With the All-Star game being played tonight, I figured that this is as good a time as any to review my 2010 baseball preview and see how I have done so far. If you want to look back at the original post, you can check it out right here: http://thecanonreview.blogspot.com/2010/04/canon-review-2010-mlb-preview.html. Let's see how I've done so far.
AL East (* - Wild Card)
Prediction: Current Standings:
1. New York Yankees 1. New York Yankees 56-32
2. Tampa Bay Rays* 2. Tampa Bay Rays 54-34*
3. Boston Red Sox 3. Boston Red Sox 51-37
4. Baltimore Orioles 4. Toronto Blue Jays 44-45
5. Toronto Blue Jays 5. Baltimore Orioles 29-59
Other than overestimating the Orioles. I have done pretty well so far in the AL East. At the beginning of the year, I said that the Yankees, Rays, and Red Sox were arguably three of the top five teams in baseball, and at the break, the Yankees and Rays have the top two records in baseball, and the Red Sox have the fourth best. Bottom line, since there is only one wild card spot, one of these great teams are going to be sitting at home during the playoffs. At the beginning of the year, I said it would be the Red Sox, and with their injury problems, I don't see any reason to change my mind. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays are better than I expected, but still not a factor and are likely to slip somewhat in the second half. The Orioles are just awful, having the worst record in baseball. At this point, it's time for the Orioles to start trading veterans such as Miguel Tejada and Ty Wiggington and start playing some younger players to give them some experience.
AL Central
Prediction: Current Standings:
1. Minnesota Twins Chicago White Sox 49-38
2. Chicago White Sox Detroit Tigers 48-38
3. Detroit Tigers Minnesota Twins 46-42
4. Cleveland Indians Kansas City Royals 39-49
5. Kansas City Royals Cleveland Indians 34-54
My primary mistake in this division was underestimating the Tigers, who I felt would be a .500 team. Well, at this point they have proven to be a little better than that, and barring a string of injuries, they should be right in the thick of the pennant race for the rest of the year. Minnesota had led the division for most of the year, but a recent cold streak has landed them in third place at the All-Star break. The White Sox got off to a slow start, but after a league best 15-3 record in interleague play, and an eight game winning streak to close out the first half, the Sox have made themselves a factor in the race once again. The Royals and Indians are non factors at this point, although the Royals have looked better since hiring Ned Yost as manager. Overall, I still think the Twins have the most talent in the division, although it would help if players like SS J.J. Hardy and SP Scott Baker would stop underachieving. Still, the White Sox and Tigers should make this an interesting race, and don't be surprised if the division title is once again not decided until the last game of the season.
AL West
Prediction: Current Standings
1. LA Angels of Anaheim 1. Texas Rangers 50-38
2. Texas Rangers 2. LA Angels of Anaheim 47-44
3. Seattle Mariners 3. Oakland Athletics 43-46
4. Oakland Athletics 4. Seattle Mariners 35-53
Remember when the Mariners were the hip pick to win the AL West? Well, while their fielding and pitching have remained solid, their hitting has been awful, as they rank dead last in the AL in runs scored. I was skeptical about their offense coming into the season, and time has proven me right. I wasn't correct, however, about the Texas Rangers, as they have proven to be the best team in this division and with the addition of ace SP Cliff Lee from the Mariners this past Friday, the Rangers should be the favorites to win the AL West. It would be unwise to count the Angels out, however, even with the season-ending injury to slugging 1B Kendry Morales. They've still got the talent available to win the division once again. The Athletics have good pitching, but don't have enough offensive firepower to be a factor in the race. Ultimately, I think the Rangers will prevail and win their first division title since 1999.
NL East
Prediction Current Standings
1. Philadelphia Phillies 1. Atlanta Braves 52-36
2. Atlanta Braves* 2. New York Mets 48-40
3. New York Mets 3. Philadelphia Phillies 47-40
4. Florida Marlins 4. Florida Marlins 42-46
5. Washington Nationals 5. Washington Nationals 39-50
It looks as if I underestimated the Braves, who are playing top notch baseball in their manager Bobby Cox's final season. Even with CF Nate McLouth and SS Yunel Escobar struggling, the Braves just keep on rolling, and their starting pitching is going to make them tough to knock off the top of the division. The Mets have done better than I expected, while the Phillies have done slightly worse than I projected, but both teams have enough talent to challenge for the division title and the wild-card spot. The Marlins fired their manager (Fredi Gonzalez) in the middle of the season, and are unlikely to be a factor. The Nationals, even with the arrival of SP Stephen Strasburg, are probably a year away from contention, and will more than likely be looking to trade some of their veterans before the trade deadline.
NL Central
Prediction Current Standings
1. St. Louis Cardinals 1. Cincinnatti Reds 49-41
2. Milwaukee Brewers 2. St. Louis Cardinals 47-41
3. Chicago Cubs 3. Milwaukee Brewers 40-49
4. Cincinnati Reds 4. Chicago Cubs 39-50
5. Houston Astros 5. Houston Astros 36-53
6. Pittsburgh Pirates 6. Pittsburgh Pirates 30-58
I was just a little off in this division, as I had the Cubs and Brewers doing a little better and the Reds in fourth place. The Reds have surprised a lot of people with their winning ways by hitting the crap out the ball, leading the league in runs, batting average, and OPS. But I'm still convinced that the Cardinals will win out in the end, although it wouldn't hurt if they acquired another bat for their lineup. The Reds and Cardinals will continue to battle for first place, while everyone else in this division will try to avoid ending the season with a losing record. Look for the Brewers and Cubs to be active around the trade deadline as they try to rid themselves of some veterans with hefty salaries. The Pirates will have a losing season for the 18th straight season, and the only question regarding them is whether or not they can stay out of last place.
NL West
Predicted Current Standings:
1. Colorado Rockies 1. San Diego Padres 51-37
2. Los Angeles Dodgers 2. Colorado Rockies* 49-39
3. Arizona Diamondbacks 3. Los Angeles Dodgers* 49-39
4. San Francisco Giants 4. San Francisco Giants 47-41
5. San Diego Padres 5. Arizona Diamondbacks 34-55
I was dead wrong about the Padres. I wasn't the only one, but still. Who would have thought the Padres would have the fourth best record in baseball at the All-Star break. The Padres have excellent pitching, leading the NL in ERA, but their offense outside of All-Star 1B Adrian Gonzalez leaves something to be desired. The Padres' main problem may be that they play in one tough division, as any of the top four teams are capable of winning the whole thing. I'm still going to pick Colorado to win the NL West, but I feel that San Diego will make the playoffs as a Wild Card. You can expect the Dodgers and Giants to be in the thick of things as well, while the Diamondbacks have officially given up on this year.
Award Predictions:
AL MVP:
1. Joe Mauer, C, Twins (.293 BA, 4 HR, 35 RBI)
2. Mark Teixeira, 1B, Yankees (.254 BA, 17 HR, 60 RBI)
3. Kendry Morales, 1B, Angels (.290 BA, 11 HR, 39 RBI)
Dark Horse: Nelson Cruz, RF, Rangers (.299 BA, 11 HR, 41 RBI, 50 Games)
Of these four, only Mauer made the AL All Star team, Morales could have, but he suffered a season-ending injury celebrating a game winning home run a month ago. Teixeira's been healthy, but got off to a terrible start and only now is starting to hit out of it. He is a historically a better hitter in the second half, so he might emerge as an MVP Candidate yet. Cruz has hit the ball hard, but has also battled injuries. The top candidates for AL MVP after the first half include Detroit Tigers 1B Miguel Cabrera (.346, 22 hr, 77 rbi), the current AL leader in batting average, RBIs, and OPS+ (186), Texas Rangers OF Josh Hamilton (.346, 22, 64, and a league leading 118 hits), Minnesota Twins 1B Justin Morneau (.345, 18, 56, league-leading .437 OBP) and Yankee 2B Robinson Cano (.336, 16, 58). Of those men, Cabrera might be the MVP thus far, but don't be surprised if Hamilton ends up with the award at the end of the season.
NL MVP:
1. Chase Utley, 2B, Phillies (.277, 11, 37)
2. Albert Pujols, 1B, Cardinals (.308, 21, 64)
3. Ryan Braun, LF, Brewers (.292, 13, 54)
Dark Horse: Justin Upton, RF, Diamondbacks (.259, 14, 52)
Utley's been injured and won't be back until mid-August, while Braun and Upton both play on losing teams and aren't having great seasons anyway. Pujols is putting up his typical numbers, but he isn't the clear-cut favorite, as a few other hitters have also had great years. Chief among them is Cincinnati Reds 1B Joey Votto (.314, 22, 60), the league leader in home runs, on-base percentage (.422), slugging percentage (.589), OPS (1.011) and OPS+ (167). Votto would probably be my pick if the season ended today, but he'll get some stiff competition in the form of New York Mets 3B David Wright (.314, 14, league-leading 65 RBI), San Diego 1B Adrian Gonzalez (.301, 18, 56) and Atlanta Braves 2B Martin Prado (league-leading .325 batting average, 10, 39, league leading 121 hits).
AL Cy Young Award:
1. Felix Hernandez, SP, Mariners (7-5 win loss record, 2.88 ERA, 131 strikeouts)
2. C.C. Sabathia, SP, Yankees (12-3, 3.09, 104, league leading 12 wins)
3. Zack Greinke, SP, Royals (5-8, 3.71, 101)
Dark Horse: Brett Anderson, SP, Athletics (2-1, 2.35, 22)
Hernandez and Sabathia both made the All-Star team, but at this point aren't among the favorites to win the award. However, a strong second half from either man could propel them to the award, so it would be silly to count them out. Greinke's been good but not great, while Anderson's only started six games due to injuries. Right now the favorite may be All-Star game starting pitcher David Price, who leads the league in both wins with 12, and in earned run average with a 2.42 mark. Other contenders include Mariners/Rangers pitcher Cliff Lee (8-4, 2.64, 91, league leading .950 WHIP), the Boston Red Sox's Jon Lester (11-3, 2.78, 124, league leading 6.5 hits per nine innings), and the Angels' Jared Weaver (8-5, 3.20, league leading 137 strikeouts. Also, don't forget about Yankees closer Mariano Rivera (20 saves, 1.05 ERA).
