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.