WWE Royal Rumble 2018 & NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia Predictions

I know it has been a while since Serena and I have done this but we wanted to do so for the New Year as we kick off the Road to WrestleMania. My predictions are in blue and Serena's are in red.

2018 Men's Royal Rumble match: Finn Balor // Shinsuke Nakamura


ZX: I would agree on Samoa Joe but he’s out with that injury until like a few weeks before WrestleMania. Finn might be the dark horse to win on Sunday just because WWE seems to have renewed stock in him all of a sudden. Plus, they still have the narrative to market that match with him being never defeated for the Universal title and never gotten his rematch.


Serena: Oh fuck, I completely forgot that he got that injury… Yeah, so then I’m pretty much left with Finn as I don’t want to believe that they will give Roman another Rumble win. Also, Randy Orton seems to be upped with his sudden TV return on Smackdown. Randall might give us a surprise.


ZX: Remember Orton won last year so that was them patting themselves on the back that they actually remembered that. Call me nuts, but I got a feeling they MIGHT go with Shinsuke Nakamura winning. AJ Styles vs. Nakamura would be a Wrestle Kingdom rematch and a HUGE deal for international fans coming in for WrestleMania. Then again, that’s just fantasy booking from me here. WWE never seems to do the most logical in these situations.


Serena: Randall Orton. Friend of the people. Or… Jinder will win. And I will drink all the alcohol in my home lmao


ZX: If that happens or if WWE’s stupid enough to continue to go with Roman Reigns as the guy to win the Rumble again, I’ll be right there with you drinking myself into a coma.



Brock Lesnar (c) (with Paul Heyman) vs. Braun Strowman vs. Kane: Braun Strowman // Brock Lesnar


ZX: I want to believe Strowman, but gut says that they aren’t taking the belt off Lesnar until WrestleMania. That’s why Kane is in there to take the pin while Strowman still looks strong.


Serena: I’m going on limb here, because I saw quite a few predictions that WWE might take off the belt of Lesnar, give it to Braun and then do something rad for Mania.

2018 Women's Royal Rumble match: Asuka or Ronda Rousey // Asuka or Ronda Rousey


ZX: I’m with you on Rumble picks but I got predictions on spots. Trish Stratus and Lita appear in it to set up the Bella Twins versus them at WrestleMania in some fashion. Just imagine the heel heat if the Bellas eliminate Trish and Lita though?


Serena: I doubt that Lita will appear. She wasn’t invited to Raw 25 and she said that publicly on Twitter. So Trish might appear, but very much doubting she will be in the Rumble.


ZX: I read that too, but things could change between now and Sunday. I mean there was that rumor going around about McCool in the Rumble and she looked like she had a pregnancy bump on RAW 25. Is she having another kid?


Serena: I saw her workout videos on Instagram, she doesn’t look pregnant… Maybe an unflattering angle? I’m betting on Beth Phoenix making an appearance, both Bellas, Kelly Kelly and pretty much all of the women that we saw on Raw 25, except for Maria and Maryse, because of their maternity leaves.


ZX: Kaitlyn might make an appearance as she was on the indies training again. I could see WWE calling her back but not AJ Lee (laughs).


Serena: True. Yeah, Kaitlyn, maybe Alundra? Also, Victoria might make an appearance as well. She’s been going around signings loads in recent months.


ZX: I dunno about Victoria. She seemed pretty pissed that she wasn’t invited to RAW 25. Then she’s always at some random wrestling shows (PWG BOLA of course) in the crowds. I know she still does work occasional matches on the indies, but I doubt she wants to do anything mainstream again anytime soon. If Alundra’s in, I’m sure she’ll only want to toss out Beth Phoenix or Nattie just for some closure to that feud she begged for a few years back on social media but never happened.


Serena: Same as Lita. She didn’t seem too happy. As was Randy’s wife :D Still, even though WWE might throw a curveball and fuck this up, I want the obvious and boring choice: Asuka.


ZX: Might as well go with Asuka. If they go with her, I wonder what’s the endgame? Paige might not get cleared by WrestleMania, if ever according to the reports going around.




AJ Styles (c) vs. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn: AJ Styles // AJ Styles


ZX: I honestly haven’t been keeping up with SmackDown! Live lately as I haven’t given a flying fuck about the bulk of their current storylines, but the only way I see Styles losing the title is if they want to pull this comedy act of Sami/Owens working together as co-champions until they do that Chamber match next month. Do the big split up and have Sami vs Owens at WrestleMania like they should have done a few years ago in the first place.


Serena: I doubt that they will give Owens/Zayn the title. Might be that Zayn will pin Styles and claim the title for his own?


ZX: That COULD work, but Sami is nowhere over as a heel or babyface for that to work. Plus, Styles is their best worker in the company. Why not have him keep the title going into WrestleMania. Seems like a waste to put it on anyone else at this point.

