Arrow Season 1 Episode 9: “Year’s End”

“Year’s End” should have been re-titled “Oliver Has The Worst Christmas Ever.” With stepfather Walter missing (presumably abducted by the mysterious cabal that the Queens were involved with since he found the wreckage of the yacht), Oliver decides he wants to bring the Christmas spirit back to Starling City, starting at his own home.

To cheer up his mother Moira and sister Thea, Oliver organizes an over the top Christmas party at the mansion. Great ideas like this never seem to ever turn out just right; Moira is just too depressed to deal with this, Thea is too busy trying to make out with her creepy boyfriend, and best friend Tommy is there with his new girlfriend (and Oliver’s ex) Dinah.

So needless to say, a spotting of a copy cat archer (who has also been targeting people on the list) is reported Oliver is more than happy to duck out on the party. Unfortunately, this new archer (who has taken some fashion cues from baseball pitcher Brian Wilson’s pal the Machine) is not only more lethal but far more brutal than Oliver expected. Thanks to some help covering up what happened with Diggle, Oliver is admitted to the hospital to spend the holidays recovering and pondering how he’s going to stop this new uber-archer.

This episode originally aired in the middle of December, right before the Christmas hiatus most shows go through. It was a great point to have a break in the story, as it sets up a new direction for the series.I’m still wondering if the antagonist is none other than Tommy taking up the Merlyn character from the comics. I guess we’ll find out.

Arrow Season 1 Episode 6: “Muse of Fire”

This just might have been the best episode of the show to date. It’s awesome even though it has the Royal Flush Gang paying a visit!

The episode starts out with Diggle urging Oliver to expand his extra-curricular activities in Starling City to things that are not necessarily stated on the list. And a highly skilled team of bank robbers wearing a deck of playing card inspired body armor seems like the perfect thing for a bow-and-arrow carrying archer to get involved with.

Because this is an action/drama, it can’t be that similar. It turns out that this gang is a family of former Queen Corp employees at a factory that was outsourced and left them unemployed. How they all became extremely well trained para-military types escapes me, but that’s beside the point. But still, they mentioned to put a twist on the villains that would make sense.

Oliver is torn with what to do. He feels partly responsible for what has happened to them, since his father screwed them over royally. Oliver even tries—as himself and not the archer—to track them down and talk some sense into them. And unfortunately they don’t heed his words. The father is killed during a robbery by a security guard who was saved by the vigilante. So at least Oliver’s Q rating went up.

What I liked about this episode was that it showed that there is a bit more to Oliver other than his vengeful side, that he legitimately wanted to help the Royal Flush Gang since his family prospered at their expense.

Friday Fights #23: Vibe vs. Dazzler

It’s said that there is no such thing as a bad character in comic books; just extremely ill conceived or poorly written ones. This week we feature two combatants who stumbled out of the gate to become cult favorites: Vibe and the Dazzler.

DATED ORIGINS: Both of these characters are extremely dated in their origins. Vibe’s story comes across like the downfall of a member of Manudo; he’s a former break dancer turned gang member turned super hero. Dazzler is a former disco singer whose career is derailed once the public finds out she is a mutant and becomes an adventurer. ADVANTAGE: Neither.

THEY CAN TURN SOUND INTO THINGS: Vibe and Dazzler almost have the same super powers. They can turn sound into seismic and light energy respectively. Dazzler seems to be able to take her powers much further though, being able to successfully take on higher level cosmic villains like Dr. Doom, Terrax and even Galactus. ADVANTAGE: Dazzler.

KING OF THE STREETS: Vibe doesn’t really have much in the line of combat skills. In addition to her music career, Dazzler is an accomplished athlete. She’s also received extensive combat training during her time as an X-Men. I’m sure Vibe’s partners in the Detroit era of the Justice League (one of the lamest groups ever) really couldn’t offer something comparable. ADVANTAGE: Dazzler.

WINNER: Dazzler walks away with this one over poor Vibe. She is a much more established character, having been expanded so much over the years to be more than just a disco joke. Vibe has a chance to evolve and become a better character. Hopefully the new series written by Andrew Kreisberg can breathe some new life into the character.

