Wrestlemania Saturday

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Night one of Wrestlemania XL is in the books and it has done some serious set up for night two.

The Rock and Roman Reigns defeated Cody Rhodes and Set Rollins in the main event of night one cheating like crazy and has ensured Bloodline rules for the WWE Championship match on Sunday night. The Rock threatened to fire the referee, Chad Patton, if he counted them out and he spent all night intimidating the ref, to the point where Rock would just hit Seth Rollins in the groin without even hiding it because he knew the ref couldn’t DQ him.

This just sets up Cody as an even bigger underdog so when he wins on Sunday, there will be a greater feeling. Seth Rollins has a bad knee (storyline wise) and will enter his title match on Sunday against Drew McIntyre far less than 100%.

The best match of the night was easily the Intercontinental Championship match which saw Gunther’s record setting reign of 666 days come to an end to Sami Zayn in an insane finishing sequence. The match was great and very hard hitting, providing one of the most satisfying results of the card.

Rhea Ripley defeated Becky Lynch cleanly after a solid match.

Much of night one felt less than I hoped. The Jey vs. Jimmy match was a disappointment. They tried a storyline section that did not work as well as intended. Jey won. The six woman tag team match was fine. Jade Cargill is a beast.

The six pack ladder match was fun with some crazy spots, especially from DIY. A Town Down Under won the Smackdown tag titles while Awesome Truth won the RAW titles, effectively splitting the titles apart, which makes sense considering how many effective tag teams they have right now.

It was an outdoor stadium and the temps hovered around 50 degrees early in the night. I don’t know how the colder temps influenced some performers, but they seemed to do well considering.

NXT Stand and Deliver 2024

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  • Joe Gacy def. Shawn Spears.
  • NXT Tag Team Champions Bron Breakker & Baron Corbin def. Axiom & Nathan Frazer.
  • NXT North American Champion Oba Femi def. Dijak and Josh Briggs 
  • Thea Hail, Fallon Henley & Kelani Jordan def. Jacy Jayne, Kiana James and Izzi Dame
  • Roxanne Perez def. Lyra Valkyria 
  • NXT Champion Ilja Dragunov def. Tony D’Angelo
  • Trick Williams def. Carmelo Hayes

The NXT Tag Team Championship match and the NXT North American Championship matches were massive bangers and kicked off the main show with two amazing matches.

Legitimately, the triple threat North American championship match was a match of the year contender as Oba Femi, Dijak and Josh Briggs put on a show including some of the biggest spots you will see from men the size of them.

I do love Ilja Dragunov. He was never going to lose his NXT Championship to The Don of NXT Tony D’Angelo. It was still a great match.

Roxanne Perez got a definitive victory over Lyra Valkyria for the NXT Women’s Championship. She is one of the best in the division.

Which, by the way, as a special announcement, NXT will be adding a new championship for the Women’s Division. The NXT Women’s North American Championship was announced. Well deserved. The main roster needs a secondary title too.

Trick Williams went over cleanly in his match with Carmelo Hayes. I expect Carmelo to head to the main roster for good.

Great kick off. We will have to see if there is any match on Wrestlemania that can be equal to the Oba Femi, Dijak, Josh Briggs match.

Wrestlemania XL Predictions

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So I am preparing to make the predictions for the two nights of Wrestlemania.

Wrestlemania Saturday Night

  • Women’s World Championship: Rhea Ripley (c) vs. Becky Lynch

This is a tough one. I can see it going either way, but since I see a lot of other title changes, I think this is the most likely retention of the weekend.

Prediction: Rhea Ripley, still Women’s World Champion.

  • Intercontinental Championship: Gunther (c) vs. Sami Zayn

Gunther’s record-breaking Intercontinental title run comes to an end at Wrestlemania 40.

Prediction: Sami Zayn, NEW Intercontinental Champion

  • Jey Uso vs. Jimmy Uso

Jimmy has taken a lot of beatings on Raw and Smackdown recently. Although I think Jey has the higher future as a single performer, I am giving this to Jimmy.

Prediction: Jimmy Uso

  • Six-Pack ladder match for Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships: Judgment Day (Damian Priest & Finn Bálor) vs. Awesome Truth (The Miz & R-Truth) vs. DIY (Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa) vs. New Day (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods) vs. New Catch Republic (Pete Dunne & Tyler Bate) vs. A-Town Down Under (Austin Theory & Grayson Waller)

I definitely think this will split the two tag titles apart so there is one on Raw and one on Smackdown, so I am picking two winners here.