Seth Rollins and Jason Jordan (c) vs. Cesaro and Sheamus: Cesaro and Sheamus // Cesaro and Sheamus


ZX: Even Ray Charles can see where they are going with this after that ending of the Peep Show segment on RAW. This partnership is ending big time on Sunday. The Bar returns back to their former glory, even though they somehow have two losses against Titus Worldwide somehow…


Serena: Yeah, I honestly doubt that JJ Angle and Rollins are in a team for much longer. Seth is a main event guy and he needs to get back there.





The Usos (Jey and Jimmy Uso) (c) vs. Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin: Usos // Usos


ZX: Usos. I can’t see them taking the belts off them before Mania. Gable and Benjamin are solid workers but they aren’t the team who are over enough to dethrone the best tag team in the company right now. I would say that title goes to The Bar, but the Usos have been amazing in the past year or two now. That speaks volumes as I never cared much for those guys prior to now.

Andrade “Cien” Almas (c) vs. Johnny Gargano for the NXT championship: Johnny Gargano // Johnny Gargano


ZX: Only way I see Almas retaining is that Ciampa comes out and screws Gargano out of the title, but at the same time, it would make the better story to have Gargano vs. Ciampa for the title for WrestleMania weekend. No offense to Almas, but he needs something MUCH more to be a main eventer. I’m glad he ditched the Chippendales stripper look and got Rosie Perez… errr Zelina Vega as a valet, but he still comes off bland to me in terms of whatever his gimmick is supposed to be. Is he a gigolo or male stripper? To be fair though, his ring work is solid.


Serena: Oh, absolutely. Gargano vs. Ciampa could truly be an epic match. Plus, I’ve been a Gargano fan for a hot minute, so seeing him with the belt would definitely make my evening. Haven’t seen much about Almas, but Gargano is a personal favorite, so I have be bias here.


ZX: Even if Ciampa is still injured they could do something fun and have Gargano’s wife, Candice LaRae who they just signed be in his corner at the following Takeover if him and Almas have a rematch. That would get a nice pop too if they got Zelina Vega and Candice LaRae involved in that rematch. My only issue with that is I’m sick of these Gargano versus Almas matches. Feels like they have fought about 3-5 times already.





Shayna Baszler vs. Ember Moon (c) for the NXT Women’s title: Ember Moon // Shayna Baszler


ZX: Shayna prolly is going to win for WWE can continue to brown nose and cater to Rousey’s inner circle for they can still do Horsewomen vs Horsewomen at WrestleMania. Besides, I see a main roster call up for Ember Moon and the Iconic Duo during the Women’s Rumble match. They haven’t had Iconic Duo on TV since the last Takeover, so I think they are a lock for the Women’s Rumble in that regard. In Ember’s case, she could debut in the Rumble and still get her rematch at the next Takeover if she wanted. Remember they had Roode, Dillinger, Owens, and more currently Sonia Deville and Ruby Riot pulling double duty.


Serena: For some reason I think that Ember is still gonna keep the belt. Not a lot of rumors circled around the matter of Ember being called up. So, I am sticking to Ember retaining and Shayna maybe winning on Wrestlemania weekend?


ZX: They could do that. Kairi Sane is reportedly still injured from being banged up from her last few matches in STARDOM and that nasty bump she took during the Mae Young Classic finals, so I doubt they are going to rush her off the bench to start a hard-hitting program with Shayna. I just know that NXT needs to quit playing around and start debuting/introducing those other girls they signed from MYC before people forget about them.





Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly (c) vs. Authors of Pain for the NXT Tag Team championship: Undisputed Era // Undisputed Era


ZX: Undisputed Era without a shadow of a doubt. I see Authors of Pain getting called up sooner more than later too, even though I think they are still pretty green in terms of in-ring ability. I’m still calling them reDRagon in my head from their ROH days. Still damn bothers me that they are aligned with Adam Cole, given the fact that O’Reilly and Cole were trying to kill each other in ROH at the top of last year. I know, I know. Different promotions, but NXT is supposed to be the smark/smart mark show.


Serena: I agree with you. I think that since they just won the titles, I doubt that WWE will take the belts away so soon. Plus, those guys together with Adam Cole seem pretty over, so no real reason to make them lose.





Aleister Black vs. Adam Cole in an Extreme Rules match: Adam Cole // Adam Cole

ZX: I’m going with Cole here, just because he hasn’t had a singles victory on a Takeover show to date. In that regard, I’m expecting a heel finish to steal it from Black. They need to keep Black’s push be a slow build as I see him potentially being WWE’s next “Undertaker” level megastar if they protect him throughout his career. By this time next year, he should be walking into WrestleMania weekend with the NXT title or in line for the belt period.


