EVOLVE 4

-The layouts continue to impress as far as pro wrestling DVDs go, and I like that they're sticking with the clear cases. They are making the right move by focusing on one match on the cover instead of trying to feature multiple talents
-This DVD switches back to the DGUSA intro music, which I'm not a fan of them recycling
-We start off with a nice EVOLVE graphic
-They couldn't use the backstage documentary team so all the promos are shot "the next day" one on one. This feels a bit awkward and doesn't add much
-The venue looks great on DVD, small and intimate, almost like a fight club
-Video quality might be the best I've seen from an indy short of being shot in HD. Crystal clear, well lit, and the footage is nicely edited. The tight close ups they get before the match are awesome

-Brodie Lee VS Jon Moxley. Excellent opener that felt organic and violent. It was a bit rough around the edges but that's not always a bad thing. Moxley has little touches to his matches that feel very "unproffesional wrestling" (ha). At one point he pounces on Lee by diving over the guard rail and latches onto his back like a kid in a fight. Both guys make very good use of the unique layout of the venue. Gabe has wanted to book Lee as this unstoppable monster since he started using him back in ROH and this was the best I've seen him execute this gimmick while still letting his opponent look fairly strong. The finish was goofy and if we're just going to retread the code of honor stuff with the "inherent rules of sports" in EVOLVE I'd rather they drop it.

-Ricochet VS Drake Younger VS Chris Dickinson VS Rich Swann. Well this was a mess. I've tried to give Younger a chance but I just don't like the guy and his basketball shorts and his shitty Japanese head dropping offense. What a total waste of Ricochet. Dickinson looked promising, although I still don't have a great read on him as a worker. The four ways don't fit the feel of EVOLVE and I hope they keep them at a minimum or scrap them altogether eventually. This was also the second show where they had half nelson suplexes in back to back matches to start the card. Seriously? Come on!

-Mercedes Martinez squash. Fun for what it is but not much to it. I am looking forward to watching Martinez/Kong.

-Johnny Gargano/Adam Cole. Johnny looked good but Cole was very hesitant and the match was forgettable. I've read interviews with Gargano where he talks about the World of Sport influence on his style, and his matwork usually looks good, I just wish he would use more of it. There was a Jimmy Jacobs angle at the end of the match which was fairly interesting. As I said before I think Jacobs and Gargano work well together and I'm glad they're continuing this program.

-Aeroform VS Chikara Sekigun. This was a good match, probably the best I've seen Aeroform look. Jigsaw's new gear it pretty fresh. Not a lot to say about this one as it was fairly simple, although they did pull off a sick finishing stretch.

-Sami Callihan VS Arik Cannon. This was a nasty brawl in the vein of Lee/Moxley earlier in the show. They tried to do a bit more than that match and it was maybe more than these two needed to do or were capable of. You could feel them lose the crowd in the last few minutes. Had they wrapped it a bit earlier this would have been excellent, but it was still very good. Tons of nasty strikes and a few nice moments on the mat. Also some creative stuff on the outside and while there were some BURNING SPIRIT no sells, they were done properly where the cumulative damage was sold afterward so nothing too egregious. Callihan should keep his straps up or get rid of them... hate to say it but probably the former. The guy is in great shape but there's nothing he can do about his body type due to being so much heavier when he was younger. Besides the singlet gives him a unique look that fits his character.

-Some sort of ongoing Larry Davis angle keeps popping back up. Not interesting in the slightest.

-Up In Smoke VS The Osirian Portal. Not bad, not particularly good, served its purpose on the card. Both of these teams work best under their opponent and neither looked all that comfortable in their control segments. Still this had its moments and wasn't offensive or anything. I've got to say I'm not a fan of the lucha tag rules in EVOLVE, it feels out of place and like an excuse for the tag division to work spotfests where they don't have to worry about the legal man.

-Post match interview spoils the result of the next match, so skip it if you care.

-Jimmy Jacobs VS Chuck Taylor. Jacobs got one of the better matches I've seen out of Gargano on an earlier EVOLVE show and he does something similar with Taylor here. Another match that makes great use of the intimate setting of the Ace arena. Still this had plenty of noodle legged Taylor "run into my foot/fall on my foot" offense and the few punches he threw made me cringe. But he stays fairly focused and this was a solid warm up for the main event.

-Bryan Danielson VS Bobby Fish. Okay this is a minor nitpick that I've made before and I'm sure I'll make again. Bobby Fish is coming into this, and while he's certainly wrestled in front of much bigger crowds, this will no doubt go down as one of the definitive matches of his career. You know Bryan's going to wear maroon. Why would Bobby wear red tights with maroon kickpads? Just something that irks me in big matches. Anyway, I've become a Fish fan in his EVOLVE matches and Danielson is obviously great, so not shockingly this was really good. They tell a good story of Danielson going after Fish's leg with some top notch selling from Bobby. Nice highspots, great strikes, just a solid match all around. There were a few knockout caliber high kicks from both guys that were particularly nasty. A nice main event and a good way to close out the show.

This was another strong card from EVOLVE from start to finish. I feel like I'm going to echo the same sentiments from my EVOLVE 2 review but it all still applies. There were some poor matches but the show moved at a brisk enough pace that it was still fun to watch in its entirety. The promotion is still finding their stride. Some touches like the Lenny Leonard post matches interviews are a great way of incorporating a MMA style presentation. Other stuff, like the backstage interviews, are still very much a work in progress. I also think given the nature of the promotion they're going to need to scale back the amount of multiman matches and spotfest tags. But right now they're trying to book a lot of young talent and see who rises to the top, so they have the need to fit as many guys on the card as possible. Even with Danielson/Fish I wouldn't say there's anything on this show that's must see, but it's a very worthwhile $15 purchase and if you have an interest I'd recommend picking it up.

1980s Texas Set Ballot Discs 4-6

The next 3 discs of the Texas set took a bit longer to get through than the first 3. That's not to say the quality of the wrestling was significantly worse on these matches, it just felt like the feuds and storylines were a bit less engaging through these years than the beginning of the project. While the Garvin/Adams cage match is just about a lock for my top 5, their feud on a whole wore out its welcome. By the end of disc 6 The Dynamic Duo VS the Von Erichs feud is red hot, but it felt a bit slow developing. Still, the top 20 or so matches I've got ranked below were all great or bordering on it, and the set is still very engaging.

If Sunshine was the valet who blew me away on the first 3 discs, then the manager who turned me into a huge fan on the next 3 discs was Gary Hart. I had really only seen Gary during his stint managing the Great Muta previously, and never got a good sense of what he was about during that era. Here I completely understand his character, and much like Sunshine it's so different and compelling compared to what we usually see from this kind of manager. Gary isn't evil for the sake of evil, he doesn't yell and shout and make promises he can't keep. Gary is logical, cold, calculating, and a man of his word. You can tell that the crowd respects him as much as they hate him, which is no small feat for a heel manager.

Otherwise the top guys generally still look good to great, Flair continues to deliver when he comes through, and we get a trio of awesome tags from the Midnights and the Fantastics. The less said about Mike Von Erich the better, but he was carried to at least a couple good matches. Killer Khan continues his series of great matches from around the world throughout the 80s with a classic Texas DeathMatch against Terry Gordy. And personally my favorite matches on these projects are the ones you never see coming and totally win you over. On the NJPW set one of the best examples was Riki Choshu & Masa Saito VS George Takano & Super Strong Machine from 3/16/89, and although it's a very different match I couldn't help but think of it when I watched Iceman King Parsons & Brian Adias VS Super Destroyers from (1/30/84). Parsons has been good but not a favorite thus far, and I had little to no knowledge of Adias or the Super Destroyers coming in. But man did I love everything about that one.

Here's the first draft of my rankings of just the matches from discs 4-6. I'm putting my ballot together a bit differently this time around, with a few separate mini rankings that I'll then shuffle together like a deck of cards at the end. I think this will help me rank things from different years a bit better than I was able to towards the end of the NJPW project.

