WrestleMania 33 (April 2, 2017) -- Results & Afterthoughts

WrestleMania 33 was the thirty-third annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by WWE. In addition to standard PPV outlets, it was broadcast simultaneously on the WWE Network. It took place on April 2, 2017 at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida. WrestleMania 33 was a joint-promotion event for the Raw and SmackDown brands, the first since WrestleMania XXVII in 2011 as the brand split ended that year, but was reintroduced in July 2016.

Thirteen matches were contested at the event, including three on the pre-show. This was the first WrestleMania since WrestleMania 29 in 2013 to feature two world championships: Raw's WWE Universal Championship, defended for the first time at WrestleMania, and SmackDown's WWE Championship. In the main event, Roman Reigns defeated The Undertaker in a No Holds Barred match, giving Undertaker his second loss at WrestleMania. In addition, Brock Lesnar defeated Goldberg to become the new WWE Universal Champion and Randy Orton defeated Bray Wyatt to win his ninth WWE Championship. The event also marked the unannounced return of The Hardy Boyz, who won the Raw Tag Team Championship. It was also the first WrestleMania to be on the air past midnight Eastern time, resulting in a two-day broadcast for a single event.

WWE claimed an attendance of 75,245 for WrestleMania 33. This number has been disputed, as The A.V. Club wrote that it was "almost certainly a fake number" as WWE "has had a reputation for wildly inflating the attendance figure—as Vince McMahon once said on an investor’s call, the fake number is for entertainment purposes", while wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer described it as "a total worked number even more than usual".

Cruiserweight Championship Match - Neville (c) def. Austin Aries to retain

I went into this show with this match being the only match I was really hyped to see. It was great - no doubt about that, but I didn't like the finish. The referee CLEARLY saw Neville raking Aries' injured eye and didn't disqualify him. He just flailed his arms around like he was thinking about it and just said fuck it. That alone was just a piss poor call on his behalf and left a sour taste in my mouth to kick off this show. There wouldn't have been nothing wrong with Aries getting the win here via DQ while at the same time, Neville retains. It's still win-win for both guys involved and gives them a better excuse to keep this feud going than having Neville pin him clean afterwards anyway.

If TNA made the same referee blunder there, I know most WWE marks would rip them a new one on blasting them about it so don't get on my case about pointing out stupidity here.

Mojo Rawley wins the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal

This match was just simply horrible. When Braun Strowman and The Big Show were put out of it within the first five minutes, I knew we had a stinker on our hands. It was cool that we got two NXT rising stars in the match, but that really didn't amount to anything when they were treated like the rest of the jobbers and midcarders who were in this match as mere filler.

I had Strowman or Big Show down in my predictions pegged to win this but the second I noticed Mojo was hanging around in the back not doing much (WWE talent are sticklers for giving away winners of matches like this when the guy who is more likely going to win is the one who does the least amount of action or plays possum for 80% of said match in the corner or hides at ringside) I KNEW he was going to win.

Someone needs to explain to me why guys like Dolph Ziggler, Kalisto, Apollo Crews, and Sami Zayn are in this battle royal but don't have matches? That goes double for the ENTIRE SmackDown! Tag Team Division (along with the current champions, the Usos) were in this match as filler. I can understand trying to fit in their entire roster into the card for WM payday, but they are ultimately selling a lot of folks short too.

Intercontinental Championship Match - Dean Ambrose (c) def. Baron Corbin to retain

First bathroom break of the night right here. Ambrose was fighting Brock Lesnar last year and now he's reduced to carrying Baron Corbin through a WrestleMania match? Then again, they haven't been really doing much with Ambrose's character after he lost the WWE Championship anyway, so I can't be surprised to see him reduced to being filler as the Cesaro of SmackDown! Live. You know they wouldn't do this to Roman and Seth - EVER.

I was sold on thinking that Corbin was going to garner his first single title win here, but nope to my surprise. I guess they are saving that for maybe Backlash (or whatever the first post-WM SD exclusive PPV is)?

AJ Styles def. Shane McMahon

This was a REALLY surprise treat on this card. To say it started off a bit boring with AJ Styles actually selling Shane's lame ass punches and half-assed submissions, they ultimately brought it together by the end with Shane pulling out all of the stops. Who the hell knew that Shane could bust out a Shooting Star Press?? Shane definitely earned the respect of many tonight and can add another classic to his list of top matches. This one is up there with his feuds with The Big Show and Kurt Angle out of my favorite Shane O'Mac matches.

There shouldn't be ANY doubt in anyone's minds about AJ Styles being called the best wrestler ever to grace a WWE ring after tonight. He carried Shane through an amazing match which could have been a complete dud on paper if it was anyone else in the driver's seat.

United States Championship Match - Kevin Owens def. Chris Jericho (c)

I didn't care about this feud after the "Festival of Friendship" and I really didn't care when Jericho cost Owens the Universal title against Goldberg about two months ago at Fastlane. Jericho and Owens are both stellar workers and they know how to put on a good show, so I knew the match wasn't going to be chore to watch like Corbin/Ambrose earlier tonight. At the same time, it still didn't do anything to make me care about this feud. I loved that Pop-Up Codebreaker counter to the Pop-Up Powerbomb and the fact that Owens got the win after Powerbombing Jericho on the ring apron at ringside though. I had to applaud Owens for being one of the few people who does a spot like that and immediately pins their opponent in the ring instead of waiting around.

I'm glad to see Jericho put Owens over here when it was criminal that he couldn't put over AJ Styles last year.

Sure, Owens is US champion again, but isn't this back where he started in WWE about two years ago? Seems like he's going backwards instead of moving up the ladder...