NL Cy Young
1. Roy Halladay, SP, Phillies (10-7, 2.19, 128)
2. Tim Lincecum, SP, Giants (9-4, 3.16, league-leading 131 strikeouts)
3. Chris Carpenter, SP, Cardinals (9-3, 3.29, 108)
Dark Horse: Ubaldo Jimenez, SP, Rockies (league leading 15 wins, 15-1, 2.20, 113)
Overall, I feel pretty good about my choices, as all four of these men made the All-Star team, and Jimenez and Halladay have to be among the favorites for the Cy Young Award at this point. A couple of other pitchers with good cases for the award include the Cardinals' Adam Wainwright (13-5, 2.11, 127), the Marlins' Josh Johnson (9-3, league leading 1.74 ERA, 123), and the Braves' Tim Hudson (9-4, 2.30, 61). If you're looking for a closer to emerge as a potential candidate, than look no further than the Giants Brian Wilson (23 saves, 1.91 ERA).
AL Rookie of the Year:
1. Wade Davis, SP, Rays (6-9, 4.69, 62)
2. Scott Sizemore, 2B, Tigers (.206 BA, now in the minor leagues)
3. Brian Matusz, SP, Orioles (3-9, 4.77, 80)
Dark Horses: Lou Marson/Carlos Santana, C, Indians (Marson: .191 BA, now in minors, Santana: .284, 5, 16, in 29 games)
Not my best choices here. At least Davis and Matusz are still in their respective teams' rotations, although it remains to be see how many chances the contending Rays are willing to give Davis. So far, the clear cut rookie of the year has to be Detroit Tigers OF Brannen Boesch, who has come out of nowhere to hit .342, with 12 homers and 49 RBI. If Boesch can keep up anything close to that pace, he should run away with the award, but don't be surprised if Boesch's teammate OF Austin Jackson (.300 BA, 52 runs, 14 SB) or the Rangers' closer Neftali Feliz (23 saves, 3.82 ERA, 42 strikeouts in 37.2 innings) make a run at the award.
NL Rookie of the Year:
1. Jason Heyward, RF, Braves (.251, 11, 45, All-Star)
2. Alcides Escobar, SS, Brewers (.244, 2, 24)
3. Stephen Strasburg, SP, Nationals (3-2, 2.32, 61 strikeouts in 42.2 innings)
Dark Horse: Pedro Alvarez, 3B/1B, Pirates (.214, 3, 11)
Strasburg and Alvarez both started the season in the minors and were called up after two months of seasoning. While Alvarez has struggled, Strasburg has taken the league by storm, and if he can keep up his pace, the ROY Award may be his to lose. Heyward got off to a tremendous start, but struggled with a thumb injury that eventually put him on the disabled list. If Heyward can get back to being the player he was during the first six weeks of the season, he'll have a good shot at the award. Escobar is probably a non-factor at this point. Other candidate include Cardinals SP Jaime Garcia (8-4, 2.17, 80), Reds SP Mike Leake (6-1, 3.53, 70) and Marlins 1B Gaby Sanchez (.302, 9, 38). For now, I'll stick with Heyward, but this is a talented crop of rookies in the NL.
Originally, I had the Yankees beating the Phillies in the World Series. I still have the Yankees winning it all, but I'm changing my NL pick to the Atlanta Braves, as they have the best combination of pitching and offense in the league, in my opinion. As for the Yankees, they are just too talented and now will be more motivated than ever to win a World Series in honor of their owner George Steinbrenner, who passed away earlier today. I say the Yanks will win it in five games. Thanks for reading, and if you have any ideas for future posts, or have any thoughts about this or other posts, than feel free to share those thoughts either by leaving a comment or by sending me an e-mail at kthec2001@gmail.com.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Canon Restaurant Review: Outback Steakhouse, Commerce, GA
Before I begin, I would like to apologize for my lack of activity this weekend, as quite frankly I just didn't have enough time to devote to the blog the last couple of days. Also, I'll probably be out of town for a couple of days this week, so don't expect too much activity for the next couple of days. But I will try to be back and devote all the attention a site like The Canon Review deserves.
Anyway, today I had the pleasure, or so I hoped, of dining at Outback Steakhouse in the lovely city of Commerce, GA. My brother Ben and his wife Rose, along with loyal Canon Review reader Dickson S., had been to this particular Outback on more than one occasion, and each of them have had rave reviews about this place. Well, I had never been to this particular Outback, or any Outback Steakhouse for that matter, so when they asked me to join them today, I accepted just to see what all of the fuss was about. Also, I had nothing else going on today.
We get there at about 6:00 or so, and the first thing I notice is that the location is kind of hidden in the back of a shopping center. I wasn't that surprised because there's only so much space in Commerce, and by the time this Outback was built most of the more desirable locations were already taken. I don't think it's had an effect on its business, as the restaurant was gradually filling up throughout our stay there, I just found it somewhat curious is all. When we got there, there were only a couple of tables filled, which isn't surprising considering it's 6 p.m. on a Monday. Heck, I actually prefer eating somewhat early at any restaurant just for that reason, so you miss the crowds and nothing is out of stock by that point. We get seated at a booth and wait a couple of minutes for our server to appear. The interior of the restaurant is rather dark, and there are some typical Australian artifacts like a boomerang on the walls. Also, there were at least three big screen televisions, and each one was tuned into a different channel for some reason. I guess because there was nothing special on at the time. After perusing the menu, which was about seven pages, for a few minutes, I decide to be different from the rest of my compatriots and not get a steak, even though I like steak and the name of the restaurant contains the word "steak" in its title. Instead, I go with one of the featured items on the menu, the BBQ Mixed Grill which came with three coconut shrimp, barbecue chicken, and some baby-back ribs. The dish also came with a side of fries and some coleslaw, which I'm not crazy about but I figured I would try anyway. My dining companions got three different cuts of steak, Rose ordered the Victoria Filet's with blue cheese and an add-on order of grilled shrimp, Dickson got the Teriyaki Marinated Sirloin dish, while I believe Ben order a New York Strip steak but to be honest, I'm not 100% sure about that one. They all ordered their steaks well done. Also, they ordered a Bloomin' Onion and one Alice Springs Chicken Quesadilla.
First we were served some bread, which after 10 seconds of researching on the internet, I have found out that the bread is known as Bushman Bread. It's a honey-wheat type of bread that is colored black, in case you're like I was and have never been to Outback before. The bread was okay, it wasn't exactly something I would order on its own, but it wasn't anything I would refuse to eat either. Our appetizers came soon after, and I only had a little of the Bloomin Onion, mainly because I'm not a huge onion fan. To me it was just ok, but I found no fault with how it was made, as it was nice and warm. The chicken quesadilla, on the other hand, was delicious. The dish was packed with chicken, cheese, sauteed mushrooms, bacon and honey mustard, and the combination of all of those flavors was just excellent. Heck, I could have just ate a whole one of those chicken quesidillas and I would have been happy with my meal. I even got the courage and tried a little bit of the beer that Dickson ordered (a Shock Top), mainly due to his prodding that I take a sip. Well, I don't drink beer (or any alcoholic beverage) and after tasting the beer, I'm not going to be drinking any more anytime soon. To be honest, I've had beer a couple of times, and I can't see how anyone can stand the taste, but to each their own. I think I'll just stick to drinking soda and juice.
After we polished off most of our appetizer, our main courses came. I started off mainly with the chicken, and it was everything I could have possibly hoped for. The sauce they used on the chicken was rather bold, although not spicy or anything like that, and added a real kick of flavor to the chicken, which was cooked perfectly and wasn't too tough to eat. The coconut shrimp was very good by itself, although I must say I didn't care much for the dipping sauce that the shrimp came with. It tasted rather bitter, like it had too much lemon flavoring in it or something, and I did not think it went all that well with the shrimp at all. I'm sure other people probably like that sauce, but it just wasn't for me. As for the ribs, there was a good bit of meat on them, and the meat and the sauce combined to make for a rather tasty dish. The fries were also pretty good, not too salty and flavored nicely, while the coleslaw seemed decent, although I'm not the most qualified judge on that subject. Everyone else at my table seemed to enjoy their meals immensely, and at the end we were all stuffed. Well, I thought about getting a desert, but since everyone else seemed ready to go, I decided to pass. In hindsight, I don't need the extra calories, anyway. The service at Outback was very good, as our waiter was very attentive and was always on top of things.
Overall, I don't really have any qualms with my experience at the Commerce Outback Steakhouse today. I suppose I have a couple of minor issues, but I would definitely dine there again. I'll give it a 7.838 out of 10. Well, thanks for reading, and if you have any thoughts or issues with this or other posts, or future ideas for reviews, than feel free to share them by leaving a comment, or by sending me an e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com.
Anyway, today I had the pleasure, or so I hoped, of dining at Outback Steakhouse in the lovely city of Commerce, GA. My brother Ben and his wife Rose, along with loyal Canon Review reader Dickson S., had been to this particular Outback on more than one occasion, and each of them have had rave reviews about this place. Well, I had never been to this particular Outback, or any Outback Steakhouse for that matter, so when they asked me to join them today, I accepted just to see what all of the fuss was about. Also, I had nothing else going on today.
