Smacking It Raw: WWE's Biggest Winners & Losers in 2012

THE WINNERS:

CM Punk:

There was no bigger winner in WWE in the last year than CM Punk.  Punk started off 2012 as WWE Champion and ended it as WWE Champion without relinquishing it once. The last person who could say that he did that was Hulk Hogan twenty-five years ago. This year he has turned away challenges from Dolph Ziggler, Chris Jericho, Kane, Daniel Bryan, John Cena, Ryback and more. He also went from one of the most beloved figures in the company to the most hated. During all of this CM Punk was also consistently putting on the best matches on the card and restoring the credibility of the WWE Championship.

Sheamus:

While not as impressive as CM Punk’s title dominance in 2012 the 210 day World Championship reign of Sheamus was nothing to scoff at either. Sheamus started his title run with a win against Daniel Bryan at Wrestlemania XVIII that took him all of eighteen seconds. Sheamus followed that up with a match of the year candidate at the next month’s Extreme Rules pay-per-view in a best two out of three falls match. He also knocked back countless challenges from Dolph Ziggler and Alberto Del Rio. Sheamus also stepped up his game having great matches all year long on Raw and Smackdown! Before finally losing the title to The Big Show at Hell In A Cell.

The Big Show:

The year started a little slowly for The Big Show but the big man had one of the best years of his career this year and stayed in the title picture pretty much the entire time. He finally got his Wrestlemania moment this year winning the Intercontinental Championship from Cody Rhodes and while he dropped that title back to Rhodes only a month later in embarrassing fashion he rebounded pretty quickly by turning his back on his fans and becoming the monster he should have been all along. By the end of the year he regained The World Title and would hold it for the rest of the year.

Ryback:

When it comes to the newcomers in WWE this year no one made their presence felt more than Ryback. Debuting after Wrestlemania Ryback had one dominant win after another, although in fairness most of those wins came against local talent that had never been seen of before or since. After a while he moved up to the regular jobbers of WWE like JTG, Curt Hawkins, Tyler Reks and others. By the last half of the year though he was squaring off against more seasoned talent like former WWE champion The Miz and although he ended the year on a couple of pay-per-view loses each one was against WWE Champion CM Punk and under dubious circumstances each time.

Dolph Ziggler:

Even though Ziggler didn't win any championship gold in 2012 he did win The Money in the Bank Briefcase which is just as good. He also established himself as a proved grappler with amazing performances in every one of his matches. Although he did find himself on the losing end of more matches then he ever should of this year he did so while looking like a huge star. He also ended the year with the biggest win of his career when he retained his Money in the Bank Briefcase defeating John Cena in a ladder match.

John Cena:

John Cena didn't really accomplish a whole lot in the ring this year with his biggest win easily coming from his match against Brock Lesnar back at Extreme Rules. Despite this Cena remained the most popular star and face of WWE the entire year. Cena was also consistently at the top of the card and main eventing every pay-per-view over WWE Champion CM Punk. At the end of the year Cena proved his loses didn't hurt his popularity with fans one bit by winning the Superstar of the Year Slammy for the third time in four years. Cena's most impressive and admirable accomplishment in 2012 came outside of the ring though with his continued charity work including granting his 300^th wish for The Make-A-Wish Foundation, more than anyone else in Make-A-Wishes wonderful history.

THE LOSERS:

Zack Ryder:

Was there a bigger loser in WWE this year than Zack Ryder? I don’t think so. He ended 2011 on a roll after finally capturing the United States championship from Dolph Zigger and it seemed like 2012 was going to be the year of The Long Island Iced Z. Unfortunately it seemed like his roll dropped with that giant ball in Times Square in New York on New Year’s Eve. It took only eighteen days in 2012 before he dropped the United States title to Jack Swagger and it was all downhill from there. He was constantly handed his ass to Kane on a weekly basis to the point where a new cast was added to him every week until he was wearing a body cast in a wheelchair. Thankfully his bones healed much quicker than Bob Orton’s and he was back in no time being made a fool of by Eve the girl that he had been head over heels for for months. He lost the match for his team at Wrestlemania XXVIII. From there on out he lost pretty much every match he had on TV whenever he appeared on TV which became less and less as the year wore on.  By the end of the year Ryder couldn’t buy a win if he had Ted DiBiase's money and despite fan support was back to hardly showing up on TV. As the final insult of the year when WWE flashed a “Did you know” fact about the top five WWE Superstars who have the most followers on Twitter he wasn't even on the list in favor of The Miz in the number five spot even though Ryder had well over 100,000 more followers.

John Cena:

Yes John Cena was one of the biggest winners of the year in WWE but make no doubt about it he was also one of the biggest losers of the year. Although still the face of the company this is easily Cena’s most unsuccessful year yet competition wise. After a yearlong build to his showdown with The Rock at Wrestlemania XXVIII he came out on the losing end. After that he was Brock Lesnar’s bitch for the next month until getting the win during their match at Extreme Rules, and even that was after getting the crap beaten out of him the entire match making his win that very much like a fluke.  After that Cena won the Money in the Bank Briefcase which he cashed in on Raw 1000 only to lose to CM Punk and be the first person to come out on the losing end after cashing in the briefcase. After that he chased CM Punk for the title only to come out on the losing end every time. He was then sidelined with an injury only to come back and challenge Dolph Ziggler for Ziggler's Money in the Bank only to lose once again. For the first time in years Cena didn’t hold a single championship.

Alberto Del Rio:

It doesn't seem right to add Del Rio to this list but let’s face it he does indeed belong here. Even though he spent several months feuding with Sheamus over The World Title Del Rio could never win the title and never even pulled off a single win in the feud that had any meaning to it whatsoever. Instead Del Rio just looked like a complete non-threat to the champion and in the end came off as a chump.  2013 may of started off great for Del Rio but that doesn't erase the awful year he had in 2012.

