Headlocks 4 Breakfast

In the Groove of Things...

2011-10-26T08:46:00.000-07:00

Day 3 back at THQ, and I feel like I never left. Wait, scratch that, I feel a renewed sense of appreciation for what I'm doing. It's clear that I missed this while I was gone, and that I underestimated that. Life is a learning experience, but I learned that if you listen to it with a pure heart, you'll be where you belong. Things I love so far:

- Writing: I really missed this

- Twitter: I'm a force, and although Tank and Cory think they have the upper hand, no one dominates Twitter like the "People's Hammer."

- You guys: You motivate me every single day to represent you in the best way possible. It's a pleasure.

We released our DLC reveal #1 yesterday. Like always, I expected some backlash. You really can't win with these, but I never intend to. Never go into a fight expecting to win, when you already know that you can't. Not saying that this is a fight, though. Although, I'm sure that I'd like to fight that dude who told me to "die" this morning. What a moron. Have some perspective, brah!

Anyway, with the DLC there are a few things to note:

- This isn't all of the DLC that we're putting out, we're revealing more on Thursday

- Our Fan Axxess pass works much like last year's. If you bought last year's, you still have to purchase this year's though. There is no carry over

- The DLC is worked on past our final for the shipped game -- hence why they're DLC. We work with the WWE to get our roster. Our roster is comprised of Superstars/Divas and personalities we want that are current to programming, and Superstars/Divas/Legends and other personalities we want in RTWM. That's how the list is compiled

I hear all sorts of things on my twitter account (shameless @stephensonmc plug), but I can never understand the contradictions in some things that I read. For instance: "I'm not going to buy WWE '12 because of so and so not having the attire I wanted/or being on the roster." Ok...thanks for your feedback, but surely you must understand that your preference isn't going to determine what we do, right? When I say, "stand up and unite" I truly mean that. I want change just as much as you guys, but we can't do it alone. If you truly feel something with all of your heart and soul, impact others and voice your opinions together. Strength in numbers, everyone. Individuals do matter, but the reality is that we make a game for everyone. Anyway, I didn't even get to the second part that is funny about these comments. They usually say "I loved every single thing about the game until I heard that one thing." I don't mind you saying what you feel, but read what you're saying before you say it. How can I not think you're nuts? Ok, "nuts" was a harsh word. I don't think you're nuts, just not thinking clearly when you're speaking to me. Just as you analyze each word that I say, I have to do the same. After all, I'm helping you.

I got the WWE '12 build yesterday, and I'm really enjoying it. The difference really is phenomenal from last year to this year. Even the difference from when I left to now is incredible. I do want to answer all of the detailed questions you guys have, but I'm also trying to figure out an efficient way to do that. I need to have the time to do my daily duties, and answer as many Q's as I can. I hate that the FAQ dropped off after I left, because I fear that there is too much to catch-up on, but I guess that's just as much my fault as anyone's. I'm exploring a few ways (other than Twitter), for you guys to speak directly to me. I'll have more on that later.

For now, I'm just getting into the groove again, and I hope that you can be patient along with me, while I reset myself in this wild and crazy world that I love so much.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, “THE HAMMER” IS IN THE BUILDING.

2011-10-24T12:32:00.000-07:00

NOTE: This is resurfaced from my first blog at our WWEgames website. This will be the only blog that I resurface. The rest of the blogs here will be about me, and making our games better. Personal conversations with all of you.

For starters, damn I missed all of you. It feels like it’s been forever since I’ve been here, but in reality, it’s only been two months. Now, I’ve learned that when you love something as much as I love this, two months can feel like two years, and that’s what happened here. Before the countdown, follow me on Twitter. Why? Because I'm awesome, and can help you. (Twitter: @stephensonmc) Now, begin the countdown...

Last August, I left WWE Games to pursue another opportunity. It was very hard for me, as I left knowing that a piece of me was dying. A big piece. The WWE and games had been engrained in the fabric of my DNA since birth practically, and was mostly responsible for my career. I knew that when I left it would hurt, but I couldn’t have predicted the overwhelming response from you guys. Your reaction to my departure caught me off guard, and I instantly felt guilty for letting all of you guys down. Including those internally who counted on me to be there alongside them. With that said, that’s not the reason why I’m coming back (well, maybe a small part).

For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Marcus Stephenson, and I was a Designer and Community Manager on WWE Games. Most recently, as a Community Manager, I partnered with THQ_Tank to form the most electrifying tag team in this business. We’ll no doubt pickup right where we left off, but to keep this in line with WWE ’12, we’re taking things over the top (one of my favorite movies, by the way), and making it all BIGGER, BADDER, and BETTER (sorry for the cheese)!

What does this mean, though? More than ever, your feedback will be directly impacting the development of future WWE Games. I’ll personally be assisting the design team with development going forward, and that can only mean good things for all of you. There’s no doubt that the design team listens to what you’re saying before making decisions on the games, but we want to take that to another level. We believe that WWE ’12 is a reflection of what you guys want. That can only get better. Know that when you’re talking to me, you’re talking to a Community Manager who is engrained in the design. That’s the way we’re doing things here at THQ. Community matters here, and I don’t mean to butter all of you up, but think of my return as a prime example of what THQ_Tank, Cory, and the rest of the staff here think about all of you. We have the most passionate fans in the world, and we’re using that asset to our advantage.

Now, it’s time to do your part. I’m not saying that you haven’t been already, but like I said, we want to do things “BBB” going forward. You know where we are: @stephensonmc, @THQ_Tank, @RealCoryLedesma. If you have feedback, we want to hear it. Sure, we’ll be on our official forums regularly (CLICK HERE FOR OUR OFFICIAL FORUMS), but if you want answers quickly, our Twitter accounts are up throughout the day, so hit us up there!

Thanks for the warm welcome, everyone. I know I made the right choice in coming back. Cory, thanks for bugging me on Twitter about the WNBA. Tank, we need to come up with a finisher for some of these fools who get out of line.

It’s clobberin’ time!

- Marcus “The Hammer” Stephenson (@stephensonmc)

History Repeating Itself...

2011-06-24T05:59:00.001-07:00

I honestly wondered if I would ever use this again, but sure enough, here we are..

I can't say that I'm too happy about having to post a blog, but I guess some of the blind hatred has forced "baby" out of her "corner" to drop some knowledge. So far, the reaction to WWE '12 has been astounding! We couldn't have hoped for anything better, and the development team truly deserves some awesome credit this year. Another audience deserves credit as well, YOU. Well, not all of you, but a good amount who truly took what we had to say last year to heart, and committed to helping us make the best possible game we could. Without your feedback, we wouldn't be where we are now, that's for sure.

On with the show...

6 Diva Matches

Cory said in his Q&A that this isn't possible due to polygonal count. This isn't an excuse, and is true. If you don't believe, then ask yourself these questions:

1.) We know there are hacks out there (you're not hard to find), why would Cory say what he said knowing that you guys can do what you want via hacks? Did you ever stop to think that Cory knows about actually making the games? I picked that question out for the sole purpose of getting Cory's response for you guys.

2.)This was absolutely a controlled Q&A based on what we can say at this point (PR timelines -- I'll come to that later). Why would Cory have even answered it if it wasn't true? The answer, because it was the truth. And you know this, man!

3.)Let us prove it to you -- we have a plan, let us show it to you!

Bottom line, when we can prioritize the proper work involved to make things happen, we will. Not this year, though... Here's why.

GAMEPLAY, GAMEPLAY, GAMEPLAY

In case you haven't heard, gameplay was the big focus for us this year -- and it should have been. We've heard from you guys for the longest time that our gameplay needs addressed. We're finally doing that this year with our "Predator Technology." Nice guess, guys, "Predator" obviously has a tie-in with Randy Orton, but here's what the tech actually is as we would describe it internally:

- Our SvR gameplay tech caused the "picturebook" effect, meaning that each animation had missing frames in it, creating a flip picture book look. As the game got older, you'd notice this more. This is where the term "herky-jerky" came from (made famous from NFL 2K). What our new tech allows us to do, is fill those missing frames in with an animation, creating blending from one animation to the next. It makes for a much smoother experience.

- Physics now come in to play via our gameplay tech upgrade. Now, if you walk by another person and glance their shoulder, they'll move accordingly. This means that your opponent is an actual in-ring object that has true interaction.

The gameplay tech upgrade was a massive undertaking. Most of our time was spent taking our old data, and hooking it in with this new upgrade. Have you played NBA 2K? Have you noticed some of the same looking animations in their game since the earlier days? Yep -- but they look a whole lot better now. That's our reality.

You're right, this is an upgrade and not a new engine. We never said it would be, and we made the right choice to do it this way. Why didn't we do a completely new engine? Here's why:

- We make a game every year, and this gives us the opportunity to replace the "house" brick by brick vs a demolish and redo effort. If that's the case, you'd have Madden 06 / FIFA 06, instead, this allows us to be more like a NBA 2K -- any questions?

- A new gameplay tech upgrade does not mean that it will "LOOK" visually different than what you've seen before. When we say you have to play it and see side by side comparisons, we mean it. We're still the WWE sim game, so we have to keep up a certain visual degree to stay real to true WWE programming. The visual improvements come in with the slight texture and modeling upgrades (note: not gameplay related), and our physics and blending that is made possible by the "Predator tech."

- If we wanted a new engine, our current team size would not make that a possibility at the moment. We're making a game every year, and we don't have the resources to try to build new engines and prove them out while doing what we're doing now. Money doesn't come out of thin air, and although some may think we're just raking in the dough -- we're not.

Haters Gonna Hate

There's negative feedback (which is needed and constructive), and there's hating. Don't mix it up, we know the difference. I'll take responsibility for making some of you think that you'll get an official reaction if you SHOUT false assumptions. That's going to stop now, I promise.

We're in the business of making games, and we reached out to you guys to help us make a great game (games moving forward). At this point, if you're hating, you're not helping. We're out here every day trying to solicit feedback from all of you. USE THIS OPPORTUNITY! We've proven to you now that your feedback from SvR 2011 was not only heard, but implemented where it could be. Even now your feedback is being heard. Keep turning your heads to it (the few), you're missing some great things.

PR Timelines

This is literally the one that pains me to write about, because it makes me think that no one has learned anything from last year. If we're ever going to get anywhere, then there needs to be actual thinking on both sides. We've done the work to understand where you're coming from, please do the same and try to learn and understand where we are too. Some of you are really good at digging for things if it supports your opinion, but can you do the same sort of digging to find things that don't (the truth)?

Anyway, like every single game in this industry, we have a timeline plan from the start of a campaign to launch. The timeline is filled with spots where new information on the game is revealed. Whether it's a website exclusive article talking about RtWM, or a new trailer, it's all on there. The issue I see you guys having, is that you still don't understand that this exists. Sometimes, when I see the failure to understand this pretty simplistic concept that's a staple of our industry, I think of the seagulls in Finding Nemo who don't listen and learn, but just shout "MINE, MINE, MINE," or in this case, "INFO, INFO, INFO."

We want to give you the information, we just can't right now and when we can, you'll forget about this moment because you got what you were looking for -- INFO. Please understand this difference.

Surveys Weren't for Nothing

Do you remember those surveys we frequently put out last year? Ok, now do you remember some of you saying that "they probably won't do anything with this?" Well, I think you're seeing that we took them very seriously. They helped us with our prioritization. We saw point blank that gameplay was the biggest issue for you guys, and in even more detail than that. That was much more concrete than going to random message boards to look at what one or two (or 20) people wanted. This way, we got a huge sample size and some great feedback.

In closing, I'll say this until I'm blue in the face -- we're here for you. Without you, we wouldn't have this game, so we're trying very hard to get you on board with helping us so that you'll understand what it takes to not only make a game, but do it every year. Expectations are set by YOU, not us. We want you to buy our game, yes, but we're not going to "sell" you on it. The purchasing decision is yours, and we wont force you. But we will prove it to you, and we have till 11/22 to do it.

The burden is on us, not you. Let us PROVE IT!

Oh yeah, I can't wait for the "Why don't you keep working on the actual game instead of typing novels" comment. No win situation, but I love it!

Class in Session: Our Modeling Process

2010-10-11T13:02:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

I have seen numerous posts throughout the world wide web questioning our motives for choosing specific WWE Superstars and Legends for our SvR franchise. I wanted to take a moment to break down exactly what we do, so that all of us are clear on our process. It's cool if you don't like our process, but understand it as fact please -- because it is the truth.

Firstly, like all things, our superstar list comes down to budget and timing. At the beginning of pre-production, we have a list (based on the features we want to do), of guys we want to have in our game. In development, there is creative and project management. Creative handles exactly that, the creative (that's me). Project Management handles the timing and budget for our game (that's not me). Where was I? Oh yeah, once we have a list of superstars we want in game (which is usually like everyone), we submit it to our Project Management team so that they can scope it. What that means is that they take our list, and then breakdown how much each superstar would cost (in real money) to model. Once that is done, they get back to us with a high-level estimate of how much it will cost to create each model, and how much time it will take.

We then take a look at those estimates, and of course we're way over scope (time and money), so we have to make cuts. There's not back and forth here, we make an annual title, and our numbers (budget and time) have to be met. So, in order to cut we're told that we can have (for example) 105 models in the game. Here's the thing though, alternate attires, referees, WWE Security, Non playable characters (Stephanie, Tiffany, etc.) and WWE Legends all count as models. Every alternate attire we have, counts as one model each. For instance, if Cena were to start wearing a NEXUS shirt, and we were able to do it in time, that would be an entirely new model, not just switching out his shirt. Is it an ideal process? No -- and we're working on solutions to fix this.

"But I can change stuff in Superstar Threads, it should be easy for you"

When you change things in Superstar Threads, you're just adding layers on TOP of existing layers (hence the name layers). These assets that we build the models with are "baked in," and are given the same lighting treatment that we give the skin on our models. Tricky, eh? :)

Now, concerning WWE Legends. The WWE has a Legends roster that includes a list of superstars that we're allowed to use at no extra cost. A lot of the guys are on it, but there are a certain amount (and you can probably guess which ones) that aren't -- therefore we have to go out and sign them. This is like any other licensed sports game as well. How did NBA 2K11 get all of those legends in? They had the legends license, and guys who didn't fall under it, they had to sign. Sounds great if you have the money, but in some cases -- in some years, we just don't.

We redid our models this year for SvR '11. EVERY model. Just because you've seen a model in a previous game, and it looks like the same model, it doesn't mean that is is the same. When we change the lighting, we have to change the model, when we upgrade visually (like we did this year), we have to change the model. Some were saying we used Jake Roberts from our LoWM game, but that isn't true. We created his model (it may look the same, but the work was still done). Work is work, guys -- and it CAN replicate previous work. We have muscle flexing in the game, that is a HUGE modeling task, and required all of our models to get redone as well. Not blowing smoke guys, just saying facts here.

I hope this was a little bit of an education for you guys. I always like to teach you guys about our development process, so thanks for being so interested!

Up in the Air

2010-10-08T07:38:00.000-07:00

I’m pretty inspired right now to write while I’m in the air at 35,000 feet (probably above Utah). I spent a majority of the day flying (8 hours), for just two hours of business – fair trade, right? I went to Game Informer in Minnesota for a press tour. “What’s a press tour,” you ask? That’s just lingo the games industry uses to make it sound a lot more glamorous than it is. Anyway, I sat with a writer at Game Informer (now “GI” for the rest of this update) for two hours taking him through the highlights of the game. This is a very important thing for us to do, because these magazines and websites have to review the game. Since GI didn’t go to our latest press event in Dallas (at the HIAC PPV), they had seen about as much of the game as you all have. The only difference is that they have to review it…

So I took the GI writer through our game, and everything that’s new. We started with gameplay. From the change to our grapple system, to directional grapple throws, to our much talked about physics engine, this was all new to these guys and it was quite refreshing to see some genuine excitement for a bit.

While away, I followed my Twitter account on my Blackberry (I’m anti-iPhone until they go to Verizon). I found out that we revealed some of our legends in our game – and I knew which ones. I’m pretty stoked about Jake Roberts. He’s one of my favorite wrestlers of all time, and although he’s been in the SvR series before (by way of the PSP), in my book he’s a welcome addition. Funk? That’s an AWESOME one, and a personal favorite of game designer Jon Durr’s. My favorite for this year is yet to be announced, but that didn’t stop some from voicing their displeasure on my Twitter account. Newsflash guys, the roster will never make anyone happy. Every year, get ready for ups and downs with the roster because we can’t have everyone, and the process to get someone in is much more difficult than you think. Unfortunately, I’m not at liberty to discuss this in more detail, although I wish I could.

I just started reading “Countdown to Lockdown” by Mick Foley, beginning on the first leg of my trip to Minnesota. I must say, I’m about a quarter of the way through it, and I can’t quite figure out if I like it or not. Don’t get me wrong, Mick’s the man, but in my opinion, he seems rather long-winded in this one. I will say that it IS interesting getting his take on his current time with TNA.

There’s a lot of confusion out there, and I’m feeling very confused in my head as well. I really thought all of your questions would be answered this week, and I think the news that came out just made you guys as more. The good news is that you guys are getting so incredibly detailed in your questioning that it is certainly a good sign for us that you’re talking details instead of blatant distaste for high-level features.

Working in this industry is unlike anything else I think I’ll ever do in my life. I’m still trying to tell myself that 8 hours of flying for a 2 hour meeting, in the era of video conference no less, was a good use of my time. It’s no knock on the decision makers to do it, I don’t blame them – that’s how everyone does it. I just question whether it’s the best use of time (only at this very moment as I write this).

I’d like to send a shout out to “Tank” for getting married next week. (just wanted to throw that in there)

I know I’m rambling guys, just enjoying writing right now. I apologize for not being on any podcasts for a bit, it’s just that I’ve been extremely busy lately working on that game you all know will be coming out at this same time next year, but we can’t officially talk about it yet. We’re in pre-production right now going back and forth with Yuke’s. We finished our high-level creative briefs, and are now in the process of getting estimates on how much it will cost, and how long it will take from an engineering perspective to code.

As a designer, you can’t fall in love with your ideas. It’s great to be passionate about them, but don’t get attached because you’ll find out that your grand idea usually gets cut down to 25% of what you wanted in the first place. That’s the annual title biz, folks – it’s definitely something that challenges us to think in two ways (quality and cost). While I was at EA SPORTS, it was customary to adopt things from the other sports franchises for cost effectiveness reasons. At THQ, we are starting to get that luxury with UFC being developed.

Like I said on my Twitter account – I can’t talk about the “Axxess” stuff until probably Tuesday of next week. Very unfortunate that you guys are seeing the stuff on XBL and PSN, with no explanation yet, but I can’t risk getting in trouble, guys. Let me just say that you guys are over-analyzing it by 100 times over. It will make sense soon, I promise.

I’m really honored and blessed to be working on such a great franchise that knows where it wants to be, surrounded by passionate wrestling fans. Every single day, we’re looking at the dirt sheets, talking about every detail that’s happened – it’s like high school again.

I’m even more grateful for the fantastic support you guys, the community, has given us this year. I think you’re starting to believe that we know what we’re doing, and with your help – we’ll get to where we BOTH want to be. So THANKS!
Playing NBA 2K11 nonstop lately, and am very proud of my good buddy Mike Wang’s work (as well as the rest of the 2K team). What a fantastic basketball simulation.

Trust me, we’ve taken note. THAT is what “great” (not good) looks like.
Well, that’s it for now. Thanks for reading, everyone – I really do appreciate your interest in what I have to say. It’s not getting to my head, I can assure you. If anything, it’s adding pressure to write informative blogs for you guys. But your passion keeps me feeling challenged, both as a communicator and a designer.
I’m still in the air, but feeling a bit at ease since I got to write this.

EMOTION!

2010-10-05T10:04:00.000-07:00

That was the key word for last night's RAW -- "EMOTION." I haven't seen that kind of emotion on a WWE programming in ages. That's the kind of emotion I want to draw out of all of you when you play our game. And it's not there yet, I know. What do you guys think we could do to get that kind of reaction out of you guys? I see it when people play NBA 2K, or even MADDEN -- definitely FIFA. I mentioned in my first interview when leaving EA to come to THQ, a few things that I would like to add to our presentation to make matches feel BIGGER.

I'm on the SFX-360 Podcast tonight. TANK will be joining me, so that should be pretty fun.

Quick blog update today, but just want to throw that question out to you guys.

"What would you do to the SvR franchise, to draw emotion out of YOU?"

Hell in a Cubicle

2010-10-04T08:03:00.000-07:00

I hope all of you had a great weekend. What did you guys think of the Hell in a Cell PPV? I thought the way they did the Cena joining NEXUS bit was very well done. I can't wait to watch RAW tonight. Cena in a NEXUS shirt? Wow. I know everyone loves Daniel Bryan, but I can't get over that silly smirk he has.

The message boards were on FIRE this weekend, and some of that heat was directed towards me. It's funny how much you guys take my words, interpret them the way you want to, and then broadcast out to the rest of the community your version of my words. Wouldn't a simple copy and paste do the trick? Anyway, there are a lot of opinions out there as to how we should have handled our roster reveal, and to be honest, if you guys weren't happy with it this year -- then I'm on board for finding another way as well. But when I say that I had nothing to do with it, I mean it. It was a PR thing for the reveal to happen with Gamespot, and then our web team took over the rest of the reveal. I know you guys want to know the roster in full -- but this just came across my desk, and I wanted to share it with you guys.