We get there at about 6:00 or so, and the first thing I notice is that the location is kind of hidden in the back of a shopping center. I wasn't that surprised because there's only so much space in Commerce, and by the time this Outback was built most of the more desirable locations were already taken. I don't think it's had an effect on its business, as the restaurant was gradually filling up throughout our stay there, I just found it somewhat curious is all. When we got there, there were only a couple of tables filled, which isn't surprising considering it's 6 p.m. on a Monday. Heck, I actually prefer eating somewhat early at any restaurant just for that reason, so you miss the crowds and nothing is out of stock by that point. We get seated at a booth and wait a couple of minutes for our server to appear. The interior of the restaurant is rather dark, and there are some typical Australian artifacts like a boomerang on the walls. Also, there were at least three big screen televisions, and each one was tuned into a different channel for some reason. I guess because there was nothing special on at the time. After perusing the menu, which was about seven pages, for a few minutes, I decide to be different from the rest of my compatriots and not get a steak, even though I like steak and the name of the restaurant contains the word "steak" in its title. Instead, I go with one of the featured items on the menu, the BBQ Mixed Grill which came with three coconut shrimp, barbecue chicken, and some baby-back ribs. The dish also came with a side of fries and some coleslaw, which I'm not crazy about but I figured I would try anyway. My dining companions got three different cuts of steak, Rose ordered the Victoria Filet's with blue cheese and an add-on order of grilled shrimp, Dickson got the Teriyaki Marinated Sirloin dish, while I believe Ben order a New York Strip steak but to be honest, I'm not 100% sure about that one. They all ordered their steaks well done. Also, they ordered a Bloomin' Onion and one Alice Springs Chicken Quesadilla.
First we were served some bread, which after 10 seconds of researching on the internet, I have found out that the bread is known as Bushman Bread. It's a honey-wheat type of bread that is colored black, in case you're like I was and have never been to Outback before. The bread was okay, it wasn't exactly something I would order on its own, but it wasn't anything I would refuse to eat either. Our appetizers came soon after, and I only had a little of the Bloomin Onion, mainly because I'm not a huge onion fan. To me it was just ok, but I found no fault with how it was made, as it was nice and warm. The chicken quesadilla, on the other hand, was delicious. The dish was packed with chicken, cheese, sauteed mushrooms, bacon and honey mustard, and the combination of all of those flavors was just excellent. Heck, I could have just ate a whole one of those chicken quesidillas and I would have been happy with my meal. I even got the courage and tried a little bit of the beer that Dickson ordered (a Shock Top), mainly due to his prodding that I take a sip. Well, I don't drink beer (or any alcoholic beverage) and after tasting the beer, I'm not going to be drinking any more anytime soon. To be honest, I've had beer a couple of times, and I can't see how anyone can stand the taste, but to each their own. I think I'll just stick to drinking soda and juice.
After we polished off most of our appetizer, our main courses came. I started off mainly with the chicken, and it was everything I could have possibly hoped for. The sauce they used on the chicken was rather bold, although not spicy or anything like that, and added a real kick of flavor to the chicken, which was cooked perfectly and wasn't too tough to eat. The coconut shrimp was very good by itself, although I must say I didn't care much for the dipping sauce that the shrimp came with. It tasted rather bitter, like it had too much lemon flavoring in it or something, and I did not think it went all that well with the shrimp at all. I'm sure other people probably like that sauce, but it just wasn't for me. As for the ribs, there was a good bit of meat on them, and the meat and the sauce combined to make for a rather tasty dish. The fries were also pretty good, not too salty and flavored nicely, while the coleslaw seemed decent, although I'm not the most qualified judge on that subject. Everyone else at my table seemed to enjoy their meals immensely, and at the end we were all stuffed. Well, I thought about getting a desert, but since everyone else seemed ready to go, I decided to pass. In hindsight, I don't need the extra calories, anyway. The service at Outback was very good, as our waiter was very attentive and was always on top of things.
Overall, I don't really have any qualms with my experience at the Commerce Outback Steakhouse today. I suppose I have a couple of minor issues, but I would definitely dine there again. I'll give it a 7.838 out of 10. Well, thanks for reading, and if you have any thoughts or issues with this or other posts, or future ideas for reviews, than feel free to share them by leaving a comment, or by sending me an e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Canon Restaurant Review: Belle's Cooking
On Friday night, My companions and Canon Review readers Dickson S. and Maggie W. went to a restaurant out in the hip town of Royston, GA called Belle's Cooking. Belles' Cooking is in the left corner of a shopping center and can be rather hard to spot if you're not looking for it. Dickson swears by the place and Maggie and I had ate there before, so after a short discussion, we ended up eating there.
When you walk into Belle's Cooking for the first time, you might expect it to be your typical country cooking restaurant. From the name itself, to the red and white plaid tableclothes on every table, to all of the nic-nacs and old sings on the walls of the restaurant, you would probably expect to get a meal of country fried steak or fried chicken or something of the sort. Instead, Belle's Cooking is actually a Japanese restaurant, even though it has very little visual indications that it serves primarily Japanese food. Personally, I question the proprietor's reasoning for their choice of decor, but I do find it comfortable and all the stuff on the wall provides something to look at while you wait for your food, so actually I don't mind it at all.
Anyway, we get there and find a place to sit. The place wasn't that crowded, as there was only a table of four there when we arrived. Actually, the restaurant is so small that I think it would have trouble seating more than 30 people at one time. Anywho, we were able to order rather quickly, but not too quickly, if that makes any sense. Although Belle's doesn't have the largest menu around, I still had trouble choosing between a couple of dishes before I decided on the Teriyaki fried rice with shrimp. Dickson went with the Salmon Teriyaki dish, while Maggie W. went with the shrimp yakisoba. The food took about 10 to 15 minutes to cook it seemed, which wasn't too bad of a wait.
So we get our food. I've got to say that even though I'm not the biggest fried rice fan, the fried rice at Belle's Cooking is just great. It's so flavorful and cooked to perfection, plus the teriyaki sauce gives it a nice kick of flavor. It really is some good rice, let me tell you. Even if you combined the rice with brocoli, which is one vegetable I just cannot stand, it actually was pretty decent. The shrimp was decent, but I don't know if it was just me, but it seemed a bit stringy and undercooked, to be honest. However, Maggie also had shrimp and she had no complaints whatsoever about it. But if I'm calling it like I see it, I'd say the shrimp was only the second best part of the meal.
After our meal, Maggie decided to try some Green Tea ice cream. I ended up eating a few bites of the ice cream myself, and I felt it was pretty good. It wasn't the sweetest ice cream around, but I definitely wouldn't mind trying it again and would have no reservations about eating another bowl of it if somebody presented one for me to eat.
Overall, Belle's Cooking is an interesting place. A Japanese restaurant in a region that lacks both good Japanese food and, well, good restaurants in general (Seriously, there is not much to choose from in Royston, especially since I refuse to eat at a few of the town's dining facilities). But not only does it provide something different from the usual fast-food fare found in Royston, it also produces very good food. I'll give it a 7.1 out of 10. Well, thanks for reading, and if you have any ideas for future posts, or thoughts about this post, than leave a comment on the blog or send me an e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com. But before I go, here's a video about LeBron James for no good reason.
When you walk into Belle's Cooking for the first time, you might expect it to be your typical country cooking restaurant. From the name itself, to the red and white plaid tableclothes on every table, to all of the nic-nacs and old sings on the walls of the restaurant, you would probably expect to get a meal of country fried steak or fried chicken or something of the sort. Instead, Belle's Cooking is actually a Japanese restaurant, even though it has very little visual indications that it serves primarily Japanese food. Personally, I question the proprietor's reasoning for their choice of decor, but I do find it comfortable and all the stuff on the wall provides something to look at while you wait for your food, so actually I don't mind it at all.
Anyway, we get there and find a place to sit. The place wasn't that crowded, as there was only a table of four there when we arrived. Actually, the restaurant is so small that I think it would have trouble seating more than 30 people at one time. Anywho, we were able to order rather quickly, but not too quickly, if that makes any sense. Although Belle's doesn't have the largest menu around, I still had trouble choosing between a couple of dishes before I decided on the Teriyaki fried rice with shrimp. Dickson went with the Salmon Teriyaki dish, while Maggie W. went with the shrimp yakisoba. The food took about 10 to 15 minutes to cook it seemed, which wasn't too bad of a wait.
So we get our food. I've got to say that even though I'm not the biggest fried rice fan, the fried rice at Belle's Cooking is just great. It's so flavorful and cooked to perfection, plus the teriyaki sauce gives it a nice kick of flavor. It really is some good rice, let me tell you. Even if you combined the rice with brocoli, which is one vegetable I just cannot stand, it actually was pretty decent. The shrimp was decent, but I don't know if it was just me, but it seemed a bit stringy and undercooked, to be honest. However, Maggie also had shrimp and she had no complaints whatsoever about it. But if I'm calling it like I see it, I'd say the shrimp was only the second best part of the meal.
After our meal, Maggie decided to try some Green Tea ice cream. I ended up eating a few bites of the ice cream myself, and I felt it was pretty good. It wasn't the sweetest ice cream around, but I definitely wouldn't mind trying it again and would have no reservations about eating another bowl of it if somebody presented one for me to eat.
Overall, Belle's Cooking is an interesting place. A Japanese restaurant in a region that lacks both good Japanese food and, well, good restaurants in general (Seriously, there is not much to choose from in Royston, especially since I refuse to eat at a few of the town's dining facilities). But not only does it provide something different from the usual fast-food fare found in Royston, it also produces very good food. I'll give it a 7.1 out of 10. Well, thanks for reading, and if you have any ideas for future posts, or thoughts about this post, than leave a comment on the blog or send me an e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com. But before I go, here's a video about LeBron James for no good reason.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Canon MST3K Review: Master Ninja I
This episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 is from season 3 and is a little different from most episodes. See, instead of riffing on a movie, this episode features two episodes of the short-lived 80s television series The Master, which was later repacked as a series of tapes that tried to make two episodes look like one movie. The first of these tapes was titled Master Ninja I, and featured the first two episodes of the series. Master Ninja, or the Master, or whatever you want to call it, starred Lee Van Cleef (The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, For a Few Dollars More, High Noon) as John Peter McAlister, the only American to become a ninja master. Also, the show features Timothy Van Patten (The White Shadow, half-brother of Dick Van Patten) as McAlister's hot headed pupil, Max Keller. The two are in search of McAlister's long lost daughter Teri, and go around America in search of Teri and to help random people who for some reason are getting harassed by the Man or something like that. A few notes from this episode.