Besides, if memory serves, my idea for a WrestleMania moment for Kevin Owens was closing the book on the Sami Zayn versus Kevin Owens feud once and for all in a WrestleMania bout for the Universal Championship, but WWE blew their load on most of those matches before 'Mania last year AND the fact that they let Zayn fall so far down the totem pole, it wouldn't make much sense for him to get a title shot anyway. Oh well, I hope they get a moment to showcase that feud on a WM stage sometime in the future.

RAW Women's Championship Fatal 4 Way Elimination Match - Bayley (c) def. Nia Jax, Sasha Banks, and Charlotte to retain

It wasn't a surprise to see the three Horsewomen gang up on the inexperienced Nia Jax to get her out of the mix early on. That was the same dynamic that the Revival and DIY used against the Authors of Pain the night before at NXT Takeover. I was shocked to see Sasha eliminated second (and so fast if I may add) that left the match down to Charlotte against Bayley for what seemed like the same finale for the last few RAW Women's Championship matches. I was thinking that Sasha and Bayley would have worked together to get Charlotte out, leaving it down to Sasha and Bayley. Then they end it by confirming Charlotte's warnings about Sasha's deception being true and have her go full heel and cheat to win over Bayley to win the title. Instead, we got a VERY rushed (and very sloppy) finale between Charlotte and Bayley for what feels like the millionth time to the same tired result.

I have to admit I was interested in that confrontation between Charlotte and Nia Jax. That's something new and fresh that we haven't seen done before. I think those two could make some magic if they were given a program together.

Ladder Match for RAW Tag Team Championships - The Hardys (Matt & Jeff) def. Gallows & Anderson (c), Cesaro & Sheamus, and Enzo & Cass

I won't even lie. I marked the FUCK out when the Hardys' music hit and they came out. I was relieved that the New Day weren't adding themselves to this match. For those wondering why Jeff Hardy was looking like he was out of it from the start, it's because the Hardys faced the Young Bucks in a Ladder Match less than 24 hours prior to this match for the ROH Tag Team Championships and he was pretty banged up from that match. I still need to check that show out for myself as I was hearing good things about it on social media.

The Hardys didn't disappoint, same goes for all three teams involved here. After the nostalgia wore off, I couldn't help but think it was a bad idea to have the Hardys go over the three tag teams that have been struggling to pull this division out of the hole it has been since the New Day ruined it during their record-breaking tag title reign. Cool, the Hardys are back home where they belong, but what is the long-term plan here? If you didn't see the WWE.com interviews following this match, there's no sign of Matt and Jeff doing the whole "Broken" gimmick here - despite the DELETE chants from the WWE Universe.

John Cena & Nikki Bella def. The Miz & Maryse; John Cena proposes post-match

I was REALLY disappointed in this match. While I enjoyed that the live crowd were eating out of The Miz's hands, I thought it was fucking stupid that they were acting like Maryse isn't a trained wrestler. This match was the same as the mixed tag team matches that they were having on SmackDown! the last few weeks where Cena sells for the first few minutes until the hot tag to Nikki and they hit double finishers for the win.

Everyone and their grandma saw the marriage proposal coming a mile away, but I can't hate on Cena and Nikki wanting to have that moment in front of the WWE Universe. Savage and Miss Elizabeth did the same thing decades ago and it's not bad to have a real love story in the middle of all of this guys and girls hating each other all the time. Seems like that was lost in recent years.

Just like people tend to rub it in my face that people aren't fans of WWE just for the in-ring product, I want to remind people that people aren't fans of WWE for the goofy comedy shit either. They want some of that reality TV drama that you see on Total Divas and Total Bellas. WWE has to cater to all of these masters and provide something for everyone.

Non-Sanctioned Match - Seth Rollins def. Triple H (w/ Stephanie McMahon)

I happened to step out for a food run/break so I missed the first ten minutes of this match, but got back in time for the last half. I'll update this article with my thoughts later this week when I have a chance to check that out.

From what I did see though, HHH and Rollins did a great job of selling the knee and crafting a narrative here of it being all or nothing in Seth's road to redemption. He took everything that HHH had to dish out of his bag of tricks and still managed to find a way to win. I have to admit that I was surprised at two things in this match. One being that Stephanie McMahon took a table bump. Was that her first one ever? That being said, it was pretty lame on how she fell through the table anyway. It felt like that Stephanie wanted to steal some of Shane's thunder for taking bumps tonight. Just screamed like something petty the McMahon family would do to one up each other. The second thing that surprised me was that Triple H didn't go over. I was thinking that they were going to justify it with HHH going over for they could build to a rematch (with a much better narrative and less milking) if they dragged this out to Payback or even Summerslam for a rematch. If it's just one and done here, then I'm completely fine with that. Let Rollins rest up properly for his knee's sake and give him a new program afterwards.

WWE Championship Match - Randy Orton def. Bray Wyatt (c)

I still don't even know what to make of this match to be quite honest. While I was into the projections/mindgames by Bray Wyatt, but I don't see what was the point of that when Orton still got the win anyway. That just made Bray come off as an idiot after it was all said and done. I don't see how anyone benefits from this feud. Orton still comes off as an idiot as he GAVE UP his WrestleMania spot as part his plot to earn Wyatt's trust, only to have to win it back in a match against AJ Styles, when he could have just easily challenged Bray for the title in the first place to avoid any other unnecessary outcomes to his so-called master plan. Bray tried to bounce back from being fooled by Orton's deception here, but it still fell flat. This match wasn't bad - just felt like your run of the mill weekly SmackDown! main event, not a WrestleMania match at all.

The only reason I can see them doing this title change is that someone is going debut on SmackDown! on Tuesday and Orton immediately loses the title to that night.  Well either that or we get that AJ Styles/Randy Orton feud they have been avoiding for the past few months.