 

Arrow Season 1 Episode 5: “Damaged”

I’ve finally gotten a chance to catch up on everything I’ve missed in Arrow! Aren’t DVRs amazing? This episode starts out with Oliver on trial for being the archer vigilante. And who does Oliver choose to be his lawyer? None other than Laurel, his ex-girlfriend whose father happens to be the lead detective on the case and blames him for the death of his other daughter.  That sounds like a great idea.

This episode is pretty funny to me, in the sense that Oliver  is so calm during the whole proceedings. I mean, he is the vigilante and everyone is convinced he is but he couldn’t care any less. He’s also plotting to take down a European weapons dealer at the same time.

How does he do it?

Oliver is much smarter than everyone gives him credit for, helping Laurel build a partially true defense that he is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder from his time on the island as well as revealing that he was tortured by what appears to be Deathstroke the Terminator (whose costume doesn’t look as good as I was hoping) as well as him being too inept to do be a vigilante.

He better give Laurel a nice thank you gift, as the combination of his bodyguard Diggle posing as the archer while he was in court and him being able to beat a lie detector test with her defense gets him off the hook. There’s an odd scene at the end where Laurel insinuates that she knows he is the vigilante, but I don’t know if it was just me.

On the Queen family front, relationships between Moira and stepfather Walter keeps getting strained, as he wonders about all the shady activities she has been involved with of late.

WWE 13: Making Pro Wrestling Video Games Fun Again

The last pro wrestling game that I purchased was Fire Pro Returns for PS2 and I’ve been playing that religiously for the past five years. For Christmas, I was given  WWE 13 for Xbox 360. Was I able to make the transition to the newest, shiniest slickest pro wrestling video game?

The answer is yes. While lacking the ridiculous customization of the Fire Pro games, WWE 13 is the most fun WWE video game since Smackdown vs. Raw: Here Comes The Pain. I’ve been playing it pretty much non-stop since getting it.

The game is pretty much what you would expect; not only does it have the current WWE talent roster, but all the match types you would expect to find on your typical episode of Raw or Smackdown as well as the usual basic story modes that string along your story-lines.

But what really makes this an awesome game is the Attitude Era mode, which recreates all the major story lines on WWE programming from early 1997 through Wrestlemania XV. You wind up playing as Bret “The Hitman” Hart, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, the Rock…even Ken Shamrock as you relive all the classic Attitude Era moments. Best of all, if you successfully complete all the objectives in each match, it unlocks content that you can use in the regular game modes, ranging from wrestlers to new arenas.

The online modes add some more fun for the game, allowing you to play against WWE 13 users around the world and to download create-a-wrestlers that people have shared. The only problem with the online components is that the server lags and disconnects a lot, but that can be expected with THQ’s current financial woes. I mostly use the online feature to download new wrestlers and arenas. If you are willing to get up really early in the morning to avoid peak hours, it runs a lot smoother.

I have a feeling that I’ll be playing this for quite some time, as you can create an additional 50 characters on your own. I’ve already found a great Bob Sapp to add to the game. Not to mention, that they’ve issued several downloadable content packs that not only freshen up the current roster with people like Antonio Cesaro and Ryback, but also add classics from the Attitude Era like Brian Pillman, Terry Funk and Diamond Dallas Page. These are all additions I would have made on my own, so it frees up CAW slots!

I’ve been away from WWE gaming for a decent amount of time and it feels good to be back. This game is highly recommended for wrestling fans everywhere.

Birds of Prey Volume 1: The Team Where Everyone Is A Bird

 

I guess I’ve always been a fan of Gail Simone’s Birds of Prey work. Not that I’ve been a regular reader, but when I find the odd trade at the library or over a friend’s place, I’ll give it a quick read. Birds of Prey Volume 1: Endrun became my prey, as it featured Hawk and Dove—by now you know that they are two of my favorites—joining up with the team of avian-themed lady crime-fighters.

There is a lot going on in this collection, ranging from a new villain from Black Canary’s past attempting to ruin her life all the while forming an uneasy alliance with the Penguin as the group are all considered to be fugitives of the save. There’s even a subplot with Oracle and two reformed criminals going on.

I guess the best part of this would be Birds of Prey #6, where Huntress fights Lady Shiva in a duel to the death with Huntress. The JLU cartoons really showed how awesome this character could be, and Simone’s take on the character is very similar. It’s a shame the Helena Bertinelli iteration of this character disappeared with the New 52.

Hawk and Dove didn’t get as much story time as I would have liked, but it worked. They’re pretty much brought into this story line to be supporting characters. Nothing to complain about there.

