crowd felt the same way as the chants for "We Want Sasha" echoed over the commentary for this match.

In either case, I do agree with Becky Lynch getting the win here as I'm sure that was supposed to be the finish on NXT tapings the night before (see below) as she's the only NXT Diva out of the debuting trio

9. Kevin Owens defeated Cesaro. Owens pinned Cesaro after a pop-up powerbomb.

I was very conflicted going into this match. On one hand, I want Cesaro to get a big win over Owens to justify him being in the main event scene. On the other, I want Owens to walk away with a win after his string of losses lately. This ended up being one of the better matches on the card, despite being on the "piss break" spot before the main event.

I have to agree with Jim Ross' blog that Cesaro is the most underutilized talents on the WWE roster. Why this guy isn't main eventing in WWE is a mystery to me.

10. The Undertaker defeated Brock Lesnar. Lesnar had Undertaker in a Kimura Lock when the bell rang, but the official hadn’t called for the bell. During the distraction, Undertaker hit Lesnar with a low blow and locked him in the Hell’s Gate submission. Lesnar held up his middle finger, but passed out in the submission. A post-match replay revealed that Undertaker had tapped in the Kimura.

I was going to be satisfied until Lesnar left with Taker's blood, sweat, and urine. To be fair, this was better than their WrestleMania bout a year ago, so that's saying something - just that this match was faced with the stupidest finish of the night.

WWE Raw Results:

– The show opened with Brock Lensar and Paul Heyman calling out The Undertaker for a rematch. Bo Dallas answered instead, and took 4 German suplexes and an F-5.

Rest in Peace, Boliever. 'Nuff said. I support anything and everything that involves someone beating the shit out of Bo Dallas. 

1. The New Day defeated Lucha Dragons. Before the match, the New Day sang a parody of ‘New York, New York’ with Xavier Woods on trombone. The Prime Time Players were on color commentary. New Day won with the Midnight Hour while Woods played TAPS. After the match, The Dudley Boyz made a surprise return to WWE and put Woods through a table with a 3-D.

I was pleasantly surprised to see the Dudley Boys back in WWE. I would be more excited for this if WWE gives them full control to push and revamp the tag team division much like they did for TNA's own tag team division. Let's face it, WWE's tag team division is in desperate need of help and restructuring.

2. Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose defeated Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper. Ambrose and Reigns won by disqualification when they were attacked by the newest member of the Wyatt Family, a giant in a black sheep mask (seen above). This is NXT’s Braun Strowman, making his main roster debut.

For a second there, I thought Erick Rowan got hit by gamma rays. Strowman seems like a natural fit for the Wyatt Family, despite his history as a Rosebud. The ball is in his court now not to fumble this opportunity.

– Team PCB were guests on Miz TV. Miz ran them down for “wrestling like girls.” Team Bella interrupted, and eventually attacked, setting up the next match.

The thing with this segment was that EVERYONE was bad on the mic here - not just Bellas either. You KNOW it's bad when Miz is the only highlight here. 

3. Team Bella defeated Team PCB. Alicia Fox pinned Paige after an axe kick. The crowd chanted “boring” and did the wave.

Three nights in a row in the SAME arena with pretty much the same crowd and you can't blame them for the "boring" chants. RAW pretty much rehashed the match from the night before when the Brooklyn crowd clearly wanted Sasha Banks (and the rest of Team BAD) in this match. I wouldn't go as far as everyone else and say that this match was completely bad - it was just that the crowd ruined the vibe, despite Alicia Fox and Paige really trying to win the crowd back over.

I'm going to go into this in detail in another in-depth article but this Divas Revolution isn't going to

– Stardust and King Barrett came to the ring for a tag team match, but Stardust turned on Barrett. Neville charged the ring and brawled with Stardust, setting him up for a Red Arrow, but Stardust fled.

– Jon Stewart explained his actions at SummerSlam, saying he did it to preserve Ric Flair’s record of 16 world championships. Flair himself came to the ring and told Stewart that he’d ruined everything. That brought out John Cena, who confronted Stewart and attacked him with an Attitude Adjustment.

The best part of this entire segment was Ric Flair personally endorsing Cena to break his record. Of course, the marks didn't want to hear that and took a huge shit over this segment. Love it or hate it, it's going to happen, folks. About 5-10 years ago, we were fearing that Triple H was going to be the one who does it, but I rather Cena do if I had to pick between the two. 

4. Dolph Ziggler, Cesaro, Randy Orton and Ryback defeated Rusev, Kevin Owens, Sheamus and Big Show. Big Show accidentally hit Sheamus with a KO Punch, allowing Randy Orton to hit an RKO and get the win for his team. After the match, Rusev and Kevin Owens beat up Show. After that, Ziggler, Orton, Cesaro and Ryback all ganged up on Show and beat him up as well.

Weird, seems like they are turning Big Show again... Still the babyfaces won for the "feel good" moment of the show with this VERY awkward main event.

– The Authority sang “happy birthday” to Mr. McMahon, and presented a bronze statue to Seth Rollins in recognition of his accomplishments at SummerSlam. When the curtain was pulled up on the statue, Sting was there. Sting attacked Rollins, sent him fleeing and held up the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

During this segment I had down to about 2-3 guesses on who was underneath the curtain. I had Brock (again), Kane, or Sting. While I'm shaking my head that it's Sting, I'm facepalming at the fans and marks who are eating this up when these are the very same people who were talking shit about Sting wrestling in TNA/Impact Wrestling in the main event. So roughly a DECADE later, it's okay for the guy who couldn't beat Triple H at WrestleMania gets a WWE title match in his SECOND match in the company? I'm familiar with Sting's prestigious history and background, but c'mon, there should have been a bit more of a build than this. It makes me think that WWE is going to have Sting vs. Ric Flair later down the road at some point, which really wouldn't surprise me at this rate...

NXT Results (August 26, 2015)

* Enzo Amore, Colin Cassady, Zack Ryder and Mojo Rawley vs. Dash Wilder, Scott Dawson, Chad Gable and Jason Jordan is first. Enzo and Cass got the biggest pop by far. The Mechanics were wearing Ribera Steakhouse jackets. The stars of the match are Gable and Jordan so far. Enzo, Cass and The Hype Bros. win after Enzo and Cass hit their double team finisher.

