OPINION -- WWE Backlash (2018) Highlights An Ongoing Issue With WWE Programming

Originally, I was going to do a write-up on WWE Backlash, but I just couldn't... That show - except for that stellar opener between The Miz and current Intercontinenal Champion Seth Rollins - was a complete waste of time. I'm not going to waste my time reminding you all of how bad it was. Instead, I'm going to point out a few glaring issues that this show highlights with WWE's current product here in 2018.

The WWE Championship is still treated like a secondary/glorified mid-card title.

I wanted to kick myself in the nuts after wasting my Sunday sitting through this entire show...

I have a horrible feeling that we're less than a year away from the WWE Championship title matches opening RAW/SmackDown! shows and PPVs as the opening match or kick-off/pre-show matches like how the World Heavyweight Championship was regulated to before the end of the original brand split. Remember when Edge and Alberto Del Rio were fighting for that title on the opening match of RAW and/or WrestleMania back then? 

I kid you not - I fear those dark days for that title are going to be sooner more than later. It was bad enough when Jinder Mahal held that damn thing for the better part of last year. It's a damn shame too when AJ Styles (arguably the best worker in the company along with Rollins) is busting his ass to keep it relevant, despite being in a lackluster feud with Shinsuke Nakamura. That mess though? That feud is it's own pile of crap all on it's own, not to mention the icing on this shit sundae being the double nutshot/low blow to end a damn No DQ match of all things by double count out. This whole thing would be over if both guys would actually wear a damn athletic cup for protection. 

Nakamura's all smiles going along with this whole "No speaky English" bit when I'm sure Vince McMahon is foaming at the mouth to make him Kung Fu Naki 2018.

The Roman Reigns experiment has failed - on MULTIPLE levels. It's time to pack up and move on.

I wanted to choke Roman AND everyone on WWE Creative for this match running over 11PM on a Sunday night when it's not even anywhere close being a WrestleMania-caliber show.

It's been what, FOUR YEARS, since Vince McMahon tried this experiment and we're still here in 2018 with Vince McMahon forcing this narrative down our throats. Say what you will about John Cena but even his rise to fame wasn't this forced back in the day. 

Roman Reigns is a solid in-ring worker, but he's definitely not the guy to be carrying the company into the future, no matter how hard Vince McMahon wants that to happen. It would be best to just regulate Reigns to some midcard feuds and out of the main event picture for a long while to get that taste of failure out of everyone's mouths - then maybe they can pull that heel turn and salvage the guy for people to give a damn but as it stands currently, it's hard to be a fan of that guy. He's definitely NOT the guy that needs to beat Lesnar. To be honest, they missed the boat to let Strowman do it a few months ago when he was at the height of his popularity and the lackluster feuds and directionless narrative for his character is only going to drag him down into the comedy route and there's little escape from that. Just ask all of those guys in The New Day or Heath Slater. When Vince has it in his head that you're going to be traveling goof then it's going to be hard to get that stink off of you unless you leave the company and comeback like Gallows (previously Festus) and Drew Galloway/McIntyre after reinventing yourself on the indies. Then again, if I were a betting man, I would bank on Bobby Lashley being the one who ends up dethroning Lesnar at Summerslam as that's the only remaining marquee match that neither of them have done that would be worth their while. It's not like WWE are at a loss of options to go with for who should be in Roman Reigns' spot as "the guy" for the company, it's just that WWE are pretty damn ignorant to crowd responses to him and definitely have blinders on when it comes to the rest of the tons of talent they have signed to contracts.

I can't speak for anyone else but it frustrates me on days end that this company has so many indie greats on payroll, yet refuses to utilize that talent properly. Everyone else can see that Roman Reigns isn't the guy so why can't WWE Creative or more importantly, Vince McMahon?

There's not a single compelling narrative for neither of the Women's Championships on either RAW or SmackDown!

Don't look at me like that Bliss. I didn't book this shit. 

After her stellar debut at WrestleMania against the team of Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, Ronda Rousey was nowhere to be found in action on this card. So much for that whole bit about she's "full-time" like everyone else on the roster. I would bet the farm on this that in a few months, Ronda Rousey will end up having the female equivalent of Brock Lesnar's deal in terms of limited appearances and what not.

Despite their strong debut, the IIconics have been nothing more but jobber fodder on the main roster. It was strange too - they were on the kick-off show panel briefly, but didn't interfere in Carmella's title defense against Charlotte Flair. I suppose WWE said that was too obvious to see coming that even Ray Charles saw it, so didn't opt for that finish. Regardless, anything was better than that entire match of Carmella shrieking like a banshee and holding Charlotte in rest holds for what felt like twenty minutes for the bulk of that match. I'm a fan of Carmella's gimmick/character, but much like Alexa Bliss (we're about to get to her in a minute too...), her ring work leaves a lot to be desired. I understand the argument of "Oh but heels aren't supposed to do much and just garner heat!", but heels aren't supposed to bore me to sleep either. Baron Corbin's already king of that profession if that's the case...