Prediction: RAW Tag Champion: Awesome Truth; Smackdown Tag Champion: New Catch Republic

  • Bianca Belair, Naomi & Jade Cargill vs. Damage CTRL (Dakota Kai, Asuka & Kairi Sane)

This one is an easy one. Bianca is undefeated at Wrestlemania and we will not break that in a six-woman tag match.

Prediction: Bianca Belair, Naomi & Jade Cargill

  • Rey Mysterio & Andrade vs. Santos Escobar & Dominik Mysterio

Last minute change removed Dragon Lee. Carlito will definitely get involved, perhaps with a heel change. Think that is post match though.

Prediction: Rey Mysterio & Andrade

  • The Rock & Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes & Seth Rollins

I can see this going either way. There has been a lot of talk about Cody assembling the Avengers. I think that happens in Bloodline Rules. I think they have talked about Bloodline rules too much for it not to happen, and it sets up yet another hurdle for Cody Rhodes to overcome.

Prediction: Rock & Roman Reigns

Wrestlemania Sunday Night

  • World Heavyweight Championship: Seth Rollins (c) vs. Drew McIntyre

Another one that I can see going either way. I believe CM Punk, who will be on commentary, will play a role costing Drew McIntyre, who has been going to new limits on his motuh with Punk.

Prediction: Set Rollins, STILL World Heavyweight Champion.

  • WWE Women’s Championship: Iyo Sky (c) vs. Bayley

It is time for Bayley’s Wrestlemania moment, and she deserves it.

Prediction: Bayley, NEW World Women’s Champion.

  • United States Championship Triple Threat: Logan Paul (c) vs. Randy Orton vs. Kevin Owens

I love this match. I love Kevin Owens so much. I wish I could give him the win. I will be absolutely be rooting for KO. I don’t think he will.

Prediction: Logan Paul, STILL United States Champion.

  • LA Knight vs. AJ Styles

An excellent match coming here. I think the win does more for LA Knight, but this could go any direction.

Prediction: LA Knight

  • Bobby Lashley & The Street Profits (Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins) vs. The Final Testament (Karrion Kross & The Authors of Pain (Akam & Rezar)

A Philadelphia street fight… and I think that the faces get this one.

Prediction: Bobby Lashley & The Street Profits

  • Undisputed WWE Universal Championship: Roman Reigns (c) vs. Cody Rhodes

Finish the story! I think it is time for Cody Rhodes to bring an end to the record reign of Roman Reigns. I believe it will be Bloodline rules and this could be all kinds of shenanigans going down. Expect Mama Rhodes to smack Rock across the face at some point.

Prediction: Winner and NEW WWE Universal Champion: Cody Rhodes

I am very excited about the Grandest Stage of them All.

Man from Atlantis S1 E9

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Spoilers

“Man O’ War”

Mister Schubert returned.

After a refreshing change of villain, Victor Buono returned to Man from Atlantis as Mister Schubert, the megalomaniacal villain who has appeared in most of the regular episodes so far.

I have stated that he may be a bit overused, but I did like his use in this episode.

There was a giant jellyfish that Schubert unleashed on the coast in an attempt to blackmail money from the government. Schubert is lacking money and it is causing serious problems for him. I do like this arc for Schubert.

There were definitely signs that this was a 1970s show. The special effects on the jellyfish were pretty lacking. The second thing was the Indian dialect for one of the secondary characters that was on the show. It was the stereotypical Indian accent and would not be used in today’s world. The third example was the cameo of Gary Owens and his distinct voice. It made me think of the old cartoon, The Superfriends.

Why did they not just arrest Schubert when they started looking for the jellyfish? Did Schubert not commit a bunch of crimes in previous episodes?

WWE Hall of Fame Ceremony

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Last night, the WWE inducted seven people into the 2024 Class of the WWE Hall of Fame in a broadcast on Peacock. This year’s class included Paul Heyman, Bull Nakano, Barry Windham & Mike Rotunda, Thunderbolt Patterson, Muhammad Ali and Lia Maivia.

The headliner of the class was inducted first. Paul Heyman, whose background in Philadelphia with his revolutionary ECW was well known, came out after a really great induction by Roman Reigns. Paul, one of the best talkers in the history of the business, proceeded to give one of the best HoF speeches of all time. I have seen most, if not all, of the speeches over the years and, while I saw several hyperbolic comments online about this being the greatest HoF speech of all time, I’m not ready to anoint it such, but it is definitely in the argument. Paul Heyman had the audience in the palm of his hand and it was exceptional. Paul took us all on a ride that was funny, emotional, nostalgic, and generally inspiring.

