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Friday, July 24, 2009
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Review - Edge: A Decade of Decadence
This DVD is a must-have for WWE fans of the last ten years.
The Edge character was new when I first started watching wrestling in the late 90s. For me, I've been a fan since I saw him, and I remember my first Edge action figure was really simple with black pants (the decor on his tights probably wore off; I think there was gold designs).
I won't waste the time talking about every single match, but Disc 1 was pretty enjoyable.
Matches against Owen Hart, Lance Storm, Mr. Perfect, and both Kurt Angle bouts are probably the best on it, in terms of singles competition. All had time to tell stories. It never seemed to me like Lance Storm or Perfect (during his last WWE run) had long matches, so this was a nice surprise.
All of the tag team matches are fun too. This collection features the Ladder match that solidified Edge, Christian, Matt and Jeff Hardy as Superstars, as well as the Triangle Ladder match at WrestleMania 2000. The Hogan/Edge tag title win over Billy & Chuck is a forgettable match featuring a bunch of typical Hogan spots, but it has some fun moments.
Disc 1 only has 1 extra, a 5-minute condensed version of the best of Edge & Christian. Too bad this wasn't longer.
Disc 2 features more cool matches, including street fights with Shawn Michaels and Matt Hardy, a hardcore match with Mick Foley, and the Lita swerve that formed their on-screen relationship for the remainder of Lita's career. It is interesting to see that Edge's rise to stardom involved in a female at his side, be it Lita or Vickie Guerrero.
The Orton match was snoozeville. It went almost 30 minutes and was mostly Orton with Edge in a headlock. I skipped their match on the third disc.
My favorite Edge moment on this disc was his first WWE title win over Cena. It showed the end of the Elimination Chamber with Cena, Chris Masters, and Carlito (really, they made the final 3?). The story went that Cena had just survived the Chamber, and Edge came down to cash in his Money in the Bank title opportunity. I was uncertain about this move at the time, having a WWE title change hands like this, but it makes perfect sense for the Edge character to sneak in a win like this.
Extras on here include a WWE tryout match with Christian from 1997, which was awesome since they really had the crowd going, and Edge's first IC title win over Jeff Jarrett in 1999 at a house show in Edge's home of Toronto. I had never known that this title win was a fluke, since apparently the Godfather couldn't make the match, and Edge didn't know he'd be in the match until just before. He says he didn't know he was going to be the actual champ until they made the official announcement.
I skipped Edge/Cena from SummerSlam 06 and Edge/Batista from Vengeance 07, but Edge/RVD from RAW was cool and featured some cool spots, like Edge countering the Rolling Thunder by standing up and delivering a sweet powerslam.
Edge cashed in Money in the Bank once again (after defeating Mr. Kennedy) by nailing the Undertaker after a cage match with Batista. Excellent, excellent.
The last three matches are spectacular. Edge/Mysterio from the 2008 Royal Rumble was great, showcasing how versatile these guys are.
The two matches with the Undertaker are also works of art. Edge wins his trademark TLC match by sending Undertaker off a ladder into 4 tables, while Undertaker comes back to in his trademark Hell in a Cell match. I thought 'Taker "sending Edge to Hell" was a little cheesy, especially if they did it exactly on the way the DVD shows, but the match was really cool.
Overall, a fantastic DVD for anybody who's ever liked one match they've seen from Edge.
Top 5 Matches from this set (in no order)
The Edge character was new when I first started watching wrestling in the late 90s. For me, I've been a fan since I saw him, and I remember my first Edge action figure was really simple with black pants (the decor on his tights probably wore off; I think there was gold designs).
I won't waste the time talking about every single match, but Disc 1 was pretty enjoyable.
Matches against Owen Hart, Lance Storm, Mr. Perfect, and both Kurt Angle bouts are probably the best on it, in terms of singles competition. All had time to tell stories. It never seemed to me like Lance Storm or Perfect (during his last WWE run) had long matches, so this was a nice surprise.
