SC Air Penny 2

Night Of Champions 2011

...joined in progress, as I had Monday off and caught this thing sorta live (JP time) when I woke up. Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase are beating on each other, which I guess would make this the Intercontinental Title match. I apparently missed Air Boom vs Awesome Truth while I was sleeping. I wonder what creative savant is coming up with these fantastic team names? I'd like his guidance when naming my future offspring. Whoa, the crowd is dead for this one. Maybe everyone else is just waking up as well. DiBiase pulls off Rhodes' mask, briefly popping the crowd, but he then immediately gets rolled up for the pin. Way to go, Ted. Nothing bad here, but the crowd just isn't behind DiBiase as a babyface at this point.

Hey, it's Christian. This show just got a lot better. Naturally, he wants yet another title shot. The crowd actually chants "one more match" with him until Sheamus interrupts. Sheamus is here to talk about his uncle's green testicles and to kick Christian in the head. That is all.

US Title: Dolph Ziggler vs John Morrison vs Alex Riley vs Jack Swagger

The story here is that Ziggler and Swagger are competing for Vickie Guerrero's managerial services. She should just team them up as ZigSwag. They'd make a hell of a team, too. I caught Ziggler's match against Orton a few weeks back, and this dude can really work. No joke. Anyway, pretty good match here, as all four of these guys can go. After a contrived spot in the corner that sees everyone tossing each other off the top with various suplexes, Riley gets a hot 2 off of the implant DDT. Thought that was it. Swag eventually hits his powerbomb to put Morrison out, but Ziggler steals the pin to retain. Vickie is THRILLED. Seriously, she is really, really happy right now.

Smackdown World Title: Randy Orton vs Mark Henry

Orton is nicknamed the "Apex Predator" (I guess by the same guy who came up with "Cerebral Assassin"), but I'm not sure about his chances against Henry, an actual Predator. The alien species, not the commonly used noun. They've done a really fantastic job with this Henry push, having him destroy every big man on the roster not named the Undertaker. Now let's see if they go all the way with it. Henry immediately wins me over by bending Orton around the ringpost like he's Gumby, then standing on him with both of his fists raised in the air. This is hilarious stuff. Booker T on commentary says that even in his prime he wouldn't want to face Mark Henry. See, the good thing about having Booker at the announce table is that he's willing to put over the current talent at his own expense. Henry proceeds to dominate most of the match, although Orton does manage to get his elevated DDT in a rather impressive looking spot. I leave to cook up some hot dogs, and I guess Orton injures his leg while I'm away because he's limping around the ring when I return. Orton goes for the RKO, but Henry is like, "Bitch, please," swats Orton down to the mat, kills him dead with the World's Strongest Slam, and we've got a new champ. Okay, that was DECISIVE, as Henry absolutely punked Orton out at the end there. Crowd pops pretty big for Henry winning, too. Never thought I'd say this, but hopefully they'll let Henry run with the title for a bit. Henry gets on the mic and welcomes us all to the HALL OF PAIN. Thanks, Mizark! I celebrate with my hot dog while dancing to Mark Henry's music, which is not how I envisioned spending my Monday off.

Divas Title: Kelly Kelly (...Kelly) vs Beth Phoenix

We're apparently in Beth Phoenix's hometown, and indeed, she gets a pretty massive reaction. The crowd chants "Kelly sucks." Usually they'd be right, but Kelly promptly responds by flipping out of a hiptoss and going all Eddie Guerrero with a springboard hurricanrana. Hey now. This match has like 10 times the heat of the Rhodes/DiBiase match, which is pretty funny. Beth is feeling frisky so she breaks out a top rope superplex. Pretty impressive, as even the boys usually do it from the middle rope. Finish comes when Kelly rolls through a powerbomb attempt and gets the 3 to retain. The crowd absolutely hates it, and I can't say that I blame them too much. I mean, it's just the Divas Championship. Why not have Beth win in front of her hometown fans? Kelly can always take the belt back on RAW if they really want the title around her waist.

RAW World Title: Alberto Del Rio vs John Cena

Alberto hoofs it to the ring because Cena stole his Ferrari. So John Cena stopped rapping because it was unbecoming of him as a role model for millions of impressionable children, but grand theft auto is cool? Del Rio brings in Ricardo to introduce him the right way: in Spanish. Not to be outdone, Cena does his own intro, pointing out his Team Jordans, his jorts, and the fact that he dresses like a Fruity Pebble. That's 3 strikes right there. The match itself is pretty good stuff. Alberto's run-up enzuigiri is a thing of beauty. Cole mentions that Del Rio main evented Wrestlemania, which I guess is what they call it now when you curtain jerk. Alberto gets the armbar, but Cena goes to the Rampage Jackson powerbomb counter to escape. He manages the slam, although we'll call it...somewhat less than emphatic. The STF is eventually applied, and Del Rio taps clean to make John Cena a 12 time world champ. Nothing against Cena, but I fail to see the logic in taking the strap off of Del Rio so soon.