1. Jimmy Garvin vs. Chris Adams (Cage Match) (1/30/84)
2. Terry Gordy vs. Killer Khan (Texas Death Match; Special Guest Referee, Kerry Von Erich) (11/22/84)
3. Iceman King Parsons & Brian Adias vs. Super Destroyers (2/3 Falls) (1/30/84)
4. Terry Gordy vs. Kerry Von Erich (World Title Match) (5/7/84)
5. The Fantastics vs. Midnight Express (12/25/84)
6. The Fantastics vs. Midnight Express (1/11/85)
7. Gino Hernandez & Chris Adams vs. Kerry & Kevin Von Erich (Lumberjack Match) (2/22/85)
8. Kerry Von Erich vs. Michael Hayes (Loser Leaves Town Cage Match) (11/24/83)
9. Ric Flair vs. Chris Adams (2/3/84)
10. Michael Hayes & Jimmy Garvin vs. Mike Von Erich & Chris Adams (Penalty Box Match) (4/16/84)
11. Kevin Von Erich vs. Chris Adams (10/27/84)
12. Chris Adams vs. Kerry Von Erich (2/8/85)
13. Gino Hernandez & Chris Adams vs. Kerry & Kevin Von Erich (Texas Tornado Match) (3/22/85)
14. Ric Flair vs. Kerry Von Erich (5/11/84)
15. The Fantastics vs. Midnight Express (3/8/85)
16. The Fabulous Freebirds vs. The Von Erichs (Badstreet Match) (7/4/84)
17. Gino Hernandez, Chris Adams & Jake the Snake vs. Bobby Fulton, Mike & Kerry Von Erich (10/27/84)
18. The Freebirds vs. The Von Erichs (Six-man Elimination) (11/21/83)
19. Jimmy Garvin & Terry Gordy vs. Kerry Von Erich & Chris Adams (2/3 Falls) (11/28/83)
20. The Fabulous Freebirds vs. The Von Erichs (Bunkhouse Elimination Cage Match) (9/3/84)
21. Ric Flair vs. Kerry Von Erich (5/6/84)
22. Chris Adams & Stella Mae French vs. Jimmy Garvin & Precious (Losers Leaves Town Cage Match) (7/4/84)
23. Iceman King Parsons & Skip Young vs. Pretty Young Things (8/17/84)
24. Terry Gordy & Killer Khan vs. Chris Adams & Iceman King Parsons (5/18/84)
25. Iceman King Parsons vs. Chris Adams (10/8/84)
26. Gino Hernandez, Chris Adams & Jake the Snake vs. The Von Erichs (12/31/84)
27. Chris Adams vs. Jake The Snake (9/3/84)
28. Jimmy Garvin vs. Chris Adams (4/2/84)
29. Chris Adams vs. Kerry Von Erich (1/11/85)
30. Terry Gordy & Killer Khan vs. Kevin Von Erich & Chris Adams (7/6/84)
31. Kerry Von Erich vs. Terry Gordy (Lumberjack Match) (8/17/84)
32. Terry Gordy vs. Chris Adams (2/3 Falls) (11/12/83)
33. Jimmy Garvin vs. Chris Adams (4/15/84)
34. Iceman King Parsons vs. Buddy Roberts (12/12/83)
35. Gino Hernandez vs. Kevin Von Erich (8/17/84)
36. Ric Flair vs. Terry Gordy (1/11/85)
37. Iceman King Parsons & Chris Adams vs. Jimmy Garvin & Missing Link (3/2/84)
38. Dynamic Duo, Kamala, Rip Oliver, One Man Gang & Dr. Death vs. The Fabulous Freebirds & The Von Erichs (3/5 Falls) (5/5/85)
39. Gino Hernandez vs. Kerry Von Erich (7/20/84)
40. Iceman King Parsons vs. Gino Hernandez (7/6/84)
41. The Fabulous Freebirds vs. Kevin, Mike & Fritz Von Erich (Badstreet Match) (5/6/84)
42. Kamala, The Missing Link & Super Destroyer #2 vs. The Fabulous Freebirds (3/30/84)
43. Michael Hayes, Buddy Roberts, Jimmy Garvin & Killer Khan vs. Kevin Von Erich, Junkyard Dog, Chris Adams & Jules Strongbow (5/28/84)
44. Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts vs. Mike Von Erich & Chris Adams (7/20/84)
45. Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy vs. Kamala & Missing Link (3/16/84)

1980s Texas Set Ballot Discs 1-3

I haven't been doing much around here lately so I thought this would be a good chance to put up some content. I've been working on a draft of a review for the DGUSA DVD Mercury Rising for a month, which I may post eventually, but it's boring to write because it boils down to this- don't buy the DVD, it's not very good. In the meantime I'm thoroughly enjoying the Texas set in the ongoing Best of the 80s DVDVR projects, so I figured it'd make more sense to write about something that I'm finding engaging.

This is my third set I've participated in, the first being Mid South and second was New Japan. Before these sets I watched a bit of 80s wrestling (aside from the stuff growing up), a Steamboat/Youngblood VS Slaughter/Kernodle cage match here, an All Japan Real World Tag League with the Funks there. But these projects have really given me the foundation to understand and appreciate wrestling from the decade I was born. When I first got the Mid South set I had my reservations about whether or not I'd actually be able to finish and get a ballot in on time. I was surprised at how quickly I tore through the set. Any reservations I had about lowering my expectations for a slower/looser style were completely unfounded. Brawling has always been my favorite style of wrestling and Mid South was really built around great brawling supplemented by strong athletic work in the ring. On top of that Bill Watts may have become my favorite booker all time over the course of the set. New Japan, despite being full of great wrestling, was a bit more of a chore towards the end for me. But WCCW has a somewhat similar feel to the Watts stuff both in terms of booking and the style in the ring, so I'm keeping a good pace with this set so far with no need to take significant breaks.

Kerry Von Erich was always one of the 80s wrestlers who I naturally enjoyed the most. I bought a Best of Kerry comp back when I still barely watched any 80s wrestling, and enjoyed every match on it. So the Texas set was really a no brainer for me. And it's been a blast so far. I knew I liked the Von Erichs coming in, but I've been especially impressed through the first three discs with "Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin and Sunshine. Garvin I had only seen later in his career and thought very little of coming in. Sunshine I had honestly never even heard of as Precious was the valet I always associated with him. Well Sunshine has quickly sky rocketed on my list of all time great valets and managers, and Garvin has had a bunch of matches that are locks to stay high on my ballot. Their chemistry is amazing and Sunshine has an ability to tell the entire story of match with her facial expressions that most wrestlers never even come close to. I think those two, along with Kerry, have been at the very top of the set through the first 3 discs.

The Freebirds and Kevin Von Erich have been just about on the same level, with the main event scene in general looking very strong. I have some issues with Kevin's selling in some matches, then in others such as against Race he'll put on an absolute clinic. So he's been a bit hard to pin down. Some people have considered him for one of the greatest in the world around this era, others I've heard similar complaints from regarding his selling. But he's always fun to watch. He might have my favorite flying cross body block of all time, and his offense is unique and exciting. All three Freebirds have been great and it'd be hard for me to definitely say one has been better than another thus far. Otherwise David Von Erich, "Iceman" King Parsons and Chris Adams have had some good showings and some mediocre ones, but have generally been good. And as far as the touring talent, Flair has not surprisingly been pretty great and Race has been good as well.

Here's my ballot through these first three discs, which I hope to update after then next three discs, and then once or twice more through the last four. Some of these matches are in line for a rewatch and of course this is all subject to revision as I go. Also keep in mind that other than a small handful of matches at the bottom, I actively enjoyed all of these and would gladly sit down to them again.