Randy Orton:

For years Randy Orton has been neck and neck with John Cena as the face of WWE but this year despite the losing ways of Cena, Randy Orton had it even worse. Orton spend almost no time whatsoever this year in the main event of 2012 and instead has been regulated to one meaningless feud after the other. It got even worse after Orton’s sixty day suspension from his second wellness policy violation. Since then the company has been reluctant to do anything with him. Add to the fact that Orton seems completely bored by being a hero that he is just phoning it in night after night and has never been more bland and boring than ever to the point that when he comes on my TV it usually singles a good time to take my dogs out to poop.

The Miz:

Once one of the hottest heels in the company The Miz was one of the most hated people on TV but like Orton he too has gotten incredibly boring and has been beaten so many times in 2012 he has become nothing but a joke that no one could ever take seriously as a threat and as just become annoying as possible. Just when you thought he couldn't of gotten worse he became a hero for the first time in his career in one of the worse and most uninspired face turns in recent memory which should of freshen up his character but instead has only made him even more bland and boring.

Tensai:

Lord Tensai made his big return to WWE this year after Wrestlemania with a huge amount of hype and big push but he immediately failed to connect with the fans with them chanting “Albert”, his last WWE persona, at him at every turn. After a string of impressive wins it was clear that Lord Tensai was going nowhere. The first change was in his name as he started going simply as Tensai and lost his neat entrance gear. After that Tensai started losing more and more frequently until he was losing every match to the likes of people like Santino and started showing up on TV only every now and again and has become a comedy figure. He may of returned with a lot of hype but by the time the year ended very few could of fallen so far.

Jack Swagger:

2012 started off with some promise for Jack Swagger has he won the United States championship from the year’s biggest loser Zack Ryder only sixteen days into the year and held it for the better part of two months before losing it to Santino who hasn't been able to buy a win for himself for years in WWE. After that it all went to hell for Swagger. He started teaming up with Dolph Ziggler and failed to win the tag team titles at every turn. Soon enough Vickie Guerrero kicked him to the curb in favor of Dolph Ziggler and rightfully so. After that Swagger continued his losing ways even addressing the fact that he hadn't won a single match since losing the United States title. It got so bad that there was seemingly nothing WWE could do to rehab Swagger anymore and had him leave TV on the September 3^rd episode of Raw saying that he needed time off. Since then he has yet to return to TV. If not for missing from TV for the rest of 2012 Swagger could of very easily been the biggest loser in WWE for 2012 and the case can be made that he indeed is since he was written off of TV for his losing ways but given how far Ryder fell since the very start of the year beginning with his lost to Swagger I think Ryder just edges out Swagger is suckyness for 2012.

Bed Time!

So a few months back a comic collection called "Fearsome Fables" was released by Ink'd Well Comics for a charity called Child's Play. That trade paperback is a fantastic collection of short all ages spooky stories and turned out wonderfully. You can buy it HERE, through Ink'd Well Comics website. You can get a physical copy for $20 or a digital copy for a mere $10. If you haven't bought it yet then what are you waiting for? Do it up!

In that collection me and a good friend of mine, Ricky King, who's art blog full of his fantastic artwork called  "From Earth" (Which can be seen HERE) teamed up to contribute our own little four page story to the cause. If you haven't seen it yet, well then your in luck because here is the whole thing in its entirety. Enjoy!

Don't you love comics?

My Favorite 1990's Animated Shows Based On Comics

The 1990's were a pretty good time to be a comic book fan when it came to animated series. In fact some of the greatest cartoons ever based off of a comic book had their runs in the 1990's so I figured that I would sit down and make a list of my personal top 15 favorites. Granted with 15 we are really scrapping the bottom of the barrel at the end but that's why I choose to do 15 I wanted to show that the entire range of what the 1990's had to offer. That said, there are some shows at the bottom of this list that will have people saying how did THAT get on the list when something like The Incredible Hulk didn't? The quick and honest answer is also the most simple one. Because I never saw it. I have heard good things about The Hulk and there are some others that might be good that I also haven't seen but how can I rank something if I haven't seen it? With all of that out of the way lets just get right into it.

15 Avengers: United They Stand - 1999-2000

 

Sure this was far from the greatest super hero cartoon out there and when you compare it to Avengers: Earths Mightiest Heroes it looks even worse. The main problem with the show has to be the roster. Sure there are great Avengers like Hawkeye, Ant Man Wasp, Falcon, Vision and The Scarlet Witch but to round out the team we had heroes like Wonder Man, Tigra. hat might not seem like to bad of a roster of Avengers but the fact that the big three Captain America, Iron Man and Thor are not on the team really hurts the show. Hell Thor never even made an appearance on the show at least Captain America and Iron Man did at least that much.

14 Spider-Man Unlimited - 1999-2001

Anyone who has been coming to Bond-Tastic!! for a while should know by now how much I love Spider-Man so when this show came out I was super excited. It was after all a sequel of sorts to the Spider-Man animated series that ran from 1994-1998 so how could I not be all for it. Unfortunately like many other things to do with Spider-Man in the 1990's (The Clone Saga) this was a huge disappointment. Still it was Spider-Man so I stuck it out until the bitter end of its short 13 episode run. The really bad part about this show? Its on Netflix right now and I know as soon as I'm through r watching the other Spider-Man show I'll rewatch this one as well. Here's hoping its not as bad as I remember.

13 Iron Man 1994-1996

For a while every Saturday afternoon I got excited for the one two punch of Iron Man and Fantastic Four. Iron Man came on first and this show should by rights be up there with Spider-Man and X-Men from the 1990's since it too had the same style and followed the comics the same way but the problem is Iron Man was never as good as the other two up to this point, not even close. Adding to the problem with this show is the fact that although it only had two seasons it changed production studios after the first season causing a lot to change. The main selling point of this show for me though was that this was my first real introduction to Iron Man and the characters that surrounded him in  his part of The Marvel Universe.