In all, it was a quick read. There’s lot of fighting scenes in this book; it’s a bit action packed. And if you like that, you should give this a try.

Journey Into Mystery #646: A New Mystery

 

Journey Into Mystery found a new Asgardian lead character in issue #646, as longtime supporting character Sif finally gets an adventure of her own. The series also features a new writer in Kathryn Immonen. So how does Sif make out in her maiden voyage?

The story starts out with Sif rescuing one of the many children of everyone’s favorite rotund Asgardian, Volstagg the Voluminous. Sif returns the child to his family only to find something that disgusts her: the Asgardian children know very little of their people’s heroes and legend. Immonen fund a unique way that is a nod to the title’s history; the Volstagg children are proudly showing Sif issues of Journey Into Mystery from the early 1960’s giant alien monster era! To the kids’ defense, that what happens when you pretty much live in the middle of Oklahoma.

By the second half of the issue, the series’ new direction is pretty much set. Sif is on a quest to find out what had happened to some of the forgotten mythological characters of Asgard’s past, but also seems to want to establish her own place in the hierarchy of the Asgardian pantheon. The first issue ends with her seemingly beheading Aerndis, some sort of mythological teacher who might have been an enemy of the Asgardians. The last page has Sif sitting at an Oklahoma bar having a beer or two, with what appears to be Aerndis’ bloody head in a bag next to her.

On the art end, Valerio Schiti just knocks one out of the park. The Italy-based artist just knocks it out of the park on this. It’s just amazing to look at it. His style skews toward the thinner linework side but is great. In the opening story you can see that he’s more than just your average comics artist; he can draw children and women very well, something that many a comic artist can’t master.

Some of the dialogue was a little rough (with the Asgardian/old English vocabulary) to get through at points, but Journey Into Mystery was a pretty good first issue for a new direction. I do want to see where this story goes but I’m not sure if this is going to be a monthly purchase. I think I’ll be talking more about this in April when the first collected volume comes out.

Friday Fights # 22: Nick Fury vs. Cobra Commander

After taking most of the week off to feeling ill, it’s time for Friday Fights! One of the things I wondered about during my “lay on the couch because I have a cold” time, I wondered who would win in a fight:  Nick Fury or Cobra Commander.

The obvious answer is Fury, since he’s a veteran of pretty much everything, thanks to him not aging. He has enhances physical capabilities as well as has received every sort of combat, military strategy and espionage training known to man. Fury is also adept at all kinds of weaponry.

So that said, what chance does Cobra Commander have?

Whether its the cartoons or comics, the Commander is always shown to be a bit of a wimp. He doesn’t like to get his hands dirty and usually relies on the help of his subordinates when in a fight. So needless to say, chances are this isn’t going to be a fair fight.

Cobra Commander also isn’t the best trained hand to hand combatant  again he usually has someone else around to fight on his behalf. He is a master of escape.That said, I think Cobra Commander would narrowly escape Nick Fury. He would be in one of the Cobra “Trouble Bubbles” en route to his next safe house before Fury knew it.

So I’ll give this one a tie. Fury will always win the fight, but Cobra Commander will always escape.

Batman Arkham City: I Know I’m Late To The Party But This Is Still Awesome

So this might be the last review of Batman: Arkham City you will ever read. It’s taken me quite a long time to get to a point where I felt comfortable reviewing the game–almost a year later! So what took so long?

The truth is that Arkham City is one of the best–if not the best–super hero video games I’ve ever played. But that said, there’s a lot of skill and patience required that makes the playing a little manic. A few of the missions where your running around Gotham City beating up prisoners are deceptively easy. But then some of the tasks, like carefully navigating the flight of a batarang to go through two separate windows or pick-pocketing security guards with Catwoman, are super challenging to the point where you give up on the game for a few weeks until you get the confidence to pick it up again.

The story of the game is pretty straightforward and ties into the last game (Arkham Asylum). Part of Gotham City has been turned into an isolated prison by evil psychologist Hugo Strange and his private army, with super villains and gang members running amok. It’s up to Batman to not only keep the prisoners and citizens stuck in the Arkham district safe while uncovering the nefarious origin of this prison colony. Meanwhile, he’s in a race to save himself, as he was infected with the blood of a terminally ill Joker. Just a typical day in the life of Batman, with him going up against pretty much every villain of note in his rogue’s gallery.