WWE Universal Championship Match - Brock Lesnar (w/ Paul Heyman) def. Goldberg (c)

I joked about it on social media during the fact, but Goldberg had this coming for months now. From the look on his face as he walked down to the ring, you knew he was going to pretty much pull his pants down and drop the soap for Lesnar tonight. The action was good enough that it definitely made up for these last few squash matches and the embarrassment that those two put on at WrestleMania XX. It wasn't too long and it wasn't too short, but they got the point across. Goldberg and Brock didn't overstay their welcome and I'm happy with what I saw here.

My only question for both Goldberg and Brock is what's next?

Six Pack Challenge for SmackDown! Women's Championship - Naomi def. Alexa Bliss, Carmella, Natalya, Becky Lynch, and Mickie James

To say that people bitched and moaned all week for this match to be removed from the kick-off/preshow to the main show, it didn't deliver to say that it was the co-main event of the evening. Most of the girls (outside of Naomi and Bliss) got their entrances cut, while it seemed like a lot of this match was rushed even more than the RAW Women's match. Mickie and Becky barely did ANYTHING here, even less by Bliss and she was the damn champion. I was thinking that she would pull an AJ Lee and do mostly nothing and still retain, but I was glad that they put the gold back on Naomi. I hope SmackDown! really give her a chance to see what she can do. If they can put up with Becky Lynch as champion for what felt like an eternity before Alexa Bliss won it from her, then I think we can handle a few months of Naomi feeling it out as champion in this role. Even Bliss had growing pains too, so the haters don't even need to start in that regard when Bliss still has a lot of work in the in-ring department.

You deserve it, Naomi. I still say you shouldn't have lost it in the first damn place...

I'm glad for Naomi to get the gold back and in her hometown no less. She didn't do much here, but I was pleased with her performance here. That roll-up into the submission finish was stylishly done and hope to see more of that from Naomi as her reign continues. A part of me feels like Mickie James is going to be the one who ends up dethroning her though.

No Holds Barred - Roman Reigns def. The Undertaker

I know most people don't want to hear this, but I'm glad that The Undertaker called it quits here. Ever since Brock Lesnar ended the Streak at WrestleMania 30, I felt that they should have ended his career there. All of these matches since the Streak ended to somehow give Taker his dignity back has done nothing but expose how battered and beaten he is. If I'm perfectly honest, he has been on borrowed time since his feuds with Shawn Michaels and Triple H anyway. It's been a blessing in disguise that he has been around this long. I'm glad that Taker can walk away on his own terms before having to call it quits when his body forces him to stop for good (Sting, Edge, etc.).

That being said, Roman Reigns was the WRONG opponent to carry the Deadman through his last match. Reigns isn't a bad wrestler, but he's no ring general. This honor should have been given to John Cena to put him down for good if they wanted to have someone carry him throughout his last match. I give mad props to Reigns for trying, but this just gave fans more reason to hate him as the guy who put The Undertaker down for good. Who knows, maybe this is the trigger that Vince wanted to pull to turn Reigns into a heel?

They tried to tell the same story here with how Taker wouldn't give up, much like Shawn Michaels in his retirement match. There was a point where I was expecting Reigns to start shouting, "STAY DOWN!" like Taker did to HBK during their match, but from how Taker was writhing around in pain on his back and barely being able to move around, I was more than ready for Reigns to put him out of his misery.

Thank You Taker, for everything that you've sacrificed and gave to us fans to entertain us
for the many, many decades that you have been synonymous with WrestleMania and the WWE as a whole.

One thing I have to mention is that I noticed a lot of my friends, especially fellow e-fedders and long-time fans, comment that they are sad that all of their favorite wrestlers are gone. Why are you sad for them? Be happy that they get to quit/retire on their own terms and treasure the memories that you have them in their prime at the top of their game. At the same time, reading that makes me fucking sick as it's that same mindset is why most of the current generation of talent can't get over as people are expecting the old school legends to hang around forever. Give the new generation a chance and let the golden oldies have a reason to rest and watch from the sidelines for they won't have to continue to torment themselves to keep this business alive. There's a LOT of great talent in the business today. People just need to keep an open mind and give them a chance instead of hanging onto memories of the past to continue to be these temporary band-aids that WWE religiously cling to as their lifelines.

PREVIEW -- Spider-Man: Homecoming Trailer #2 (2017)

There's a LOT of things that Marvel are pulling from with this "homecoming" for Spider-Man and I absolutely love what I'm seeing. It's a healthy blend of the Steve Ditko era of Spider-Man mythos that heavily influenced the Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon and the current Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon (back in the earlier seasons when they actually focused on Peter's out of costume life) along with the current revamp of Spider-Man's earlier adventures in the current comics continuity where he meets various heroes for the first time, notably Ironman/Tony Stark.

I'm glad they went with a MUCH different design for Vulture as that's one character who would NEVER look accurate enough or cool enough like his comic book counterpart in a live-action film unless you you CGI'ed the fuck out of him IMO. Besides, what old man is going to sit back and let himself be strapped to a flying harness for all of these scenes that would be required for that character anyway.

Another thing is that I'm not making a big deal about the "web wings" on this Spider-Man's costume like everyone else because that's another Ditko era thing. Sure, Spidey might use it to help him against Vulture in the film but that was merely part of the costume back then before it had some functionality to augment Spidey's mobility.

REVIEW -- Marvel's Iron Fist (Netflix) - Season One

Marvel's Iron Fist, or simply Iron Fist, is an American web television series created for Netflix by Scott Buck, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films of the franchise and is the fourth in a series of shows that will lead up to The Defenders crossover miniseries. The series is produced by Marvel Television in association with ABC Studios and Devilina Productions, with Buck serving as showrunner.