To say that they filmed this match on Saturday, I'm surprised that Enzo and Cass got that big of a pop. Then again, they are billed from the area so that prolly had a HUGE factor too. The Hype Bros. didn't get ANYWHERE near of a reaction as that. I was sad that this match wasn't a bit longer. It's pretty much the run of the mill WWE Tag Team match - the heels segregate the ring from the weaker/more vulnerable babyface until the hot tag where the babyfaces clean house in a promptly manner.

* Eva Marie vs. Carmella is next. Carmella got a moderate pop but Eva was booed like crazy. The actual match was described as "bad." Carmella hit a few decent spots, including a hurricanrana but most of the match was one long rest hold after another. Eva won with Sliced Red. There was a lot of heat and "you can't wrestle" chants for Eva.

I firmly believe that WWE should stop putting Eva Marie's matches on these weekly broadcasts until she's "ready". This is only making her look bad AND the so-called Divas Revolution look even worse in comparison. I hate to say it but Amanda and Sara Lee on the Tough Enough finale wrestled better than her here. That's not saying that Carmella's not that good either, but geez this went on FAR too long to say how bad it was. To Eva's credit, she's improving but not fast enough. She still is late to some actions and extremely slow at other actions and execution.

* Crew members have been moving people in and out of the front rows. One of them was Eva Marie's husband.

* Bull Dempsey vs. Elias Samson is next. Bull comes out with a new look, a robe like "Dr. Death" Steve Williams. Bull got a big pop from the NYC crowd and won after hitting a top rope seated splash. Bull hugged some people at ringside who appeared to be family.

Bull needs to get a refund for whatever workout program he signed up for as it's clearly not working. This was another match on this card that dragged on too long for it's own good. Whatever at this match and even more facepalming at this gimmick. Just like the New Day, Los Matadores, and other so-called "comedy" gimmicks, this is just more of WWE's typical bullying cleverly disguised as "comedy".

* Emma vs. Charlotte vs. Dana Brooke vs. Becky Lynch is next.`Emma won but the finish was described as "very awkward." Referee Drake Wuertz counted 3 and then maybe 4 seconds later the bell rang. It seemed like nobody knew what happened. The crowd started chanting "you f--ked up" but at who it's hard to tell. It seemed like the heat was on Emma but Becky didn't kick out and Drake made the count. After the match, Charlotte attacked Emma. Dana made the save but Becky evened the odds for the upperhand and they left to Charlotte's music.

It was in bad taste that Charlotte and Becky Lynch discarded Dana and Emma like afterthoughts at the start of this match. C'mon, they are supposed to be helping build these girls up when they are gone for good not continue to squash them underneath their feet. With this team dynamic going on in this match, it seems like they wanted to do another Divas tag team match here on this card that is already stacked with enough tag team matches. Besides, I think we see enough Diva Tag Team matches on RAW and Smackdown on a weekly basis.

They CLEARLY fucked up on the finish here as all of the Divas looked as confused as everyone else. Whatever, no offense to all of the girls involved but I didn't expect Emma nor Dana Brooke to win otherwise unless someone fucked up.

This is a minor issue, but can we start telling the WWE Divas, especially the NXT girls, to either tie their hair back or cut down the long hair extensions? You can tell it's getting in the way during matches and it's VERY distracting as a fan/viewer.

REVIEW -- Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' (2015)

Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' is the nineteenth Japanese animated feature film based on the Dragon Ball series and the fifteenth to carry the Dragon Ball Z branding, released in theaters on April 18, 2015. It is the first ever Japanese film to be screened in IMAX 3D and also received screenings at 4DX theaters.

Resurrection 'F' is the second film personally supervised by series creator Akira Toriyama, following Battle of Gods in 2013. The movie depicts the return of the villain Frieza, as well as the God of Destruction Beerus and Whis from Battle of Gods. Funimation announced that their English language dub of the film would receive a limited release in North American theaters on August 4 and it ran through August 13, 2015. Madman Entertainment released the film in Australian theaters on August 6, where it ran through until August 19, 2015.

The Plot: (FULL Spoilers)

With their power dwindling due to the absence of their leader, the remnants of Frieza's army are led by an alien named Sorbet, who decides to revive their master. He then sets off to Earth with one other minion, Tagoma, where they convince Pilaf, Mai, and Shu, who have collected the Dragon Balls to let them summon Shenron instead. As Shenron is unable to fully revive Frieza, he brings him back to life in pieces, which his minions reassemble using their advanced technology over the following two months. Once restored, Frieza plans revenge against Goku, and then kills Tagoma when he objects to this, and learns that Goku has gotten much stronger, to the point of defeating Majin Boo and thus, he decides he too needs to become more powerful. Frieza reveals that, since his power was inborn, he had never trained a day in his life, and so he trains himself for the first time, before returning to Earth with his army four months later. Jaco the Galactic Patrolman travels to earth to warn Bulma that Frieza is approaching, and she gathers the other Z fighters to fight him. With Goku and Vegeta training on Beerus's Planet with Whis, unaware that Frieza has been revived, Gohan, Piccolo, Krillin, Master Roshi, Tien Shinhan and Jaco fight off Frieza's soldiers. Frieza, even in his base form, is more than a match for the five and almost kills Gohan with a single punch.

Bulma's message eventually reaches Whis, and Goku and Vegeta travel back to Earth to fight Frieza. Whis and Beerus, the God of Destruction join them in order to eat a strawberry-flavored dessert Bulma has prepared for them, however neither of them care about the outcome of the battle. Despite Frieza's power increase, Goku is able to fight him in his final form with ease, however Goku deduces that Frieza is holding back. The two then agree to fight at full power, with Goku transforming into a Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan, and Frieza evolving into a new gold-plated form which he dubs "Golden Frieza". Frieza is finally able to gain the upper hand, however Goku and Vegeta soon realize Frieza's greatest weakness. Due to his hastiness for revenge, he rushed to Earth after learning the Golden form. Therefore, the form drains his powers quickly, leaving him vulnerable afterwards.

