Author: thestrongstylesmarks

WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs 2018 Predictions

Well, we made it, another year of WWE programming. We may have all become slightly more sarcastic and jaded, but we’re all still here. This means it’s time to sit back, relax and enjoy a weapons based show (ugh), with *checks notes* TWELVE Matches?!

Survivor Series last month only had 8 matches (including pre-show), and that show got an extra hour than this one. This will probably mean a lot of matches won’t get even nearly the time that they need, or this will be the most packed pre-show in history (they haven’t announced which ones are on the pre-show at time of writing).

So settle it, as I break down all twelve (sigh) matches on the TLC 2018 card.

Rey Mysterio vs Randy Orton
(Chairs Match)

I remember when Randy Orton would fight people from the current generation.

I know Orton’s whole thing was “The Legend Killer” but that really only worked back in ’02-’05 when he was a young upstart in the WWE, not so much when he is a legend himself. I get that he’s trying to tear down all the people the fans love, but I think it would be a much more interesting story if his goal was to prove he was the greatest legend from his generation by beating them all up.

While chairs matches don’t have a history of being the greatest, *cough*Kane vs Ryback*cough*, I think it’s certainly the least limiting of the gimmicks, chair spots tend to be very quick to set up, and can usually be implemented in a match without breaking the flow too much. Although generally the “flow” in a Randy Orton match is pretty darn slow.

I’m finding it a little difficult to pick a winner, since Randy’s been on a bit of a roll recently, even if I don’t really see much reason for him to win. Given that Rey did get a win over Orton at Crown Jewel, I’m going to say Randy Orton manages to walk away with this one.

R-Truth & Carmella vs Jinder Mahal vs Alicia Fox
(Mixed Match Challenge Finals)

Ok, I haven’t been watching the Mixed Match Challenge this year, what the hell happened?

What happened to AJ Styles, Charlotte, Braun Strowman, Ember Moon, Finn Balor, or any of the other awesome performers in it this year? They all got replaced due to injury/sickness? Oh…well ok then.

That said, I can’t rag on this too much, the MMC may have been an even bigger afterthought than 205 Live this year, but from the small amount of stuff I’ve seen it’s looked alright. R-Truth and Carmella seemed to have formed a pretty entertaining rapport with each other and while the “Dance Break” thing is unbelievably stupid and I hate it, I think it’s more down to me being grumpy than anything else.

I also like that they’ve actually put something tangible on the line this year, getting a guaranteed, number 30 spot in the Royal Rumble is something that really should be on the line every year, since it’s technically the best position to be in, even if it is going to go to someone who has an absolute zero chance of winning the thing.

I’m pretty confident in picking R-Truth & Carmella to win here, since they’ve actually built up pretty fun characters and seem to work really well together, as opposed to Jinder & Alicia, who can be pretty accurately described as “two people”.

Buddy Murphy(c) vs Cedric Alexander
(Cruiserweight Championship)

I’m starting to think that there may only be three people on 205 Live.

It’s really hard to tell where the Cruiserweight title goes once all this is over, because it really doesn’t feel like there’s anyone up to it on 205 Live. I imagine they’ll probably just have a 4-Way Number 1 Contender’s match, like they seem to do pretty much every month, but I’m not entirely sure it’ll work this time.

Regardless, that’s something we don’t have to worry about until Wednesday in the mean time, let’s take a look at this match. Well, it’s pretty much the same match we’ve been seeing for a good few months now with the Cruiserweight Championship. Not that the match will be mad, both of these men are very talented, but seeing a match too many times really does take the shine off of it. For example, all I do is mention the possibility of another Rollins vs Ziggler match and everyone groans collectively, despite all their matches being good-to-great.

It certainly wouldn’t surprise me if they stuck the belt back on Cedric, but I think I’m going to go with Buddy Murphy this time, since I’d like to see his run continue, just so he can fight some new people for once.

Elias vs Bobby Lashley
(Ladder Match)

Really? This one got the ladder match stipulation? Alright.

While I love Elias, I don’t really get what this face turn has done for him. Before his heel turn, he just lost to Bobby Lashley a lot, and since he’s turned face he’s….lost to Bobby Lashley a lot. It’s really hard to tell what management think of Elias, they treat him like a star all the time, but I can’t even remember the last time he actually won a match.

I don’t really know what this match is going be like, ladder spots tend to be pretty contrived and slow, and I also don’t know what either of these guys are like in weapons matches. I’m going to hold out some hope for a fun match, but I won’t be surprised if I end up crapping all over it in my review.

As for a winner, I don’t really think it matters, and while my head says to pick Lashley, I’m gonna pray to the Nine Divines that Elias actually picks up a win for once.

Finn Balor vs Drew Mcintyre

Ireland vs Scotland, as an Englishman I’m looking forward to watching them implode.

I’m quietly optimistic for this one, I love both these guys and they’ve  put on a whole host of brilliant matches in their time in WWE/NXT, I really think they’ll have the chemistry they need to put on something great…if they get more than 5 minutes that is.

I don’t really have a whole lot else to say here, and it’s pretty obvious to me that Drew Mcintyre is going to win here, since they’re really trying to build him up as a big monster to take out Strowman (and maybe even Lesnar).

Natalya vs Ruby Riott
(Tables Match)

Hm, not really sure what to think of this one.

On the one hand, it’s never a good thing when WWE uses real life tragedy in order to further a storyline, especially something as contrived as this one seems to have been. While, on the other hand, WWE haven’t actually handled this one that badly, and it’s nice to see a story in the women’s division that isn’t about the title get some pretty high-profile PPV time.

Out of the three weapons on this show, tables matches tend to be the worst when it comes to breaking the flow of a match and contrived set ups. Also they normally quite suddenly and unsatisfying.

Given the subject matter it’d look a bit dodgy for the heel to go over here, so I’m going to pick Natalya to win the day in honour of her father.

The Bar(c) vs The New Day vs The Usos
(Smackdown Tag Team Championships)

I’d complain about there not being a Raw Tag Title match on this show, but this match is pretty much all the explanation you need.

I generally don’t get aboard the bandwagon of saying which show was better all the time, because I can’t be bothered with it all really, but there’s just no case to be made for the Raw Tag division when you look at this match. All of these teams are great performers and have so much chemistry together that this match is pretty much a sure-fire win for this show.