Serena: I do think that Cole will win. Because, as I mentioned, it just seems to me that NXT really has their minds set on him and he seems to be really over with the crowd. Yet, since I haven’t been that much in the loop with NXT in the recent months, I can be completely wrong. Yet, shooting in the dark and saying that Cole will take the win.


ZX: If Almas retains, I can easily see them fast tracking Cole into position to take the gold from Almas, sooner more than later. Only issue with that is it would be really odd to market a heel vs. heel match for WrestleMania weekend.





Kassius Ohno vs. Velveteen Dream: Kassius Ohno // Velveteen Dream


ZX: Knowing NXT, this will be the opener that sets the tone for the rest of the show as the match to top for evening. Given Dream’s performance at the last Takeover against Black and Ohno always seems to have a good match, this should be a good one. I say they let Dream go over for once to give him a Takeover win. Ohno will always be able to bounce back.

Serena: Honest to God, I have no clue or the slightest idea on how to call this one. I’ve seen Kassius Ohno before, but never saw Velveteen Dream. Can’t even imagine how the guy looks like. So, just to make it different between the two of us - Kassius Ohno gets the win. Because of stuff, things and etc…

ZX: Wow, really? Do yourself a favor and watch Black vs. Dream from the last Takeover. That was arguably the best match on that show.

Serena: Oh, fair enough. I’ll definitely need to check it out then. Told you, honestly haven’t been keeping up with NXT probably for a good half a year.

ZX: To be fair, it’s not that bad. I’ve told other friends and people on Twitter the same thing. You could get by not watching the bulk of WWE’s programming and just watch the PPVs TBH. The bulk of their writing is extremely lazy, but NXT manages to have SOME good moments, but nothing that you have to see at that moment. I treat them like I treat my habits of watching Impact Wrestling - I’ll read the spoilers, then use that as my gauge on how much I’m going to pay attention during the broadcast since I do want to see the matches that interest me.

I will say that the build to Dream vs Black was a straight rip off of Goldust vs The Undertaker from the Attitude Era, but had its own spin to it that made watching the whole thing worth the watch. Simply put, Dream’s whole issue with Black is that he’s ignoring him and failing to acknowledge that he even exists. So the whole match is about how far Dream goes to earn his respect and acknowledge him.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS -- Dragon Ball FighterZ Open Beta

Over the three day weekend of January 12th through the 15th, players were given access to the "open" beta to Dragon Ball FighterZ. Players who have pre-ordered the game via PSN and Xbox Live were allegedly given a day advance of play time with the open beta. I have "open" in quotes as it technically wasn't open as players on Xbox Live AND PlayStation Network weren't able to get into the beta for the majority of the weekend. I was told by my followers on Twitter and Facebook that TeamSpooky were able to get into Ranked Matches and get pretty high on the leaderboards, but in terms of accessibility, Xbox Live was hit the hardest from the disconnects from the server(s) and inability to get matchmaking to get anything going. From my own personal experience on PlayStation Network, the servers were a complete mess on Saturday and Sunday, with the rare chance that you did get into the lobbies, you weren't able to get a match going at all. Monday morning seemed to be the nirvana of this open beta as I was able to get a LOT of matches recorded in Casual Matches as I wasn't up for playing Ranked as I wasn't planning on playing this game "seriously" unless I bought it down the road.

Gameplay

The game is simple enough to pick up and play. That's the biggest novelty about it outside of being ArcSys first attempt at a Dragon Ball Z licensed fighting game. The magic series/auto combos would get most people by for the most part until they get the grasp on things and really experimenting and figuring out the ins and outs of the combo system. There's a button strictly for projectiles that the DBZ franchise is known for, same for the dash/powered up state that extends combos even further on knockbacks and wall bounces. I personally felt that throws were a little too strong in this game as they guarantee a free air combo follow-up, but it never felt unfair. Dashes beat out most basic projectiles. Vanishes (think like an instant transmission/teleport) can blindside an opponent and attacks immediately from behind your opponent at the cost of one bar of super meter. Some attacks (specific heavy attacks that have to be timed accordingly to properly punish dashes on the spot) can beat out throws and EASILY punish most blocked dashes. Everyone seems to have an universal overhead attack that must be blocked standing while others seem to hit like cross-ups, so there's mix-ups a plenty in this game from blockstrings combined with your teammates' assist attacks (think Marvel vs. Capcom series or Skullgirls). Assist attacks are defaulted to one staple attack per character, so there's not that confusion of wondering what assist do you pick from this array of characters - something that was a little jarring for casuals in the Marvel vs. Capcom series. Here, you simply pick your fighters and jump right into the action.