Goku turns the tables, and eventually gives Frieza the chance to leave earth forever, but is shot in the heart by Sorbet. After torturing Goku, Frieza stands over the incapacitated Goku and offers Vegeta a chance to kill Goku for him in exchange for his own life. Vegeta refuses and transforms into a Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan form as well, much to Frieza's shock. Vegeta tells Kuririn to revive Goku with a Senzu bean. As the latter moves to do so, Frieza attacks him, but Vegeta intercepts and deflects Frieza's blast towards Sorbet, killing him. Vegeta attacks a weakened Frieza, defeating him with ease. Frieza, fully drained of his power, reverts back to his final form, finally realizing that he cannot win. Frieza decides to destroy the planet, killing Vegeta in the process. Shortly afterwards, Earth is destroyed, but Whis creates a barrier around a small piece of rock to protect himself and the others. While the Z fighters lament the loss of the earth, Goku regrets not killing Frieza when he had the chance. Whis tells him that he has the power to set back time but only three minutes earlier. He does so, and they arrive back right before Frieza destroys the Earth. Goku immediately attacks with a Kamehameha and kills Frieza.

As the characters say their goodbyes to Beerus and Whis, Goku and Vegeta discuss Whis's assertion that, if the two of them were to team up they would have easily killed Frieza. Vegeta states that although this is true, he still prefers to fight alone in order to test his own abilities and become the greatest fighter on his own. Surprisingly, Goku agrees with him and the two share a laugh over having finally found something they agree on.

In a post-credits scene, Frieza returns to hell and is welcomed back by the dancing happy angels, much to his dismay.

The Verdict: 

After seeing Battle of the Gods in 2013 and finding myself starting to watch Dragon Ball Super (recently stopped after about 3-4 episodes in since they are retreading over the same familiar territory) over the last few months, I honestly didn't race to the theaters to watch this like everyone else. With Battle of the Gods, I watched in subtitles after "acquiring" a copy months before the N. American theatrical release and I did the same here but this time I waited for the English dub to come around since I actually like Frieza's voice in English, especially since Chris Ayres took over since Dragon Ball Z Kai. Kudos to Linda Young who voiced Frieza in the original DBZ English dub too. Seriously, I've played enough imported DBZ games to the point that I'm sick of Frieza's Japanese voice.

From what the bulk of the hardcore DBZ fans are saying online, this film is best viewed after watching episode 6 of Dragon Ball Super to ease confusion with fans, but for the most part it works as a stand-alone film in my opinion. The only thing that was confusing to me was why Goku and Vegeta were training with Whis at the start and no one didn't even bother to contact them about Frieza being back. That and the fact that Bulma is the resident genius and her renown Dragon Ball detection technology didn't alert her or anyone else at Capsule Corporation that all seven Dragon Balls were gathered together. I didn't understand why did the Eternal Dragon make a fuzz about Frieza's body being destroyed before wishing him back to life when Frieza atomized Krillin and it wasn't an issue to bring him back to life, along with the numerous other various causes of death to the other Z fighters throughout the series. Like when is the cause of death an issue to bringing someone back to life in this universe until NOW?

For the most part, I thought the film was hilarious, especially the ongoing rivalry between Goku and Vegeta. I'm glad it's to the point where even the writers can make jokes about it instead of things being so damn serious between them all the time. It was ironic that Whis and Beerus were making critiques on the two Saiyans that fans of the series have been saying for YEARS now, yet this is the first time that someone actually points out their flaws perfectly. The first portion of the film that saw the Z warriors fighting against Frieza's henchmen was one of the stand-out parts for me, ending with Gohan completely being outclassed by Frieza here. Man, if Gohan spent as much training as his dad as he does in his school books like a nerd, he would've beaten Frieza with ease himself without the need of Goku and Vegeta needing to step in and break a sweat. Then again, we saw that in one of the other misc. DBZ movies (Fusion Reborn if I remember correctly...) in the past so I guess we don't have to go down that road again. The action here is pretty much what we've come to expect out of DBZ after all of these years, but at the same time, I didn't think the film looked as visually amazing as Battle of Gods' finale. The CGI cell-shaded style to Goku and Frieza's battle was a nice touch, but seemed like it belonged more in a video game than in this movie. I'm sure most die-hard DBZ fans will love the animation regardless, but that's just my opinion.

Let's not forget the moment that I thought was the funniest part of the ENTIRE movie - exposing Frieza's weakness in his new "Golden" form. Apparently, Frieza ran into the same problem Goku and Vegeta did while trying to reach Super Saiyan 2 during the Cell Saga. Imagine the thought that Frieza could only train for FOUR months and catch up to Goku and Vegeta's YEARS of training with ease. I guess it just comes down to the fact that Frieza is just fucking lazy to do any hard work unless he's motivated for revenge like in this case. I loved how Goku and Vegeta explained it like a know-it all but they were embarrassed like Frieza during the Cell Saga when they (and especially Future Trunks) ran into a similar dilemma.

In terms of narrative, they really gave away the plot twist after Whis explained to Goku and Vegeta that he could reverse time and adjust past events, so when Frieza blew up the Earth in his final desperation attack to avoid being killed by Vegeta, it's not a surprise that this convenient ability was going to come into play. All these years later and Goku is STILL showing mercy. What the hell, man...

Watch it or Don't Bother?

If you're a Dragon Ball Z fan, then definitely check this out. The comedy between Goku and Vegeta is worth the viewing alone, but the revived Frieza is icing on the cake. I just wish that they put more effort in the storyline if they were going to resurrect this series' top villain of all-time, only to be killed off in another 30-40 minutes.

Lucha Underground - Season 1 Finale: Ultima Lucha Part I & II - Results and Afterthoughts

Ultima Lucha (Spanish for Last Fight) is the name of the final episodes of the first season of professional wrestling TV series Lucha Underground. The first part of Ultima Lucha, episode 38, premiered on the El Rey Network on July 29 and the two hour final episode Ultima Lucha, episode 39, is scheduled to premier on August 5, 30 on the El Rey Network. The show will later be shown in Mexico on the UniMás network in a version with Spanish commentary. The episodes will be the season one zenith of several ongoing storylines that has played out throughout the first season of Lucha Underground. As part of the season finale all three of the Lucha Underground championships were on the line in a match, including a match to determine the first ever Gift of the Gods Champion.

