Author: Jay Hunter

Tough Enough Week 6

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• WWE fired Hogan just before the transcript of his 2006 racist rant was leaked. Bret was the only name rumoured to talk Hulk’s place, and Tough Enough could use a veteran’s voice. They could use Scott Steiner’s voice. Imagine him cutting live promos on the men and hitting on the women!
• So in Hogan’s place is The Miz. This is a step down as now he’s not hosting Tough Talk (Bryon Saxton is). The first thing out of his mouth is talked over by the boorish Paige, who is worse than ever this week. She chastises the fans over eliminating Patrick, later on she butts in whilst Miz gives advice to ZZ, and again while he justifies his bottom 3 pick.
It’s sad that the Miz doesn’t have any type of respect despite his qualities. She wouldn’t fucking dare talk over Hulk Hogan.
• It’s like Game of Thones post-death where everyone mopes about Patrick being gone, the first significant elimination. It even kicks off with a recap of him getting the boot, a first for TE. ZZ resolves to make “his best friend” Patrick proud, by working out. (They oddly show clips of Patrick insulting him though)

• 1st Challenge: A tree-to-tree Zip-line obstacle course. Cesaro makes an appearance and says this is about focus: Complete the course but remember a number, whilst Billy Gunn tries to mess you up. Sara Lee smashes the course in 4 mins (she doesn’t get ANY credit for this) but can’t remember the code, like most, GG wins it for the females (sandbagging Billy with silence) and Tanner whoops ass as the overall winner. The prize is Jericho’s 3rd book. A prize of £11! What a shit prize! Later on, Tanner admits to only reading one chapter.
• Chelsea and Tanner are in the hot tub, and in an awkward/flirty/help-you-out way, she asks him to cut a promo on her bikini. He stutters and fails. They edit this in a way that makes him look really pathetic. Later on Byron asks him to try again, and he exasperates “Jesus Christ” twice before stumbling through a little better 2nd time around.

• 2nd Challenge: Also to test focus. Do a 3-part sequence (shoulder tackle, run-over and take a slam). Most look decent, except for ZZ, who is stymied after the first move and is throwing Mada off his game (he’s worried about himself, as he was 2nd last in the first challenge) and Amanda and Sara Lee bomb, badly. Booker chooses Josh and Chelsea as the winners.
• Amanda and GG start drama and GG cries in a woe is me it’s so hard phone call. She is never picked up on this bullshit forced TV drama. I know it’s all TV bullshit but wow, it’s bad.
• Live challenge at Full Sail, the women take a slam and splash from Tamina Snuka. Amanda Marty Jannetty’s it, massive smile on her face throughout. Oddly Chelsea takes the worst slam and Tamina goes a little harder on her and GG (ie the trained wrestlers). Is it odd that Sasha, the black NXT call-up joined the black/samoan team? Seeing The New Day (3 black guys form a faction), not really. At least Alicia Fox is with the Bellas so it’s not completely white vs non-white.

• Bottom 3: Amanda (Bryan via poor performance; Miz contends that she’s hot and Paige asks about his wife Maryse. Ha!) Mada (Miz, because he played the blame game with ZZ) and ZZ again (Paige, thinks he’s lazy and doesn’t think he can win). Mada gives the best speech out of the 3, citing his passion, body and mind, and rightly gets a round of applause afterwards. So he’s not going — You’re fucked, Amanda! Oh shit! Miz saves Amanda (Paige loudly disagrees, obviously) and we find out the rules of the save – someone’s still going home – as the 2nd lowest votes, Mada gets eliminated instead. Ah, bullshit. Crowd is taken aback and they cover the silence with the awful theme song, and we’re out!

Pretty average episode. Patrick never did much on the week-to-week show so wasnt missed. Bloom is off the rose with ZZ, he’s not being funny, he’s both sulking and sucking at the challenges. They haven’t quite thrown ZZ under the bus but they are strongly highlighting his negatives, and although he never says anything bad, they’re letting him hang himself. Still the most popular though, 4 more episodes left, he might be able to push through.