Most players will be happy to know that there's not any complicated inputs for super moves either. Everyone seems to have the same universal input for super moves (either Hadoken motion forward or backwards + the throw button). That adds even more accessibility to the point of entry for this fighter. In that regard, I thought it was rather odd that some super moves (especially level 3 supers) were scaled heavily in damage in comparison of doing a raw super. It seemed kind of weird in that regard, but whatever. This was the beta testing after all.

One thing I wish the in-game tutorial went over was that every character has unique moves outside of the basics that were shown in the tutorial mode. I didn't figure that out until I was getting comfortable with the fighters in Casual Matches. I had to smack myself on the forehead for not thinking about that sooner. Still in that regard, I wonder how much variety is here before it gets stale?

I didn't see the mechanic much in the beta outside of the tutorial, but there's a comeback mechanic in the form of collecting all seven Dragonballs (each randomly acquired from performing specific actions within a match) and summoning Shenron by connecting a specific combo sequence. One of those options from selecting one of the four wishes to Shenron to turn the tide of the battle includes the ability to revive a fallen teammate and even the ability to max out the super meter gauge. Seems like an unique mechanic on its own, but it was nowhere as prevalent as X-Factor was in Marvel vs. Capcom 3 or Rage state in Tekken Tag Tournament 2 as an "annoying" comeback mechanic. Only time will tell if this will change in the retail release.

Presentation

The visuals are the best thing going about this game. The game sports a "not quite cell shaded" look that makes it look like you're playing an episode of the anime come to life. It's not quite Budokai series (even though some of the backgrounds look subpar if I'm perfectly honest...) in terms of quality, but you can appreciate the sheer amount of love from ArcSys to make this game take as much from the source material as possible in terms of visuals and sound. Even the avatars for players in the online lobby were adorable and a nice touch.

While we're on the subject of the online lobby/central hub for this game, I want to confess that I flat out hated it to an extent. Maybe it's that I have played fighting games that have been set up in a better fashion than this, but locking everything from practice/training modes, replay channel, etc. behind your online servers is downright asinine. One can only hope that this is not the case when the retail release of the game comes out later this month. I saw the message for "You Have Left The Lobby" and "Cannot Connect to Server" far too many times that I have liked for this past weekend. If that is a preview of what the game's launch is going to be then that isn't a good look at all. I think that came down to ArcSys underestimating the popularity of this game and the sheer number of people who would want to check out the game during this free trial session.

My Streaming Experience

Final Thoughts

I can see why people are excited about this game as I had a lot of fun playing it when it actually worked, but at the same time, ArcSys rubbed me the wrong way for this open beta, especially when this game is going to release in a mere TWO weeks. They are going to have to scramble to make sure their servers aren't utter shit when the retail release/launch for this game is right around the corner. At the same time, I know how this publisher treats the BlazBlue and Guilty Gear series in terms of DLC and additional content. I dare say that they are just as bad - if not more in some cases - as Capcom in that regard with multiple iterations of the same game for updates, expansions, and add-ons every few months. With that being said, I seriously doubt I would pick this up at launch. The initial roster seems interesting enough, but I was expecting a lot more characters for this from the base in-game roster.

Don't get me wrong. Maybe I'm being a little hard on this game after the shortcomings of this past weekend's open beta, but I can't help be a little skeptical when this game is set to release in a mere two weeks. I don't know about you guys but I would like to get my money's worth when it comes to my gaming purchases, especially when it comes to these fighting games who have been known for lackluster content right out of the box. How can we forget the recent clusterfuck that was Street Fighter V's initial launch and the lackluster content for Marvel vs. Capcom 3/Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3?

Look, I get it. Dragon Ball Z is a part of a lot of people's childhood memories and served as the gateway to the world of anime for many. All that I'm saying is don't allow yourself to get caught up behind those nostalgia glasses and be blinded that this game could potentially be a scam from our friends at ArcSys. Then again, I could be wrong. ArcSys already announced that the pre-order bonus DLC characters of SSGSS Goku and Vegeta, along with Android 21 are unlockable in-game without any real life currency, so those who don't pre-order the game and decide to pick it up down the road won't be penalized.

Ring of Honor Presents Final Battle 2017 (December 15, 2017) -- Results & Afterthoughts

Ring of Honor: Final Battle (2017) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by Ring of Honor (ROH). It took place on December 15, 2017, at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, New York.

Since I'm reviewing this at least a month after the fact after Wrestle Kingdom 12 has come and gone, I'm going to be pretty short and sweet on these results as the big title changes are already out in the open.