12 Silver Surfer - 1997

 

A lot of people make fun of this show for being pretty terrible, myself included. It didn't help that The Silver Surfer is a relatively unknown hero to non comic fans either, just think to those people The Silver Surfer is a naked silver guy who flies around space on a surfboard, you can understand why a lot of people wouldn't care about it. For shits and giggles I decided to rewatch this series on Netflix when it showed up a while back I figured that with only 13 episodes it wouldn't be that bad. I have to be honest although time hasn't been kind to the show with its very dated CGI that's spliced in with the traditional animation it was actually much better then I remembered. Still far from great but much better then I remembered. Also although the CGI is very dated now as I mentioned above it was pretty good and innovative for the time.

11  Wild C.A.T.s. -  1995-1996

When it came out Image Comics were still very new and the hottest thing in comics Jim Lee's Wild C.A.T.s. comic itself had only debuted two years earlier and was behind only Todd McFarlene's Spawn in popularity for the young company so when a children's cartoon was getting the green light from Image it was Wild C.A.T.s that would translate better then any of the other darker grittier comics that Image was putting out at the time. Still even in spite of this Wild C.A.T.s was the best choice it had the most colorful cast of characters and even had a loveable badass rogue in Grifter that all the cool kids would like. The show itself wasn't bad either and like in the comic world was a great although not always better third option to the animated series that Marvel and DC were putting out at the time. Not that such a thing would ever matter the the child audience that it was aimed at. All we ever cared about was that it brought on great super hero action, which it did.

10 Fantastic Four 1994-1996

The second half of the other Marvel hour that came on Saturday Mornings in the 1990's following Iron Man. Much like with Iron Man this was my first real introduction to The Fantastic Four and I always thought that it deserved more recognition then it ever got. The characters were spot on and its followed the comic series in the same way that Spider-Man & The X-Men. Maybe it was the fact that this show was taken a lot more of a lighter feel then the others and made it less appealing to kids going into their teens the the others who knows. All I know is that I liked it.

9 Superman The Animated Series -1996-2000 

With the huge success that was Batman: The Animated Series DC would of been morons not to capitalize on that with their flagship (debatable) character, Superman. Superman: The Animated Series enjoyed the same crisp animation and writing team that made Batman so great and it showed every step of the way. As far as Superman goes this is my second favorite thing he has ever been involved with outside of the comic books that he came from, number one being the first Superman movie staring Christopher Reeve who I must admit was always surprised never did the voice work for Clark Kent/Superman here. The most likely reason I can think of was that the show debuted only a year after Reeve's accident. That said though Tim Daly did a better job then Reeve himself could of done here with his voice work.

8 Men In Black - 1997-2001

 

The first Men In Black movie was great and very imaginitive and with that movie a animated series seemed like a must which was given to us by Kids' WB. The show had a great look, the characters looked like they did in the movie but distinct enough to be its own thing. More importantly the show had some great writing. It picks up where the first movie left us off with the big difference being that Agent K didn't retire. The show gave us lots of great imaginitve alien enemies for The Men In Black to face and some of the episodes were even much better then the second movie. Its to bad they didn't just take one of those episodes and made that part 2 instead.

7 The Maxx - 1995

 

With only 13  episodes clocking in at a mere 11 minutes each The Maxx proved you don't need to have a long run to be great. Airing late nights on MTV allowed The Maxx to be a little darker then most animated shows at the time as well as much more sophisticated. The animation style of The Maxx was truly something to behold as well with it looking as though it had been ripped from the pages of the comic and changing styles frequently from being very detailed to very cartoonist at other times. If you have never seen this show and have a two or three hours to spare then I highly suggest checking it out since you can pretty well watch the entire series in that short amount of time.

6 Batman Beyond - 1999-2002  

 

Although this show most aired after the 1990's it did debut in 1999 making it eligible to be on this list to me. With its close ties to Batman: The Animated Series and being set in the future you knew that this had to be a good show. One of the most impressive things this show was able to do was not only have Batman being someone new but to pretty much haven an almost entirely new rogues gallery for Batman different from the villains Bruce Wayne fought. Yet  in spite of this still manged to make this new Batman, under the guidance of Bruce Wayne, feel very much like Batman and the new villains also all seemed very Batman like and thus awesome. To accomplish that feat alone you would have consider this show a major success.

5 The Tick - 1994-1996 

 

This show was my as well as most peoples introduction to The Tick. This show was fantastic. Not only was it a show about a super hero and the villains he fought but it was also a great parody of the entire genre just like the comic book that it was based on. The fact that the show never took itself to seriously only helped make it more enduring then most other super hero animated series since you knew that you would always be in for a good time and a good laugh whenever The Tick came on.

4 X-Men - 1992-1997

The X-Men had been popular for years in comics but for the most part they were one of those unknown properties to most people who didn't read them. That all changed when The X-Men debuted on Fox in 1992. This show became incredibly successful in large part due to the fact that it was so loyal to its source material in the comics using its most popular story lines in the comics then 30 year history. Add to that the team had a great roster of the most popular X-Men at the time including Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm, Gambit, Beast Rogue and more. Other popular X-Men not on the team such as Colossus and Nightcrawler also had their moments as guest stars in more then one episode. All this and more leaves this X-Men cartoon #1 on many peoples lists of favorite Marvel animated series of all time.

3 Todd McFarlene's Spawn - 1997-1999

  

Spawn was arguably the most popular super hero of the 1990's. Things weren't all sunshine and rainbows for him nor should it given his dark origin. Todd McFarlene's Spawn was different from any other animated series based on a comic at the point it debuted and it is still pretty much still the only comic book animated series of its kind. It was incredibly dark, violent, gory and didn't shy away from nudity. The fact that the show was on HBO allowed it to do all of these things as it would of never flown on a Saturday morning like every other show on this list. It wasn't all dark, gritty and gory just for the hell of it though since everything served the story of one of comics more darker characters.