There was a great moment inside the U.S. Express speech when Mike Rotunda mentioned his son Windham Rotunda, aka Bray Wyatt, who passed away this past year. Rotunda got out his cell phone and asked for the crowd to follow along with him displaying the light on the phone. This was the symbol of the Fireflies that were the fans of Bray Wyatt.

There was a really weird moment during the Muhammad Ali induction. Yolanda Ali, Ali’s widow, accepted the honor. What was weird was when Yolanda (Nicknamed Lonnie) presented Dwayne Johnson with a title of People’s Champion. Rock came out and thanked her. It felt fairly awkward.

Most of the other speeches were fine, but did not stand out. Thunderbolt Patterson spoke about his faith in God. Bull Nakano was well spoken despite English being her second language.

Wrestlemania XL Weekend

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One of my favorite weekends of the year has come around. It is Wrestlemania weekend, where there are a bunch of events over the next 48 hours +.

Wrestlemania XL takes place in Philadelphia this year and the two-night event is packed full of amazing rivalries and battles.

They revealed the Wrestlemania XL set, and it looks great.

The weekend kicks off right now with Friday Night Smackdown. Mere moments ago, Big Bronson Reed won the annual Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. There did appear as if there may have been a couple of mistakes in the battle royal, yet I enjoyed the match. It looked like Otis was supposed to have caught Tazawa on the floor but Ivar overthrew him and Tazawa hit hard on the floor. I am also not sure that Omos was intended to be eliminated during the commercial break. I think Omos lost his balance and tumbled out too.

After Smackdown tonight is the WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Tonight’s inductees include Paul Heyman, the U.S. Express (Barry Windham & Mike Rotunda), Lia Maivia, Bull Nakano, Thunderbolt Patterson, and Muhammad Ali. It is an interesting group this year, headlined by Paul Heyman, whose ECW was a Philadelphia mainstay. Also notable is the induction of Mike Rotunda, father of Windham Rotunda aka Bray Wyatt who died this past year. That should be very emotional. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, I believe, will be inducting his grandmother Lia Maivia, the first woman promoter.

NXT’s Stand and Deliver kicks off the action on Saturday with the best of the NXT brand. Ilya Dragunov defends his NXT championship against the Don of NXT, Tony D’Angelo. Perhaps the biggest grudge match of this PLE is Trick Williams vs. Carmelo Hayes.

Then Saturday night, Wrestlemania XL kicks off with Saturday night show, which is headlined by Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns and The Rock in what is being billed as the Greatest Tag Team Match of All-Time. If the faces win, then the Cody-Roman match on Sunday night is one-on-one, with no Bloodline, and Cody has a chance to win the match without any interference. If the Bloodline wins, then the Sunday night match is Bloodline rules, and anything goes. It is a remarkable build for this tag match with all of the stakes up for grabs.

Night One Matches at Wrestlemania 40

  • The Rock & Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes & Seth Rollins
  • Women’s World Championship: Rhea Ripley (c) vs. Becky Lynch
  • Intercontinental Championship: Gunther (c) vs. Sami Zayn
  • Jey Uso vs. Jimmy Uso
  • Six-Pack ladder match for Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships: Judgment Day (Damian Priest & Finn Bálor) vs. Awesome Truth (The Miz & R-Truth) vs. DIY (Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa) vs. New Day (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods) vs. New Catch Republic (Pete Dunne & Tyler Bate) vs. A-Town Down Under (Austin Theory & Grayson Waller)
  • Bianca Belair, Naomi & Jade Cargill vs. Damage CTRL (Dakota Kai, Asuka & Kairi Sane)
  • Rey Mysterio & Andrade vs. Santos Escobar & Dominik Mysterio

Night Two Matches at Wrestlemania 40

  • Undisputed WWE Universal Championship: Roman Reigns (c) vs. Cody Rhodes
  • World Heavyweight Championship: Seth Rollins (c) vs. Drew McIntyre
  • WWE Women’s Championship: Iyo Sky (c) vs. Bayley
  • United States Championship Triple Threat: Logan Paul (c) vs. Randy Orton vs. Kevin Owens
  • LA Knight vs. AJ Styles
  • Bobby Lashley & The Street Profits (Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins) vs. The Final Testament (Karrion Kross & The Authors of Pain (Akam & Rezar)

I’m going to be doing several posts over the weekend. I am very excited. I may do a prediction post some time tomorrow before the big night’s action.