I thought that the opener between The Kingdom's Matt Taven and Will Ospreay was pretty solid. I still think that The Kingdom's new music that they debuted last year rocks and takes them up a notch collectively. Taven was set to be a star before his injuries sidelined him back when he won the TV title a few years ago, but I'm glad he's getting the chance to shine now on his own in a sense instead of being the 3rd man in Mike Bennett and Maria Kanellis' shadows. Ospreay is one of those guys who does a lot of "flippy shit" as Jim Cornette would say but I can tell that he has the right guys mentoring him or feeding him knowledge as the guy can easily transition to spots (that make sense instead just doing flips to do flips) and working smart within the ring. I loved the finish here that saw Taven counter the OsCutter into what looked like EC3's One Percenter (Snapmare Driver?) for the win.

War Machine def. The Addiction in a match that I honestly didn't really care for. While I like all of the guys involved here but I just couldn't help but feel that something was missing here. Besides aren't War Machine on their way out the door? Seemed odd to see them win here but job out like it was nothing on WK12. Then again, this show was a few weeks out from that event and I watching this in retrospect, but whatever.

Motor City Machineguns def. The Best Friends to retain the ROH Tag Titles in a match I honestly would say was the worst thing on this show just from the finish alone. The Best Friends spike Sabin into a Piledriver, who no sells it into a Jacknife pin for the win. I watched that spot at least 3-5 times and still didn't understand that.

Lethal vs. Marty Scurll had to be my favorite match of the show just from the double Eddie Guerrero chair fake-out spot. Both of these guys have great natural chemistry with each other with the match. The narrative here was that Marty was trying to bring out the "villain" in Lethal, but that merely spelled out doom for Marty in the end as Lethal took the win after a low blow that allowed him to hit the Lethal Injection.

Silas Young pulled off the upset of the evening winning the TV title in that 4-Way elimination match. Shane Taylor (who has slimmed down a lot from the last few times I've seen him work matches on ROH TV a few months ago) went out first, Kenny King (the champion going into this match who even impressed me with some of his matches during this reign) out second after Silas broke a beer bottle over the back of his head, and Punishment Martinez (who I jokingly said to myself while watching that he is everything that WWE wishes Baron Corbin would be) was eliminated last by Silas. Definitely one of the better matches on this card, especially from the first few opening moments of the match. I thought Punishment Martinez was pretty bland when they first introduced him but he's definitely impressed me with his performance here.

Dem Boys (The Briscoes) def. Bully Ray and Tommy Dreamer in a Street Fight. To say that this whole storyline/feud stemmed from Ray's possible head injury/concussion(s), there sure were a LOT of shots to the head in this match to the point is was in really bad taste. We all know the trauma to the head isn't anything to play around with but this match went out of their way to barrage in a lot of them for Christ's sake. To be honest, I was completely fine with the Briscoes picking up the win here.

ROH presents the Women of Honor (WOH) Championship and announces a tournament to crown it's first champion. About F'N time I say. Took them long enough to do this to say that their women's division has been around for a good while now since it's "revival", just that it's been limited to being mostly shown off on their YouTube channel weekly. TBH I wouldn't be surprised if either Mandy Leon or Kelly Klein picks it up first in terms of mainstays who have stuck around this long.

Hung Bucks (Young Bucks & Adam "Hangman" Page) def. Flip Gordon and two guys from CMLL was another fun match. This was my first time seeing one of Flip's matches and I'm thoroughly impressed with his work. I can see why he's on a lot of the "who to watch in 2018" in ROH lists. Dragon Lee's performance wasn't a surprise here as I've seen him work earlier this past year in the hunt for the TV title. Flip's team got some nice spots in but there wasn't any doubt in my mind that the Bucks weren't walking away as the winners. It just seemed like they were jobbing Flip's team out with the DOUBLE Indytaker on them for the win. Made them look like a group of collective jobbers to me off that. Don't ask me who was the third man for Flip Gordon's team as I didn't catch that for the duration of that match.

Main Event: Cody Rhodes w/ Brandi Rhodes defending his World Title against Dalton Castle. This was the first appearance Cody's new look with the blonde/white hair and sporting that ring that he has Brandi kissing all the time. I spoiled the finish to this match for myself by watching WK12 first, so I knew he was losing the title here, but I still thought that this was a match worth watching. Not as great as everything else on this card, but a fine way to close out the show. Maybe it was just me or did the crowd didn't seem too passionate about Castle's win here? I dunno maybe it was different live in the arena.

Overall, this was your run of the mill ROH card (with more time of course), but I'm glad I didn't drop PPV money to watch this live despite the solid performances up and down the card. I don't want to bury the show, but it just seemed like your run of the mill ROH card, just with a lot more time for matches than they typically do for their weekly broadcast.

Celebrating Batman Beyond's 19th Anniversary: My Top 10 Favorite Episodes

I was reminded today on Twitter that today was the official 19 year anniversary of Batman Beyond arriving on television. So I thought it would be a fun idea to crank out a list of my personal favorite episodes. Don't kill me on this one, I made this off the fly off the top of my head and wanted to crank this out before the day was over at the last minute.

