twiztor

she was only in the last year or two of Avengers comics (pre-Onslaught). i certainly wouldn't put her as the worst. Dr. Druid showed up, took over, and turned on the team. I'd certainly put him as worse. But she was fairly useless. it actually never got explained who she was or why Lilandra exiled her from the Shi'ar empire. it definitely feels implied that she is Deathbird's daughter, but it's not outright stated. At least not during my read. I have no idea if she appears again or if it all gets straightened out later.

i finished up on my Avengers read today. Since the beginning of the year, here's what i've read as part of this journey (at least 492 issues): Thoughts: People talk about '90s comics being terrible. When i 2024 finished, i was somewhere in 1991 and was still thoroughly enjoying the books. Even through '92 and '93, i didn't get the hate. But then i made it to 1994. Within about a year of published comics, EVERY Avenger had their costume radically redesigned, and EVERY one of them was for the worse. Every single one was awful. Some of them were generic as hell (U.S. Agent). Some of them were too busy (War Machine). Some of them involved armor being added (Captain America....although at least this one had a reasonable story involved). Most of the women didn't have costumes, really, just slips of clothing that barely covered them (Scarlet Witch). And then there's the Wasp (she mutates into a wasp-ish creature). Actually Iron Man's design came out fairly unchanged, although the man in the armor....well that leads us into the next issue. Characterizations go out the window. US Agent randomly goes from a hothead to the peacekeeper. Tony Stark turns evil (well, in his own book he is still the hero, even while he is literally attacking his team(s). It's never really explained how or why, just that Kang convinced him that it was for the good? It literally made zero sense. The storylines lose almost all sense of continuity (recently, a story featured a fairly major point of Hawkeye having a broken arm. By the next issue, it wasn't even mentioned. Or maybe that one issue of Avengers featured a memorial for a believed-dead Captain America, but when he showed up a few issues later, nobody even mentioned that he had been gone or that it was good to have him back). OK, enough ranting about the 90s comics. Overall, this was an awesome read. Mark Gruenwald's run on Captain America was fantastic. it was funny reading the letters pages and seeing people just whine and complain about this storyline or that character. So many people, early on, were saying that Gruenwald didn't understand the character or stuff like that. All the while, he's writing what has to be a definitive run of the character. The Avengers have had a pretty crazy inconsistent lineup over the years, and it was fun to experience it all linearly. Characters like the Swordsman, Dr. Druid, Gilgamesh, Deathcry, and the list goes on. I think most disappointing for me was the series the focused on Nick Fury and SHIELD. all of them felt like decent enough setups, but everything after Steranko's '70s run was underwhelming. Lots of rehashing the same ground (how many times can the world's premiere espionage organization be infiltrated and destroyed from within, being commissioned in the process? And only to be reinstated a couple years later with all of the same people at the helm (except for those who had already been traitors, of course. But that leaves a dwindling number of characters who could, in fact, turn traitor once all the "good ones" have been selected. the definition of 'diminishing returns') so what's next? i'll take a couple months off, reading non-Marvel comics. Hopefully knock out a couple actual books. But then i'll circle back and jump back into the Fantastic 4 & Inhumans.

so in honor of AEW featuring Ricochet vs. Mark Briscoe in a Stretcher Match this weekend, i post this question: What are the best stretcher matches in wrestling history?

update: i drove by the Popeye's on my way home from work. Their sign said the lobby was open 10am-10pm, with drive in 10am-12 midnight. there was 1 car in the drive thru, and 3 in the lot. i assume 2 were employees, but maybe the lobby was actually open? needless to say, i didn't stop.