Backstage: Show opens with Dario dressed to kill in terms of celebrating Lucha Underground's one year anniversary event as he visits Black Lotus in her cell. The exposure to Dario's brother and solitude has made her deranged and more focused on extacting revenge on her parents' murder. Dario informs her that it wasn't his brother who killed them - it was El Drago Azteca himself. He leaves her to dwell on this new revelation.

 Street Fight - "The Machine" Cage def. The Mack

What an excellent way to kick off Ultima Lucha with a lot of crazy spots and fan-interaction. Cage and The Mack went all over the crowd during this match and doesn't end until Cage curbstomps The Mack's face through a cinder block for the win. This was definitely my personal favorite match on Part 1 of Ultima Lucha.

Trios Tag Team Championship Match - The Disciples of Death (w/ Catrina) def. Angelico, Son of Havoc, and Ivelisse (c)

We knew this was coming but everyone played their parts here perfectly. From Son of Havoc making a stand on his own, Angelico putting his body on the line (literally and figuratively) for the sake of the team, and Ivelisse's courage - throwing down with ALL of the Disciples and even fighting off Catrina too made this match still a joy to watch. We even almost had a potential wardrobe malfunction with Catrina's top coming undone from her catfight with Ivelisse. This was the beginning of the dark cloud that would cover the entire Lucha Underground landscape by the end of this event.

If I had any complaint about this match, it was that it felt too "short" and a little rushed.

I can't be mad at Son of Havoc, Angelico, and Ivelisse losing the titles here as they play the part of unorthodox underdogs so well that I'm sure we're going to love to see them climb back to the top next season.

Belivers' Backlash Match - Drago def. Hernandez

This was a clever way to bring back TNA's defunct match-type, "Fans' Revenge", but underneath lucha libre rules. We've seen these guys go at it several times now and while it's not much different than their last few encounters, it's good to see Drago pick up the win this time. Hernandez is allegedly out of the door after this since his deal with resigning with Impact Wrestling didn't pan out like he wanted.


Backstage: El Drago Azteca arrives to the temple, ready to rescue Black Lotus, but he's stopped by a hooded individual who challenges his abilities. The hooded man warns him of the prophecy if he enters the temple, but Azteca doesn't care about his own life - only rescuing Black Lotus. The hooded man steps aside and allows him entry as Part 1 ends.

Johnny Mundo def. Alberto El Patron

This match serves as the show opener for Part 2 of Ultima Lucha and much like the opener for Part 1, Mundo and El Patron brawled all over the temple before returning back to the ring to excite the fans in even more ways. After multiple near-falls and ropebreaks, neither man could seal the deal. Former WWE Diva and Mundo's on/off again real-life girlfriend Melina Perez made her debut at the end of this match after using the AAA Mega Championship to break El Patron's hold to allow Mundo to finish him off for the win. As great as the actual match was, it was the aftermath that was the true highlight that saw El Patron toss Mundo through the office doors like a lawndart just like Mundo did to El Patron a few months ago. I hope Johnny Mundo's alright because he was a bloody mess after that spot.

Cero Meido Match - Pentagon Jr. def. Vampiro

I had my predictions for months now, but when Vampiro showed up for this match dressed like Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars crossed with the Pope Anti-Christ, I KNEW he was Pentagon Jr.'s beloved "master". The first half of this match serves as an endurance contest to see how high is Vampiro's pain threshold while the later half is Vampiro returning the favor to Pentagon Jr. If you love the "deathmatch" style of hardcore matches then you're going to love this bloodbath. Thumbstacks, multiple light tubes, and even a flaming table are all part of the action in this crazy match. Both wrestlers end up a bloody mess by the time it's all said and done.

As predictable as the reveal was about Vampiro being Pentagon Jr.'s master was, the live crowd bought into every second of this match all the way up to the point where Vampiro refered to Pentagon Jr. as his "son". I'm VERY anxious to see where they go from here with this angle.



Backstage: El Drago Azteca arrives to free Black Lotus from her prison but Dario Cueto stops him in his tracks as he prepares to unleash his brother on Azteca. Instead, Black Lotus grabs Azteca from behind and slays him herself, extacting the revenge that she has craved for so long. Dario warns her of the war that she started and offers to protect her as they motion to flee the temple as Dario mentions a "new temple".

7-Way Match for the Gift of the Gods Championship - Fenix def. Jack Evans, Big Ryck, Bengala, Aerostar, King Cuerno, and Sexy Star

I'm not saying this was a bad match, but if you've seen a lot of these matches with a ton of people in them throughout the season, you know what to expect - lots of high-flying spots, some occasional teamwork, and a flashy finish. One thing I do give Lucha Underground major props on in these kinds of matches is that they make sure EVERYONE (no matter how high or low on the totem pole) gets a chance to shine.

No Disqualification Match - Blue Demon Jr. (w/ The Crew) def. Texano

If anything, this was the only "bad" match on this card as it was a complete "throwaway" match. I would've had this on that show "before" Ultima Lucha and gave more time to some of the other matches on the undercard, especially the Trios Tag Team Match. Texano jobs to Blue Demon Jr. and the Crew in a promptly fashion in a means to establish Blue Demon Jr.'s new-found partnership with Chavo Guerrero.

It seems like Lucha Underground is establishing some more trios teams and more forces at play to challenge Dario Cueto in the next season. That's the other reason I can justify this match being on the card.

Lucha Underground Championship Match - Mil Muertes (w/ Catrina) def. Prince Puma (c)

From bell-to-bell, this was the match of the evening and definitely lived up to the hype. Prince Puma (Ricochet) put up a valiant effort but Mil Muertes wouldn't stay down. I loved the how Catrina kept raising the stone up into the air and that would symbolically help Mil keep kicking out of Puma's offense that would have usually put most of his challengers away in the past.