Like I said earlier, the game play has a very quick learning curve but manages to be extremely challenging at the same time. It’s really addictive and there is a sense of accomplishment when you complete the various challenges.

On the visual side, it’s amazing. There’s so much detail in the game that the setting and environment itself is just as fun to explore as the game is to play. There’s a nice feature in the game, as Batman’s uniform gets more distressed and dirty as the game progresses.

Only adding to how great this game is its connection to Batman: The Animated Series, as the show’s mastermind Paul Dini wrote the game, and Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill respectively resume their voice work for Batman and the Joker.

Once the game was beaten, I realized that was only the tip of the iceberg. Not only do you have the chance to go back and finish any side missions you passed on, but there is additional game stories and the ability to add Catwoman, Robin and Nightwing into the mix as downloadable content, it seems like I’ll be playing this game for another year.

This really was the gift that kept on giving!

 

Great Conversations About Comic Books With Non Readers

Today I had this conversation with my good friend Zaheed who I would say at best is a low-level casual comics reader (meaning he’s a lapsed reader but is fairly aware of who the major characters are).

Me: Red Hulk is awesome. I would share his backstory but it would make you explode.

 

Z: I just read it, but I’m frustrated with how complicated it is. Is he Zzzax or Redeemer?

 

Me:  No; he’s General Ross.

 

Z: Why can’t comics just stick to their roots? Jughead always likes hamburgers! THAT’S NOT COMPLICATED AT ALL!

And that is a logical explanation why some people don’t read comics. You can follow Zaheed on Twitter for more of his wacky observations on life, living in Saskatoon and his poor Toronto Maple Leafs. Go follow him now; horrorcore rapper Necro and Chikara mastermind Mike Quackenbush already do!

Friday Fights#21: House of Magneto vs. House of Vader

It’s time for some villainous family feuding! What would happen if Magneto and kids tussled with Darth Vader and his own set of twins? The two sides have a pretty elaborate and expanded family tree but we’re focusing on Magneto, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch going up against Darth Vader, Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker.

What you get with both families is a lot of dysfunctional relationships. Both the Vaders and the House of M have a lot of similarities. Both of them are headed by a father with some serious emotional issues, who have really strained (at best) relations with their children. After all, they have tried to kill them several times over the years! Luke and Leia are more stable than Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch; unfortunately the Skywalker twins accidentally made out! On the mutant side of things, it’s not much better as the twins are always trying to gain their father’s acceptance, even though they consider him to be a threat to the universe!

Ultimately both groups would have to coexist among themselves. The battle isn’t a matter of the Force vs. magnetism; it’s once Scarlet Witch uses her reality warping to take out her Jedi combatants. And after that, Magneto will take his kids to McDonalds for a Happy Meal.

Toy Review: Sheamus

I’ve been so busy lately that I haven’t had a chance to do any toy photography in a long time! So while hanging out and watching wrestling on the DVR, it seemed the only thing appropriate was to take some wrestling action figure pictures. I went to my trusty toy box and pulled out none other than Sheamus of WWE fame!

Sheamus was a gift a while back from the girlfriend, as she’s one of the wrestlers that we both think is awesome. But taking pictures of him by himself at ringside is no fun! Sheamus winds up fighting with Randy Orton!

And because Sheamus is a strong brawler, he would like nothing more than to throw poor Randy around! Sheamus is picking him up for a brutal looking bodyslam outside the ring!

Orton fans don’t have to worry because he countered the move into his RKO neckbreaker!

A little motion and radial blurring in Photoshop only makes it look a little more brutal.

But getting back to Sheamus, one or the reasons we like his character so much is that he’s like an old timey strong man. He’s a huge guy whose likely to kick your ass if you cross him. That said, I played around with the color values to make it a black-and-white image.

The result? Pretty cool but not old timey enough. It’s getting there, but it feels like there is still something missing.

So with some searching on Flickr’s creative commons pictures, we made it a super old timey photo by merging it into an image of a family watching television. I bet these guys are betting on the big guy from Ireland.

So who do you think wound up winning the match?

Wonder Woman Volume 1: Blood

Over the holiday I decided to give the new Wonder Woman series a shot and read Wonder Woman Volume 1: Blood to check out the New 52’s Diana. So how was it?