2 Spider-Man - 1994-1998

 

If this is a list about my favorite animated shows based on comics in the 1990' s then you can be sure that Spider-Man's animated 1994-1998 animated series would be on the list and ranked high. Taking a cue from the hugely popular X-Men animated series that debuted two years before Spider-Man was very loyal to its comic book origins. Sure somethings were changed around, we had The Hobgoblin terrorizing Spider-Man long before The Green Goblin showed up among other things but for the most part everything was spot on. This show was also one of the first to use CGI animation albeit very crude CGI animation that was saved mostly for buildings and vehicles. This show also featured some great voice work from the likes of Christopher Daniel Barnes as Peter Parker/Spider-Man and a very under rated performance of Ed Asner as J. Jonah Jameson. I loved the hell out of this show.

1 Batman: The Animated Series - 1992-1997

Is it really a surprise to anyone that my #1 animated show based on a comic book in the 1990's was Batman: The Animated Series? Despite my love of Spider-Man is there really any other option out there? Everything about this show was absolutely brilliant. From the opening theme song with the awesome music and intro which itself its a fantastic one minute Batman story. The animation style gave birth to an entire universe of DC animated shows including Superman, Batman Beyond and The Justice League. It also gave birth to fan favorite character Harley Quinn which in itself is enough to put it high on any lists. The voice work in this show is also some of the best that has been seen in any animated series, a fact proven to me by the fact that every time I read a Batman comic I hear the voices from this show. When I read Batman I hear Kevin Conroy, when I read The Joker I hear Mark Hamill and so forth and so forth. In short not only is Batman: The Animated Series my favorite animated show based on a comic book from the 1990's its one of my favorite SHOWS of all time animated or otherwise.

 

Smackin' It Raw: WWE's Tag Team Division

WWE's tag team division has been pretty bad for a very long time now but it seems like they are trying to make it better now although very, very slowly. So I have decided to take a look at the tag teams in WWE right now as well as a couple of people who could make decent tag teams.

Kofi Kingston & R-Truth: The Tag Team Champions and thus the cornerstone of the division. I'm not a fan of tag teams that have just been slapped together and its painfully obvious that what these guys are. WWE has transition Kofi to a tag team wrestler these days since before R-Truth he was teaming with Evan Bourne in Air Boom with the hope that they could revitalize the tag division. I think Kofi meshed much better with Bourne and they made a much better tag team, they even had half of the four things that ever tag team should have, a team name and matching attire, they still didn't have a team entrance theme or a team finisher though unless you counted Kofi hitting the Trouble In Paradise followed by Bourne's Air Bourne. How sad is it when your team feels so slapped together that all I can talk about is one of the partners old tag teams instead. Maybe if they keep Kofi and Truth together for a while after they lose the titles and they keep competing for them then I wouldn't feel as though they are so slapped together.

Darren Young & Titus O'Neil, The Prime Time Players: The possible future of the tag team division. The Prime Time Players have nearly everything you need to be a successful tag team, the only thing that's missing are those tag titles. WWE should put the titles on these guys ASAP and build the tag division around them as the dastardly team that cheats at every opportunity to keep the titles.

Jimmy & Jey Uso, The Uso's: The Uso's are the guys who SHOULD be the face of the tag team division in my opinion. Being twin brothers they have been a team their entire lives and work better together then anyone else on the roster. On top of that despite the fact that WWE has done them no favors at all since they first got on the roster in terms of building their credibility these guys are still over with the fans. When they come out and do their song and dance at the start of their entrance they always get the people going. One thing that can really push these guys over the top as huge fan favorites is if WWE would bring in their father Rikishi in a managerial role for them though that may not be something Rikishi wouldn't be interested since his wrestling days are still not behind him.

Epico & Primo: These two are another team that work very well together. WWE may be hesitant to put the tag titles back on them any time soon because they didn't seem to be all that over when they were champions but guess what happens when you don't put your champions on TV for weeks at a time, they don't get over. Epico & Primo are both great wrestlers and can put on a great match with any team in the division and I think they deserve another shot at the tag titles or at the very least a nice feud over the titles to get the fans behind them more. Rosa Mendes being in their corner only helps them as she is a perfect fit for the duo and fairly good mouth piece as well.

Tyson Kidd & Justin Gabriel: Kidd and Gabriel were a tag team that were just getting their footing a few months back before an injury sidelined Gabriel but in a shocking move by WWE's part once Gabriel returned they paired the two up again and they are once more finding their footing. These guys can really be a huge fan favorite team with their wrestling styles which compliment each others very nicely. They are also seeming to take the opportunity given to them and make a go for it as well since they have been asking fans on Twitter and Tout to suggest tag team names for the duo with them sending a Tout out themselves saying they may go with “International Airstrike.” It might not roll right off the tongue but hey its something at least. Also helping them out is the fact that both guys are experienced tag team wrestlers with both holding WWE tag team gold in the past, Kidd with DH Smith and Gabriel with Heath Slater.

Camacho & Hunico: These two have been paired together for a while now but haven't been much tag team and have seemingly yet to even consider going for the tag team titles. Why not? They aren't doing anything else and both guys are pretty decent wrestlers if nothing else they can be one more team that adds a bit of depth to the tag division with them challenging for the titles in triple threats or fatal four ways. Maybe they can be a team that  another team has to face to become number one contenders. Hell why not make them number one contenders and give them a run for the titles, they have worked together well enough so far why not throw them in the thick of the tag division.

Now as I said before I am not a fan of two guys who have nothing else to do and are slapped together as a tag team. That said some times that scenario gives birth to great tag teams take for example The New Age Outlaws, Beer Money, The Rock -n- Sock Connection, The Hollywood Blondes, Booker T and Goldust, The Big Show and Chris Jericho or The Miz and John Morrison. Its something that has been proven to work before but it takes the right combination of guys to do it. Here are a couple of guys who I think could breath some new life in the tag team division and certainly their careers if they were teaming together including a few that we have already seen together in the past.