TOUGH TALK

• Bryon Saxton has taken the Miz’s place. Boo. He’s fine, like a halfway point between Michael Cole & The Miz. A step down from The Miz, who was perfect in the role.
• Mada cuts an impassioned promo on ZZ on how he works harder and wants this much more than him. He kinda destroys ZZ, and hilariously says ZZ destroyed 2 chipotle burritos. ZZ doesn’t have much to come back with, but he does get one laugh, explaining the shots of milk (toasting to Patrick) was because he’s 19 (not over 21) and shots are for decision-enhancing.
• Paige is in overdrive with the obnoxious Simon Cowell heel gimmick. She does however back up Mada, saying ZZ or Amanda should’ve gone. Miz and Paige continue arguing over Amanda staying, Miz saying she constantly gets a reaction (dropping the words heels and babyfaces), Paige contends she can’t do anything in the ring; to which Miz bellows “none of them can!” which is a great sound byte.
• Seeing Amanda chastised for only being pretty….it’s a good time to bring up that Eva Marie has resurfaced on NXT; a woman with no athleticism who was hired because she’s pretty. She’s been on a wrestling crash-course, training with Bryan Kendrick. She has improved but she’s obviously still poor. I wonder who hired her, as it directly contrasts to hiring Becky, Sasha, Charlotte etc.
• Bryan‘s closing advice for everyone is to get their fundamentals right – the basic sequences down pat (lockup, powerslam etc)
• Paige gets Byron to do his Carlton dance (which is funny, but he dances like a white guy if that makes sense) and we’re done. Couldn’t find a .gif of it!

Overall: Don’t bother this week! Here’s Mada’s closing speech that should’ve kept him in the game:

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July 29, 2015
Super OSW 64 Level 3!

If you are in Dublin in 2 weeks (9th August) come hang out with us at DUBLIN COMIC CON! We’ve the 4pm Panel. Free pictures with Jay & V1, OOC…that’ll be a tenner!! 😉 We pitched that joke to him and he completely sandbagged it. We’ll talk about super-secret deleted scenes, WHAT BARs, Q&As and more!

Our third show! Featuring franchises GTA, Resident Evil and Street Fighter, Earthworm Jim 2, Snatcher and more amazing videogame music! Aired on 18h July 2015 on 103.2 Dublin City FM.

iTunes: iTunes.OSWreview.com
RSS (Android): RSS.OSWreview.com
Direct Link: Super OSW 64 Level 3! (Left click)

Super OSW 64 Level 3 Playlist:
1. Street Fighter II (Arcade) – Guile’s Theme
2. Super Street Fighter II HD Remix – Zircon – Fei Long “Flying Heaven”
3. Super Street Fighter II HD Remix – The Grammar Club – Zangief “Red Cyclone”
4. Akuma “Mountain Breaker”
5. GSM Capcom – “Power of Four” (M. Bison part)
6. Sonic The Hedgehog CD – Sonic Boom
7. Buck Bumble – Main Theme
8. Marvel vs Capcom 2 – Select Your Heroes
9. Marvel vs Capcom 3 – Arthur’s Theme
10. CarboHydroM – CastleVania Medley “Vampire Killer The Ending”
11. GTA San Andreas theme song
12-14. GTA IV: Trailer 1 – Things Will be Different, Theme Song, Seryoga – King Ring
15. Bumper: TMNT IV – Big Apple, 3 a.m.
16-19. Zelda Wind Waker HD – The Legendary Hero, Outset Island, The Great Sea, Staff Credits (Title Theme)
20. Snatcher – One Night In Neo Kobe City
21. Malukah – Skyrim – The Dragonborn Comes
22. Rebecca Tripp – Secret of Mana – Fear of the Heavens
23. Deadly Premonition – Life is Beautiful
24. Catherine Warwick – Earthbound – Pollyanna (I Believe In You)
25. Metal Gear Solid – The Best is Yet To Come (Aoife Ní Fhearraigh)
26. Bumper: WWF Attitude – Agent X
27-34. Resident Evil Franchise – 2 (PS2 Startup, Front Hall), Code Veronica (Theme of Alexia Type 1), 4 (The Drive/First Contact, Serenity, Mercenaries, Wesker) 2 (Credit Line of Whole Staff)
35. Tekken 5 – Antares (Cathedral)
36. PAIN – Main Theme
37. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 – Reincarnation – I’ll Face Myself (Battle)
38-41. Earthworm Jim 2 – Title Screen, Anything but Tangerines, Subterranean, The Ending
42. Bumper: Scott Pilgrim’s Another Winter
43. The Simpsons Game – The Land of Chocolate
44. Play! A Video Game Symphony – Commodore 64 Medley (Last Ninja)
45. Professor Layton and the Unwound Future – Title Track
46. The Hobbit – Working The Mill
47. Dragon Age: Inquisition – Main Theme
48-53. Super Mario 3D World – Main Theme, Shifty Boo Mansion, World Bowser, Highway Showdown, Athletic, World Clear
54. Discworld 2 – That’s Death
55. Neo Geo (Instrumental) – FantomenK

Next OSW Review: Simulcast RAW (2-3 weeks away)
News & my thoughts on Hogan getting fired: OSWreview.com/hogan-racist-comments/
This week’s Tough Enough: OSWreview.com/tough-enough-week-5/
Latest film review – Scream 1: OSWreview.com/media/movie-scream-1/
Latest video review – Samurai Cop: OSWreview.com/media/movie-samurai-cop/