- The first episode, titled Max (real creative, guys), features Demi Moore as a guest star in a role she probably has no recollection of. Actually, she's only in it for about three scenes, but still. In hindsight, if they had replaced Van Patten with Demi Moore, than maybe the show would have lasted longer than half a season. Or not.
- Lee Van Cleef was in a bunch of good movies and had a fine acting career. However, I wonder if he was the best choice to cast as the "Master Ninja". Or at the very least, they could have picked a stunt double that wasn't noticeably slimmer than Van Cleef, who had a bit of a gut and seemed to have a hard time running, much less walking a high wire and jumping off onto the roof of a moving car. At least he could act, though.
- I gotta say, I didn't much like the character of Max Keller. It didn't help that Timothy Van Patten couldn't act and spoke as if he had marbles in his mouth, but Max was just another annoying young putz who drives a van and gets himself thrown out of bars on a regular basis. Max is an annoying little dweeb who is rather loud and often disrespectful towards his master, which is not a good idea considering his master could kill him in 9,429 different ways. Max also drives around in a Chevy Van, and keeps a hamster as a pet. The hamster even has a little wheel and a cage next to the driver's seat in the van. Why a hamster, you ask? Well no one really knows for sure.
- Mr. McAlister has other problems besides mentoring Max and finding his daughter, as one of his former students has followed him around the globe in an attempt to kill him. I think it has something to do with some sort of violation of the ninja code, but I don't exactly remember why. This man is a master of disguise, even though most of the time he's in disguise he just stands there and watches other people doing things.
- McAlister is a veteran of World War II who after the war decided to stay in Japan because he had nowhere else to go and because he enjoyed the tranquility. The tranquility of post-WWII Japan, mind you. I can't imagine a war-torn nation being a haven of tranquility, but then again I'm not a Master Ninja.
- I hesitate to spoil this episode too much, but none of you are probably ever going to see it, so what the heck. In the first episode, a buisnessman by the name of Christensen (played by the legendary Clu Gulager) wants to buy some crappy small-town airport for some reason. When he gets rebuffed by Claude Akins, Christensen sets fire to an airplane hangar. Well, Max and the Master come after Christensen in his 30 foot building, and Max has somehow learned enough in a 2 minute training montage to throw his voice and dart across the office without being detected. Christensen has a pistol and fires, but while it makes a sound, no bullet or smoke or anything comes out of the barrel. Instead of having him arrested, Max decides to play executioner and throws a ninja star into Christensen's heart. Well, that's a little extreme.
- The second part of this 'movie' was just ridiculous. The dynamic duo go to San Francisco, where they meet up with a dancer named Kelly who might have some information about McAlister's daughter. Even though she's supposed to be a great dancer and all, she dances as if someone had shocked her with a taser. She also has a sister in a wheelchair and her father owns the club she 'dances' in. Well, some evil Japanese buisnessmen are after the club and have some sort of ninja assassin watching their backs. Well, long story short, while the handicaped girl is called a gimp by McAlister (to which Tom Servo calls him a dickweed), the buisnessman abduct the would be dancing queen, despite the crackerjack security that Max provided (i.e. he got KOd by the ninja that actually knows what he's doing). Well, McAlister and his partner come up with some convulted plan that involves the Master clawing to the bottom of a car driven to their hideout, than coming back at night to rescue the girl. Long story short, the buisnessmen and their ninja are bested, and because he's just that bad ass, apparently McAlister teaches the other girl to walk again. What a bunch of tripe.
- Another reason why I don't like Max is that every three minutes or so, he provides these voiceovers that usually have one line and often are a sorry attempt to be humorous and add nothing to the plot, which needs all the help it can get. God, this show makes the A-Team look like The Godfather.
Bottom line, this show was cheesy as a block of cheddar and was quite easy to parody. There were a lot of good riffs in this episode and overall it was quite humourous. Also, the source material, while cheesy, was far from the worst thing to be featured on this show. So, while I would give Master Ninja I a 3.5339 out of 10, overall this episode gets a 6.380259 out of 10. Thanks for reading, and if you have any comments about this post or ideas for future posts, than send them this way either by commenting or by e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com.
- The first episode, titled Max (real creative, guys), features Demi Moore as a guest star in a role she probably has no recollection of. Actually, she's only in it for about three scenes, but still. In hindsight, if they had replaced Van Patten with Demi Moore, than maybe the show would have lasted longer than half a season. Or not.
- Lee Van Cleef was in a bunch of good movies and had a fine acting career. However, I wonder if he was the best choice to cast as the "Master Ninja". Or at the very least, they could have picked a stunt double that wasn't noticeably slimmer than Van Cleef, who had a bit of a gut and seemed to have a hard time running, much less walking a high wire and jumping off onto the roof of a moving car. At least he could act, though.
- I gotta say, I didn't much like the character of Max Keller. It didn't help that Timothy Van Patten couldn't act and spoke as if he had marbles in his mouth, but Max was just another annoying young putz who drives a van and gets himself thrown out of bars on a regular basis. Max is an annoying little dweeb who is rather loud and often disrespectful towards his master, which is not a good idea considering his master could kill him in 9,429 different ways. Max also drives around in a Chevy Van, and keeps a hamster as a pet. The hamster even has a little wheel and a cage next to the driver's seat in the van. Why a hamster, you ask? Well no one really knows for sure.
- Mr. McAlister has other problems besides mentoring Max and finding his daughter, as one of his former students has followed him around the globe in an attempt to kill him. I think it has something to do with some sort of violation of the ninja code, but I don't exactly remember why. This man is a master of disguise, even though most of the time he's in disguise he just stands there and watches other people doing things.
- McAlister is a veteran of World War II who after the war decided to stay in Japan because he had nowhere else to go and because he enjoyed the tranquility. The tranquility of post-WWII Japan, mind you. I can't imagine a war-torn nation being a haven of tranquility, but then again I'm not a Master Ninja.
- I hesitate to spoil this episode too much, but none of you are probably ever going to see it, so what the heck. In the first episode, a buisnessman by the name of Christensen (played by the legendary Clu Gulager) wants to buy some crappy small-town airport for some reason. When he gets rebuffed by Claude Akins, Christensen sets fire to an airplane hangar. Well, Max and the Master come after Christensen in his 30 foot building, and Max has somehow learned enough in a 2 minute training montage to throw his voice and dart across the office without being detected. Christensen has a pistol and fires, but while it makes a sound, no bullet or smoke or anything comes out of the barrel. Instead of having him arrested, Max decides to play executioner and throws a ninja star into Christensen's heart. Well, that's a little extreme.
- The second part of this 'movie' was just ridiculous. The dynamic duo go to San Francisco, where they meet up with a dancer named Kelly who might have some information about McAlister's daughter. Even though she's supposed to be a great dancer and all, she dances as if someone had shocked her with a taser. She also has a sister in a wheelchair and her father owns the club she 'dances' in. Well, some evil Japanese buisnessmen are after the club and have some sort of ninja assassin watching their backs. Well, long story short, while the handicaped girl is called a gimp by McAlister (to which Tom Servo calls him a dickweed), the buisnessman abduct the would be dancing queen, despite the crackerjack security that Max provided (i.e. he got KOd by the ninja that actually knows what he's doing). Well, McAlister and his partner come up with some convulted plan that involves the Master clawing to the bottom of a car driven to their hideout, than coming back at night to rescue the girl. Long story short, the buisnessmen and their ninja are bested, and because he's just that bad ass, apparently McAlister teaches the other girl to walk again. What a bunch of tripe.
- Another reason why I don't like Max is that every three minutes or so, he provides these voiceovers that usually have one line and often are a sorry attempt to be humorous and add nothing to the plot, which needs all the help it can get. God, this show makes the A-Team look like The Godfather.
Bottom line, this show was cheesy as a block of cheddar and was quite easy to parody. There were a lot of good riffs in this episode and overall it was quite humourous. Also, the source material, while cheesy, was far from the worst thing to be featured on this show. So, while I would give Master Ninja I a 3.5339 out of 10, overall this episode gets a 6.380259 out of 10. Thanks for reading, and if you have any comments about this post or ideas for future posts, than send them this way either by commenting or by e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Canon Wrestling Review: ECW Hardcore TV, February 27, 1997
The second of two posts about ECW shows in the last 24 hours. Let's see if this show is any good, shall we?
- We start from Cyberslam 1997 with Joey Styles in the ring, who brings out the Pitbulls for an interview. Pitbull #1 (Gary Wolfe) has just recently come back from a broken neck, and wants revenge on the man that broke his neck, Shane Douglas. Wolfe compares Shane Douglas to Shawn Michaels, which apparently is fightin' words in ECW, because the Franchise gets on the mic from a stage in the arena. Douglas curses about 11 times in two minutes, because nobody in wrestling could work in swear words like The Franchise. Really, Taz is the only other wrestler that comes close to working in swears to Douglas. Douglas invites the Pitbulls to take him on up on the stage, and the Pitbulls follow, but Douglas's Triple Threat members Chris Candido and Brian Lee are lying in wait, and the three take out the Pitbulls. Lee chokeslams Pitbull 2 through a table, and the Triple Threat stand proud over their fallen foes.