Finn Jones stars as Danny Rand / Iron Fist, a martial arts expert with the ability to call upon the power of the Iron Fist. Jessica Henwick, Tom Pelphrey, Jessica Stroup, Ramón Rodríguez, Sacha Dhawan, Rosario Dawson and David Wenham also star. After a film based on the character spent over a decade in development at Marvel Studios, development for the series began in late 2013 at Marvel Television, with Buck hired as the series showrunner in December 2015 and Jones cast as Rand in February 2016. Filming began in New York City in April 2016 and concluded in October 2016.

Iron Fist had its premiere on March 15, 2017, in New York City, with the full season of 13 episodes releasing on Netflix on March 17, 2017.

Cast: 

Main

Finn Jones as Danny Rand / Iron Fist
Jessica Henwick as Colleen Wing
Tom Pelphrey as Ward Meachum
Jessica Stroup as Joy Meachum
Ramón Rodríguez as Bakuto
Sacha Dhawan as Davos
Rosario Dawson as Claire Temple
David Wenham as Harold Meachum

Recurring

David Furr as Wendell Rand
Barrett Doss as Megan
Alex Wyse as Kyle
Marquis Rodriguez as Darryl
Wai Ching Ho as Gao
Ramon Fernandez as Kevin Singleton
Clifton Davis as Lawrence Wilkins
John Sanders as Donald Hooper
Elise Santora as Maria Rodriguez

Guest

Victoria Haynes as Heather Rand
Murray Bartlett as Paul Edmonds
Carrie-Anne Moss as Jeri Hogarth
Craig Geraghty as the ringmaster of an underground fight club.
Henry Yuk as Hai-Qing Yang
Samantha Herrera as Becca
Olek Krupa as Radovan Bernivig
Shirine Babb as Sandi Ann
Jeanna de Waal as Sophia
Tijuana Ricks as Thembi Wallace
Hoon Lee as Lei Kung
Nikita Bogolyubov and Stan Demidoff as Andrei and Grigori Veznikov
Jane Kim as the Bride of Nine Spiders
David Sakurai as Scythe
Suzanne H. Smart as Shirley Benson
Jon Kit Lee as a blind beggar who provides Wing with information on Gao in China.
Lewis Tan as Zhou Cheng

Plot: (FULL Spoilers)

