WrestleMania Flashback: WrestleMania XI

Well they all can’t be good. And not even Salt-N-Pepa could save WrestleMania XI. There was something about this event that just doesn’t make it feel special. And that’s why it’s mostly forgettable.

THE GOOD: This was part of the era where Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels were always having the best (if not one of the best) matches on the card every night. So their respective matches with Bob Backlund and Diesel really carry the show.

THE BAD: The Undertaker/King Kong Bundy, well, they have  match. At least you get the trivia question of having longtime MLB umpire being the special guest referee. And what was up with all of the celebrities at WrestleMania XI? Not only was there Bam Bam Bigelow’s match with football player Lawrence Taylor (which I still don’t understand was the main event), but the rest of the show featured a who’s who of the early 1990s by having Nicholas Turturro, Jenny McCarthy and Pamela Anderson also appearing at the event.

MATCH TO WATCH: You can really skip this one. Go read a book or something instead.

WrestleMania Flashback: WrestleMania X

I started this feature a few years back, giving me a reason to re-watch all of the WrestleManias. Unfortunately, I’m clearly a lazy blogger so this got put to the backseat for a long time. Anyway, with the WWE Network making it so easy to see all of the old pay-per-views, so I have no excuse to not finish this.

THE GOOD: WrestleMania X is a really good show. It has the Shawn Michaels/Razor Ramon ladder match that is a classic. The show’s opener, Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart, is a great match that still holds up. Not only that, but it set up a bunch of rematches and story lines for the rest of the year. At the end of the show, Bret manages to pull out a good match out of Yokozuna, reclaiming the WWF World Championship he lost a year earlier.

THE BAD: Thankfully, there isn’t that much at WrestleMania X that was bad. If anything, I’d have to say the Bam Bam Bigelow/Luna Vachon match against Doink/Dink, or the Quebecers/Men on a Mission Tag Team Championship match are pretty much skippable.

MATCH TO WATCH: Randy Savage has an awesome Falls Count Anywhere match against Crush that I really loved at the time and still do to this day. The story that built up to it is so cartoony and everything that you love about professional wrestling. Crush–who was a brightly, neon colored good guy–gets squashed by the evil Yokozuna. When he comes back, he’s super bitter and angry. Not because he was nearly crushed (see what I did there?), but because Savage, whom he thought was his best friend, didn’t send him a get well card. This sets off a huge feud between the two former friends. You read that right.

Spider-Man 2099 #1

Last summer, Peter David’s Spider-Man 2099 #1 spins out of his more recent appearances and puts Miguel O’Hara into the current Marvel Universe. So did it succeed in getting my attention?

Well, yes. But then again, I’ve always been into the character. I loved the original series. I’m a big fan of the costume design (heck, I’d cosplay that if I could). So I might have gone into this biased.

Anyway, Miguel is now stranded in the past. He winds up getting a job at Alchemax (the evil corporation that he worked for/fought in 2099). While he’s on the clock, a time travelling agent of T.O.T.E.M. shows up to kill him, as his time travelling may possibly alter the future in a negative way. Not only that, but this time traveler is also after Liz Allan (longtime friend of Peter Parker and ex-wife of Harry Osborn). So it’s up to Miguel to change into his Spider-Man costume and save the day. The issue ends with Miguel and Liz safe, and her deducing that whoever was in the costume had to be an employee of Alchemax.

And on top of all that, there is a lot of humor in this book, which you would expect ina Peter David series. He uses Lyla, the artificial intelligence watch Miguel has, for comic relief. It’s even pointed out that Lyla gave him the winning lottery ticket numbers to pay for their 2014 apartment. So yeah, this was interesting enough to warrant track down the following issues.

Green Arrow #35-37

Finally! I’m back into this series. I really didn’t like Jeff Lemire’s run on Green Arrow. I know, I’m like the only person who didn’t. But Arrow’s Andrew Kreisberg and Ben Sokolowski have got me back on board. Not to mention that Daniel Sampere draws like Bryan Hitch! What a book.

I like how the comic book is in line with the television series in some ways, but not really. I like how he has Diggle as his bodyguard/assistant. I like how Oliver is struggling to keep his Green Arrow work balanced with his running of the family business.

There is a lot going on. Oliver is fending off both Lex Luthor and Bruce Wayne, who want to buy off Q-Core. They’ve also introduced Felicity Smoak into the New 52, as a hacktivist who wants to help him. She figured out his secret identity and wants him to know that there is someone plotting to kill him. It turns out that it’s philanthropist John King, who is also trying to kill his runaway daughter Mia Dearden (best known as Speedy from the old 52). Like the previous incarnation, she’s turned to a life of street crime. King is after her, as she has a flash drive filled with whatever his nefarious plan is.

We also get a cool fight between Green Arrow and Merlyn.

Oliver takes Diggle and Felicity to a fundraiser that King is hosting on a blimp. If that doesn’t sound like a trap, then I really don’t know what is. Eventually King reveals his plan to take over America and that he does know that Oliver is the Green Arrow. He then has Oliver and company (and I’m not talking about the Disney movie) thrown off the blimp, with the issue ending with Green Lantern saving them all.

Sold.

Red Hood and the Outlaws #36

I’ll admit, I don’t remember what has happened in the last few issues of Red Hood and the Outlaws. I’m getting old; what can I say. The issue starts out with Red Hood having just taken out a whole buildings worth of thugs and his narration is about him taking the Venom (the same super-steroid that Bane gets his powers from) and just kicking ass. As he exits everything is on fire and he finds Arsenal’s quill.

Arsenal is getting dropped off at a hospital by Starfire. He’s severley burnt over most of his body but she’s not sticking around. A barely conscious Arsenal gets visited by both Red Hood and Green Arrow in their civilian gear. They have some awkward conversation about what has happened and Roy is barely coherent. Before they wind up getting into fisticuffs in the hospital, the mystical warrior Essence that Red Hood has known for a long time shows up to tell them that Roy will fully recover. Red Hood leaves to find Starfire, and Green Arrow and Arsenal have strained conversation, since they are former best friends and all.

As this goes on, Starfire goes to Poland to take some alien drugs. So I guess she’s the junkie and not Roy in this reality.

Friday Fights #26: Archangel vs. Nemesis Enforcer

Due to popular demand, we’re bringing back the old Friday Fights feature. And by popular demand, I mean that I’m actually sticking to doing my regular blog schedule again. This week pits two winged warriors against each other–Archangel takes on Nemesis Enforcer.

The one ability that both have is that they can fly, thanks to wings that are attached to their spine. Archangel’s are a form of bio-technology created by the Celestials that has been bonded to him (since, you know, his flesh and feather ones were ripped off of his body). The composition of Nemesis Enforcer’s wings are never really explained, but the fact that they can be used to rip through things and deflect gun fire seem to suggest that they are somewhat strong.

Archangel’s wings have another advantage; the fact that he can shoot off feather like razor blades (sometimes with a neurotoxin) at his enemies. The Enforcer can’t do that, but he does boast those