This is the day for the website on the next roster reveal, BUT if that day changes, please don't go insane and start freaking out. Just trying to show you guys that there is a plan, but like all plans -- sometimes they can change. So please be careful with how you react to this:

Oct. 7th

There you have it. Once again if this day changes, please just try to keep it in perspective. For example, if the guy who has to physically put these up on the site is sick one of these days, we obviously wait until the next day.

Take care, everyone!

Our Relationship with Yuke's

2010-09-27T10:52:00.001-07:00

I hope your weekend was well. I spent the weekend with visiting friends. We hung out in Venice, and then went to Anaheim to see the Angels play the White Sox. PLUS my Cowboys won, so I'm having a great Monday.

I wanted to give you guys a little information about Yuke's, our external developer. It's an interesting dynamic, and one that I wasn't used to at EA SPORTS.

As a development team, you have your Producers / Designers and Engineers. Producers / Designers come up with the vision for the game, and the Engineers physically build the game. (they understand code).

Since our developer, Yuke's, is external (and Japanese nonetheless), we have a MUCH different process. We, the production team are here at THQ. We come up with the vision for the game. We paint the picture for our engineers. So for the case of this blog, let's use WWE Universe, specifically cashing in the MITB briefcase in Universe mode as an example.

THQ: I would like to let the user in WWE Universe cash in the MITB briefcase if they won the MITB match at WrestleMania.

TRANSLATION

Yuke's: (Japanese)

TRANSLATION

Yuke's (Translated): Ok, that seems doable. Submit your design.

THQ: (Super detailed design from the colors and buttons in the menu you see, to the cutscene direction) We would like to have a cutscene for when the user chooses to cash in their MITB briefcase. Here is the design document.

TRANSLATION (Full design document is translated)

Yuke's: (Japanese)

TRANSLATION

Yuke's (Translated): Ok, this feature will take 14 days (14 engineering days if ONE engineer were working on this) to make because of new animations and art

That's a hint into our process, guys. It's designing through translation. It's a very rewarding experience, but it's also requires an insane attention to detail.

Now, I'm going to leave you with this thought:

Think about this process for EVERYTHING you see in the game. Consider how much time we have to make a game every year, and now how does this sound?

On most dev teams, we can't get to everything -- but in this case, we definitely can't get to everything.

Working with Yuke's is absolutely fantastic -- they are such hard workers. And I'm grateful to have this experience for my career. I just wanted you to get a little insight.

Not excuses, just facts.

Happy Weekend!

2010-09-24T10:47:00.000-07:00

I heard the GamingRing GR8 podcast went very well last night. What did you think of it? I should be on next Thursday, and will have the game in front of me to answer some detailed questions.

I'm seeing the great impressions for the WWE Universe video we released yesterday. I really can't say enough about that mode -- it's a beauty!

This will be a pretty short blog today, but I did want to touch on something...

On Twitter, a guy tweeted that we had "piss poor marketing" this year. I'm a human being, and got offended and fired back at him. He then posted this response on his pretty awesome pro-wrestling site. Now, I didn't say exactly what he said in that podcast, but I understood that I rubbed him the wrong way. For that, I apologize not only to you but to everyone who clicked on that podcast and heard it.

I was so upset about it, that I offered to talk to the gentlemen right then on the phone. A few minutes later, I was having a real conversation with a very passionate fan of our game. It was a great conversation. It was much easier to convey my thoughts on the phone versus the 56 (exaggeration) characters I get on Twitter. He seemed pleased by my responses to his questions, and we ended on the right foot.

I guess the moral of the story is that I'll always be honest with you guys. Although I'll most certainly make mistakes, I'll always own up to them. I maintain that I'll talk to you the exact same way that you talk to me. I'm not trying to "sell" anything to you guys, and just want your help in making this game. Why would I just sit at my desk and try to think of all the ideas, if there are already thousands out there by you guys? That's my approach with the community engagement.

Anyway, do have a great weekend. Be safe, and enjoy yourselves!

Anything Can Happen in WWE Universe!

2010-09-23T10:18:00.000-07:00

So I think we're releasing a video featuring Dan Ryan and WWE Universe later today. And if I were a betting man, I'd say you could probably find it on IGN.com.

WWE Universe is my favorite mode in the game this year. I was playing it all day yesterday, and while I was Sheamus vs Evan Bourne, The Miz came down to ringside and did commentary. I was skeptical, because I didn't know what was going to happen but sure enough, The Miz helped me get the win against an out of his mind Bourne. After the match, The Miz came in to celebrate with me and a new alliance was formed.

Just by chance, I played the next week on RAW and it was Sheamus and The Miz vs the Hart Dynasty. Guess who came and interfered? Yep, Bourne.

That's just a taste of what you're going to get in WWE Universe this year. Just when you think you know what's going to happen, the AI changes completely and tosses you into a storyline that you didn't expect to get into. The world revolves around the choices you make, and if you don't make any choices, that world smacks you upside the head and turns around on you. Let me know what you think of the video, everyone -- I'm really excited to see your reactions.

I saw alot of comments in my blog yesterday about not letting guys get to me. No worries guys, I've been around for quite sometime and understand how it works. When I respond to what you guys might say is "negativity," I'm just responding to it. I don't let it phase me, I'm just sending it right back to everyone because the facts are that you don't know what you're talking about. That's not a slight at all, it's just a fact. You aren't here to see what goes on, therefore you have no idea. And like I've said since I got here, my goal is to GET you guys to know what you're talking about, then we'll have very productive conversations. I see I've failed at that thus far, but we have some things planned with our fellow Community Leaders to help start the process of getting everyone informed on what we're doing, and how we do it.

But egos need to be dropped. I'm here to make the best wrestling game in the world, and I won't stop until it's done. We need your help, and we would be stupid not to ask for your help. So please take advantage of this -- we'll really appreciate it.

Enjoy today's video, everyone.

Spoiled

2010-09-22T08:22:00.000-07:00

So I've seen a few threads, and tweets on my page, that we aren't doing a good job of releasing information this year.

Really?

Really?

I'm starting to wonder about you guys, really wonder...

Here are the beats of information releases so far this year:

- SummerSlam (released a TON of information)
- Multiple podcasts
- Gameplay Video
- Roster Reveal (both on Gamespot, and our website every week)
- Community Event

We have the best roster section in the history of video games (on our website), and members from THQ have been out talking with all of you.

So Really?

If you haven't done your research on all of the information that we've released so far, that's your fault...so go do some research. Because if you truly feel this way, you're not only wrong, but you haven't done your homework.

I had my first "next year" meeting with Yuke's last night. For those of you who don't know, Yuke's is our external Japanese developer for the SvR franchise. The meeting went well, and we went over what we can do to strengthen online for the future. I'll pose that question to you. What do YOU all want to see with online next year?

I'm hearing that we MAY be doing something during the weekend of WWE "Hell in a Cell" PPV. Could we possibly go over Online, RtWM, and Story Designer there? It seems like it's a possibility -- stay tuned.

I DO know that a WWE Universe video should hit the world wide web tomorrow. Dan Ryan at his very best!

My wife and I are getting visitors today. Some of our friends from Vancouver are going to stay with us, and one of them is a good friend of mine who is a Producer on NBA Elite 11. He designed the "Become Legendary" mode for the game. I think it's going to be a pretty fun weekend.

I'll be on the GamingRing.com GR8 podcast tomorrow night. I've seen the agenda for tomorrow night's show, and I can't wait. Just know that "community" isn't a one way street. And it's not all about you guys getting information. I told you I was going to teach you the development process of our game, so that you would better understand what we're up against every year, and make educated suggestions to us. If this is not something you want to do, and only want information out of me, that's fine. Just don't complain to me, because there are some who are invested in this community, and want to see it flourish.

I hope you guys are getting amped up for SvR '11, I can't believe it's just around the corner. And I've said it about 1,000 times already, but I'll do it again.

DON'T WORRY ABOUT ALL OF THE INFO BEING RELEASED BEFORE THE GAME SHIPS -- IT WILL!

That was meant as a newspaper headline. I'm not "shouting."

Cena joining NEXUS? Oh, the possibilities!

Night of Confusion?

2010-09-20T10:36:00.000-07:00

So what's with Jericho? Is he gone, or is he staying? Very weird how the WWE played that one out. I have a feeling we'll see him back soon, though. And speaking of awkward, Kane beating The Undertaker? I hope Kane has Undertaker's urn, and that Paul Bearer is involved in some way. What did you guys think of "Night of Champions?"

I got to play a ton of SvR '11 over the weekend, and I had a lot of fun! (sorry for the tease)

What did you guys think of the full match gameplay video? I've seen some comments like; "If Legend difficulty is so hard, why was Bryan able to beat the CPU?" Really guys, really? You do know this is a game, and that the better you are, the easier the game is, right?

Do you say that when you play Madden on "All-Madden?" Or NBA 2K on "Superstar?" Not a sports fan? Ok, how about GTA on "Hard?" The point I'm making is that there are "experts" at every game, and I'm glad we have one working on our gameplay. Think you're great? Say that when the game comes out. Play on "Legend" difficulty with reversal indicators set to "off."

I had a great time on the GamingRing.com podcast on Friday. I love doing that stuff, and hope that you guys aren't just looking for info and would like to dig deeper into the development process of the game. I was happy to speak so candidly on the show, and I think Mike, Brad, Matt, and Seiryuga for their questions.

Pretty short blog this week, but I'm having a conference call tomorrow with Yuke's, and I'll let you know how that goes. We're already ramping up to that game we can't say is coming out, but you all know is coming out.

UPDATE To "Lesson for Next Year = Focus on Divas"

2010-09-17T16:14:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, some things are being blown out of proportion. I said that we should give Divas more of a focus next year. For example: 6-women Divas matches, etc.. I did not say that next year would be 100% Divas, or we would just focus on Divas. C'mon... you guys know we have a team working on this game, and that we all work on different parts of the game (old or new).

Lesson for Next Year = Focus on Divas

2010-09-17T12:54:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, I know the information that's coming out from all of the different outlets is extremely difficult to decipher, and I apologize for that. The thing with me is that when I came here, it was pretty (actually very)late in the process. I was overseeing a mode of the game this year, but it was pretty complete by the time I got on board. Because of that, I didn't design the game during it's inception and I wasn't able to follow along with all of the mode's progress to get a 100% great feel for everything that is in our game this year. THIS is the single biggest reason why it is hard for me to answer the really detailed stuff, and why I often second-guess myself. Because the game doesn't feel like second-nature to me.

I'm very much excited to be on GamingRing.com's GR8 podcast tonight. I'll have the game right in front of me, so as long as you can wait while I'm searching, be prepared to get a lot of your questions answered.

Divas...what can I say? You guys clearly want our game to have a bigger Divas influence. I've expressed this to our team, and we'll see where it comes out in the future. Thanks for your interest in this subject matter, that's what the power of community can do for the development process of a game. You guys shouted from the rooftops about Divas, so it's going to force us to take a look and see what we can do.

It's a bit concerning me that some of you think I'm just a mouthpiece for THQ. Now, I've been around the block and know the tactics that are used to bait people, but c'mon -- it's getting a bit ridiculous. If I haven't proven to you that I'm doing this off my own time, then you'll never learn and it's a waste of my time to talk to you personally because you'll believe anything you want yourself to believe.

I hope everyone has a great weekend -- and enjoy the podcast tonight!

"No Comment..."

2010-09-15T10:51:00.000-07:00

I really enjoyed being on the CAWs.ws podcast last night. For those of you who missed it, you can listen to it here.

I must say, I often found myself distracted during the podcast because I was always looking at the live chat that CAWs.ws hosted during the show. I kept losing my train of thought because of it. Next time, I won't look at the chat :)

I felt pretty awful last night because I know you guys want a ton of new info, and I couldn't say anything. Let me just clear up why...

We, as designers, are responsible for one thing only -- designing the game. What I'm doing now, and last night (podcast) is not in my job description. I choose to do it because I love it, and believe that it will only lead to good things (the game we all want). Now, I know that by me putting myself out there to you, I'm expected to know everything. I truly apologize that I don't, and constantly have to double-check. The thing is, I'm fairly certain of things when I'm asked, but because I know that news spreads like wildfire with this game, I second-guess everything that I say. Please be patient with me. We will release every detail that you guys want to know, but it will take time.

We have a PR department. If you guys don't know what that is, they come up with our messaging to the press, and our "reveal strategy" for the game. We, as a company, MUST follow this timeline. So when I say "no comment," it's because I'm not saying no, or yes...I'm saying that you'll find out soon. I'm not here to piss you guys off, if I am, let me know.

In order for me to do this, it HAS to be a two way street. I will not talk at you, and I expect you guys not to talk AT me. If we all have the same goal in mind (to make the best wrestling game), then the discussions can continue. I know you want information, but frankly, tough -- you'll get it soon, and honestly, we're just talking a matter of days here so be patient please.

Gone are the days of no one from THQ talking with you guys. We don't have to do it, but we are and I'm loving it. When we say "no comment" take that as your answer and wait...we're not doing "PR speak," we're not "brushing your question aside," we're just doing our job. I really don't know how to say this any other way -- if you still can't understand, then oh well I guess.

I'm on the GamingRing.com GR8 podcast this week, and we have more Superstars to reveal on our website (this week). I hope you guys are liking what you're seeing, and thanks for all of the "little detail" suggestions yesterday. I know it's become a cliche when I say "I'll write it down," and I did "write them down." Would you rather I didn't write anything down? ;)

The sooner you guys realize that we're making a game every year and things fall off because of time or budget (which are the ONLY two reasons things get cut), the better the communication will be for everyone who is interested in helping us make great wrestling games.

*steps off soap box*

It's the Little Things...

2010-09-14T07:57:00.000-07:00

I was watching RAW last night (btw, it was a great show IMO), and I'm not saying that I never notice these details, but they were glaringly apparent to me for some reason. I think it's because of our game, and our constant desire to mimic TV. The little details are what makes a game GREAT, not good. I know for WWE SmackDown vs RAW 2011, we got alot of these little details in (WWEHD logo, WWEHD logo on barriers, minitrons, etc.), but not everything.

I want our game to be considered one that has uncanny attention to detail. MLB: The Show, and the NBA 2K series do this very well. Their ability to put the little details into their games just makes the overall experience better, and most of the time we take it for granted.

So my question to you guys, is what are the "little things" that we need to focus on? I know the entrance attires, but there are budgetary reasons for that. I know we need ALL trons, not just minitrons. And I know our movesets need some love. But what else? I'm making sure that we don't miss some of this stuff, and I've been writing up a list ever since I started taking questions on Twitter and our official message boards.

I'm going to a sweet independent video game store to pick up my all-time favorite wrestling game: WWF Royal Rumble for the Sega Genesis. They're also going to sell me WWF RAW, so that will be cool. Are you any of you buying HALO: Reach today? If you guys get it, I may pick it up to play online with all of you, just let me know.

Yesterday's post mentioned that we need your critiques of SvR '11 when it comes out. I saw some posts asking who they need to give these to so that they get in front of our team. The answer? Community Leaders.

If you didn't know, we have Community Leaders for our WWE games. If you are a member of a website, their administrator is usually our Community Leader for you. Get those wishlists, and talking points to them so that they can collect it and send it off to us. Make sense? If you still have questions, then contact our Community Manager THQ_TANK who is on our message boards, and he'll point you in the right direction.

That's all for today guys -- Up next:

- CAWs.ws Podcast tonight
- GamingRing GR8 Podcast on Thursday
- More roster reveal on our official website

Take care.

We Want YOU to Get Involved

2010-09-13T10:36:00.000-07:00

I hope your weekend went well, it was a fantastic Saturday for me (Buckeyes won), but a very sad end to Sunday night (Cowboys lost). Oh well, I'm at least glad that football season is back.

How are you enjoying Friday Night SmackDown as of late? I just love Alberto Del Rio, and wish he were in our game this year. For him alone, I can't WAIT until next year...."but you already knew that."

I'm not quite sure what to think of NXT Season 3 yet. I think Kaitlyn is great though ;)

Now, to the main reason for today's blog. We are already starting on that game I can't talk about, but you know is coming out around this time next year. With that said, the MINUTE you get WWE SmackDown vs RAW 2011, start beginning to look at the game with a very critical eye. Once you've done that, please get all of your likes, concerns, questions, and suggestions into us ASAP so that we can take action for that game you know is all coming out, but I can't talk about. We really want all of you actively involved, and that is the main reason why I have taken an active role in the community speaking to all of you.

I want what you want, but it is up to you guys to tell us what you want. I promise it will not fall on deaf ears, and as long as you understand what we go through on a year to year basis, then I think expectations will be in check and we'll make a fantastic game. Make sense? I hope so.

Now that the main subject for this blog is out of the way, I wanted to send a thank you to Ringside Collectibles for their excellent work in carrying the tradition of Pro Wrestling figures. I was / am still a huge collector, and am currently obsessed with my Mattel Legends Series 2 "Ravishing" Rick Rude figure.

That's all for today, but I've been reading all of the boards (and comments on my blog). My Twitter account is blowing up with questions, so I'm really doing my best -- please be patient if I can't answer you.

Tuesday, I'll be on the CAWs.ws podcast (I actually will this time). I apologize for the frantic work schedule last week, and it was my fault that I wasn't on theirs and the GamingRing podcast. I'll be on both this week, thanks again for your patience.

Enjoy RAW tonight.

More Roster Talk? Nope

2010-09-10T13:32:00.000-07:00

1.) I can't discuss when things will be released. I'm a Producer / Designer, not PR or Marketing. That is there job to make these communication roll outs, I won't disturb that. (Educating you on this industry)

2.) More along the lines of the first point, but I can't tell you who will be revealed on our official website, because that would be ME revealing it, and not our website...

3.) This is the most up to date roster we've ever had, think I'm wrong? Please tell me...

4.) My Twitter account is being flooded with the same questions over and over again. I've been repeating myself for about a week now with similar questions asked in different ways. I don't mind doing it at all, I love talking with all of you -- but now I actually have to get back to work, and I won't be able to repeat myself all of the time. Please don't take offense if I don't answer you, and just do a little research on your question, and I'm sure you'll find the answer.

The main reason why I bring all of these points up, is to remind you that we build a game every single year. We plan DLC for the game, but at some point, the reality of the situation is that we have to stop. Every annual title in this industry has the same problems that we do. But we welcome them, because there is a huge appetite for our title being released every year.

If something isn't in this year, or next year, don't lose hope -- voice your concerns collectively and we'll hear you. I leave that (the collective voice) up to your fellow Community Leaders who were present at the first Community Event during SummerSlam weekend. We truly want everything that you do, please trust us in that. This is all part of the relationship that our team is now trying to build with each and every one of you. We hear your concerns, and will do our best (under the circumstances) to meet those wants.

At the end of the day, it's your 60 dollars and I will never tell you, or recommend how you spend it. I just ask that you take a look at our offering this year, and if it satisfies you, awesome. If it doesn't, help us in creating the game that you want.

I hope this stuff makes sense. You guys are all awesome, and easily the most passionate community that I've ever dealt with -- and this will only help us!

Have a great weekend everyone, I'll see you guys back here on Monday!

Concerning the Roster...

2010-09-09T10:15:00.001-07:00

I would first like to thank all of you for making our WWE SmackDown vs RAW 2011 Roster Reveal event, a true web EVENT! The hype felt like it was at an all-time high, and in my opinion, the roster didn't disappoint. Why is that, you ask? Well, if the worst thing that you guys could say about our roster was that we didn't have Superstars who were released by the WWE in it, then I would see we are off to one heck of a start!

Now, a few things:

1.) Nexus - Did you think that the Superstars in Season 1 would form a rebel group, and become the biggest thing in Sports Entertainment in the past 5 years? No, and neither did we - that's what made it WORK.

2.) Released WWE Superstars - We did not announce these guys at the Roster Reveal, because they weren't a part of the WWE anymore. We do have some of the Superstars, so please stay tuned via our official website for more information.

3.) Batista - he's in the game, and he has his "spotlight entrance."

4.) Tiffany - she's in the game, but as a non-playable character

5.) Assumptions - It is totally our fault for not communicating to you guys that we had more Superstars to reveal at a later date. I apologize for that, because I did not know until that day. But please don't assume that "your guy" is not on our roster until we reveal everyone. There is no reason at all to see the threads: "THQ Failed again," or "Roster Sucks." That's pretty premature, and I can assure you that our roster is one of the most up to date we've ever had.

6.) Shad's Alternate Attire (ACTUAL ATTIRE) - I constantly hear from you guys, that you want our game to be as up to date as possible. So JTG and SHAD split, and SHAD comes out with his new white attire. We've already created Shad, we didn't know they were going to split, so instead of keeping him in his CT attire, we make him in his whites. Obviously this was past our deadline, and that's why we decided to put him in DLC. I see some people say that other superstars should get alternate attire before SHAD. I would completely agree if Shad were up to date to begin with, but he wasn't.