Michael McGillicutty & David Otunga: These guys have been a tag team that were slapped together  before due to The Nexus ending and  they worked pretty well with one another even if they weren't the most over with the crowd. After losing the tag titles they just simply went their own different ways. Why not bring them back together again? Since John Laurinaitis has been gone Otunga has been doing nothing and McGillicutty has been toiling away on NXT it will only help both men to get back together. One of the biggest problems with them before is that they were deeming boring by Jerry The King Lawler, well since then Otunga has really come into his own as an annoying heel that everyone hates while McGillicutty has been coming into his own as well on NXT having great matches. Put them back together and hide their weaknesses by having Otunga do most of the talking while  McGillicutty does most of the wrestling.

Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins: These two broke into WWE as a tag team called The Major Brothers and later graduated to The Edgeheads, Edge's lackeys to help keep the world title around his waist. During this time they captured the tag team titles before going their separate ways. Once again like McGillicutty & Otunga these two didn't have a falling out when they split up. With Tyler Reks requesting and being granted his release that leaves Curt Hawkins without a tag team partner again. Zack Ryder has been struggling quite a bit as of late himself so why not pair the duo up once again. When they were a tag team before they were nobodies and although you can make the case that Hawkins still is a nobody they have both improved leaps and bounds from where they used to be and now both have their very own distinct personalities. Hawkins can get a bit of rub off of Ryder and they can be a nice addition to the tag team division.
 
Rey Mysterio & Sin Cara: Mysterio and Sin Cara are very easy to pair up together and although Sin Cara has been labeled as a huge future superstar ever since he arrived in WWE he hasn't really done much of anything to prove himself. Putting him with the very well established and beloved Mysterio can do wonders for Cara. WWE has been talking about these two having a match at Wrestlemania to set a new record for most masks worn at any public event since last year until both men got sidelined for this this years Wrestlemania but if they can both stay injury free it seems like a it might be the way for them to go for next years Wresstlemania and if they are already a tag team, maybe even champions at the time it would be easy to make the match happen with them even saying they want to do so to set the record.
 
Drew McIntyre & Jack Swagger: Here we have a classic case of two guys who aren't having anything done with them. Whenever McIntyre and Swagger are on TV you can be pretty sure that both are going to lose whatever match they are in, at the moment they are nothing but a couple of glorified jobbers. They were once so much more though and that is where these two can come together. Think about it Swagger was once a World Champion while McIntyre was a Intercontinental champion and pegged by Vince McMahon himself as the future of WWE. So what went so wrong for these guys? Both have complained as of late after loses that “they are better then this!!” so it seems like it would be easy to pair them off. They can both be put in an embarrassing match together with some other wrestlers and leave together citing they are better then this and just like that you have a new tag team who are out to prove they are indeed better then what they have been given.

Christian & Trent Barreta: This one may seem like it comes from out of nowhere and it kinda does but here's how I rationalize it. There is a old tried and true tradition of sticking a young wrestler with an experienced veteran in a tag team. Doing so gives the younger guy a huge rub instantly just by the association with the veteran. This is something that has worked time and again. As for why I picked these two here's why. Christian has always been a great tag team wrestler and has won the tag titles a total of nine times, seven with Edge, and once with Chris Jericho and Lance Storm. Trent Baretta was also in a pretty entertaining tag team with Caylen Croft before called The Dudebusters. Though they were entertaining they never really got a fair shake and Croft was soon released. It would be pretty easy to pair Baretta and Christian together as well since Baretta's current character can be compared with Christian's earlier in his career when he was more of a goofball teaming with Edge. Christian can just take Baretta under his wing saying that he sees a lot of himself in Baretta and we're off to the races with them.

Michael McGillicutty & Ted DiBiase: Dibiase and McGillicutty are a coulple of third generation wrestlers who really have nothing else going for them at the moment. Teaming them up seems like it could work pretty easily. The only thing I would change here would be having McGillicutty changing his name and going by his real name of Joe Hennig. WWE have said almost every time McGillicutty steps into the ring that he is the son of Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig and grandson of Larry “The Ax” Hennig so why they don't just have him going under his real name makes no sense to me, even if they keep the first name and call him Michael Hennig instead it wouldn't be so bad. They can recycle DiBiase and Cody Rhodes gimmick when they were Legacy of them thinking they are better then everyone else because of their pedigree and  that they should be entitled to more then other because of it. I can easily see these two working well together and helping both men make it to the next step in their careers.

Smackin' It Raw: Seven ways to make a three hour Monday Night Raw work

Every Since Monday Night Raw went three hours it has at times during each show feel like a chore to watch. Making something you love feel like a chore is the quickest way to turn people away but it doesn't have to be that way WWE Raw could work at three hours and be entertaining from start to finish. Here I present to you seven ways in which a three hour Raw can work and while we are at it improve WWE as a whole:

Unify the WWE & World titles:

The two world titles was a great idea when the brand split first happened and the wrestlers on Raw and Smackdown never crossed over to the other shows. That time is long over now though. Somehow there is still a brand split but its only in the loosest of ways with Raw and Smackdown wrestlers showing up on whatever show they want. Hell earlier this year Raw became “Raw Supershow” officially allowing Smackdown wrestlers to show up on Raw whenever they want. The brand split still held where Raw wrestlers stuck to Raw, that is unless there was a storyline reason. But lets face any wrestler can go on either show they want so the point of a two world titles is dead. That said I think they should hold off on a unification match until Wrestlemania this year to give it more of a big match feel but its time for the Undisputed WWE Championship to make a return. That said I never liked it when they called the title that, call it what they did before WWE bought WCW and call it “The WWE World Championship” as a bonus that all incorporates both titles name into one. The worst part about it would be that odds are that the beautiful looking World Title will disappear.

Unify the Intercontinental and US titles:

Same story with the world titles, there is no need for two secondary titles so these two need to be unified as well. Alone these titles have no prestige anymore but if you unify them you can make a big deal out of it and make the title feel special again, have former World and WWE champions compete for it while still using it to elevate the younger talent. I wouldn't wait to unify these titles until Wrestlemania though for this one the sooner the better. Since the IC title has a much greater history in WWE thats the title that should stay.