Backstage: Cliffhanger teaser showing several luchadors leaving the temple

• Black Lotus, Dario Cueto, and his brother flee the temple together in a van
• Fenix riding off in a Firebird sports car with the Gift of the Gods Championship followed by an unknown figure wearing a cowboy hat driving a pick-up truck
• Sexy Star tied up to a chair after being kidnapped by Marty "The Moth" Martinez, taunting her that he won't be a laughing stock after she meets his "sister"
• Drago and Aerostar respectfully depart the temple, both agreeing to meet again in honorable combat 
• Angelico and Son of Havoc vow to reclaim the Trios Tag Team titles. Ivelisse and Son of Havoc agree to ride together one more time
• Pentagon Jr. asks his master what shall they do next, only for Vampiro (dressed even more like Emperor Palpatine as he stood next to his apprentice) to reply that they will go to an even "darker" place.
• A new luchador picks up and dons the mask of the fallen El Drago Azteca and spraypaints a "?" onto the Lucha Underground billboard looking over the city.
• Scene ends with a shot of Dario Cueto leaving the temple behind as all of the lights go out and fade to black with the words "To be continued..." left on the screen.

So Where Do We Go From Here?

(Sobs uncontrollably) Why do the things that I love in professional wrestling always have to go away? As it stands with current posting date of this article, there's no signs of Lucha Underground being picked up for a second season anytime soon. This is mainly due to the allegedly 20 million dollar budget they spent on the premiere season and if you ask me, it was money well spent. The problem with Lucha Underground is that they aren't a traveling wrestling promotion but simply a television show, so they can't garner any additional revenue, unless AAA wants to continue just funding them to continue garnering additional exposure for this new outlet to introduce non-Mexican fans to their product.

As for the event itself as a whole, I'm glad that Ultima Lucha was split up into two parts. The undercard was pretty much the bulk of Part 1 with all of the high-profile matches in Part 2 (save for that Blue Demon Jr. vs. Texano match that really didn't seem to live up to the hype IMO but we needed something as the piss break match before the main event). Even if this ends up to the only season of Lucha Underground, Ultima Lucha stands as the reward and payoff point for a year's worth of stellar wrestling matches and masterful storytelling of this narrative.

Whoever cooked up Black Lotus' storyline deserves a raise and a standing ovation as she has one of the best wrestling storylines (especially for a woman in this sport) like EVER to say that she hasn't even wrestled one match at all for the company. The way how this first season played out in terms of storylines being slowly hinted at and sprinkled along throughout the entire year reminded me of back the WWF years (Hogan's glory years) to Attitude Era, where WWE built major feuds over the course of a year before having them come to that climactic finale at WrestleMania. In this case, that WrestleMania was Ultima Lucha and I crave for wrestling as a whole to go back to this style of booking. I know that most promotions nowadays don't do this in fear of injuries or anything else major happening over the course of a year, but this style of storytelling allows fans to invest more emotion into the feuds and story over a long time instead of rushing to build a major feud in 2-3 weeks between Pay-Per-Views.

As for the teasers, I have a few predictions on what the closing tidbits may mean for the possible second season. First of all, Black Lotus' story will continue but I think we will see her transform into a heel character after being corrupted by Dario Cueto that would be similar to Karai in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lore that is only "bad" due to the circumstances of her upbringing and her own code of honor and loyalty to what Dario has done to protect her. I think that Fenix is being pursued by the hunter, King Cuerno, the man who hasn't managed to catch his prey all season. I think he will have a fruitful hunt in the second season with his eyes on Fenix's newly won title. With Sexy Star being kidnapped by Marty the Moth, I think his "sister" is going to be Cheerleader Melissa since it was reported that she reportedly signed a deal to work with the company. As a HUGE fan of Melissa, I'm more than happy at that news. My other guess for the identity of Marty's sister would be Mercedes Martinez but that would be a stretch to say that she hasn't ever been in a mainstream promotion despite her stellar work on the indies for the last decade. With Son of Havoc and Ivelisse riding together "one more time", I think that they are going to iron out their differences and emerge as a couple and a stronger team again in the next season. Angelico might be the third wheel but it seems like the trio like hanging around each other. Vampiro and Pentagon Jr. leave together to conquer new plateaus from the realm of darkness - without a shadow of a doubt, I'm sure that they will have their eyes on title scene next season or even possibly join forces with Mil Muertes to cause even more suffering to the individuals in Lucha Underground. Last but not least, a new El Drago Azteca will be hunting Dario and Black Lotus throughout next season as they will flee to a new temple as Dario left nothing behind of his former glory. The ideal situation would be to film the next season on the road at various live events to garner more revenue and don't settle on a new locale until the end of the season.

As it stands, I have my fingers crossed that Lucha Underground gets the greenlight for another season. There's so much more that Lucha Underground can do for the wrestling industry today - it was the best hour long weekly broadcast, with matches and storylines that blew their competition out of the water on a consistent basis. Sorry, NXT and ROH, but Lucha Underground made them look pathetic in comparison. If this is the last we see of Lucha Underground, I want to say "adios mi amigo" it was a splendid ride with you guys from start to finish.

REVIEW -- Fantastic Four (2015)

Fantastic Four (stylized as Fant4stic) is a 2015 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name. It is the third theatrical Fantastic Four film to be distributed by 20th Century Fox, and a reboot of the Fantastic Four film franchise. Directed by Josh Trank, with a screenplay by Jeremy Slater, Simon Kinberg and Trank, the film stars Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell, Toby Kebbell, Reg E. Cathey, and Tim Blake Nelson. In Fantastic Four, the team must learn to harness abilities gained from an alternate universe to save Earth from a friend turned enemy.

Cast:

Miles Teller as Reed Richards / Mr. Fantastic
Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm / Human Torch
Kate Mara as Susan "Sue" Storm / Invisible Woman
Jamie Bell as Ben Grimm / Thing
Toby Kebbell as Victor von Doom / Doctor Doom
Reg E. Cathey as Dr. Franklin Storm
Tim Blake Nelson as Dr. Harvey Allen

Additionally, Dan Castellaneta portrays Mr. Kenny, Reed's grade school teacher and Tim Heidecker appears as Mr. Richards, Reed's stepfather.