Now that the Roster Reveal talk is over, I wanted to let you guys know that I'll be on the CAWs.ws podcast later tonight, and then tomorrow -- on the GamingRing.com GR8 podcast. I'll try to have the game pulled up, so I can answer questions in much greater detail.

FINALLY, it's HERE!

2010-09-08T08:48:00.000-07:00

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages. THQ and Gamespot, proudly bring to you, the WWE SmackDown vs RAW 2011 ROSTER REVEAL!

I do miss the New Age Outlaws...

Is it wrong that I'm more excited for the roster reveal, because I know that I won't get asked "when is the roster reveal?" anymore? Anyway, Gamespot is going to webstream the event LIVE at around 3-3:30 PST. Don't miss it guys, you're in for a treat :)

I have some work to do today for that game I can't talk about, but everyone knows is coming out at around this time next year. It's more of a brainstorming task, but that's usually when I can get really creative about things.

I'm just reminding you guys, because I'm seeing it on the boards a lot lately, never assume anything is "easy" to put in the game. There's a TON of legacy code (old code) in the game that we replace with new stuff (new engine), and it's a very slow process, so that we don't make mistakes. In the business of annual titles, you can't afford mistakes, or more importantly, time wasted in the production cycle.

After we all finish our creative briefs for what we want in that game I can't talk about, I think a Japan trip will be happening -- looking forward to going again.

What did you guys think of the NXT Season 3 premier last night? I thought it was very interesting to see programming centered around Divas. I must admit though, if I did not work on a wrestling game, I don't know how long it would hold my interest after the first installment. I'll keep watching though, but I really did Kaitlyn for some reason...

Quick one today, guys, but the real news is coming today at 3/3:30 PST. Lots to talk about in tomorrow's blog!

The Work Week Should Start on Tuesday

2010-09-07T10:03:00.000-07:00

You know that feeling you get when you walk into work on Monday? When was the last time that you actually felt GOOD about being at work on a Monday (no matter where it is)? I'll bet though, that you feel great when you have had a Monday off, and your work week starts on Tuesday. I love vacation as much as the next person, but at the end of the day I like to keep busy as well. Three to four days off is just fine for me, and I'm up and perfectly happy to be where I'm at (THQ) this morning. All because of one day.

I'm looking forward to this week. Tomorrow, you will all finally see our SvR '11 roster reveal. We have some big surprises for you, and throughout the webcast I know you will all be thinking; "What could possibly happen NXT?"

I'm going out with my wife and a few friends for dinner tomorrow night. The special guest of the evening though, will be none other than Austin Aries from ROH. One of my friends is best friends with Austin, and is going to bring him along -- should be a dope time.

Over the past weekend, I've seen a lot of people disappointed with some of the answers that Jon Durr, and myself have been giving. They are small details, but I agree, and welcome the disappointment. We want all of this too, and it's important that the community collectively voices their opinions on the subjects they see as detrimental to the game, so that we have all the backup we need to enforce change. I believe what separates good games from great games is the small details (See MLB 10: The Show). We'll get there guys, it just takes time.

Thanks for the replies to the HCTP post, and the answers to the thread on the official SvR boards. I agree that the move sets were untouchable, and that we need to get back to that level of authenticity.

I just got asked to do the CAWS.ws podcast this Thursday, so that makes it two back to back podcasts on consecutive days. I'll of course be doing the GamingRing.com GR8 podcast on Friday.

Sorry for the lack of news in today's blog entry, but I imagine we'll have plenty to talk about soon ;)

Quick Update (And then I'm Out!)

2010-09-04T10:28:00.000-07:00

If you're looking for a good read, make sure you pick up "Rumble Road." It was written by Jon Robinson, of ESPN.com videogames fame (and former IGN Sports Editor). It has a great flow to it, and it will take you no time at all to get through. It is one of the few WWE books where all you see is the "other side."

Interesting story about Jon. Before I got into this industry, I was a sophomore in college, and was a big Madden fan. I would read IGN.com every day, and saw Jon's articles in the sports section. At that time, I was a journalism major, and thought that a job in video game journalism would be pretty sweet. I sent Jon a message out of the blue off one of those "contact us" e-mail links. I asked, immaturely I might add, how you get into this kind of work (among other things)? Jon was gracious enough to not only e-mail me, but ask me to call him.

I remember every word of that conversation. I was nervous, because I had just put myself out there, and I had no idea what he was going to say to me. He had some great advice, and I haven't forgotten it to this day (that's for me to know). The point is, this is a small world, and an even smaller industry. It was awesome to see Jon at our SummerSlam press event, both of us knowing the conversation we had some 8 - 9 years ago. If you're reading this, THANKS JON!

I had a great time on the GamingRing.com GR8 Podcast last night. Next week I hope to have the game pulled up, and can answer some of the more detailed questions. Thanks to all of you for being so interested in our game this year -- we hope to do you proud this year, and for years to come!

Here Comes the Pain (For Me)

2010-09-03T07:41:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

Yesterday I was having a conversation with fellow designer Dan Ryan, and the subject of HCTP came up. I remember buying HCTP, but IMO (don't judge me), I couldn't really remember what separated it from other past SvR games. He was working in QA (tester) at the time and remembers testing it. I told him that I would pose the question to you guys here. I have my own opinions of HCTP (and will keep them to myself), but I want to know what YOU loved about it so much. Now, remove the nostalgia you had for the game, and if you would like to, please compare SvR '10 to HCTP in all areas.

This is just my opportunity to talk to you directly about HCTP, when I see it name-dropped at every forum on the planet.

I have the UncleGamer radio show to record today, and then I think I'm headed to GamingRing to be on their podcast as well. I love doing that stuff, I hope you appreciate the SvR "informed" community efforts with stuff like this.

September 8th is upon us -- are you ready? I can't wait for it, but mostly because I'm tired of repeating "Sept. 8th" to people asking about the roster. I want to tell you guys!

What are you guys up to this Labor Day weekend? It's my 6 year wedding anniversary, so my wife and I will be going out to dinner, and enjoying Venice Beach. I'm very proud of my wife. She is a poet , and she writes one every single day. That's quite an accomplishment. She has written 500+ poems now. I can't even count to 500 without getting bored... A CA Winery called her yesterday, and asked to put her poem up at their building because it was titled "Cork," and a wine Facebook group found it and loved it. Crazy what the internet can do for you....

I'll be watching the TNA PPV as well this Sunday, looking forward to it. I'm truly loving my life right now. I'm talking to all of you, designing (for that game you all know is coming out next year, but I can't say it's coming out yet, but it has a 1 and a 2 in the title), and enjoying where we live.

I'm having a blast on our official forums, and I'm trying to answer as many questions as I can. Please understand that I cannot do this at every hour, of every day. I do have to work on my core job (designing).

I saw this question in a forum yesterday, and I'll ask you as well. "Who is your favorite WWE wrestler of all time?" I want to know who your top 5 are, though -- here's mine:

1.) Hulk Hogan
2.) HBK
3.) Mr. Perfect
4.) The Rock
5.) Rick Rude

Clarifications and Misunderstandings...

2010-09-02T09:57:00.000-07:00

The days are going by like a blur, and I can't seem to figure out what day it is most of the time. Is it bad to coordinate your days around wrestling and TV shows? For example, I know today is Thursday because Jersey Shore is on. I guess anyway you can keep a personal calendar in your head, it's a good thing.

I had a pretty late night yesterday finishing up a "Creative Brief" for an exciting feature in "that game you all know is coming out with a 1 and a 2 in the title, but we can't announce yet." For those who don't understand what a creative brief is, it is a high-level design. At the beginning of a production cycle, designers start with a creative brief of a feature they would like to put in the game, in order to get estimates from the engineering team (the guys who physically CODE the game). Estimates are how many "days" a feature will take them to complete. This is a very difficult process because you usually start from a "pie in the sky" feature, and it gets scaled down more and more because of time, money, and capacity.

As if that isn't bad enough for a designer, we sometimes tend to get attached to what we're doing, and it is usually very difficult to let go of things you think are necessary for the feature, but in reality, you could actually live without. Designers suffer from having "blinders" on most of the time. Regardless, this is the MOST exciting time for me because I get to use all of my creative energy in putting together something from scratch.

Jon Durr (fellow SvR designer) had his first day on the official SvR message boards yesterday. I think he did an excellent job, as he's been extremely eager to talk to the fans this entire year. I'm grateful for getting to work for a company that lets us be us.

I made a mistake yesterday. I'm getting about 3274903217490371098 questions a minute about the game (keep them coming), but a lot of them are the same questions, asked in completely different ways. I do get confused sometimes, and I did yesterday. I was asked if WWE Universe had co-op. To me, "co-op" is an online feature, and "multiplayer" is a home console feature. I misunderstood, and said "nope." This caused a little bit of an uproar in the community, because they all thought that you couldn't play with more than one player, on the same console, in WWE Universe. Rest assured, you can, there just isn't an online co-op for WWE Universe. Again, apologies for the mistake.

I'm now getting a lot of very detailed questions. I'm not having to pull up the game and check to make sure things are in / not in, so it may take a big longer to get to your questions than previously. Just feel free to keep reminding me, I won't mind. Please know that I may mess up again, so I apologize in advance for that.

Let me clarify my statement about "Legend" difficulty with reversal indicators off. This year, the A.I. does attack you. I was playing a match against Big Show the other day, and he had me on the ground, taunted, picked me up for a choke slam, different taunt, and as I got up (he decided to wait -- which I thought was cool), he knocked me out (finishing punch), and my jaw dropped. Big Show worked me, and I couldn't do anything about it. Reversals do happen at a much more frequent rate than they would on lower difficulties, but it is extremely important to vary your tactics. If you have a grounded superstar, don't go to the top rope all of the time. Stay grounded, and vary your strikes and grapples, using the corners, irish whips, and out of the ring to your advantage. If you spam the strike buttons, they'll reverse you after a while. If you are repeatedly using ground grapples (submissions), and the same grapples over again, they'll start to get what you're doing, and reverse you.

I repeat, the A.I. is very aggressive, and you have to adapt to what they're doing to you this year. But reversals are a big part of it, so make sure you're capitalizing on this, and the match will really flow in a realistic way. This is a way to make our game competitive (combined with aggressive A.I.). Obviously, we know that a real-life match is predetermined, so you see key spots (moves), 3 minute beatdown, reverse, three minute beatdown in a given match. Would that make sense for a video game? In my opinion, I don't think so. We don't know the outcome of a match, and if you're expecting to win all of the time, play on easy. With that said, if you want to beat your opponent down mercifully for 3 minutes, than you should expect to get the same punishment from the A.I. Would that be much fun? I personally don't think so.

I'll be on the UncleGamer Radio show tomorrow (recording I think), so make sure to check that one out. I thank all of you for your continued support in what we're doing. This time YOU are making an actual difference, and I hope you all start to realize that this is a journey, not a one year thing. That's what the annual title business is all about. Hope on board guys!

Busy, Busy, Busy...

2010-09-01T10:50:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone,

Life has been pretty busy for me over the past few weeks. But it has been the "good" busy. After our post-SummerSlam hangover, we're starting to shift our creative attention to that game that everyone knows is coming, but we can't announce. We were looking at things we could do online yesterday, and WWE Universe came up. So my question is to you guys, what would you want out of online and WWE Universe (as you know it so far)?

My first day on our official message boards was pretty good, but it does frustrate me to repeat the same answer about our roster questions over and over again. I do get the excitement (I was one of you), but please do a little research before you ask, because I don't want to:

1.) Be a prick and not answer
2.) Risk other questions not being answered for repeating an answer to a previous question

I'm really excited, because Jon Durr (another one of our designers) will be coming on to the official SvR boards very soon, and will help share the questions load.

Now, to end with a pet peeve of mine. I promise that I won't sound so negative in all of my blog posts in the future. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, don't try and bait me. What is a bait you ask? Well, here's an example:

"Is blah blah blah in the game? Did you actually listen to the fans this year and put blah blah blah in the game? If not, you guys just want to make money, and don't care about us." (I'm fuming just writing this -- haha)

That my friends, is a "bait." Just a little fyi, it won't work. I've been around the block, and know every trick in the book. Here's the result of what will happen if you try and bait me:

1.) Will first call you out on it
2.) Will then not respond

I said that I'll always answer you honestly, but please don't give me an ultimatum -- if I didn't care about the fans, I wouldn't be here -- end of story. It isn't in our job description to post on Twitter, write your own blog, or post on message boards. We're designers / producers, and that's what we get paid to do. I truly believe that communicating with all of you helps US make a better game -- don't prove me wrong, please.

I lied....

I said I would end with that last comment, but I'm actually going to end with some common misconceptions:

1.) "You guys are all money grubbing evil empire people" -- Actually, if we were in it for the money, we wouldn't be very happy. I don't drive a porsche, I drive a Volkswagen Jetta (nice life, I know)

2.) "You guys do things just to spite us" -- No, we have timelines, and make an annual title. If we could get everything you want in the game, we would certainly do that. We make the game for YOU.

3.) "Cory Ledesma is a monster" -- Cory has a very tough job, and has to call the shots -- everyone who does this is commonly looked at as a "monster," but if you were in his position, you would have to make tough calls too.

4.) "SvR is the same game every year" -- That's laughable. Please go back and play the games, and you'll see that's not the case.

You guys are all great, and we couldn't do it without you! I'm really excited about SvR '11, and can't wait for the future with all of YOU on board helping make our games that much more special.

Apologies for my Hiatus...

2010-08-31T12:05:00.000-07:00

Wow, it has truly been a very long time since I have updated. (blog rule #567 -- if it has been a long time, never start off your first blog update back talking about your absence) Where do I begin? Well, we're pretty much finished with SvR '11, only there are still a few touch ups that need to take place. We're very excited about the game to come out, but I'm already beginning designs on a project that you guys know, we just can't officially announce, because someone at our company doesn't know that we release a game every year....

I've seen recently, posts saying "is "Legend" difficulty going to be that reversal-fest, like last year?" My answer to you is that the CPU will reverse things, often -- that is if you're not thinking while you're playing. In SvR '11, you need to think about a few things:

1.) Who is my opponent? What are his / her ratings? Who am I using? What is my plan of attack going in?
2.) Mixture up strikes and grapples, and understand that the A.I. is smart, just like you are :)
3.) This is a game, and not a predetermined match, so if you're expecting to beat down your opponent for 3 minutes, then you should expect your opponent to beat you down for 3 minutes with no reversals (doesn't sound fun does it?)
4.) It's ok to lose, and not call it cheating -- just get 'em next time!

Anyway, this will be a short one for today, but I wanted to give you guys my Twitter account , and let you know that I will now be exclusively talking on our official SvR message boards.

I'll leave you guys with this:

1.) Roster Reveal is September 8th, on Gamespot.com
2.) Until we officially announce news, understand that I can't answer questions about news we haven't announced yet
3.) Play this SvR '11 this year on "Legend" difficulty, with reversal indicators "OFF"

Over the Lag / Limit

2010-05-22T01:02:00.000-07:00

I'm extremely in to what Jack Swagger is doing on WWE programming as of late -- he's truly a refreshing heel that the fans consistently boo. I do wonder however, what his match will be like with Big Show on Sunday's "Over the Limit" PPV... Speaking of the PPV, have we seen the last of Batista? Only time will tell. I bet the match of the night will be CM Punk vs Rey Mysterio though -- watch!

This week was a rough one. I've never been off of this continent before, so I really didn't know how my trip to Japan last week would truly effect me. Well, I found out, and I'm just NOW feeling normal again (says the guy who is up at 1AM...). The game is really starting to come together. Working with an external developer is unlike any experience I've ever had, so it was important for me to go over to Japan to see the other side of things as I get acclimated to this new environment. I figured out the THQ side of things, but I really didn't get everything as a whole until I went over to Yuke's. Now I'm pretty happy with the knowledge I received while I was out there.

I know a lot of you want to know information about SvR '11, but please be patient. In this business, there are such things as timelines. We, the dev team, have no control over this. We're a public company, that has a ton of stakeholders, it's a much bigger thing than myself, so I'm never at liberty to spill the beans on things until I'm allowed. What I can do is take suggestions, and you guys have really given us a TON this year -- thanks for that.

We got our E3 schedule today, and I'm going to refrain from doing interviews this year. I'm happy with this, considering I came on late in the project, and the rest of the team would do the game more justice. I will be at E3 though, and I'm very serious about that community meetup. We just hired our new Community Manager, and I'm EXTREMELY excited about him coming on board. He's incredibly experienced, and shares the same passion for community engagement like I do. BTW -- I'm watching Smackdown (recorded) at the moment, and Kelly Kelly has really stepped it up a notch in the wrestling department (don't laugh at me).

Before I stop this random, late night post, I wanted to address something that I'm seeing pop up in the community a lot. Expectations. I can't say this enough, but apparently some out there are still not under the impression that we make a game every single year. I'm not saying this as an excuse, so please don't ASSUME that. What I'm saying is do the math. Your suggestions are ALL valid, we have a limited time from one game to the next to do things. Take a look at SvR '10 for instance. Before I got here I was AMAZED at the amount of "stuff" they were able to fit in the game. My experience with annual sports titles is pretty vast, and I can say that annual titles NEVER get as much in as SvR '10 did. But seriously, manage your expectations. Help us make a great game from year to year by giving us constructive suggestions, and understand what we can and can't do. We want to do EVERYTHING, but it will just take longer than a lot of you would expect -- no worries, we'll get there! I can't say enough how talented our design team is. We all share a huge passion for the wrestling genre, and strive to make nothing but ultimate wrestling game every single year.

Guys, I'm being open and honest to all of you. Don't take my words and scramble them please. The only reason why I say that is because I've seen it happen on boards.

I'm pretty excited for this weekend. I've got Red Dead Redemption to play (it's so dope guys), UEFA Champions League final, then a night out with my wife on Saturday night, then a LA Galaxy game on Sunday followed by the recording of "Over the Limit".

Enjoy your weekend everyone, and let me know what you think of "Over the Limit"!

Land of the Rising Sun

2010-05-16T13:43:00.000-07:00

I was up until about 5 AM last night -- haven't done that in YEARS! Why is that? It's because I spent the last week in Tokyo, Japan. Yuke's, our external developer is headquartered there, and this was my first experience there. I didn't really know what to expect, as this was my first trip off the continent. I made sure to take my wife because of this, because you only get one first time...

We arrived in Japan, and after a 11 hour flight, we had to get on a bus from the airport to the hotel which took two hours. Needless to say, we were beat! The next morning was work time, as we boarded a subway train to Yokohama Station where Yuke's is located. I must say, if cars are not necessary in Tokyo -- the subway system is AMAZING!

Since we're getting pretty close to completion on SvR '11, we needed to review with the dev team (engineers), what was currently in the latest build, and give our detailed feedback on what exactly we'd like to see. The Yuke's office was cool, because it was my first experience at a Japanese studio, I didn't quite know what to expect. The office is rather small, but you definitely get a sense of what the studio has accomplished over the years (with SvR, UFC, Japanese wrestling games, etc.). We quickly got into it though, with the Yuke's 3 representatives from the game team watching us as we go through a build calling out our feedback (through a translator of course), while listening to their reasoning.

I'm not familiar with this process, because at EA, our dev team was right there with us. But, I quite enjoyed this part, as it's something different, and provides a challenge. The build is coming along nicely... We have alot of work to do, but we'll get there.

Tuesday was my birthday, and towards the end of the day, I heard a faint singing, and then the door busted open, and in came a herd of Japanese guys and girls, with a cake singing their rendition of Happy Birthday. I was overwhelmed, completely overwhelmed. They put a party hat and sash on me. They also gave me a hand drawing they did (picture above), and gave me a copy of Wrestle Kingdom 2 signed by the game's director. They hardly knew me, yet they treated me like they've known me for years -- this was a common feeling I got in Japan. I was humbled for sure.

By the time we left Japan, I didn't want to go to be honest. I loved my experience there, and can't wait to go back!

Next stop -- E3. Will you be there? How about that meetup!

Will Update Later Today

2010-05-16T04:18:00.000-07:00

It's 4AM, and I'm still not quite caught up on the Japan / US timing.

I know a lot of people are anticipating an entry, so I'll update everyone on my trip to Japan last week tomorrow... (today?)

I Can't Talk About SvR '11 -- Here's Why (An Education)

2010-04-29T11:52:00.000-07:00

What's up everyone? What did you think of the WWE Draft? Some exciting stuff there, particularly how it effects SvR '11 is what kept all of us at the office here interested. I did an interview with GamingRing.com on Tuesday night, which you can listen to here.

I'm getting alot of questions about whether or not I can talk about SvR '11. The quick answer -- no. Why you ask? Every single game in this industry has timelines on when they talk about things. There's a strategic element to it, that people smarter than I have jobs for. We (THQ) are a public company, and there's an order to how things are done. Therefore, I can't even answer the smallest question about SvR '11 though -- it wouldn't be fair to the franchise. I know, I know "But wouldn't telling us stuff early lead to more excitement?" Sure, but that's not my call guys. The people who read this are the guys I'm trying to educate about PROCESS. This, is part of the process. Then there are the assumptions (remember -- never assume ;) ). "If you can't say anything, you're holding something back!" That's never how it is done. This is a BIG industry with ALOT of games in it. When we release information, is an idea that is thought about constantly.