the Popeye's in my town opened like 6(?) years ago. It shut down early this year. poor sales + health code violations. i think i only ate there once (i don't recall, but i'd imagine it was some limited time offering that drew me in). it was fine as far as fast food chicken goes. edit: apparently it is NOT closed for good. it just changed management. but good lord, i just read a few different reviews and the service sounds abysmal. It is ranked as the 19th best "quick bites" food option in town. Out of 19. and despite the fact that they have a full restaurant, they offer only drive-thru service. and the hours listed at the location are different than what's listed online. and neither of them matches their actual hours, per multiple reviews. i just tried calling. no response. it's 3pm.

of the bigger cities i've been to (which isn't a huge number but assumedly higher than your average joe), NYC had the best selection, and NOLA had the best quality. Houston is not among my visits, so they are unrated.

yeah, it definitely wasn't an earnest attempt at a good song. I think they were going for a more in-character feel, back when he was oblivious and didn't understand why he wasn't being cheered. This is along the same lines as the Jillian Hall record (although that one is WAY worse), in that i see what they were going for and i guess it makes sense for the character, but why would you actually expect your fans/customers to pay money for this?

i'm sorry Paul. I'm available if you need someone to talk to. "alcoholism is a disease, but it's the only disease you can get yelled at for having." thank you Mitch Hedberg

i applaud this person's time management skills to be able to be proficient at all of these things. [Obligatory: i don't condone the last one in particular]

not gonna lie, i would tune in to watch this match. but you 100% need the Bond theme to be playing over the PA.

Did i miss the announcement on how to watch this (if you're not in Arizona)?

they're fine. i mean, they're somewhat entertaining the first time. i haven't listened to this cd in well over 15 years, so most of the songs themselves, unless they were used as entrance themes, didn't retain space in my brain. But as soon as the album started and i heard the first Austin skit, they came right back to me. they did an OK job of breaking up the genres/sounds/vibes, but after the first one i found them largely groan worthy. But i absolutely would be down to hear Austin make a karaoke attempt.

would Vince allow him to be called "the Sheik" tho? i mean, this is the guy that wouldn't allow Shane Helm on TV under that name because there was already a Shane. And worried that people might confuse Steve Austin with Steven Regal.

