storm 1:08

Happy Birthday! Is it weird not having your birthday so close to SDCC this year?

I didn't really get Kevin Owens in NXT, but I am loving him in WWE. Mostly because it is something new, exciting, and must see. And so far in the WWE, he has delivered in the ring and in promos. I also only watched the Owens/Cena match from EC and thought it was great. No need to see the rest of the PPV to know it was the match of the night. The rematch is coming up at MITB in 2 weeks so Cena will probably win. Either way, I'm enjoying this storyline. Heck, I've been enjoying the John Cena US Open Challenge due to its unpredictability (well, other than Cena winning of course). Speaking of Samoa Joe, it seems like he is appearing on WWE Superstars this week in a match. And rumors are saying he signed a full time contract. I didn't think WWE would go for guys like him and Owens without giving them some ridiculous gimmick. But I am pleasantly surprised and happy they are getting an actual opportunity. Samoa Joe is one of those guys I always loved watching throughout the years in TNA. With so much talent around, how can the main roster support so many up and comers from NXT?

I woke up early to go to Target not expecting anything. But thankfully got Jigglypuff and Pac-Man. Didn't go for Silver Mario or the Splatoon series (the only other ones left). Overall, quite a hassle free experience. Just glad I didn't come out empty handed. I went to another Target for fun and after an hour past opening, they still only had the Splatoon ones. I guess no one wants them?

Good luck to everyone tomorrow on Wave 4! I just want Pac-Man and Charizard. Sounds like those should be fairly easy later on since they are the commons. But Jigglypuff, oh, Jigglypuff... Why did you have to be so exclusive? At least I got my shipping confirmations for my Greninja.

Another great NXT special. I was really into the opening bout and the last 2 matches. I didn't think the surprise at the end would happen so soon, but I'm not complaining. And Becky really stepped up tonight and had a breakout match. Every Takeover event has a great Divas match that outshines almost, if not, all matches on the card. As for TNA, I still enjoy them and hope for the best for the talent. NXT is really stacked right now but I would still love to see some names move over.

Happy Birthday Zach! At least it still is your birthday here on the west coast. Hope you get your minimate wish fulfilled this year!

I thought I've seen Mega Man available on the Walmart website for a couple of weeks (out of stock now). Hopefully you didn't pay too much. I was glad I got Mega Man and Sonic via Walmart's in-store pick up option. I've gotten bitten by this Amiibo bug too and have been following this line recently. For Meta Knight and Rosalina, no way you will find them outside of ebay. The store exclusives all sell out instantly and it's been a while since they were released. I waited in line at Best Buy in the morning before they opened. And the store didn't even get any in for the shelves. I'm personally looking for Jigglypuff and Lucario. I'd be willing to trade a Greninja for them (assuming my order goes through...).

Finally watched the rest of Raw. Yep, WWE has implemented some sort of audio filtering. Doesn't sound too bad most of the time, especially all the Reigns booing. One thing has been on my mind since before Wrestlemania with all the rumors of the Intercontinental title on Bryan and the US title on Cena. Do you think the WWE will try to unify them in the near future? But first, let's face it. John Cena has a new shirt, so that probably means he will have the belt for at least 3-6 months. I see the US title as a storyline reason for John Cena to not be in the main event and face younger talent so they can measure up to Cena's level. Every once in a while he keeps saying he's the gatekeeper or whatever and you have to go through him to take his spot. I personally like the idea to see him with a bit more fresher opponents. Him and Ambrose was good and I feel Ambrose looked stronger after that match. But the pool of likely contenders are basically the same as the Intercontinental title. Cena was part of the WWE/WHC title unification where he lost the lower tier title. I just keep getting this deja vu feeling seeing him with the US title trying to bring it up before taking it off the table. But I'll get behind a Cena/Bryan unification match.

Did they show the wave during the main event? They turned on the lights to show the crowd in the middle of it so I assume they did. It lasted at least a minute. Ryback even acknowledged it when it first started.