1. The Fabulous Freebirds vs. The Von Erichs (7/4/83)
2. Ric Flair vs. Kerry Von Erich (Cage Match) (12/25/82)
3. Jimmy Garvin & Terry Gordy vs. David & Kevin Von Erich (2/3 Falls) (8/15/83)
4. Harley Race vs. Kevin Von Erich (6/17/83)
5. Terry Gordy & Michael Hayes vs. Kerry & Kevin Von Erich (Country Whipping Match) (11/4/83)
6. Jimmy Garvin vs. Kevin Von Erich (7/25/83)
7. The Fabulous Freebirds & Jimmy Garvin vs. The Von Erichs & Iceman King Parsons (Elimination Match) (5/27/83)
8. Jimmy Garvin vs. Kevin Von Erich (7/18/83)
9. Kevin Von Erich vs. King Kong Bundy (5/30/82)
10. Ric Flair vs. Kerry Von Erich (2/3 falls) (8/15/82)
11. Iceman King Parsons vs. Harley Race (10/7/83)
12. Jimmy Garvin vs. David Von Erich (6/17/83)
13. Chris Adams, Iceman King Parsons & David Von Erich vs. Michael Hayes, Kamala & The Mongol (10/3/83)
14. Jimmy Garvin & Michael Hayes vs. Kerry Von Erich & Chris Adams (10/31/83)
15. Terry Gordy vs. Kerry Von Erich (No DQ) (6/10/83)
16. The Fabulous Freebirds vs. The Von Erichs (Lumberjack Match) (2/18/83)
17. Jimmy Garvin vs. David Von Erich (5/27/83)
18. Buddy Roberts vs. David Von Erich (3/18/83)
19. Terry Gordy vs. Kevin Von Erich (1/10/83)
20. Ric Flair vs. Kevin Von Erich (4/1/83)
21. The Fabulous Freebirds vs. The Von Erichs (8/12/83)
22. Terry Gordy vs. Chris Adams (7/15/83)
23. Jimmy Garvin vs. Chris Adams (8/26/83)
24. Iceman King Parsons vs. Buddy Roberts (2/3 Falls) (8/8/83)
25. Chavo Guerrero, Iceman King Parsons & Kerry Von Erich vs. The Fabulous Freebirds (Penalty Box Match) (4/29/83)
26. Jimmy Garvin vs. Chris Adams (10/24/83)
27. Iceman King Parsons, Kevin & David Von Erich vs. The Fabulous Freebirds (5/13/83)
28. Checkmate & Magic Dragon vs. Al Madril & Bugsy McGraw (10/26/82)
29. Michael Hayes vs. Kerry Von Erich (Country Whipping Match) (9/5/83)
30. Checkmate & Magic Dragon vs. Jose Lothario & Al Madril (10/12/82)
31. Ric Flair vs. David Von Erich (10/11/82)
32. Terry Gordy vs. David Von Erich (2/3 Falls) (9/5/83)
33. Ric Flair vs. Terry Gordy (2/4/83)
34. Kevin Von Erich vs. Terry Gordy (10/21/83)
35. The Fabulous Freebirds vs. The Von Erichs (9/5/83)
36. David Von Erich, Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy vs. The Sharpe Brothers & Tom Steele (12/25/82)
37. Michael Hayes vs. Kerry Von Erich (2/7/83)
38. Jimmy Garvin vs. Johnny Mantel (10/31/83)
39. Jimmy Garvin vs. Chris Adams (9/12/83)
40. Buddy Roberts & Terry Gordy vs. Kerry Von Erich & Johnny Mantel (10/17/83)

Ex Machina Ring Out The Old

There are only a few current comic books I try to keep up on. One is Invincible, which I love because it effortlessly feels like a classic superhero story while still breaking new ground. Another is Ex Machina, which breaks new ground by doing something completely different than any other comic I've ever read. I'm not going to recap the plot of the entire series in a review of Volume 9 of its trade paperbacks, but suffice to say Ex Machina is a book about politics, 9/11, and strange extra-terrestrial/parallel dimension created technology. If you've never read it, I can not suggest strongly enough to go pick up the first trade.

One of the most important things for Ex Machina as a series is that every issue needs to feel like it's moving toward a finite conclusion. This is not a book that can run forever with new villains and love interests popping up. Unfortunately that was exactly what the storyline in Volume 8 felt like, and I was worried that they were starting to milk Ex Machina for more than it was worth. Thankfully in Ring Out The Old the story gets back on track and feels right on the edge of a truly epic finale.

The few times they've done stand alone issues they've had mixed results and we get two of them in this trade. One I found to be flat out bad, the other was okay but unnecessary. In the half decent issue guest artist John Paul Leon does an admirable job once again but this is Tony Harris' book and anything else just don't feel right. In the bad issue we get a painful "comic book creators making their own book in their character's universe!" story. No matter how many Grant Morrison jokes Brian K Vaughan makes at his own expense about writing a meta issue, it still doesn't change the fact that it all comes off painfully self indulgent.

But once it gets into the four issues that are the meat of this trade it hits its stride. It doesn't touch the best trades in this series, such as The First Hundred Days, Tag and Ex Cathedra, but it sets up the story to a point where the next trade might get to that level. After having some questions about the future of the book in Volume 8, I feel completely confident after Volume 9 that Ex Machina will finish as one of the best comics in the history of the medium. When the core team produces an issue that sticks to the main storyline they create outstanding stories and amazing art. As long as they continue to move in this direction and put the individual issues and guest artists aside, Ex Machina is a book that you need to be reading.

Dragon Gate USA Enter The Dragon II

Dragon Gate USA has been an interesting experiment for Gabe Sapolsky. With one year under his belt there have been a lot of positives and negatives to learn from moving forward. One of the things that was becoming obvious coming into this show was a need to have English speaking members of the key DGUSA stables so that angles could progress and feuds could be built with promos. Early on in DGUSA Dragon Kid and Masato Yoshino had a good feud which eventually included Shingo and Naruki Doi. But the problem with building feuds in DGUSA based solely around the Japanese wrestlers is that in Japan the stables in Dragon Gate seem to change every month. So all of the sudden in DGUSA Shingo was no long Dragon Kid's ally, and CIMA was. And without the ability to deliver promos to the American crowds, this all came off helter-skelter. There's certainly a need for DGUSA to feature great Japanese VS Japanese matches, but to build compelling feuds and new stars the American roster was going to have to get more involved. Putting Jon Moxley with Kamikaze USA was a great start, and it seemed a large focus on this show would be CIMA recruiting a member for WARRIORS International. One of the problems as the initial luster of DGUSA wore off was that a lot of matches felt lacking in purpose, and coming into Enter the Dragon it felt like the show was booked specifically to address that issue. I was pretty excited for this card all around.

Attendance was good and the ECW Arena was absolutely sweltering. It was over 100 degrees on the field for the Phillies game earlier in the day and I wouldn't be surprised if it was the same in that venue for the show. Under the lights in the ring wrestlers were obviously laboring, as just minutes into a match someone was most likely soaked in sweat. The show started out with an intro video getting the crowd ready for the PPV taping to start. DGUSA has done a great job at both of the shows I've been to with these intro videos. They really bring the crowd to a fever pitch and make you feel like you're about to see something special. We saw multiple instances of Kamikaze USA kicking CHIKARA Sekigun members low, which made me feel good that the blow off to DGUSA's first feud would be done right. The show started with CIMA coming out and doing his best to greet and thank the fans in English. I admire CIMA's dedication to learning the language but he still isn't at the point where he can effectively work the mic in front of a live audience. Johnny Gargano comes out, they have an awkward exchange, and it leads to our opening match.

-CIMA VS Johnny Gargano. This was a good, exciting opener. I've seen a decent amount of Gargano at this point but I still don't have a great read on him in the ring. His goofy Chris Jericho as portrayed by the Nickelodeon generation living in his mom's basement shtick doesn't exactly scream "compelling wrestler" to me. But I will say that he sold more than most of the guys on the show. He seemed to have nerves early on in the match but after he got comfortable they worked very well together. They did a good job of working up the crowd and delivering an exciting match, but not going too long or getting too crazy. You can tell CIMA really cares about DGUSA and wants to see it succeed, as he continues to try to establish new stars for the American audience.