Hope this sheds some light on things guys.

Getting Prepared for Japan

2010-04-22T08:17:00.000-07:00

Been a few days since I updated, but that's because we're knee deep in work at the moment. Our Japan trip is coming up soon (May 10th), and builds keep coming in from Yukes for us to look over. I went to the Yukes LA office this week to check out a latest build, and was encouraged to see alot of changes this time around. It's quite a different experience than what I'm used to, working with a Japanese developer. I'm enjoying it thus far though, because the culture is so different, and the respect that Yukes has for us is flattering, but the feeling is mutual on our end too!

I'm getting excited to start talking about SvR '11 with all of you. I know there's a lot of skepticism, excitement, and general wonder about what will be included -- you'll just have to wait and see though.

My attention lately has shifted towards you guys, the community. What can you guys do to help us out more? Right now the community is pretty fragmented, does that make sense? You have a bunch of different sites talking SvR, but no acknowledgment of one another. In my opinion, it would be more helpful for us to get one clear message from you hardcore fans. The Gaming Rings, the IGN boards, OS, CAWS.ws, and even Firepro's boards all have the same kinds of issues, but they're said in different ways. I'm wondering if maybe we could do some sort of weekly conference call with the "heads of the families," in a "Godfather"-like fashion, where we discuss the issues you guys are seeing on your sites. Also, maybe time booked at E3 would be good too so people could meet like-minded people face to face...

Just thoughts guys, tell me what you think...

Think Annually...

2010-04-19T10:42:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday everyone! If you didn't watch last night's TNA Lockdown PPV, you missed an EPIC, MOTY candidate, showdown between Kurt Angle and Mr. Anderson. It's moments like these that make you appreciate watching legends in the now.

Anyway, I won't make this long, but I've been reading TONS of wish lists lately, and I must say thanks first of all for welcoming me into your communities. Now, as you write an idea down (or a complaint / demand ;) ), keep in mind that we make this game annually. This isn't a secret. Put SvR in the SAME realm as simulation sports games. Now that you've done that, does your wish list change? Do your complaints lessen? If not, let me know!

HATE

2010-04-16T08:46:00.000-07:00

So I spent alot of time on message boards yesterday, and I noticed alot of negative things said about some of my team members at THQ. This should stop guys. You have every right to complain about things that you buy, but when it comes to personal insults, that's just not necessary. Here's a newsflash -- WE ALL WANT THE SAME THINGS YOU GUYS DO!

Some think they know what goes on, but unless you've been there, you have no idea... It's just a fact guys. BUT, I think that we can help with that moving forward. Bring you guys in on what's going on, get you involved in these conversations.

Now, enjoy the weekend everyone! Come back fresh, insult free, and ready to rock on Monday!

YOU Tell ME...

2010-04-15T08:27:00.000-07:00

I've heard it about 2741073980174380173498021783490 times -- "Why can't you just make SvR like No Mercy combined with HCTP?"

I, like all of you, loved the AKI wrestling games, but is "No Mercy," and "WrestleMania 2000" what you really want? Let's discuss...

I see constantly on boards that you guys want a simulation game, and then you turn around and say "I miss the AKI games." Well, I'm just going to say it...the AKI games weren't sim wrestling games. Were they an absolute blast to play? Absolutely. But were they sim? Nope.

I won't go into why I think so, but if you really take a step back and judge those games based on what you think is a true representation of the WWE, then I think you'll know right away that they weren't sim. I think we often blur the lines between fun and sim, and alot of good sports games are like that now (NHL, FIFA). Also, and it's natural, but everyone thinks of the "heyday" as the better time. I'm not starting a SvR vs AKI argument, I'm just saying that it's important for us to separate our feelings from our desires. We all feel that we loved the AKI games, but we all want a sim wrestling game as well.

If you want a sim wrestling game, then the AKI games are not it.

Now, I realize I opened myself up to this, so I'm fully prepared to be wrong with this. I'd love it if you guys could tell me exactly what you loved about the AKI games, and what you'd like to see implemented into the SvR series from what the AKI games did. If you're one of those "I want a sim wrestling game" guys, then tell me what you liked from the AKI games from that perspective. If you're one of those guys that doesn't say that, tell me generally what you liked from the AKI games.

I want to make one thing clear though, this does not mean that what you write down, we'll build because that's just not how things work. I'm always looking for ideas, and I'd be a fool not to tap into a community of passionate fans. But look at this blog as a sounding board to get your ideas and points across.

Here we go...

R.I.P. Gene Kiniski...

2010-04-14T18:07:00.001-07:00

Back to Work and Ready to Kick the Flu's A**!

2010-04-13T14:42:00.000-07:00

I'm back to work after a few days with the flu. It's still not completely gone, but I'll survive. While sick, I was thinking about what my workout schedule would be like once I got back. At EA, I worked out religiously because there was a gym in the office. There is NOT a gym at THQ (that needs to change), so instead, I'm going to get a membership at the OG of gyms -- Gold's Gym in Venice Beach. After I get started back up at the gym, I'm going to begin exploring pro wrestling training. One of the guys on the team trains in Anaheim with Disco Inferno, so I might try my hand at that. I'm not looking to do shows, but rather just get the experience training since I've always wanted to.

I really enjoyed both shows last night (WWE and TNA) for different reasons. I'll spare you guys why...

I'm currently at my desk fleshing out a high-level design for the FUTURE (said in sci-fi narrator voice)!!

I wanted to address something, and I couldn't have picked a better time...

I'm seeing alot of negativity towards SvR as of late on some of the various boards around the world wide web. I knew what I was getting into coming in, so I expected that. We have some extremely hardcore fans of this business, and more importantly, our game. I'd say this is a plus for us, BUT it's very important that your expectations are in check. We make a game annually, so while wishlists are important, start to think about what we've done in the past, and how realistic it is to get to something in the next installment. Once you're thinking on those terms, I think we'll see a lot more progress in the wishlists that are provided. My goal here is to teach everyone about the development process of their favorite game, and in turn, you'll become more educated (in a good way) so that our two way communication is productive for everyone! I won't ever speak for our entire team, but In my time with these guys, there's no doubt that they know what they're doing. With that said, here are a quick FYI's for all of you as we move forward:

1.) Never assume - This is one of the first things you learn in game development, and I thought it would be an ideal place for all of you as well. Never assume how things are done, unless we tell you, you don't know. It's not me standing on my soap box declaring it, it's just a fact. With that said, I'll always be honest with you, even if the answer you get isn't something you want to hear. Honesty never hurts anyone :)

2.) Constructive Criticism - I love to hear what all of you have to say about SvR, so for the sake of time (for both of us), if you have a complaint about the game, be precise in what you're talking about and offer up a solution on what you would do if you were in one of our shoes. Everyone can complain or praise, but it takes some effort to explain why.

3.) We're human - We don't sit in a death star with storm trooper helmets on, we're real people that enjoy doing this for a living. You would right? I personally read pretty much everything that's said about our game... if you've written it, I've probably seen it.

4.) Time is limited - A new game comes out every year, and I'm doing my day job. As I put myself out there, understand that I can't answer or talk with everyone. I'll do my best, but if I don't answer, don't take offense -- it's nothing personal at all! Also, please take note of what's previously been said before. If 10 people have already said that something is wrong, it's just a waste of time to read about the 11th person saying it. In the end, it benefits all of you to know what's been said already.

That's it for now, but I'll add more when I think of any. I hope this doesn't come off as snobby or cocky. I love interacting with all of you -- it's my background, and I believe that it is necessary in order to have a game that satisfies everyone.

If you have any questions at anytime, please feel free to Tweet me, or PM me on the message board you go to. My name on messageboards is always "stephensonmc"

Day 2 of the Flu...

2010-04-12T07:15:00.000-07:00

Three days in our new place, and I have the flu...

A couple of the guys on our SvR team invited me to the PWG show on Saturday (Pro Wrestling Guerilla), but I didn't feel so hot. It's a shame because I really wanted to go...

RAW and Impact tonight. I anticipate Mondays so much, because the show's happenings serve as our team's discussion topics for the rest of the week. It makes you feel pretty lucky to work on a passion of yours.

I've really been enjoying NXT lately. I think I just love seeing the new blood out there. Which reminds me, I'm JUST asking, but how would YOU implement NXT into SvR? I know a "career mode" is the obvious thought, but how would you go outside of the box with it? Please don't jump to conclusions, I just wanted to ask...

What's your NXT rookie order? Mine:

1.) Bryan
2.) Heath Slater
3.) Gabriel
4.) Wade Barrett
5.) David Otunga
6.) Skip Sheffield
7.) Darren Young
8.) Tarver

I'm seeing alot of wishlists in the various communities across internet land -- keep them coming. If I can't answer something guys, please don't take offense. I'm here to have discussions with you guys, but for obvious reasons, there's really no way I can answer everything.

"Hart and Soul"

2010-04-11T22:43:00.000-07:00

Have any of you seen this yet? I've been meaning to pick it up, and add it to THQ's WWE video library of goodness!

Let me know what you guys think of this!

Long Time, I Know!

2010-04-11T17:00:00.000-07:00

I know it's been far too long since I've posted here, so let me take you through the last three weeks of my life...

THQ has been fantastic so far. My first day was about three weeks ago, and the team has accepted me with open arms. They're really passionate about what they do, and are complete wrestling fanatics (which should really make alot of you feel good)!

The first couple of days at the office were like run together for me. There was the getting to and from, which equals traffic, and to avoid it, I found myself leaving at around 7 AM every day, and leaving at 6:30 -- which made the driving pretty tolerable.

I've been thrown right into it at THQ -- and I'm also trying to impact other parts of the company as well, in particular, their community efforts. As most of you know, THQ has a co-developer, Yukes working on the SvR franchise. Working with them has been quite a learning experience, but a welcome one. I love the respect the Japanese developer shows, and their knowledge and passion for a 10+ year franchise is pretty clear.

My wife and I are LOVING the food here. We're vegetarians, and LA really offers us alot of options. Abbots pizza, Mao's Chinese Kitchen, Seed, and the traditional Chipotle have been recent stops for us.

We also found a place, and are now living in Venice, CA which is our type of neighborhood. We really dig the laid back vibe here.

The cable company came, and hooked up our TV -- FINALLY I get my TV again, which I've missed since we've been in temporary housing. I was disappointed that our new place didn't allow DirecTV, because I really wanted the NFL Sunday Ticket so I could watch my Dallas Cowboys. Instead, I have the MLB Extra Innings package, and have my first DVR -- what an experience.

I'm finding myself really getting in to the Dodgers here. I'm a huge baseball fan, and I don't feel like I'm cheating on my Indians since the Dodgers are a NL team.

What do you guys thing of wrestling on the tube so far? I loved the way HBK retired, and will remember it forever. I'm glad NXT is getting around to telling us, the viewers, how the competition plays out, and Smackdown continues to have excellent matches! TNA had a great ladder match last week between Angle and Anderson, and Orlando Jordan has been one of the most confusing characters I've ever seen in wrestling.

I can't comment too much on the game at this point, but we're taking a trip to Japan in May to spend some quality time with Yukes. This will be my first trip out off of the continent, but my wife is going with me, so it makes me feel good about it.

Are any of you going to E3? I keep forgetting it's in my backyard now, so I hope to see alot of you there -- we have some good stuff to show!

Anyway, I'll be posting more often, because we got a brand new laptop -- our first Mac!

Thanks for the patience, and you should see me on the different boards very soon!

FLASHING...LIGHTS, LIGHTS, LIGHTS....

2010-03-19T19:26:00.000-07:00

Ladies and gentlemen, Marcus Stephenson is BACK in the United States! After a long, slightly hectic, day we're comfortably in our temporary housing in Marina Del Rey, California (a little outside of Santa Monica -- were we want to live). I start work at THQ on Monday, but I'm going through the traditional orientation that this industry loves to run us through.

If it's anything like EA's, I'll actually start on Tuesday :)

I'm looking forward to meeting the people who I've been in contact with via e-mail at THQ. They all seem like smart, passionate people that I'm excited to share ideas, and create a fantastic WWE product!

Short post today, I know -- but I'll be sure to update all of you on my first official day at THQ soon.

Until then, bye for now...

Monday Nights are BACK!

2010-03-15T20:29:00.001-07:00

3 days left in Vancouver...

Can you just feel it in the air? During a major portion of my life as a fan of professional wrestling, Monday nights were a staple in my household. I feel it again... I feel the anticipation each Monday night again.

Tonight, RAW gave me that nostalgic feeling with Stone Cold and Bret Hart out there. How surreal was it seeing SCSA and Cena in the same ring? Who works the crowd like that anymore? I think the Miz does in a way...

We're quickly wrapping things up in Vancouver as the moving truck comes Wednesday. Today we threw a bunch of stuff away, and I cemented plans to have a goodbye lunch with Sean O'Brien from the NBA LIVE team tomorrow -- he's always a fun guy to be around. We'll talk hoops for sure, which I'm looking forward to.

I thought of a few ideas for SvR today, and I can't wait to get into the studio to share them with the team.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow's LOST -- this season has been pretty good so far. John Locke is the MAN!

Last Few Days in Vancouver...

2010-03-14T21:03:00.000-07:00

It's a pretty surreal feeling in our place right now. Having friends over one last time, sitting on the couch watching TV knowing that you can't ultimately be comfortable due to the fact that you'll be gone soon -- in temporary housing no less.

Still, there's a certain degree of excitement as well. I see you guys, the faithful wrestling games crowd, talking about my arrival to THQ. It gives me confidence going into a new world, where there are already pre-existing passionate fans in place.

I'm trying to figure out currently how I'm going to watch WrestleMania when I'm in LA... The moving company will have picked up our stuff, and we'll be in temporary housing. I hope the housing has PPV, but if it doesn't, any ideas from you guys on where to watch it in LA would be much appreciated.

Well, that's all for now...

Back to getting rid of things before the move...

On This Day in Wrestling History...

2010-03-14T20:57:00.000-07:00

March 14th, 1984 -- The Iron Sheik defeated Chief Jay Strongbow

Speaking of the Iron Sheik, apparently, he had some problems on a recent flight...

From JR’s JRSBARBQ.com blog:
“Small world….an old friend of mine was on a flight from Vegas to Atlanta this week and was seated on the same row, row 10, with a reportedly rowdy Iron Sheik. My friend, who is not in the wrestling biz, sent me a few text messages describing the scene which apparently was a little wild. It’s hard to believe that when I first met the Iron Sheik that he was quiet, weighed about 195 pounds or so, had hair, and was then a regular traveling partier with Danny Hodge.”

This famous camel clutch against Bob Backlund is the first image that pops into my head when I think of the Iron Sheik:

Saturday is Before Sunday

2010-03-14T01:01:00.000-08:00

First off, what did you guys think of Smackdown on Friday night? I loved CM Punk's promo!

I went for my usual run this morning, but I already miss the gym at EA. I'll have to get a membership to a gym in LA -- I doubt I can just roll up on muscle beach and hit the weights...

"WWE Vintage Collection" was on today, and they dedicated the entire show to WrestleMania XII's 60 minute Iron Man Match between Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart. I remember when I was younger and watching this, I was amazed by HBK's entrance. The funny thing though is that I don't know whether that image is something I remember experiencing, or the WWE showing that video so much, that I just took the thought from that...

I'm writing late because we just got back from our going away party, I'll definitely miss the folks here in Vancouver, but I know I'll still see them -- this industry is smaller than one would think.

All for tonight (it's 1:09 AM)

On this Day in Wrestling History...

2010-03-12T12:00:00.000-08:00

WWE - March 12, 1984 - Paul Orndorff aka "Mr. Wonderful" defeated Salvatore Bellomo in Staten Island, NY

I remember having this very old wrestling book -- one with HUGE pages, and there was this picture of Orndorff with this Rolls-Royce. I thought he was sooooo cool!

And so it Begins....

2010-03-12T08:30:00.000-08:00

Today, Pastapadre.com announced that I've left EA to go to THQ to work on the WWE Smackdown vs Raw series.

I must say, this is a change that I'm extremely excited for, but life in this industry, on a corporate level, has been all EA SPORTS for me since I started -- so that will be a different feeling for sure. When I first got to EA, people knew me from my MaddenMania.com days and thought I was "in bed" with EA. Egg on your faces now right? ;)

Anyway, my wife and I are still in Vancouver, BC until March 19th, but I've been talking with the team at THQ about designs for WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2011, while coordinating the move to LA.

With all of this time off though (I put my two weeks in at EA two weeks ago), It's been a wrestlefest (no pun intended) of video games, dirt sheets, and DVDs that I own.

Two going away parties for us this weekend, but I must say that I'm ready to leave. Alot of it is because of the new job that awaits me, but the most important thing to me is moving to a new city with my wife -- it feels like an adventure!

I'm going to really sink my teeth into this role at THQ. If you're a fan of the series, let's take this thing to another level! If you're not a fan, get on board.

Who Won This Week? (WWE or TNA)

2009-05-01T21:18:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

Thanks so much for the support this week even though I didn't update the blog. I'll be back next week with thoughts and reviews of the shows. For now though, take a look at the poll to the right and vote for whichever promotion you thought won this week.

Right now, the WWE leades 1-0! Because I didn't update the blog this week, I won't vote, so the outcome is directly based on your votes.

Last Week's Winner Is......

2009-04-29T08:44:00.000-07:00

The WWE! Combined with all of yours (thanks for voting) and my vote, the WWE is the winner.

So that's the WWE 1, TNA 0.

I'll post a poll after Friday Night Smackdown! for this week's shows.

Why no Backlash or RAW Review?

2009-04-28T20:27:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

Again, I thank you for your support, but this week I have to take a break from Headlocks 4 Breakfast because work is ramping up (I'm a video game producer), and I can't devote the time necessary to think of witty things to say.

Backlash was awesome - that's really all you need to know. The Cena / Edge match was EPIC!

RAW last night was pretty good too. I like seeing MVP maybe moving up to Main Event status.

I'll be back next Monday guys with a review of RAW. Very sorry once again. Thanks for reading of course!

WWE "Backlash" PPV Tonight! (Review After the Show)

2009-04-26T07:29:00.000-07:00

Make sure that you stay tuned to Headlocks 4 Breakfast for our "Backlash" PPV Review after tonight's show. Who will come out as WWE and World Heavyweight champions? John Cena, Triple H, Edge, or Randy Orton? Find out tonight! Here's the card for tonight's show:

"Santina" on Khali Kiss Cam

CM Punk vs. Kane

Chris Jericho vs. Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat

Jeff Hardy vs. Matt Hardy ("I Quit" Match)

Triple H, Batista, and Shane McMahon vs. Randy Orton and The Legacy (Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase)

Jack Swagger vs. Christian

John Cena vs. Edge (Last Man Standing Match)

On This Day in Wrestling History...

2009-04-26T07:25:00.000-07:00

April 26th, 1994 - The Headshrinkers defeated The Quebecers for the WWE Tag Team title.

WWE vs. TNA -- Who Won this Week? 4/20 - 4/24

2009-04-25T21:11:00.000-07:00

If you're wondering what this is about, please read this entry.

The WWE wins for me this week because of WWE Superstars (the show). I ALMOST want to give it to TNA because of last night's Smackdown!, but iMPACT! was promo city this week. I have the WWE up 1-0 over TNA en route to next month's PPV battle. What do you guys think? Sound off via the poll to the right and I'll combine those votes with my score to get a final outcome for this week!

Friday Night Smackdown! Review 4/24

2009-04-25T18:26:00.000-07:00

Two days away from "Backlash" meant that the WWE had to do their very best to try and encourage us to buy the PPV. Did they come through? NOT AT ALL.

After an awesome Smackdown! last week, I was almost positive that we were seeing a new trend in the WWE. If we wanted to see good wrestling, we could count on Smackdown! to deliver that. If we wanted "Days of Our Lives" wrestling style, we could watch RAW. Who knew that RAW would be the better show this week? And on top of that, by the looks of things, WWE Superstars topped them both, and that's only an hour show. Anyway, let's get on with it (this is almost as painful writing this as it was watching).

The show opened up with JR and Grisham teasing the main event of the evening which was the Undertaker vs. Big Show. I was thinking, "ok, ok...here we go." They also mentioned that Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase would matchup against Shane McMahon and Batista. I immediately felt like I got punched in the stomach. Aren't these guys on RAW? Didn't they say last week on Smackdown! that this week would feature the newly drafted Smackdown! superstars? More on that later.

Cue the best music in the WWE. Edge comes out to the ring and does a pretty serious promo. The only thing was that all of a sudden, the lights in the arena went out making it a bit too gothic for me. Edge did show his mic skills, and did his best to pump up his match against Cena at "Backlash." He (Edge) mentioned that he won his first world championship in 2006. Well, it's 2009 now which made me think of something...