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
1	"Snow Gives Way"	John Dahl	Scott Buck	March 17, 2017
Danny Rand enters Rand Enterprises, asking to meet Harold Meachum, but is ignored due to his appearance. He fights his way through security and reaches Harold's children Ward and Joy, who state that Harold has been dead for years, not believing him to be Rand. He starts spending his nights in a park, befriending a beggar calling himself Big Al. He also meets Colleen Wing, whom he asks for a training job in her newly opened dojo; but she ignores him too. Rand makes another attempt to convince Joy, and later Ward. The siblings believe that the rivals of Rand Enterprise are planning to show a leadership struggle within the company now that they are going to announce their expansion in China. Rand is attacked by Ward's mercenaries. Wing attempts to save Rand, but witnesses him overpowering them. Harold is revealed to be alive and in hiding, being in contact with Ward. The former considers the possibility that Rand is alive and orders Ward to leave the situation to him. Rand faces Joy and tells her about Ward's actions. However, she poisons Rand, who is taken to a hospital. Flashbacks show Rand as a child when his family plane crashes in the Himalayas.
2	"Shadow Hawk Takes Flight"	John Dahl	Scott Buck	March 17, 2017
Rand is revealed to be at a psychiatric hospital, assigned to Dr. Paul Edmonds. Rand continues insisting on his true identity. Harold is revealed to be surveilling the hospital. He has Ward talk to Wing. Ward offers her money in exchange for her confirmation of Rand's alleged condition. Harold secretly visits Rand, who reveals that he is the current Iron Fist, the sworn enemy of the Hand. Wing visits Rand, who reveals his true identity and why Ward is afraid of him. She refuses Ward's offer. Joy deduces that Rand is right and tells Ward, who refuses to free him. Edmonds also learns the truth and asks Rand about after the crash. The latter states that he was transferred by two monks to K'un-Lun, another dimension that becomes connected to the Earth every fifteen years. Edmonds does not believe it and diagnoses him with an anxiety disorder caused by trauma. Harold decides to move Rand to a safe place since he can be useful. Instead, Ward orders his men posed as patients to kill Rand, who overpowers them by summoning the Iron Fist, which he uses to break out of the hospital.
3	"Rolling Thunder Cannon Punch"	Tom Shankland	Quinton Peeples	March 17, 2017
Harold is revealed to be under the control of an unknown woman who punishes him for temporarily leaving the penthouse. Wing is attacked by Ward's mercenaries, whom she overpowers before being confronted by Rand, whom she allows to stay at the dojo. Rand visits Joy, who offers him 100 million dollars if he changes his identity and leaves the Meachums. He refuses and later meets Jeri Hogarth, an old friend of the family. She promises to reclaim his identity in exchange for a permanent contract between her firm and Rand Enterprise. Rand attacks an impolite student of Wing's, provoking her to expel the former, who goes to an apartment owned by Hogarth. In a meeting, Hogarth and Rand show Ward and Joy a handmade ceramic bowl of the latter's containing a younger Rand's fingerprint, thus proving his claim, promising to present it in the upcoming court. Deducing that Harold is alive, Rand follows Ward to the penthouse, where he climbs to the window, which he opens before being pushed down by an unknown person. Meanwhile, Harold forces Ward to buy a specific pier, which is secured by Joy's intellect. Flashbacks show Rand being beaten by the monks.
4	"Eight Diagram Dragon Palm"	Miguel Sapochnik	Scott Reynolds	March 17, 2017
Rand wakes up in the penthouse, where Harold reveals that his cancer was secretly cured by the Hand, which demanded his loyalty in return and allowed him to reveal the truth only to Ward. Harold asks Rand to destroy the Hand in order to free the former, which he accepts. In exchange, Harold orders Ward to accept Rand's return to the company, where his return is announced in a press conference. In a board meeting, Rand uses his position as the majority shareholder to enforce his decision to sell a newly developed leishmaniasis drug at cost in order to save more lives. At his apartment, Joy is attacked by Triad operatives, whom Rand overpowers. He takes her to the dojo before confronting the Triad leader, who reveals that they hold a grudge against Joy for robbing the pier. However, he completely surrenders to Rand's position after the latter reveals that the Hand was behind it. As a reward for securing the pier, the Hand allows Harold to observe Joy from distance. He notices she has been wounded and asks to be allowed to kill the Triad member responsible, which is accepted. Rand receives a message from Yang Hai-Qing.
5	"Under Leaf Pluck Lotus"	Uta Briesewitz	Cristine Chambers	March 17, 2017
A new synthetic heroin appears in New York City. Rand connects it to the Hand; but Ward dismisses it. After a chemical factory owned by the Rand Enterprises on Staten Island produces carcinogenic waste chemicals, Rand personally apologizes to a complaining citizen, with the conversation being recorded by a lawyer and later disclosed to the media. In a board meeting, where Rand is absent, Ward convinces the shareholders to stand against the accusations instead of accepting responsibility. However, the anxiety of being always watched by Harold causes Ward to have a drug overdose. Rand meets Claire Temple, who trains at the dojo. He convinces Wing to help him infiltrate the pier in order to prove his theory. At the pier, they find the containers apparently loaded with normal supplies. Rand enters one of the containers, where he finds a hidden room housing Radovan, the chemist who created the formula since the Hand has his daughter hostage. Rand engages and overpowers a bodyguard after the latter critically stabs Radovan, whom Rand takes to the dojo, where Temple stabilizes him. Wing vows to help Rand defeat the Hand, which is revealed to be run by Wilson Fisk's old ally Madame Gao.
6	"Immortal Emerges from Cave"	RZA	Dwain Worrell	March 17, 2017
In order to satisfy Joy, Ward throws all of his drugs away. He and Rand start searching the warehouses of Rand Enterprises in order to find clues. They find a message left by the Hand challenging Rand to a combat. Rand tells Ward to proceed to the crisis management meeting about the video alone. Rand enters the building, demanding the Hand to free Sabina, Radovan's daughter, and leave his company if he wins, which Gao accepts in exchange for Rand to leave the Hand alone if he loses, which he accepts in return. Rand wins all three rounds by the help of his mentor from K'un-Lun; but Gao threatens to kill Sabina if Rand kills the last opponent. Rand spares him, against his mentor's orders. Gao frees Sabina, revealing that she has been in K'un-Lun before, and also knowing Rand's father. She easily overpowers Rand and allows the duo to leave. Meanwhile, Radovan's condition becomes critical, forcing Temple and Wing to take him to a hospital, where the Hand abducts him. Ward shows withdrawal symptoms in the meeting, forcing him to leave in order to search for drugs. Joy stops him from causing trouble at an infirmary.
7	"Felling Tree with Roots"	Farren Blackburn	Ian Stokes	March 17, 2017