-Arik Cannon VS Chuck Taylor VS Ricochet VS Adam Cole. This four way was a very fun spotfest. I guess this was the second WARRIORS International challenge? I wouldn't know since CIMA wasn't involved in any way. My only real complaint with this one is I could have done without Adam Cole's Canadian Destroyer variation. That move just screams indy wrestling in the worst possible way. Otherwise though, this is everything you want from a demolition derby match. Ricochet keeps looking better every time I see him, I never thought he'd get this good but I'm really becoming a fan of his. Arik Cannon was the glue of the match though, and if it wasn't for the chubby hard hitting base he provided a lot of these spots would have blended together. I was disappointed that between this match and the opener we still don't know who will be joining WARRIORS International after all the build leading up to the show. Hopefully in the long run these two matches have some impact on that angle.

-Naruki Doi VS Drake Younger. So this was supposed to be Doi VS Dragon Kid, which was the one match on the card that didn't seem to have much purpose. I still wouldn't have minded seeing a typical Dragon Kid singles bout here, but unfortunately he was injured before the show and had to cancel. What we got instead is the "Psycho Shooter" Drake Younger against Doi. I've only seen one or two Younger matches before and I've never been impressed with him. It's not because he's a deathmatch wrestler or anything, there's just nothing I find particularly interesting about him. The match itself was a complete styles clash. Doi wore a shirt and it appeared his torso was taped up. Younger seemed very timid for most of the match, which is odd because I think he was trying to establish himself as the "hard hitter" of DGUSA. They started out with Doi working Younger's leg, and it felt like a good time in the card for a slower match like that, but they abandon it and have a completely lackluster second half. This one just didn't work.

-BxB Hulk VS Masaaki Mochizuki. It felt a bit early in the card for this match. They may have been better served doing the 8 man elimination tag before intermission, and letting that one go all out. That would have left two straight singles main events, but it would have at least made the Freedom Gate Title look stronger. Hulk's reign has been full of token defenses and as much as I would have liked this to be an exception, it wasn't. The fact that Hulk is as over as champ as he is is a testament to his charisma and hard work in DGUSA. He recently had his head shaved and he came out wearing a wig for his intro dance, and when he took it off it got a great reaction. Smart way to turn something that may have confused some fans into a fun reveal. He was as over as anyone on the card other than Danielson. Not surprisingly this was a battle of blown off leg work. For someone who thrives on psycho bumps, Hulk really needs to learn to sell at least a little bit at some point. Mochizuki I expect it from by now, and he actually tried to sell his leg longer than I expected, but still shruged it off eventually. He did throw the sickest kicks on the show. Despite its problems this match was still really enjoyable up until the finish, which was tremendously screwed up. I don't know if it was on the wrestlers or the ref or the time keeper, but man did it ever deflate the crowd. They follow up with an interesting Kamikaze USA angle involving some sort of geisha girl ghost (who may have been one of Hulk's dancers previously?). Weird but different in a good way.

-Intermission. The first half had two fresh matches that seemed like they were taking steps to break up the segregated feel of the roster that was problematic during the first year of DGUSA. CIMA/Gargano was the perfect example of how to mix the American talent in with the Japanese roster. Doi/Younger was a nice effort to do the same but honestly I don't understand why Younger is even in DGUSA. The show was moving well and there were only 2 matches left so I was expecting them both to get some serious time.

-Scott Reed VS Rich Swan. Two indy guys I've never heard of have a match for a few minutes and then Brodie Lee comes out and demolishes them. Rich Swan looked very impressed with himself but I wasn't very impressed with him. I also don't really understand Brodie Lee in DGUSA but at least they're clearly building to something with him. What that is I don't know, but I like Lee and hopefully Gabe can pull this off.

-Kamikaze USA VS CHIKARA Sekigun. This was the match I was most looking forward to. It was fun as hell but kind of cut off at the knees. When Yoshino was announced as the fourth member of the Chikara team I thought it was an okay idea, as he was feuding with YAMATO and he added some credibility to the face side. I would have rather seen Fire Ant but otherwise I thought it was a decent booking move. What I didn't (but should have) foresee was that this would result in Yoshino, the Open The Dream Gate Champion, looking far stronger than anyone on the Chikara team. The Chikara faces, who have busted their asses to get this feud over for the past year, were super over but didn't come out of the match looking strong in the booking. Early on in DGUSA Gabe attempted to elevate one American wrestler and one tag team to the same level as the Dragon Gate roster: Davey Richards & the Young Bucks. Unfortunately, both ended up leaving him before he could complete whatever was in mind for them. Then it seemed he might try to push TJP, but unfortunately it appears that TJP is no longer working with DGUSA or EVOLVE. Through all that, the Chikara roster continued to deliver every time they were given an opportunity. Jigsaw and Hallowicked have looked particularly good every chance they've had. Yet the Chikara wrestlers, aside from Gran Akuma, have clearly been booked on a level below their fellow Japanese roster members.

This was the first match I had a real rooting interest in. YAMATO and Jon Moxley both did a great job on their side letting the faces shine and not stealing the spotlight. Akira Tozawa seemed more interested in popping the crowd with his antics than anything, but he's young and didn't have much else to bring to the match. Hallowicked looked to finally be cutting down his physique a little and for the first time I've seen he had some definition to his build here. Both he and Jigsaw looked really good when they had the chance in this one. I really hope that both of them get some better opportunities in the next year of DGUSA. Jigsaw getting a shot at the Open The Freedom Gate Championship? Hallowicked against some of the Dragon Gate natives? Those are matches I'd really like to see. I'm enjoying Jon Moxley's attempt to take over the indies right now but his "Parental Advisory" tights are painfully lame for a guy who comes across naturally edgy. Anyway this match was really good while it lasted, but felt rather short for the blowoff to the first major feud of the promotion. And as I already said, I wasn't exactly happy with the way it was booked. Still it was a lot of fun and probably my favorite match of the show.

-"American Dragon" Bryan Danielson VS Shingo. This delivered everything you want from a match such as this. The fans were so pro-Danielson that they gave Shingo very little reaction, which is surprising as he's been one of the most over wrestlers in DGUSA thus far. The early section seemed like the match might have been based around both guys working the arm, which would have been different and neat. Instead it ended up being more meaningless early match limb work. Shingo did make an effort for a while but I guess it's my own fault for looking for consistent selling on a DGUSA show. Still this was damn good and especially impressive considering how hot it was. After the match Danielson joined WORLD-1? This is strange to me on a few levels. First of all the whole thing with CIMA recruiting for WARRIORS International felt like it was going to help elevate someone lower on the roster to freshen things up a little. Instead we get Danielson joining a faction, and it goes without saying he needs no rub. Second, is Danielson even going to be around long enough to follow up on this? I doubt he's going to tour Dragon Gate, so what's the most they might get, one more DGUSA show to play off this angle? I can only assume that he's going to end up back in the WWE in a few months with how much attention his firing has received. The idea of Danielson as a member of WORLD-1 I think is pretty cool. I just don't see how anyone benefits from it in practice.

This was a good show that was well worth the money. I would recommend it on DVD although on PPV without Danielson/Shingo I'm not sure how it will flow. The 8 man elimination tag was a blast but after each PPV being based around at least one or two big workrate style matches, it would be an odd (although not necessarily bad) change of pace to put a storyline focused match such as this the main event. I can't see any other match really being a selling point for the PPV though, as Hulk/Mochizuki unfortunately will be remembered for the bad finish more than anything, and I doubt the opening two matches have the name power to convince anyone to buy. I do strongly recommend checking out both matches though. But personally even on DVD I wouldn't call this a must-see event. I know Danielson/Shingo will get that kind of talk, and it was a very good match, but it's nothing we haven't seen from Danielson or Shingo before. I was more encouraged by CIMA/Gargano than anything else on this show. I hope that the four way leads to actual opportunities in the promotion for the wrestlers involved instead of just another isolated match for the American roster members. Still Enter the Dragon II was a good show and a fitting way to end their first year that sent home everyone happy. One year is in the books for DGUSA and it seems like they are building to some fresh and exciting things for their next year. Here's hoping they continue in this direction and put the spotlight on some new faces and new feuds.