The Plot:

Friends Reed Richards (Miles Teller) and Ben Grimm (Jamie Bell) have worked together on a prototype teleporter since their childhood, eventually attracting the attention of ProfessorFranklin Storm (Reg E. Cathey), director of the Baxter Foundation, a government-sponsored research institute for young prodigies. Reed is recruited to join them and aid Storm's children, scientist Sue Storm (Kate Mara) and technician Johnny Storm (Michael B. Jordan), into completing a "Quantum Gate" designed by Storm's wayward protégé, Victor von Doom (Toby Kebbell), who begrudgingly agrees to help due to his unrequited feelings for Sue.

The experiment is successful, and the facility's supervisor, Dr. Allen (Tim Blake Nelson), assembles a group of astronauts to venture into a parallel dimension known as "Planet Zero". Disappointed at being denied the chance to join the expedition, Reed, Johnny, and Victor recruit Ben to help them commandeer the Quantum Gate and embark on an unsanctioned voyage to Planet Zero, which they learn is a world filled with otherworldly substances. Victor attempts to collect a sample of the substances, causing the entire structure they're in to collapse and the ground to erupt with a green lava-like substance. Reed, Johnny, and Ben return to their shuttle just as Sue brings them back to Earth. Victor is left behind after he falls into the collapsing landscape. The machine explodes, altering Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben on a molecular-genetic level, affording them super-human conditions and abilities beyond their control: Reed can stretch like rubber, Sue can become invisible and generate force fields of energy, Johnny can engulf his entire body in flames and fly, and Ben becomes bigger and develops a rocklike hide which gives him enhanced strength and durability. They are then placed in government custody and confinement to be studied and have their conditions and abilities tested. Blaming himself for the accident, Reed escapes the facility and becomes a fugitive while desperately trying to find a cure.

One year later, Reed is located in Central America by Sue and captured by Ben, who has become a military asset along with Johnny and Sue. Johnny and Sue have been outfitted with specialized suits, one of which Reed later receives, designed to keep up with their conditions and abilities and to help them stabilize, control, and contain their abilities. Reed is brought to Area 57, where Dr. Allen conscripts him to open another portal to Planet Zero in exchange for giving Reed the necessary resources to find a cure. Arriving in Planet Zero, Dr. Allen's explorers find Victor, who has been fused to his spacesuit and can now control the elements, as well as having telekinetic abilities, and bring him back to Earth. Driven insane by the experience and believing the human race needs to be destroyed so he can rebuild Planet Zero in his image, Victor escapes, killing scientists and soldiers in the base including Dr. Allen and Professor Storm. Victor returns to Planet Zero using the Quantum Gate, with Ben, Johnny, Reed, and Sue in pursuit.

On Planet Zero, Victor activates a portal, using a structure he made while in the realm, that begins consuming the landscape of the Earth. He is confronted by the four and, after a destructive battle, Ben punches Victor into the portal's energy beam, disintegrating him, while Johnny closes the portal. Returning to Earth, the group is rewarded for their heroics by being given a new base of operations by the United States military. They decide to use their powers to help people and adopt the mantle of the "Fantastic Four".

The Verdict:

We ALL knew this was going to be bad didn't we? From casting Michael B. Jordan as the Human Torch/Johnny Storm to the leak of early BAD reviews that FOX were trying to hide from the public before the film's release, it was going to be ugly. If you don't know already but this film has a Rotten Tomatoes score LOWER than Dragonball Evolution. That has to be a world record or something...

I happened to be bored on my day off from work on the day of the film's release, August 7, so I went to see the film during the local movie theater's matinee hours.


To be quite honest, the first two-thirds of the film aren't really bad. It's the last third of the film that ruins what the director was trying to do here, who was reportedly hindered by FOX tampering with his vision, ranging from editing out and removing 3 additional key action scenes, and completely altering the film's ending. I don't know how much of that is true, but I'm writing this review given from what I've seen in the theater.

The film takes the "safe" route for the most part with its narrative. Tell me if you haven't heard these cliches before: Nerd makes a friend after being pitied for their peers making fun of said nerd - friend becomes the nerd's best friend for life. Nerd boy meets nerd girl who he has crush on. Nerd girl has "cool" brother and "protective" father. Rival nerd boy hates that nerd girl is developing feelings for nerd boy. Rival nerd boy becomes super-villain out of his jealousy. Protective father dies to motivate heroes. Nerd boy, nerd girl, and their friends and family have to bond together to stop this common threat. Bad guy is defeated and everything goes back to normal Star Wars: Episode 1 - Phantom Menace style - almost every "big" superhero film since the original Avengers and beyond has used that trope and gotten away with it, especially if it's based off of any of Marvel's heroes.

Yeah, it's the cookie cutter formula for almost every generic superhero origin story. It's odd in this film's case as they don't even have toys to market this film towards. Then let's be serious here. I wouldn't take my kids to see this (if I had any to begin with, even though I've seen and spoke with a few parents after the screening) to say that Thing isn't wearing underwear and is sporting a "rock boner" and Doctor Doom is walking around exploding people's brains in a bloody mess and setting people on fire like he's in Carrie. I love how we get like NO explanation of what exactly is Doom's powers here, just like F4 franchise before this one.

Like seriously, how hard is it to do Doctor Doom? I can't understand how people keep messing this character up this bad. He's one of - if not the best - top Marvel villains and no one seems to know what they are doing with him in Hollywood. Here's what you do, you make him the tyrant ruler of his own sovereign nation. He's a genius - even more so than Tony Stark/Ironman - and more full of himself, but when word gets out about Reed Richards' experiment, it makes him jealous and seeks out to destroy him to take his work as his own. You go from there with teasing the first encounter between Doom and the F4. It's not that hard, people.

In terms of keeping the family-dynamic that makes the Fantastic Four true to their comic book-origins, it's completely lost here. Reed Richards' actor is superb but he can't pull a one man show here, despite being one of the only saving graces of this film. Susan Storm's actress gets the award of the most boring and stale actresses to ever play the Invisible Woman to date. I have nothing against Michael B. Jordan playing Johnny Storm here, but he does nothing to make the character his own and only comes off as extremely generic in the role even though the effects for his powers were awesome. Ben Grimm/Thing gets little to no development at all as he wouldn't even have been dragged into the experiment if Reed didn't drag him along into this mess after a drunken phone call. No, seriously that's how it happens. Doctor Doom isn't much of a genius here, but more of a computer hacker than anything else. He honestly reminds me of the geek in charge of the gaming company (J.P.) that the protagonist in Grandma's Boy works for.