Make the tag team division relevant again:

Every week we hear on TV how the tag division is fiercely competitive. They must think we are all idiots. That division hasn't been important since the early 2000's when you had a deep tag division with Edge & Christian, The Hardy Boyz, The Dudley Boyz, Too Cool, The APA, The New Age Outlaws and more. Back then we had real tag teams but the last half a dozen or more years our tag teams are more of the two wrestlers slapped together type. Rarely have they had tag team names and their attire didn't match, those things might not seem all that important but it is. It shows better unity between the two wrestlers making them feel more like a team. All that said things are not really as bad right now as they have been in recent years, it looks like the tag division is on a upswing again even if it is going very slowly. For the first time in years we have more then two tag teams that don't feel like two guys slapped together. Curt Hawkins & Tyler Reks feel the most slapped together and they were but they are slowing making it work for them and months ago even took the step to get the matching attires. Primo & Epico, The Uso's, and The Prime Time Players all feel like real tag teams. Oddly enough the Tag Champions Kofi Kingston & R-Truth are the team that feels like and are the most slapped together of the teams in WWE right now. I'd say get the titles off of those two let them go back to single action and give the titles to one of the teams mentioned above. After that bring in more teams and really build up that division and make it feel special again.

Give the divas more time:

The divas division is nothing more then a joke for two reasons. First off most of the girls have no business in a wrestling ring with minimum training at best. The second and in my opinion bigger reason is the lack of time given to the diva matches. Why would anyone care about the Divas title if the matches get less then two minutes of TV time each week and if your lucky five minutes on a pay per view. WWE needs to break out of that trend and look to their past on how to make a good Divas division again. Before Trish Stratus and Lita called it quits the Divas matches were just as long as any other match. With Raw at three hours now there is no reason you can't give these girls 10 minutes out of your three hour long show. You can make people care about the divas again taking the girls who can't wrestle well such as Kelly Kelly and Alicia Fox follow the example of Rosa Mendes and other Divas who have taken a strictly managerial position. Granted both women have shown a lot of improvement which is all well and good but keep the title away from them until they are actually good enough to carry it. Instead leave the wrestling to the likes of Beth Phoenix, Tamina Snuka, Natayla and to a lesser extent Eve and current champion Layla who have both shown they can actually be decent if given the time to wrestle and improve. While we are at it Hire back Kharma who was fired for no reason and bring in Sara Del Ray who I heard was recently hired. Del Ray, Phoenix, Natayla, Kharma and Snuka have it in them to make the Divas division feel like its worthy of more then just the time to use the bathroom or in my case take the dogs out to use the bathroom.

Bring back the Crusierweight title:

With a world title and a secondary title gone the titles instantly feel more special because there are less of them. That said I think there would still be a place for a Crusierweight title to make a come back. The reason this title could make a comeback is because it would be different from the other titles that anyone could compete for. With this one there is a weight limit that would keep the heavyweights from competing for it. Traditionally the weight limit for these titles have been 220-225 lbs I suggest we lower the weight limit to 210-215 lbs instead since more and more of the world title contenders these days are closer to 220-225 already. Bring in a few high flyers and make this division the spectacle that it should be which is the problem WWE has always had with this title. Don't let it become a joke again with divas or Hornswoggle as champion. Make it serious. Reintroduce it in a eight man tournament. On the current roster that tournament could consist of of Sin Cara, Tyson Kidd, Evan Bourne, Hunico, Justin Gabriel, Yoshi Tatsu and to really give it a rub Rey Mysterio and Daniel Bryan who weighs in at only 210 lbs himself. To have two former world champions competing for the title and praising it up will make it feel important right away. During the tournament give each match a bare minimum of 10 minutes with the tournament final having at least 20. It shouldn't have 20 minutes each week but 10 minutes to the crusierweight champion while having another crusierweight match on the show would make the division feel important right away.

More time for matches and less time for backstage skits and bad comedy:

With three hours every week there is no reason why the matches we are getting right now on the show are as long as they were when there was only two hours. This isn't a race anymore its a marathon. There should be at least two matches that are long enough for two segments on the show. That's two matches that have commercial breaks during them. Longer matches usually mean better matches and better matches mean more people caring about the product. It seems like Raw went three hours it seems like the amount of matches and match times are the same and the only thing that has increased is the amount of backstage skits and comedy. We don't want or need that we want and need more wrestling. I hate to take a term from TNA but WWE needs to make wrestling matter again.

Work on getting the younger talent over:

One of the main reason for the brand split all those years ago was to be able to give TV time to the younger wrestlers who would of been overshadowed by all of the established wrestlers that were already on the roster and found their way there after WCW was bought up. That's not the case anymore and if anything WWE needs more main event stars what better way of doing that then by giving the younger guys a chance to shine. Give them more time on TV both in matches and by cutting short promos before the matches. This method has always worked to get younger guys over for a reason. Also while your getting a younger guy over don't bring in a main eventer and have them destroy that person every week. Zack Ryder looked like he was going places late last year until Kane kicked the shit out of him every week on TV and made to look like a loser every chance they got earlier this year. If you want to have a main evener beat a younger guy that's fine but have it be a competitive match where the main eventer wins. That way even in a loss the younger guy seems like he belongs and that he could be a main eventer as well.

Movie Review: Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory

What can be said about Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory that hasn't already been said a thousand times before? This movie is after all an absolute classic.

We all know what the story is about. Some bum kid buys a chocolate bar that has a golden ticket within the wrapper that wins him and five other kids a lifetime supply of chocolate, a meeting with the mysterious Willy Wonka and a tour of his candy factory. Charlie is the only good kid and at the end of the movie Wonka rewards his kindness by giving him the chocolate factory.