ROH Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies 2

This is the first ROH show I've picked up on DVD since the end of 2008, when the new booking regime was just taking over. I did go to two TV tapings since then, but couldn't get into the new style of shows they were running in Philly. Some of the same guys that I enjoyed were still there, including some new faces such as Eddie Kingston and Sami Callihan who I really like. But the jumbled booking felt like it was setting up no engaging feuds and making no forward progress, and the largely comped crowds were awful. Since then I had all but given up on ROH, until I happened to check out some of the promos building the Steen/Corino VS Generico/Cabana feud. This felt to me like the first substantial, interesting feud that the company booked since I stopped watching, and considering it involves four guys I generally enjoy, I was on board to give ROH a shot again.


-The quality of the box art is about the same since I last picked up a DVD, not bad but not great
-No more menu music is kind of strange
-Production quality is more or less the same, although the audio mix is worse than usual, with the commentary often sounding muffled
-The new play by play DVD commentator is good, he has a natural emotion when he calls a match and a decent voice
-Prazak seemingly gets worse every time I hear him, and basically sounds like he's given up at this point
-The crowd looks a bit down for Chicago, but not drastically

-“Skullkrusher” Rasche Brown VS Sami Callihan. This is kind of a typical Sami bringing the fight to a bigger opponent match. A good opener that doesn't try to do too much and gets the crowd warmed up for the show. I haven't seen Brown before and it was hard to get a read on him here. It was really the Sami show with Brown serving as the immobile object for Callihan to bounce around off of. I hope that Callihan gets the chance to work a real program for ROH some point down the line.

-Dark City Fight Club VS The Bravado Brothers. For a team I don't think I've ever seen have a particularly good match, I really like DCFC. They are intimidating dudes with nasty offense who always make me want to see more. That said every match I've seen them in has been a squash or just deflating, such as this one. This is my first time seeing the Bravado Brothers, and they are two of the pastiest whitebread babyfaces out there. And they look pretty terrible in this match. They inexplicably get a decent amount of offense in and this just never gels at all.

-Non Title: ROH World TV Champion Eddie Edwards VS Metal Master. I was hoping the novelty of Collyer returning to the Metal Master gimmick (which was actually my introduction to him many years back) would help cover up the fact that he's not a good pro wrestler. It didn't. The one thing I'll say about Eddie Edwards is he no longer has terrible whiteboy dreadlocks. Definitively the worst match of the show.

-The House of Truth VS Erick Stevens & Shawn Daivari. This was my first exposure to The House of Truth as a tag team, and my first time seeing Raymond since he got rid of his terrible whiteboy dreadlocks (running theme?). I used to really like him as Abercrombie, I thought it was cool how this pasty dude with shitty hipster tattoos named Josh Abercrombie actually had an amateur wrestling background and could go on the mat. It was a neat paradox. Now it seems like he's abandoned that though and is just going for a poor man's Chris Sabin. Which is more along the lines of what you'd expect when you see him now. I've heard good things about their team so I won't write them off based on this match, but I was expecting more than a bunch of convoluted double team spots from a trio with so much personality. That said this match wasn't bad, it was pretty decent overall, it just felt kind of heel VS heel so it didn't have a lot of direction. I like Stevens in the Embassy with his soccer jacket and somewhat metro look. He wasn't going anywhere as a face in ROH and this is a much more effective use for him. The finish here made absolutely no sense but the match was worth a watch.

-Pick 6 Series: (4) Davey Richards VS (1) Roderick Strong. My first exposure to the Pick 6 and I've got to say I like the concept and I like the execution. These two wrestle a somewhat lengthy match that is exactly what you'd imagine it would be. I mean that in a good and bad way. The bulk of it is paced deliberately and does a good job working up the crowd without getting into their high end offense. Towards the end things get a bit too cute and choreographed though and I would have rather they stuck to the more simple approach. Not surprisingly they beat the hell out of each other. It's been said countless times but Davey has to drop that out of control tope, or at least make sure security clears the area first. He landed right next to a kid in this one and he could have easily went feet first into his face. I'm sure there are other dive spots he can work that look reckless but don't invite lawsuits. Overall this was a good match, probably the 4th best on the show. If it sounds up your alley you'll enjoy it, if not then skip it because it won't change your opinion of either guy.

-Petey Williams VS Rhett Titus. I keep wanting Rhett Titus to be good so that the ROH school produces at least one halfway decent wrestler. Although in Bobby Dempsey's defense I don't think I've ever seen him wrestle longer than a 2 minute match. Unfortunately for Titus Petey Williams isn't the best opponent to show how much he's progressed. In fact he might be the worst possible opponent for that out of everyone on this show. But Titus did look a bit better than the last time I saw him, despite this being an awkward and completely forgettable match. Which is to say he only looked kind of green instead of completely green. If I were you I'd skip this one.

-Jay & Mark Briscoe VS Austin Aries and Kenny King. The story going into this is Aries and King have had tension lately, but Aries claims that is just perception and not reality. He says that the Briscoes, on the other hand, are perceived as being able to hold their liquor, but the reality is they got shit faced the night before and beat each other up. So the real tension, he says, is between the rednecks, and not A Double and K Triple (where does the third K come from?). Cute way to set up the match. This was very good, as the Briscoes and Aries have plenty of experience working together and all three bring it here. Pairing King and Titus up with Aries is one of the somewhat recent booking moves I really like. I always found King to be vanilla as all hell up until this run, but as Aries' protege he seems to have added a little fire and his swagger comes off a bit more believable. This match is a good example of "save it for the main event" booking style ROH tried to switch to since Gabe. I'd probably call it the second best match of the show and it got nowhere near the overkill levels the Briscoes get criticized for. It had a clever story that was executed well, a satisfying amount of action and a well timed and executed finish.

-Dark City Fight Club cut a solid promo. They are interesting together because Chavis has a better voice and better facials, but the way he delivers his lines comes off a bit forced. Davis doesn't sound anywhere near as intimidating, but delivers a much more natural promo. So neither are great but they compliment each other well.

-ROH World Title Match: Tyler Black VS Chris Hero. There are two things Tyler Black's good at. A) Fighting back against all odds. B) Ragdoll bumping and selling. This was evident in the match of his career against Nigel for the title back in 2008, and Chris Hero follows that same basic template here. Which isn't to say this match is anywhere near as good, but it's still better than your average Tyler Black match. Hero is great at working intricate counters and cut offs with his elbows while still making them feel organic. If anything this feels like an extended squash at times but I think the match actually benefits from that. My one complaint about "That Young Knockout Kid" incarnation of Chris Hero is that he throws so many brutal looking elbows and forearms without getting the win that at some point it makes him look kind of bad. He should try to dial back the amount of knockout caliber strikes a bit. Otherwise though this was good stuff.

-Come-As-You-Are Street Fight: Kevin Steen & Steve Corino VS Colt Cabana & El Generico. I thought it kind of strange that for a feud with a bunch of good promos ROH has put up for free on their site, that when you pay $20 you don't get any promos or a feud recap video before the match. The story is kind of self evident- Steen and Generico were partners, Steen turned on Generico, Corino and Steen are now a team and Cabana came to Generico's aid. It's simple enough, and the commentator explains it well, but you have three really good promos involved in this feud. Why not have them do some backstage spots before the match? There was even a post match promo that was up on the ROH site that wasn't included on the DVD.

Oh well, what we get is just the match, and the match is completely awesome. I don't watch that much current wrestling these days, so to call this my match of the year isn't saying a ton. But this was the most I've enjoyed a current match in quite a while. There's a lot to like here, but my favorite part of it is Steve Corino. Here's a guy who never had a good build for wrestling but always had a great mind, and turned himself into one of the best brawlers of his generation to compensate. But because of his poor build, late in his career with injuries mounting he got really out of shape and nearly retired. Then he came back to ROH healthy, in good shape for his standards, and paired with Steen to give him new life. They are such a glorious duo of fat scuzzy dickheads. And now he gets the chance to be a part of a feud like this, that completely plays to Corino's strengths, it just makes me really happy to see. You could tell he still had something left to give, and man does he ever give it here.

