Send in the Clowns!

Caught Ebessan and Kuishinbo Kamen on NWA:TNA last night. It was fun watching the two wrestle a serious match and Mike Tenay & Don West called it straight down the middle when they said they never expected two guys who dress as weird as Osaka Pro's Gods of Comedy to be such awesome workers! I myself was surprised at how well the duo along with NOSAWA could work so well with Chris Sabin, Elix Skipper & Sonjay Dutt. This was great puroresu exposure for Malaysian fans, but I hope they don't get the impression that all Japanese wrestlers are high-flying clowns.

On to business and I've got some big posts up. Pt.2 of my "Who Will Beat Kobashi?" article is up, and I've posted a review of my first Kaientai Dojo show, which was really fun! I've also just finished watching NOAH's Great Voyage 2000 PPV, which was main evented by the last time Kenta Kobashi went one-on-one with Jun Akiyama, as a prelude to their DEPARTURE Tokyo Dome match. I'll have a review of that up soon. So Read and Enjoy!

And off it goes again

Just as I expected, the return of the puroresu channel (Z-Channel) was only temporary as it just got scrambled again last night. Guess they're testing the pay TV feed but before going with it full time.

Just got back from watching the new sci-fi thriller I, Robot. Unfortunately, from the very first scene at the beginning, I could predict how the rest of it was gonna turn out. There were only a few small swerves, but I guess anyone could tell what was gonna happen. This was basically one of those movies where there's only one guy thinking logically, whereas everyone else thinks he's paranoid or just crazy because of it untill it's too late. Let's hear it for logical thought! So, go see this movie if you think the ads make it look big. But eventhough it beat Spider-Man-2 off the number 1 slot in the US box office, the story seriously just pales in comparison for me.

On the other hand, catching the trailers for the new Alien VS Predator and Resident Evil: Apocalypse movies looked really good! Talk of the Alien VS Predator movie has been going on possibilly longer than the Jason VS Freddy movie, and it's finally coming out! Resident Evil on the other hand looks to definately outdo the original which bombed big time. This would be because they're finally going the route of the video game as the storyline looks to be based on the 3rd RE game, Nemesis. And the Nemesis himself is in the movie!
Two other movies I also hold anticipation for are The Bourne Supremacy, which I thought the first was just awesome, and the new M. Night Shyamalan movie, The Village. For those of you who know Shyamalan's previous work (The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs), you probably already know what to expect from one his always thought provoking movies.

And it returns???

Weird as it sounds after ranting off about losing the puroresu channel, it suddenly comes back! Hope it's not temporary.

Finally had my PC fixed today too. Hopefully again there won't be any more bugs in the system. HOWEVER... When I got home with da PC and set it up, it WOULDN'T start up! The power button was busted for some reason! After dinner, immediately sent it back to the shop and the guy re-wired it so now my restart button is the power button. Whatever works I guess. Gotta get a new casing sooner or later.

After recent successfull outings at King Of Fighters 2002, I was brought back down to earth today by another elite player. I introduced everyone to Ramon's Force of Will move which I just learned, and he introduced everyone to a new cheap tactic with Clark! Mark my words! Like I've done in the past, I will find a way to beat you!

To good to last.

Just when I thought I had all the puroresu I can handle, it gets yanked out from under me! The Z Channel is gone again! Just as I finally get it back, they decide to convert to a freakin' pay channel! This is SO not fair, and I squarely put the blame on the bastard who originally tuned the Satellite TV decoder before, as the channel was always there but the dork didn't know how to tune into it until the other new guy did it on the first shot last week! Need a new smart card my ass! I just missed a whole year of FREE puroresu because of that idiot! 
 
Now for some good news, as my King of Fighters record just keeps getting better! Fought and defeated another rival today, not once, but THREE times! Much to the surprise of myself I even beat the mega-cheap team of Orochi Yashiro, Chris and K9999 with varitable ease thanks to Chang KoeHan's power and Ramon's speed! Now my only obstacle to beat is the cheap combo tactics of Takuma Sakazaki, but I'm confident it won't be long before I crack his armour. It's also pretty obvious I struck a nerve with the other players as they use characters with cheap tactics and trap combos to try to get rid of me. Guess what boys? I'm gonna take you guys on whenever I see you just to prove that using cheap combos and tactics won't always get the job done!
 
I also went to watch the new King Arthur movie with Trish. This movie was supposedly based on evidence that the legend of King Arthur may have started much earlier during the Roman empire and that Arthur was a Roman legionnaire. The movie itself was pretty good and straight to the point. I liked this different take on the story and I'm sure a few of the plot twists will surprise more than a few of you if you know the stories previously told about Arthur and the Nights of the Round Table. Merlin as leader of a troup of renegades? Guinevere as an amazon? Yup. Definately a different take! Heck, even the Saxon chief was a cool heel. He was even smart enough to kill everyone in every village he plundered so no one could seek revenge on him in the future! And the ending battle of the movie is sure to please fans of the big battles from the Lord Of The Rings movies. Definately go watch this movie!