Before we get started, let's revisit that awesome introduction movie to this series?

#10 - "Terry's Friend Dates a Robot"

This is one of my guilty pleasure episodes, mainly for the fact that we get so much screen time of Terry's classmates. For a long time, people have frowned upon the "Spider-Man vibe" that this series has at times, but c'mon they should have known what they were getting into when Bruce's successor here was a teenager in high school. I still think that it was ironic at the time whereas DC Comics/Kids WB were trying to be like Spider-Man with Batman Beyond while Marvel Comics/Fox Kids were trying to be like Batman Beyond with Spider-Man Unlimited when these shows aired roughly at the same time.

As for this episode, we get a lot of hilarious moments here as it's not really an action heavy episode, just one where you had an idea where it was going. Of course Terry's friend gets a robotic girlfriend who gets insanely jealous if he talks to other girls, so eventually you knew she was going to go mental at some point. The whole ordeal didn't even really need Batman at all, it was just a good diversion and light-hearted story from some of the more darker narratives that this iteration of Batman is commonly known for.

#9 -  "Black Out"

Inque makes her first appearance in this episode with her first of many appearances in this series and later a cameo in the "Epilogue" episode of Justice League Unlimited (so we technically know that she somehow survives her fate at the end of "Inqueling"), but this one is my favorite over her later appearances. This episode as a whole serves as the "training wheels" for this new iteration of Batman as he has his first proper adversary. Bruce is there, coaching his successor with the advice to be aware of his surroundings and think on his feet. Terry is forced to take a crash course on this lesson in his first "true" outing as I thought Rebirth (Parts 1-2; mentioned below) did a poor job of showing that Terry is a worthy successor instead of just being a random guy who stole Bruce's equipment and pretends to be Batman. When shit hits the fan and Terry is forced to improvise to defeat Inque when she sneaks into the BatCave, we get a nice throwback to all of this souvenirs of Bruce's past exploits, including Mr. Freeze's cold gun, which Terry uses to defeat Inque.

#8 - "Rebirth, Part I"

I'll be completely honest. I didn't care for Terry's origin story in the first two episodes. I thought this could have been presented better as the bulk of this episode is a chore to watch initially and even more so in second half, "Rebirth, Part II", with a lackluster finale. I would have included Part II on this list, but Mr. Fixx was a poor adversary to end Terry's first outing with.

In retrospect, the best part of Rebirth, Part I was Bruce Wayne's last outing as Batman before hanging up the costume for good. That moment is so powerful that we see Bruce break his golden rule of not using guns. That's the ONLY reason that this episode ranks higher than "Black Out" if I'm honest. Batman would unintentionally break this rule later in Justice League/Justice League Unlimited when Deadman was in possession of his body to kill Devilray before he could shoot Diana/Wonder Woman from behind.

#7 - "Lost Soul"

I REALLY had to think on this one on whether or not I wanted to include this episode on this list or not. Simply put, it solves the question that a lot of people have been wondering since the series' debut. Is Batman merely the costume or the man inside it? In other words, would Terry McGinnis be able to hold his own without the advantages that the BatSuit provides? Well, we get the answer here as Terry's adversary in this episode is none other than the BatSuit being controlled by a ghost of man who had his mind digitized.

Too bad Terry didn't take up Bruce's offer to wear one of his old costumes though and merely just took the utility belt and one of Nightwing's old domino masks.

#6 - "A Touch of Curare"

Curare was a great villain in her own right that pops up in a few more episodes, but the highlight of that episode was the history on what happened between Barbara Gordon and Bruce Wayne that dissolved their partnership. Bruce Timm and Paul Dini always had a thing for "shipping" them together and it went as far back as an ongoing joke early into Batman: The Animated Series, despite their age differences. It was a nice nod to make that fan service canon in this continuity. Years after the fact, we would see their fantasies play out in the non-canon adaptation of Batman: The Killing Joke made by same team that did this series.

Last but not least, who didn't love that moment when Barbara threw that Batarang at Curare and didn't skip a beat?

#5 - "Heroes"

It was pretty obvious that the Trio were inspired by the Fantastic Four and it made this story all that more compelling. That line between good and evil could crossed without a moments notice and this episode does a great job of displaying that. One thing I have never seen anyone mention about this episode that this was one of the first occasions where Terry had to flat out "kill" his adversaries here.

It's not flat out said as much, but it's implied that all three members of the Trio died after their battle with Terry in this episode's climax. The episode ends with Terry pretty down that he had to put those regarded as heroes to so many down. It's a tough lesson that shows Terry that everything that Batman accomplishes in his crime-fighting career isn't glamorous.