- Up next is a Tables and Ladders Tag Team Match from Cyberslam 1997 with the Eliminators (John Kronus and Perry Saturn) defending their ECW Tag Team titles against the team of Sabu and Rob Van Dam.We get a handshake between Van Dam and the Eliminators at the beginning of the match, while Sabu does his trademark point to the sky pose. The match starts with Van Dam and Saturn trading holds, the two then start to trade punches. Van Dam with a standing dropkick gets two, Kronus and Sabu are tagged in, and since both of these men are a little crazy, Styles expects wackiness between the two. Instead the two trade some holds and Kronus eventually gets the advantage with a uranage suplex. That gets two. Sabu puts Kronus in a camel clutch, but Saturn dives off the top with a clothesline to break the hold. Saturn tags in, but Sabu regains the advantage with some punches. Sabu tags in RVD, puts Saturn in a camel clutch and holds him while Van Dam dropkicks him in the face, nearly breaking Saturn's nose in the process. That gets two. Both men are up, and Van Dam and Saturn attempt hammerlocks before Saturn gets the advantage and crotches Van Dam on the top rope. Saturn with a springboard clothesline to the outside and RVD is down. Saturn gets a ladder, but Van Dam is up. While the two fight for the ladder, Sabu dropkicks the ladder into both men, and the fight is now ON! Both teams brawl on the outside for a couple of minutes, Sabu gets whipped into a wall at one point. Now everyone is back in, and Sabu throws a chair at Saturn. Triple Jump Moonsault by Sabu gets two. Van Dam with a moonsault off the second rung of the ladder gets two. Sabu and RVD place Saturn on the ladder and sets up for Rolling Thunder. It connects, but Kronus breaks up the pin. Van Dam gets kicked in the face by Saturn, and gets the ladder thrown into him. Saturn sets the ladder in a corner, whips RVD in, than tags Kronus, who does a double springboard elbow. Sabu breaks up the count, while Saturn returns with another ladder. Saturn just throws the ladder straight into the side of RVD's head. That probably hurt. Saturn sets up the ladder in the corner, whips RVD in, but Van Dam reverses and Saturn goes down after hitting the ladder. RVD has Saturn in a Surfboard, and Sabu dives off the top and clips Saturn in the chest, barely connecting. Sabu uses a ladder to hit the Arabian Face Buster on Saturn, but Kronus breaks up the count. Sabu is tagged in, the two try to double clothesline Saturn, but Saturn delivers clothesline to both men. Saturn is still down, so Sabu gets up and slingshots himself from the apron to do a flipping leg drop. That gets two. Kronus is tagged, and the Eliminators tag Sabu with double superkicks. Kronus with a bodyslam and a twisting senton on Sabu, but RVD breaks up the fall with a dropkick to Kronus. Falcon arrow by Saturn on Sabu, but Sabu kicks out. Somehow Saturn and Sabu end up in the crowd, while Kronus gets whipped into the corner, where a ladder has been set up. RVD runs into Kronus but gets dumped over the top rope, while Sabu dives onto Saturn. These guys look tired. On the other side, Van Dam does a moonsault off the guardrail onto a standing Kronus. Back in the ring, Saturn hits a Frankensteiner on Sabu. That gets a two count. Van Dam and Kronus come back in, and Van Dam gets body slammed. The Eliminators set up a six foot ladder, and Saturn dives off the top onto Van Dam. It would have been more impressive if Saturn did that off the top turnbuckle, but oh well. Sabu dropkicks the ladder into Saturn, drags Kronus outside of the ring and sets him up on a table. He then slingshot leg drops Kronus through the table. Van Dam takes forever to set up the next spot. He puts a ladder in the corner draped over two ropes, sets Saturn on it, ducks under the ladder to get on the top turnbuckle and attempts a split-legged moonsault onto Saturn. He ends up overshooting his target and nearly land head-first onto Saturn. Nice try, but that would be nearly impossible to hit perfectly. Sabu and Van Dam with slingshot kicks onto Saturn, Kronus breaks up the cover with his fist. Saturn eats another slingshot kick from Sabu, than Van Dam sets him up in the corner, and the two do the "Whisper in the Wind" move that the Hardys lifted from their repertoire. Van Dam tries to catch Saturn with a kick, but nearly hits Sabu instead. The two stare at each other, which allows Saturn to dropkick RVD into Sabu. The Eliminators hit two sloppy looking Total Eliminations on RVD and get the victory. Post match, the Eliminators shake hands with Sabu, but RVD refuses, and he and Sabu have words. I see what they were trying to do with this match, but somewhere in the middle it kind of fell apart and became a spotfest, and not a very good one at that. I'll give it a 1.7 out of 5.
- Taz comes out with Bill Alfonso and some jokers wearing "Team Taz" merchandise. He's here to wrestle Tracey Smothers in another match from Cyberslam. This is Smothers' first match at the ECW Arena, and he gets a mixed reaction. Taz starts the match by slapping Smothers straight in the face. This causes Smothers to get angry and the two start trading blows on the ground. Front headlock Taz plex from Taz gets a two count. Smothers is able to keep Taz off balance with a series of punches and kicks, and uses a sunset flip and a flying body press to get a pair of two counts. Jawjacker elbow (hey, that what Styles called it, so I'll go with it) from Smothers gets a two count. Smothers whips Taz in, but Taz ducks a clothesline, goes behind Smothers and hits him with a German Suplex. That spells the beginning of the end for Smothers, as Taz gives Smothers a T-Bone suplex before sinking in the Tazmission, causing Smothers to tap out. Short match that showcased Taz and gave Smothers some credibility. I'll give it a 2.3 out of 5.
- Chris Candido does an interview saying he could be a hardcore legend just like Terry Funk. Candido does a good Terry Funk impression, I must say. Raven and Brian Lee come out to the ring. The Eagles' "Desperado" plays and Terry Funk and Tommy Dreamer come out to the ring for a big time tag team match. The stipulation is that if Terry Funk pins Raven, than he gets a shot at Raven's ECW Title at Barely Legal, ECW's first pay-per-view coming up about two months after this. The introductions are given in the match starts, but Raven grabs a microphone. He says to Tommy that Dreamer hasn't pinned him in two years, but tonight Raven will let Tommy pin him, if he wants to cost his mentor Funk a shot at the World Title. Raven says Tommy doesn't have the stones to do it, which sends Tommy into a rage, punching a prone Raven. Back up, Dreamer hits a powerslam on Raven and covers him, but quickly gets up because he can't cost Funk his title shot, even though he's become obsessed with beating Raven. Tommy's dilemma will continue next time, because that's all the time for this week.
Well, this show featured a rather lengthy title match and Taz doing his thing, so it wasn't all bad. But I liked the show I watched earlier a little better than this. I'll give it a 6 out of 10. Thanks for reading, and if you have any thoughts about this post or about ECW in general, or ideas for future posts, than share them by leaving a comment on the blog, or send me an e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com.
- We start from Cyberslam 1997 with Joey Styles in the ring, who brings out the Pitbulls for an interview. Pitbull #1 (Gary Wolfe) has just recently come back from a broken neck, and wants revenge on the man that broke his neck, Shane Douglas. Wolfe compares Shane Douglas to Shawn Michaels, which apparently is fightin' words in ECW, because the Franchise gets on the mic from a stage in the arena. Douglas curses about 11 times in two minutes, because nobody in wrestling could work in swear words like The Franchise. Really, Taz is the only other wrestler that comes close to working in swears to Douglas. Douglas invites the Pitbulls to take him on up on the stage, and the Pitbulls follow, but Douglas's Triple Threat members Chris Candido and Brian Lee are lying in wait, and the three take out the Pitbulls. Lee chokeslams Pitbull 2 through a table, and the Triple Threat stand proud over their fallen foes.
- Up next is a Tables and Ladders Tag Team Match from Cyberslam 1997 with the Eliminators (John Kronus and Perry Saturn) defending their ECW Tag Team titles against the team of Sabu and Rob Van Dam.We get a handshake between Van Dam and the Eliminators at the beginning of the match, while Sabu does his trademark point to the sky pose. The match starts with Van Dam and Saturn trading holds, the two then start to trade punches. Van Dam with a standing dropkick gets two, Kronus and Sabu are tagged in, and since both of these men are a little crazy, Styles expects wackiness between the two. Instead the two trade some holds and Kronus eventually gets the advantage with a uranage suplex. That gets two. Sabu puts Kronus in a camel clutch, but Saturn dives off the top with a clothesline to break the hold. Saturn tags in, but Sabu regains the advantage with some punches. Sabu tags in RVD, puts Saturn in a camel clutch and holds him while Van Dam dropkicks him in the face, nearly breaking Saturn's nose in the process. That gets two. Both men are up, and Van Dam and Saturn attempt hammerlocks before Saturn gets the advantage and crotches Van Dam on the top rope. Saturn with a springboard clothesline to the outside and RVD is down. Saturn gets a ladder, but Van Dam is up. While the two fight for the ladder, Sabu dropkicks the ladder into both men, and the fight is now ON! Both teams brawl on the outside for a couple of minutes, Sabu gets whipped into a wall at one point. Now everyone is back in, and Sabu throws a chair at Saturn. Triple Jump Moonsault by Sabu gets two. Van Dam with a moonsault off the second rung of the ladder gets two. Sabu and RVD place Saturn on the ladder and sets up for Rolling Thunder. It connects, but Kronus breaks up the pin. Van Dam gets kicked in the face by Saturn, and gets the ladder thrown into him. Saturn sets the ladder in a corner, whips RVD in, than tags Kronus, who does a double springboard elbow. Sabu breaks up the count, while Saturn returns with another ladder. Saturn just throws the ladder straight into the side of RVD's head. That probably hurt. Saturn sets up the ladder in the corner, whips RVD in, but Van Dam reverses and Saturn goes down after hitting the ladder. RVD has Saturn in a Surfboard, and Sabu dives off the top and clips Saturn in the chest, barely connecting. Sabu uses a ladder to hit the Arabian Face Buster on Saturn, but Kronus breaks up the count. Sabu is tagged in, the two try to double clothesline Saturn, but Saturn delivers clothesline to both men. Saturn is still down, so Sabu gets up and slingshots himself from the apron to do a flipping leg drop. That gets two. Kronus is tagged, and the Eliminators tag Sabu with double superkicks. Kronus with a bodyslam and a twisting senton on Sabu, but RVD breaks up the fall with a dropkick to Kronus. Falcon arrow by Saturn on Sabu, but Sabu kicks out. Somehow Saturn and Sabu end up in the crowd, while Kronus gets whipped into the corner, where a ladder has been set up. RVD runs into Kronus but gets dumped over the top rope, while Sabu dives onto Saturn. These guys look tired. On the other side, Van Dam does a moonsault off the guardrail onto a standing Kronus. Back in the ring, Saturn hits a Frankensteiner on Sabu. That gets a two count. Van Dam and Kronus come back in, and Van Dam gets body slammed. The Eliminators set up a six foot ladder, and Saturn dives off the top onto Van Dam. It would have been more impressive if Saturn did that off the top turnbuckle, but oh well. Sabu dropkicks the ladder into Saturn, drags Kronus outside of the ring and sets him up on a table. He then slingshot leg drops Kronus through the table. Van Dam takes forever to set up the next spot. He puts a ladder in the corner draped over two ropes, sets Saturn on it, ducks under the ladder to get on the top turnbuckle and attempts a split-legged moonsault onto Saturn. He ends up overshooting his target and nearly land head-first onto Saturn. Nice try, but that would be nearly impossible to hit perfectly. Sabu and Van Dam with slingshot kicks onto Saturn, Kronus breaks up the cover with his fist. Saturn eats another slingshot kick from Sabu, than Van Dam sets him up in the corner, and the two do the "Whisper in the Wind" move that the Hardys lifted from their repertoire. Van Dam tries to catch Saturn with a kick, but nearly hits Sabu instead. The two stare at each other, which allows Saturn to dropkick RVD into Sabu. The Eliminators hit two sloppy looking Total Eliminations on RVD and get the victory. Post match, the Eliminators shake hands with Sabu, but RVD refuses, and he and Sabu have words. I see what they were trying to do with this match, but somewhere in the middle it kind of fell apart and became a spotfest, and not a very good one at that. I'll give it a 1.7 out of 5.