He's won the title 8 times in three years. If he wins Sunday against Cena, which I'm sure he will, he'll have won the title 9 times in three years. Isn't that a bit obnoxious? Do you think the WWE realizes this? How much does this tarnish the legacy of the world championship in the WWE? In my opinion, this superficially catapults Edge onto lists of former champions like Hulk Hogan, Macho Man, Ric Flair, Triple H, The Rock, HBK, Bret Hart, and Stone Cold. You get what I'm saying... Edge is fantastic, but his three year reign happens a bit too soon.

Matt Hardy and Kane vs. CM Punk and Jeff Hardy

I'm really not a fan of mid-card matches at a PPV being promoted via a pre-show mixed tag match. Back in the day, a mixed tag match before a big PPV showdown was left to main eventers. Because this formula has been used so often, it's become stale to me.

The match was alright though. I thought for certain that because Kane was involved, they'd lose, but I was wrong. Matt Hardy and Kane won, which left JR and Grisham to say "That's three in a row for Matt over his brother Jeff." Here's where I have the problem. Doing this three times in a row all but cements a win for Jeff at "Backlash." Does the WWE really think we think Matt has Jeff's number? It bit too obvious guys. We shall see though at "Backlash."

Big Show vs. Undertaker

This match started with the Big Show doing a promo in the ring. Personally, I can't stand it when Big Show talks. I want to imagine him as this gigantic phenom that just destroys people, but the minute he opens his mouth, he ruins it for me. The gimmick's over. When Andre opened his mouth, you could hardly understand him. That was part of the appeal... Question: Do you still get chills when the Undertaker comes out? I do. His entrance is still one of the best, and it's good to see it hasn't changed much. Although the minute his matches start, he loses the persona of "the dead man," and becomes a boxer.

This was a ridiculous moment. Undertaker has entered the ring, and he's doing his removal of the hat routine, and while this is going on, Big Show is jumping up and down, shaking his arms, and shadow boxing as if he's getting prepped for a heavyweight boxing fight. Again, this just ruins it for me. I want to see Big Show just look straight at him. Not move, just stare at him. The match begins and they both start at each other as if it was the beginning of UFC 98. I guess I'm just old school here, but to me it's absurd to see the Undertaker get hit, and then stand up throwing punches at the air indicating that he can't see straight, if at all. Who made the decision to turn the Undertaker into this? I just can't let that go guys, I'm sorry.

I also want to comment, yet again, on the predictability the WWE shows. Why is it that it seems whenever someone initially goes for a choke slam, it's countered. Seriously, the next time you watch a WWE show, I guarantee the intial choke slam attempt will be countered. They make such a big deal about the "slap" noise of getting the lock on for the choke, but it's always countered. The WWE MUST see this. And of course, the Big Show did his usual, pin opponent up against the ropes, take a running charge missing him completely, fall to the outside of the ring.

Anyway, the Big Show won with a knockout punch, but instead of winning by pinfall, the ref called the match. Seriously? Since when does the towel get thrown in? WTF? This match sucked.

BTW -- JR and Grisham kept referring to this match as the "Main Event." If this was the "Main Event," then why is it ending the FIRST hour of the show?

Gail Kim vs. Maryse

"sandwich break"

A pretty cool Jeff Hardy promo happened where he appeared to be in a boiler room talking about his match with his brother at "Backlash." Reminded me of the old days. Good job here.

Chavo vs. MVP

Why did the WWE even bother with this one? And isn't Chavo and MVP on RAW now? Didn't they say on Smackdown! last week that it would be MVP's final appearance on Smackdown!? Inconsistent WWE, again, YOU MUST SEE THIS! Add the fact that MVP is AGAIN facing Dolph Ziggler next week on Smackdown!, and I'm certain that the WWE thinks we're idiots.

MVP won the match

At this point, I don't know how much more I can take. It has been an awful show, and I was ready to turn it off.

I didn't even want to watch the actual "Main Event," and turned the TV off. I couldn't help myself though, and turned it back on. Luckily, I did catch an awesome promo of John Cena talking about his match with Edge. Cena was right, they both are the Yankees and Red Sox of the WWE. The WWE has made certain of that. I'm looking forward to this one at "Backlash," but I can't see how Cena walks out of there with the belt. If he did, what a pleasant surprise that would be from the WWE.

Shane McMahon and Batista vs. Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase

I love Ted, you guys know that, but I'm not even commenting on this match. These guys are RAW superstars taking Smackdown! real estate to hype their "Main Event" match at "Backlash," because the bookers / writers aren't convinced, after beating us over the head with this storyline, that we are convinced. The only thing this match showed was that Batista may turn at "Backlash." They won the match by the way.

No random notes guys. Why do you think I've waited this long to write my review? It's 9:08 PST, and I still haven't gotten over it. The show sucked, and if I wasn't gone last weekend, "Lockdown" would've been my PPV of choice because of this show, I've lost hope for "Backlash."

I hope I'm wrong. Sort it out WWE!

On This Day in Wrestling History...

2009-04-25T18:23:00.000-07:00

April 25th, 2000 - David Arquette defeated Diamond Dallas Page by pinning Eric Bischoff in a tag team match for the WCW World Heavyweight title. (lowest point in WCW history?)

On This Day in Wrestling History...

2009-04-24T07:20:00.000-07:00

April 24th, 2001 - Johnny Valentine, son of Greg "The Hammer" Valentine, died of heart failure. Valentine had complications all of his life from the infamous 1975 plane crash that involved Valentine, Ric Flair, David Crockett, Bob Bruggers, and Tim Woods. The pilot of the plane was killed.

TNA iMPACT! Review 4/23 (Promo Edition)

2009-04-23T22:16:00.000-07:00

Coming off a usually successful (maybe - TNA's PPV buyrates are down 20%) annual PPV in "Lockdown," TNA's first iMPACT! had alot to deliver. Did they? I really don't think so. I heard mixed reviews for "Lockdown" (I wasn't able to watch). Some loved it, some hated it, but one thing's for sure, people were talking about it which I think is all TNA asks. The big stink, make that a sweatpants stink, after the PPV was the fact that Mick Foley was the NEW TNA Champion. I for one didn't mind that too much (pre tonight's iMPACT!), but now, I really want this belt on someone else, anyone else! Let's get to the show, shall we?

iMPACT! opened up with the founder, Jeff Jarrett coming into the ring to introduce Mick Foley as the new TNA Champion, and to hand him his new belt. Mick then came down to the ring in an amazing outfit that was classic Mick. Foley was wearing a suit jacket, black shirt underneath, and sweatpants (could've been dress pants, but I was watching in SD b/c we don't get Spike in Canada in HD). Classy Mick, classy. Before any of you get on me for knocking Mick's style choice, or say "he always wears stuff like that, wake up," I KNOW THIS. That doesn't excuse the fact that he needs to be a bit more presentable on TV. It worked when he was a mid-carder, but if he's the flagship (champion), he needs to lead by example.

Foley thanks a few people for the victory, the cameraman "Dirk," and Sting who he said would probably be missing from action for a few weeks. To his credit, Mick was doing a fantastic job hamming it up in front of the camera like he always does "right here, in Orlando, Florida!" His face was jacked, as he claimed numerous times throughout the show (annoyingly) that he had 25 stitches put into him!

Jarrett, not amused, didn't hesitate to book a title defense at TNA's next PPV "Sacrifice" in a 4-way match against 3 other opponents of Jarrett's choice. The gimmick? Since the PPV is called "Sacrifice," appropriately, Jarrett would be choosing the 3 opponents based on what they're willing to "sacrifice" for an opportunity at the TNA championship. Mick wasn't too happy about the decision, and then said that they were business partners and that since he booked him, he (Mick) was going to book Jarrett tonight in a match against Scott Steiner.

blah blah blah, blah blah blah. Honestly, this promo lasted 15 minutes. I was tired of it. It seriously seemed forced, and it was evident that the two were trying to take up time because they'd repeat, and repeat again as if the folks in attendance, and us watching at home, didn't understand it the first time. We got the stipulations, we understand what's going on. I think the talent is partially to blame for the stigma put on wrestling fans that we're dumb. If you treat us like we're dumb, outsiders have ammo.

One more thing about this promo. Foley called the match he booked between Jarrett and Steiner a "Cactus Jack Smack Attack." BARF

"sandwich break" - Beautiful People promo

In yet another promo, West interviewed Team 3D after their recent win on "Lockdown." Team 3D took the opportunity to slam the WWE for the lack of focus on tag team competition (which I agree with) and announced that they were going to put on a tag team tournament for a shot at their titles and to bring a greater emphasis on tag team competition in TNA. They named the tournament the "Team 3D Tag Team Invitational Tournament."

Beer Money Inc. vs. Lethal Consequences (Quarterfinal match in the T3DTTIT)

My god! Even the acronym for the tournament is huge. This was the first of two quarterfinal matches in the tournament. They both were the best matches of the night. I really like the tag teams in TNA. Beer Money Inc. used great teamwork, and worked the ring well while Lethal Consequences mixed in their high energy, aerial maneuvers. Beer Money won the match with their devastating finisher (DWI - greatest finisher name ever). If you want to watch tag team wrestling, watch TNA!

Guess what happened next? You're right, another promo. This time MEM was up. They were interviewed to get their thoughts on the announced match between Steiner and Jarrett. Angle began talking, but Scott cut him off. Let's get one thing straight. Scott Steiner is a LEGEND on the mic. He called Jarrett a "sorry son of a bitch" that drew awkward looks from Angle and the rest of the crew. You never know what you're going to get with Steiner, which is why he's great.

Right after the MEM promo came ANOTHER promo. This time with Jarrett. You know what? I'm not using anymore space in this review to talk about promos. Why you ask? Because there were 12 of them. TWELVE! There were only 6 matches on the card tonight, yet 12 promos. Yes, things happened during those promos, so I'll give you a quick rundown to save sanity.

Jarrett promo - unsuccessful because of Eric Young interrupting

Mick Foley promo - "CROSS THE LINE CAM" was the worst waste of time I've ever witnessed. He went around his hometown flashing his TNA championship belt as if he were a god.

Kevin Nash and Booker T promo - their "sandwich breaks" (Sharmell and Jenna) got into a cat fight.

Jeff Jarrett promo - unsuccessful because a call came in about his daughter and school

1 HOUR MARK = 1 match, 9 promos

Kevin Nash vs. AJ Styles (TNA Legends Championship on the line)

Kevin Nash came out with an enormous hockey elbow pad over his right elbow (interesting). I was hoping he'd use it as a weapon Cowboy Bob Orton style... but he didn't. The match was going pretty well. Styles can get up! He has serious hops that make you believe he can actually compete with a guy like Nash. Unfortunately, the match ended in a DQ because Sharmell and Booker T came down to the ring. Sharmell tried to distract the ref while Booker T interfered, but the ref out of the corner of his eye caught Booker T (which the camera work displayed beautifully) and DQ'd Nash. This sparked a heated confrontation backstage between the two MEM members.

No Limit vs. Jethro Holliday and Eric Young (Quarterfinal match in the T3DTTIT)

I was actually pumped to see old Trevor Murdoch himself only with a new name, "Jethro Holliday" (same thing I guess). This match was a fantastic one that was similar to the previous tag match to open the show. Holliday can wrestle guys. He has great ring presence, and is very detailed in his craft. I think people recognized this about him while he was in the WWE. Holliday and Young scored the win, which helps push Eric Young a bit.

AJ Styles promo - Out comes "Umaga" Joe with a towel over his head (Taz(z) hint). In short, he tells Styles that he has no friends. :(

Dr. Stevie Richards promo - Abyss was Richards's guest on his couch. Wrestlecrap, but entertaining had there not been 2317390 promos already.

Chris Daniels promo - Daniels talks about being humbled while he was "fired" from TNA. He said that he couldn't stand watching the MEM, but his wife told him that he was exactly like that. I know Daniels is a talent, but what was said during this promo was quite possibly the dumbest thing ever. TNA, you have to push your guys for sure, but to say that Daniels is close to being in the same breath as Bret Hart from a technical perspective is ridiculous.

Another Mick Foley "CROSS THE LINE" promo

Jeff Jarrett vs. Scott Steiner ("Cactus Jack Smack Attack" no DQ match)

I'm only a fan of "hardcore" matches when there's two extremely athletic guys in the ring (like the Hardy's). But when there's a lumbering Steiner vs. Jeff Jarrett who has no business being in a hardcore match, it's a shitty way to end an evening. There was hardly any wrestling in this, but rather different ways to use the various weapons around the arena. Mick Foley supposedly "chose" the weapons that would be used in this match, and in typical sweatpants fashion, one of them was a pogo stick. Yes, a pogo stick. Steiner got on said pogo stick and hopped up and down a few times like an idiot to give Jarrett a bit of time to clothesline him. It was hilarious to watch what happened with the pogo stick, but c'mon TNA, you're better than that.

Another hilarious moment happened when Steiner took the lid of a trash can and hit Jarrett over the head with it. Jarrett didn't take the bump well. Instead, he moved his head down which led to Steiner not even connecting with Jarrett. It looked pretty awkward.

Jarrett won the match (of course).

After the match, MEM stormed the ring and they beat on Jarrett. Foley, who was doing color, ran in and hit Angle with a chair. He then hit Jarrett with a chair. The announce team then said that they were going to cut to a commercial break, but afterwards they'd hear Foley's thoughts on why he got involved.

After the break I think TNA forgot what they just said. Instead of Foley's thoughts, Jarrett was on the mic saying that Foley just made things personal.

Music hit, and Bobby Lashley came and just stood at the top of the ramp glaring at Jarrett while Angle smirked. Didn't Lashley do this very same thing at "Lockdown?" Instead it was iMPACT!, and the show ended.

Overall, besides the tag matches, the show was pretty disappointing. Not enough wrestling, too many promos, and a poor hardcore match to end the evening. I'm not giving TNA too much faith this week in winning the promotional TV show battle, but you guys get to vote (starting tomorrow) too, so maybe I'm just a jackass and wrong...

What did you think of tonight's TNA iMPACT!?

Random Notes:

- TNA does a fantastic job with interviews. They have someone interviewing them which leads to the wrestlers talking to the crowd and not to themselves.

- "peanut butter and jealousy sandwich" guess who said that? You're right, Foley.

- TNA wrestlers do a better job than WWE wrestlers in playing to the crowd. They appear to draw energy from them and acknowledge them which I think has been lost from the WWE for a while.

- During one of the "sandwich breaks," a plastic ladder was used.

- Does AJ Styles look a little like Jamie Noble?

- When No Limit came down to the ring, a fan in mic range yelled "USA-USA!" Thanks Toby Keith!

- Chris Daniels wore sunglasses in the promo which made him look like Paul Ellering.

- Have you seen TNA's promo for their "Sacrifice" PPV? What's with AJ Styles dressed as Marcus Phoenix in Gears of War?

- I know it's been talked about ad nauseum, but I can't help but think of the old Scott Steiner whenever I see him.

- Take a page from TNA WWE. Cut to a commercial during a match as few times as possible (TNA did it once tonight).

WWE Superstars Review 4/23

2009-04-23T20:11:00.000-07:00

Week two of WWE Superstars showed the true quality that the show is going to be. While we are not looking at the next Raw or even the next Smackdown, the show will be much better than Sunday Night Heat. I’m still getting used to the three match shows, but all and all, it was another solid night for WWE Superstars. Let’s take a look at tonight’s matches:

Rey Mysterio & CM Punk vs. Kane & the Big Show

First, let me say that I am not a fan of watching an exciting little guy carry an entire match against a bigger, far less exciting wrestler. Unfortunately, I was stuck watching double the fun as it was clear from the beginning what was going to happen.

Mysterio and Punk dominated the match punishing Kane and the Big Show with numerous high flying moves. The match lasted through a few commercial breaks and the little guys were still in control. Then, with one punch, Kane and the Big Show took over the match. Mysterio was thrown out of the ring and Punk was left to fight the two by himself. 20 seconds later, Punk was flat on his back and being pinned by Kane. Come on guys, this big guy little guy angle is played out. Bring back the Cruiserweight division so we can watch guys like Mysterio actually do their thing.

Tyson Kidd & Natalya vs. Finlay & Hornswoggle

This was clearly a farewell gimmick match for Hornswoggle and his “Father” Finlay due to Hornswoggle being drafted to Raw. The match barely lasted two minutes and Natalya never got in the ring. Hornswoggle did tackle her outside of the ring, but that was the extent of her action. The best part of the match was watching Hornswoggle hit Tyson Kidd with the Frog Splash after Finlay hit him in the head. Despite the match being short, I’m glad to see the WWE splitting Finlay from Hornswoggle. I hope he gets another push as a heel.

Kofi Kingston vs. Edge

This was one of the most exciting matches that I have watched in awhile and further proves my point that Kofi should get a major push. Edge carries most of the guys that he wrestles in the ring, but not Kofi. He is as high flying and acrobatic as they come. Edge won the match, but Kofi dominated most of the fight. Kingston shows skills in the ring that very few guys can match. The two of them battled back and forth hitting one another with numerous moves before edge speared Kofi and covered him for the victory.

Again, this is part of the problem that I have with the WWE. It takes way too long for new guys to get the proper push and then it is almost unbelievable. Who wants to see and or believes that a guy, who couldn’t win a match for years, is all of a sudden the most dominant wrestler in the business? Remember when WCW brought in Goldberg and he won over a 150 straight matches and you knew that he was the guy? Who is going to be that guy in the WWE? Only time will tell, but Kofi Kingston should be that guy!

Wrestling Galore!

2009-04-23T07:21:00.000-07:00

Just like last week, we'll be reviewing both WWE Superstars and TNA iMPACT! tonight. So check out Headlocks 4 Breakfast tomorrow for the full reviews of both shows!

On This Day in Wrestling History...

2009-04-23T07:17:00.000-07:00

April 23rd, 1990 - Curt Henning aka "Mr. Perfect" defeated Tito Santana in a tournament final for the WWE Intercontinental Championship.

"The Wrestler" Blu-Ray Review

2009-04-22T08:54:00.001-07:00

I told you guys that I'd review my new copy of "The Wrestler" on Blu-Ray, and that it wouldn't be a review of the actual movie, but rather the Blu-Ray as a whole.

Well, there's only two bonus features on the disc and you can find them both on the net without buying the movie. A few days ago I linked you guys to a "Wrestler Roundtable" in which Brutus Beefcake, Roddy Piper, Greg Valentine, Lex Luger and Diamond Dallas Page were on hand to discuss their thoughts on the movie. This entire segment is included on the Blu-Ray. It's really interesting to see these former superstars so humbled by the movie. They discuss their road to success, and make the same comparisons with their lives to that of Randy "The Ram" Robinson's.

The best part of the roundtable for me was the discussion on steroids in professional wrestling. Luger admits to using them, and says that he's now an advocate against performance enhancing drugs. Luger looks sickly (maybe because he's not on the juice anymore), and talks about his regrets in his previous life. I think Lex stands out in this roundtable because we've heard so little about him even though he's been involved in incidents like the one with Miss Elizabeth's death.

The second bonus feature was a music video for Bruce Springsteen's original song "The Wrestler." You can watch the video below. Springsteen hasn't lost it, and this song grabs your heart just like the film did.

All in all, I was a little disappointed with the bonus features for the Blu-Ray. I would loved to have seen a "making of" segment, but because the movie is so damn good, It really didn't bother me that much. I'm happy to have the film in my collection. If you still haven't seen the movie and you're reading this blog, you're seriously blowing my mind, and making me wonder if you live life bass ackwards...

On This Day in Wrestling History.....

2009-04-22T08:43:00.000-07:00

April 22nd, 1996 - The Giant defeated Ric Flair for the WCW Heavyweight title.

I Want YOU to Help Select a Pay Per View!

2009-04-21T17:56:00.000-07:00

First off, let me just say that my rhymes are DOPE!

Alright, now to the point of this post (besides showing a "sandwich break" in an "Uncle Sam" outfit). In these economic times, one must be super careful where and how they spend their money. I'm not saying I'm dirt poor, but I wanted to make a game of this. To be honest, only one brand actually deserves money each month, and in that EXTREMELY rare occasion that both PPVs are a lock for quality, I'll purchase both. But that probably won't happen because let's face it, both promotions don't bring it every month.

So here's how the game will work. Each week Headlocks 4 Breakfast will review Monday Night RAW, WWE Superstars, TNA iMPACT! and Friday Night Smackdown!. I'll then, at the end of each week give one promotion a nod over the other. So, if I think RAW, Smackdown and Superstars was better than iMPACT this week, I'll give the WWE a score of 1-0 and vice versa. "But that's not fair! TNA only has one show that's not a recap!" I took this into account. That's why I'm doing it American Idol style! Every Friday, after Friday Night Smackdown!, I'll post a poll asking you guys which promotion won this week. I'll then process that final poll vote with my own personal score and use a very super complicated method to pick a winner for the week (which I'll announce). Whoever wins the most amount of weeks before the PPVs, will win my cash and extremely prestigious review skills.

Make sense? If not, actually READ this story.

Touch of Nostalgia...

2009-04-21T15:28:00.000-07:00

Do you remember the days before the WWE said "Don't Try This?" What were you "trying this" on? These bad boys of course! When I was a kid, you weren't cool unless you had one of these. The boys version of stuffed animals was the bees knees. You weren't a wuss if you had one, you were a legend! Whenever there was a sleepover, everyone in your clique would bring their own (mine was Hulk Hogan of course) and you all would put on matches. It all ended with everyone using them as pillows to beat each other with, but pre-mind fart, the matches you put on were epic!