#4 - "Dead Man's Hand"

Ah... Melanie Walker/Ten... a character I wish that got more time on this show as it went on. I flat out hated her in her second appearance (hence why that episode isn't on this list), when it looked like Terry and Dana were splitsville I liked this introduction of her character as a foil of sorts to show that Dana and Terry's relationship wasn't going to last every roadblock in their way and make Terry question his current path working with Bruce as Batman. It was something I was wondering that would happen later in Terry's career as Batman, but was happy to see it sooner here to differentiate himself from Bruce Wayne's Batman and actually consider being selfish in favor of having more of a social life over his cape and cowl career. The best moment of this episode had to be the part where Ten and Batman are rushing to finish their exploits as their costumed identities as they don't want to stand the other up for their pending date, but missing the mark anyway and still finding each other and spending that tender moment with each other. The writers did a great job here of presenting Melanie as a better option over Dana in terms of Terry's love interest at this point, but it's a shame that they didn't do more with her later.

#3 - "The Call (Parts 1-2)

I would have counted these two episodes separately but it's technically one long episode anyway. This episode is high on my list as without it we wouldn't have gotten Justice League/Justice League Unlimited afterwards as it was "test run" for Bruce Timm's team at the time to pull off something of this magnitude. I also thank this episode for the introduction to this futuristic iteration of the Justice League as I wouldn't have been able to enjoy the graphic novels that spawned from their creation here that follows the events from this series in canon. As for the episode itself, there's a lot to enjoy here as we finally get some light on Bruce and Clark's history over the years and his feelings about the League as a whole in his old age. Terry proves his worth as prime candidate for membership tenfold in this episode as he manages to take down all of Justice League on his own, especially Superman being controlled by Starro.

Seriously though, who would have thought that Starro of all people would have been made into a major player in the DCAU? That alone was worth the high ranking of this two-parter.

#2 - "Out of the Past"

What's there not to like about this episode? We get to see Bruce back in his prime and rekindle his romance with Talia, only for shit to hit the fan and it's the return of Ra's al Ghul instead. The Bruce and Terry team-up here was priceless, right down to the banter.

This would be the last DCAU appearance of Ra's al Ghul too as I thought we were robbed of his appearance in Justice League/Justice League Unlimited in some fashion.

#1 - "Meltdown"

This one was a no brainer for me when I was making this list. The first half of the episode isn't really much to write home about but the final act where we get Mr. Freeze in a revamped costume AND the debut of Blight? That's where this episode truly shines as the best that this show had to offer. Freeze would get closure from his traumas that have haunted him since the start of Batman: The Animated Series while Terry would have a newfound adversary (at least for the first season) in Blight.


Before I list my honorable mentions, I want to HIGHLY recommend fans of the series take the time to check out Comicstorian's insight on what happened to this series. As always thanks for reading folks!

Honorable Mentions (No particular order here)

• Big Time - The origin story for Terry's own version of a Two-Face archetype in his rogues gallery. Terry feels responsible for creating this villainous monster. 
• Betrayal - Big Time returns with Terry's guilt continuing to eat away at him until he's forced to face his former friend once again. 
• The Winning Edge - Another Spider-Man-esque story with the high school jocks abusing performance enhancers that end up being Venom, the same chemical that former Batman rogue Bane used. Bane wasn't making it himself but it ends up being his own confidant who has Bane in his care reproducing the formula for his own profit. This episode is mainly on this list mainly because I crack up laughing at the fight at the end when the not-so-good doctor overdoses on Venom. 
• Ascension - The season finale for Season One that pretty much wraps up Blight's character arc as the main villain for the first season. Derrick Powers' son, Paxton takes over Wayne-Powers in his place after double-crossing his father (after exposing his identity in the process) in a power play with Batman right in the middle. 
• Mind Games - The introduction of the Brain Trust (along with Mandragora whose father killed Huntress' parents as that was revealed in Justice League Unlimited) with their one-time appearance in this series. The Brain Trust does appear again in the spin-off series, The Zeta Project. I was hoping that they would have done more with Tamara after this episode. Seemed like a missed opportunity. 
• Zeta - The episode that pretty much spawned the spin-off, The Zeta Project. Zeta's appearance here is vastly different than his one in his own series and future appearance in this show. There's a clever easter egg in Justice League where the League are using Zeta prototypes as training dummies. 
• Earth Mover - Boy, this episode is like nightmare fuel watching again in retrospect. Terry's new friend is the daughter of an alleged worker who was thought to be dead in a mining accident. Instead, he was trapped underground with the chemicals that they were trying to dispose of illegally that mutated his body and warped his mind. Fast forward to present, daddy wants his daughter back and uses his earth manipulation powers from the freak accident to bring her down below the surface. I think this is one of the very few times that we get to see the futuristic version of the Batboat/Batsubmarine in this series. I will note that this was another instance where Terry was forced to "kill" the villain of this particular episode. 
• Babel - The episode opens with Bruce telling Terry about a situation where he had no idea how he was going to survive, but by some manner of luck and good fortune he did. In a bizarre twist of fate, Terry found himself in a similar situation. 
• Batman Beyond: Return of The Joker (Movie) - Not an actual singular episode, but a full length movie for this series that marks the first (and last) appearance of The Joker in this timeline. The only reason it's not on this list as I would honestly couple it with the other Batman DCAU-based animated films to properly rank it. 