Shocking the arcade!

I've been in a bit of a slump at the arcades recently, amounting more loses than wins at the local King of Fighters league. But I redeemed myself in a big way yesterday as I scored a big win against my arch rival using the most unlikely of trios! There's this guy at the arcade who's been near unbeatable using the ultra cheap team of Chris, Yashiro and Choi. I've lost to him more times than I can remember, but yesterday I scored the big one when I used a first time team of Joe Higashi, Ramon & Chang Koe Han!
This was the first time I had EVER used Chang and I sent him out first against Chris, and what followed shocked EVERYONE as I literally beat him with ease, and that has NEVER happened before for ANYONE! Next up was the guy I probably hate the most, Choi Bounge. And while my Chang ended up losing to him, he did put up a heck of a fight. Next up was my Ramon, who I am notorious in the arcade as being the master of. And thanks to the damage Chang did, I manage to beat Choi easilly too. Next up was the big man, Yashiro. Which would lead to Ramon pulling the big upset as I managed to counter and escape the usual traps the guy likes to use and shocked everyone when I beat Mr. Unbeatable with one man left! Everyone was in awe that I of all people had toppled the juggernaut!
Even though I lost the next match when he switched characters, I had won back my pride as being the most unpredictable player in the league as I had defeated DECISIVELY one of the most powerful teams and players in it.
 
On that note, I've posted a review of AJPW's Excite Series 2004 PPV. Check it out and expect more reviews soon as I've still got a ton of tapes to watch through.

Swamped in Puroresu!

Talk about a busy week! My big shipment of tapes from wrestleholicsvideos came today! As well as the replacement tape from GoldenBoyTapes! Add that to the puroresu I get from Z Channel, And I got so much puroresu I don't know what to watch first! Expect a ton of show reviews coming soon as well as the new shows added to the site.

The Blue Moon cometh

Remember how I said it's usually once in a blue moon that I get a great idea for an article to write? Well, the blue moon have cometh and I had an idea so good that I split it into TWO articles! The article in question being the question of who will be the man to beat Kenta Kobashi for the GHC Heavyweight Championship? I decided to split the article into two parts, first is a look at the nine men who tried and failed, but could possibilly have a second chance. Part two will be a look at who a few guys Kobashi hasn't faced yet that I think could do the job, and at the same time help establish some new stars.

That's not all, I've also posted my review of the big NOAH 4/25/2004 where Kobashi defends the Global Honour Crown against Takayama! Check out my short review on the awesome show!

Now I'd like to announce a small change to the blog. I won't be doing the RAW report anymore due to the limited time I have now. And lets face it, you can get far better and up to date reviews on various other web-sites on the net. I'll still continue the PPV reports when I can, as well as my Spoiling the Illusion column and any other news I feel worth mentioning from the pro-wrestling world.

Now go enjoy the good stuff!

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

The Good
I finally got my (almost) 24 Puroresu channel back on the satellite TV!!! The Z Channel is back! Now I can watch Puroresu all day (except after midnight). BUT..
The Bad
... I have to go back to work at the office starting TOMORROW!!! So I can only enjoy my non-stop puroresu in the evenings. Crap. No more late nights either, so I'm gonna miss some of my fav shows on TV like The Shield, Zoe Busek: Wildcard and John Doe.
The Ugly
Watched Around The World in 80 Days with Trish just now. It sucked big time and the only thing that kept my interest was keeping an eye open for the special guest cameos. The best adaptation of this story is still the TV series that starred Pierce Brosnan.

Something I can also add to the good would most definately be the NOAH Encountering Navigation 2004 tape I received and watched yesterday! This was the big 4/25/04 Nippon Budokan event that saw Kenta Kobashi defend the GHC Heavyweight title against Yoshihiro Takayama in an awesome contest! Also an amazing GHC tag title match with Misawa & Ogawa defending against GHC Jr tag champs KENTA & Marufuji. I'll ad it to the VCD site soon as well as a review in the blog.

Vengeance from WWE!

Results for WWE's Vengeance PPV is up! Was a suprisingly good show despite the bad (and at times logicless) buildup of the matches, but the good ringwork in the matches saved the show. Check it out.
My WWE PPV predictions for the show are 3-3-1, bringing the current total to 37-22-4. Interesting how WWE has been suprising me with some of their booking decisions lately as my loses are quickly catching up to the wins.

Shocking News

Another reason I got the best girlfriend in the world: Trish bought me a stun gun today! Yup, an electric cattle prod (or taser) for self defence, not that I really need one for it. She knew I was looking for one for awhile and jumped the gun (no pun intended) to get it when she saw one on sale. Thanks, girl! I love ya!
But don't all of you get the wrong idea. I don't intend to go shocking everyone that pisses me off or anything just for kicks. I haven't even charged it yet. I don't even really think I would use it on anyone unless I absolutely have to, and if it's on me at the time. In the mean time, it also doubles as a flashlight, so that's probably what I'll use it for.