All of the tag team matches are fun too. This collection features the Ladder match that solidified Edge, Christian, Matt and Jeff Hardy as Superstars, as well as the Triangle Ladder match at WrestleMania 2000. The Hogan/Edge tag title win over Billy & Chuck is a forgettable match featuring a bunch of typical Hogan spots, but it has some fun moments.
Disc 1 only has 1 extra, a 5-minute condensed version of the best of Edge & Christian. Too bad this wasn't longer.
Disc 2 features more cool matches, including street fights with Shawn Michaels and Matt Hardy, a hardcore match with Mick Foley, and the Lita swerve that formed their on-screen relationship for the remainder of Lita's career. It is interesting to see that Edge's rise to stardom involved in a female at his side, be it Lita or Vickie Guerrero.
The Orton match was snoozeville. It went almost 30 minutes and was mostly Orton with Edge in a headlock. I skipped their match on the third disc.
My favorite Edge moment on this disc was his first WWE title win over Cena. It showed the end of the Elimination Chamber with Cena, Chris Masters, and Carlito (really, they made the final 3?). The story went that Cena had just survived the Chamber, and Edge came down to cash in his Money in the Bank title opportunity. I was uncertain about this move at the time, having a WWE title change hands like this, but it makes perfect sense for the Edge character to sneak in a win like this.
Extras on here include a WWE tryout match with Christian from 1997, which was awesome since they really had the crowd going, and Edge's first IC title win over Jeff Jarrett in 1999 at a house show in Edge's home of Toronto. I had never known that this title win was a fluke, since apparently the Godfather couldn't make the match, and Edge didn't know he'd be in the match until just before. He says he didn't know he was going to be the actual champ until they made the official announcement.
I skipped Edge/Cena from SummerSlam 06 and Edge/Batista from Vengeance 07, but Edge/RVD from RAW was cool and featured some cool spots, like Edge countering the Rolling Thunder by standing up and delivering a sweet powerslam.
Edge cashed in Money in the Bank once again (after defeating Mr. Kennedy) by nailing the Undertaker after a cage match with Batista. Excellent, excellent.
The last three matches are spectacular. Edge/Mysterio from the 2008 Royal Rumble was great, showcasing how versatile these guys are.
The two matches with the Undertaker are also works of art. Edge wins his trademark TLC match by sending Undertaker off a ladder into 4 tables, while Undertaker comes back to in his trademark Hell in a Cell match. I thought 'Taker "sending Edge to Hell" was a little cheesy, especially if they did it exactly on the way the DVD shows, but the match was really cool.
Overall, a fantastic DVD for anybody who's ever liked one match they've seen from Edge.
Top 5 Matches from this set (in no order)
- vs. The Undertaker - TLC
- vs. The Undertaker - Hell in a Cell
- vs. Rey Mysterio
- vs. Owen Hart
- vs. Rob Van Dam
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
June - Top 5
Promotion
Relay For Life made it official. June 5, 2009, is the day I was officially promoted to 2nd degree black belt and received the title of "Deshi," though nobody calls me that.
In all actuality, the Relay was boring this year. I opted not to participate for so long this year, showing up around 1 and leaving around 5:30 or 6. It was mostly an afternoon of deciding I was officially burnt out with karate.
Be that as it may, I decided to suck it up and not get behind on my training. I was rewarded for my efforts.
This day (and week) was also sweet because David was home from the Army.
Learning New Stuff
June wasn't all together an extremely exciting month, though looking back I got excited about learning a new kata (Naihanchi San). This is the third and final installment of what is really O Naihanchi. Black belt classes at Mr. Hawkey's began again, and luckily he had Justin and I work the interpretation for it.
I feel I've gotten a better understanding of this new form than Naihanchi Ni, which I've known for almost 2 years. For some reason, some katas get taught to me real well, and others seem to fall by the wayside and I don't have a great understanding of them.
Plus we've learned two new ippons, and Mr. Hawkey has worked with us on advanced interpretation for different kata and applications that, at this point in time, would never have revealed themselves to me otherwise.