Don't tell me you didn't recreate the Wrestlemania VII moment, and do the flying elbow off the arm of the couch onto the Ultimate Warrior 5 times. You did, so did I, and so did everyone else! Why? Because we're men and men didn't play with stuffed animals, we beat the shit out of them.

Wrestling Buddies, I salute you!

Rumor Alert - Jeff Hardy Taking his Ball and Going Home?

2009-04-21T09:24:00.000-07:00

There's a rumor going around that Jeff Hardy won't sign an extension on his existing WWE contract that expires in July. Apparently Hardy wants to take some time off and feels financially secure. What do you guys think?

On This Day in Wrestling History...

2009-04-21T07:55:00.000-07:00

April 21st, 2002 - Hulk Hogan defeated Triple H for the WWE Unified Heavyweight title.

Monday Night Raw Review 4/20

2009-04-20T20:20:00.001-07:00

Whenever there's a show before a PPV, THAT should be the show that makes you salivate at the mouth to purchase the PPV because you can't wait to see what happens next. Did the RAW brand deliver on this with tonight's episode? Partially, but I can't help but feel a little robbed of my intelligence. Sure, we (wrestling fans) are ADD, forgetful (on purpose), and we keep coming back for more, but that shouldn't make the writers sit in cruise control and do the same crap all the time.

With that said, RAW brought it tonight to London, England. The set was very London-esque with the stereotypical phone booths and rounded 1960's car. The crowd was pumped and seemed louder than a typical US crowd, often clearly telling the WWE who they liked and hated. At the top of the show, I said to myself "RAW is completely different from Smackdown! (in a bad way)," but after tonight, I think they took a page from Smackdown's all wrestling, little drama approach. I think the WWE is turning a corner a bit. It may be predictable, it may insult our intelligence, but it's wrestling none the less. It's a hell of alot better than Vicky Guerrero's love triangle though, so let's see how the night played out...

Chris Jericho opened the show claiming that this was his final RAW appearance, and that he's glad because he was never appreciated. Ricky Steamboat's music hits, and he and Jericho trade words for a bit, then Jericho challenges Steamboat to a match Sunday at "Backlash." John Cena then interrupts and Jericho cuts him off before he can say a word, and starts to walk backstage. Steamboat then says that he accepts the challenge which garners a sly smirk from Jericho. John Cena, after Steamboat, then says that since Vicky Guerrero is not at RAW tonight, they're going to have a match to send him (Jericho) off to Smackdown!.

There's something I just don't get....why do all of you boo Cena? Are you sick of him being the face of the WWE? I can't help but like the guy because he's all about the business and I applaud that. Sure, he can get a little corny sometimes, his rap skills suck, "The Marine" and "12 Rounds" suck, but the guy's a beast that gives his all night in and night out. Plus, did all of you get on Hulk Hogan for Suburban Commando? I don't think so (I secretly liked that movie). I'm one of you, but I'll never understand the mentality of the wrestling masses. I think you're all waiting for Cena to go heel, which I agree, would be awesome, but I don't think it's happening anytime soon. The WWE needs a big babyface, Cena's perfect for the role.

Batista vs. Chavo

The entrances of the two took longer than this entire match. Chavo went running at Batista who then nailed him, then gave him a Batista Bomb for the win. Why did the WWE waste space with Chavo? If you're going to commit to Chavo as a jobber, I'd rather see a "Barry Horowitz" than a Chavo. Make a new jobber, don't take someone from your ranks and then give him jobber status. I know what some of you are saying, "Chavo has always been a jobber." Well not a 10 second match type jobber...

Kane vs. CM Punk

I'm not sure why, but I just can't get into CM Punk. He's a good wrestler, executes some killer moves, but I just think his gimmick is boring. Maybe it's the fact that his music (screaming) is extremely lame. On the other hand, Kane is officially a mid-card wrestler. It's a sad thing to see too. Where's the old Kane that would slowly walk down the aisle, stalk his prey, and dominate them? Instead, he's an ugly human being (not a super power) who acts tough, but always loses. Punk had a great counter DDT for the win, but would the old Kane lose like that to a DDT? Not a chance...

Beth Phoenix vs. Melina

"sandwich break"

Chris Jericho vs. John Cena

This match was the best of the night. Again, Cena got alot of boos, but when he did the "five knuckle shuffle,(google that for me)" the fans chanted loudly "you can't see me!" See what I told you? ADD...

The match went back and forth for a lengthy period of time (which now equals a good match in today's standards), and both wrestler's kicked out of each other's finishers and didn't tap to their secondary finishers. I think the WWE saw everyone's reaction to Taker / HBK at Wrestlemania 25, but this one felt totally scripted. Jericho would hit the code breaker (which is an awesome finisher btw), and then take his time, because he's tired, to make the cover resulting in Cena kicking out. Then Cena would hit his FU, and again, take his time to make the cover resulting in Jericho kicking out.

Cena would then get the STFU on Jericho and he wouldn't tap, then Jericho would get Cena in the Walls of Jericho (lion tamer was a better name), and Cena wouldn't tap. This is a classic case of the WWE screwing up a good thing they had with the match at Wrestlemania 25. We didn't expect HBK or Undertaker to kick out. They could've gone either way, and it floored us the entire time. With Cena / Jericho we knew what was going to happen the entire time. The writers have to think this stuff through. But they won't because they think so top line and without any depth. I guarantee you that creative was sitting in a room and mentioned "people loved what happened with Taker and HBK, we should shock them with both wrestlers kicking out of their respective finishers." Ok, maybe they didn't use the words "respective finishers."

Anyway, I'm griping, but it really was a good match (don't you believe me now? haha). Edge came in to ruin the party, but that's the WWE right now. They use Edge to do this type of crap and instead of using him as a fantastic wrestler (which he is), they have him end a match that both wrestlers worked their tails off in. "Couldn't leave well enough alone, could you?" - "Johnny" in the Karate Kid.

Rey Mysterio vs. Big Show

Before going into this one, I thought to myself "If they make Mysterio win this match, I'm going to keep watching because I have nothing else better to do." I said last week that I'd like to see Big Show go on a little bit of a run, and it looks like he's doing just that. I'm now sold on the "knockout punch," and he did exactly what he should have done to Mysterio, destroyed him. There were some great "big man" moments in this match, most notably Big Show palming Mysterio's head from outside the ring and lifting him up over the top rope. If you get a chance to see that on YouTube, do it. It looked awesome and really made you feel like you were watching a "giant."

Triple H vs. Randy Orton

This was announced as a no DQ match last week which I think everyone in the world knew that it wouldn't end cleanly. You just knew Rhodes and DiBiase would get involved, and likewise with McMahon and Batista setting up the classic mini-battle royal to lead up to a stable vs. stable main event at a PPV. It's a proven formula. The actual match before that chaos was pretty good. I actually wouldn't mind seeing these two in a main event (singles) competition again because of it (it erased my thoughts on the underwhelming Wrestlemania 25 Main Event). I think the Backlash main event is a cop out, and in no way am I ordering the PPV to see this match. I have a feeling Batista's going to turn on Triple H, but we'll see.

There were a few things in this match that was all sorts of awesome. Triple H's spine buster on Orton onto the trash can and Triple H's figure four were my two main highlights, but let's go back to all of that chaos I mentioned in the previous paragraph to find out the result of this one.

When everyone who will be in the Backlash main event interrupted the match, Batista accidentally speared Shane giving Triple H an excuse to turn his back on Orton. Once this happened, did anyone who was watching not know that Orton would hit his RKO? Seriously, I'm sick of these results. I don't mind at all if Orton wins cleanly, but you've had this result about 1270273189047389278423902317908412378940321890324 times. Please be original. This just kills momentum that you have built up throughout a pretty good show when you end like this. There's no chance that the talent is enjoying this writing. No chance.

Overall I enjoyed the show. I know I complained, but that's me. I could look past the writing tonight and see that the talent gave an A+ effort. They're only as good as the creative makes them, but tonight they overshadowed the creative brown stain.

We have WWE Superstars and Friday Night Smackdown! left to make us feel like we should plunk down our change to order Backlash. RAW brought it tonight. Your turn Wednesday and Friday...

Random Notes:

- It's cool to see the Jericho / Steamboat angle considering Jericho's a HUGE Steamboat fan. Watch the "Greatest Superstars of the 80's" DVD to hear him go on and on about Ricky.

- The WWE plugged "The Wrestler" DVD release throughout the show. Mighty big of them. I think they realized that any publicity on their business is good publicity.

- Lawler was on FIRE tonight. He had some gems. "London is such a historic city (understatement of the year)," and his ribbing of Jericho's former band, "Fozzy" were two of my favorites.

- I really wish they'd go back to cutting promos with an interviewer instead of making us think that there happens to be a camera where an intimate conversation, like the one Rhodes, Orton and DiBiase had, happened. The hidden camera approach sucks.

- Santino's skit with his "sister" "Santina" was epic. Santino pulled a Milli Vanilli. (Wrestlecrap)

- When RAW did their "WWE Slam of the Week" segment, they showed Shane's "coast to coast" that he attempted to do on last week's WWE Superstars. He doesn't get over as far as he used to...

- Cody Rhodes has a lisp like his father and it is fantastic!

- During the Orton / Triple H match, Michael Cole said "Orton's been waiting 5 years for this opportunity." Really? At Backlash? Didn't he have his "opportunity" at Wrestlemania? That's just poor writing there and not believable.

RAW 4/20 Review Tonight!

2009-04-20T15:42:00.000-07:00

Raw invades the 02 Arena in London, England tonight! Make sure to come back to H4B after the show for our detailed (and probably sarcastic) RAW review!

"The Wrestler" DVD / Blu-Ray on Sale Tomorrow

2009-04-20T12:22:00.000-07:00

If you haven't seen "The Wrestler" in the theater, you're a fool and I'm wondering why you're reading this. Luckily, the DVD gods have saved you because the movie releases in stores everywhere tomorrow on both DVD and Blu-Ray. I'll post a review of the Blu-Ray (version I'm buying) version tomorrow, but it will be a review of the overall package of the Blu-Ray, not the movie itself. You can lookup Roger Ebert's review for that one.

NOTE: If you haven't seen the movie, and you'd like to know how accurate it is, check out a few of the legend's thoughts on the film.

On This Day in Wrestling History...

2009-04-20T09:03:00.000-07:00

April 20th, 1998 - Goldberg defeated Raven for the WCW US Heavyweight title.

TNA (Lethal) Lockdown PPV Results! (New Champ)

2009-04-19T22:55:00.001-07:00

While I wasn't able to watch the show due to a prior engagement, I do know the results. Here they are if you want to see them....

*SPOILERS BELOW THIS LINE*

Hardcore Legend Mick Foley vs. (c) "The Icon" Sting

WINNER and NEW TNA CHAMPION: Mick Foley

Team Angle (Kurt Angle, Booker T, Scott Steiner & Kevin Nash) vs. Team Jarrett (Jeff Jarrett, AJ Styles, Samoa Joe & Daniels)

WINNERS: Team Jarrett (Bobby Lashley makes his debut)

Team 3D vs. (c) Beer Money, Inc

WINNER: Team 3D

Black Machismo vs. Sheik Abdul Bashir vs. Consequences Creed vs. Kiyoshi vs. (c) Suicide

WINNER: Suicide

Taylor Wilde vs. Angelina Love vs. (c) Awesome Kong

WINNER: Angelina Love

ODB vs. Madison Rayne vs. Daffney vs. Sojo Bolt

WINNER: ODB

The Latin American Xchange vs. No Limit vs. (c) The Motor City Machineguns

WINNERS: Moter City Machineguns

Doomsday Chamber of Blood
Abyss vs. Matt Morgan

WINNER: Matt Morgan

Mr. "I Take Wrestling Way Too Seriously"

2009-04-19T11:23:00.000-07:00

Go to YouTube, type in "wrestling figures," and what's the first thing you see? Yeah, I thought so...

I was a huge fan of wrestling figures when I was a kid (probably would still purchase some). I had all of them (except the Nasty Boys). I'd stand up and pretend my eyes were the camera as I did a fly around the arena (aka my living room) while doing my best Gorilla Monsoon voice. I bought the WWE entrance theme CDs, and would play them whenever I'd have a wrestler come out from under my chair (poor man's titan tron). I remember the awkward pause in between getting my figure ready for the squared circle, and myself pressing the right track for the wrestler's entrance music. It was quite embarrassing in my 12 yr. old mind if I messed up and mistakingly selected The Rock's music for Stone Cold, but in the days of no iPod, that's what you did. It didn't matter though, it was practically real in my mind....

With that said, there's no excuse for putting your imagination on the net for everyone to see! Seriously? Seriously! What's up with this? Just watching this travesty of childhood imagination makes me feel like I got robbed as a child. To actually put together a video like this gives YOU, Mr. "Wrestling Figures Guy," the title of "Mr. I Take Wrestling Way Too Seriously" for this week.

The effort of this video (and there's plenty more, so this isn't a one-off) is depressing for everyone. Play a video game....

Because I like to contradict myself though, I'm going to follow one of these wrestling figure federations (TEFW) for Headlocks 4 Breakfast. I think they're having a PPV shortly (WTF!)...

TNA (Lethal) Lockdown on PPV Tonight!

2009-04-19T11:12:00.001-07:00

TNA will be holding its annual "Lockdown" PPV tonight at 8 PM EST / 5 PM PST. Like I said previously, I won't be able to watch this live because of a prior engagement. I will however post a review once I've seen the encore. When that is, not sure, but I will :)

Anyway, this is the official card (should be a good one):

Hardcore Legend Mick Foley vs. (c) "The Icon" Sting

Team Angle (Kurt Angle, Booker T, Scott Steiner & Kevin Nash) vs. Team Jarrett (Jeff Jarrett, AJ Styles, Samoa Joe & Daniels)

Team 3D vs. (c) Beer Money, Inc

Black Machismo vs. Sheik Abdul Bashir vs. Consequences Creed vs. Kiyoshi vs. (c) Suicide

Taylor Wilde vs. Angelina Love vs. (c) Awesome Kong

ODB vs. Madison Rayne vs. Daffney vs. Sojo Bolt

The Latin American Xchange vs. No Limit vs. (c) The Motor City Machineguns

On This Day in Wrestling History...

2009-04-19T11:08:00.000-07:00

April 19th, 1998 - Randy Savage defeated Sting for the WCW World Heavyweight title.

On This Day in Wrestling History...

2009-04-18T09:52:00.000-07:00

April 18th, 1987 - Mike Rotundo aka "IRS" (I know it's Mike Rotund(a), but his gimmick at the time was Rotund(o)) defeated Sir Oliver Humperdink for the NWA Florida State Heavyweight title.

Friday Night Smackdown! Review 4/17

2009-04-18T08:45:00.000-07:00

With only a week and 2 days left until "Backlash," and 4 days removed from the WWE "Draft" on RAW, Smackdown! was determined to make us buy that damn PPV, and I'll tell you what, they really worked their asses off!

If you didn't get to watch last night's Smackdown!, then you missed 2 hours of ALMOST wall to wall wrestling action. This show was packed to the gills with young talent that's sure to be the future of the WWE. The show also only had one "sandwich break!" (I'll explain later) Let's get on to the matches shall we?!

Jeff Hardy vs. Big Show

Smackdown! opened up with Jeff Hardy coming to the ring for a MATCH. Not to talk, not to spend the next 15 minutes in a promo, but to wrestle. Big Show came out next, and it was on. The match had your typical aerial maneuvers by Hardy, and your "I'm a big dude, so I move slowly and just use my weight" moves by Big Show. One thing that bothers me is that the WWE uses Big Show in a predictable fashion sometimes. Do you notice that every time his opponent is near the ropes and he (Big Show) gears up to run at him, the guy just drops to the apron sending Big Show over the top rope? You don't think we see it coming WWE, but we do! I'd also like to see Big Show go on a little undefeated streak. When I used to see guys like him, I used to think they couldn't be beaten. Now I KNOW they can be beaten and it's just a bit sad (just a little).

During Big Show's matches, the commentators are always talking about how he's "the largest professional athlete," and "an unstoppable force!" Well, use him like that. Let the biggest stars in the WWE only beat him, and in PPVs only for that matter. With that said, Big Show won the match (did I just contradict myself?) with his "knockout punch." The match was good and clean. Smackdown! was starting off on the right foot.

Side Note: Matt Hardy came down to the ring to distract Jeff Hardy, but Jeff would have nothing of it jumping over the top rope and onto Matt leaving him down for the remainder of the match.

Maryse vs. Gail Kim

"sandwich break"

R-Truth vs. John Morrison

You knew that when they promoted this match before the commercial break, that it was going to be a good one, and it was. I'm so happy to see Morrison in singles competition, and JR alluded to him possibly making a run on Smackdown!. R-Truth actually was the show stealer in this match though. He performed outstanding athletic moves that made the audience cheer while mixing in the occasional "Wassup?!" chant. After all of R-Truth's work, Morrison hit his "moonlight drive" quickly to win the match. It was a fun match to watch , but that's because R-Truth's work overshadowed what the WWE did for the match. They had a nice opportunity to have both of them go back and forth, but instead chose to go the usual route of having the eventual winner get beat down until an opportunistic moment for him to hit his finisher for the win. It feels like a cop out.

Shelton Benjamin vs. The Undertaker

This is the first time I've seen the Undertaker since Wrestlemania 25 (WWE Superstars doesn't air in Canada until Sunday). Shelton Benjamin was a perfect opponent for him though. Benjamin's always been an incredible wrestler, but his mic skills are terrible leaving him in low to mid-card status for eternity. The Undertaker was apparently nursing a "neck injury" which left him vulnerable throughout the match. Benjamin took advantage of it hitting a devastating neck breaker that would change the momentum a bit. Benjamin, showing his cockiness (good writing), tried to go for a tombstone, but it was reversed by the Undertaker into a tombstone of his own to win the match.

MVP vs. Dolph Ziggler

This was my favorite match of the night. I love MVP as a face, and Dolph Ziggler is that perfect narcissistic heel. They went back and forth the whole match, and it looked like Ziggler was actually outperforming MVP, who seems like he's put on a little baby fat. The crowd didn't react much to MVP's call for support (stupid fans), but he did his usual ring gimmicks anyway ("Ballin!"). Ziggler won the match on a roll up for a pin while grabbing the tights. I loved the classic heel pulling the tights. It's a clean win, but not really which makes it great!

Batista vs. Ted DiBiase

It's good to see Batista back in a WWE ring, and I was pretty excited for this matchup. I think Ted DiBiase is already a phenomenal wrestler, and he proved it in this match. DiBiase always uses the ring well, working all four corners and focusing on individual body parts. This match was like the R-Truth vs. Morrison match though, with DiBiase winning the whole way until Batista hit his spinebuster which sent him into his "routine" (I hate those btw) resulting in a Batista Bomb for the win.

DiBiase really shined in this match, and I think the audience felt that he deserved the win for the effort he put in. Please WWE, make him JUST like his father. He's perfect for it. He wore red trunks tonight, but it just looked wrong. Keep him in black trunks.

Overall, I really enjoyed Smackdown! significantly over RAW this past Monday. Why? Because it had WRESTLING in it. Not tons of crap (they had promos too btw), but WRESTLING. I know I usually have my sarcastic undertones to show reviews, but I have to hand it to the WWE, Smackdown! was good. It may not have been the best wrestling in the world, but I don't know if I know what that is anymore.....

WWE fans, if you're looking for which show to watch between RAW and Smackdown! post-draft / Wrestlemania, I have Smackdown! 1, RAW 0.

Random Notes:

- Matt Hardy loves being a heel. You can just see it in his eyes.

- The Great Khali "Kiss Cam" is "wrestlecrap," and he could be used so much better!

- The Triple H / Orton "Face-Off" was out of place. I know they're trying to hype "Backlash," but it just broke up the momentum of the show. I think no matter how hard the WWE tries to promote this "personal" match, it's not working. Triple H won at Wrestlemania. Orton should be gunning for him, not the other way around.

- R-Truth sounds like DMX when he raps

- Triple H's entrance is still the best in the biz

- The "I Quit" match announced at "Backlash" between the Hardy's has the potential to be GREAT!

- The Undertaker is still going strong, but I don't want to see him as a human. He's a "dead man." Stop having him move around like a MMA fighter, and instead slowly creep towards his opponents.

- MVP to RAW is upsetting now that there's tons of talent on Smackdown! (US title's a joke)

Work Week is Over, but Headlocks 4 Breakfast ContinuesThis Weekend!

2009-04-17T15:31:00.000-07:00

I thank all of you for supporting Headlocks 4 Breakfast in its first week! Be sure to follow along during the weekend where I'll post a Friday Night Smackdown! review, impressions of "Legends of Wrestlemania" the videogame, and another edition of "Mr. I Take Wrestling Way Too Seriously!"

Once again, thank you!

"Yo" Taz(z) Speaks! (The Universe Continues to not Care)

2009-04-17T12:31:00.000-07:00

Just in-case you haven't read my thoughts on Taz's / Milt McGee's announcement that he's now on Facebook, read here for context.

FINALLY, Taz has released his long awaited announcement. "Tazmania" didn't know what to do with themselves since they hadn't heard from him in so long. Here's the full writeup, afterwards I'll have my usual (thanks jimanju ;) ) commentary because I just can't help it.

"Yo, Well, after leaving WWE recently, I would like to make my first public comments here on the page. I would like to thank the Pro Wrestling fan base for the support through all my years with ECW & WWE! I especially want to thank all of you on this Facebook fan page from all over the world! I try to read most of your comments and I am truly flattered on how many of you supported what I did in the real ECW and my broadcasting accomplishments in WWE. Lets face it, after my debut at MSG vs the great Kurt Angle their wasn't much for me to "hang my hat on" as a wrestler during my tenure wrestling for WWE. Now, I want to clear up some "true & false" for all of you.... TRUE -My contract expired the end of March and I had given my notice several weeks prior -I ask WWE for my release to pursue other interest -I offered to call Wrestlemania while I was not contractually obligated....and offered to call the show for free to the company. -I have fulfilled EVERY obligation to the WWE, and pride myself on leaving the proper/professional way. -On my way out, from Vince McMahon, Kevin Dunn & Stephanie ALL treated me great...which was cool. -I APPRECIATE all of the offers for appearances but right now I'm just doing very few appearances (if any). I'm gonna chill out and watch my kid hit baseballs. -I am done wrestling. At 41 years old, several neck and shoulder issues...not happening. I would be a former shell of myself. -I too have hated the extra "Z" FALSE -Burnout (If anything, I'm more inspired & motivated now than ever) Hopefully that clears up some things people were saying in regards to my situation. Also, I have had the opportunity of becoming friends with so many talented & awesome people within the WWE while working there for nearly 10 years and will miss many of them! I would like to thank the writers, road & studio crew and all the talent...especially guys I have a closer friendship with. I especially want thank three of the main play by play guys I've work with. Joey Styles -A dear friend whom I've been goombas with for 15 years and will stay friends with! I felt Joey never had a chance to truly be "Joey Styles" in WWE as an announce talent...that's a shame. But the announce style is completely different than anything Joey ever really did in the business....tough to adapt. Jim Ross -The best of the best! True Hall of Famer and a man I respect and appreciate. I cannot thank him enough for all he has taught me as an announcer...as of recent JR & I were the Smack announce team and were doing a strong job in my view....we have shared some good times on many road trips as of recent...BOOMER SOONER!! And I'm a Nebraska Husker fan (lol) Micheal Cole -One of my best friends...a guy that truly gave me the confidence to excel as a color commentator years ago in WWE...Cole taught me how to get over the talent, the storylines and get over the brand! He was the only one that had the balls to flat out say to me "its not about you anymore"...I respect that. Amazing work ethic, always would try to find a way for me to get over on him...zero ego & underrated! I been hearing that Cole has been getting bashed by some on-line fans lately- check this out, if you work at McDonald's and your boss wants you to cook BicMac's...you than go and cook BIG MACS! Anyway, I look forward to working with Cole in the future in some capacity be it TV or Radio. I want thank World Wrestling Entertainment and the McMahon Family for all the years and all the opportunities...they allowed me a great ride which I truly appreciate. In closing, I've been in the Pro Wrestling business for 23 years and I don't plan on disappearing anytime soon. I plan to make an impact real soon in this, the ultimate in businesses and keep it's honor....lol....sorry for crossing the line with my sophomoric humor! Survive if I let you. FTW Taz"

First off, "Yo?" You have your pool boy "Milt McGee" (pen name) post for you because you can't figure out the world wide web, and when he finally shows you how to write on a computer screen, the first thing you say to your "Tazmaniacs" is "Yo?" Also, what's with the exclamation marks?(!) Taz writes on Joey Styles, "A dear friend whom I've been goombas (weren't those the little brown things in Mario?) with for 15 years and will stay friends with!" Cool Taz, but why are you shouting at me?

He also breaks down bullet-point style with the headers "TRUE" and "False." Did he take a lie detector test before telling the "Tazmaniacs" about these specific things? He also says "I APPRECIATE all of the offers for appearances but right now I'm just doing very few appearances (if any)." Firstly, does he think that the people he's turned down for appearances (Chuck E' Cheese and the Spokane, WA mall) are actually on Facebook awaiting the answer to their inquiries?

1) They have businesses to run, so they can't be worried about Facebook
2) Taz must have already told them, so he's just gloating about getting asked to do appearances

Micheal Cole is also his "best friend." Well, if he's your best friend, then why did you spell his first name wrong? (Michael) And if he taught you the ins and outs of announcing, no wonder you're not working in the WWE anymore....

Two more things before I end the last note ever about Taz on this blog. (probably not)

Taz probably used the greatest analogy ever when referring to "on-line (why the hyphen) fans" bashing Cole. Taz writes "I been hearing that Cole has been getting bashed by some on-line fans lately- check this out, if you work at McDonald's and your boss wants you to cook BicMac's...you than go and cook BIG MACS!" How the hell did Taz, with all of those grammatical errors in that one sentence, get that "McDonald's" had an apostrophe in it? That's skill buddy.

The last thing that really makes me laugh is the fact that he had to state that he hates it when people spell his WRESTLING name with an extra "z." First off Peter Senercia (Taz's real name), you've been "Tazz" forever. Don't believe me? Do a search for "Taz" and what do you find? The "Tazmanian Devil." Do a search for "Tazz" and what do you find? YOU! The internet doesn't lie.... Plus, you picked a name that was a long-established cartoon character, that's your fault.

Enough with you Taz(z). I now am paranoid about using hyphens, exclamation marks and where and when I'm using commas. That's what I learned from your Facebook post. What did all of you "Tazmaniacs" learn?

TNA iMPACT! Review 4/16

2009-04-17T08:58:00.000-07:00

With only 3 days until TNA's annual (Lethal) "Lockdown" PPV, something had to happen on TNA iMPACT! in order for us to be remotely interested in buying it right? Well rest assured, something did happen. An entire 2 hour show happened. We were promised from "Double-J" that there would be a major announcement on iMPACT! that would change the main event of "Lockdown" significantly. Team Jarrett was going to have a new member for the PPV.

Earlier in the day, there were rumors of text messages being sent to fans (who must've subscribed to TNA's mobile news feed -- which makes me wonder the kind of person who absolutely needs TNA news at every second of the day...) claiming that "Double-J" said that the person be selected for Team Jarrett was a "former TNA champion." My fingers were crossed for Ken Shamrock....

Anyway, let's get to the show.

Chris Sabin vs. Homicide vs. Naito

Sabin accompanied by his Motor City Machineguns partner came out first. I can't help but feel like The Miz and John Morrison as a tag team were copies of the Machineguns....

Sterotypical Japanese music started to play so I instantly knew it was No Limit. Why is it that wrestlers "from Japan" always have to have the same music? Wouldn't it be much more effective to have No Limit come out to "Make 'em say uhh" by Master P? They are "No Limit" after all. LAX then came out to complete the participants in the match.

It was a pretty intense match overall with tons of acrobatical maneuvers. One thing I can say is that while Homicide can certainly perform offensively, he's terrible at taking bumps. There was one instance where he flew over the steel barrier and into the crowd. There was a wall about 6 feet away which he was supposed to hit head first into. The move came up short, so he took about 5 steps running himself into the wall. It was pretty hilarious. Throught the entire match though, Homicide would brush off moves pulled on him as if he were the Ultimate Warrior (Warrior got hell for this from other wrestlers). I will give him this though, his 187 finisher is fantastic as it was performed beautifully for the victory.

Taylor Wilde, Awesome Kong, Raisha Saeed vs. Beautiful People

"Sandwich Break." You know my thoughts on women's wrestling. Although, Velvet Sky is actually a "knockout."

ODB and Cody Deaner vs. Abyss and Daffney

Althought ODB is technically a man (at least TNA would like us to think so), this match involved Knockouts so it was another "sandwich break." Peanut butter and jelly this time.....

SIDE NOTE: You secretly think ODB's hot right? Right?

Kurt Angle vs. Mystery Man(?)

"Double-J" came out to the ring and introduced Christopher Daniels as the new member of Team Jarrett. The crowd went crazy. I was pretty happy with the decision. Although Daniels looks like an unpainted member of the Blue Man Group, I dig his wrestling ability. This was a fantastic match with an even better ending. Daniels appeared to have rolled up Angle for the win, but after Angle repeatedly complained, "Double-J" came out and looked at the replay which clearly showed that Angle's shoulder wasn't on the mat. "Double-J" restarted the match and Angle won. Good surprising ending to the match which was a breath of fresh air. A clean match with a little drama for once!

I wasn't that impressed with this edition of iMPACT!(!) It's the show before a PPV, so it should rock right? It didn't in my opinion because two matches had knockouts, and Balls Mahoney and Brother "spike dudley" Runt should never take up air time. With that said, the PPV does look pretty interesting so I'll check out the encore because I have a commitment with my wife on Sunday night. It's called life.

Random Notes:

- Is it weird that AJ Styles is the "Legends Champion?" I'm just saying....

- The voice of TNA (narrator) is fantastic.

- The camerawork of TNA iMPACT! makes me dizzy.

- MEM's (Main Event Mafia) entrance music is ridiculous. It's a poor man's version of "The Godfather" theme, only it was done on a 20 dollar toy keyboard.

- It's hard to take Suicide seriously when we played as him in the videogame. Although, I'm always asking for new gimmicks so I can't fault TNA. Suicide is pretty damn interesting.

- Promo's seem better on TNA than WWE. The wrestler's seem more into it. It could be the intimate setting of the "IMPACT Zone" in Orlando...

- Funny how in the WWE wrestlers show up in a limo or monster truck, but in TNA, it's a taxi cab.

- Cornett's office is the only "office" that makes sense in wrestling because 90% of TNA iMPACT! shows are in Orlando.

- TNA is now on iTunes. They're really good at promoting their company (XBOX LIVE and iTunes FTW!)

- ODB's flask is awesome. You know there's nothing in there so it reminds me of being 3 and playing with "fun food."

- "Doulbe-J's" new DVD doesn't look bad at all

- Team 3D (Dudley Boys) considered a "legendary tag team?" Really?

- Have you heard of the IWGP titles? I didn't think so....

- I feel sad for Mick Foley. He can still promo, but those sweats are starting to look like spandex, which isn't a good thing.

- "Lions and tigers and bears, Oh My!" - quote on TNA iMPACT!

- Sting wants to look like the Joker (purple robe)

- I hate wrestlers who are just paid to bleed (Balls Mahoney and Brother "spike dudley" Runt)

- Angle's weight loss is dramatic. Is he gearing up for a MMA run?

- "Umaga" Joe

- Danny Bonaduce....is this TNA's answer to Mickey Rourke in the WWE? If so = Fail

On This Day in Wrestling History.....

2009-04-17T08:45:00.000-07:00

April 17th, 1998 - WCW filed suit in Fulton County Superior Court against Ric Flair for breech of contract

From Slam.canoe.ca:

"After missing a Nitro show to attend his son's amateur wrestling event, Flair was held in breach of contract and kept off WCW Television until September 1998"

Note: This pic is FANTASTIC!

WWE Superstars Review: The Debut Show 4/16

2009-04-16T20:51:00.000-07:00

First, let me say that I had no expectations for this show. As a kid I sat through endless episodes of Sunday Night Heat holding onto hope that one day a main event type match would take place and I was left with disappointment. Despite questioning whether or not the quality of the show will be maintained, the only show where you can see superstars from RAW, ECW, and Smackdown had a promising debut. Let’s take a look at the night’s matches.

Undertaker vs. Matt Hardy

I was shocked to hear the show open with the distinctive music of the Undertaker as he walked to the ring to in his first public appearance since beating Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania. Matt Hardy came down to the ring and it was clear from the start that he was going to be the heel yet again. Seeing Hardy in this role is somewhat hard for me to believe because I have met him in person and he was an all around nice guy. Regardless, Matt does a good job of selling it.

The Undertaker dominated the match from the beginning and sat Hardy up for the finisher before he crawled out of the ring and intentionally caused himself to be counted out. As Matt walked up the ramp with the entire crowd booing him, his brother Jeff ran out and attacked him. The two fought back in forth, before Matt ran into the ring and into the arms of the Undertaker who delivered a devastating choke slam to end Hardy’s night.

Christian vs. Finlay

These two were fighting for more than just pride as the winner would go on to Backlash to face ECW Champion Jack Swagger for the belt. Christian is the type of guy who can carry a match against anyone he is facing and adjusts well to their style. The match started out as a hard nose technical battle just how Finlay likes it. Finlay continued to force a physical match, but made a critical error after running Christian into the corner and was finished off with the "Killswitch."

I get the fact that Christian is a “fresh” face in the WWE again, but he needs to be on RAW. He has always been a main event attraction and that is why Vince brought him back. If you’re going to bring the guy back, then give him the push that he deserves and the fans want! Anyone who questions my thought process here, go back and watch any of his matches at TNA and/or his classic WWE matches.

Shane-O-Mac vs. Cody Rhodes

First things first, Shane might have my favorite entrance in wrestling. Let’s face it, Shane is not your typical athlete, but he is a great showman and will serve the company well along with his sister when it is time for Vince to pass the torch. Should I buy a Shane-O-Mac shirt?

The match started out with Shane taking the fight to Cody and even showing some submission skills. He put Cody in an arm bar triangle. Can you believe it? Shane continued to take the fight to Cody and rammed his head and left arm into the ring post and continued to work on the arm in the ring. For a second, I thought Shane paid for lessons at the Dean Malenko School of Wrestling.

Shane continued to force the action with his high flying offensive attack and dropped Rhodes to the concrete floor outside of the ring. After five minutes of domination, we all knew that it was time for Shane to take a bit of a beat down and that’s what happened. Rhodes choked and taunted Shane repeatedly and had the match well in hand before he let his cockiness get in the way. He bulldogged Shane from the top of the ropes, continuously kicked him in the ribs, tried to beat Shane with a steel chair and punched him in the face. After being thrown out of the ring, Shane grabbed the steel chair and beat Rhodes with it. That was just the beginning. Shane then grabbed a trashcan, put the can over Rhodes head, and hit him with the “Coast to Coast.”

What a way to end the show! I like the angle of using the McMahons with Triple H and showing the family unity, but I’m curious to see how they are going to play this out at Backlash. I wouldn’t be shocked if someone (Batista) does not turn their back on Triple H and cost him the title. The feud has to end somewhere and take the focus off of the McMahons. Seriously, Vince is 63 years old and still out there performing at a high level. It’s time to give the guy a break.

WWE Superstars (New WWE TV Show)

2009-04-16T15:54:00.000-07:00

Just in-case you didn't have enough wrestling on TV, the WWE saves the day and decides to give us all another show to not watch if it sucks ("Heat"). "WWE Superstars" will air every Thursday night at 8 PM EST / 5 PM PST on WGN. Hopefully, this revival of a classic tv show will be up to snuff.

So when I say "you can watch," I actually mean people living in the United States. Unfortunately, because I live in Canada, I have to wait until Sunday to watch.

Therefore, my brother-in-law, Justin Dewiel, will be posting a review for all of you. Yes, we're a regular family business now. So, to recap this novel that I wrote, I'll be covering TNA IMPACT! tonight, while Justin will be following along with WWE Superstars.

Thanks wrestling for so much TV....

THIS is Impressive! (Fire Pro Wrestling)

2009-04-16T13:42:00.001-07:00

Have you guys heard of a game called "Fire Pro Wrestling?" They DON'T have the WWE license and users have been able to do things like the video you see below. If you guys have the opportunity to pick this game up (rare), do it. It's for the PS2, but it looks to be worth it. I just can't get over this video!

On This Day in Wrestling History.....

2009-04-16T08:51:00.000-07:00

April 16th, 2001 - Triple H defeated Jeff Hardy for the WWE Intercontinental title

TNA iMPACT! Review Tomorrow Night!(!!!!)

2009-04-15T23:20:00.000-07:00

We're 4 days away from TNA's PPV "Lockdown" on Sunday! With that said, TNA iMPACT! should be a pretty good show if they want to get you to plunk down your money for their monthly "slobberknocker!" I'll post my review tomorrow night after the show, and you can guarantee that it'll include plenty of exclamation marks because after all, it is TNA iMPACT!!

For Those of you who Care.....

2009-04-15T23:16:00.000-07:00

Here is the complete list of post-draft rosters by brand. The WWE held their "Supplemental Draft" today on WWE.com. There were some interesting moves and of course, stupid ones. Thanks to WrestleZone.com who provided the list.

RAW

WWE Champion Triple H
United States Champion Montel Vontavious Porter
Divas Champion Maryse
Matt Hardy
Big Show
The Miz
Mr. Kennedy
WWE & World Tag Team Champion Primo
Nikki Bella
Chavo Guerrero
Hornswoggle
WWE & World Tag Team Champion Carlito
Festus
The Brian Kendrick
Brie Bella
World Champion John Cena
Batista
Beth Phoenix
Cody Rhodes
Goldust
Hacksaw Jim Duggan
Jamie Noble
Jerry Lawler
Jillian
Kelly Kelly
Kofi Kingston
Lilian Garcia
Michael Cole
Mickie James
Mr. McMahon
Randy Orton
Rosa Mendes
Santino Marella
Shawn Michaels
Sim Snuka
Ted DiBiase
Vickie Guerrero
William Regal

SMACKDOWN!

Intercontinental Champion Rey Mysterio
Women's Champion Melina
CM Punk
Kane
Chris Jericho
Shad
Alicia Fox
Mike Knox
Candice Michelle
Ricky Ortiz
Layla
John Morrison
JTG
Dolph Ziggler
Charlie Haas
Curt Hawkins
Edge
Eve
Gail Kim
Jeff Hardy
Jesse
Jim Ross
Jimmy Wang Yang
Justin Roberts
Kung Fu Naki
Maria
Michelle McCool
R-Truth
Ranjin Singh
Shelton Benjamin
The Great Khali
Theodore Long
Todd Grisham
Umaga
Undertaker

ECW

Vladimir Kozlov
Ezekiel Jackson
Zack Ryder
DH Smith
Natalya
Hurricane Helms
ECW Champion Jack Swagger
Christian
DJ Gabriel
Evan Bourne
Finlay
Josh Mathews
Katie Lea Burchill
Mark Henry
Matt Striker
Paul Burchill
Tiffany
Tommy Dreamer
Tony Atlas
Tony Chimel
Tyson Kidd

I Swore I Wouldn't Write About This But.....

2009-04-15T22:51:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I'm not going there...... (Psyche!)

New "Legends" Added as Downloadable Content for Smackdown vs Raw 2009? (WTF!)

2009-04-15T13:20:00.000-07:00

So THQ goes and makes this wrestling game (Smackdown vs. Raw 2009) that features the current superstars. They claim that legends will be featured in the next game that they released (Legends of Wrestlemania). That's cool, I get it. You can also transfer all of the current superstars from SvR '09 to your LoW game. That's really good too. So now I can take the new legends that they're adding to SvR '09 to my LoW game (because it naturally makes sense) because they are LEGENDS after all. WRONG! You cannot transfer DLC from SvR '09 (as proven with SvR '09's first batch of DLC) to LoW! (ugh) Nice life......

The DLC Pack #2 Features:
1.) Earthquake
2.) Vader
3.) The Bushwackers
4.) Doink

Pretty cool idea guys. Wrong game :(

You can view screens of the new DLC wrestlers on WWE.com.

On This Day in Wrestling History.....

2009-04-15T13:08:00.000-07:00

April 15th, 1995 - The Sandman defeated Shane Douglas for the ECW Heavyweight title.

Did You Miss WWE on "E:60?" Watch Here!

2009-04-14T23:08:00.000-07:00

Before I head off to bed, I figured I'd post this for all of you interested in seeing the season premiere of ESPN's "E:60" which featured the WWE. The segment was entitled "Lord of the Ring (original)." There are two parts to this so make sure you click both. I'll have my thoughts on this segment tomorrow. (Thanks to "mmasportsfan" for posting)

E:60 Featuring the WWE Tonight

2009-04-14T11:22:00.000-07:00

On ESPN tonight at 7 PM EST / 4 PM PST, their show "E:60" will air it's season debut with the WWE and their preparations for Wrestlemania 25 as their lead story. You can check out the preview here.

On This Day in Wrestling History....

2009-04-14T11:03:00.000-07:00

April 14th, 1962 - Art & Stan Neilson defeated Bob Geigel & Stan Kowalski for the AWA Tag Team title

RAW Review - WWE Annual Draft 4/13

2009-04-14T09:03:00.000-07:00

First off, it was nice to see that the WWE was going to give us 3 hours full of wrestling drama for their annual "Draft" (FIX). The sad part is, you just knew how the 3 hours would play out:

- 1 hour devoted to promoting Backlash, Diva match and buildup for the main event at Backlash (McMahon's vs Legacy) which is probably the same as promoting Backlash.

- 1 hour to wrestling / draft

- 1 hour to commercials

Has wrestling really come to this? Where's the WRESTLING in "World Wrestling Entertainment?" If you're going to hype up a 3 hour show, make what you're hyping it up about take up the MAJORITY of the show! With that said, let's get to the actual matches that took place.

"Draft" Match: Rey Mysterio (RAW) vs. Evan Bourne (ECW)

The commentators made this matchup sound like it'd be the next big thing, but I couldn't help but feel underwhelmed. Poor ECW, they couldn't catch a break all night (more on that later). Matt Striker and Josh Matthews (commentators for ECW) were calling Bourne the "Rey Mysterio of ECW." Unfortunately, the match only lasted 3 minutes with Mysterio hitting his 619 finisher for the win. While Mysterio was setting up the move, I kept saying to myself "there's no way he hits it this early." Well, he did. Match over, ECW = fail.

Because one of RAW's superstars won the match, they gained the 1st pick in the "draft." The show cuts to a screen with every superstar's headshot which was absolutely seizure central because there was a light (multiple lights) flashing over everyone's headshot randomly. I get that they were trying to make it seem like there was some super computer playing duck, duck, goose inside the titan tron, but then why did they do almost the EXACT same thing right afterwards by shuffling through every wrestler's full body shot randomly? Was this the "super computer" moving into an advanced stage of randomness before it suddenly spat out a wrestler? Anyway, MVP finally came up on the screen which indicated that he is now a RAW superstar. I like MVP. I think he has some charisma, and has good in-ring ability (terrible ring attire though). It'll be nice to see him on RAW defending the United States Championship.

Draft Match:
Kane (RAW) vs. The Brian Kendrick (Smackdown!)

Was there any doubt about who was going to win going into this one? The Brian Kendrick looks and acts like a jobber. Which makes me question why the WWE cares to list him as a "Superstar" on an official roster. Bring BACK the jobbers where no one knows your name. You just show up, lose, collect paycheck. And Kane, PLEASE put back on your mask. You were so much cooler and mysterious. Now you're human, and lost alot.....

RAW won again and had the 2nd pick in the "draft." The "super computer" starts up again and Big Show comes up. What's with Big Show's punch? Throughout his career, did he suddenly develop this knockout punch in the gym? By the looks of him, he must've ONLY worked out his fist every day, every hour and every minute in the gym. Andre would be disgusted with how the WWE uses Big Show.

Draft Match: Mickie James, Melina, and Kelly Kelly (RAW) vs. Michelle McCool, Natalya, and Mayrse (Smackdown!)

If there's one thing you'll learn about me on Headlocks 4 Breakfast, it's that I can't stand women's wrestling. I just don't get it. With much respect to girls like Mickie James and Beth Phoenix (who actually can wrestle), this is mine and everyone in the arena's time to get snacks from either the refrigerator or concessions. Does the WWE seriously think that these girls are hitting a women's demographic? If they're aiming for the sex appeal, I don't know about you guys, but I don't think it's hot watching girls throw each other around. Keep women as managers, and if you MUST have women wrestle, do it with a little dignity and develop an actual division with more girls like Mickie, and less girls like Melina. Although Melina's a champ, does she not pale in comparison to Mickie James or Beth Phoenix as far as in-ring ability? Plus she's lost the skirt which makes her amazing ring entrance as irrelavent as a lap dance 6ft. away. I've talked about this for too long. Moving on. (oh, Michelle McCool, Natalya and Mayrse won - Smackdown!)

It's no secret that the WWE plans things before a show, but the least they could do is not make it too obvious. Especially if their "super computer" is randomly selecting people for the "draft." Melina was the 3rd pick of the draft going to Smackdown! All of the women in the ring, and of course a woman wrestler was "randomly" selected. Try harder writers!

Draft Match: John Cena (RAW) vs. Jack Swagger (ECW)

This match began with a pretty good promo between Swagger and Cena. Right before the promo was a preview for a segment on ESPN's "E:60" show airing tonight explaining what the WWE did (from a production perspective) on the eve of Wrestlemania 25. Stephanie McMahon was quoted as saying they have writers from Conan (Conan O'Brien show). Because this segment between Swagger and Cena was funny, that fired (?) guy from Conan must've written that. The great thing about Swagger is his lisp. The writer definitely knew this because he had "Thwagger" say every word in the book with the letter "s." Pure comedy.

On to the match. John Cena came out first. Why does the WWE do this? The champ should come out LAST!!! I actually really enjoyed this one. "Thwagger" is an impressive beast towering over an often hulking Cena. I still think "Thwagger" should be in a tag team to develop a bit more, but it looked like he carried that match with Cena (which doesn't usually happen). What did stand out to me with "Thwagger" was his obvious amateur wrestling background. Striker and Matthews noted that when "Thwagger" went for a cover, he'd hook the head and leg. "Thwagger" even pushed his head into the midsection / ribcage of Cena to roll him over for the cover which has amateur wrestling written all over it. Good attention to detail there.

Of course Cena won the match, but "Thwagger" stole the show. Because RAW won, they got the 4th and 5th picks in the draft (this match was a 2 draft pick match). Matt Hardy and Triple H both were sent to RAW (have you noticed that Smackdown! doesn't have a top championship now?)

Draft Match: Santino Marella (Raw) vs. The Great Khali (Smackdown!)

Santino is the definition of "Wrestlecrap," but as long as you go in knowing this, he's a delight to watch. He's excellent on the mic, and has trimmed down a bit too. He's so / so in the ring, but he's not out there for that. On the other hand, The Great Khali is being used completely wrong. He should be used like Yokozuna. An uncontrollable, non-english speaking (which makes him uncontrollable because non-english speaking people are scary), giant (pun intended) that is what he is. Ranjin Singh (his manager) could be bad ass like Mr. Fuji too right?! Make it happen WWE!

Let's be honest, this match was just to plug the ongoing weirdness between Marella, his "sister" Santin(a) and Beth Phoenix. It was again, "Wrestlecrap," but I loved it. Khali won the match and Smackdown! recieved the 6th draft pick. CM Punk went to Smackdown!

Draft Match: The Miz (ECW) vs. Kofi Kingston (RAW)

The Miz came out with the amazing John Morrison and their slammy trophies (get rid of those please). I only say this because this match pissed me off so much. The match itself wasn't bad at all. The Miz is really coming around as a wrestler, and it seems like he's dedicating more time to the craft. Kofi's fantastic too (which you already know). My beef is with the Miz losing to Kofi, then being drafted to RAW (7th draft pick) essentially breaking up the tag team between Miz and Morrison. I'm fine with the break up, but why did you have The Miz turn on Morrison? It should be the other way around. Morrison's a WAY better heel than The Miz. Good idea, wrong result. Did I mention that Morrison's like a young HBK? How can you NOT see this?

Draft Match: 15 man inter-brand battle royal

This match included Edge so you knew he'd win (even with Big Show and Mark Henry in the mix). Edge did win on the most hilarious / stupid ending to a battle royal ever. Big Show was dominating, and Edge looked scared shitless when it was just him and Edge in the end. Edge sold it well, but Edge was lingering along the ring ropes, while Big Show was gearing up for an attack. Big Show charged towards Edge resulting in him ducking down sending Big Show over the top rope and onto the floor. Very anticlimactic. The "ultimate opportunist" wins again. By the way, that phrase is short for "I shortcut all the time to win matches. That's my gimmick." It's old WWE, Edge isn't that bad of a wrestler. Use him.

This was another 2 pick match which Smackdown! won. With the 8th and 9th picks, Kane and Chris Jericho were sent to Smackdown!

Draft Match: Christian (ECW) vs. Shelton Benjamin (Smackdown!)

Next to Cena / "Thwagger," this was probably the best match of the night. Benjamin sucks on the mic, but there's no denying that he's a fantastic wrestler. Christian's got it all, and he proved it. But boy is he being wasted over in ECW. I like Christian's finisher, but Striker and Matthews were wrong when they said that he has many ways he can pull off the move. Actually, he has one way, the way he does it. Christian won the match resulting in ECW getting their first pick (LOL) of the "draft." The 10th pick sent Vladimir Kozlov to ECW.

Draft Match: CM Punk (Smackdown!) vs. Matt Hardy (RAW)

CM Punk probably has the worst entrance music in the WWE. The screaming at the beginning is just obnoxious. How can any 12-yr. old get behind this dude? There hasn't been a Jeff Hardy sighting all day so when Matt Hardy comes out from behind the curtain, you know the ending of this match already. The match wasn't bad at all, but in typical WWE fashion (no clean wins), Jeff Hardy came out to interrupt / give Matt Hardy the win in a DQ over CM Punk. The win gave RAW another "draft" pick (11th) which was wasted on a diva / sandwich break Maryse. I guess fans care about having the two lead brands split evenly with women's championships (but the men's championships obviously don't matter).

Draft Match: Chris Jericho (Smackdown!) vs. Tommy Dreamer (ECW)

Match was worthless other than two things:

1.) Jericho needs to go back to the full pants attire. His trunks make him look bloated (maybe he just is)

2.) Jericho's finisher / counter from a flying Dreamer off the top rope was pretty sweet

Other than those two things, you knew Jericho was winning this match. He did and Smackdown! got another "draft" pick. The 12th pick sent Rey Mysterio to Smackdown!. YES!! I wanted the Intercontinental Championship on the Smackdown! brand. Now who's going to compete for it? :(

Main Event: Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes vs. Shane McMahon, Batista, and Triple H

This match was recieving plug after plug after plug all night long that by the time it came, I didn't want to watch it. The buildup to this match was absolutely ridiculous. The entire night, you had three guys trying to get their hands on Randy Orton. Shane said that it's because he kicked him, Stephanie and Vince, Batista said it was because Orton's kick put him out for 4 months and Triple H said that he started this and he was going to finish it.

A few things. Didn't Triple H "finish" it at Wrestlemania 25? I know they want to hype up the main event at Backlash, but making these three guys salavate at the mouth to get Orton in the ring is ridiculous. Especially when the "revenge" was handed out at Wrestlemania. This is a classic case of the WWE extending a storyline after it died painfully in a poor match with no emotion to it (WM 25). Triple H won the match with a pinfall over Rhodes resulting in a one on one match on next week's RAW with Orton. Orton then came out for a stare down with Triple H to end the show. Suddenly Orton's a hunted man? Wasn't Randy the "hunted" just last week? Did the WWE forget? Ridiculous.

Random Notes:

- Did you catch Josh Matthews's nose bleed incident when the show first started?

- Shane's them song never gets old

- Commercials during matches have to go. Remember, WRESTLING FIRST! Putting a commercial during a match basically tells the audience that what happens during breaks means nothing.

- The show had a ton of mic problems in the ring. You heard Cena talking to the ref (to coordinate the match) and Shane yell out "I want him so bad" when arguing about Orton.

- The Intercontinental Title still means nothing in the WWE. (sad)

- Matt Striker, next to JR, is the best commentator in the WWE.

- Chavo's a slave now.....

- In the WWE's PSA "Don't Try This," they say "not at home or in school." Why not say "at the grocery store, at your cousin's house, at baseball practice and ice cream parlor?" The saying is, "If they say it, someone must've done it." So all of you kiddies wrestling at school, "Don't Try This!"

- The ECW Championship belt looks like the plastic and foam belts you could buy in the early 90's

- Lawler called "Thwagger" "John" Swagger

- Cena's STF(U) sucks. Please stop...

Which Came First?

2009-04-13T16:19:00.001-07:00

RAW Review Tonight - 3 Hour Draft Special

2009-04-13T13:27:00.001-07:00

If you haven't read what SHOULD happen in tonight's RAW, check it out.

Just in case you're sooooo excited to read someone's thoughts on the show other than your own (especially you "Mr. Belt Guy"), I'll be here giving my review. We can then blissfully share our opinions on what's sure to be an evening. (no typo)

Milt McGee(?) Announces: "TAZ Will Speak Out!" Do you Really Care?

2009-04-13T12:19:00.000-07:00

So if you didn't know, Taz has a Facebook page. Yeah, I don't care either.

What I do find hilarious though is the fact that his page announces things as if he's a medieval king about to take his seat on the throne of all things Facebook. His page even sports a logo (pic to the left) with the words "Taz on Facebook." Funny, I didn't get that when I went to HIS Facebook page. I now think it should be a requirement for all people on Facebook to have a similar logo announcing their long awaited arrival. Maybe they'd be allowed to change the font....maybe not. That Taz font looks so rad!

How would "Stephanie on Facebook," or "Daequon on Facebook" look to you? Ridiculous right? But when Taz gets on Facebook, it is a celebration! He doesn't even have to talk to you, he has someone else post for him. It's because Taz is so busy right now being out of work that he can't post two lines on his Facebook profile.

"early next week (week of 4/13/09) Taz will address you his fanbase right here on the his NEW Facebook page! Taz will have his 1st public statement since leaving the WWE...stay tuned!"

This is just too good. Thanks Taz for getting "Milt McGee" (has to be a pen name) to let us know that you'll "address" your fanbase (which appears to only be Daniel Saunders) on your "NEW" (and unlike everyone elses) Facebook page.

Oh Taz, you're too young not to understand the "internets." Shame on you.

Mr. "I Take Wrestling Way Too Seriously"

2009-04-13T09:07:00.000-07:00

I was never a "belt" guy. No, not belts to hold your pants up (those are necessary), but wrestling belts. As a fan, I couldn't think of a "cool" way to wear a belt made up of plastic and foam. If you wanted to take it a step further, you could buy an "authentic" belt made up of metal (which is even worse IMO).

Where were you going to wear it? If you took it to a match, were you suddenly "cool?" Were people walking by starring at your belt while you were in the arena or elementary school gym? If they were, they weren't goggling in admiration, they were wondering why you bought a belt that cost more than the payout the wrestlers would receive for that one night in Spokane, Washington. How about the grocery store? Or school (yeah, you didn't get beat up)? That's right, you DIDN'T WEAR IT! So you bought a belt to wear once, and then while you were alone in your own home, you'd occasionally put it on in front of the mirror and pose. It's ok Mr. "Belt guy", god only saw you.....

On This Day in Wrestling History.....

2009-04-13T09:01:00.000-07:00

April 13th, 1997 - ECW holds first PPV Event (Barely Legal) in which Terry Funk won the ECW World Heavyweight Title from Raven

Touch of Nostalgia

2009-04-12T20:02:00.000-07:00

You HAVE to remember these don't you? I would always see the commercial for a new series air during a PPV. Every time I saw one, I couldn't wait to get my hands on the next line of figures.

Hardest ones to get: Nasty Boys

Hardest one I actually got: Honky Tonk Man

Note: If you lost any accessories with your figures, you could call Hasbro and they'd ship you new accessories free of charge! I was always breaking the flag pole on my ring....

"So close to the real thing, it's like being in the ring!"

What SHOULD Happen in the WWE Draft (but probably won't...)

2009-04-12T18:30:00.001-07:00

As we approach tomorrow's 3-hour RAW extravaganza featuring the annual WWE Draft, we do know two things:

1.) It'll most likely under deliver - The WWE Draft, like Wrestlemania is a yearly opportunity for the company to dramatically shift things without an explanation. They can end / start feuds, introduce or kill storylines, and most importantly launch a deserving wrestler's career. The WWE clearly has not seen this as a golden opportunity to re-right (or rewrite) the ship.

2.) There will only be 12 Superstars involved (at least on TV). You'll have the opportunity to witness the "Supplemental Draft" on Wednesday over at WWE.com

Triple H, John Cena, Edge, Big Show, Shawn Michaels, Undertaker, CM Punk, Jeff Hardy, Batista, Randy Orton and Chris Jericho will probably be the 12 wrestlers highlighted (big shock), but I wanted to focus on a few others that would make tomorrow's "draft" more interesting if they were involved.

John Morrison - ECW (Currently)

Are you kidding me? Morrison's obviously done something wrong to have been on the ECW roster for so long, and I know what it is.....he's been too good! Seriously, does Morrison not remind you of a young Shawn Michaels? This guy's got the charisma, and athleticism to really shine in the WWE.

My Recommendation: Put him on Smackdown to rejuvenate the Intercontinental Title like a Mr. Perfect.

Christian Cage - ECW (Currently)

Vince, I know he was in TNA. I know you don't think he's a main eventer, but guess what? YOUR FANS DO! Christian has already had one of the best matches of the year (and it's just begun). Christian 's stint in TNA really did him well as he's gained a new found charisma (no pun intended) that can put him over the top in the WWE.

My Recommendation: Put him on Smackdown, like Morrison, to compete for the Intercontinental title.

Ted DiBiase Jr. and Cody Rhodes - RAW (Currently)

I put these two superstars together because they're exactly what the WWE needs to bring the tag team division up to snuff. Even if these two couldn't wrestle for shit (which they can), fans still like to see them in action because it gives them those warm and fuzzy feelings thinking about the golden days of the WWE (yes I'm talking about their fathers).

My Recommendation: Put these guys on RAW and give them tag team gold!

Kofi Kingston - RAW (Currently)

Kofi is already a former Intercontinental Champion, and he has arguably the most catchy entrance music in the WWE. Kofi's a great athlete, with mic skills that need developed. He could be a face in the Intercontinental title hunt.

My Recommendation: Put Kingston on Smackdown to develop his mic work, and compete for the Intercontinental title.

Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger - RAW / ECW (Currently)

Could these guys not be the new "Hollywood Blondes?" Swagger and Ziggler have the physiques and charisma to be a great tag team. Let them develop as a tag team before bringing them into singles fame (although Swagger has already captured ECW gold -- which doesn't really count).

My Recommendation: Put them on RAW to compete for the tag team titles.

So there you have it. If the WWE saw tomorrow night's draft as an opportunity to reinvent itself and two divisions that have been under appreciated for so long, rather than a space filler to focus on the same key talent (I know, ratings), we might all be in for a good year ahead. I surely doubt it though because after all, a WWE writer's only requirement is a 4th grade reading level.

Take a RISK WWE, we all want to see it!

Everything's Closed on Easter....

2009-04-12T14:15:00.000-07:00

So I won't be getting "Legends of Wrestlemania" today. The review will have to wait till mid week because of my day job :) .

Headlocks 4 Breakfast

In the Groove of Things...

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, “THE HAMMER” IS IN THE BUILDING.

History Repeating Itself...

Class in Session: Our Modeling Process

Up in the Air

EMOTION!

Hell in a Cubicle

Our Relationship with Yuke's

Happy Weekend!

Anything Can Happen in WWE Universe!

Spoiled

Night of Confusion?

*UPDATE* To "Lesson for Next Year = Focus on Divas"

Lesson for Next Year = Focus on Divas

"No Comment..."

It's the Little Things...

We Want YOU to Get Involved

More Roster Talk? Nope

Concerning the Roster...

FINALLY, it's HERE!

The Work Week Should Start on Tuesday

Quick Update (And then I'm Out!)

Here Comes the Pain (For Me)

Clarifications and Misunderstandings...

Busy, Busy, Busy...

Apologies for my Hiatus...

Over the Lag / Limit

Land of the Rising Sun

Will Update Later Today

I Can't Talk About SvR '11 -- Here's Why (An Education)

Getting Prepared for Japan

Think Annually...

HATE

YOU Tell ME...

R.I.P. Gene Kiniski...

Back to Work and Ready to Kick the Flu's A**!

Day 2 of the Flu...

"Hart and Soul"

Long Time, I Know!

FLASHING...LIGHTS, LIGHTS, LIGHTS....

Monday Nights are BACK!

Last Few Days in Vancouver...

On This Day in Wrestling History...

Saturday is Before Sunday

On this Day in Wrestling History...

And so it Begins....

Who Won This Week? (WWE or TNA)

Last Week's Winner Is......

Why no Backlash or RAW Review?

WWE "Backlash" PPV Tonight! (Review After the Show)

On This Day in Wrestling History...

WWE vs. TNA -- Who Won this Week? 4/20 - 4/24

Friday Night Smackdown! Review 4/24

On This Day in Wrestling History...

On This Day in Wrestling History...

TNA iMPACT! Review 4/23 (Promo Edition)

WWE Superstars Review 4/23

Wrestling Galore!

On This Day in Wrestling History...

"The Wrestler" Blu-Ray Review

On This Day in Wrestling History.....

I Want YOU to Help Select a Pay Per View!

Touch of Nostalgia...

Rumor Alert - Jeff Hardy Taking his Ball and Going Home?

On This Day in Wrestling History...

Monday Night Raw Review 4/20

RAW 4/20 Review Tonight!

"The Wrestler" DVD / Blu-Ray on Sale Tomorrow

On This Day in Wrestling History...

TNA (Lethal) Lockdown PPV Results! (New Champ)

Mr. "I Take Wrestling Way Too Seriously"

TNA (Lethal) Lockdown on PPV Tonight!

On This Day in Wrestling History...

On This Day in Wrestling History...

Friday Night Smackdown! Review 4/17

Work Week is Over, but Headlocks 4 Breakfast ContinuesThis Weekend!

"Yo" Taz(z) Speaks! (The Universe Continues to not Care)

TNA iMPACT! Review 4/16

On This Day in Wrestling History.....

UPDATE To "Lesson for Next Year = Focus on Divas"