On that note, I've posted my predictions for tomorrow's WWE Vengeance PPV. I'm not really expecting much due to the poor build-up, but at least some of the matches should be entertaining.

NOAH hits the Dome!

Pro Wrestling NOAH's big DEPARTURE Tokyo Dome show has come and gone! Unfortunately, the show itself could also be considered hit or miss depending on how you look at it, as some of the booking decisions (especially the main event) left many scratching their heads. Check out the results of the show in the extreme puroresu blog.

Spiderman 2 Special Combo

I haven't updated the blog for the past few days cause my PC caught a virus from somewhere and had to be reformated. After my PC was fixed I was then faced with the problem of getting my ADSL modem working again, which thanks to my cousin Mel is now working OK and I'm back in business.
I got the RAW report up together with some puroresu news and results. Stay tuned for my NOAH DEPARTURE Tokyo Dome predictions in the next few days. I've also got some new puroresu shows which I will update on the VCD site soon, but I got one new puroresu tape review up.

Spiderman 2: The Movie
I went to watch the Spiderman 2 movie with Trish last night and damn it was a heck of a movie. I expecially loved the fight scenes between Spiderman and Doctor Octopus, which I would probably vote as the best live action superhero fight scenes EVER! I also like the small touches they put in like Spidey's costume getting ripped up in battles. I hated how pathetic they made Peter Parker look at times though. I HIGHLY recommend everyone watch this one! And see if you can spot Marvel Comics Godfather Stan Lee in the movie. I spotted him twice!

Spiderman 2: The Game
OK, I admit it, I played the game FIRST before actually watching the movie! It may have spoiled a bit of the movie, but it's not a 100% adaptation of the movie, so no really big spoilers here. What made this really fun was the complete freedom you have to rome the city! That's right, they made this game GTA style, but minus the car-jacking (Unless you count stopping car-jackers). Along with the freedom of running around the city is random crimes that happen throughout which is up to you if you want to help or not. There is a main story, but it's up to you when you want to take on the set missions. But if you go straight after the main storyline, you'll finish the game pretty quickly (It took me just THREE days). But after finishing the main story, the game still continues on as you try to complete the objectives left over.
I REALLY liked the story in the game, which itself could pass for a movie/cartoon/comic storyline. Watching the story unfold in the game made me wonder what parts were actually in the movie. One part I wished was in the movie was the inclusion of Black Cat as Spidey's ally, coaxing him to let loose and being his sidekick at times.
The game itself is the closest you can get to actually being Spidey himself as you can learn all the tricks of his trade. There are a ton of moves to master and hundreds of missions to beat, and that's not just including saving civillians. Other missions also include beating the clock in races and delivering pizzas! And you'll need every ounce of skill to beat some of the tougher missions.
This game is definately tailor made for fans of the web-slinger as well as fans of the movie. I highly recommend it!

Spiderman 2 Game Ratings:
Graphics - 8
Sound - 7
Gameplay - 8
Lifespan - 8
Overall - 8

Showdown: Legends Of Wrestling = S.L.O.W

Ok, so the latest in Acclaim's Legends of Wrestling game series isn't really slow, but that's what I noticed the acronym spelled out. Just bought the game this afternoon, and my first impression of the game? The very FIRST match I played I pit Andre the Giant in a battle royal against the One Man Gang, Big John Studd and Bam Bam Bigelow. As soon as the bell rang, OMG walked INTO Big John and the game FROZE!!! I heard the game was glitchy, but this is ridiculous!
The controls do take a bit of getting used to, but the glitches don't make things run as smooth as they should. Acclaim really should have spent more time refining the game before releasing it.

While on the topic of video games, I also just started playing Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow this morning and am really into it, even more than the original which I got bored of playing halfway through the beginning and never continued. There is a high degree of difficulty here though, so don't expect to finish it anytime soon.

I'm also playing ObsCure, a German survival horror game. Problem is, the whole game is in German! The text and voice acting are all in German, so it's not as easy to solve some puzzles. The game itself borrows the gameplay of Resident Evil: Outbreak and the storyline from Silent Hill. A teenager goes missing in a school and you play as a group of his friends trying to find him and discover a horrible secret about the school in the process. You get to play as two characters at once, one watching your back as you tend to things like puzzle solving. A nice touch is that when the player you control dies, you automatically take control of whoever is left alive so you don't game over easilly!

I'm also playing Driv3r. I never finished the 2nd game on PSOne. But this one is fun. The only complaint I have so far is the awkward controls for the on foot missions. I'll have proper reviews of all these games up soon.

Whale of a Tale
Something disturbing I saw on the satellite TV this afternoon. Appearantly in Indonesia, a GIANT whale shark got washed onto the beach. So what do the villagers who found it do? Drag it into town and leave it to rot as they use it as a sideshow attraction to raise funds to build a new mosque! WTF?!? This is just ridiculous and I'm sure is ILLEGAL in some parts of the world. Not to diss their religion or beliefs, but I in no way agree with sacrificing one of God's great creatures just to build a monument to Him.