As part of WrestleMania weekend and the ongoing WrestleCon annual convention, both IMPACT Wrestling and Lucha Underground talent faced off in this event streamed live and FREE on Twitch TV on Friday, April 6, 2018. The entire event can be viewed in its entirety here on Video on Demand on Twitch TV at the link below.
Even though it seemed like it was awkward at first with the crowd trying to bury Impact Wrestling's brand at first, the crowd eventually came around after some coercing from Melissa Santos and Mckenzie Mitchell sharing ring announcing duties for the night. If I may add, the baby weight on Melissa is a great look on her and makes her look juicy in the right places. Lord, have mercy for her in this upcoming season of Lucha Underground.
Matanza defeated Moose, Matt Sydal, Caleb Konley, Jack Evans, and Chavo Guerrero Jr. in a six-way match
This would end up being Jack Evans' last match for Lucha Underground after he (along with Angelico) tweeted that he was done working for the promotion. I have no idea if that means he's not in Season 4 or what, but sucks to see him go. I wonder what's going to happen to Mundo's Worldwide Underground faction in Season 4 then. Chavo took the mic and treated the crowd to this teaser for the next season of Lucha Underground following this match:
As for this match, it was a fun start to this show. We got to see everyone clash at one point or another, but the most fun interaction for me was Matanza and Moose sizing each other up. That didn't last for long until Matanza tossed everyone around like lawn furniture and picked up the win promptly.
Knockouts Champion Allie defeated Taya Valkyrie to retain her title
I can't remember but isn't this their first encounter here in Impact Wrestling? I mentioned this on social media during my #IMPACTonPop live discussions, but why do people keep giving Taya shit on her weight gain? Thickness is a great look on her - much better than look she had in the last two seasons of Lucha Underground. In that case, I blame their lighting on making everyone look like they are tanning worse than Hulk Hogan. Seeing this match made me immediately think of the lack of Rosemary (or better yet no Catrina, Ivelisse, nor Black Lotus...) on this card in terms of femme fatales to represent both the Impact and Lucha Underground brands. Allie and Taya had a pretty average match here and that's fine, given everything else going on this show.
Scott Steiner & Teddy Hart defeated oVe (Dave & Jake Crist)
It still blows my mind that both Scott Steiner and Teddy Hart were tag team on this card, let alone on this card PERIOD. For those who don't know, Teddy's been on a mission to revitalize his career and repair the damage to his reputation in the business with a fresh start. TJ Wilson (AKA Tyson Kidd/Natalya's husband) even went as far as tweeting out some kind words for his fresh start and asking his peers in the business to give him a second chance to redeem himself.
We've seen a lot of craziness from oVe over the last few months in their feud with LAX, so this match was pretty tame in comparison. Hell, Teddy wasn't even doing anything crazy like I remember from his Wrestling Society X days.
King Cuerno, Drago & Aerostar defeated Andrew Everett, Dezmond Xavier & DJZ
This was my second favorite match of the night, just from all of the talent involved. Impact could sign all of these guys from Lucha Underground tomorrow and run a X-Division clinic on the next PPV. This is the first time I remember seeing DJZ on an Impact card in quite some time. Someone will correct me in the comments or via social media, but wasn't he dealing with an injury of some kind? I remember Dezmond Xavier won that X-Division tournament they had last year to face Ishiimori in a short feud, but I don't remember seeing him much on TV tapings afterwards. It's a damn shame too to say that guy is hella talented. Wouldn't be surprised if WWE swoops in with an offer for him to join 205 Live once his contract is up.
Trevor Lee (w/ Caleb Konley) defeated Marty The Moth (w/ Famous B)
Marty the Moth being Famous B's partner was a pleasant surprise, but this match wasn't as great as I was expecting it to be. I did get a good laugh at Melissa Santos running out of the way AS SOON as he was announced given their history on Lucha Underground. Too bad we didn't get Dr. Wagner Jr. and Beautiful Brenda along for the ride too. I honestly was shocked that Marty took the L here, but then again, I'm not given that Trevor Lee always seems to be booked strong throughout his tenure in
Impact World Tag Team Champions LAX (Santana & Ortiz w/ Diamante) defeated Killshot & The Mack to retain their titles
This wasn't an Art of War match like we saw at Ultima Lucha Tres, but this was another fun match on this show. Given everything that we've seen from LAX in terms of sheer brutality with their feud with oVe, this was another tame match in comparison to that stuff, but still worth the watch.
Brian Cage defeated Eli Drake
Much like every other match (outside the one with Lashley) he's had since arriving in Impact Wrestling, Cage ended this in a promptly manner. There wasn't a second I believed that Drake was going to pull out a win here. He put up a good fight, but we all knew where this was going the second the bell rung.
Jeremiah Crane (Sami Callihan) defeated Eddie Edwards in an I Quit match
I busted out laughing at the spot where Eddie called Crane by his NXT name to piss him off. Yeah, we were all mad at that wasted opportunity there. At least Callihan is doing better for himself now, much like Edwards here after getting the shaft from NXT. After what transpired in their match a few weeks ago on Impact that drew all of the media attention from the botch that caused Sami smash Eddie's orbital socket with a baseball bat, I thought they would have given the win to Eddie here. Color me surprised on that one. I guess Impact wants to continue riding that heel heat for Sami until their upcoming Redemption PPV for Eddie to finally get his comeuppance for Sami's actions.
Pentagon Jr. defeated Austin Aries and Fenix in a triple threat match
It is worth noting that the main event for the event had been set to be a tag team match with Alberto El Patron teaming with Austin Aries to face Pentagon Jr. and Fenix, but El Patron did not show at the event. At this time there has been no explanation offered as to why the Mexican star did not show at the event, but one Impact Wrestling source has since claimed El Patron had become sick. El Patron is due to face Aries for the Impact World Championship at Redemption on April 22nd. Impact Wrestling came to terms and terminated El Patron from his contract by the end of the weekend after no showing another appearance on Saturday.
Good riddance if you ask me. I wouldn't have rehired him after all of that bad PR and negativity surrounding him in the first place. On top of that, the guy is a damn charisma vacuum and extremely bland. He does NOTHING to elevate their product, unlike how resigning Aries has done. To say they lost Lashley, EC3, and James Storm over whatever they were too generous paying El Patron, he wasn't worth that investment in the least.
As a result of El Patron's no showing this event, we got a MUCH better main event bout as a replacement - Austin Aries versus Fenix and Pentagon Jr. in a triple threat non-title match. IMPACT Wrestling announced later this weekend that the main event for their upcoming Redemption PPV will be a repeat of this match, but for the IMPACT Global Championship.
WrestleMania 34 was the thirty-fourth annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event and WWE Networkevent produced by WWE for their Raw and SmackDownbrands. It took place on April 8, 2018, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.
· “Woken” Matt Hardy won the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal on the WrestleMania 34 Kickoff pre-show
I had the Network feed on during this one but the thing with these big battle royals where they dump all of the guys who don't have anything else going on just to get a WM payday into this match is that you can barely see what's going on since it's such a damn clusterfuck until the final moments.
We did get the return of (Broken?) Bray Wyatt, who helped Matt Hardy win the match when it came down to Matt, Mojo Rawley and Baron Corbin. When I saw it was those three left, I was going, "Is it bad that I don't want ANY of these guys to win this?"
· Cedric Alexander defeated Mustafa Ali to become the new WWE Cruiserweight champion
Loved Mustafa Ali's entrance gear. Seemed like the next evolution of the gear that DJZ wears in Impact Wrestling to the ring on his matches. I was trying to pay attention to this live when it happened but I was getting a haircut and struggling to watch off of my phone. What I did see wasn't bad, but let's be honest here, Cedric's been groomed for this spot since before Enzo got the boot, so it wasn't a surprise that he got the win here.
Even though I don't watch 205 Live, I might tune in just to see how he fares in this role as I loved his run in ROH when he had Veda Scott in his corner. Wonder if he's gotten a personality to go with all of that in-ring charisma and talent in the ring. I hope they don't sleep on/neglect Ali either as his talents shouldn't be squandered either.
· Naomi eliminated Bayley to win the first-ever Women’s WrestleMania Battle Royal
I tried to pay attention to this one live, but other than seeing that only maybe 3 women out of all who were in this match were given actual entrances before walking out together as a big angry mob, I couldn't fathom how WWE could expect anyone to care going forward. To say that people made a big deal about changing the name (which I applaud them for because Moolah wasn't the best person to dedicate this match to AT ALL...) of this match, I'm not surprised that WWE treated it like the Miss WrestleMania Battle Royal from a couple of years back that Santino, or rather Santina, won in complete disrespect to the women at the time (past and present). It was just like the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal where there was a bit too much going on. I did chuckle at everyone ganging up on Carmella first then later the NXT and Mae Young Classic former entrants all ganging up against the opposition.
· Seth Rollins pinned The Miz to win the Intercontinental Championship in a triple-threat match that included Finn Balor
A great way to "officially" kick off this event. I was a little bummed out that they gave Rollins the win here instead of keeping the Intercontinental title on The Miz. After that recognition from Jeff Jarrett during the Hall of Fame, you would think that WWE would keep stock in the guy. I hope this means that they are going to continue to elevate Miz up the ladder if they are regulating Rollins to take the ball at this point. Then again, I could be wrong. They could easily put the title back on Miz and allow him to break the record at Backlash or whenever he plans on cashing in on his rematch opportunity before he winds up getting drafted elsewhere.
I had to read comments online to explain both Rollins and Balor's entrances to understand the references. I'm fine with Balor doing something to promote love around the world, that's completely fine, but I feel like they missed the boat on giving him a Demon entrance at 'Mania this year to say he missed it last year due to his injury. Rollins' entrance was supposedly "white-walker" inspired from Game of Thrones. I wouldn't have never guessed that from never watching that show nor reading the books.
· Charlotte successfully defended the SmackDown women’s championship over Asuka, ending her undefeated streak
In my honest opinion, the stupidest booking decision of the evening. No, I don't have anything against Charlotte on a personal level. I honestly thought this was a stellar bout between both women as this was the best I've seen Charlotte perform since coming onto the main roster. I don't get what was up with her looking like she borrowed Mandy Rose's ring gear, but I did dig that she came out like she was Ragyo Kiryuin from Kill la Kill at the first part of her entrance though.
My issue with Charlotte ending Asuka's streak is "what now?" Great, Charlotte has another accolade to her resume, but that leaves her without anyone else left to challenge/threaten her title reign. They could have easily had Charlotte drop the title here and make her go heel (which is her forte anyway) and have a clear heel/face dynamic for the title on SmackDown! going forward. I mean, seriously, they have to kill that whole thing with Riott Squad eventually anyway. Sooner more than later would be the best plan of action.
· Jinder Mahal won the United States championship in a four-way match over Randy Orton, Rusev and Bobby Roode
Didn't care, didn't watch the bulk of this one... This was my first bathroom break/food run of the night. I did see the multiple RKOs at one point that led to the finish, but whatever. Didn't care when this feud started a month or two ago, didn't care now.
What's even worse is that people probably would have been MUCH more accepting of Jinder Mahal as United States Champion if he won that like a year or so ago instead of magically becoming the WWE Champion for what felt like an eternity last year. This booking decision was too late in my eyes.
· Ronda Rousey and Kurt Angle were victorious over Stephanie McMahon and Triple H when Rousey tapped out McMahon
I was thoroughly impressed with Rousey's first outing here, but at the same time, I found myself rolling my eyes by the time the match was over from how many times they were acting like Stephanie McMahon was fighting off being in Rousey's signature armbar submission. I get it - they want to sell and build up to the moment where Rousey broke through her defenses and forced her to submit with the narrative, but it just looks bad when Stephanie isn't even a full-time wrestler on the active roster to see her fight Rousey like an "equal" here.
After thinking about it, this is arguably the best match on the entire show though. That's not saying much given everything else on this show that was either just as good as match or failed to live up to the hype surrounding it. In either case, WWE should pat themselves on the back for their gamble on Rousey paying off here along with everyone involved in this match (along with the agents who helped put it together) crafting a narrative that no one isn't going to forget anytime soon. My only question is where does Rousey go from here being a FULL-TIME talent?
· The Bludgeon Brothers won the SmackDown tag titles in a three-way match victory over the New Day and Usos
I hate to say it, but this was pretty much a squash match. They could have done this title change on SmackDown! Live last week. All three of these teams deserved more than this, especially the Usos to say that this was their first main show bout out of the entire decade of their time in this company.
· The Undertaker defeated John Cena
I was honestly surprised that Taker showed up in the old school attire again. I thought he was done with that gimmick. That being said, Taker looked like he stepped out of a time machine. I'll let that Running Big Boot that didn't even connect with Cena and the fact that it looked like he was hobbling down to the ring at first both slide as this was a definitely better outing for him in comparison to that mess with Roman last year. I just didn't expect to see Taker come out and have Cena job to him that quick.
I'm curious on what's going to be the fallout from this. All of that hype and mystery for what was going to happen and we got this as the payoff? Seems like there has to be more to this storyline before it's over to me.
· Daniel Bryan forced Sami Zayn to tap, winning his tag-team match with Shane McMahon against Zayn and Kevin Owens
The first thing that annoyed me right off the bat was ANOTHER fucking apron bump. Like what is WWE's deal? The guy just came back from a two-hiatus on the shelf where we all thought he was retired for good and they are already taking his health for granted. Sometimes I really don't know what this company is thinking when it comes to their talent's well-being and health.
One thing I hope everyone took note of is that Bryan's "attempting" to reduce the amount of bumps he takes in a match. When he was doing his signature running dropkicks in the corner, I noticed that Bryan was grabbing onto the ropes to break his fall and cushion the landings in a sense.
· Nia Jax defeated Alexa Bliss to win the Raw women’s title
Nia Jax immediately turning to Mickie James and disposing of her like yesterday's garbage reminded me of the feud between Awesome Kong and Angelina Love in TNA/Impact Wrestling where Kong "killed" every member of the Beautiful People faction that was bullying/trash-talking her to the point where Angelina was forced to face her one-on-one with her back against the wall.
Even though I was happy to see Nia finally pick up the win and the title, I would be lying if I didn't admit that this match was VERY sloppy. It wouldn't hurt for one of the agents to direct Nia to start watching some of Awesome Kong's work in TNA if they really want to establish her as a force to be reckoned with in terms of being their resident female powerhouse.
To all of the people on social media saying that feud was iconic as AJ Lee/Kaitlyn and Trish Stratus/Lita just because Alexa Bliss and Nia Jax are friends in real life need to get their eyes checked. That match was seriously lacking to say it was so far up on the card.
· AJ Styles defeated Shinsuke Nakamura to successfully defend the WWE title
This was the match that I was looking forward to the ENTIRE night and it kinda fell flat. As someone who stayed up to 6AM to watch their Wrestle Kingdom match live when it happened in New Japan Pro Wrestling, this was a tad underwhelming in comparison. I loved the Kinshasa (it's still Bomaye to me dammit...) reversal to the Styles Clash for the finish. I was stunned that was the finish. In a card where almost every other match has about 10-20 near-falls (especially on last night's show), that caught me off guard there.
With Nakamura's heel turn after the match, I have seen fans online mention that he is channeling his CHAOS days from New Japan, but a part of me feels like Vince McMahon just wants an excuse for booking another evil foreigner heel gimmick.
· Braun Strowman and a child from the crowd named Nicholas defeated The Bar to win the Raw tag-team titles
Watching this live, I thought this was next level stupid and I still do in retrospect. Look, I get it. It was a cool moment for the kid (who ended up being the son of one of the WWE referees anyway...), but to say that WWE has all of this talent on payroll that they stolen from roughly every major promotion and the indie scene as a whole that they couldn't just choose just ONE person to be Strowman's partner is very telling in what they think of the drawing power (or rather the faith in their roster PERIOD) of their roster.
For those who saw the RAW after 'Mania, this ended up being a wash as Strowman and the kid ended up vacating the titles the next night anyway. I was happy we got a hilarious segment out of it, but still a damn shame to see the tag team division come down to this.
It drives me nuts that they have guys like The Revival, Chad Gable, Shelton Benjamin, Luke Gallows, and Karl Anderson and haven't done beans with them in terms of tag team wrestling when anyone with functioning eyes know that they are capable of 5 star matches, but they haven't been given the opportunity to do that much in this company.
Samoa Joe was cleared and ready to bounce back from his injury. Same for Big Cass. They could have had Elias in that spot instead of jobbing to Cena in a squash. Just so many options here, but they went for the one where they pulled shit out of their ass from out of left field.
· Brock Lesnar retained the Universal Championship with a victory over Roman Reigns
If Vince McMahon had foresight, he would have seen this trainwreck coming and avoided it, but nope. As a result, Roman, Brock, and Vince ended up shitting the bed completely on this one.
The crowd showered them with chants of "THIS IS AWFUL!" after Roman Reigns manages to kick out of not one or two F-5's but damn FIVE before Brock hit the sixth one to end it. That wasn't before Brock took his gloves off and busted open Reigns the hard way just like how he did Randy Orton last year. It blows my mind that Vince thought that people weren't going to call bullshit on this match, especially Reigns kicking out of multiple F-5's when we've seen the biggest stars on the roster - including Braun Strowman, Samoa Joe, and even AJ freakin' Styles going down off merely just ONE F-5 over the past year. Reigns somehow manages to take SIX like it's a damn video game.
I honestly couldn't help but laugh watching this live at this absurdity. WWE actually thought that people were going to sit by and 'accept' this as their main event of the evening. It's not like everything beforehand blew this show out of the water. The card was acceptable - better than last year's, but that's not saying much. Let's just face it - the Roman Reigns experiment failed. Just move on and go with someone else, Vince. It's not that hard. At this point, I have a suspicion that WWE plans on allowing Brock to keep the title until roughly Summerslam and break CM Punk's record-breaking title reign - if he hasn't done so already. The only person he hasn't beaten of name value on the main roster is Bobby Lashley - who returned on RAW the night after WrestleMania.
NXT TakeOver: New Orleans was a professional wrestling show and WWE Network event in the NXT TakeOver series that took place on April 7, 2018, at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Ladder Match to Crown the First Ever NXT North American Champion Adam Cole def. Ricochet, Killian Dain, Lars Sullivan, EC3, and The Velveteen Dream
This match was rather nuts - as to be expected, but ultimately left me feeling like everyone else is going to have a hard time following this match.
EC3 was here just to get killed in his debut. There were multiple points in this match where I was going, they better be checking him for concussions or possible broken bones after what he was put through here. Velveteen Dream isn't going to have a hip when he's in his 40s to 50s if he keeps killing it with those Elbow Drops. Wasn't that Rainbow Drop (clearly that's what move from Tekken's Yoshimitsu that he's using here doing that that Cartwheel Death Valley Driver) insane on the ladder? No way in hell I would agree to take that move on a ladder PERIOD nor even suggest that idea. Surprised no one was hurt off that one and the two spots on three people at once by Lars and Dain.
I totally didn't see Adam Cole winning this at all. I had Dream pegged to pick up the win here. Little did I know that this was the beginning of setting up Undisputed Era as the faction/force of nature to beat
NXT Women's Championship Match - Shayna Baszler def. Ember Moon (c)
For the record, I want to say that I loved the narrative that they told here, especially with Ember flipping the script on Shayna's shoulder dislocation spot onto her instead and where Shayna popped her own shoulder back into place by ramming the corner post. I can't place where I have seen that before, but they got points for originality here on that one.
The finish is where this match fell apart at for me. The referee acted like Ember Moon passed out in the hold when I could CLEARLY see her eyes wide open as the hard camera captured it. I wasn't surprised that Ember was going to drop the title to Shayna here, but they could have executed that part better. It's a damn shame too because Shayna's reversal into the hold off the counter to the Eclipse was fucking sick.
Dusty Tag Team Classic Finals - The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole & Kyle O'Reilly) def. Authors of Pain and Roderick Strong & United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne to retain the NXT Tag Team Championships and win the 2018 Dusty Tag Team Classic
Let's be honest here, after those last two matches, this crowd didn't even care about the vast majority of this match until Strong's heel turn at the end. That was KINDA unexpected, especially when people were calling for it MONTHS ago but NXT never seemed to go with it. Currently, they really have no choice because Strong was struggling to get over babyface so at least we'll get a breath of fresh air with this. I know that I thoroughly enjoyed him heel in Ring of Honor, so I'm anxious to see how he plays this in NXT in the coming months. I love how ironic it is that they've essentially turned Undisputed Era into an ex-ROH faction. They might as well add War Machine Raiders in there while they are at it (laughs).
I'm not saying that this match was bad. It was just hard to make this crowd (and I'm sure everyone watching at home) get hyped when we saw just about everything under the sun in the first two matches. The Authors of Pain still come off very flawed to me with Strong, O'Reilly, and Pete Dunne carrying them most of this match. I hope they know that they won't have this kind of treatment on the main roster in the least. By the time that this article goes up, I'm sure people will have seen that they have debuted on the main roster and thrown Paul Ellering to the curb. A good friend of mine pointed out that was probably the best choice, given Ellering's age and no desire to hit the road on a full-time WWE schedule.
NXT Championship Match - Aleister Black def. Andrade "Cien" Almas (w/ Zelina Vega) to become the NEW NXT Champion
I'd be lying if I said that I had faith in Almas retaining the belt here. As soon as they made this match official, I knew that Black was getting the title because NXT has made a habit of keeping him out of the title hunt or getting sidetracked for quite some time now until the perfect moment. Black has had a great run of stellar bouts at these last few TakeOver events and it's appropriate for him to pick up the NXT Championship going forward. Almas has proved his worth over the last few months and risen up to the occasion to fill in the shoes of the brand's headliner after Drew Galloway's unfortunate injury. Fate was rather kind to him and with Zelina Vega (who I jokingly refer to as Rosie Perez on social media among friends) he's elevated his stock as a pairing. If Almas is getting called up in the Superstar Shake-Up next week, I hope him and Zelina doesn't end up like Rusev and Lana where they split up their act then act like they don't know what happened when their stock goes down individually. Don't get me wrong... Rusev's over huge solo, but Lana? Not so much. I say Almas shouldn't be cutting his own promos as they sound abysmal without Zelina doing the talking (when she's not trying to put on a fake as hell stereotypical Latina accent) while Zelina would be jobbing harder than she was in her limited appearances on NXT prior under her real name against Asuka and other heavy-hitters if anyone thinks those hit or miss Hurracanranas she does look good. What I'm getting at here is that together they cover up each others' weaknesses.
Perfect example? When Zelina half-assed that Rana Driver/DDT on Black halfway into this match, Almas was right there to pick up the pieces and salvage the spot anyway. Most people probably didn't catch that, but that really stuck out in my eyes. The best spot for this entire match (honestly annoyed me that they recycled a few from Gargano/Almas at the last TakeOver) was Zelina's help backfiring at the finish that caused Almas to catch her out of the air like Austin Aries held a gun to his head and told him nothing better not happen to his girlfriend in his employ, setting him for the Black Mask for the win for Black. I couldn't think of a better way to end Almas' title reign with Zelina's tricks and foul play backfiring on them both.
I've seen a lot of podcasters and fans on social media mention this and I'm inclined to agree - with Impact Wrestling's recent firing over Alberto Del Rio, Vince needs to just keep that clown FAR away from WWE and look towards Andrade Cien Almas as his Latino star that he wants to build/market around to that demographic. Hell, the guy's already off to a great start.
Non-Sanctioned Match - Johnny Gargano def. Tommaso Ciampa to reinstate his NXT contract
I'm going to be honest here and say that I wasn't too keen on this match like everyone else seems to be raving about. I won't argue that the good versus evil narrative was amazing and timeless here, once again proving that these feuds can still work in modern wrestling with a clear cut good guy vs. bad guy motif. My issue is that it felt like it dragged on and on during the first half of this match until they got going. After everything building up to this, you would think Gargano would come out here on fire like a shot out of a cannon but the opening phase of this match was a far too tame for my taste. I guess they were saving their stamina for the long haul, but they could have done just as well with this match if shaved off like the first ten to fifteen minutes off of it.
The thing that confused me over the weekend and week prior was that people were dead set on believing that Gargano was going to lose and stay fired. What else are Gargano or Ciampa going to do? Ciampa wouldn't have nothing to go off of after that outside of the massive heel heat he has and that would vanish in a few weeks if Gargano just magically appeared on the main roster. In my opinion, Gargano isn't going anywhere near the main roster as long as Daniel Bryan's healthy since they would be given the same treatment/push, especially when they could milk this Gargano/Ciampa thing for another TakeOver or two. Besides, if you can find a heel female they want to build up they can get a few mixed tag matches out of this too if they want to couple Gargano and his wife Candice LaRae up together after she debuts.
Monster Hunter: World is an action role-playing game developed and published by Capcom. A part of the Monster Hunter series, it was released worldwide for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in January 2018, with a Microsoft Windows version being scheduled later in the year. In the game, the player takes the role of a Hunter, tasked to hunt down and either kill or trap monsters that roam in one of several environmental spaces. If successful, the player is rewarded through loot consisting of parts from the monster and other elements that are used to craft weapons and armor, among other equipment. The game's core loop has the player crafting appropriate gear to be able to hunt down more difficult monsters, which in turn provide parts that lead to more powerful gear. Players may hunt alone, or can hunt in cooperative groups of up to four players via the game's online services.
Synopsis
In an unnamed high fantasy setting, humans and other sentient races have set their eyes on the New World, a separate continent from the populated Old World. The New World is an untamed wilderness where many powerful monsters roam, and where researchers have been drawn to uncover new mysteries. Several ocean-bound Fleets have been sent already to establish working bases, safe from monsters, and operations are led by the Research Commission.
Plot
The player controls a hunter that they can name, supported by an assistant handler, who are a part of the Fifth Fleet which has been summoned by the Research Commission to provide more support to the New World. A particular focus of the Expedition is to study Elder Dragons, powerful beasts that can affect entire ecosystems, and why they migrate to the New World every ten years in an event known as the Elder Crossing. While traveling to the New World, the Fifth Fleet encounters Zorah Magdaros, a massive Elder Dragon the size of a mountain. After being rescued and arriving at the base camp, known as Astera, the Hunter and their Handler undertake various tasks to explore the area and study Zorah Magdaros at the behest of the Commander of the Expedition. The Expedition determines that Zorah Magdaros is dying and is migrating to a massive graveyard, known as the Rotten Vale. An Expedition-led capture mission against Zorah Magdaros is foiled by Nergigante, an Elder Dragon that feeds on other Elder Dragons, and is protecting Zorah Magdaros as its future meal. After escaping the ambush, Zorah Magdaros unexpectedly enters the Everstream rather than traveling to the Rotten Vale. After further investigations, the Expedition learns that if Zorah Magdaros dies within the Everstream, its released bio-energy will destroy the New World. With no time to evacuate, the Expedition develops an emergency plan to intercept Zorah Magdaros and drive it to the ocean, where its released bio-energy will form a new aquatic ecosystem. Nergigante once again interferes, but this time is driven off by the Hunters, and Zorah Magdaros is successfully driven into the ocean.
However, when Nergigante flees to the Elder's Recess, an area in the Everstream with massive amounts of stored bio-energy, the presence of Nergigante drives away its Elder Dragon prey toward neighboring locations, upsetting each individual ecosystem. With the help of the Admiral, the true leader of the Expedition, the Hunter is able to track down and kill Nergigante. With Nergigante dead, the Elder Dragons calm down and return to the Recess. After their defeat by the Hunter, the source of energy within the Elder’s Recess is discovered: Xeno'jiiva, an infant Elder Dragon, which had been incubating within the Elder's Recess, and was feeding on the bio-energy of dead Elder Dragons. Xeno'jiiva hatches upon being discovered, and at the behest of the Admiral, the Hunter defeats it before it can wreak havoc on the world. With the Elder Crossing now fully understood, the Expedition is considered finished, but members are offered the chance to stay in the New World to continue their research.
Gameplay:
Monster Hunter: World is an open-world action role-playing game played from a third-person perspective. Similar to previous games in the series, the player takes the role of a player-created character who travels to the "New World", an unpopulated land mass filled with monsters, to join the Research Commission that study the land from their central command base of Astera. The Research Commission tasks the Hunter to hunt down and either kill or capture large monsters that roam outside Astera to both protect the Commission and to study the monsters there. The player's character does not have any intrinsic attributes, but instead these are determined by what equipment the character is equipped with. This includes a weapon, selected from the series' fourteen archetypes (such as long sword, bow, or hammer), which then further defines the types of combat moves and abilities the player can use, and pieces of armor, which can lead to beneficial or detrimental combat skills if matched properly. While some basic equipment can be purchased using in-game money, most equipment is built from loot obtained by slaying or trapping monsters, rewards from completing quests, or items gathered while in the field. This creates a core loop of gameplay that has the player fight monsters they can beat to obtain the right loot to craft improved weapons and armor to allow them to face more powerful monsters and the potential for even better equipment.
Don't forget to upgrade and level up your Palico. There will be times where your partner in crime will be your only lifeline. Not to mention, your cat buddy here gets to wear some awesome costumes to boot.
After taking a quest in Astera, or after choosing to simply go on an open-ended expedition, the player is taken to a base camp in one of six large regions that make up the New World. Each region is made up of numbered zones, but unlike previous Monster Hunter games, these zones are seamlessly connected, and there are no loading screens when moving between zones. The player must traverse zone to zone, though they can quick-travel to any of the base camps in that particular region when outside of combat. From camp, the player can acquire limited provisions, rest to restore their health, and new to World, have a meal that provides limited-time buffs to the player. The player sets out to track down monsters, which in World is aided with the use of Scout flies, which hover near tracks and other signs of large monsters, or highlight resources that the player can collect such as flora, ores, bones, and insects. Investigate the traces of the monster leads to improving the Scout flies' abilities for the quest, eventually enabling them to lead the player via their glowing flight path towards the monster they seek; further, investigating these help the player to gain research towards the monster that helps them gain insight on its strengths, weaknesses, and behavior.
Once a monster is located, the player can take several approaches to either slay or capture it using traps once sufficiently weakened, using a combination of their weapons and items they are carrying. As a monster is weakened, its tactics will often change, frequently becoming more aggressive, or fleeing to a lair to rest or find food to recover. The player has additional tools within World for combat. Each player has a Slinger, a tool that can be used to fire small projectiles like rocks at the monster to damage it or cause other debuffs, or can be used as a grappling hook to reach higher elevations or pull down objects onto a monster. A new type of tool called a Mantle can be used for a limited amount of time; these cloak-like objects provide a buff to the player, such as acting like a ghillie suit to reduce the chances of monsters detecting the player. Furthermore, the player has opportunities to use the environment strategically against the monster, such as bursting a natural dam to flood out a monster, or leading a monster into another monster's den to cause them to fight each other. The game includes a dynamic weather system and day-night cycle, which can affect the behavior of some monsters mid-quest.
In combat, the player must watch their health — if it falls to zero, they faint and are taken back to camp but then can set out again at a reduced reward; however, fainting three times will cause the quest to fail. Further, the player must watch their stamina, which is consumed for nearly all attacks, dodges, and other actions; stamina will recover quickly but the player must not take other aggressive actions for this to happen, which can be tricky in the heat of battle. The player can carry various restorative items for health and stamina; unlike previous games where the player was forced to stand still to take these, World allows the player to take these while walking, though the player must not be interrupted for a few moments to gain the full effects of the restorative item. The player must also be aware of various debuffs that monsters can inflict on them, the sharpness of their weapon or the quantity of ammo for certain weapon types, and the limitations of items they can bring on a quest that restrict how much they can recover while in the field. If the player successfully completes the quest, they gain reward resources, often consisting of parts from that monster along with zenny, the in-game currency. The distribution of rewards from a quest are determined by rarity, so obtaining certain rare parts may require repeating a quest several times to get a desired part.
If you ever need a break, you can always crash at your room in Astera for a breather...
Astera acts as a central hub where the player can buy and sell goods, manage their inventory, craft new equipment, and gain new quests. A core facet of Monster Hunter games is the construction and upgrading of armor and weapons at a forge using the monster parts and resources the player has gained from combat. As the player defeats tougher monsters, they can make armor with more defensive value or particular elemental resistance, or can improve weapons to be more lethal and deal elemental or debuffing damage. Weapons and armor also carry various skills which have a number of different effects for the player; World introduces a new streamlined skill system compared to previous games, where each weapon or armor piece has one or more ranks in at least one skill, and the total effect of a skill on the player is determined by adding up all ranks of that skill from all equipped items the player carries. Additional services in Astera include a farm to grow quantities of flora while the player is out on quests, training areas to practice weapons, a gathering hub to take on special Arena challenges against one or more monsters, and a canteen which the player can order a meal from specific ingredients to provide buffs and special conditions while out on the field.
World features a story mode offered through the quest system. Unlike previous games, where the story mode led the player through and to complete the "Low Rank" quests, before opening the game to more difficult "High Rank" quests without a story driver, World will have a narrative that continues into the "High Rank" quests. The game's complete story mode is estimated to take between 40 and 50 hours, according to director Yuya Tokuda. Instead of quests that required the player to slay a number of smaller monsters or collect resources, World will offer these as Bounties that can be achieved alongside the main quests, or provided as Optional quests that generally lead to improving some facet of the resources in Astera. A player can have up to six different Bounties active, and which provide rewards when they are completed. The player can gain Investigation quests as well, which come from investigating the trail of monsters with Scout flies or by breaking off parts of monsters in combat. Each Investigation offers a quest that may have unique limitations or goals compared to main story quests, such as time limits or reduced fainting limits but also provide additional rewards; Investigations can only be attempted, successfully or not, a limited number of times before they are exhausted and removed.
Assemble your crew...
The game supports both single-player and up to four player cooperative mode while being online; there is no local online multiplayer. The game's quest system is the same in both modes. Players gather in multiplayer servers supporting up to sixteen players, during which they can post quests to invite others to join, or join other existing quests as long as they have progressed far enough in the game's storyline. If there are only one or two hunters on a quest, each brings with them a Palico (an anthropomorphic sentient cat species) to assist them in combat; these Palico can be equipped with weapons and armor crafted in the same manner as the hunter themselves. If there are less than four players in a party, a party member can launch a red SOS flare, which other players, while in their instance of Astera, can opt to join to help out, creating a drop-in/drop-out system. The game also supports Squads, the equivalent of clans or guilds in typical massive multiplayer online games. The game allows players in different release regions to work together; the game will use a pre-determined set of common greetings and commands that are translated to the various languages so that players can effectively communicate with each other. However, players are limited to cooperating with those on the same platform, and will not feature cross-platform play. Players also need to register with their console's service (PlayStation Network or Xbox Live) to use multiplayer features. With an aim to reach a wider audience than past games, Monster Hunter: World also provides more information to players, such as a companion that will warn the player when they are running low on health, and more details on the advantages and disadvantages of weapons and armors against specific monsters.
In addition to quests shipped with the game, Capcom plans to offer free downloadable content quests, similarly featured in the handheld versions. However, with the greater degree of connectivity offered by modern consoles/computers compared to handheld systems, Capcom anticipates offering time-limited Event quests that players can easily jump in on through the new matchmaking system. Capcom also anticipates on adding new monsters to hunt through free downloadable content; the first such update, adding in the Deviljho monster from previous games was released alongside other quality-of-life updates in March 2018. Capcom also expected to provide paid post-content material as well; however, Capcom does not see World as a type of service, as they do not expect players to continue playing the game five to ten years after release. The game will not include any type of microtransactions; Tsujimoto said that as Monster Hunter is meant as a cooperative game, they did not want to create any type of "friction" between players due to some having simply purchased better equipment with real-world funds compared to those that spent the time to work through challenges to acquire the equipment.
The Verdict:
Before I start this review, I repeat that I have not played any of the prior Monster Hunter games in this series. I tried out the beta back in December on a whim and enjoyed what I played for the most part after getting some friends who are series veterans to give me an idea of what the jest of everything was in terms of the basics. That being said, this review isn't for the veterans. This is the humble opinion of someone coming in brand spanking new to this series.
If I could recommend anything to any newcomer is to hit up the Training Area in your avatar's room at Astera and literally try out EVERY weapon in the game until you find one you like and feel comfortable with. Most hardcore players end up using every weapon in the game in some fashion, but for the bulk of my 150+ hours with the game, I've stuck with primarily one weapon type and I have another that I might fall back on but I haven't used it since low rank so I'd need to practice it quite a bit before I even dare trying it for high rank and tempered hunts. The training area is pretty much this game's equivalent of a practice/training room in most fighting games, but without the extra bells and whistles. It's just merely a space for players to try out various weapons before taking them out into the field on missions. During the beta, I spent the bulk of one afternoon feeling out each weapon type until I settled on one I liked. Every weapon in this game has a particular weight and feel to them and it takes a bit of a mental adjustment if you've played other action/adventure games and think they would operate in the same fashion. Some weapons allow you to block, others give you more options in terms of jumping into the air and doing acrobatics to evade attacks in the air, others give you the means to charge/build up energy to deal even more massive damage with their attacks. Then last but not least, you have firearms and bows that attack from a distance while simultaneously inflicting various status ailments to your enemies. For passive players, there's the hunting horn too that plays melodies to buff everyone in a party of hunters. The latter I didn't use much but I found it to be invaluable in single player when directing my Palico (your cat-like partner that acts as your sidekick in single player missions) to use his gadget to buff my avatar to deal more damage or to protect against various status ailments/blights.
One thing that newcomers should be aware of that this is a pretty grind-heavy game. Not so much in low rank, but once you hit high rank it's more beneficial for you to play with friends or randoms in online multiplayer because the rewards multiply (the reward money is divided by the number of players participating in hunts, so keep that in mind too) for how many players complete any given quest (thanks to increased difficulty as enemies have higher health pools to accommodate the number of players in a session). I wouldn't say the low rank stuff being as grind-heavy as the early portion of Horizon Zero Dawn, nor as unforgiving with drop rates on rare items/spoils/craves, but that's just from my own experience. I've heard from my friends who are veteran players of the series say that drops would require them to farm for an entire day/weekend, only for it to come up for me after a few attempts. This is regarded to many as one of many "walls" in this game to hinder your progress as you find yourself extremely outclassed in terms of gear (armor, weapons, and consumables) then find yourself grinding for hours end (at least until you get all of the upgrades to the farm consumables for crafting items) for better equipment or to study that particular monster's behavior to best it in combat. In that regard, I urge newcomers to play this game at their own pace. Don't feel like you need to rush to keep up with everyone else. Trust me, everyone in high rank/post-game hell would kill to have the simple days back instead of the can of worms that opens up once you hit a particular threshold in the story. There's that certain sect of players who thoroughly enjoy that challenge and welcome it while others just enjoy the simplicity of the gameplay that this game brings to the table. It's easy to allow other higher ranked players "rush" you through the game's story/narrative quests (dubbed Assigned Quests), but where's the fun in that when you don't really learn how to endure everything that this game throws at you on your own. Ultimately, you will end up being more of a burden on teams than an asset at high rank and especially in post-game tempered hunts when the game really kicks up a notch in terms of difficulty in monsters' behavioral AI.
There's a lot to take in here and the game gives you the bare minimum in terms of explaining it. Starting out in low rank, don't get too attached to your armor sets as it's going to be near useless the second you hit high rank, but you can clear the story missions with armor barely as good as the high rank Bone, Metal, or Aloy (reward from the PS4 exclusive Horizon Zero Dawn dedicated event quests) armor sets. I'm in post-game and still managing to survive wearing that gear, so don't put too much stock into your gear until endgame. Keep an eye on your defense and attack power, but other than that, don't worry too much about skills and affinity early on. After you get past the bulk of low rank and start getting your feet with wet with high rank is when you should start caring about your skills. When you've invested enough time into this game to at least hold your own in high rank (without having other higher ranked players online carrying you through the game...), you will discover that there's a wealth of resources online (Reddit and the Monster Hunter World wiki's are great resources) to help you become knowledgeable on the game then there is a lot of nice veteran (at least from my experience) players who will answer any questions you may have and steer you into the right direction instead of telling you something that would wind up getting you killed until you know better.
My friends who are veterans to the series say this is a minor gripe and something that has been part of the series for a long time, but I absolutely hate this game's idea of camera control and targeting. Capcom thought it was a brilliant idea to tie sprinting to two different buttons (this can be changed in the Options BTW) but not a dedicated lock-on button? I hated it with the original version of DmC (Devil May Cry) until the Definitive Edition dropped (along with Remember Me too) and I hate it here as Capcom rarely knows how to do a targeting and/or camera system right in these action/adventure games. I guess the sadists who like to torture themselves playing Dark Souls-like games don't care about a handicap in that fashion, but it just annoys me when you play other games that do something so simple like that VERY well then you go back and play something like this (that's a triple A big budget release title no less) and it's mediocre in comparison. There's means to adjust the camera/targeting in the Options menu as well, but I still haven't found a setting that doesn't have my character clipping through the enemy at times when I'm trying to land hits in. Just give me a wide angle shot that follows the damn thing I'm trying to kill around without unsyncing my target lock whenever he gets more than a few steps away from me. I've lost count at how many times I would get carted (this game's means of getting killed when your health drops to zero) mainly because I couldn't see the damn thing that was attacking me or running into me to trample me to death for being in it's hitbox. It's stuff like that in which makes me feel like I'm playing a re-release of a PlayStation 2 game than a PlayStation 4/Xbox One current-gen title. I've gotten to the point where I have gotten used to just manually panning and adjusting the camera around during gameplay, but it's nowhere as convenient as I would have liked.
In terms of visuals, there's times where this game is absolutely gorgeous to look at (Coral Highlands immediately comes to mind) and others where the environments (there's only FIVE key areas on the World Map - that's it... Like wow). look so damn boring that I was wondering where did the budget go into in terms of level design. Monster designs could have used some more creativity too if I'm perfectly honest too as there's FAR too many "dragon-type" designs in this game for my taste. It was cool during the first half of the game where there was a lot more variety in terms of what kind of monsters that you ran across in the various story missions. Then high rank happens and 80-90% of everything you fight for the rest of the story missions in the game falls into dragon-type territory. Despite the fact that I enjoyed most of the "gimmicks" revolving around the 3 Elder Dragons (One fight is against wind pressure bouncing you around everywhere if you get trapped within it while said dragon's has extremely high defense save for a few sections on his head and torso. Another is a fight against extreme heat/fire with this dragon enraging to leave timed explosions in his wake while having the ability for a massive AoE (area of effect) supernova attack that will more likely cart you if you're caught up in the explosion. Finally, the Elder Dragon that you encounter in Rotten Vale is the weakest of the three, but the entire fight revolves around him exploiting the hazardous poisons in that environment/locale while adding the ability to cut your max health points in half no matter whether or not you've buffed them up prior to the quest.), it left me longing for more variety that every "boss" type comes down to another big dragon you have to topple. That was cool during the open beta where Rathalos and Diablos were the top of the food chain in terms of what you could encounter in those quests, but getting the full retail release of the game and see that it hasn't changed much let me down a little. I have heard that there's going to be more monsters added down the road as downloadable content (DLC), so I guess that's something to look forward in terms of extending the shelf life of this game. Sue me, as a gamer who spent the majority of 2017 playing Horizon Zero Dawn, it's hard to look at another open-world action/adventure game and NOT be nit-picky when that game did everything so well in terms of gameplay and variety in terms of enemies that you ran across.
I'm writing this portion of this review after the first update to the game dropped with Deviljho, the first DLC add-on monster has been added to the game and I'm honestly not impressed. He behaves like a jacked up Anjanath on steroids with a few extra bells and whistles (laser breath, can use other monsters as a club has he holds them in his mouth, and dishes out massive damage on physical damage, due to dragonblight and defense down at higher levels). The limited timed event over the past weekend that allowed players to hunt a Tempered Deviljho was downright insane as I've seen HR100-200 hunters get one-shot KO'ed by that fool with ease. I wasn't fortunate enough to slay that mighty beast in that event myself, but I heard it is supposed to be making a return down the road for players who want another kick in the balls.
I don't see everyone else getting to this point, but I'm close to HR85 and I'm starting to feel bored with the game, even after the inclusion of Deviljho. It's not that the game is bad, it's just that it's feeling redundant at this point. That crawl of grinding between HR50 to 100 seems like the worst as you're back hunting stuff you've seen at least a couple hundred times, while others (tempered hunts especially) seem like more trouble than they are worth. Sadly, you can't just ignore these types of hunts as after HR50, you unlock augment stones to be dropped from Elder Dragons that can unlock even higher potential with further upgrades for maxed out weapons and armor. You would be crazy to ignore this feature when there's tempered monsters, like Tempered Nergigante, that will shred whatever armor set you're rocking in post-game thinking you're hot shit into a shredded cheese unless you're loaded up with the best skills to give you an added edge over the opposition and make the most of out of your gear and resources.
Cheers! Drinks are on me for all of the awesome people I have had the pleasure of fighting alongside with in this game online.
Last but not least, I want to comment about the community for this game. The older I get, the more I play video games as a palate cleanser and to get away from people after a long day of work and what not. That's just how I am. With this game though? I've found myself actually liking to play multiplayer with randoms. There's no shit talking or putting people down for making mistakes - at least not from what I've seen/encountered and everyone is just out to help each other. Of course, you have a few asshats that were trying to stun/stagger lock players into not getting carves after the kill, but Capcom removed that after the recent update. From the majority of posts that I've seen on Reddit, IGN, and GameFAQs to even the Monster Hunter wiki pages, there's a lot of genuinely nice veteran players who are eager to answer questions and help everyone out, regardless of skill level and that's just awesome. As someone who came from the fighting game community that would feel downright toxic at times, this is a welcome breath of fresh air. I haven't felt this much at ease and without any anxiety nor dread to play with people online in this game than I've EVER played online before with randoms. I'm happy to say that answering SOS flares has become my staple thing to do to unwind after a long day of work. That being said, this is the best gaming community that I'm proud to be a part of - even though there are days when I want to reach into my television and choke some players who shoot flash pods at the monster during mounts or the long sword/dual blade/bow/heavy bow gun users who are selfish about dealing damage when they put everyone around them in stagger, but that's a different subject altogether...
Play It or Don't Bother?
Chow down and get your strength up, it's going to be a wild ride... Trust me you're going to need it.
With my few gripes as a newcomer to this game coming from other action games, I was a little skeptical jumping into the world of Monster Hunter. Monster Hunter: World has made this entry in the series the most accessible for both veterans and newcomers alike. It doesn't do everything perfectly, but the beauty of this game is joy of bringing players together to accomplish great things. In this case, that purpose is slaying monsters and harvesting parts from their corpses for better armor and weapons. Sure, it gets rather redundant rather quickly, but one cannot deny that this grind is a blast with a team of players, whether they be your friends from real life or random players that you met during your online travels.
For newcomers, I humbly suggest giving this game a shot. You might have a rocky start, run into a few brick walls, but that's the fun of this game. There's so much to learn and absorb, whether on your own or from playing with other players to the point where you're always helping yourself and your peers out as you work together. There's going to be moments where you will want to strangle your teammates for their mistakes/trolling or throw your controller in frustration from the stalker dubbed "B-52" by the community randomly party crashing on your hunts, but at the end of the day, you're going to want to jump back into the drivers' seat and come back for more until you get that satisfaction of that big victory over the fearsome beast that haunted your dreams. Eventually, you'll know everything about that creature and own him/her in their own environment like it's a cakewalk.