Steve comes out for this Come As You Are street fight wearing an all white suit. I think that tells you all you need to know right there. But he also gets plenty of opportunities to come off like a dangerous psychopath. I think Generico's best quality is his selling and body language, and this match gives him the perfect opportunity to showcase that. Steen just loves big offense and big bumps, so these matches are right up his alley. And Cabana, despite being known as a comedy wrestler, I've always felt does his best work in brawls. He has really underrated punches, great elbows, great facials and in recent years has apparently become a pretty good bleeder. All the elements come together in this one. It's not a big nearfall heavy street fight like the Briscoes VS Steen/Generico, and it doesn't have the crowd eating out of the palm of their hand like the ROH VS CZW feud. But for ROH in 2010, this is flat out great, and well worth the price of the DVD alone.

Overall this was a solid show but it didn't give me the impression that I've been missing out on much for the past year and a half. I'm definitely interested to check out more of Steen/Corino VS Generico/Cabana, but at the same time I can't help but feel like this was the pinnacle of what these four can do in a blood feud. As for the more old school booking style that ROH was supposedly try to switch to, it has strengths and weaknesses in how they've executed it. The booking is much more predictable, which I don't know is old school as much as it is lazy. Most of the finishes were easy to call or lacking in logic. On the other hand they have slightly dialed back the overkill and long matches that plagued Gabe's worst shows, which is good. There are some old school touches I enjoy like the TV title and the Pick 6. But in reality this is still a workrate based federation where the fans react as much for a match like Richards/Strong as they do for anything. And I'm still waiting for the shift in focus to characters and storylines, as this event in no way felt anymore colorful or imaginative than the old ROH. All said this is kind of "meet the new boss, same as the old boss." This boils down to a one match show with a decent undercard, and that one match is well worth the purchase, so if you sound interested you probably won't be disappointed.

Updates On The Horizon

Just to give anyone who's checking this blog a quick update, there will be a flurry of activity in the near future here at Young Lions. I am planning on hitting up the Dragon Gate USA show next weekend, although I will be on the mend from minor surgery so hopefully that doesn't stop me. As long as I make it out expect a road report, and I will most likely pick up a DVD or two that I'll be reviewing. I also made my first ROH order in years so I'll have a review of Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies 2 up at some point as well. On the non-pro wrestling related front, I'll be reviewing at least one or two trade paperbacks soon, including the most recent Ex Machina. Until then.

Blackest Night Starter

Blackest Night is NECA's first starter set since taking over HeroClix as well as their first release that they've entirely designed inhouse. While I've enjoyed Hammer of Thor and the Brave and the Bold, they obviously were working with mostly leftover product from when Topps owned Wizkids. While the Blackest Night release on a whole suffers from many of the quality control problems that have plagued NECA so far (I'm not even going to get into that map), when it comes down the actual 7 pieces, this release is an absolute home run.

This is the first release entirely composed of digital sculpts, and they look great. The set is bright, colorful, and fun to look at right out of the package. When you take the time to appreciate the little details it's really impressive. I had some reservations that switching entirely to digital sculpts moving forward would take some of the "human" element of sculpting the miniatures, but now that I can see these in hand I'm not concerned either way. These sculpts have just as much texture and depth as their hand crafted brethren. I do like that the upcoming Web of Spider-Man release will be a mix of the "green stuff" sculpts as well as digitals though. The only criticism for Blackest Night on this front is that the scale for Green Lantern is way off. This is one of the problems I think they'd be able to eliminate by going digital, but Hal still ended up looking like Kid Lantern. Put him next to Wonder Woman and it just looks silly.

MERA
The only piece I haven't played or had played against me as of yet, so I'll keep my review of her short and sweet. She's puking out red lantern powered plasma margaritas. Outstanding. Her defensive stats and powers are modest but her dial is designed for her to take damage. Her Red Rage special power is a cool concept and I'm looking forward to fielding her. Her sculpt makes her the honorary mascot of my clixing ka-tet Team Scumbag's style of play.

LEX LUTHOR
I've played Lex and had him played against me. He worked great for me and not so well for my opponent. He's tricky because he's the second most expensive piece in the starter in terms of point cost, but he's a bit of a finesse piece. He doesn't get damage reducers until the 3rd-6th clicks, and he only has two clicks with higher than 2 damage. Sexy Lexy has a lot of fun tricks he can pull off though. The most obvious is his Orange Greed special that can allow you to steal some of the more brutal powers in the game, such as Hypersonic Speed, Blades/Claws/Fangs, Exploit Weakness, Perplex or Probability Control, and use them against your opponent for the turn. He also has plenty of Poison to keep your opponents at bay (especially considering all the Outwit), and you can get creative with his Telekinesis, Mind Control and Pulse Wave. I think he's a fun piece but he's not cheap and he's going to require a lot of thought to use him to the best of his abilities.

SCARECROW
Hands down the best sculpt of the set, Scarecrow's dial is one of the more modest in Blackest Night. It is useful, and really the best possible representation the character could ever hope to have in HeroClix, but he's not going to do much without a strong team around him. As a supporting piece he creates a nice threat from range and can Perplex your team or himself up as he runs and guns. His Yellow Fear special power perfectly captures what you would hope Scarecrow would bring to the game. I would have liked to see another click or two of Poison, but otherwise this piece is exactly what he should be.



















GREEN LANTERN
Little Hal might not have been the most popular choice since we got a pretty good representation of him not so long ago in Crisis. There are a few other Green Lanterns that could have used this spot more (Kilowog, John Stewart), or had been more deserving with the deputized lantern theme (Ganthet). Add that to his wee little sculpt and regardless of his dial this Green Lantern is probably my least favorite piece of the starter. That said he's still stupid good if you can keep him on his first 3 clicks. With his Green Willpower special that lets him heal when he pushes instead of taking damage, that shouldn't be too hard. After that though he can go down pretty hard, as he has a bit of the always dreaded glass jaw.

THE FLASH
Maybe my second most favorite sculpt of the starter after Scarecrow, Blue Flash's pose is exactly what we've come to expect out of speedsters, but he looks damn good none the less. He becomes one of the nastier Hypersonic Speed pieces in the game right away, with 5 straight clicks of a 10 or better attack. He is also a great support piece with plenty of Enhancement, Defend, and late dial Prob. Keeping in mind that this is the Flash armed with a power ring, he is every bit as good as he should be. Fun, useful, not overpowered, which is true of pretty much all 7 of these pieces.

THE ATOM
Instantly the best medic in the game. The Atom is the only guy in the set who might be too good for his points. He's a pain in the ass to kill but if you don't take him out he'll ruin all the hard work you put into killing his teammates. Plus he has late dial Outwit as if he wasn't enough of a little bastard. It's interesting that he starts off on a click that doesn't feature his Indigo Compassion special power, so if you want to use him for his real purpose (Support), you've got to push him off of a click that features a 20 defense from range with Shape Change. It probably seems like a no-brainer to do it and be able to heal almost any piece on your team, but it might be harder to make the decision when push (ha) comes to shove in an actual game and your impossible to hit Atom is Incapacitating and Phasing/Teleporting anywhere he pleases.

WONDER WOMAN
Well I might have to take that back, as good as the Atom is for his points, Wonder Woman can be absolutely crushing even at the highest point cost in the starter. The thing is, even with her super deep dial and terrifying damage output, her defense never goes above 17. If you can cut through her non-stop reducers, you can deal big damage to her early and often. Unfortunately until you kill her she can still ruin your day on most clicks. Combine that with the fact that she's Indomitable and she's well worth her 215 points even before you rummage around her toolbox of tricks (hubba hubba). Probability Control, Telekinesis, and 5 straight clicks of Mind Control?? Why does she even have 2 clicks of Incapacitate when she can deal 5 damage?! Yikes. She's too much woman to handle. Speaking of which, her sculpt looked a bit mannish in the previews, but the finished product is a glimmering violet beacon of Amazon goodness.