Gene Wilder is absolutely brilliant in this movie which only helps cement him as one of the greatest comedic performers of all time. Anyone who would still argue after watching this movie could also be directed to a couple of Mel Brooks movies. Wilder's delivery in this movie is perfect every time weather he is being funny, genuine, annoyed, crazy or down right creepy.

As far as what I can say that hasn't been said about this movie before? Well I don't know if its been said or not since it seems pretty obvious to me so I'll just go ahead and say it. Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory is a slasher movie aimed towards children and not only that but Willy Wonka & The CHocolate Factory gave birth to the entire slasher genre. Yup you read that right. Willy Wonka is to children what Michael Myers, Jason Vorhees, Freddy Kruger, Leatherface or any slasher icon is to adults. Here's why.

As is the case with most slasher movies a group of kids are lured into a dangerous place and one by one each kid is picked off due to their biggest character flaw. One by one each the group of kids are narrowed down as Willy Wonka's cronies those creepy little Oompa Loompa's take them away singing about the fallen child in pure glee while their cruel master Willy Wonka watches on in approval. Soon there is only one child left, Charlie, but that wasn't for lack of trying since Charlie and his grandfather narrowly avoided being slashed to bits by a giant ceiling fan.

Having survived his deadly game in his house of horrors Willy Wonka rewards Charlie with the entire chocolate factory. This might seem like a kind gesture but it is actually Wonka's final ironic revenge. Charlie is a child so poor he could only afford to purchase two or three chocolate bars throughout the entire golden ticket madness but now had access to all the chocolate and candy in the world so you can be sure that at some point this poor kid will develop diabetes. That Willy Wonka is clever if nothing else.

They "kill" one bad kid at a time until only the good one is left formula was quickly adopted by horror and the the slasher genre was born. Most people point to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Halloween for starting the slasher boom but Willy Wonka & The Chocolate factory predated both of those to invent the slasher genre.

To go with all the horror this movie also has one of the most genuinely frightening scenes in the history of film. I am of course talking about the boat ride. Everything starts off good enough with Wonka reciting a fun little poem but it soon all goes to hell. The boat speeds up, crazy images of insects crawling over peoples faces and chickens getting their heads chopped off are projected on the walls and Wonka begins to scream. He is no longer singing a fun little song as much as he is screaming at the top of his lungs. It was a scene so frighting that it was sometimes edited out of the TV version! Not bad for a "kids" movie right? Just to refresh yourself here's the dubious scene in question:

Despite all the horror of this movie its still fun film for the whole family. The songs are fun and easy to sing along with and it carries a good message. Be good little boy or girl or Willy Wonka will lure you into his chocolate factory of death where the Oompa Loompa's will surely pick the child's bones after Wonka is done with them. I give this fun family classic a 8 out of 10!

 

Re-Ranking Catwoman

Back on January 9th of this year I put up an article called "Ranking Catwoman" which you can find here. In that article I did exactly what it sounds like and ranked the various women who have played Catwoman throughout the years from TV, movies, animation and video games and in that article I said that I would revisit that article once The Dark Knight Rises came out to put Anne Hathaway where I think she belongs on the list so lets now take a look at where she stands against the rest with the new rankings (and more pictures!)

#10 Halle Berry (Catwoman 2004)

#9 Eliza Dushku (Batman: Year One)

#8  Grey DeLise (Batman: Arkham City)

#7  Ertha Kitt (Batman 1966)

#6 Gina Gershon (The Batman)

#5 Lee Merriwether (Batman 1966)

#4 Michelle Pfeiffer (Batman Returns)

 #3 Anne Hathaway (The Dark Knight Rises)

Anne Hathaway  might be the most faithful live action of Catwoman to date all without her being called Catwoman once in the entire movie. Much like her comic book counterpart Hathaway plays the part of a bad girl who doesn't necessarily want to be bad, she just does what she has to do to get by and if that means kicking a crippled Bruce Wayne in his bad leg to steal his mothers pearls. Though when the time comes shes ready to do the right thing she is there to help out. All that said though she is still not my favorite live action Catwoman.

#2  Julie Newmar (Batman 1966)

#1 Adrienne Barbeau (Batman: The Animated Series)

Once again you can check out the original article here with details on each Catwoman.

Game Review: The Amazing Spider-Man

Just when I think I'm done with Spider-Man articles for now he snags me with his web and pulls me right back in. Last week saw the release of The Amazing Spider-Man the video game fittingly enough based on the movie The Amazing Spider-Man.

The last few years hasn't been all that kind in regards to Spider-Man video games in fact you can pretty much say the webslingers games have been on a downward spiral since 2004's Spider-Man 2 which is the benchmark for all Spider-Man games. Spider-Man 2 introduced the open world play of New York, anything you can see you could swing to. In addition to that there was a solid story and game play all around. Up next we got Spider-Man 3 which much like its movie counterpart was garbage and a huge fall from the last game. Ultimate Spider-Man made another good showing but after that it all went to hell with Friend or Foe and Web of Shadows. Shattered Dimensions had its moments but that was followed up by the less then stellar Edge of Time.

So to say Spider-Man games have been hit and miss is a bit of an understatement. So what do I think of The Amazing Spider-Man? Well first off I had reservations because it has that horrible stigma of it being a "movie game" but then again the best Spider-Man game to date had been based on a movie. So with all that said what do I think of THIS Spider-Man game?

Well first off gamers be warned this game takes place after the events of the movie so there are some spoilers in the game that might ruin the movie for you. There is one thing in particular that is a major spoiler for the movie that comes up again and again which is terrible. To release a game that takes place after the events of a movie that isn't out yet was a poor decision. It should of been released the same week or week after the movie.

Of course this is something that will not be remembered even a month from now and all people will remember is the game based on its own merits. So how does it stand up? Well for the first time in years we once again get the open world game play that we loved in Spider-Man 2. New York is your playground and you can go anywhere you see fit. I don't care swinging around New York as Spider-Man is easily one of my favorite game play mechanics of all time. The swing around feels natural and you feel like you are Spider-Man.