NXT got a lot of love last night. Lots of random NXT chants. Loudest NXT chant was the "How you doin'?" one. There even was a "Breeze is gorgeous" chant. I still don't know what made it to TV yet. The Lucha Dragons have been on Main Event and Superstars for a while so I was surprised they got a really great reaction. I started watching some of Raw and it seemed like the crowd got somewhat edited. Or rather muted. During the Ziggler/Bryan match, Ziggler definitely got some loud boos. But it didn't seem very bad on TV. Perhaps it was just my section? I'll watch more later to see if this was the case. I'll be able to tell during the main event. Sting's promo post-Raw sounded like he was talking to Vince saying "I'm here so use me or else your loss". Of course a deafening Undertaker chant erupted. But I'm sure Sting will be back in some form on TV.

Being part of the post-Wrestlemania Raw was a blast! Wrestlemania's main event was electric for all the right reasons. Raw's main event was electric for all the wrong reasons. I mean, Rollins/Kane/Big Show vs. Orton/Ryback/Reigns? No one wanted it so the Raw main event got hijacked. I was so surprised the wave lasted for as long as it did. So many funny chants throughout the night. I will say I wasn't too proud of the certain chant towards the Divas and their significant others during the Divas match, but it was funny. Overall, the crowd supported the Diva's match and it was pretty good. The usual CM Punk chants started, but the crowd eventually turned on that and chanted "AJ Lee" instead. Finally! Brock's destruction was crazy! JBL literally was under the flipped table the entire time. I didn't know who Lesnar grabbed but I could tell by the crowd's reaction it was Cole. I felt a little bad for Byron Saxton. He sat on the ground when he called matches by himself looking into the monitor under the table like a kid camping under a sofa pillow tent. It was only later when Lawler came out they eventually got chairs. I was surprised Ziggler started getting some boos. I guess it was just a pro-Bryan crowd. Great match, though. And Sheamus looks like a rooster, haha. During the Superstars taping, they had lighting issues during Luke Harper vs R-Truth. The lights kept flickering for a while during the start of the match. Then the set's LED lights (not the lights lighting the ring, that was okay now) turned off and restarted after a bit. This was like 10 minutes before Raw started. I thought the live broadcast might have been in trouble. When Lillian announced the presale for the next WWE Raw event in San Jose, the crowd erupted in a "We! Don't! Live! Here!" chant. Lilian's expression was funny as if she thought she offended the crowd. What a fun night. I guess WWE didn't want Smackdown hijacked either since they have it in another city far away this year. Hope you all enjoyed Raw too!