UPDATE: Dragon Lee got jumped on Smackdown and now Andrade is in the tag team match. Calling it right no, Carlito did the attack hoping to be in the tag match instead. Count on it.

The X-Files S4 E8

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Spoilers

“Tunguska”

The X-Files is back to using the black oil in some horrifying manner. The mysteries of what the black oil is and what the government knows about it is the driving force behind this story.

Alex Krycek returned to cause trouble for Mulder and Scully. Mulder winds up in a Russian gulag and Scully winds up before Congress, being threatened with contempt of Congress if she does not reveal Mulder’s whereabouts.

Mulder and Scully get their hands on a rock that contains the black oil, to the chagrin of Cigarette Smoking Man.

There were some fun scenes in this episode including a handcuffed Krycek dumping a thug from Skinner’s apartment balcony. The thug, a courier for CSM, fell to his death. This show provided some real strength to the character of Krycek as he really outmaneuvered Mulder.

That final scene with the black oil dropping onto a confined Mulder, creeping beneath his face to cover his eyes in blackness was devastating.

This was a part one, and it was a tough one to stop on, but I did not have time to continue the part two before Smackdown.

Twin Peaks S2 E18, E19

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Spoilers

“On the Wings of Love”

“Variations and Relations”

Those pesky owls.

They just aren’t what they seem.

I did not remember the trip into Owl Cave to find some mysterious petroglyph, but it fits right into the magical woods around Twin Peaks.

Storylines are beginning to come together and the newly reinstated Cooper is on the case. Windham Earle continues to be very creepy as he has been stalking Audrey, Shelly and Donna.

Some odd things going on…

I am starting to feel pity for Leo. He was such a horrendous character during season one, but since he got captured by Earle, he has really come to bad side of karma.

Ben Horne is another character whom I suddenly want to root for. It is difficult to believe his change of heart, but I really want it to be more than just a way to stick it to Catharine.

I am not a huge fan of the new relationships that the show had forced upon us. Cooper and Annie felt pretty rushed. I had little connection with Audrey and John either. It seemed a long way to keep Cooper and Audrey apart.

I did think it was funny that Gordon Cole could easily hear Shelly even though she spoke in her normal voice. It wasn’t enough to base a relationship on, but it did make for a good scene.

The whole Miss Twin Peaks storyline is shaky. Ian Buchanan with the white bandage across his nose from the weasel bite from ep. 17 was funny.

X-Men ’97 S1 E4

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Spoilers

“Motendo/Lifedeath-Part 1”

It was a strange week on X-Men ’97. They had two stories inside the one half hour timeframe. The first one was Motendo, a Jubilee focused episode versus Mojo and the second was the beginning of the story of Storm and Forge, which was teased at the end of last week’s episode.

I believe both of the two parts, though enjoyable, suffered together. They both felt a little rushed and could have easily been full 30 minute episodes on their own.

The two halves were very different as well. The Jubilee part was full of action and video game Easter eggs, while as the Storm/Forge part was intended to be more emotional. Both had its positives, but I just felt as if the two did not flow together well.

It was cool to see Mojo again, and him moving into the world of video games makes perfect sense. I could have used more of the older Jubilee or more with Roberto. I did like how Jubilee and Roberto’s relationship took a step at the end of this section.

I wanted more with Storm as well. The connection between Storm and Forge did not feel fully realized.

Still it was an enjoyable half hour, but it was definitely the weakest of the four episodes this season.

EYG Favorite Comic Cover of the Week

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Week of April 1 (no kidding)

Here we go with the best comic covers of this week. It is the week of April Fools Day but none of this is a joke.

Bronze Medalist

Sand and Twitch Case Files #1

Cover art by Kevin Keane and Todd McFarlane

The background characters from the Spawn universe have their own book and the pair of them standing before the darkness of Spawn and the red cape. The rain was a nice touch.

Silver Medalist

Antarctica #10

Cover by Willi Roberts

The finale of this Image book sports a beautiful cover with red and black tones. The form stands out as does the title in its vertical line.