The combat system here is pretty much the same as it has been since Spider-Man 2 but if its not broke don't fix it. Sure there are some things that are updated but that's to be expected they are only small updates that make things feel smoother.

I don't care for most of the character designs though, the game makers went for the Spider-Man villains based on animals, ok so that doesn't narrow it down, they went for the villains that are based on and looked more like animals like Rhino, Vermin and Scorpion. The designs were all done in a similar style to that of The Lizard and left a lot to be desired for me.

The costume variety left a little to be desired as well. One of the things I love about the Spider-Man games is the large variety of costumes and Spider-Man has a lot to choose from. This time including the default costume we get 11, though you can make a case of there being only 8 costumes altogether. The default costume is the one we see in the movie with the addition of a belt for some reason, so there is the costume with the belt and without. Another costume is nothing more then a party hat. That's three of your costumes right there. Another costume is the vigilante costume from the movie. The other costumes are for the most part newer ones from the comics.We get the Big Time, Future Foundation, Negative Zone and new Scarlet Spider costumes. The biggest disappointment is the "original costumes." Unfortunately they don't mean the old school red and blue or black costumes but the red and blue and black costumes from the original Spider-Man trilogy. The coolest costume is the Stan Lee skin which at the moment is only available to those who pre-ordered the game from Amazon. These costumes are good and all but what about the original costume or black costume from the comics. What about The Iron Spider, Bombastic Bag Man, 2099, Noir or new Ultimate Spider-Man costumes? Who knows maybe we will get some DLC with them later.

 
 The game isn't about Spider-Man's fashion choices though  its about the game play itself and that is top notch. This is easily the best Spider-Man game since the bench mark of Spider-Man 2. Spider-Man seems to be the exception to the rule of movie games sucking with his movie games being the best games he has to his name. If your a fan of Spider-Man and his games then I highly recommend The Amazing Spider-Man there isn't much out there better.

My Top 5 Worst Spider-Man Villains

After listing off My Top 30 Spider-Man Villains I figured that it would be only right for me to explore the other end a little bit and also list My Top 5 Worst Spider-Man Villains. Spider-Man might have one of the best rogues galleries in comics history (With only Batman's rogues gallery as any real competition to that title) They can't all be hits, in fact there are indeed some real losers out there, I think that these following five are the worse. Somehow "villains" like The Walrus, Grizzly, Gibbon and Kangaroo managed to avoid this list.

 #5 Rocket Racer 

 Real Name: Robert Farrell

First Appearance: Sept 1977's Amazing Spider-Man #172

About: Only mostly a villain Rocket Racer has had most of his run ins with the law as a small time bugler. Has his name would suggest he has a rocket powered skateboard, ok so the skateboard might not be suggested in the name but the rocket powered part is. Although still mostly a villain Rocket Racer unlike most villains has a very strong code of ethics and a deep respect for Spider-Man. Rocket Racer might of been well ahead of his time. Yup you heard that right had Rocket Racer debuted in the mid to late 1990s instead of the late 1970s he could of been a lot more relevant but alas that was not the case. Not helping matters is the fact that he seemed to be the only person to think the Bat-nipples in Batman and Robin were a good idea and stole the idea for his redesigned costume. Awful.

#4 Stegron 

Real Name: Vincent Stegron

First Appearance: March 1974's Marvel Team-Up #19

About: Gotta love Marvel's line of thinking. Hey The Lizard is popular so lets make a new improved version of the same character but instead of merely making him a lizard lets make him a DINOSAUR! Yeah kids love Dinosaurs right? He'll be a hit! Well not so much. Stegron even has a similar origin to The Lizard's. You see Vincent Stegron was obsessed with the experiments that Dr. Conners did that on himself that caused him to become the Lizard and recreated them only with Dinosaur DNA from the Savage Land instead of plain old Lizard DNA. Shockingly (not really) Stegron never caught on despite his dinosaurness since he is mostly seen (and rightfully so) as a Lizard wannabe and why use a wannabe when the real deal is already part of Spidey's rogues gallery.

#3 Hypno-Hustler

 

Real Name: Antoine Delsoin

First Appearance:  Nov. 1978's Spectacular Spider-Man #24

About: Disco was really damn popular at one point in the 1970s and during that time we have gotten great characters like Dazzler and Hypno-Hustler. Wait, what's that? You have never heard of Hypno-Hustler? I can't imagine why hes a guy who uses a guitar to hypnotize people so that he can carry out his petty crimes of robbing the small club owners safe. As if that wasn't enough he also has boots that emit knock out gas. Yup this Disco all star was a real dud.

#2 Big Wheel

Real Name: Jackson Weele

First Appearance: 1978's Amazing Spider-Man #182

About: Now here's a crappy low level villain if there ever was one. Simply put Big Wheel is a giant metal wheel that has spikes, guns, arms and runs over things. Sounds great huh? Jackson Weele is naturally  a crooked businessman who was blackmailed by fellow Spider-Man "villain" and top 5 worse Spider-Man villain, Rocket Racer, and attempted to gain vengeance on the kid by running him over in a giant wheel or something. Spider-Man saved the other would be crappy villain and Big Wheel flew into The Hudson River. Somehow Big Wheel has shown up more then once and every now and then pops up to terrorize skaters everywhere and to be a general non-threat to anybody.

#1 Typeface

Real Name: Gordon Thomas

First Appearance: Nov 2000's Peter Parker: Spider-Man Vol. 2 #23

About: You know your a crappy villain when you make Big Wheel look like hes on par with The Green Goblin but that's just what the pathetic Typeface does. Spider-Man might have some of the best villains in comics but as you have seen in this article hes got some pretty lame ones as well but all of those lame villains take a backseat to this smuck. Basically he writes letters on his face and uses weapons shaped as letters to fight with. Watch out Spidey Typeface just threw a giant lower case "g" at you!

Well there we go that pretty much sums up all of my Spider-Man villains lists, hope you enjoyed them. If so make sure to comment below or share it Twitter,