I really didn’t know what to expect with Brian Azzarello writing. I enjoyed a lot of his work, especially 100 Bullets, and seem to have him pigeonholed in my mind as being more of a crime comics writer. So I was doubly surprised to see him not only writing a Wonder Woman book but one that wound up being very mythology based.

The plot was a little confusing for me at first, but it reads more like a family soap opera based in Greek mythology. Zeus rules this family and is a bit of a man whore; he’s had countless children with random gods, mortals and demigods. The latest woman to carry a Zeus baby is a Virginian named Zola, who is wanted dead by Zeus’ wife Hera and son Apollo. Wonder Woman gets swept up into this after she herself finds out her true origin; she wasn’t made from clay but is the product of a one night stand between her mother Hippolyta and Zeus! It’s up to her and her half-god brother Hermes to protect Zola and the unborn child. Along the way she  also has to confront her mother–and the rest of the Amazonians–about her true parentage.

Reading this, it felt like there was a lot going on and took a few re-reads to pick up on everything. It was very well written, but I just had too hard of a time getting it to click. On the art side, Cliff Chiang’s art is always amazing and I loved every page.

I’m going to give this book a thumbs up, even though it wasn’t for me. If you like mythology or intertwining family drama, this is the book for you.

Walt Simonson on Hulk? Count me in!

 

It’s no secret how much I enjoy Walt Simonson’s projects. This spring he is adding something to his expansive portfolio that he has never done before: been the lead artist on the Hulk series!

iFanboy shared this news item by posting a promo picture/teaser earlier today. Starting this April, Walt is picking up the pencil for Mark Waid’s Hulk series. And with the Hulk trying to lift Mjolnir to little success, it seems that Thor will be playing a big role in this.

There is really so much to be excited on for this project, but I’ll keep it short and  give you two reasons why this is ridiculously awesome:

1. Mark Waid is an awesome writer and his name on the credits pretty much solidifies it being a fun read.
2. Walt Simonson is drawing this, which is always a great thing but only gets better being that Thor is involved. How freaking cool is that?

It’s like Marvel is just trying to think of new things to make me spend my money on! I’m really debating on whether I’ll follow this as an issue or wait to get it in a collected form. Either way it’s going to be awesome, and knowing me I’ll probably willingly buy it in both formats!

Friday Fights #20: Doctor Octopus vs. the Octopus

 

With all the talk about Doctor Octopus the last few weeks (seriously, when was the last time he was this relevant?), this week he gets his chance to be part of our Friday Fights by  taking on probably the only other octopus themed villain in the comic book world:  the Octopus.

We know pretty  much everything there is about the Doctor; he’s a genius who relies on his eight mechanical appendages to cause mayhem and wreak havoc on everyone who opposes him and his schemes.

The Octopus is a lot more mysterious a villain. In Will Eisner’s old The Spirit , he would terrorize people from the shadows, always hidden from everyone’s view, whether you were a character in the story or you as the person reading. He’s a master of causing mayhem out of everyone’s sight.

So who would win this battle?

Doctor Octopus has a history of messing everything up whereas Octopus is pretty bad ass. Plus his role was played by Samuel L. Jackson in the Spirit movie a few years. WINNER: Octopus. He would lure the Doctor into the shadows for a quick knock out.

Amazing Spider-Man #700: A Few Notes

Now that the dust has settled, let’s talk about Amazing Spider-Man #700. Peter Parker is dead; Doctor Octopus is now happily living with the responsibility of being  both Peter and Spider-Man.

To say the issue has been controversial is an understatement. While I’m not certainly to keen on the story itself, the execution of it worked and it sets up some interesting stories in the mean time. But its certainly not deserving of all the criticism; let alone all the threats writer Dan Slott has gotten over it.

What this reminds me of is an event that happened twenty years ago:  the death of Superman. The hero was ousted by someone (in his case four people) not as good as the original, only for the world to await his convoluted return. Even Spider-Man himself went to something like this; a clone of Peter Parker was convinced that he truly was the real Spider-Man and took over the role, only to be eventually replaced by the true web head.

The stories of the Doc Ock-as-Spider-Man have the potential to be really entertaining. With the title switching it’s adjective from “amazing” to “superior” it reminds us that Doc Ock still has a grudge with Peter, wanting to be better at his life than he was. The other interesting plot line will be Doc Ock trying to keep his cover as Peter Parker. Yes, he has all of his memories but he can’t do anything drastically different.