- Taz comes out with Bill Alfonso and some jokers wearing "Team Taz" merchandise. He's here to wrestle Tracey Smothers in another match from Cyberslam. This is Smothers' first match at the ECW Arena, and he gets a mixed reaction. Taz starts the match by slapping Smothers straight in the face. This causes Smothers to get angry and the two start trading blows on the ground. Front headlock Taz plex from Taz gets a two count. Smothers is able to keep Taz off balance with a series of punches and kicks, and uses a sunset flip and a flying body press to get a pair of two counts. Jawjacker elbow (hey, that what Styles called it, so I'll go with it) from Smothers gets a two count. Smothers whips Taz in, but Taz ducks a clothesline, goes behind Smothers and hits him with a German Suplex. That spells the beginning of the end for Smothers, as Taz gives Smothers a T-Bone suplex before sinking in the Tazmission, causing Smothers to tap out. Short match that showcased Taz and gave Smothers some credibility. I'll give it a 2.3 out of 5.
- Chris Candido does an interview saying he could be a hardcore legend just like Terry Funk. Candido does a good Terry Funk impression, I must say. Raven and Brian Lee come out to the ring. The Eagles' "Desperado" plays and Terry Funk and Tommy Dreamer come out to the ring for a big time tag team match. The stipulation is that if Terry Funk pins Raven, than he gets a shot at Raven's ECW Title at Barely Legal, ECW's first pay-per-view coming up about two months after this. The introductions are given in the match starts, but Raven grabs a microphone. He says to Tommy that Dreamer hasn't pinned him in two years, but tonight Raven will let Tommy pin him, if he wants to cost his mentor Funk a shot at the World Title. Raven says Tommy doesn't have the stones to do it, which sends Tommy into a rage, punching a prone Raven. Back up, Dreamer hits a powerslam on Raven and covers him, but quickly gets up because he can't cost Funk his title shot, even though he's become obsessed with beating Raven. Tommy's dilemma will continue next time, because that's all the time for this week.
Well, this show featured a rather lengthy title match and Taz doing his thing, so it wasn't all bad. But I liked the show I watched earlier a little better than this. I'll give it a 6 out of 10. Thanks for reading, and if you have any thoughts about this post or about ECW in general, or ideas for future posts, than share them by leaving a comment on the blog, or send me an e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Canon Wrestling Review: ECW Hardcore TV, March 26, 1996
Sorry for yesterday's lack of activity, I had a lot to do and the whole day was just bonkers, so by the time I sat down on the computer, I was too exhausted to come up with anything to review. But fear not, as I plan on double dipping today, so you fine people get not just one, but two whole Canon Reviews! Isn't that exciting? What do you mean you don't care? Anyway, this review, as you could probably tell by the title, is an episode of ECW Hardcore TV, the weekly television show that ECW had back in the day. Since all the wrestling I've reviewed seems to be WCW shows, I wanted to switch it up a bit, and what better way to do that than watch some Extreme Championship Wrestling at the peak of their run. So I will, by golly. This episode was originally shown on March 26, 1996.
ECW Hardcore TV: March 26, 1996
We start with clips from a brawl taking place in the crowd between The Bruise Brothers and the unlikely duo of Tommy Dreamer and Shane Douglas. Somebody gets thrown through a door, one of the Bruise Brothers gets hit with half of a table by Dreamer, just another night at the ECW Arena. The ECW Intro plays, and Joey Styles welcomes us to the show. Styles starts by talking about Cactus Jack, who recently had wrestled his last match in ECW at the Big Ass Extreme Bash (great name, by the way) against Mikey Whipwreck.
Highlights of the Jack-Whipwreck match are shown. We start with Mikey hitting a Russian leg sweep on Jack on a chair. Mikey tries for a victory roll near the ropes, but Cactus dumps Mikey off his shoulders onto the timekeeper's table outside the ring. The table doesn't break, so Mikey just bounces off the table in what had to be a painful bump. Jack sets the table up against the ring post, and gives Mikey a back suplex onto the table, which once again does not break. That table's as tough as a two dollar steak. Inside the ring again, and Whipwreck has a chair. He hits Cactus as hard as possible in the head with the chair twice. Despite those hellacious chairshots, Cactus kicks out at two. We get some brawling out in the crowd, and Whipwreck snap suplexes Cactus on a stage. Mikey climbs up to a higher stage of the arena, and dives some eight to ten feet onto Cactus. Back inside, Whipwreck tries an aerial attack, but eats a Cactus Jack forearm on the way down. Cactus has a chair, and pounds a downed Mikey in the back three times with it. Cactus picks Mikey up, and piledrives him on a chair. OUCH! That gets three, and Cactus wins his last ECW match. Post-match, Cactus crawls after Mikey, who tries to scurry away like a scared child. But Cactus catches Whipwreck, picks him up on his feet, and raises Mikey's hand in a show of respect. As the song "New York, New York" plays (because Cactus is going to the WWF, which is based in New York). Cactus calls out the two men that "without them, there wouldn't be an ECW" One's a creative genius, while the other is a visionary. That's right, it's none other than . . . Stevie Richards and the Blue Meanie? The three then do one of the worst Rockettes dance routine in the history of mankind, and then embrace in the ring. Now that's an exit, there, a million, billion stars. Cactus Jack then went to the WWF, where he did okay for himself, all in all. I'll give this whole segment a 4.8 out of 5, good stuff here.
- It's time to sell some merchandise. Brian Pillman plugs his 1-900 hotline. Did anybody actually call his hotline? If so, let me know. Hey, you can buy a Sabu T-Shirt for the first time for 20 dollars, or an EC F'N W shirt. In between all of these ads, a highlight video of Cactus Jack is shown. The video ends with a screen that says "Cactus Jack, 1985-1996, Bang Bang, He's Dead". Jack would come back to life a year later, albiet in the WWF, but still. After all that, Joey introduces us to the next match, which also took place at the Big Ass Extreme Bash between the "last survivor of the Hart Dungeon" Chris Jericho and the "One-Man Crime Spree" Taz.
- Jericho comes out to "Electric Head part 2" by White Zombie, while Taz comes out to Kiss's "War Machine" with his manager, Bill Alfonso, who blows his whistle every three seconds. As you can imagine, that gets annoying quickly. The match starts, the two tie up, and Taz counters with a Fujiwara armbar. Jericho reaches the ropes, and the two tie up again, Jericho gets a top wrist-lock, but Taz bridges out. Taz tries a German suplex, but Jericho goes behind and hits a German of his own. That gets two. Taz goes to the outside, he climbs back on the apron, but Jericho hits a springboard dropkick from the turnbuckle, sending Taz back to the outside. Jericho runs to the turnbuckle and dives on Taz on the outside of the ring. Back in, Jericho does the Superfly splash and a Lionsault, but both moves only get two. Taz whips Jericho into the corner, goes for the German suplex again, but Jericho turns around, only to take a Northern Lights suplex. That gets two. Both men get up, and Jericho superkicks Taz. Jericho climbs to the top, but Taz catches him and sets him up for a super back suplex, but Jericho flips out of it and clotheslines Taz. Jericho whips Taz into the corner, but Taz bounces off and catches a running Jericho to deliver a T-Bone Taz plex. Jericho landed on his head after that move, and the referee calls for the bell. But Jericho gets up and demands a restart. He knocks Taz down, but after missing a punch, Taz German suplexes Jericho on the back of his head. That looked like it hurt. Taz locks in the Tazmission and Jericho has no choice to give up. Taz keeps the hold on, despite the best efforts of Little Guido and the Eliminators to break it up, but Brian Pillman, who Styles claimed helped train Jericho (never mind the fact that the two men hadn't met until 1996) comes in the ring and jumps around like a crazy man, causing Taz to let go and stare down Pillman. Taz then Germans Little Guido just because he can, and Pillman leaves, only to clothesline an oncoming El Puerto Ricano and back suplex him on the floor. That brings out Shane Douglas, who tries to get to Pillman but Pillman escapes through the crowd. Douglas and others check on Jericho while Taz leaves the ring. The match was pretty good, so I'll give it a 3.2 out of 5.