While it could quite easily become a victim of the lack of time on this show, even a cut down version on this should still be one of the better matches on the card and it’s also quite hard to pick a winner.

As I keep saying, New Day seem to be the default setting for the Smackdown Tag Titles, and could realistically win them at any time. The Bar have had a pretty decent title run so far, and it certainly wouldn’t be a bad thing to see them keep going a little longer. However The Usos seem to me like they’re where the titles are headed eventually, and that might just happen on Sunday.

The logical part of me says to pick The Bar to retain, but I’m going to go with my gut here and say The Usos are picking up the titles.

Becky Lynch(c) vs Charlotte Flair vs Asuka
(Smackdown Women’s Championship)
(TLC Match)

Decisions, decisions, all of them interesting.

First of all, this match is going to be absolutely incredible. I know I normally dunk on weapons stipulations, but in a Triple Threat match, the pace can keep going how it should while the big spots get set up, they tend to feel less contrived and these are arguably the three most talented women in all of WWE right now.

More importantly, I really don’t mind who wins. If Becky wins, then she continues her fantastic run as champion; if Charlotte wins, then Becky’s free to win the Rumble and Charlotte can rematch Asuka; and if Asuka wins, then it means she finally gets her time in the sun and the title she should’ve won at Wrestlemania this year.

However because of this, it makes it quite hard to actually make a prediction. I know Becky vs Ronda is the current rumour, but those can change very easily, especially before the Royal Rumble. Charlotte is one of those wrestlers that could quite easily win the title at any point and it’d make sense, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she won.

I’m not very confident in saying this, but I think Asuka is going to be the one to pull the title down from atop the ladder, and finally claim her prize.

Ronda Rousey(c) vs Nia Jax
(Raw Women’s Championship)

Another one I’m pretty in the middle on.

I feel pretty confident in saying that when Nia won this opportunity at Evoltuion, no-one thought it was going to be quite the saga that it has been so far. Firstly, Nia turned heel again, which I guess was to be expected but she’s turned so many times this year it doesn’t really feel like it matters. Then, with one swift punch she broke Becky’s face and robbed us of the Ronda vs Becky match we were all so desperate to see and became the single most hated wrestler on the face of the Earth.

So naturally, WWE did what WWE did best and fanned the flames, and made her the sole survivor of Team Raw, just to make sure that everyone hated her. I’d love to say that this was classic WWE, misreading their audience, but it really wasn’t. Genuinely hated heels are a rarity in the modern wrestling landscape, so I can’t really blame them for jumping on this chance when it presented itself.

Hopefully this match will be a fun one to watch, their encounter at Money in the Bank was really good so let’s hope that chemistry has stuck around all these months. Regardless of the story, this is Ronda Rousey, and she’s not losing that title until at least Wrestlemania, and probably will still hold onto it past then.

Braun Strowman vs Baron Corbin
(TLC Match)

There’s always one…

On pretty much every WWE PPV, there’s one match, where fans go crazy with speculation about all the twists and turns that could happen, and that’s no different on this show. People have been going crazy coming up with theories as to how this match might resolve itself.

No matter what happens, this match is going to be a short one; like, under a minute kind of short. People have been suggesting run-ins like Kurt Angle, Bray Wyatt, or Heath Slater, and while those would all be fun, I don’t think any of them are going to happen.

Corbin has already stated he’s going to win the match via forfeit and become permanent GM of Raw, so that is at least going to be teased, whether Strowman shows or not. Corbin will come out and tell the referee to start counting to ten to win the match, then one of two things will happen.

Either: at the very last second, just as the referee is about to count the ten, Strowman’s music hits, he hit Corbin with a single powerslam and that’s the end of that; OR, the referee counts to ten, Strowman doesn’t show up, Corbin becomes permanent Raw GM, and we’re all sad forever, take your pick.

As of writing this, I have no idea whether Strowman is cleared or not, so I’m going to lean-to the boring end of the spectrum and say Baron Corbin takes the boring win here, since, even if Strowman does show, there’s a chance Corbin could use heel bullshit to get his win.

Seth Rollins(c) vs Dean Ambrose
(Intercontiental Championship)

Oh please God, just let this be good.

While this hasn’t quite been the epic storyline that we’d all envisioned, it’s certainly been simmering quite nicely. They spun their wheels for a few weeks while we got Survivor Series out-of-the-way (and a little bit after that) then we were given a vague explaination about Seth Rollins’ ego being the reason Dean hates him.

It just seems like such a basic reason, there was so much more you could’ve done with it, you could’ve weaved a careful story about Dean having to emotionally deal with Roman’s illness. Or maybe suggest the idea that Dean only tolerated Seth because Roman liked him, so now with Roman gone, he can’t hold himself back. Even if you wanted to run with the whole “ego” thing, at least give some link back to when Seth originally betrayed The Shield so that this feels justified, and not like the writers didn’t know what to do with Roman gone. Despite all of that, there is a kernel of a good story in here, and if given a bit more time to grow, this could be something really good.

As long as this match is given enough time then I’m hopeful it’ll be one of the better matches of the night, these two have wrestled each other so many times over the past 4 years that we’re pretty much guaranteed a good match at the bare minimum.

When a story is just starting like this one, it can be hard to predict who gets the first victory, but given where this story feel it’s going, and the rumours of Seth vs Brock being the planned Wrestlemania match this year, I’m going to pick Dean Ambrose to capitalize on his new-found momentum and pick up the Intercontinetal Title.

Daniel Bryan(c) vs AJ Styles
(WWE Championship)

Just typing that feels good.

It’s weird how, even though we’ve already seen this match twice in the past two months, I’m still very excited to finally see it on a PPV. This whole “new Daniel Bryan” thing they’ve been running with is one of those things that would fall flat on its face with anyone else, but Daniel Bryan’s performance just makes it so entertaining to see.

If you’d ask me two months ago if a Daniel Bryan heel turn was a good idea, I never would’ve agreed with you in a million years, but goddamned if the Smackdown writing team haven’t proved me wrong. It goes without saying that this should be one of the best matches of the night (again, provided it’s given the time it needs), but I’m pretty doubtful we’ll see a clean finish.