Ultimately we all know how this is going to end. Doc Ock is going to be in over his head and the real Peter is going to return to fix and restore the status quo. So until then, everyone relax and enjoy the ride.

Spider-Men: When Peter Met Miles

Peter Parker has had a rough couple of weeks, with switching bodies with Doctor Octopus and dying and such. Spider-Men is a glimpse to a more lighthearted adventure, with him entering the Ultimate Universe and meeting the Spider-Man of that reality.

The only thing that I really wasn’t too keen on this story was how Peter winds up getting into the Ultimate Universe. Longtime illusionist and lame villain Mysterio has acquired some sort of trans-dimensional gateway that Peter accidentally activated, sending him to another reality where he meets Miles. Mysterio now has the opportunity to kill the two Spider-Men.

While dodging Mysterio’s robot avatars and such, the two bond. Miles really looks up to Peter, who himself is amazed on how respected the alternate version of himself was by the people of Ultimate New York. Knowing that he doesn’t belong, the Ultimates agree to help find a way to send Peter home.

The best parts of Brian Bendis’ story are when Peter meets up with this world’s version of Aunt May and Gwen Stacy, both of them who are still mourning the loss of their Peter. Things are also odd for Peter, as he’s talking to a version of a girl he was deeply in love with, but whose life was cut short in his reality.

This really was really made the book for me were these exchanges. Peter and Miles could have not punched a whole thing through it; the story was fine without any action. There was plenty; the Spidey’s and the Ultimates team up to stop Mysterio. The ending is a little odd; Mysterio learned a lot about Peter Parker’s secret identity and such by watching him through his device, and the Ultimates wound up imprisoning him in their world to keep Peter’s secrets safe. But mostly it’s important for Miles and the Aunt May and Gwen that he knows; they were able to get closure knowing that somewhere there is a Peter very close to the one that they knew who is living a wonderful life. 

When that Peter got home he Googled Miles, and we don’t know what he found online. But between that and Mysterio stuck in the Ultimate world there are two plot points to pick up at a later date. 

The art on this was by Sara Pichelli, whose work is really growing on me. I read that she does most of her work on a Wacom tablet and I’m amazed about how thin her line work is. It’s very clean and looks great.

Getting back to Spider-Men, I give it a glowing recommendation  It’s more a Miles than a Peter story, but it doesn’t matter which Spider-Man you prefer. It’s a great Spider-Man story all around.

Forever Hardcore:

One of the part of having a lot of time off during the holidays is that I finally have an opportunity to read and watch things that have been put off for a long time. One of these was Forever Hardcore, a documentary that looks back at the time when Extreme Championship Wrestling was running wild.

The film was done by Jeremy Borash, a longtime behind the scenes employee of WCW and TNA, who just happened to also be a super fan of the renegade wrestling company from South Philadelphia that went on to change the face of professional wrestling.

What separates this from the WWE produced The Rise and Fall of ECW is that this relies on interviews with people who were a part of the promotion at the time but never were able to parlay that success with the larger company. So in that sense, the stories that were told on this come across as a little more open. A lot of the stories I’ve read and heard before, but this documentary has the primaries going on the record about. There are some other stories that were new to me, like Shane Douglas and Francine never really getting along when they were outside of character.

Forever Hardcore was a decent enough documentary. There were a few things that I did frown upon though. The video quality wasn’t that slick, looking more along the lines of a student film or something made for hyper-local television. But in some ways, that keeps up with the spirit of the original ECW in that the presentation wasn’t what counted but the content you were experiencing. What was worse (and I’m sure was a huge challenge for Borash) about this was how they couldn’t use any video footage of ECW, thanks to it being the WWE’s. Random photography and indie wrestling helps fill the void, but doesn’t really illustrate the points being made.

The feeling I was left with was the story of how everyone involved with ECW believed in the product and the risks they took–both financially and physically–to support it. It ends with Terry Funk discussing being offered a contract to participate in the first WWE ECW tribute show. And pretty much sums up the experience of what it was like working for ECW with this quote:

“I said honey, I can’t do it. I want to go back to the guys that I love. The guys that I’ve been down the road.  And that’s why I’m not a millionaire because I do the things I want to do instead of the things I should have done.”

And that’s exactly how I remember ECW.