Alexa Bliss and Nia Jax's title match wasn't any better, following another lackluster build with Bliss continuing her "Moment of Bliss" vignettes where she cites examples of Nia's bullying while shading in a few body shaming jabs in there. Be A Star my ass... We're at this level of childish storylines even though WWE wants to continue to shove this whole "women's evolution" thing down our throats when we're still booking Attitude Era/Diva Search Era-level storylines. Stuff like this doesn't do the girls any favors and it definitely doesn't do the company any favors with promos like Nia's that were clearly forced and scripted there. If WWE keeps this up, people will start to reject this whole movement for the women and this whole thing will blow up in their faces before they could cash in on that inevitable Four Horsewomen of NXT vs. Four Horsewomen of MMA match.

There's a lot of great matches between the women on both the main roster and down on NXT, but the story behind them are either facepalm-worthy or non-existent. 

The talent that should be carrying the company are littered throughout the infamous "mid-card hell" or held down underneath a glass ceiling instead of being given the ball and allowed to run with it

The reigning Intercontinental Champion, Seth Rollins, had a taste of a main event push prior to his injury, but ever since he came back he's been firing off at all cylinders. His opponent on this show - The Miz - hasn't held the WWE Championship for well over seven years. These are two Superstars who could easily carry both brands if given the opportunity. They can definitely deliver in the ring, with their match on this show being a perfect example of that. 

At some point, WWE needs to just get the Universal Championship off Brock Lesnar and kick him to the curb if he's not willing to commit to semi-full schedule. Alas, we probably won't see Lesnar drop the title until after he breaks CM Punk's record as the longest reigning WWE title holder of the modern era at 434 days - which he's guaranteed to do since (as of this posting) he's not scheduled to defend the title at Money in the Bank.

I will never understand what is WWE's fixation on these "temporary band-aids" garner a boost in ratings either from part-timers coming back, a random NXT call-up or roster split trade/move, or a return from injury, then either don't do anything of value from these individuals outside of a single noteworthy match or two while their regular workhorses get the shaft. Wouldn't it make more sense to have the workhorses at the forefront and have those band-aids to complement what you already have instead of hitting the "oh shit" button whenever someone gets injured and having to play damage control on your spoiled goods - i.e. workhorses and regular full-time talent that have been damaged from poor booking and horrible gimmicks. 

PREVIEW -- Soul Calibur VI

*** Note: This article will be updated with ongoing character reveal videos/trailers and gameplay videos as Namco Bandai releases new footage and information on the game until the release later this year in 2018. ***

Soul Calibur VI is an upcoming 3D weapon-based fighting game developed by Project Soul and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. It will be released on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in 2018. According to producer Motohiro Okubo, the game is a celebration of the franchise's 20th anniversary.

Reveal/Initial Announcement Trailer

E3 Story Trailer

Libra of Soul Story Mode Trailer

Gameplay Videos

Character Reveals

Geralt of Rivia

Soul Calibur VI reveals it's guest fighter right off the bat in the form of Geralt of Rivia from The Witcher series. I'm surprised that they didn't try to get 2B or someone else from Platinum Games for this one as Bandai Namco admits that they ALMOST got Bayonetta in the last one but that proved to be a bit too technical in terms of how she was envisioned to play. Star Wars characters were in Soul Calibur IV, so I wouldn't mind seeing Travis Touchdown being in one of these games someday too.

Mitsurugi

Mitsurugi is back and young to boot. If they did another game in the current timeline, Mitsurugi would have been as old as Heihachi Mishima at this stage of the game. 

Sophitia

After her absence in Soul Calibur V (being Elysium doesn't count - neither does having her moveset split between her children either), her inclusion this time around is a much welcome addition as she was the second character revealed when Bandai Namco released their initial trailer to tease this game.

Grøh

One of the only "new" original characters for this sequel who is brandishing a dual blade style. I hope this doesn't mean the newcomers like ZWEI and Viola aren't out of the picture from Soul Calibur V since that was one of the few good things about that game.

Seigfried

Seems like Siegfried went back to his roots in this trailer, even down to his appearance. Don't get me wrong, that's a good thing as long as he doesn't go back to being the whiny bitch he was in Soul Edge/Blade since this is a prequel in a sense.

Nightmare

That horse for Nightmare freakin' wicked. Loving every ounce of that here.

Kilik

I'm guessing they want Kilik to be this game's Devil Jin in a sense and play up that time period where he was possessed by Soul Edge and killed Xianglian before meeting Xianghua. The more footage that I see of him and Xianghua, I'm convinced that they are going to allow us to play through the murder of Xianglian and his short-lived corruption to Soul Edge before he was cleansed by Kali-Yuga. 

Xianghua

Sheesh, Xianghua looks younger than her original Soul Calibur days.