July 26, 2015
Hogan Racist comments

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My thoughts on the Hogan/racist comments:
• What he said was hateful, ignorant, and completely wrong. He admits to being a racist, to a point.
• However, this was said 8 years ago,
• in a private residence,
• in a private conversation.
• It was recorded without his knowledge/permission (Hogan says), and given to a scumbag trash website, Gawker.
• They released the sex tape but this part was withheld. Why? A common practise (with TMZ and the likes) to have this kind of leverage to basically blackmail celebrities into giving them stories.
• Hulk’s suing Gawker (for $100m) over the sex tape, and they’ll have to prove it was the public’s right to know. If Gawker leaked the racist transcript, it’ll weaken their case. Perhaps this was their leverage and he wasn’t backing down.
• Earlier today, Hogan apologised, calling it “unacceptable” and “inconsistent” with his own beliefs, saying there was no excuse for his words.

This tape cost Hulk his job and was thrown under the bus by WWE right before the news dropped (firing him and exponging him from their websites, including merchandise). It’s embarrassing for WWE as he was their ambassador, but this sweeping action put themselves under scrutiny. No stranger to racist characters, from turkey-eating savages The Headshrinkers to Cryme Tyme, Vince calling Cena ‘my n***a’ on TV was picked up by newspapers. In any case it’s all a bit hysterical at the moment – they still honour the likes of Mike Tyson, Steve Austin and Jimmy Snuka, whilst Hogan just said some awful things at his friend’s house. It’ll blow over, newspapers will move on to the next scandal, and when the Gawker lawsuit is sorted, he’ll be back, I’m sure. Might take a few years, maybe less.

One more thing, he buried wrestlers equally, no matter what their race/ethnicity 🙂 I’m saying give it time and hate Hulk for being Cunt Hogan backstage and not for something he said amidst plowing his best friend’s wife![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

July 25, 2015
Tough Enough Week 5

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TOUGH ENOUGH WEEK 5
• Tried to watch it on YouTube live, it was stuck on the “please wait” screen – gave up after 10 minutes. It was available in full today though, as is Tough Talk (no longer a Network exclusive).
• It’s an hour long again – USA Network must’ve given them a permanent extra half hour. There’s actually only 40 minutes of WWE content so it’s better paced now.
• Big show greets Jericho with a Jerishow reference. He stands there silently in his ring gear like a spare tit, as everyone else is dressed in street clothes or more formal attire.
• Challenge 1: “Rock on” adventure obstacle course. Tanner smokes everyone (back to the earlier status quo) and Giorgia (Gigi) wins for the female. Technically Tanner cheated by not using the 1st rope. The 2nd rope climb is the most difficult. To power through, Mada goes into “Mada mode”, which is “1,000 times beast mode”, but 30% of Brie mode. This contest was about specific types of strength, stopping a lot of the challengers. I can only imagine if they asked Big Show (in any year of his wrestling career) to do this, or Dusty Rhodes, and sent him packing. ZZ, Chelsea and Amanda are stymied by the rope climb and Chelsea ends up straining her ankle – she needs to be off it for a month.
• Patrick is being put over as arrogant and can’t back it up. He cuts a smark promo picking on ZZ. It comes off really badly. I’ve no doubt WWE is portraying him much worse than he was via the editing, and Patrick quickly mentions that later.
• We see Jericho “periscoping” the show live (broadcasting video live from his phone) which I did tune into for a bit last night – he holds his camera vertically and generally just shows the audience whilst the pre-recorded clips play on the big screen.
• Gigi, in Gabi’s absence, has taken the role of top female heel – later her and sidekick Amanda pick on Sara lee and the lads literally sit back watching and eating popcorn. It’s the funniest thing Tanner’s done, have a laugh watching the girls cluck. Gigi volunteers Chelsea’s injury status to the judges and fake cries while she does it, turning attention to herself. She comes across as vindictive bitch. She technically is right though (the best kind of heel) – Chelsea should quit rather than being forced out or possibly injuring someone. We find out later that Chelsea’s cleared and can compete again next week.

• Challenge 2: Perform a wrestling sequence of shoulder tackle, jump over and body slam; talking smack whilst you do it. Pair up and the loser does squats whilst reciting some insulting phrase. Mada wins (making Patrick squat and say “I’m bowing down to my king”) and Gigi for the girls (surprisingly, as they slam they showed was horrific). They’ve successfully taken ZZ and Patrick down a few pegs and shifted focus to Mada, a smart change to freshen things up in the overall storyline. He has not got the personality or the cardio to lead the pack though, that’ll blow up soon enough.
• Welllllll, what is Big Show here to do? A live “challenge” for the men to take a chop to the chest. Awesome, everyone has great craic. It’s like being at Ribera steakhouse! Was the perfect use of Show, and it’s his signature spot. He takes a shine to Mada hyping him up for the chop, who takes it like a boss. ZZ (who kept his undershirt on and Giant ripped it off – I hope it wasn’t his dad’s shirt)…he looked like he was shot by a cannon, crumpling afterwards. If I were Sara Lee I would’ve gotten up there to get a chop, it would’ve put her over huge and the other two women have implants so they literally couldn’t.