WWE Superstars – WWE ORIGINALS 1. Steve Austin – Where's the Beer (Segment 1) (2:36) 2. Dudley Boyz – We've Had Enough (3:07) 3. Trish Stratus – I Just Want You (3:35) 4. Rey Mysterio, Jr. - Crossing Borders (2:52) 5. Steve Austin – Did You Feel It? (Segment 2) (2:01) 6. Booker T – Can You Dig It? (3:33) 7. Kurt Angle – I Don't Suck (Really) (3:05) 8. Lita – When I Get You Alone (3:27) 9. Steve Austin – You Changed the Lyrics (1:31) 10. Lillian Garcia – You Just Don't Know Me At All (4:09) 11. Eddie & Chavo Guerrero - We Lie, We Cheat, We Steal (3:43) 12. Chris Jericho – Don't You Wish You Were Me? (3:31) 13. Steve Austin – Drink Your Beer (Segment 4) (1:50) 14. Rikishi – Put A Little Ass On It (4:45) 15. Stacy Keibler – Why Can't We Just Dance? (3:18) 16. John Cena – Basic Thugonomics (3:14) 17. Steve Austin – Don't That Taste Good? (0:46) https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLC59E7F0446D5B74C https://www.discogs.com/master/571458-WWE-WWE-Originals Ring Introduction: Released in early 2004, featuring a good variety of the WWE roster, all performing original songs (hence the name). I knew a couple friends who owned this CD back in the day. Some of the tracks' names stand out in my memory, but only the couple songs that were used as entrance themes really hold any space in my memory. The Match: “We've Had Enough” is a pretty good early '00s rap song. Bubba's flow is certainly better than average while D-Von shows promise. If the chorus had been a little bit harder, and if it didn't kind of fall apart in the second half, this could have been really damn good. “I Just Want You” is a long-distance love song from Trish Stratus. It's a pretty stripped down sound, so relies heavily on the vocals to bear the burden. Trish doesn't really have the chops to do so, and the song is pretty middling. “Crossing Borders” I like the Latin-infused Rap sound here. Gives off a laid back feel. Rey weaves between English and Spanish pretty flawlessly while his vocals fluctuate between good to 'just ok'. It's not bad for a wrestling song, but that's about the most praise I can give it. “Can You Dig It?” has a funky undertone to the beat that I really like. Booker's delivery is adequate. It loses steam in the back end and really could have been like a minute shorter. “I Don't Suck (Really)” feels like a throwback to those early “The Wrestling Album” releases, where the song is more of a novelty than an actual song. Kurt is speaking his “motivational speech” heel talking points over the beat. There is a breakdown late in the song that leans more into a “rap” than a “promo”, and it is pretty awful. “When I Get You Alone” sounds like if “pop punk” and “boy band” had a baby, where it has the worst tendencies of both. Lita's vocals feel disconnected from the instruments, and she's not very good to boot. The chorus is actually really catchy, however. “You Just Don't Know Me At All” is better than I expected. We all know Lillian has a good voice, but it's emphasized here with almost everyone else being subpar. Very good song. “We Lie, We Cheat, We Steal” finds the right balance for me between a catchy song, a novelty song, and a good song. It also encapsulates the characters of Los Guerreros pretty much perfectly. “Don't You Wish You Were Me?” starts off with what I think is supposed to be a real punk rock start, but it sounds like a mess. But then the song settles into a pretty good groove and I like it. (I mainly remember this for the Stacker2 commercial that used to play constantly https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVS4Qm3Mga8) “Put A Little Ass On It” sees Rikishi test the waters of soul singing. I wouldn't say it's good, but it certainly has its charm. The chorus is just ridiculous, and without the context of Rikishi's character, it would be baffling. Luckily, I have that context, so it is merely weird. “Why Can't We Just Dance?” is a terrible techno pop song. Completely vapid. “Basic Thugonomics” this song kicks ass. The Finish: So yeah, this bounces all over the place with genres, with very little rising above the level of “OK”. Again, very hard to score. So much of it was just acceptable, but the number of songs that I outright DIDN'T like outnumber the number that I DID like. So, with that, I bestow a rating of 2 ringbells out of 5.

was rocking out to Mudvayne in the car last night with the niece (her pick). I mentioned they're coming to the area sometime this summer. she got excited, so i looked up tickets.... 80 fucking dollars. for general admission. at a casino. outside... fuck. that.

the lockdowns only lasted for what? 5-6 months depending on circumstances? we're 5 years removed from that. i feel like this is something that people still point to (not singling you out @zendragon), while the vast majority of people, even younger, should have had the opportunity to move past this. i DO think the larger point is that younger people got REALLY used to not HAVING to go out, and their TikTok (and etc.) addiction only grew. i'm assuming this also plays into the so-called "loneliness epidemic" (i feel this is becoming too much of a catch-all also, but i digress). i haven't put a ton of thought into this, but when you get that immediate gratification of a dopamine hit every time someone hits that Like button, or when you're paying OnlyFans models for 1:1 interactions that seem genuine (despite being anything but), then i can see how you would feel like dating or maintaining IRL friendships or social gatherings are a lot of work for little reward. This is a major societal issue and the pandemic/lockdowns definitely fast-tracked it, but we're doing fuck all to neutralize it. (i typed all this out and then realized that the monthly wrestling thread probably isn't the place for this)

worse by magnitudes. wrestlers are real people. Wonder Woman isn't receiving messages asking for feet pics. She doesn't have a family that's going to run across creepy photos of her or blogs devoted to worshipping her. She doesn't have to deal with real life stalkers. although i would imagine that Gal Gadot is exposed to that to some degree.

he should have jumped Darby up near the summit to kickstart a feud. That IS where YET-TAYs live, right?