I forget how much I even ordered this starter for, but it was well worth the price, whatever it was. Keep up the great work NECAkids!

Iron Man 2

My opinion changes pretty often on the subject, but on any given day I might tell you the first Iron Man was the best comic book movie ever made. It was extremely well done all around, but let's be honest- there's one reason the movie was so good, and that reason was Robert Downey Jr. There was a huge wow factor that basically lasted the entire movie that they could cast and portray the character of Tony Stark perfectly. That is not hyperbole and I don't use the word perfect often. But there was not a single thing even remotely off about the adaptation of Stark's character in Iron Man. This time around, we don't have the benefit of being amazed all over again. Downey Jr is note perfect again, and if anything has more gravitas to bring to this story. But as an audience we aren't going to sit there and think "I can't believe they got Iron Man SO right!" for an entire movie again. I think because some of that luster is gone, people are mistaking Iron Man 2 as being a lesser movie than its predecessor. I'm here to tell you it's not. It's every bit as good as the first. In some areas it's even stronger, and some of the weak areas are still weak, but overall it fills the big iron boots successfully.

Let's get the negative out of the way right off the bat. There are only three major action scenes, and this movie is long. Many of the criticisms I've read concern the pacing of the movie, accusing it of dragging and not mixing in enough action. I can see being put off by this when you're going into a superhero movie and expecting plenty of explosions and big metal suits. The thing to keep in mind is that when this movie rewards you, it rewards you big time. The action scenes are stellar, even better than the first, with some real imaginative uses of both suits. The animation is some of the best I've ever seen in this style. The only time there's a disconnect because of all the CGI is when they inter-splice a lot of interior head shots of Downey Jr and Cheadle when they're in the suits. It works much better when they have their helmets open and we can see their faces, but obviously in a fight scene there aren't many logical reasons to open your helmet (and they push the boundaries on that front as it is). For me the movie never felt like it dragged, but I will concede that it could have used one smaller action sequence somewhere in the second act to help move things along.

That said, if there's a reason that the movie doesn't drag despite being 2+ hours long without a lot of action, it's because the script and cast are awesome. This movie introduces a lot of new faces but it also goes a long way in fleshing out the returning characters. Justin Theroux, the actor turned writer who penned Tropic Thunder, does a great job with this script giving each character just enough to shine, without stealing the spotlight from the rest of the cast. As for the dialogue itself I'd give him credit if it was due, but according to interviews with the cast the majority of the dialogue was improvised. This was also the case in the first movie (which supposedly didn't even have much of a script to begin with) and was one of the reasons why it felt so fresh and spontaneous. They nailed that feel with the dialogue once again and every performance delivers. Scarlett Johansson is maybe the weak link, but we know she's not really there for her acting chops, and she does perform admirably in the fight scenes. Her performance isn't bad either, just not on the level of her colleagues, particularly Gwyneth Paltrow who absolutely thrives with more material this time around.

The reason this movie works so well is because Tony Stark's support group (specifically Paltrow, Johansson, Favreau, Cheadle and Downey Jr himself) portray such a convincing level of compassion for each other. They are all centered around Tony and will do whatever it takes to hopefully see him through to the end of this. This is a man who is his own worst enemy, but those close to him undoubtedly love him even when he's wrecking their lives, and they know he's worth fighting to save. I think this comes across because of the level of chemistry the cast has with each other off the screen just as much as they do on. Enough can't be said about Favreau's directing to cultivate this level of quality and give his cast the freedom that he does.

Just as in the first movie, the villains are secondary to Tony dealing with his own issues, and that's for the best. Rourke and Rockwell do an impressive job with what they're given, and Rockwell in particular even manages to steal a few scenes away from Downey Jr (no small task). Speaking of the freedom that Favreau gives his cast, Rourke did a great job bringing depth to Vanko's character, making him a bird enthusiast, covering him in prison tattoos, buying his own grill to brighten up his smile, and so on. He also nails portraying the dualism of Vanko being a beast of a man physically but also a genius level engineer.

Speaking of engineering, one thing that this series continues to do extremely well is bad ass engineering scenes. Unlike in the Spider-Man movies where Peter Parker is a cool superhero who happens to be smart, Tony Stark is cool because he's a genius (and an alcoholic). Some of his scientific discoveries in this movie should be hard to swallow, but they have invested so much time and energy covering Tony's intellectual prowess that it comes off fairly convincing. Though I do question his aim when using laser beams in his lab.

Iron Man 2 delivers on all the promise of the first movie. It fine tunes all of its best qualities while still suffering from a few of the same very small blemishes. The villains aren't the most terrifying and the pacing might not be perfect. Otherwise, if this isn't one of those days that I'm telling you the first Iron Man is the best comic book movie ever made, then I could very well be telling you Iron Man 2 is the new king of geek mountain.

EVOLVE 2

Like many fans who tried to make the trip, I was not able to get into Rahway to see this show due to flooding. A sad twist of fate for a young company like EVOLVE, as it seems like at least 2/3rds of the audience were turned away. The remaining crowd is small but vocal, and the show doesn't suffer too much from it.


-EVOLVE is still using clear DVD cases, which I really like and helps set their DVD apart
-Box art is better than EVOLVE 1, with some more color and a nice cover playing up the size difference between Hero and Hidaka

-The DVD menu features new music, which helps maintain a better identity than sharing DGUSA's.
-A new EVOLVE intro graphic adds a nice touch.
-Backstage interviews have graphics now as well, featuring the names, which are a welcome addition.

-Bobby Fish gets things started with a strong interview. The sit down confessional style suits the promotion well.

-Aeroform and Chuck Taylor cut decent short interviews.
-They go to a promo video with highlights from the first show. Seems a little premature to do a video like this after just one show, but it's done fairly well.
-The "documentary crew" happens to catch a candid moment where Hero talks to Claudio about Allen calling him out. Funny moment when Hero thinks it was Brad Bradley and not Brad Allen. The set up to this was still awkward and while the documentary girl is cute, the whole documentary angle feels unnecessary at this point. There are probably some organic ways to work it in but they haven't found out how yet.

-The show is shot entirely with two handheld cameras and no steadycam, most likely to cover up for the small crowd. The video quality is good and they use some great angles, but the lack of a steady wide shot is a little disorienting.

-Brad Allen VS Chris Dickinson. This was nowhere near as good of an opener as O'Reilly/Fish from the first show. They tried to do too much, Dickinson shouldn't be throwing out half nelson suplexes in the opener. Dickinson was very... excited to wrestle in this match. There's an obvious joke to make here with his last name, I'll try to take the high road. Allen has a lot of ability but doesn't seem to focus enough on pacing and projecting himself to the crowd.

-We go to a backstage segment with Johnny Gargano, the unnamed fat blond kid and his cronies, and eventually Jimmy Jacobs. Not bad. Jacobs brings it as usual.

-Brodie Lee VS Gran Akuma. Back to back matches with half nelson suplexes to start the show. Terrible. With such a big roster and so many matches per show, EVOLVE could really use some backstage vets to play the role of road agent and try to prevent this from happening. The match itself was okay, with Lee clearly outshining Akuma. Akuma feels like he gets pushed just by virtue of being on the indies for so long now, but he's never really improved at all. Lee has a distinct look and raw talent, but I'm not sure if he's the right fit for EVOLVE.

-Areoform VS Up In Smoke. This was mediocre. Up In Smoke feel like a fun 90s WWF jobber team at their best, and a pair of sloppy indy spot monkeys at their worst. They weren't at their best here. Cheech in particular looked rather awkward. Both teams hit some nice double team offense. Okay for what it was.

-Tony Kozina talkes to Kyle O'Reilly about Richards leaving and how Kyle needs to get focused on the here and now. Decent segment, short and to the point, had the potential to be much better though. I like O'Reilly a lot in the ring, but he feels uncomfortable during promos.

-Kenn Doane VS Caleb Konley. This is my first time seeing Konley and he looked decent. This was a slower match like Doane tends to work and it did a nice job of telling a simple story and sucking the crowd in. I'm just starting to like what Doane brings to EVOLVE but then he cuts a promo after the match implying he might leave.