Two Hand operatives arrive at the penthouse to interrogate Harold. Rand arrives and engages them with Harold, who kills both. Harold has Ward dump the bodies in a river. Rand develops romance with Wing. He starts investigating his father's past. Gao arrives at Rand Enterprises, advising Rand to stay out of the Hand's way. She leaves, with him tailing her to an office, where she discusses business with an employee loyal to her. After Gao leaves, Rand confronts the employee and convinces her to leave the city and give him her password. Rand and Wing persuade Yang to help them fight the Hand. Joy convinces Ward to go to a vacation. In a board meeting, Rand announces his decision to close the Staten Island plant while keeping the workers on payroll. Rand, Wing and Yang's operatives attack a Hand facility, where a dying Radovan reveals that Gao has departed for Anzhou, where Rand's family was headed fifteen years ago. The board ousts Rand, Ward and Joy. Ward learns that his personal account has been depleted. He confronts Harold, who humiliates him. Ward stabs Harold several times to his death. He dumps the body in the river.
8	"The Blessing of Many Fractures"	Kevin Tancharoen	Tamara Becher-Wilkinson	March 17, 2017
Rand deduces that his father was going to Anzhou to shut down Gao's operatios, but were targeted by her on the plane. The former, Wing and Temple head to Anzhou, where they acquire information from a nearby beggar. They infiltrate the facility just as Gao arrives. Rand engages Zhou, who has high martial skills despite being a drunkard. The former overpowers the latter and continues beating him until Temple and Wing arrive and stop him. Gao arrives and her men engage the trio, who overpower them. Rand deduces that Gao poisoned the pilots. He spares her life and apprehends her. Meanwhile, the board offers each Ward and Joy 100 million dollars as severance. He attempts to accept it; but she refuses, later showing him photos of the board members that can be used to blackmail them. Ward decides to tell her the truth about Harold and takes her to the penthouse; but hallucinations of blood change his mind.
9	"The Mistress of All Agonies"	Jet Wilkinson	Pat Charles	March 17, 2017
Rand takes Gao to the dojo, where Temple offers using truth serum to force her to talk. Rand steals the serum from Rand Enterprises. Temple injects it, with Gao stating some stories about Rand's parents before they turn out to be lies and Gao being resistant to torture. Wing is revealed to have been poisoned in Anzhou. She contacts her mentor Bakuto. Gao's military operatives attack the dojo, but are defeated. Bakuto arrives and instructs Rand to use the Iron Fist to heal Wing. Rand's energy is depleted and he falls unconscious. Bakuto, Wing and his men take Rand and Gao, leaving Temple at the dojo. An unknown assassin arrives at the dojo. Meanwhile, Harold recovers from his wounds and gains relatively normal mental function after hours, returning to the penthouse, where he confronts Ward and feigns absolution. Ward learns from Yang that those revived by the Hand become more psychopathic after each revival, and attack those closest to them first. Harold kills his assistant Kyle and places heroin in Ward's car, leading to his arrest and transfer to the psychiatric hospital, where he is assigned to Edmonds. Joy arrives at the penthouse and reunites with Harold.
10	"Black Tiger Steals Heart"	Peter Hoar	Quinton Peeples	March 17, 2017
Rand wakes up in a martial academy run by Bakuto, who teaches him how to recharge his "chi". The former becomes suspicious and infiltrates a restricted area, where he learns from an imprisoned Gao that Bakuto is a Hand leader. Rand confronts Wing, who states that Gao is the leader of an evil faction of the Hand. Bakuto offers Harold partnership; but the latter later determines to kill him. Rand learns that the Hand is conducting mass surveillance. He is confronted by Bakuto, whom he overpowers and attempts to escape before being surrounded by Hand operatives. The assassin, revealed to be Davos, comes to his aid. Bakuto stabs Rand by an unknown object. The duo fights its way to the gate, which needs to be destroyed by the Iron Fist, which Rand is unable to summon. The duo continues fighting the Hand until Wing opens the gate, allowing the duo to escape while she escapes in her own direction. Davos tells Rand that they need to return to K'un-Lun. Meanwhile, Harold kills board member Wilkins, staging it as suicide. Joy manages to convince the board to reinstate the Meachums and Rand. Harold denies his involvement in Wilkins' death to her.
11	"Lead Horse Back to Stable"	Deborah Chow	Ian Stokes	March 17, 2017
Rand tells Davos that they will not return to K'un-Lun until the Hand is destroyed. They go to Temple's, where she extracts the fragment of Bakuto's weapon from Rand's wound, stopping the bleeding, but failing to control the infection due to lack of antibiotics. Wing arrives and tries to reason with Rand. She goes to a hospital, where she asks an extern, also a Hand member, for antibiotics. Rand goes to the penthouse, where Joy has discovered that Bakuto has been transferring the Rand Enterprises money to his own accounts. Harold formulates a plan to flush out Bakuto and his operatives from the compound by having Joy freeze the accounts. The former and Rand agree to kill Bakuto, opposed by Joy. The Hand captures Wing and take her to the compound, where Bakuto decides to use her for revival. Outside the compound, Rand and Davos wait for Bakuto. Davos continues questioning Rand's motive for staying in New York. Joy freezes the accounts. Wing frees herself and escapes, spotted by Rand, who rushes inside and calms her. Davos learns about the romance.
12	"Bar the Big Boss"	Andy Goddard	Scott Reynolds	March 17, 2017
Ward escapes the hospital and goes to the penthouse, holding a gun and demanding Harold to let him take Joy. Bakuto and his operatives arrive, with the former calling Rand, shooting Joy and giving him half an hour to arrive at the penthouse in order to save the trio. Against Davos's objections, Rand decides to go, arriving just before Bakuto can decapitate Harold, the only way to kill him for good. The Hand locks Rand and takes him to the lobby, where Rand uses the Fist to free himself just as Davos and Wing attack the Hand, with Rand overpowering Bakuto, who escapes outside before he is cornered by the trio. Wing engages and overpowers him, refusing to kill him, which Davos does after Rand's refusal. The latter engages Davos and overpowers him, stating that he wishes to be both Rand and the Iron Fist. Davos departs and the pair finds Bakuto's body gone. Harold and Ward take Joy to a hospital. Rand and Wing return to the dojo. The next day, Ward texts Rand, alerting him that Harold has framed them of bearing drugs. The dojo is attacked by DEA agents, whom the pair defeats and escapes.
13	"Dragon Plays with Fire"	Stephen Surjik	Scott Buck & Tamara Becher-Wilkinson & Pat Charles	March 17, 2017
Harold enters Rand Enterprises and takes control of it. Rand and Wing go to Bakuto's facility, which is abandoned by the Hand. However, they find Gao, who reveals that Harold was the mastermind of the plane crash fifteen years prior. Ward tells Joy about Harold's actions. She confronts the latter, who denies framing Rand. She leaves for an unknown destination. Ward allies with Rand's team to defeat Harold. The former enters Rand Enterprises, but is spotted by Harold, who wounds him. Temple creates a distraction for Rand and Wing to infiltrate the building. Harold instructs his men to shoot Rand, since the Iron Fist is not bulletproof after all. Rand and Wing manage to overpower Harold's operatives. While Ward acquires evidence of Rand's innocence, the latter follows Harold to the rooftop, where they fight until Ward arrives and shoots Harold, who falls to his death. Ward has the body cremated. Rand convinces Wing to accompany him to K'un-Lun. In a meeting with Joy, Davos tells her that Rand must be killed, overheard by Gao. Rand and Wing arrive at the gate, but find it destroyed with bodies of Hand members.

The Verdict: 

Those descriptions are SCARY accurate...

When I wrote my review on Luke Cage a few months ago, I ranked the Marvel Netflix shows from best to worst. Here, I'm going to start this review off by doing the same to set the tone for this review.

Daredevil (Season 1), Jessica Jones (Season 1), Daredevil (Season 2), Luke Cage (Season 1), Iron Fist (Season 1) 

Yeah, somehow Marvel managed to screw this one up worse than Luke Cage in my eyes...

People still ask me what was my issue with Luke Cage and allow me to clear that up first.

A few of you who know me personally who read this blog know that I'm black, but my issue with that show is that while it stems from trying to showcase and highlight black culture (namely the Harlem community that it takes place in), it still encourages the negative black stereotypes that I don't really much care for how Hollywood consistently enforces in television and film. Bravo to that show for it's stellar multi-cultural cast, but that show, much like Iron Fist, is riddled with tons of narrative flaws from top to bottom.

Casting

How most people felt about Finn Jones being cast as Danny Rand instead of an Asian-American actor...

Unlike most people, I didn't have an issue with Marvel's casting a white/Caucasian actor to play Danny Rand, as if I'm perfectly honest the casting wouldn't have made the depiction of this character here any better from the lackluster writing that we will be discussing shortly. Finn Jones starts off strong but transforms into a whiny, mentally-unstable teenager by the end of the series. Maybe the writing is more to blame as the actor can't make chicken salad out of shit, but still. I wasn't too crazy about his performance here. The breakout star of this series is Colleen Wing, played by Jessica Henswick. She made the most out of what she was given here, especially when the narrative was really bare bones and inconsistent on what they wanted to do with her character, but she made the most if it. As a result, she is a joy to watch in every scene that she's in. Rosario Dawson's Claire Temple is easy on the eyes as well as a delight to see bring her sass and charm here like she has throughout the other Marvel Netflix shows, so don't expect anything different from her here outside of her actually helping a bit in the action in this series. I was cool with Ramón Rodríguez as Bakuto and Sacha Dhawan as Davos, but those guys screamed villain from the second they showed up on the scene. Much like Henswick, they made due with the shit they were given in this show's script. I swear though, everyone from K'un-Lun came off like a bunch of whiny bitches instead of great warriors...

Narrative

Claire Temple is the shining grace in terms of dialogue in this series bar none. She voices EXACTLY
what the audience is thinking watching this show.

One thing that I notice a lot of reviews were citing when I read them prior to watching this was that they were saying that original Iron Fist comics were full of racist stereotypes (something the live-action adaptation of The Spirit had to work around when Frank Miller took up that task) and they didn't have much to go off of. That's a weak excuse when Luke Cage managed to work with what they were given - at least for the most part anyway, when that character has a FAR less impressive rogues gallery to work with... It just shows me that the minds behind this lack creativity and were stuck in that last second rush to get in every major and minor tie-in to set up The Defenders around the corner. As a result, this series ends up being the Iron Man 2 to the Avengers for the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, meaning that the show suffers from an identity crisis when there's so much bridging to be done to set up the next "big thing".

I'm hearing this while watching Iron Fist...

...While thinking back at THIS from Daredevil Season 2. Yeah, you're not the ONLY one, bro.
Once again, I'm left wondering if the various minds behind each of the Marvel Netflix shows watch
each others' shows at all??

The first few episodes did exactly what I feared going into this - the show has too much of an Arrow vibe from the CW. For what was promised to be an action-heavy narrative, Iron Fist ends up allowing the action take a backseat to enforce the "rich kid returns home after being lost/thought to be dead and acquiring special training" tired, yet true trope from Batman, (Green) Arrow, Ironman, and so on.
Danny's special training and zen-like control of his chi and mantra seems to go out of the window completely as there's far too many instances where he has no idea what he is doing. Perfect example? Why is a guy with the education background as far as grade school (no higher than elementary school if he was gone since he was roughly 10 years old) given a board meeting seat of a billion dollar conglomerate? Sure, he inherited 51% of the shares of the company but should have there been something in place that had senior members override him given his lack of experience and education? They could have just had it where the Meachums accepted him back in the family with open arms, gave him access back to his inheritance money that's been building up interest over the past 15 years and move on. We could have done this whole family double cross thing as a subplot for the following season where they reveal that Harold was still alive. Revealing that now seemed to jump the gun too soon (much like how Daredevil Season 2 blew their load on the Hand and killing off Elektra all in one season) and somehow managed to create a lamer first season villain than Diamondback in the last half of Luke Cage when it was clear Black Mariah or Cottonmouth should have been the major antagonist for the first season.

This show had so many in-between the line references and jokes at blue balls that I'm sure people are going to be making
memes from this for months to come.

This show could have been called "Keepin' Up with the Meachums" or "Harold Knows Best" instead of Iron Fist since there's a bigger focus on the Meachum family drama than on Danny Rand and his burden of responsibility as the Iron Fist. That subplot really bogs this show down with completely unnecessary weight to the point where I was beginning to wonder if the Meachums would end up getting their own spin-off from their unnecessary drama.

It seemed that Marvel didn't learn anything here after their mistakes and criticisms following Luke Cage and Daredevil Season 2 as Iron Fist recycling the same ideas and tropes from previous Netflix series.  For example, you have the potential best friend turned enemy (Diamondback in Luke Cage, Davos here, who will become the Steel Serpent later) and the mentally disturbed son pushed over the edge by oppressive father (Wilson Fisk kills his father in Daredevil Season 1, Ward kills Harold here, but Harold comes back to life later only to be killed off by Ward again in the finale).

Claire Temple used as the bridge to tie all of the Defenders together up to this point. Much like with Luke Cage, Claire grounds Danny here but Colleen Wing deserves more credit for that until her "betrayal" at the halfway point of the series. Claire seems more like the voice of the audience here than a bridge/tie to the other Marvel Netflix shows.

Speaking of other ties to the Marvel Netflix shows, Daredevil's Karen Page mentioned briefly during Danny taking a stand against his board members, but she is never shown on-screen. I'm guessing they didn't want to pay her for a 5 second cameo. Another minor tie-in was that Jessica Jones was indirectly mentioned as the private investigator who got the dirt on the Rand Senior Executives for Joy Meachum to blackmail them to get her and Ward's positions of power back within the company. There's a lot more easter eggs and tie-ins to the other Marvel Netflix shows and references, but you can check out that full list here.