Zasalamel

Ever since Soul Calibur V, I thought it was odd that they omitted him from the roster, given how well the character played in that game, compared to the other two newcomers - Tira and Setsuka. He had no mention at all in that game to say that he served such a pivotal role in the series to that point.

Ivy

Ivy seems to retain her voluptuousness in this game, but her new arm guard looks pretty bad ass. Ever since her transformation into a Homunculus to save her own life at the start of Soul Calibur V, I honestly don't know how old she is supposed to be anymore since she's technically immortal like her father Cervantes now. As a former Ivy main/player myself, I hope they revert her back to how she played in Soul Calibur III with a few improvements rather than how she played in Soul Calibur IV and V. Here's to me keeping my fingers crossed on that one. 

Taki

Taki being able to inflict chip damage with her blades is going to be HUGE to her pressure game.

Talim

I'm surprised they haven't tried to age up Talim or something. Even Xiaoyu in Tekken is of legal age from my knowledge. Gameplay-wise, it seems like she's still got most of her old tricks, but added the wind effect/tornado attacks to spice her style up after missing like 2 of the past iterations of the game.

Voldo

Astaroth

Seong Mi-na

Azwel

PREVIEW -- Lucha Underground Season 4 Extended Trailer

How about that trailer, yo? This just makes me more excited for Season 4 in June. I could rewind and dissect this thing from a hundred different angles, but for once, I'm going to wait and see - even though I've read some of the spoilers from the first set of tapings they did a few months ago.

You can see it first hand from this trailer though... Catrina is going find a new pawn to do her bidding. The gauntlet is going be still fought over, with an unlikely alliance of Aerostar, El Dragon Azteca, and King Cuerno meeting to discuss on how to deal with it. Johnny Mundo somehow gets his hands on it too. Paul London and the Rabbit Tribe go down the rabbit hole in what looks like a test of sanity. The Black Lotus Triad seems to have some in-fighting going on. Kairi Hojo (Sane in NXT) is in WWE, so I'm sure that they've found another talented joshi to replace her in that role. Some of past stars will return - Pentagon Dark, Ivelisse, Marty the Moth Martinez, Mariposa, Son of Havoc, Taya, Johnny Mundo, etc. - but they are joined by some newcomers (Tommy Dreamer, Jack Swagger, Chelsea Green, etc.) in a montage that went by so fast you'd miss 'em if you blinked.

PREVIEW -- Attack on Titan Season 3 - Official Subtitled Trailer

Without spoilers, if you've read this far into the manga, you would know that this is the part of the story where there's more of a focus on humanity within the walls instead of the Titans. This creates a civil war of sorts between the government and the Survey Corps over who should "control" Historia and Eren Yeager. What brings things to a boil is that the government has their own black ops hitman squad, led by Kenny Ackerman - the very same man who raised Levi. That last name should be familiar as he's a relative to Mikasa's family lineage. I know they are going to take some liberties here on storytelling like they did in Season 2 to differentiate from the manga, so I'm anxious to see how this is going to play out as there's not much action in this story arc outside of the skirmishes between the two factions within the walls.

PREVIEW -- Red Dead Redemption 2: Official Trailer #3

America, 1899. The end of the wild west era has begun as lawmen hunt down the last remaining outlaw gangs. Those who will not surrender or succumb are killed. After a robbery goes badly wrong in the western town of Blackwater, Arthur Morgan and the Van der Linde gang are forced to flee. With federal agents and the best bounty hunters in the nation massing on their heels, the gang must rob, steal and fight their way across the rugged heartland of America in order to survive. As deepening internal divisions threaten to tear the gang apart, Arthur must make a choice between his own ideals and loyalty to the gang who raised him. From the creators of Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption, Red Dead Redemption 2 is an epic tale of life in America at the dawn of the modern age. Coming October 26, 2018 to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One systems.

To be perfectly honest, I thought the original Red Dead Redemption was one of the most overrated games of that console generation (to be fair, I've never seen the fascination with every new Grand Theft Auto release either), but as an Old West narrative it wasn't bad at all. Rockstar Games pulled influences and inspiration from several Westerns to weave that's definitely worthwhile experiencing at least once in your gaming experiences. At the end of the day, it's another open world/sandbox game from Rockstar. The Deadeye mechanic slowed down time and allowed for precision aiming on multiple targets, but I felt that GUN did that better with it's Quickdraw mechanic in that game, where you simply flicked the analog sticks while aiming to mow down multiple opposing gunmen at once. That got that "old west gunman" feel to it more than Deadeye did in terms of the gunplay, in my humble opinion. We don't get much here in terms of gameplay, but instead we're treated to what seems like tidbits from the upcoming sequel's story following the Van de Linde gang. John Marston makes an appearance in this game, clearly showing that this game will be a prequel and not a sequel. That alone makes me care even less. Jack Marston tracked down his father's killer and got revenge in a post-game quest, but I wouldn't have minded a game where we followed his exploits in his father's footsteps.