Gold Medalist

Deadpool #1

Cover Art by Inhyuk Lee

Beautiful foil variant cover of the brand new Deadpool series. Is this the 90s? No because every fifth comic does not have a foil cover. It makes the ones we get all the more special. This is a stunning cover with the return of the Merc with a Mouth.

Shogun S1 E7

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SPOILERS

“A Stick of Time”

When Toranaga was awaiting the arrival of his brother and his brother’s forces, I thought to myself, what if his brother betrayed him. However, I immediately dismissed that possibility.

Then, I found out that I was right.

Saeki became the fifth regent, turning on Toranaga in the process. He gave his brother an offer, return to Osaka and face his fate or to die on the field of battle.

He gave him until the sundown the next day to decide.

Toranaga agreed to return to Osaka.

This led to Toranaga’s son to Nagakado launching an attack on Saeki while he was at the brothel with the courtesan Kiku. This led to the accidental death of Nagakado. Whoa. I did not expect that.

Tough show. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, as I was not sure what was going to happen and it was compelling. John is really getting frustrated with the situation too.

This has been so good so far. Can’t wait to see where this goes.

Man from Atlantis S1 E8

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Spoilers

“Giant”

This was a really fun episode of Man from Atlantis. I had been hoping for a break from Mr. Schubert, as played by Victor Buono, for awhile now. He had been in all of the run of the series, since the end of the TV movies. This was the episode that finally gave us a break from Schubert. And in his place, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar!

The former Lakers star appeared as a giant named Thark. Water from the ocean was being drained through a vortex into another world where Thark was mining gold. Another person named Muldoon was trying to steal the giant’s gold.

This was a weird episode, but I did like it quite a bit. At first, it looked as if Kareem’s giant character was monstrous, but he turned out to be friendly and helped Mark stop the flow of water. When Thark learned that the water, which was invisible in this world, was a danger to Mark’s world, he immediately went to help him.

I really like how Mark deals with his conflicts. Many action heroes would head into a confrontation with the giant using physical threats, but, even after getting thrown around by Thark, Mark just spoke to him and used his words to convince him that he meant him no harm.

There was an ironic lesson to be learned for Muldoon too as he wound up stranded in this odd location with Thark. Muldoon had come back after deserting Mark to help them close the vortex, but the show still had him pay for his greed. I felt bad for Muldoon.

This was a step up from last episode’s offering. I thought Kareem did a good job in his role, which was admittedly fairly simple. The sci-fi concept of the ocean containing portals to different dimensions is an intriguing idea. I wonder if they were going to use this idea eventually to deal with the origin of Mark Harris and where he came from had the series continued.

Twin Peaks S2 E17

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Spoilers

“Wounds and Scars”

The fallout over Josie’s bizarre death happened in this episode as Harry went into a dark place. I do remember that aspect, but I am not sure what else was done with Josie’s death. I did like the Cooper/Harry bromance that was displayed here. The fact that Josie weighed 65 pounds from the autopsy was a detail that I did not recall that was cool.

Honestly, there was not much more in this episode. Windham Earle stalked Donna. They held a fundraiser at the Great Northern to fight Ghostwood and Dick had a weasel bite his nose. Norma’s sister Annie arrived and met Cooper. Audrey and her new boy toy connected. Ed and Nadine prepared to divorce and Nadine and Mike snuck into a room at the Great Northern.

Just not much there in this episode. Without the scenes with Cooper and Harry, this would be a totally dismissible episode.

Cooper spoke with Major Briggs and the Log Lady about stuff that happens in the woods. The Log Lady has a mysterious mark on her leg that was similar to Briggs’ mark on his neck. They both made a reference about the owls.

Not much of an episode.

Moonlighting S5 E10

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Spoilers

Note: [The numbering of these Moonlighting episodes may be off. I am following along Hulu with the episode numbers they have provided, but most place I have found online list this as episode 9. ]

“Perfetc”

What was that?

I do not know what I just watched, but I found it to be a total misfire among a season that has mostly done a decent job of trying to get Moonlighting back on track.

I legit hated this.

It felt totally off kilter. The characters were acting in manners that they would never act and changing behavior from one scene to another. There was way too much use of Herbert Viola in just a ridiculous set up after another for no reason.

David started off being late because of a bowling tournament. Um… what? He arrived in a bowling shirt.

The case they were working on was bizarre and made no sense. The entire set up was dumb. The pay off was ridiculous and the stupid chase scene only made it worse.

I think this may be my lest favorite Moonlighting episode ever.