Learning a new weapon (kama) is fun, too.
Finishing a Class
I got an A in my May term. This is exciting. As I write this, we're in the final week of another class. Since the end of last August, I have gotten 2 weeks of break between terms at most. So finishing CIS 300 was a nice milestone - racking up gen ed points and an A.
In other news, Bradley finally switched us over to Interactive Media. Except I have no degree audit, currently, so I don't have anything to look at right now in regards to what classes I've knocked out.
Continuing this stream of consciousness, bollocks to IM 313 not being offered in the fall. Bollocks, I say!
Focusing on the Positive
It has never been my intention to use this blog as a LiveJournal or talk about emotions. I don't think it is right (or necessary) for people to air grievances on public spaces when the issue is personal.
Instead, all I'll say is that I have decided to cut off contact to negative people and negative situations. Initially I was worried this wouldn't work out, but I'm still having fun this summer.
Working Out
I'm working my way up to run some races. I'm not there yet, but close. I've also recently taken up riding my bike, in the hopes to ride to Germantown and back next week without completely feeling like crap afterwards.
Eventually one day, I think it would be sweet to run a marathon, but that is a loooong way away.
Other Notable June Moments
-Leading the Metamora Martial Arts crew in the Old Settler's parade for the fourth year in a row.
-Invision Power Board 3.0 coming out finally.
-Helping out at this arts conference deal at Bradley
-Splashdown with Sarah and her cousins
Relay For Life made it official. June 5, 2009, is the day I was officially promoted to 2nd degree black belt and received the title of "Deshi," though nobody calls me that.
In all actuality, the Relay was boring this year. I opted not to participate for so long this year, showing up around 1 and leaving around 5:30 or 6. It was mostly an afternoon of deciding I was officially burnt out with karate.
Be that as it may, I decided to suck it up and not get behind on my training. I was rewarded for my efforts.
This day (and week) was also sweet because David was home from the Army.
Learning New Stuff
June wasn't all together an extremely exciting month, though looking back I got excited about learning a new kata (Naihanchi San). This is the third and final installment of what is really O Naihanchi. Black belt classes at Mr. Hawkey's began again, and luckily he had Justin and I work the interpretation for it.
I feel I've gotten a better understanding of this new form than Naihanchi Ni, which I've known for almost 2 years. For some reason, some katas get taught to me real well, and others seem to fall by the wayside and I don't have a great understanding of them.
Plus we've learned two new ippons, and Mr. Hawkey has worked with us on advanced interpretation for different kata and applications that, at this point in time, would never have revealed themselves to me otherwise.
Learning a new weapon (kama) is fun, too.
Finishing a Class
I got an A in my May term. This is exciting. As I write this, we're in the final week of another class. Since the end of last August, I have gotten 2 weeks of break between terms at most. So finishing CIS 300 was a nice milestone - racking up gen ed points and an A.
In other news, Bradley finally switched us over to Interactive Media. Except I have no degree audit, currently, so I don't have anything to look at right now in regards to what classes I've knocked out.
Continuing this stream of consciousness, bollocks to IM 313 not being offered in the fall. Bollocks, I say!
Focusing on the Positive
It has never been my intention to use this blog as a LiveJournal or talk about emotions. I don't think it is right (or necessary) for people to air grievances on public spaces when the issue is personal.
Instead, all I'll say is that I have decided to cut off contact to negative people and negative situations. Initially I was worried this wouldn't work out, but I'm still having fun this summer.
Working Out
I'm working my way up to run some races. I'm not there yet, but close. I've also recently taken up riding my bike, in the hopes to ride to Germantown and back next week without completely feeling like crap afterwards.
Eventually one day, I think it would be sweet to run a marathon, but that is a loooong way away.
Other Notable June Moments
-Leading the Metamora Martial Arts crew in the Old Settler's parade for the fourth year in a row.
-Invision Power Board 3.0 coming out finally.
-Helping out at this arts conference deal at Bradley
-Splashdown with Sarah and her cousins
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