i think some of these are carryovers from Natural's post: Cody/Dustin Rhodes Cody & Dustin vs. Young Bucks Lucha Bros vs. Young Bucks (most of the feud, but specifically the cage match) Britt Baker/Thunder Rosa No DQ Match (also the cage match, but more for Rosa winning the belt than the match itself) Moxley/Omega Exploding Death Match The excitement leading up to the first War Games Blood and Guts Owen Hart's family being involved again Hangman winning the big gold as the culmination of a story Danielson/Starks strap match one of the Young Bucks vs. FTR matches. i wanna say the second? i don't remember for sure which i liked best. FTR vs. Briscoes (i know that was technically ROH but i don't care) Jericho/Cassidy in the OJ Mimosa match or whatever it was called some of the big bad bumps: Darby through that plate of glass where you can see dozens of cuts immediately open. Moxley on the spiked club recently. and all the hilarious Dark Order skits from BTE

i'm not a joshi fan, and i don't personally know any in my real life. And haven't encountered anything like that here, which is really my only online interaction with wrestling fans. But if i could keep playing psycho-analyst, i would guess that it's a combination of factors, but the fetishization of Japanese women + tight/revealing clothing + body contortion. and then getting over defensive due to the perceived deviancy of liking something that includes the above? i know that if/when i have to preemptively add in clarifying remarks, it changes how i want to discuss said topic. also, i got a good kick out of this question being asked by "SEX MACHINE GUN"

that's awful. i'm thankful but also kind of surprised it doesn't happen more often. i know we joke about the "wrestling bubble" but.... I know, personally, that i was a nerdy kid in junior/high school. The wonder, and excitement, and larger than life presentation really drew me in. Adding in that it wasn't the ever-present mainstream presence (like, say, NFL, pop music, or the present day Marvel movies) really hooked me. It was MINE. I certainly went through a period where i was OBSESSED with wrestling. So i can easily see how this could lead to a hyperfixation on said sport/performer/celebrity. If that ultra focus continues, that's how it can lead to the mutants/neckbeards/mouth breathers. And that goes doubly so when that becomes more of the standard fan, rather than an outlier. It normalizes that behavior, which makes small aggressions a regular thing and larger aggressions (like the aforementioned attempted kiss) don't become THAT bizarre to you. semi-related, my initial thought is that it's a bit of a chicken/egg situation. Does this niche sport attract weirdos? Or has this sport become more niche to cater to weirdos?

no Foley match? there's an indie match from i wanna say 1993 vs. Lightning Kid that i remember really liking. haven't seen it in years, but i feel like i should rewatch that, as well as Sabu vs. SyxxPac from 3PW just to compare and contrast since they would be roughly a decade apart.

has AEW always had rope breaks in their cage matches? Because i agree with them being worked as regular matches, but aren't they inherently No DQ? (obviously the answer is yes, since Mox hit Joe with the briefcase in full view of the referee). But then why did the ref make Joe break the chokehold when Mox got to the ropes?

i did a bit more digging and came to the same conclusion (see edited post). Really, that just left me with more questions. Is this just a stupid PR move to get their name out there? i guess it worked on me.

just saw a post online, and i didn't do any research to see if this is real or not, but it said Hulk Hogan's Real American Beer has made an offer to buy Hooters. WTF. i know Hooters recently filed for bankruptcy, but how can a shitty third rate beer brand even come close to buying a whole franchise? i don't know how widespread this beer even is, but i do know that it's not available within 50 miles of any major city in my state. P.S. FHH edit: ok, i did more reading. it sounds like Real American, the company that owns the beer brand and maybe also the soon-to-be wrestling competition, is going to make an all cash bid to purchase the Hooters IP. Not the restaurant chain itself, essentially just the name and its trademarks. i cannot see a restaurant chain selling that, since they'd likely have to license their own name that they've been using for 40ish years. what a bizarre story. but i'm really kind of intrigued by this full court press that this "Real American" company is putting forth. who's providing the capital? what's the business plan? what is the end goal?