HHH vs CM Punk

Michael Cole has lost his voice, so things are looking up. Punk: *checks imaginary wristwatch* "IT'S CLOBBERIN' TIME!" Indeed. Punk attacks HHH while he's spitting water, which is unheard of. Seriously, they let punk shoot on the McMahons AND attack HHH while he's doing the water spit? That Shawn Michaels endorsement must really go a long way. Pretty good brawl ensues, as they beat each other into the crowd and back. Punk gets a pretty sick flying elbow to put HHH through the Spanish announce table, but then things get difficult to follow. Miz and R-Truth show up. They attack both CM Punk and HHH. They put Punk on top, presumably because they want HHH to lose and step down as COO. Punk kicks out. Truth makes funny faces. Miz tries to punch the referee, but the referee BLOCKS it and punches Miz. Miz and Truth beat down said referee. HHH and Punk recover and beat down Miz and Truth. HHH with the Pedigree on Punk. Referee is dead. Go 2 Sleep on HHH. Truth stops the count and saves HHH even though they want HHH to lose. Truth clearly has no idea what is going on. Neither do I. Go 2 Sleep on Truth. Pedigree on Punk. Punk kicks out (!). Kevin Nash is here. He is Booker's big homie. Nash beats on HHH and Punk. Nash tries to powerbomb HHH. Punk saves HHH. Nash powerbombs Punk. HHH hits Nash in the face with a sledgehammer. HHH Pedigrees Punk. HHH wins. Say what now??

Impressions: The main even was an overbooked mess, but I understand that they wanted to keep HHH as COO (what does that stand for again?) for storyline purposes, while keeping CM Punk strong in the process. At the very least, the Miz & Truth stuff is interesting, and I like the idea of them aligning with Kevin Nash to form a new Outsiders group of some sort. Overall, it was just an okay show, but they really hit it out of the park with the Mark Henry push.

Games I'm Waiting On (Part 2)

5) One Piece Kaizoku Musou



When KOEI released a Gundam game with the good old Dynasty Warriors engine, I managed to avoid it in spite of myself. When they released a Fist of the North Star game, again molded in Dynasty Warriors fashion, I marveled a bit at the trailers before forgetting about the title completely. But a One Piece beat-'em-up done by the DW team? Yeah, I'm there.

4) Twisted Metal



I wasn't sure what to think when recent trailers revealed transforming cars, but Twisted Metal has been looking so good that it'll take more than that goofy Sweet Bot to douse my enthusiasm for this title.

3) Tekken Tag Tournament 2



With Ultimate MVC3, SFxT, and SC5 all on the calendar, the fighter that I'm still most looking forward to is Tekken Tag 2. It's been about 12 years since the original Tekken Tag (!), and I can't wait to see how the reintroduction of the tag feature shakes things up.

2) Mass Effect 3



My current obsession with ME2 may have something to do with how high up this one is on the list. Or maybe it's the fact that PS3 owners won't have to wait an additional year longer than their Xbox counterparts this time around.

1) Final Fantasy XIII-2



In spite of the many faults that we never fail to bring up with FFXIII, here's FFXIII-2 at the top of my list. I mean hey, the game looks absolutely gorgeous, and I guess we're suckers for pretty things. Some decent closure after the less than stellar ending to XIII would be nice, and I'm all for a roster overhaul if we're only keeping Lightning and Serah around (uh, what happened to Snow and getting married and all that?). December 15th, just in time for Christmas.

Games I'm Waiting On (Part 1)

It's occurring to me that I've been neglecting my blog for the better part of 2 months now. What can I say, I had a pretty busy summer. For no particular reason, here are the Top 10 games that I'm looking forward to sticking into my Playstation 3 over the next year or so.

10) NBA 2K12



94-95 Orlando Magic? All day.

9) Persona 4: The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena



I'm not even sure if that's what the game is really called. Varying interpretations of the title aside, the announcement of this Persona-based fighter totally caught me off guard. Under normal circumstances I'd be wary of a 2D fighter pitting characters from an RPG game against one another, but with Arc System Works' BlazBlue team reportedly at the helm, there's no reason why this shouldn't be awesome.

8) BioShock Infinite



Although I ended up skipping BioShock 2, footage from BioShock Infinite has caught my attention with its rather breathtaking visuals and the game's entire steampunk environment. Everything about Infinite looks fantastic, and it's an interesting change of pace to have the game set in the almost radiant city of Columbia after hours of squinting your way through Rapture in the original BioShock.

7) Street Fighter X Tekken



Not really sure what to think of all this "Pandora's Box" silliness, but I was far too excited about the prospect of a Zangief + Marduk team to bump the game from my top 5. Then pictures surfaced of Kuma taking a gratuitous dump all over Rolento, prompting it to fall to number 7. I just don't care to have that degree of doodoo in my games.

6) Arkham City



I'm not a big enough Batman fan to have this thing at the top of my list like a lot of other people, but Arkham Asylum was indeed awesome and there's no reason to expect otherwise from the sequel. It would have been cool to be able to drive the Batmobile this time around (not so), but a handful of playable missions as Catwoman is a decent enough consolation prize.