One of the key points of Daniel Bryan’s heel turn has been the fans not deserving to see great matches, so it’s entirely possible that he’ll be deliberately trying to crap all over the match just to piss the fans off which, while effective, would be a shame.

Irrespective of any of that, Daniel Bryan is definitely going to walk out of this one with the win, no matter what he has to do. I’m not entirely sure what the endgame of this whole thing is, but my hope (and I can’t believe I’m saying this) is Bryan vs Cena at Wrestlemania, and a crooked win for Bryan would be a great way to build towards it.

And there you have it! Thank you very much for reading, if you want more opinions about wrestling and other nonsense, make sure to folow me on Twitter @10ryawoo; and make sure to come back next week for my review of the show!

Summerslam 2018 Predictions

(Originally Posted Aug 2018)

Well it’s August, which means it’s time for Discount Wrestlemania! Ah, I err…I mean Summerslam!

I know this isn’t the first time a year’s Wrestlemania and Summerslam have had the same match in the main event, but you can’t help feel a bit dragged down by the fact this is the third time we’re seeing the same main event this year.

That aside, I’m hopeful that this will be fairly enjoyable. There’s a lot of potential for some really good matches and fun moments on this card; but then again I’ve said that about most shows this year and I’ve been wrong, so who knows?

So let’s get right to it, here are my predictions for Summerslam 2018!

Rusev & Lana vs Andrade Almas & Zelina Vega
(Kickoff Show)

Remember last month when Rusev was fighting for the WWE Championship? Good times…

Although I think most of us saw it coming, it’s shame Rusev’s shot straight down from the main event to the pre-show; but then again he seems to be staying positive about it on Twitter so what do I know?

As for this match I’m finding it surprisingly hard to call, my gut says it’s obviously Almas & Vega, but the two of them have been beating Rusev & Lana in singles matches on Smackdown for weeks, so I don’t see how anything would be gained from them winning again. Then again, you also have to consider that Aiden English might get involved again and cost Rusev & Lana the match again.

Ultimately, I’m going to go with my gut and say Andrade Almas & Zelina Vega pick up the win here, mostly because I don’t think it’d be a good idea for Almas to take a loss this soon. I just really hope WWE do something major with him soon before he follows in Bobby Roode’s footsteps of being virtually non-existent.

The B-Team(c) vs The Revival
(Raw Tag Team Championships, Kickoff Show)

While I have enjoyed The B-Team as tag champions, the joke seems to be less and less funnier as the week goes by.

The triple threat on Raw was good fun and I liked how they were able to sneak away with the win, but I can feel myself starting to get a bit bored with them. Not to mention I absolutely love The Revival, in fact I really think the match should just be The Revival wrestling circles around The B-Team for 5 minutes before an easy pin.

Regardless of what the match is like, I’m pretty confident The Revival are coming away with the titles here, and will hopefully move onto some killer matches with AOP or whoever debuts after Summerslam.

Cedric Alexander(c) vs Drew Gulak
(Cruiserweight Championship, Kickoff Show)

What is this title? Who are these people?

Jokes aside, it’s quite upsetting that this is the first time the Cruiserweight Championship has been on a PPV since Wrestlemania, and of course it’s on the pre show, since they haven’t had a match on the main show since… ..Royal Rumble 2017? Seriously?! Wow…

Sadly, I also haven’t had much time to watch 205 Live recently, so I don’t know a lot about this feud, but I do know Drew Gulak has had some really great moments over the past year, and seeing him with the title is something I would very much like.

So, this is a pretty uninformed prediction, but I’m going to go with Drew Gulak, since I just feel like it’s his time.

The Bludgeon Brothers(c) vs The New Day
(Smackdown Tag Team Championships)

This is weird, because this is a match we haven’t actually seen much at all, but I feel like I’ve already seen it about twenty times already.

I was quite surprised when The New Day won this opportunity, especially considering The Bar had just returned from the phantom zone, or wherever it was they disappeared to for a few months. I’m sure this will be a good match, The New Day are one of the best tag teams in the company right now and The Bludgeon Brothers have shown they can put on killer performances with the right opponents.

However, none of that changes the fact that I don’t see how The New Day win here (unless of course The Undisputed Era are gonna show up on Tuesday). I doubt that’s going to happen though, so I’m picking The Bludgeon Brothers to retain here.

Finn Balor vs “Constable” Baron Corbin

Oh who cares?

Finn Balor is the single most stagnant character in the whole of WWE right now, none of his feuds ever feel like they have any importance or weight to them; because most of the time they don’t. I really just want him to get involved in something meaningful for once, but no, we’ve gotta sit here and watch him fight Baron Corbin again for the hundredth time this year.

As for a winner? Honestly flip a coin, it won’t matter come Monday anyway, but Finn Balor I guess.

Shinsuke Nakamura(c) vs Jeff Hardy
(United States Championship)

Why isn’t Orton involved in this? Jeff already had his guaranteed rematch on Smackdown, so you can’t say that’s why and while I know Orton hasn’t so much as looked at Nakamura the entire time, he’s tried to kill Jeff on several occasions and usually enough to slot him into the title scene.

Instead we’ve got another one on one between Nakamura & Hardy, and I do hope we get a proper match out of them this time as I don’t feel like they’ve been able to do what they’re able to as yet. As for the finish, I imagine the Viper is going to rear his head again, and maybe take a shot at Nakamura as well as Hardy this time to really get things going in this feud.

Regardless of the specifics Shinsuke Nakamura is going to be leaving Summerslam with that US title still over his shoulder.

Daniel Bryan vs The Miz

I think this may be the match I’m most excited for.

I’ve no idea what the current rumor is as to whether or not Daniel Bryan has resigned, and I don’t really want to know, since I feel it might spoil this match for me. It’s been said so much, but it really is true that these two characters are the perfect opposites of each other, and on Smackdown this Tuesday WWE did a fantastic job with the video packages that looked all the brilliant interactions that Miz & Bryan have had over the years.

If it turns out Bryan isn’t resigning and this is the last hurrah of his WWE career, then you couldn’t have a more perfect ending; if it turns out he’s sticking around, then what a perfect way to move onto the next phase of his career than wrapping up the feud that’s been running since his WWE debut.

However, when looking back on all this, all the build up over the past month, and all the recaps, the feud only has one possible outcome. The Miz HAS to win.