- The main event of the show is next, as Raven defends his ECW World Championship against Shane Douglas. Raven comes out on crutches and with his flunkies Stevie Richards and Blue Meanie. A video is shown highlighting the relationship between Douglas, Tommy Dreamer, and the Sandman, three rivals that have come together due to a common hatred of Raven. Douglas comes out, but before the match starts Richards gets the mic. He tells Raven not to wrestle because Raven has gout. Ok then. Raven says there will be no match tonight, but Douglas takes umbrage and hits Raven with the microphone. Richards with a Stevie kick, and both men are down at the start of the match. Raven hits his patented Evenflow DDT, but only gets two. To the outside, Raven throws Douglas agianst two guardrails and gives Douglas another Evenflow DDT, this time on a chair. Raven gets in the ring and tells the ref to count Douglas out. Douglas gets to the apron at eight, only to eat a kneelift by Raven. Douglas gets back up, only to receive a running punch from Raven. This time Douglas doesn't get back on the apron until the count of nine. Raven tries to suplex Douglas in, but Douglas counters and drapes Raven over the turnbuckle. Douglas knees Raven in the head and Raven flies to the outside. Douglas with a suicide dive on Raven's lackeys, and then turns his attention to Raven. Back in, Douglas with a chairshot on Raven, and a DDT on the chair for Raven. Raven's valet Kimona Wanalaya breaks up the count, but gets spanked for her efforts. Raven with a low blow and Douglas is down. Raven whips Douglas into the corner and charges after him with a chair, but Shane pulls the ref into his path. Raven knocks the ref down. Douglas hits Raven with his own crutch, and delivers belly-to-belly suplexes to Richards, Meanie, and Raven. But the ref is down. The Bruise Brothers come out and deliver a double big boot to Douglas. Raven with the cover, but it only gets two. Raven charges with a chair, but Douglas kicks it into Raven's face. Hotshot onto Raven gets a two count. Douglas sets up the chair, and atomic drops Raven onto it. A clothesline knocks Raven out of the chair, and gets a two count. Douglas tries to throw Raven head first into a chair in the corner, but Raven counters and throws Douglas into it. Evenflow on a chair by Raven, and that gets the three count. Post match, the Bruise Brothers come out and try to post Douglas crotch first, but Dreamer makes the save. Dreamer gets overwhelmed by the Bruise Brothers and Raven, but here comes The Sandman, with Singapore cane shots for both the Bruise Brothers, Raven, Stevie, and Meanie. Dreamer DDT's Raven, puts a chair on Raven's foot, and tries to take out Raven's gout ridden leg, but the Sandman stops him, indicating he wants to do it. While the two are arguing, Douglas dives off the top rope onto Raven's leg. Raven leaves while Douglas, Dreamer, and Sandman have a standoff. Match was a bit of a mess, but it was ok. I'll give it a 2.6 out of 5.
Well, that was fun. This show was a lot of fun to watch and showed what ECW was all about, a hard-hitting wrestling show with great characters such as Raven and Cactus Jack and interesting storylines. Overall, I'll give this episode a 7.4 out of 10. Thanks for reading, and if you have any thoughts about this post, or ideas for future posts, than let us know about them either by leaving a comment on the blog or by sending an e-mail to KtheC2001@gmail.com.
ECW Hardcore TV: March 26, 1996
We start with clips from a brawl taking place in the crowd between The Bruise Brothers and the unlikely duo of Tommy Dreamer and Shane Douglas. Somebody gets thrown through a door, one of the Bruise Brothers gets hit with half of a table by Dreamer, just another night at the ECW Arena. The ECW Intro plays, and Joey Styles welcomes us to the show. Styles starts by talking about Cactus Jack, who recently had wrestled his last match in ECW at the Big Ass Extreme Bash (great name, by the way) against Mikey Whipwreck.
Highlights of the Jack-Whipwreck match are shown. We start with Mikey hitting a Russian leg sweep on Jack on a chair. Mikey tries for a victory roll near the ropes, but Cactus dumps Mikey off his shoulders onto the timekeeper's table outside the ring. The table doesn't break, so Mikey just bounces off the table in what had to be a painful bump. Jack sets the table up against the ring post, and gives Mikey a back suplex onto the table, which once again does not break. That table's as tough as a two dollar steak. Inside the ring again, and Whipwreck has a chair. He hits Cactus as hard as possible in the head with the chair twice. Despite those hellacious chairshots, Cactus kicks out at two. We get some brawling out in the crowd, and Whipwreck snap suplexes Cactus on a stage. Mikey climbs up to a higher stage of the arena, and dives some eight to ten feet onto Cactus. Back inside, Whipwreck tries an aerial attack, but eats a Cactus Jack forearm on the way down. Cactus has a chair, and pounds a downed Mikey in the back three times with it. Cactus picks Mikey up, and piledrives him on a chair. OUCH! That gets three, and Cactus wins his last ECW match. Post-match, Cactus crawls after Mikey, who tries to scurry away like a scared child. But Cactus catches Whipwreck, picks him up on his feet, and raises Mikey's hand in a show of respect. As the song "New York, New York" plays (because Cactus is going to the WWF, which is based in New York). Cactus calls out the two men that "without them, there wouldn't be an ECW" One's a creative genius, while the other is a visionary. That's right, it's none other than . . . Stevie Richards and the Blue Meanie? The three then do one of the worst Rockettes dance routine in the history of mankind, and then embrace in the ring. Now that's an exit, there, a million, billion stars. Cactus Jack then went to the WWF, where he did okay for himself, all in all. I'll give this whole segment a 4.8 out of 5, good stuff here.
- It's time to sell some merchandise. Brian Pillman plugs his 1-900 hotline. Did anybody actually call his hotline? If so, let me know. Hey, you can buy a Sabu T-Shirt for the first time for 20 dollars, or an EC F'N W shirt. In between all of these ads, a highlight video of Cactus Jack is shown. The video ends with a screen that says "Cactus Jack, 1985-1996, Bang Bang, He's Dead". Jack would come back to life a year later, albiet in the WWF, but still. After all that, Joey introduces us to the next match, which also took place at the Big Ass Extreme Bash between the "last survivor of the Hart Dungeon" Chris Jericho and the "One-Man Crime Spree" Taz.
- Jericho comes out to "Electric Head part 2" by White Zombie, while Taz comes out to Kiss's "War Machine" with his manager, Bill Alfonso, who blows his whistle every three seconds. As you can imagine, that gets annoying quickly. The match starts, the two tie up, and Taz counters with a Fujiwara armbar. Jericho reaches the ropes, and the two tie up again, Jericho gets a top wrist-lock, but Taz bridges out. Taz tries a German suplex, but Jericho goes behind and hits a German of his own. That gets two. Taz goes to the outside, he climbs back on the apron, but Jericho hits a springboard dropkick from the turnbuckle, sending Taz back to the outside. Jericho runs to the turnbuckle and dives on Taz on the outside of the ring. Back in, Jericho does the Superfly splash and a Lionsault, but both moves only get two. Taz whips Jericho into the corner, goes for the German suplex again, but Jericho turns around, only to take a Northern Lights suplex. That gets two. Both men get up, and Jericho superkicks Taz. Jericho climbs to the top, but Taz catches him and sets him up for a super back suplex, but Jericho flips out of it and clotheslines Taz. Jericho whips Taz into the corner, but Taz bounces off and catches a running Jericho to deliver a T-Bone Taz plex. Jericho landed on his head after that move, and the referee calls for the bell. But Jericho gets up and demands a restart. He knocks Taz down, but after missing a punch, Taz German suplexes Jericho on the back of his head. That looked like it hurt. Taz locks in the Tazmission and Jericho has no choice to give up. Taz keeps the hold on, despite the best efforts of Little Guido and the Eliminators to break it up, but Brian Pillman, who Styles claimed helped train Jericho (never mind the fact that the two men hadn't met until 1996) comes in the ring and jumps around like a crazy man, causing Taz to let go and stare down Pillman. Taz then Germans Little Guido just because he can, and Pillman leaves, only to clothesline an oncoming El Puerto Ricano and back suplex him on the floor. That brings out Shane Douglas, who tries to get to Pillman but Pillman escapes through the crowd. Douglas and others check on Jericho while Taz leaves the ring. The match was pretty good, so I'll give it a 3.2 out of 5.
- The main event of the show is next, as Raven defends his ECW World Championship against Shane Douglas. Raven comes out on crutches and with his flunkies Stevie Richards and Blue Meanie. A video is shown highlighting the relationship between Douglas, Tommy Dreamer, and the Sandman, three rivals that have come together due to a common hatred of Raven. Douglas comes out, but before the match starts Richards gets the mic. He tells Raven not to wrestle because Raven has gout. Ok then. Raven says there will be no match tonight, but Douglas takes umbrage and hits Raven with the microphone. Richards with a Stevie kick, and both men are down at the start of the match. Raven hits his patented Evenflow DDT, but only gets two. To the outside, Raven throws Douglas agianst two guardrails and gives Douglas another Evenflow DDT, this time on a chair. Raven gets in the ring and tells the ref to count Douglas out. Douglas gets to the apron at eight, only to eat a kneelift by Raven. Douglas gets back up, only to receive a running punch from Raven. This time Douglas doesn't get back on the apron until the count of nine. Raven tries to suplex Douglas in, but Douglas counters and drapes Raven over the turnbuckle. Douglas knees Raven in the head and Raven flies to the outside. Douglas with a suicide dive on Raven's lackeys, and then turns his attention to Raven. Back in, Douglas with a chairshot on Raven, and a DDT on the chair for Raven. Raven's valet Kimona Wanalaya breaks up the count, but gets spanked for her efforts. Raven with a low blow and Douglas is down. Raven whips Douglas into the corner and charges after him with a chair, but Shane pulls the ref into his path. Raven knocks the ref down. Douglas hits Raven with his own crutch, and delivers belly-to-belly suplexes to Richards, Meanie, and Raven. But the ref is down. The Bruise Brothers come out and deliver a double big boot to Douglas. Raven with the cover, but it only gets two. Raven charges with a chair, but Douglas kicks it into Raven's face. Hotshot onto Raven gets a two count. Douglas sets up the chair, and atomic drops Raven onto it. A clothesline knocks Raven out of the chair, and gets a two count. Douglas tries to throw Raven head first into a chair in the corner, but Raven counters and throws Douglas into it. Evenflow on a chair by Raven, and that gets the three count. Post match, the Bruise Brothers come out and try to post Douglas crotch first, but Dreamer makes the save. Dreamer gets overwhelmed by the Bruise Brothers and Raven, but here comes The Sandman, with Singapore cane shots for both the Bruise Brothers, Raven, Stevie, and Meanie. Dreamer DDT's Raven, puts a chair on Raven's foot, and tries to take out Raven's gout ridden leg, but the Sandman stops him, indicating he wants to do it. While the two are arguing, Douglas dives off the top rope onto Raven's leg. Raven leaves while Douglas, Dreamer, and Sandman have a standoff. Match was a bit of a mess, but it was ok. I'll give it a 2.6 out of 5.