The lack of dialogue and character development hurts this team dynamic even more when they all just magically agree to work as a team out of sheer convenience and logical thinking when their efforts to fight Doctor Doom one-on-one doesn't work. Even during that sequence, I was sitting there wondering why Doctor Doom just didn't do that brain exploding thing on all of them to defeat them with ease, but apparently logic went completely out of the window during the finale of the film. Yeah... this film has more plot holes in it than Pacific Rim...

It's a damn shame too as once they hit the point where Baxter Industries return to "Planet Zero" - which is what I understood as the Negative Zone from the Marvel Comics Universe - and salvaged Doctor Doom's transformed body, that's where the film goes completely downhill. There's NO explanation of how Doom survived or what exactly is his powers. Sure, the film gave viewers a loose intepretation of what each member of the F4's powers were, but we get nothing but a horror movie style rampage where Doom walks down a corridor slaughtering soldiers with ease by merely looking at them as if it's a Darth Vader's Force choke or something. I think the F4 should've tried to fight Doom here or reveal that he had the inhabitants of that planet under his control for a bit of action prior to his escape from confinement.

Here is even better idea if I wrote the script for this film - Remember that chimp/monkey that they sent over to the other side first? I would've had 3 primates and wrote the film with the Red Ghost as the feature villain of this "origin story" as a Soviet scientist trying to steal American military secrets from Baxter Industries' research and try to recreate the experiment that gave the F4 their powers. In my version, I would have had the ragtag crew of friends testing the machine themselves since the military choose to get involved first so they wanted to test their work themselves. You know, the clichéd scientists want to give their all into their work cliché, much like how the Cheetah became a female feline in DC Comics or any other hero/villain you can think of as a result of a lab experiment going wrong. The impromptu trip gives the F4 their powers as planned - yada yada yada. Instead of the drunken night with the boys, Red Ghost (who was one of the scientists who happens to be a part of Baxter Industries) secretly recreates the experiment for himself and the primates so you have Red Ghost and his Super-Apes to match the F4 for this film. But yeah... enough of me trying to remedy Hollywood's mistakes.

Speaking of mistakes, let's talk about Dr. Doom. Once Doctor Doom is reintroduced, the film is literally in fast-forward to race to the end credits. By the way, there's no post-credits teaser or anything so you're left wondering what was the point of pulling the trigger on the finale so fast. This film could have been adverted from the disaster that it ends up being if they didn't squander everything good (Reed's road towards redemption, Franklin Storm's battle to reunite his family, the actual attempt to focus on science here, the sheer horror of receiving powers like these for any individual, etc.) they established in the finale. Within mere minutes, Franklin's killed by Doom and everyone tends to forget that Reed got everyone into this mess in the first place with his crazy experiment and stops concerning themselves with finding a cure to their conditions. The film goes "Nope!" and turns into a Power Rangers-inspired subplot where we just forget about everything else and worry about beating the bad guy as everything else will just happen to work out in the end. It turns into "We're a team now and that's all that matters!"

To be honest, I went into this film expecting the worst, but I kept an open mind to this new interpretation and narrative approach, despite being a fan of the source material that the Fantastic Four are deprived from. There were a few elements in this film that could have made this a successful hit, but FOX and the director didn't play all of the cards that they were dealt. For example, the "alternate dimension" plot could have panned out to a potential crossover with the X-Men Cinematic Universe and could have tied the event that gave the F4 their powers to some type of mutant activity in their universe since the F4 universe obviously doesn't have any. Another example where Victor von Doom is merely a spectator to Reed Richards' work could have benefited FOX in a sequel where his jealousy could have driven him to becoming a supervillain (PERFECT post-credits teaser) after seeing Reed successfully complete the work that he could not, instead of making him a disposable villain here (a mistake that the previous F4 films made not once but TWICE). I liked the idea of Susan and Reed not hitting it off on their romance immediately instead of it being love at first sight like it's established in most cartoons and films in the past, but Reed still won her over with little effort shortly after - yet again, another missed opportunity.

Sadly, that's the perfect way to sum up this film - an amalgamation of missed opportunities.

Watch it or Don't Bother?

If you're a comic book fan, you're going to want to see how bad this latest fuck-up by FOX is, especially given how vocal everyone is on social media is about it for you won't be left out of the water cooler discussions in your social circles. As for everyone else, I suggest don't even bother. It's going to be on Redbox VERY soon once the word gets out about how bad this is.

You know it's bad when Stan Lee doesn't even make a cameo, even though personally endorsing the film on his personal website.

Don't get me wrong. It's nowhere as bad as the Ang Lee-directed Hulk film, but it's definitely the worst Fantastic Four film to date. If you want a great Fantastic Four film that's amazing from start to finish, go rent Disney/Pixar's The Incredibles. That's a damn shame that Disney knew how to do Fantastic Four movies YEARS before acquiring Marvel Comics. FOX give up the ghost and let the F4 go back home where they belong.

REVIEW: NXT (July 29th, 2015)

Greetings to all. ZX is truly a kind individual and once again let me contribute to one of his already established blogs. I always thought that my first article about wrestling will be something grand and elaborate. An in-depth analysis why John Cena is underrated by the online wrestling community or maybe why The Undertaker shouldn’t have came back at “Battleground”. Yet, today I am writing my very first review of a wrestling show. And that show is the highly praised and beloved WWE NXT, which aired last night, July 29th. I won’t try to reinvent the wheel, so this article will be a simple match by match afterthoughts from a person who doesn’t think that she knows business better than a billion dollar company.

Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady vs. Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson

The night started with the traditionally comedic entrance of the “Jersey Shore” trifecta. I don’t know if it is just me, but Enzo’s tan always makes me cringe. But nonetheless, the gimmick is somewhat amusing and not every wrestler can make the crowd learn his entrance. Yet, I am not entirely sure that this gimmick can stay fresh for a long period of time. Especially if we’re talking about a possible call up to the main roster.

Facing the Mechanics (Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson) Big Cass and Enzo really got a run for their money. Of course, the match did follow the traditional tag team outline that can be seen not only on NXT, but also on the flagship WWE programming. The heels cornered in the faces, a few hot tags, cleaning house, the Jersey natives seem ready to finish this… And the team of Wilder and Dawson, taking out Enzo after a chase around the outside of the ring, score a win with quite an impressive finisher called “Shatter Machine”.

Since the Vaudevillains are building a feud with the current champs, it is lovely to see the other teams getting a fair chance to impress and build a feud of their own. Wilder and Dawson came off as strong contenders and I am actually interested to see how will they get booked in the future.

Baron Corbin vs. Jesse Sorensen

Let the squash matches begin. Baron Corbin defeated Jesse Sorensen (a TNA alumni) in 22 seconds. Okay. I think I somewhat understand where this is supposed to be going. An arrogant and douchy jock heel is being built up as a threat and (maybe) possible rival for the beloved “Demon” Finn Balor, who currently holds the NXT Championship. But the problem is that Corbin doesn’t come off as threat by beating “unknown” jobbers in less than a minute. Of course, the idea of him coming in, not even in his ring gear, applying his “End of Days” finisher and leaving sounds good on paper. Yet, the fact that he doesn’t fight NXT regulars and two weeks in a row had squash matches takes away from any possible heel powerhouse build up. Baron Corbin now comes off as someone that WWE desperately wants to push, but only pushes him face first into mud.

Levis Valenzuela Jr. and Elias Samson vs. Chad Gable and Jason Jordan

Squash #2. But since it followed Corbin’s “Blink and you might just miss it” match, this tag team showdown seemed a lot stronger in comparison. I wasn’t too interested to watch this one, since Jordan and Gable’s trash talking promo was okay (I still have this huge problem with wrestlers cutting promos while talking sideways, with their backs to the interviewer and most possibly reading cue cards with a blank stare), but I have to give props for managing to make the match seem refreshing after Corbin’s snoozefest. Gable actually got quite a huge pop from the crowd after tagging in and the guys seem to work well with each other. There is a chance that this tag team might actually work. But Jordan, please, next time doing a promo - emote.

Charlotte vs. Dana Brooke

Now this one was a doozy. I read in a few reviews of the match that Dana should have won. But personally I think the outcome of the match was clear from the get go when the battle of the blondes was announced last week. Charlotte is a prized possession. The former NXT Women’s Champion since her debut on RAW as a part of the Divas Revolution was booked as a dominant force scoring wins right of the bat and even overshadowing “Casper the Unfriendly Ghost” Paige in the process. You can notice that she is being groomed to eventually beat either Nikki Bella or her successor for the belt. So booking her against an improving, but still very mediocre Dana Brooke had a very easily predictable outcome. Plus, we know that next week the Nature Girl is facing Bayley, who is the only contender to challenge current champ Sasha Banks. With the possibility of Bayley pulling out a win to establish herself as a future NXT Women’s champion, there was no way in hell the creatives would have given Charlotte two loses in a row on NXT. Yet this match did have potential. But since it took around 5 minutes and some of the time was lost to squeeze in Emma’s cliche distractions and some trash talking in the beginning, we had less than that to see actual wrestling. Right now I am not sure what is in store for Dana Brooke and her confidante Emma, since neither of them look like legit threats that could take the division by storm or that they are ready to be the top heels who would go against the babyface Bayley.

Kevin Owens in Action

Since Dana got squashed in her match, I’ll let myself call this Squash #4. After last week’s contract signing for a main event (this kind of event was even mocked on RAW before Battleground by Paul Heyman) Owens had his first in ring appearance on NXT after losing the belt at “Beast in the East”. I don’t know what black cat walked between Owens and the bookers at WWE, but since “Battleground” all of his momentum has gone down the drain. With every show Owens looks weaker and tonight’s match seemed like a big step back from what we had at after his debut on the main roster. His match against “jobber” Martin Stone gave nothing, because just like with Corbin, Owens stomped on an unknown wrestler. And that takes away from the validity of the match. Sure, he did attack him afterwards and mocked Balor on the entrance ramp, but that didn’t make him look even half as dominant as he was that night when he debuted against John Cena. I think it is high time to let Owens go, let Balor retain at TakeOver and see if KO can stand tall against the Swiss Superman, Cesaro. His time here is simply up.

NXT Tag Team Title Match: The Vaudevillains vs. Buddy Murphy and Wesley Blake

Hands down the strongest match of the evening. And not that it was that good. There was nothing better on the card. Well, maybe except for the opener tag match, which was on a similar level. The Vaudevillains dominated the ring and looked stronger than the reigning champions. I still don’t really get Blake & Murphy and what are they supposed to be. Adding Alexa Bliss as their manager didn’t help either. In my diletant opinion the team lacks chemistry. But that’s just me. The Vaudevillains are actually quite entertaining and their in ring abilities are more than impressive. I think that Gotch has a chance to shine in singles competition as well. Blake and Murphy act like typical heels, nothing new or that you could call “their own”. Well, at least the crowd had fun chanting “C’mon, Barbie, let’s go party!” at Blake’s ravishing bleach blond locks and bright pink tights. But that is pretty much where the fun stops as Alexa Bliss pulled on English’s legs, quick roll up and the match ended with Barbie Glam Squad retaining. I do hope that at TakeOver The Vaudevillains will get a rematch and will become Tag Team Champions. Gotch and English not only have quite the unique gimmick, but also are cemented as a strong tag team and look dominating in the ring. To me they seem better and more deserving title holders.

P.S. A note for the lovely Alexa Bliss. I do understand that she was once a cheerleader and they are supposed to paint their faces for the back row. But this is High Definition television. I noticed more than once that her makeup is waaaay too heavy and reminds of drag, when she is an insanely beautiful young woman. Just toning it down a couple of notches would be stellar.

All in all, I honestly think that this NXT was one of the more disappointing wrestling programs I have seen. 4 squash matches, 3 of them leading to nowhere, a title defense, with the outline that we know by heart and some stiff promos…. Yeah… Back to watching “Lucha Underground”.