The problem with The Miz is that over the past few years, is that people (myself included) have come to respect The Miz and enjoy his work, this means he just doesn’t get heat like he used to, people like him too much. Beating Daniel Bryan in the match that could very easily be the climax of his entire career would remind people exactly why they hated The Miz, it would bring back that pure heat that The Miz used to get pre brand split; not to mention it would give him all the momentum in the world to go for a world title later in the year.

After looking everything over, I honestly don’t see any other outcome to this match other than The Miz standing victorious.

Carmella(c) vs Becky Lynch vs Charlotte Flair
(Smackdown Women’s Championship)

It’s matches like this that really make me wish Paige could still wrestle.

This entire feud really just feels like a build up for Becky to win the title, she’s been so close for months now but things just keep stopping her. I loved the way they started this all out though, quite simply, Becky got an opportunity because she’d been winning matches week after week since Wrestlemania, including a pretty high-profile win over Charlotte.

That’s where things fall down a bit for me, Charlotte loses her title to Carmella, loses the rematch in fairly clean fashion, tries and fails at Money in the Bank, disappears for a month, then shows up and gets a shot at Carmella because….why exactly?

While it might not be great from a storyline perspective, it should make for a great match. Carmella seems to be getting better by the day and Charlotte and Becky’s skills speak for themselves, throwing all three of them in a ring will hopefully make for a chaotic match that’s really fun to watch.

Like I said at the start, there’s no doubt in my mind Becky Lynch takes the title here, hopefully to hold it for quite a while.

Braun Strowman vs Kevin Owens
(The Money in the Bank Briefcase is on the line)

WWE, please don’t fuck everything up.

The moment Strowman won the Money in the Bank briefcase I could feel that this was an empire built on sand. Not because of Strowman, he’s as amazing as always, because I just don’t trust WWE not to fuck up these potentially brilliant plans they’ve laid out for the next 6 months of programming.

I haven’t been the biggest fan of this whole Strowman vs Owens thing, but it does at least stop both men from fading into the background while everything is going on around them. WWE have seemingly been all in on Strowman for a good couple of years now, but they’ve been known to suddenly give up on people before, and if Strowman loses the briefcase on Sunday, I really feel like it’ll be the start of a slow and painful decline into irrelevance.

However, with all my fear mongering and negativity, I’m going to do something perhaps a little stupid, and put my faith in WWE to do the right thing and say Braun Strowman is holding onto that briefcase.

Dolph Ziggler(c) vs Seth Rollins
(Intercotinental Championship)

So, last month at Extreme Rules, I got just a teensy bit furious at the Iron Man match between these two men, and while it wasn’t their fault for the most part, there is still that bad taste in my mouth.

That said, the main question on everyone’s minds is of course, when is Dean going to turn on Seth? I think during the match might be a bit too soon, and also doesn’t make sense from Ambrose’s perspective. If these guys are going to have a feud, it feels like it should be over the Intercontinental championship, so personally I think if Dean is going to turn on Seth on Sunday, it’ll be after the match instead of during.

Hopefully the crowd will be in on this match this time around, the antics between Drew & Dean on the outside should help things along, and of course we all know that Dolph & Seth can put on some brilliant in ring action when they want to, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this will be great, and I think Seth Rollins will walk away with the title.

Alexa Bliss(c) vs Ronda Rousey
(Raw Women’s Championship)

Alexa may actually be killed on Sunday.

I don’t think there’s any doubt anymore as to how good Ronda is in the ring, she’s proved more than enough now that she’s amazing, and Alexa Bliss is the perfect opponent for her. The build to this match has been great, and apart from Ronda being scared of a bat she’s looked incredibly strong.

This match could very well be match of the night, but I don’t think the winner is in any doubt, WWE have been dying to put the title on Rousey ever since they signed her, and Alexa only really won the title so they didn’t have to turn Nia heel; Ronda Rousey wins this one.

AJ Styles(c) vs Samoa Joe
(WWE Championship)

I find it a little weird that a feud between the best wrestler in the world and the most destructive force on the planet has boiled down to whether AJ is a good father or not, but that’s wrestling for you.

Honestly I don’t think the story matters here, because these two could tear the house down in any and every arena on the planet. I just hope they learnt their lesson from the Styles/Nakamura feud and don’t drag it down with WWE’s trademark bullshit.

I’m finding the winner a little hard to call though, my gut says it should be Joe, but that’s the same thing I said about Nakamura, and look where that got me. Not to mention there was that graphic for Hell In A Cell next month that showed AJ as still WWE Champion, and you’ve got the video game release in October, where AJ is the cover star.

Ultimately, I think Joe is picking up that title eventually, but not on Sunday, so I’m picking AJ Styles to retain for now.

Brock Lesnar(c) vs Roman Reigns
(Universal Championship)

Please let this be the end.

There was a part of me that was still looking forward to seeing this match again at the start of the month. However after reviewing the entire saga, and having a dream about watching it a couple of nights ago, which means I’ve got to watch it AGAIN on Sunday, I really hope this is the end of this.

Over the past year, the WWE have managed to take any part of me that still liked or cared about Lesnar and smashed it to bits, I just now want him gone; which I suppose is what they wanted me to feel through this story, so well done I guess. However the thing is, I’m not cheering for Roman Reigns because I believe in the character or what he says, but just because he’s the lesser of two evils. Is that what WWE want? For people to cheer Reigns by default? Because I promise you that they can’t get away with that for long.

Of course there is the chaos factor hanging above this whole thing, which is of course the Money in the Bank briefcase; when Strowman won the briefcase a couple of months back, I was convinced Summerslam was going to end with Strowman as Universal Champion, but now I’m not so sure. Not just because he might lose the briefcase to Kevin Owens, but also because I think they might wait until Wrestlemania to pull the trigger on Reigns vs Strowman again.

Whether Strowman/Owens cashes in or not, we still need that visual of Roman Reigns pinning Brock Lesnar to finally put all this to rest and move on, so that’s what I’m going with.

So there you go! My predictions for Summerslam 2018. There’s a lot of interesting things that could happen on this show, so we just have to sit back and hope that at least some of them come to pass. Unfortunately I’m going to be on holiday as of tomorrow, so it’s unlikely I’ll have the time to write my usual review, so I instead recommend you check out podcast co-host Jacob’s blog The Turnbuckle Corner, as he will likely be writing a review of his own next week.

