Kevin's Random Thoughts
The Star Wars books on my shelf...I'm staring at them cuz I'm dead tired but don't want to sleep. From left to right, here's what's there:
Han Solo Trilogy: The Paradise Snare
Han Solo Trilogy: The Hutt Gambit
Han Solo Trilogy: Rebel Dawn
The Lando Calrissian Adventures: Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu
The Lando Calrissian Adventures: Lando Calrissian and the Flamewind of Oseon
The Lando Calrissian Adventures: Lando Calrissian and the Starcave of ThonBoka
The Han Solo Adventures: Han Solo at Star's End
The Han Solo Adventures: Han Solo's Revenge
The Han Solo Adventures: Han Solo and the Lost Legacy
A New Hope
Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina
The Ruins of Dantooine
Splinter of the Mind's Eye
Tales from the Empire
The Empire Strikes Back
Tales of the Bounty Hunters
Shadows of the Empire
Return of the Jedi
Tales from Jabba's Palace
The Bounty Hunter Wars: The Mandolarian Armor
The Bounty Hunter Wars: Slave Ship
The Bounty Hunter Wars: Hard Merchandise
The Truce at Bakura
I just finished Shadows of the Empire. I'm about to start Return of the Jedi. Sure I've seen the movie, but I'm interested to read a novel version based on the final version of the script, which is almost always different than the final film version. Did you know, based on the novel version for Empire, Yoda was supposed to be blue and have a beard? Interesting!
Review: Samoa Joe vs Austin Aries 12/26/04...Tubb came over last night to check out my new DVDs. I was going to bed soon, but I he wanted to watch Joe vs Aries, and I obliged. Here's what I though.
I knew this was a relitavely short match going in. And that's fine if it was done right and establishes Aries as a champ. The match started off basic enough with a big man vs little man story. Aries not getting anywhere on shoulder tackles, and being unable to take Joe over with a simple headlock is very basic, but very fine. Aries then tries to take out Joe's leg, which is a logical strategy in the big man vs little man style. Except Aries looks like he doesn't know what exactly he wants to do with the leg. Joe doesn't sell it early on, which is fine. If Aries kept going back to the leg when it trouble and Joe starts selling it more and more each time, it would work. But they don't do that.
In the next part of the match, they throw the opening part totally out the window. The big man vs little man story is gone, and the leg work never comes up again. Instead, they go to the outside. That's certainly not uncommon in a Joe match. He needs to work that tope and the ole kicks in somehow. Except in this match it felt totally out of place. Maybe because it happened a lot earlier in the match than usual for Joe. That makes sense considering this is a shorter match than usual for Joe. But if they wanted a shorter match, they should have cut this outside the ring nonsense out. They could have used the time continuing the big man vs little man and leg work inside the ring with more mid range offense before going into the finish.
Aries selling on the outside was downright goofy. Old man Flair comedy match goofy. The sad part is I doubt it was intentional. It stands out in a serious Joe title match like a five white guys at a Peruvian restaurant in Elizabeth. The goofiness continues once they got back in the ring with some horrible transitions, although points to Joe for a sweeter than usual power slam. The setup for the first 450 was downright idiotic.
But once Aries hit the first 450, it woke the ground up. It succeeded in saying "It's early, but we're going home soon. Start popping." And they did. Everything from that moment on had the crowd's attention with some good nearfalls. In the last few minutes, they brought the stiffness you'd expect from Joe and execution you'd expect from Aries.
Where this match succeeds is getting the crowd to buy the finish coming earlier than expected. Joe's whole trilogy with Punk he was coming off of were long matches. Aries wrestled AmDragon in ROH's longest match ever. One could assume they were going for a long match. But they didn't, and no one there seemed disappointed. So kudos for that.
Where this match fails is the rest of it. They started off with a simple big man vs little man match, and ditched it. Size was never an issue for the rest of the match. Aries started with some leg work, and ditched it. He didn't seem to have a game plan once the stuff outside happened. And there was a long stretch of goofiness from the outside until that first 450. Yes, Aries beat the long reigning champion Joe. But in the match, Aries didn't do much to prove he had the ability to beat such a dominant champion. And Joe seemed like he just wanted to his signature spots to pop the crowd and to his job at the end.
I was told Meltzer gave this ****. I disagree so much that Muto vs Kawada at ****3/4 makes more sense to me right now. I won't throw snowflakes out, but if I believe **** is supposed to mean 'excellent'. This match is far from it. It's pretty much just ok.
Returning a favor...Post a comment with a memory of me. Only one person has to do this, so the rest of you don't have to if you don't want to.
Ere body gettin krunk in da pie...That last post didn't really happen. "Good". Fuck that! It did! You better recognize~!
Whatever you fear I'm doing, I am. LIVEVIL
This almost went on the message board...
But I decided fewer people will see it here. I don't want to start shit, but shit is starting. This was almost the last paragraph of a post on the RAGE Wrestlers Only message board.
"I guess I'm just sick of no one listen to my opinions. I'm not old school, I'm logical. I've spent more fucking hours watching a wider variety of pro wrestling and studying the history of the sport I love than anyone else in RAGE. And I'm fucking sick of everyone dismissing what I have to say. I'm no longer even commenting on my own matches and angles, so I can't be accused of being out for my own gain. I'm not just talking about the booking either. It's everything in how RAGE is run. I'm just trying to make RAGE better, and yeah... I think my opinions are more educated than a lot of people's.
"It's pretty sad that my gimmick is supposed to be the guy who believes in RAGE, yet I'm probably the one with the least amount of faith in it now."
I Love Kevin~!
Cuz I r0x0r~! You want me! I slept with y0 mama! I slept with y0 b3st fr13nd~! I slept with da chick j00 t0ld me to stay away from~! Cuz I r0x0r~! Ye-ah! Ye-ah! Uhn! Uhn! Git wit it!
Am I THAT old now?