Well, sorry for the long post. I'm just still excited coming back from Wrestlemania. I couldn't tell how it came off on TV, but it was a great show live. I still think NXT overall was more fun, but man, the electricity of the main event was something. When I got in, I ran into Vinnie (Cameron's boyfriend) and Eva Marie's dad and brothers at one of the many concession stands. They are from Total Divas, if you didn't know. There wasn't any cameras following them taping for the show. I saw the 2 other Uso brothers (I think) nearby and oh my gosh, they look exactly like the Usos! They could legitimately pass for quadruplets! I knew it wasn't them since the Usos had a tag match on the preshow. I talked to one of them but he didn't seem to really want to talk so I left to respect his privacy. I still wish I got a pic with him since the resemblance is uncanny! Mick Foley was in one of the upper balconies and acknowledged the crowd once in a while. Rhonda Rousey came in during the ladder match. The tag match was surprisingly good. Cesaro/Kidd were the clear favorites. But the hometown Usos (or rather last Uso standing) got a good reaction too. The battle royal, man, that ending was a huge let-down. Lots of support for Hideo Itami, though. Mizdow was the clear favorite at the end. The New Day/Big Show spot was pretty entertaining. The ladder match overall was a fast-paced non-stop match. And Ziggler is one fast man. Orton/Rollins was a solid match. That ending was an "RKO outta nowhere!" The Sting/HHH match was pretty slow until it got to the DX/NWO run-in. After that, the place was alive. It was awesome! I didn't see HBK sneak in, but people near me saw him sneak ringside. And that HHH intro was crazy! It sucked that Sting lost. After the match after everybody else left, Sting stuck around inside the ring by himself while the video for whatever ad or match was next. You could tell he was soaking it all in. After that match, it was pretty much intermission/piss break. I enjoyed the musical act, but most people were out of their seats grabbing a bite or whatever. Not sure if you heard some drums during HHH/Sting, but Travis Barker was practicing the drums in the middle of that match. They set up the musical act while HHH and Sting were wrestling. . The crowd wasn't too into the Divas match. Which was a complete 180 from NXT where everybody got extremely excited for both of the Divas matches that night. I was surprised there was no CM Punk chants during this match or at any point during the night. I'd say that is a good thing. Hall of Fame was cool. Connor got a real good ovation from the crowd. Rusev/Cena was another solid match. From my vantage point, I couldn't see the tank intro due to the tent covering the camera area. I had good seats, but that tent covered the entrance ramp view. So I'm bummed I missed seeing that live, or even on the screen. Crowd was a bit split but I'd say Rusev had more support with the crowd, though. Lana fell far during her bump. It was kind of scary to me seeing that live. That new Cena move was cool. The springboard stunner. Makes me wonder if NXT is making everyone step up their game. After that match, there was some long video package (I forgot what it was) but Steph and HHH came into the ring while the video was playing. They were standing there for several minutes. During that time, there was a really loud NXT chant from the crowd. Both of them just smiled at that. The Rock/Rousey segment was awesome. Only thing sucked was how Rousey just gently threw Steph around. It was disappointing and the crowd boo'd that since we expected something more physical towards Steph. But overall entertaining. Seemed a bit long since they jumped right into Bray entrance with no video package hype. To me, Taker/Bray didn't seem to live up to the hype. Undertaker looked really really healthy, though. That's probably the best thing I could say here. The Bray spider pose/Undertaker sit-up came off funny to the crowd. Not sure if that was the intent, but it had a lot of people busting out laughing. It was during this match that the sun finally set. The main event. Wow. First off, when Roman came to the ring, no one knew what the heck was going on. It was several minutes of his music playing and no one had a clue where he was. Not even a spotlight showing where he was coming down. It was only when he hopped over the barricade that people finally knew he was there. It was really awkward for the longest time. His Iron Man ground smash was pretty cool live with the pyro. But Lesnar's pyro came out a few seconds late. After the first few minutes, it was clear that Lesnar was the alpha. It quickly got really, really uncomfortable watching his domination for so long. During the match, they showed the #1 trend was "Suplex City" and the crowd loudly chanted that afterwards You could feel the energy in the arena that this was a main event. No other match tonight had this feeling. Whenever Reigns got some offense, man, you'd think it was Cena in the ring. Reigns smiling during the beating seemed a bit awkward too. Rollins coming in was a total surprise. He probably saved the main event. Right before he inserted himself in the match, it felt that Reigns was going to win and you could feel the crowd almost turning into a riot. The crowd definitely was 100% behind Rollins and that left everybody going home happy. Rollins celebrated for a while and then left. Then Reigns' music played while he slowly made his walk of disappointment with his head down going up the ramp. Brock and Heyman stayed the longest and left last. Even all the announcers left during Rollins' celebration. Brock looked pissed the entire time after losing. But then again, he looked pissed after he got busted open each of the two times. So overall, I was entertained by this Wrestlemania. And tomorrow night will end my Wrestlemania weekend with RAW. Hopefully it'll be a good show!

I have to say that the NXT event last night was awesome. Hideo Itami finally using the GTS, Rhyno making another appearance, and Finn Balor coming out with the body paint definitely made things feel more special. But hands down, Sasha Banks successfully defending the championship against Charlotte was easily the best match of the night. There really is something special when those two get in the ring. I'm just happy to have seen those two together live. I could say a lot more about each match, but man, it simply was a great live experience. I thought it was a 2 hour event but it went to 3 hours and ended around 1am! And JR was even at the front row. This entire event could have been an incredible extra to the Wrestlemania DVD, but I didn't see any big camera crews. Only camera crews were for everybody's entrance. And HHH's speech was taped, presumably for next week's NXT Wrestlemania highlight reel. I only noticed since the camera crews were next to me during the surprise HHH appearance. Overall, I had somewhat high expectations for NXT and it still exceeded them. Wrestlemania is going to be a different live experience but I doubt it can top NXT. Not my video, but I found it after I got home last night just to see it again.

Happy birthday everybody! Including Jordan and Terance!

Lesnar sticking around means Rollins has no chance of cashing in, eh? Assuming Lesnar stays champ, of course. At least there still is an opportunity for Lesnar vs. Bryan.