Until then make sure to share this article on social media, follow me on Twitter @10ryawoo, and let me know what you think of my predictions in the comments! I’ll see you next time.

 

My Favourite Music from Video Games

(Originally Posted Aug 2018)

One thing I try to go out of my way to mention often in my Triple Threat Review series is the game’s soundtrack, this is because while it might not be central to how the game plays, it’s certainly important when it comes to enhancing the experience of a game. It’s like butter in a sandwich, you never really notice it, but if it’s not there, you realise something is very wrong with your sandwich.

Lunch analogies aside, sometimes there are certain tracks in games that standout above everything else. Maybe a piece of music that pulled some raw emotion out of you, or turned a regular boss fight into an epic encounter for the ages, I want to talk today about some of the tracks in games that really resonated with me.

I’m setting out a couple of rules for this list though. First off, only one track per franchise, otherwise this list would be very samey for the most part; and secondly, the track has to be from the OST, not the score, since I want to focus on the original work of the game’s composers, not the bands they paid to use their music. So, with those rules in place, I hope you enjoy!

Flying Battery Zone – Sonic & Knuckles/Mania

Listen Here

Kicking this list off with a track to get you amped up for what’s ahead, Flying Battery Zone doesn’t let off the gas at any point.

I had a tough time picking the track to use for the Sonic franchise (Chemical Plant & Ice Cap Zones were the other close contenders), but in the end I had to go with the track from my favourite stage. The best music for Sonic games are always the ones full of energy and life, you need the type of music that can keep up with the speed you’ll be moving in the game, and more importantly, makes you want to go fast in the first place.

Not only is this track full of life, but it fits the theme of the level it’s in. All throughout the track the baseline is there to emulate the sound of the whirring of the machines in the background, While everything else in the track aims to help the player with the feeling that they’re on a giant mechanical battery soaring through the sky.

This is a great track that gets you amped up and gives you a sense of the stakes as you speed through the stage.

Space Cruise – FTL

Listen Here

This is the track that plays on the main menu of FTL, which makes it seem like a weird choice, since usually main menu themes are usually just pretty unnoteworthy pieces of music that are only meant to be heard for a few seconds before you start the game; but FTL doesn’t follow your silly rules.

I chose this track because it feels like it best encapsulates what FTL feels like and the universe it’s created. It starts off fairly empty, with just a few notes, making you feel exactly how you will upon first starting the game, just you and a ship in the middle of space and nothing around you. The track doesn’t stay empty for long though, because as you begin to explore the universe and make your way from system to system, you’ll realise just how full of life everything around you is.

In the space of about thirty seconds, this simple track is able to go from making you feel intimidated about what’s to come to getting you excited for the adventure you’re going to go on, and that’s why I think this track is beautiful.

Venice Rooftops – Assassin’s Creed 2

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While I do enjoy the Assassin’s Creed series, there’s never really been a whole lot of it that’s stood out to me as being excellent, especially when it comes to the music. This track however, is an exception.

This is another track that starts out slow before kicking into gear, and once it does it’s fantastic listening for running across the rooftops of renaissance Italy. It mixes the kind of music you’d expect to hear at that time with modern techniques and instruments to create a great parallel to the franchise as a whole.

The whole track has such a great flow to it, that in some ways it actually helps you with some of the races and time trials in the world, you’re able to get into the same flow as the music and you begin to perform much better as you sprint across the city.

Battle! Team Galactic Boss – Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum

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Never have I ever heard a piece of music that better embodies a character from a video game.

Cyrus is a man with no emotions, he believes the human spirit is a weakness that should be destroyed, and you hear it in this theme. The whole way through the track that baseline is there, staying unchanged and unmoved the whole time, it’s intimidating, it’s imposing, and it’s completely unemotional.

Then there’s the main melody of the track that plays over that baseline, which is the emotion of a Pokemon battle, the bond that exists between a trainer and their Pokemon, as Cyrus battles you he feels it coming through, and at certain points you can even sense this struggle between the baseline and the main melody, as if Cyrus is trying to ward off these emotions he’s beginning to feel.

At that point the main melody disappears, the drums begin to build up before a moment of silence…before everything comes back in a higher gear. You’ve made Cyrus mad, and he’s going to punish you for making him feel again.

Dialga’s Fight to the Finish – Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky

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Ok, so I’m cheating a bit here, but Mystery Dungeon is technically a separate franchise so it’s allowed.

Normally in games you expect the music for the final boss fight to be totally epic scale, a full orchestra going mental or about seventy electric guitars all performing their own solos at once. Dialga’s Fight to the Finish isn’t anything like that though, because in this boss fight you’re not fighting something that’s out to destroy the world, or take it over. You’re fighting a creature who is dying and losing it’s mind, Primal Dialga is in such immense pain that it doesn’t even know what it’s doing anymore, and you have to stop it to save the world.

This track is able to carry that emotion to make the battle feel epic in it’s own unqiue way. The drums in the background are chaotic, fast and all over the place, so you can hear Dialga’s mind as it breaks, while you’re there as the flute over the top of it all trying to fight past it, trying to bring order to a world that’s been plunged into darkness.

The Mystery Dungeon games are well-known for their highly emotional storytelling and that shines through better than ever in this piece of music.

(Also it has one of the best metal covers I’ve ever heard, so it’s got that going for it too.)

Focus – Super Hexagon

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This one is a bit of a weird one, because it is pretty much the complete antithesis of the kind of music I like, however there’s a good reason for it being on this list.

For one, it’s made entirely using sounds from the original GameBoy, which I generally think is impressive, but also it’s perfect for the final level of Super Hexagon, and what that whole game is, total and utter chaos.

You’re having to think of about twenty things at once and you have to deal with things at a million miles an hour that you don’t have even a hundredth of a second to take a break, and that’s exactly what this music is, it’s full speed from the word go and it doesn’t let up for a moment. You also have to consider the fact that, in a game like Super Hexagon where you’ll be restarting quite literally every 10-20 seconds, it could be very easy for the music to get really annoying after a while, but it really doesn’t.

The music almost feels like it’s putting that pressure on you and giving you the drive to keep going, to keep starting again and slowly but surely getting better and better at the game. I adore Super Hexagon, but I genuinely don’t think it’s be anywhere close to the adrenaline fueled experience it is without that amazing soundtrack, and this track in particular.

Revived Power – Shadow of the Colossus

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Throughout this list, I’ve talked a lot about how these tracks can make you feel emotional, energetic or intimidated, but this is a track that is full to the brim with triumph.

One of the best feelings I’ve ever felt in a game was while playing Shadow of the Colossus, after struggling to work out what I was supposed to do for a little bit, finally working it out and climbing up onto this massive beast, as I was holding on for dear life as this incredible creature tried to shake me off and this music began to play. The sense of pure joy I got as this music made me feel like I was conquering this beast, and the fact I’d even climbed up onto it was a huge victory, even though the thing still had full health.

Shadow of the Colossus is a game with a very consistently dark tone, so having this moment of joy and triumph as you’re fighting this creature is so integral to stopping things feeling bogged down, it makes you feel like a fairytale hero such as Robin Hood…you know if Robin Hood fought 50 foot tall monsters.

This juxtaposition to the tone of the rest of the game, creates an interesting sensation, especially in later battles and during second playthroughs, because the game tries to make it seem like you’re being a horrible bastard by killing all these beautiful creatures, and yet this music makes you feel so joyous that you can’t help but take glee in slaying them; which makes that come down of darkness after the battle all the more effective. I think that illustrates better than anything else I can say just how important music can be to creating a meaningful experience in a game.

The Light in Us All – Planet Coaster

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Throughout this article, I’ve avoided listing the tracks as if I’m ranking them 1 to 8, because realistically that ranking could change from day-to-day depending what mood I’m in; but with that said, I think this track is absolutely my favourite.

I talked about Revived Power having the sense of joy and triumph, well The Light in Us All is a track that I feel has been able to capture the pure essence of happiness and distilled it into music; I just can’t stop myself from smiling while I listen to this track.

Not only that but it also perfectly captures the feeling of going to a theme park as a kid. It starts out slow and quiet as you wake up and get in the car to travel there, slowly getting more and more excited, before the trumpets and kick in as you arrive and then a whole day of fun begins, rushing through all of the rides and attractions, having fun the whole day; and then finally the day comes to and end, as things slow down as you get tired and finally go home.

There are very few tracks I find that are able to bring that kind of emotion out of me, to properly capture that sense of nostalgia and happiness that comes with theme parks, and it really is a truly great piece of music.

So there you have it, those are my favourite tracks from video games. Of course, music is arguably one of the most subjective types of media there is, so I’d love to hear some of the tracks that you love, either in the comment or on Twitter @10ryawoo, and come back later this week for The Strong Style Podcast!

 

Roman Reigns vs Brock Lesnar: The Story So Far

(Originally Posted Aug 2018)

Alright guys, it’s time to get hype. The match we’ve all been waiting for, 3 years in the making is on the horizon. That’s right, Roman Reigns vs Brock Lesnar part 6 is coming our way at Summerslam 2018.

Ok, I can’t keep that sarcasm up this whole time, I don’t have any real optimism about this match. It’s a match we’ve seen 3 times one on one, and 5 times if you include multi-man matches; on the bright side, Lesnar will hopefully be finally losing the Universal Championship…hopefully.

Still, before August 19th, I decided I’d like to take a look at “the story so far” if you will. So I went back and rewatched all the matches (not including Royal Rumbles) in which Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar were fighting against each other, and see how they all hold up against each other.

Wrestlemania 31 – 2015

I included this match in my article where I talked about some of Brock Lesnar’s best matches post 2012, however for that list I was going by memory, so did it still hold up when I rewatched it?

Yes, yes it did. While Seth Rollins cashing in at the end did very much up the opinion of the match, the one on one contest that preceded it was also a very entertaining watch. It started out pretty slow, but eventually you really began to feel like Lesnar was getting into the fight, with some very vicious strikes and suplexes. While having Reigns laugh a lot of it off may have not been the best idea, it did help to tell the story of Reigns not staying down no matter what.

Then as we enter the later stages of the match, a collision with the ring post on the outside caused the beast to bleed and the match was a fever pitch from that moment on. Lesnar fighting like a wounded animal really did work with Reigns’ comeback as he tried to keep Lesnar under control to get the win. Then of course Rollins’ music hit and the rest is history, but I found myself very much pumped up by what I’d been watching up until that point.

Fastlane 2016

So Fastlane seems to be the red-headed stepchild of WWE Pay-Per-Views. Being the last major show before Wrestlemania means it’s generally a lot of wheel spinning before we get to the grandest stage of them all the next month.

Perhaps no show encapsulates that better than the 2016 edition of Fastlane, with a card featuring such titanic matchups such as Curtis Axel vs R-Truth and Big Show, Kane & Ryback vs The Wyatt Family. The top off the night we had a match where anyone who had even heard of wrestling knew who was going to win from the get go. Still, that doesn’t mean the match was bad does it? Well…not exactly.

While it was quite a fun match, it wasn’t much above the standard fare of what you expect from WWE Triple Threat matches. After an opening 5 minutes of Lesnar dominating non stop the bestest friends in the world teamed up to take Lesnar out of the equation, putting him through 2 announce tables and allowing Lesnar to take a little nap while Reigns and Ambrose fought it out.

While the match was quite fun, the finish certainly dragged it down a bit, since it felt like it really came out of nowhere, Reigns and Ambrose get lucky enough to take out a revived Lesnar only for Ambrose to run  straight into a spear for Reigns to win the match. This was a fine finish, but it felt like it came a few minutes too early, I would’ve liked to see Reigns and Ambrose go back and forth for a few minutes before Reigns won the match, but oh well, can’t have everything.

Summerslam 2017

Wow, this one really feels like it was more than a year ago…

So we get another multi-man now, this time featuring Braun Strowman and Samoa Joe. It’s a little hard to compare these two to the rest of them, because while it was very good indeed, everyone in this match really took a backseat to BRAAAAAAUUUUUUUN and his unstoppable destruction of everything in sight.

I say that like it’s a bad thing, but it’s really not. Braun had been gaining momentum all throughout the spring of 2017, but I believe this was the match where he really became the star he is currently on Raw; Brock Lesnar doesn’t get on a stretcher for just anyone after all. That really is the core factor of this match though, was the stipulation that is Brock Lesnar lost his Universal Championship he would leave WWE. Personally I expected Reigns or Strowman to win and Brock to still show up again anyway, and I feel they did a very good job of making us believe that was going to happen; when Brock was strechered out I really did think it was over.

Sadly that wasn’t to be, as in the closing stages of the match, after a lovely set of sequences from the other three participants, Lesnar ran back in out of nowhere and pinned Roman Reigns to retain his title.

I really enjoyed watching this one back, even if Lesnar and Reigns didn’t really have much to do with it, although it did sadly lead to a rather disappointing Lesnar vs Strowman match at No Mercy before Lesnar disappeared for another few months, but that doesn’t take away from this match. A very good showing.

Wrestlemania 34 -2018

So, I’ve tried to remain as positive as I can throughout this list so far, but now we reach the point where I just can’t possibly keep it up anymore, this match was crap.

After a somewhat fun, but somewhat disappointing show, I was still holding out hope that these two would be able to recapture the magic of their first encounter 3 years earlier. While Lesnar had slowly given less of a fuck with each passing year, Reigns had come on leaps and bounds as a wrestler since then, so I thought maybe we could still get something good.

However once again, I was proved just how wrong I am when it comes to WWE. While I normally hate it when fans hijack a show by chanting random crap and shitting all over something without giving it a chance, I can’t say I disagree with them in this instance. The two men would put on one of the most bog-standard matches I’ve ever seen, with the only thing of any vague interest happening in the last few minutes of this 15 minute match.

They were desperately trying to tell the story that Roman Reigns was such a resilient hero and could take this mammoth beating from Brock Lesnar, but in trying to tell that story things just got ridiculous. All year, WWE had built up the F-5 as the single most destructive move in all of pro-wrestling, with even the biggest of challenges being put down with just one. So in order to make Reigns look good everyone expected he’d kick out of one, maybe two if they were feeling cheeky, but a whopping five – one of which was through a table – seemed a bit much.

This ludicrous level of over booking meant that the image of Roman Reigns’ face covered in blood really didn’t have the effect it should’ve, because it just seemed stupid. I genuinely remember just keeling over laughing after the fifth kickout, that’s how stupid it was.

Then came the biggest surprise of the night, as Brock Lesnar actually won the damn thing, in a match that was perfectly designed to make Reigns look like the valiant face of the company and beast slayer, he lost…ok then?

So yeah, the match was awful, and to top it all off, it set up the chain of events that have led us to the sad state of affairs we’re in today, so this one gets no praise at all.

Greatest Royal Rumble 2018

Once this match was announced, it seemed to make sense of the confusing result that had happened a month before at Wrestlemania 34. It made perfect sense that if WWE were trying to make waves in Saudi Arabia, then they should have their big title change at their marque show in that region; or so we all thought.

What we got instead was a match somehow even more by the numbers than their Wresltemania 34 encounter, it was like the road agents just went to the WWE archives, pulled out a folder for “WWE Steel Cage Match Template” and just told them to do that.

In a match that went shorter than 10 minutes, pretty much all we got were these two men throwing their signature moves at each other. Superman Punches and Supelexes were the order of the day and boy there sure were loads of them.

Oh you thought that’d be the worst of it? No, no, no my friend, it gets worse.

In one of the worst finishes to a match that I’ve seen in a long time, Reigns Speared Lesnar through the cage wall, a great visual sure, but who wins? Let’s take a look at it from various perspectives. If you say that touching the broken cage wall counts as touching the floor, then Reigns’ hands hit first, as did his feet, meaning he’s the winner. However if you say the mesh doesn’t count and it has to be the floor….well Reigns rolled off first, so he’s still declared the winner.

So can someone please explain to me why Lesnar was ruled the winner and held onto the title? This was such a terrible mess that WWE themselves even struggled to write themselves out of it, with them getting the referee to send out a tweet saying he just “made a quick judgement call”, even though whenever anything like this has happened before, a couple of referees would sit around discussing it for a few minutes before deciding a winner.

Everything about this was just terrible, and another blemish on the records of both men.

The Final Rankings

After watching all of these matches back, I’d have to rank them thusly:

  1. Wrestlemania 31
  2. Summerslam 2017
  3. Fastlane 2016
  4. Wrestlemania 34
  5. Greatest Royal Rumble

While based on pure enjoyment, Summerslam 2017 would be my number one pick, the bits of the match I enjoyed had nothing to do with Reigns nor Lesnar, so it didn’t feel fair to rank that as their best match. On the bottom end of the spectrum, while based purely on the match, Wresltemania 34 should be the worst, but that finish at the Greatest Royal Rumble is just too bad for it to be anything other than last.

So of course the big question is, looking back at this, am I excited for part 6 at Summerslam this year? Well….not really. While they have had one exceptional singles encounter, it was 3 and a half years ago, and their most recent matches have been terrible, so I sadly can’t say I’m looking forward to this one, but who knows maybe they’ll prove me wrong.

And that’s it! Let me know what you think of this article and give me your rankings for their series in the comments below. Make sure to follow me on Twitter @10ryawoo, and come back this weekend for another edition of Triple Threat Review!

 

My Favourite Generation 1 Pokemon

(Originally Posted Aug 2018)

Ok, it’s been far too long since I last talked about Pokemon.

While I haven’t been playing Pokemon as much as I have over the past couple of months, the Let’s Go! games are just over the horizon and I’m still as hyped as ever to play them.

One of the reasons I’ve mentioned as to why I’m so excited is that, aside from the version of Kanto in HeartGold & SoulSilver, I’ve never played through the Kanto region, and never in the way it was originally designed. However, over the course of all the other games, I’ve played with a lot of generation 1 Pokemon and grown to love a lot of them.

So, in order to hopefully help you get in the mood for some Kanto action, I’m going to talk about my ten favourite Generation 1 Pokemon.

10 – Vulpix

This thing is just too cute for words.

While its evolution, Ninetales often gets a lot of love, I just adore the cuteness and subtle beauty that comes from Vulpix. It shares a small amount of resemblance to another small and furry Pokemon I’ll be talking about later, and I really think that if I’d had more of a chance to play through the games with one, it’d be so much higher up on this list.