-Kyle O'Reilly VS Hallowicked. This was one of the matches I was most looking forward to aside from the main event and I wasn't disappointed. Nothing great but a very solid match that stands out but doesn't try to do too much. O'Reilly is a good whitebread babyface and it was smart to pair Kozina as his manager/trainer to give him a bit more personality. Hallowicked seems like he purposefully bulked up a year or two back, which I liked at the time because it set him apart from the rest of Chikara. He was never able to cut down though and these days just looks doughy. Not trying to knock the guy because I think he's a solid wrestler. But whatever he's doing in the gym, he needs to step it up or try a new approach. O'Reilly works in a lot of kicks and submission spots. I get that he's kind of doing an MMA gimmick but I'd like to see him be a bit more focused with the submissions, instead of just running through them.

-Another Gargano/Jacobs backstage segment with the fat blond kid. They're doing a good job of building this match without much history. Gargano is goofy but seems to have a real chip on his shoulder. I agree with Jacobs that wacky doesn't sell tickets but I think Gargano has the potential to be more than just an ironic 90s reference. Unlike...

-Chuck Taylor VS Ricochet. I loathe Taylor but I know he's worked Ricochet a million times and they have good chemistry, so I'm trying to be fair to this match. I like Ricochet more each time I see him. Which is to say I went from not liking him to being mildly into him. He still has a ways to go but he's constantly improving, which is awesome to see for someone with the natural physical ability he has. His gear and look have come a long way as well, and he should definitely stick with his hair tied back like he did for this match. This was not one of their better matches as it featured Taylor in control for the majority and Ricochet didn't hit anything particularly impressive by his standards.

-Bobby Fish VS Claudio Castagnoli. Other than the main and O'Reilly/Hallowicked this was the only other match I was actively seeking out on this DVD. Man did it deliver! Unlike O'Reilly/Fish from the first show, which was a shorter uptempo match, this had a bit more length and was worked at a deliberate pace that plays to Claudio's strengths. Lots of dead lifts, throws, and tosses in this one. I didn't envision it before his debut, but EVOLVE could be a federation where Claudio makes it as the top dog. His promos won't be as important, he can strip down his offense to his most physical stuff, and the guy flat out looks like a beast these days. He should stick to the short tights in this fed as his look was perfect here, right down to the beard.

Not to take anything away from Fish, who once again has a great showing. He is one of the wrestlers that EVOLVE needs to use for their foundation, along with O'Reilly and TJP. He's the full package for a promotion like EVOLVE and his involvement in MMA adds a nice element of credibility (especially if he can keep a winning record). One thing I particularly liked about this match was the use of the 10 count to tease knock outs, which I expected to be a common thing in EVOLVE matches but hasn't been used much (if at all) up to this point. I also liked how Claudio has started throwing a crushing lariat that simply looks great. They need to protect this as his move in EVOLVE as I don't believe anyone else on the roster uses a lariat as a signature spot. They do something neat post match and have the winner put on some attire from a sponsor, like in MMA. This match was very good and is worth going out of your way to see.

-They do an angle in front of the crowd where Dickinson comes out to say something, and the fat blond kid and his cronies come out and start to heckle him. Dickinson loses his temper and is ready to throw down but Tony Kozina cools him off. Not a bad segment, and it's good to see they have something in mind for Dickinson to build to. He's a long ways off but I think he has the potential to be a solid midcarder for this promotion.

-Mercedes Martinez VS Sumie Sakai. This starts off with the fat blond kid's crew heckling the women. They get some legitimate heat from the crowd. This "stable" (I guess?) is an odd angle that is not what people expected from a fed like EVOLVE. It reminds me a bit of the early angles Gabe tried in ROH though and while it's a bit strange, it's doing a good job of giving a few different parts of the roster some focus. Martinez has a more competitive match this time around, as Sakai uses some interesting offense to work over her arm. Building the women's division around Martinez was a smart move for EVOLVE. It breaks up the card and Martinez fits the promotion like a glove with her no-nonsense attitude. She cuts a good intense promo after the match. I'm looking forward to seeing what else they do with Martinez. Yet another match with SDR seems inevitable, and I mean that in the best way possible.

-Jimmy Jacobs VS Johnny Gargano. These two work a good creative match where both pull out some stuff I've never seen before. They do enough to deliver a good match and please the crowd, but leave enough where there's plenty of room for a rematch. I wouldn't mind seeing that at all as everything involving the build to this match was fun and effective.

-Bobby Fish is being taped during a phone conversation unbeknown to him. We can't tell if the conversation is with a loved one or a colleague or what. He notices the camera and leaves. Good segment that makes better use of the documentary crew, but once again doesn't actually require we see the crew documenting it.

-Chikara 4 Way Elimination Tag. This was better than the Chikara multiman match from the first show, but I still don't like the way Chikara has been used for these tags. In Dragon Gate USA these types of matches fit the promotion perfectly and are a great way to break up the card. In EVOLVE it's a styles clash that feels like an exhibition, especially with the focus on the standings here. This was a little less sloppy than the 6 man on EVOLVE 1 and had more dynamic personalities thanks to Osirian Portal. There were some good spots but no real psychology to speak of. I would much rather see something like O'Reilly/Hallowicked or mixing the Chikara tags in with Aeroform or Dark City Fight Club than keeping them isolated like they have so far.

-Chris Hero VS Ikuto Hidaka. This was the match that made me attempt the trip to Rahway to see this show. Ikuto Hidaka has been a personal favorite of mine for a long time and I would have loved to have a chance to see him live. This was a treat for the fans that were able to make it and I regret not being there to see it myself. They work a large portion of the match on the mat which both guys do very well. They also get into some hard strikes and some great nearfalls. There are a few awkward moments not surprisingly considering the size difference and language barrier, but overall this is a very good, borderline great match. It probably won't go down as a MOTY or anything, but it will be one of the matches I look back most fondly on from 2010. I feel bad for Hidaka, when he came to ROH previously it was to a rather small crowd, and then the weather ruins the attendance for this show. I hope that EVOLVE brings him back if he's willing, because there's still a lot they could do with him.

-The show closes with another Jacobs/Gargano segment. Jacobs brings the best out of Gargano and I hope they keep them involved in some sort of angle for a while.

Like EVOLVE 1 this is a strong show that's an easy watch start to finish. There are some weaker matches but nothing that drags the show down. The promotion keeps a good pace, generally keeps their matches short and to the point (in a good way), and has used a varied enough roster thus far to keep the show fresh. There is very little dead weight on this roster, with my only issues being with the Chikara guys and Chuck Taylor. The potential is there to mix at least part of the Chikara roster in effectively, the key will be to make them feel like members of EVOLVE and not just Chikara exhibition matches. They are still in the process of bringing new guys in as well, like Jon Moxley, Drake Younger and Sami Callahan, which is a good thing. The key to EVOLVE will be booking fresh matches with a unique presentation, as they've done with O'Reilly/Fish, TJP/Sawa, Claudio/Fish and Hero/Hidaka. They are still figuring out the backstage stuff and the overall hierarchy of the roster, but if and when they can get those aspects worked out, EVOLVE could become something special.

Welcome To Young Lions

This is the first post that I'm going to put up and keep up for my new blog Young Lions. This is a blog that I've attempted to launch multiple times but have never felt was ready. A few different incarnations have been published, but this time I am going to start fresh with a review of EVOLVE 2 that will go up this week. Right now I think the Northeast wrestling scene can use all the discussion it can get, as a lot of the places online people used to talk about local feds are either gone or are not what they used to be. I make no promises about the format of Young Lions or how often it will be updated. I may make posts about any number of topics, from pro wrestling, to movies, television, music, maybe even tabletop gaming. One thing I know for sure is I want to review this DVD while it's fresh in my memory and help EVOLVE with the little promotion I can give it. I'll also say right off the bat that I never give away results or major spoilers in my reviews.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy.