wrestling
A recap of some great new shows!
These past few months have been super busy for aniRAGE, and we are happy to say that some great new shows have come out of it. At Holiday Matsuri and Khaotic Kon we were able to try out some new stuff, and we are happy to report that some are going to be entering our repertoire!
I’ll start off with the first one, our 18+ Whose Line is it aniRAGE? Uncensored! Often times we get suggestions and ideas from the audience that we have to say no to, for one reason or another. Most aniRAGE shows are going to be PG to PG-13, depending on what the con demands. But in Whose Line is it aniRAGE? Uncensored! we’re tossing all that out the window! Our first three shows were great, and we hope to be able to bring this new variation of our popular show to you again and again!
Next up is aniRAGE Remembers. This idea was birthed after Kirby and I spent almost an entire afternoon watching old saturday morning cartoon theme songs and pre-commercial spots. We quickly realized that we could make a panel out of this, so at Holiday Matsuri we busted out the seasonal and timely “aniRAGE Remembers: Holiday Specials”. It was a great time, with everyone coming together and reminiscing about the childhood specials that with us through the ages, for good reasons OR bad! At Khaotic Kon we moved on to Saturday Morning Cartoons, and we had a great time talking about ABC, USA, Fox, and more. We’re happy to say that this will be a panel we keep going with, so stay tuned for when it shows up next!
At Khaotic Kon, we finally incorporated a big guilty pleasure of most of aniRAGE…Wrestling! The aniRAGE Wrestle Rumble was a smashing success. Not only did I get to show off some of my replica wrestling belts, but we got to hear some awesome stories from the crowd about how they got into wrestling, who their favorite wrestler of “all the times” was, and some of our favorite entrance music. We hope to bring this back soon!
Next up, at Holiday Matsuri, Dashi and I unleashed our Minecraft panel. We went over some fun building tips, how to work with redstone, and how to get inspiration for different building projects. We also went over a few different mods for the game, including the much loved Technic Pack. We have some big plans for this panel in the future, so keep an eye out for it.
And finally, we had the aniRAGE Trivia Challenge. What started off as a fun little hallway experiment at one con turned into a full-blown panel, where contestants competed for fabulous prizes and more. We had a great showing, and we are fast at work brainstorming some new game show ideas for everyone to enjoy. So definitely be on the lookout for those!
It was a fun winter, and this year looks like it’ll be just as good! Keep your eyes tuned to aniRAGE.com for all the latest and greatest news about new panels, new shows, and more!
-Zeke
WWE Summerslam!
While I make it a habit to watch WWE’s monthly PPV endeavors, this one holds a special place in my heart. Why is that, you ask? Well, this more or less marked the one year anniversary of my trek across Florida, and moving to Jacksonville! One year ago on the 16th (two days after the PPV), I packed up some stuff, moved in with my friend Jacob, and the very day I moved in, I went to our good friend Ashley Clark (aka Animebelle)’s house to watch my first group-PPV in a long, long. It was so fun, that we’ve done it just about twice a month for the past year! But enough of my silly reminiscing. Let’s get to the action!
Match 1: The Miz, Alberto Del Rio, and R Truth vs Kofi Kingston, John Morrison, and Rey Mysterio.
R Truth is one of the greatest things happening in WWE right now. Well, his matches aren’t anything spectacular, but on the mic he is a riot! That being said, this was your standard “put multiple people into a match together to give them screen time”. Plus, Rey was hurt, so he needed screen time plus a bit of protection. All in all it was a good match, but nothing really stood out. The Faces won in the end, which I accurately predicted! 1/1
Match 2: Mark Henry vs Sheamus.
IT’S A SHAMEFUL THING….LOBSTER HEAD! Ok, with that out of the way, they seem to be turning Sheamus face, which I’m ok with. He makes a good heel, but he’s good on the mic and always seems to have a good match. But Smackdown needs some people to go after the world title, and I guess a Big Scary Monster Henry is the best thing they have at the moment. I’d have liked to see Sheamus back up his words, but with Henry having taken out Big Show, Kane, and Kozlov recently, having him lose so quickly would’ve hurt. Now we can get a fun program between these two. Winner: Mark Henry, which nobody predicted. 1/2
Match 3: Kelly Kelly vs Beth Phoenix – Diva’s Championship.