While I do like its snowy Alolan form, the original is where it’s at for me, and this is a Pokemon that I will be searching for when I come to play through Kanto in November.

9 – Mewtwo

Call him overrated, call him overpowered, call him whatever you want, I still love Mewtwo.

While a lot of later legendary Pokemon would have big grand and complex designs, Mewtwo is very simple and I think that’s where it’s beauty comes from. It’s simplicity is what makes it stand out from all other legendaries. Admittedly, I’m not a huge fan of it’s Mega-Evolved forms, but I don’t count that against this wonderful Pokemon.

Of course, I couldn’t possibly talk about Mewtwo without bringing up its role in the first Pokemon movie, the writing in that film did a wonderful job of getting the audience to feel Mewtwo’s inner struggle, and that really endeared many people, myself included, to Mewtwo. So I will certainly be heading off to Cerulean Cave as soon as the game lets me to battle with this Pokemon.

8 – Squirtle

Definitely my favourite base evolution of the Kanto starters, and honestly, it’s at least in my top 3 for overall starter Pokemon.

Just look at that face, how could you not love that face? Squirtle just seems like it’s always content with life, I feel like Squirtle is a Pokemon that would always be able to cheer me up when I was feeling low and generally be a joy to have around the place.

In terms of its design I think the muted colours work really well together to make a Pokemon that’s generally just quite pleasant and easy on the eyes, and while I don’t like it’s later forms as much as Squirtle, they’re certainly nothing to sniff at as this cutie turns into a powerhouse.

7 – Charizard

I touched briefly on certain Pokemon being considered “overrated” when talking about Mewtwo, and perhaps no Pokemon gets that criticism more than Charizard. I generally find overrated to be a pretty lazy criticism, because telling someone that they shouldn’t like something just because everyone else does is pretty baseless and doesn’t achieve anything other than upsetting people.

That gripe with the community aside, I still have a soft spot for Charizard, it’s not a Pokemon I’ve ever really used in battle, or on any of my adventures, but I just really love it’s design, and as you may have noticed, design is the most important thing to me when it comes to how much I like a Pokemon. Charizard feels extremely powerful, but also kinda sweet. Whenever I see it smiling in the anime I just can’t get over how cute it looks, and that’s really stuck with me.

I don’t really have a lot more to say about Charizard, really I just love it because I love it, nothing more to it.

6 – Pikachu

From one face of the franchise to the other, Pikachu is a fantastic Pokemon.

Once again, it’s the beauty in simplicity, that Generation 1 was great at, that drew me to Pikachu’s design. It was picked to be the series mascot because it best appeals to everyone, and when looking at Pikachu, I feel that most certainly rings true.

However, a lot of my love actually comes from Pikachu in the TV show. While yes, I know that he flips flops between being the weakest and the most overpowered Pokemon ever depending on the episode, I just love how much personality the little guy has, without ever having to speak a single word (the 20th anniversary movie notwithstanding). I really enjoy being able to see the character in the Pokemon I play the games with, and Pikachu has that in spades.

5 – Gengar

I slotted Gengar right in the middle of this list, because it tends to go up and down a bit in terms of how much I like it.

This is mostly due to how recently I used one in a playthrough, but it’s been closer to the high-end for quite a while thanks to a great one I had during my original Pokemon Sun playthrough, and boy could it wipe the floor with most of my opponents.

Design wise, another relatively simple one, but I think that makes it all the more creepy as a ghost type, it’s basically just a big void with a creepy smile. In addition to that purple is my favourite colour, so this gets a big tick from me.

While Gengar may not be a Pokemon I’d want to have around me in real life, I certainly love it in the games.

4 – Articuno

I’m not a huge fan of the other two legendary birds, but Articuno more than makes up for the other two.

Articuno is just gorgeous, everything from its colour, to its wings and its flowing tail; this thing oozes majesty. Not to mention that it looks exactly like what I’d expect when I think of an Ice & Flying type; the colour really brings out the cold feel you’d expect and the little icicles on the top of it’s head blend the look of the two types beautifully.

Like I said, I’m not a great lover of the legendary birds as a whole, but I can certainly see myself going out of my way to try to use Articuno in some capacity during my adventure in the Let’s Go! games.

3 – Alakazam

I find it quite hard to explain just why it is that I like Alakazam, but let’s give it a go.

At first glance, Alakazam has a lot of features that, under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t like. The combination of yellow & brown is quite ugly to me, the fact it’s holding two spoons should really make it way less cool, it’s mustache looks stupid and I’m not a big fan of humanoid looking Pokemon either.

But there’s just something about Alakazam that makes all of these things work together and it ends up being quite a pleasent Pokemon to look at. I think it’s typing helps a lot, it absolutely looks like a Psychic type to me so that helps tie things up, and also on the rare occasion I’ve used one, I’ve had a generally pleasant experience using it.

So I guess I just appreciate Alakazam for being able to win me over, despite there being many aspects to it I don’t like.

2 – Arcanine

I talked about Articuno having majesty, but really it could never stand up to Arcanine.

While I’ve always considered myself more of a cat person, I’ve certainly come round to appreciate dogs over the past few years, and Arcanine is perhaps the ultimate dog.

I’ve always loved Arcanine’s look, but in the past year it’s shot all the way up to be one of my favourites thanks to it becoming a main member of my team in Pokemon Ultra Sun. I absolutely fell in love with this beautiful looking beast of a Pokemon, and I shall definitely be using one as I travel through Kanto in November.

1 – Eevee

Well no points for guessing this one.

Yes, if you’ve ever looked at the header image of this site, then you knew this one was coming. I absolutely adore everything about Eevee, it’s the Pokemon that I’d most want in real life and I love using one whenever I can in the games. I assume that the Eevee you receive at the start of the           Let’s Go! games will be unable to evolve, much like Pikachu was in Yellow; but if the trade-off for that is I get to dress my Eevee up in all sorts of cute costumes, then I’ll happily make that sacrifice.

Eevee will always remain one of my most cherished Pokemon, and will stand forever as my favourite Pokemon from Generation 1.

And there you have it! If you’d like to tell me my opinions are wrong, then hit me up in the comments below or on Twitter @10ryawoo. Make sure you share this around on social media and check out @emorganart on Instagram, who edited this article. Finally, come back later this week for the next Strong Style Podcast!

I’ll see you then!