Harold Meachum being the mastermind/culprit behind the Rand family demise/plane crash was so obvious that even Ray Charles could have seen that twist coming. I had so many questions on how come no one never exposed him living in that building all of that time over the past 15+ years to the point where the show got to the halfway point, I just said fuck it because it was so damn ridiculous. Better yet... it was just so fucking stupid - even more so on how naive and trusting Danny was of Harold. I love how Danny's zen-like mantras and mental conditioning and training went completely out of the window after Colleen Wing and Harold's deceptions. So much for all of those years of training to make his mind AND his body the ultimate living weapon when he loses his shit at the first sign of things not going his way.

This guy should've been around for more than one episode. I could say the same for ALL of the assassins/fighters thrown against Danny in this to be honest...

Why would Madame Gao want to kill Danny when it's painfully obvious that she's got just as much power to rival his own - along with the experience to boot - and her influence within Rand's corporation was so deeply rooted that Danny's 51% of control didn't mean jack shit. All of this corporate bullshit only bogged this show down even more with unnecessary bullshit when it should have been merely a show focusing on Danny's return to civilized society outside of K'un-Lun and learning the mastery of his powers as they focused merely on the Hand organization as a whole. Why is it that the Hand have been the "major" antagonists in roughly 2-3 of these Marvel Netflix shows but viewers barely know anything about them since this end of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been introduced? Back when I was watching both seasons of Daredevil, the excuse I kept telling myself is that "OK they can't go too far into the Hand until Iron Fist comes out where they'll spend the entire season establishing who and what they are..." Iron Fist came out and goddammit I was horribly wrong when I said that as the show did little to explain the Hand. Sure, they revealed that the Hand has a power struggle going on within rival splinter factions within their own organization, but they did nothing to establish what necessarily makes the Hand the bad guys or why they are understood as evil.

My reaction to every time Danny says that he's the Iron Fist or when someone back in Daredevil mentioned
Black Sky. 

Let's not to mention that both seasons of Daredevil failed to explain exactly what the Black Sky was (along with why were the Hand so obsessed with it) nor what or why were the Hand digging a hole underneath Hell's Kitchen. That has to be literally the biggest plot hole in the Marvel Netflix universe to date...

Action

This is exactly what I thought of when I was watching most of the fight sequences in this series. To be fair though,
most modern seasons of Power Rangers/Super Sentai have better fight choreography than this show and that's just damn
sad.

To say that this show was promised to be martial arts-inspired and action-heavy show, there wasn't much action here at all, especially during the first 6-7 episodes. Keep in mind that Danny Rand technically doesn't defeat any of the major villains in this season himself at all. Colleen Wing defeats Bakuto and Davos lands the finishing blow that "kills" him while Ward killed Harold himself when Danny refused to do it. I will admit that Colleen Wing's fights (ALL of them...) were the standout to the entire series, especially in the first few episodes when she was those street fights (that was pretty much Fight Club) for money. Then the whole sequence where Danny and Davos break out of Bakuto's sanctuary was pretty awesome too. I really didn't care for how the "final boss" sequence where Danny faced off against Harold during the season finale was pretty much a rehash of the original Sam Raimi Spider-Man film where the bad guy gets impaled on something to meet his end before Ward ends up finishing the guy himself.

When asked a general question about how he (Finn Jones) prepared for the exciting martial arts scenes, his reply is halfway between an excuse and an apology. 

“Well, here’s the situation,” he begins, explaining that he only had three weeks to train before filming. “Unfortunately, with the filming schedule, I wasn’t given as much time as I would have liked to continue the training.” Shooting for 12 or 14 hours a day took its toll. “I was learning those fight scenes just 15 minutes before we shot them, because that was the schedule... It would be 2am, 3am, I’d just done a long day of work, and usually the stunt department would come up and say ‘Hey, right, we’ve got this huge 30 person fight and you’ve got to learn it right now.’ So I was learning it on the spot, within 15-20 minutes, and then shooting it. That was the reality for six months.”

I'm not cutting Finn Jones any slack here. He knew what show he was getting cast for and he could have taken some martial arts classes for this to look better in some sequences, but the blame goes on the fight choreographer as well for not consulting whoever does the fights for Daredevil and Agents of SHIELD for the last two seasons. Hell, what's that guy who did the choreography for Captain America: The Winter Soldier doing now? If he's not working on Avengers: Infinity War, then whoever that guy (or gal) is needs a full-time job doing fight choreography for these films and TV shows for the MCU.

To be fair though, Danny's fight against this drunken master (and the whole gauntlet against the Hand's "best" - VERY loose term here - fighters) was actually very well done, but I was expecting more of that as the series went on but ultimately seemed like we got less action as the show dragged on

In my honest opinion, I would have forgiven the lackluster writing here (somewhat...) if the fight scenes made up for it. Instead, the fight sequences (majority of them anyway...) end up being this series' biggest shortcoming and disappointment.

Watch It or Don't Bother?

Why does the Iron Fist have to look like he's just holding a light bulb/flashlight in his hand?

As the last stop on the way towards The Defenders later this year, Iron Fist is an utter disappointment. There's some things to like here, such as the cameos by Jeri Hogarth and Claire Temple along with Jessica Wenwick's stand-out performance as Colleen Wing, but lackluster narrative and a sluggish pace that somehow manages to drag along slower than last year's Luke Cage weighs this series down with so much unnecessary baggage (if setting the stage for The Defenders wasn't bad enough...) that made watching this show much more of a chore than it need to be. It's not a complete trainwreck, but I highly recommend not going out of your way to watch it in one sitting.