I really don’t think anybody expected Kelly Kelly to walk out of here with the Diva’s title. Then again, it’s the Diva’s title, not the Women’s Championship, so who gives a flying fark, eh? The match was a typical diva’s match, but then again, nobody went to the bathroom. Mostly because we all wanted to see Kelly Kelly get squashed. Don’t get me wrong, she’s very hot and I gotta give her props for being from Jacksonville…but come on, Beth Phoenix. Kelly won, which nobody predicted. 1/3.
Match 4: Wade Barret vs Daniel Bryan.
Pretty much the best thing Booker T has done since coming back to WWE to be a commentator is the coining of the phrases “Fav Five” and “D-Bri”. Which I shouted constantly throughout this match. Was it a good match? You bet. Did D-Bri put on a hell of a show, and Barret keep up wonderfully? Yeah. That being said, Barret somehow won, and the only two chicks were the ones ones to predict that. Lame. 1/4.
Match 5: Randy Orton vs Christian – World Heavyweight Championship.
Everyone was pulling for Christian in this match. Don’t get me wrong, I love Orton, and the RKO is one of my favorite non-submission finishers…but the way that they have treated Christian these last few months is abysmal. I won a bonus point for calling Edge coming out, and I’m glad I specified “even if he doesn’t interact in the match, Edge’ll be there”. the match was decent, and Orton got pretty busted up…but he really needs to shave and stop smiling. Smiley bearded Orton is CREEPY. AS. FARK. Orton won, which only 2 people predicted (I don’t remember, because I wasnt’ one of them). 2/5.
Match 6: CM Punk vs John Cena – WWE World Champsionship Unification.
This was the match that everyone was looking for. Literally across the board, everyone predicted CM Punk to retain. Maybe predicted isn’t the right word…hoped/prayed/dreamed? It was a very entertaining match, and Triple Haytch didn’t make it all about himself. In fact, the only thing he really did out of the ordinary was refuse to do a double count-out, which I applaud. CM Punk won in controversial fashion, as HHH didn’t see Cena’s foot on the rope, but it was a spectacular victory. And there was no overturn, no false finish, no “oops, I made a mistake, let’s restart the match”. Nope, two men entered, one man left, with the title. 3/6.
Match 7: Alberto Del Rio cashed in Money in the Bank vs CM Punk.
And this nobody saw coming. I knew SOMETHING had to happen, as we still had about 10 minutes left on the PPV. So when Kevin Nash came through the crowd and Jackknife Powerbombed CM Punk to oblivion, we knew something was up. Triple H was like “OMG WTF BBQ?” and then ADR’s music hit. We all knew what was about to happen, and while we were sad that CM Punk didn’t have the title anymore, we knew that the RAW the next day was going to be awesome, with some great storylines opening up.
At the end of the day, we had a 4-way tie, with me, Kerby, Ashley, and Kayla all bringing in 3 points. I think that was the least amount of points that has ever won one of our “PPV Prediction Grids”, but it is what it is! At least I didn’t lose, mwua ha ha.
All in all, it was a great PPV, and shows is a great alternative to the constant disappointments from last summer. I look forward to see what the next month brings.
-Zeke
Destination: Tampa. Target: Chris Jericho
This Friday, I will have the honor of meeting one of my favorite wrestlers of all time, Chris Jericho. He will be doing a book signing in Tampa Florida for his new book: Undisputed: How to Become the World Champion in 1,372 Easy Steps.
Dashi is set to join me, as well as two awesome people we met at ShadoCon this year, Jennifer and Gregory. It’s gonna be a damn-fun time, so if you are a wrestling fan in the Tampa area, try to make it by the Barnes and Nobles on Carrollwood. The signing starts at 7, but wristbands for the event will be handed out at 2. Check out This Link for more info!
I plan on getting him to sign the title page, crossing off “Steps” with “armbars”, but we’ll see!
Oh, and as a teaser…3 anirage members will be in tampa. And there may be a video camera involved. HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.
-Zeke
Team Up Review: WWE Night of Champions
Team Up Review: WWE Night of Champions Part 2
Team Up Review: WWE Night of Champions Part 3
Zeke Vlog: WWE Summerslam
Zeke Vlog: Hard(core) Justice PPV
Zeke Vlog: WWE Money in the Bank – Raw