Well, that was fun. This show was a lot of fun to watch and showed what ECW was all about, a hard-hitting wrestling show with great characters such as Raven and Cactus Jack and interesting storylines. Overall, I'll give this episode a 7.4 out of 10. Thanks for reading, and if you have any thoughts about this post, or ideas for future posts, than let us know about them either by leaving a comment on the blog or by sending an e-mail to KtheC2001@gmail.com.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Canon Movie Review: Gentleman's Choice
I recently, and by recently I mean ten minutes ago, got the chance to watch the documentary Gentleman's Choice. Gentleman's Choice is about the life and death of wrestler "Gentleman" Chris Adams. At his peak, Adams was one of the top stars for World Class Championship Wrestling, wrestling in front of over 40,000 people and feuding with Texas' biggest wrestling starts, the Von Erich Brothers. Adams started out as a judo master, even competing in the 1976 Olympic Games. From there, Adams moved on to pro wrestling, where he had great success in both his native Great Britian and in the United States. Adams was the one that made the superkick popular in pro wrestling, and held many titles in World Class and other territories during the 1980s. However, Adams' life would eventually crumble, and most of this documentary deals with just how low Adams got, up until his death in 2001. A few notes about the film:
- The film was produced by Mickey Grant. Grant's no longer in the wrestling buisness, but he was the main producer for World Class Championship Wrestling in the 1980s, back when the company had the hottest television show in the industry. A large part of that has been credited to the production skills of Mr. Grant. Because of his experience in wrestling, Grant was able to not only use clips of Adams in WCCW, but also scored interviews with such WCCW mainstays as Gary Hart, Killer Brooks, Bill Mercer, and Kevin Von Erich.
- This film is somewhat raw in that some of the interviews take place in strange locales. One guy was interviewed at a Dairy Queen, Adams's friend, an ex-stripper named Laurie Wright, was interviewed in a loud bar during operating hours. My favorite interview locale was with Kevin Von Erich, who did his interviews from what looked like his hot tub. Von Erich wore a mic on a towel and draped it across his shoulders, sitting in the water with a mic wired to him. To his credit, Von Erich was rather informative and seemed clear-headed, but I found it odd that he did his interview chilling in his hot tub.
- The film isn't a wrestling film, per se. Sure, it deals with a wrestler, but it seems to be more of a tale of how his life fell apart and how drugs and other forces brought Chris Adams down. The film does show clips of Adams wrestling, and shows a little about Adams' wrestling school, which produced Steve Austin, but other than that, it's mainly more of a cautionary tale than it is wrestling documentary.
- Adams actually was an architect working for the government before he started his pro wrestling career. As his parents told it, Chris just came by one day and told them he'd be wrestling, so be sure to turn on the television. Things sure would have been different if Adams had stuck to architecture.
- Some of the people in Adams' life weren't the type of people you would want to hang out with, to put it nicely. Adams seemed to have a lot of hangers on who were just using him due to his celebrity. One of which was a guy that called himself John "Raven" Wyner, who was accused by another interview subject of supplying Adams with drugs. A couple of the interview subjects seemed to be on something while being interviewed, such as Laurie, who was speaking a mile a minute most of the time and was acting very jumpy the whole time she was on camera.
- Although everyone talks about how nice of a person Adams was and how he was this and that, Chris Adams had some serious problems. On more than one occasion he was arrested due to his explosive temper, including an incident where he choked a co-captain on a plane in 1986. Adams became an alcoholic and addicted to the drug GHB, which according to the expert Grant interviewed, can really mess you up. It's likely that on the night he died, Adams was high on GHB.
- Adams' life quickly fell apart in 2000, after his girlfriend at the time (Linda Kaphengst) overdosed on GHB and eventually died due to the overdose. A woman named Miss Lacy, whom Adams had fired from his promotion due to a big mess that involved the movie "Beyond the Mat", took it upon herself to try and get the police involved in the investigation. When Adams threatened another woman to do to her what he "did to Linda", the woman called Lacy, who informed the police. Eventually, Adams was charged with one count of manslaughter, and was awaiting trail for that charge at the time of his death. Things got so heated that according to one source, Adams tried to hire a hitman to kill Lacy.
- One of the more interesting things about the film is that they interview Brent "Booray" Parnell, the man that actually killed Chris Adams. According to Parnell, the two were watching a movie in Parnell's room when Adams just went beserek. Things escalated, and according to Parnell's testimony, it seemed as if Adams was trying to choke him to death. Finally, Parnell grabbed a pistol and after unsuccessfully trying to get Adams off of him by hitting him with the butt of the gun, he fired the pistol, killing Adams. Parnell actually gave a rough reenactment of what happened on that fateful night, although he seemed so blasted during his interviews that it kind of hurts his credibility. Nevertheless, it's a sad ending for a man that once wrestled in front of such large crowds and stayed in the finest hotels, that he died in a one-story house of a friend who lived with his mother at the time.
This is not a happy story by any stretch of the imagination. A man who once was at the top of his profession, making all sorts of money, lost it all and died tragically, leaving behind three kids and a boatload of questions. Grant does a skillful job of telling this tragic tale, crafting hours and hours of interview footage into a story that really makes you think. It's not pretty, and you will come away with some questions at the end, but overall it's a film worth seeing. I'll give it a 7.19 out of 10.
Well, thanks for reading, and if you have any thoughts on this post, or any ideas for future posts, than share them either by leaving a comment or by e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com.
- The film was produced by Mickey Grant. Grant's no longer in the wrestling buisness, but he was the main producer for World Class Championship Wrestling in the 1980s, back when the company had the hottest television show in the industry. A large part of that has been credited to the production skills of Mr. Grant. Because of his experience in wrestling, Grant was able to not only use clips of Adams in WCCW, but also scored interviews with such WCCW mainstays as Gary Hart, Killer Brooks, Bill Mercer, and Kevin Von Erich.
- This film is somewhat raw in that some of the interviews take place in strange locales. One guy was interviewed at a Dairy Queen, Adams's friend, an ex-stripper named Laurie Wright, was interviewed in a loud bar during operating hours. My favorite interview locale was with Kevin Von Erich, who did his interviews from what looked like his hot tub. Von Erich wore a mic on a towel and draped it across his shoulders, sitting in the water with a mic wired to him. To his credit, Von Erich was rather informative and seemed clear-headed, but I found it odd that he did his interview chilling in his hot tub.
- The film isn't a wrestling film, per se. Sure, it deals with a wrestler, but it seems to be more of a tale of how his life fell apart and how drugs and other forces brought Chris Adams down. The film does show clips of Adams wrestling, and shows a little about Adams' wrestling school, which produced Steve Austin, but other than that, it's mainly more of a cautionary tale than it is wrestling documentary.
- Adams actually was an architect working for the government before he started his pro wrestling career. As his parents told it, Chris just came by one day and told them he'd be wrestling, so be sure to turn on the television. Things sure would have been different if Adams had stuck to architecture.
- Some of the people in Adams' life weren't the type of people you would want to hang out with, to put it nicely. Adams seemed to have a lot of hangers on who were just using him due to his celebrity. One of which was a guy that called himself John "Raven" Wyner, who was accused by another interview subject of supplying Adams with drugs. A couple of the interview subjects seemed to be on something while being interviewed, such as Laurie, who was speaking a mile a minute most of the time and was acting very jumpy the whole time she was on camera.
- Although everyone talks about how nice of a person Adams was and how he was this and that, Chris Adams had some serious problems. On more than one occasion he was arrested due to his explosive temper, including an incident where he choked a co-captain on a plane in 1986. Adams became an alcoholic and addicted to the drug GHB, which according to the expert Grant interviewed, can really mess you up. It's likely that on the night he died, Adams was high on GHB.
- Adams' life quickly fell apart in 2000, after his girlfriend at the time (Linda Kaphengst) overdosed on GHB and eventually died due to the overdose. A woman named Miss Lacy, whom Adams had fired from his promotion due to a big mess that involved the movie "Beyond the Mat", took it upon herself to try and get the police involved in the investigation. When Adams threatened another woman to do to her what he "did to Linda", the woman called Lacy, who informed the police. Eventually, Adams was charged with one count of manslaughter, and was awaiting trail for that charge at the time of his death. Things got so heated that according to one source, Adams tried to hire a hitman to kill Lacy.
- One of the more interesting things about the film is that they interview Brent "Booray" Parnell, the man that actually killed Chris Adams. According to Parnell, the two were watching a movie in Parnell's room when Adams just went beserek. Things escalated, and according to Parnell's testimony, it seemed as if Adams was trying to choke him to death. Finally, Parnell grabbed a pistol and after unsuccessfully trying to get Adams off of him by hitting him with the butt of the gun, he fired the pistol, killing Adams. Parnell actually gave a rough reenactment of what happened on that fateful night, although he seemed so blasted during his interviews that it kind of hurts his credibility. Nevertheless, it's a sad ending for a man that once wrestled in front of such large crowds and stayed in the finest hotels, that he died in a one-story house of a friend who lived with his mother at the time.
This is not a happy story by any stretch of the imagination. A man who once was at the top of his profession, making all sorts of money, lost it all and died tragically, leaving behind three kids and a boatload of questions. Grant does a skillful job of telling this tragic tale, crafting hours and hours of interview footage into a story that really makes you think. It's not pretty, and you will come away with some questions at the end, but overall it's a film worth seeing. I'll give it a 7.19 out of 10.
Well, thanks for reading, and if you have any thoughts on this post, or any ideas for future posts, than share them either by leaving a comment or by e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com.
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