My Top 5 Favorite Streams of 2017

Over the past year, I've gotten into the habit of trying to stream something at least once at week or have an ongoing series of a game that I'm currently plowing through at my leisure. For the first article of 2018, I wanted to share my top 5 favorite games to stream over the past year on my personal Twitch TV channel. For any of my other archived gaming streams, go visit my YouTube channel here.

#5 - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii)

Why? I haven't played a Zelda title (at least none of the "newer" ones) for a VERY long time... at least not since Ocarina of Time on Nintendo 64, then dabbling with the portable entries and A Link to the Past via emulation (still need to finish that last dungeon at some point). I loved Midna as a sidekick - much more entertaining than Navi was and I appreciated this much "darker" Zelda narrative. I was a little disappointed at the ending, but I enjoyed the game from start to finish. I did roughly everything outside of the Great Fairy Challenge in those 40-50 floors of enemies and get some of the "rare" items (hunting down all of the Poe Souls for one...), so I guess there's that to do if I ever wanted to revisit this game.

#4 - Borderlands (Xbox 360 - Xbox Live Co-Op) - Defeating Crawmerax

Right after the New Year rolled in at the start of 2017, I pulled off this feat.



It's just a clip but damn we were fucking proud of this moment. I finished him off while bleeding out and we got the kill there.

I haven't been able to get much Borderlands gameplay recorded as I like playing that mostly with my best friend, but I don't like to bug him while he's enjoying the married life when he's not busy preoccupied with his scholarly studies. (Shrugs) I dunno, maybe we can get that run of True Vault Hunter Mode run of Borderlands 2 finished at some point. If not, I plan on getting back to my solo Siren run eventually too.

#3 - Asura's Wrath (Xbox 360)

I mainly streamed this game to expose my readers and viewers to this collaboration between Capcom and CyberConnect2 (who normally handles Bandai Namco's anime-based titles, such as the Naruto games as the influences are bloody obvious here...) that created a game that literally is like watching and playing an anime series play out from start to finish. There's a few sections that I hate in this game with a passion from the redundancy, but it's narrative and presentation is one worth experiencing.

It's one thing that frustrates me with Capcom currently. They put so much stock into Street Fighter and their fighting game properties that they fail to realize that they have single player properties that are pretty much easy money on the table if they would give those series just enough love and care that they do to their beloved Street Fighter. This game, along with Remember Me, I felt were criminally slept on and skipped over by gamers at the time of their release. They aren't perfect games, but they bring ideas to the table that sequels could polish and truly be great.

#2 - No More Heroes (Wii)

I'm shocked at myself that there's not one but TWO Wii games on this list. What can I say? No More Heroes is the game that introduced me to the awesomeness that is Suda51's brilliant (yet crazy and bizarre mind for gaming narratives). I thoroughly enjoyed revisiting this game and exposing people to it that never seen this game before. Even though I didn't much care for the sequel, I think I might stream that at some point too down the road. It's either that or a New Game+ run of this on Hard difficulty.

I will note that Suda51 gear his games towards mostly a more "mature" audience, so I'll put that precaution out there before anyone tries to dwell too deep into his games. He doesn't pull any punches in that regard and was a rather pleasant shock to say that this was a Nintendo Wii exclusive for a VERY long time until the HD remaster No More Heroes: Paradise popped up on the PlayStation 3 (and import Xbox 360).

#1 - Horizon Zero Dawn (PlayStation 4)

Well duh... You KNEW this was going to be the number one pick. With 100+ hours of gameplay in-game, I hate to calculate up how much real life time that I've sinked into that game over the past year. That being said, I don't regret a moment of it. That was my personal Game of the Year pick since launch and it just seems to get better the more time I sink into it, especially with the recent Frozen Wilds downloadable content add-on. The only things I haven't done in this game was find all of the collectibles, the hunting club activities, and I'm possibly missing a few of the fetch sidequests that I somehow overlooked on the map. Most of that is all grind work and I doubt I would stream it unless I get really bored one day.

After the playing the DLC, I am interested in doing an Ultra-Hard New Game+ run at some point though. That's definitely in the pipeline.