• Bottom 3: ZZ (Via Bryan – God help the other two), Patrick (Paige; for failing a “humility challenge”? That is bullshit, as the challenges were an obstacle course and a smack-talk sequence) and Josh (Hulk – who believes he’s good and can step up if he survives.) Paige rightly quips why not Amanda, who didn’t even finish the challenge…What a hypocrite, take your own advice instead of vindictively ‘humbling’ Patrick to get your jollies.
• Elimination: Poor Josh. Oh fuck! It’s Patrick. The crowd are shocked and give him a round of applause (not given to any other loser) He bottomed out by about 10% – it was definitely the berating of ZZ that killed him. He cuts a grateful “I’ll get humble and be back” promo and we’re done. This was Patrick’s highest chance of getting him eliminated – there was no final challenge and the impromptu 15-second plea was right before voting closed. The episode centred around how he’d gotten a big head, dismissing ZZ asking him to dial it back, and instead attacking the fan-favourite. It worked, Patrick (the only guy who knows his shit, the best all rounder, who knows what to say and the guy who desperately wants to be in WWE) was voted out. Thanks Paige.

Overall: Decent episode (relative to this season of course!), it was nice to see middle-of-the-pack Mada get some shine. Shocked/saddened to see Patrick gone, by far the biggest elimination. Watch Big show’s chops (above), that’s it.

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TOUGH TALK
• Digital Extras: ZZ does a horrific scripted promo with Jericho “I feel like I’ve had a reality check”. Oh man. Y2J gives Patrick a pep talk. He mentions one week you’re world champion and next week you’re not on the show (indirectly mentioning his 2002 Undisputed champion run – he wrestled RAW the night after he lost the belt at WMX8, wasn’t at the next PPV and didn’t have a match on RAW until August)
• Patrick correctly mentions that Miz didn’t win TE (S2, and look at him now), Bryan and Paige didn’t start off in WWE either; and later thanks Vince & Aitch, quoting Vince saying we’re a family. Perfect rhetoric! He deserves a job in WWE. Miz mentions it’s the first time people actually care about who got eliminated. More than half of the show is dedicated to Patrick, wow, it goes on a bit too long.
• Bryan laments not being able to save both ZZ and Patrick. Tanner’s grilled about his lack of promos and is told to watch more tapes. Bryan humbly says to not watch his as they’re not that good. What a lovely guy.
• Mada is incredibly timid on the mic (but is it live TV & put on the spot), needing prodding to answer Miz’s questions. Miz picks up on it and challenges him to cut a promo on him, but he doesn’t, and Miz lets him away with it.
• It’s not news but it was really bad this week, Hogan ONLY talks in generic marketing buzzwords “ya gotta turn it up, kick the afterburners on” etc, which is not helpful advice. It’s like a football manager screaming at his team to score more.
• They eek out of Amanda that Chelsea should’ve been in the bottom 3. She should’ve mentioned Chelsea couldn’t even compete in the second challenge, and it’s a week-by-week elimination, so yes. She does admit that she failed it which is good humility with no consequences (since the elimination already happened).
• The women’s angle is Sara calling Gigi fake, for giving up Chelsea’s injury straight away to the judges (and betraying what she expected to be confidential information). Gigi tries to not be the heel (being exasperated that Sara’s forgiven immediately because she’s Sara). Bryan asks who the crowd like more and Sara gets a rousing chant. Do not fuck with Sara Lee! I think she might even top ZZ as top babyface right now. Despite losing all the challenges everyone’s pulling for her. On Tough Talk, Gigi comes off as frustrated, a bit resentful, but straight-laced – what she’s saying is fair. She talks in facts rather than entertainment or personality and is visibly annoyed by Sara Lee’s popularity.
• Miz asks Patrick for a final question (“what’s the next step?”) and he says use the contacts he’s made here, get into the performance centre, he can be bigger than the Miz ever was (what a great guy). This show makes me like Miz so much more. He’s very professional, entertaining whilst still towing the company line (eg mentioning the Performance Centre) and showing his worth.

Overall: The show ran a bit long with the focus on Patrick, but it was entertaining. I’d watch the opening 5 minutes and when Gigi tries to criticise Sara Lee and the crowd shouts her down. There’s never a need to watch either though! I got ya covered 🙂[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

July 22, 2015
Samurai Cop now on iTunes!

– Do you like what you see?
– I love what I see.
– Would you like to touch what you see?
– Yes. Yes, I would.
– Would you like to go out with me?
– Uh-huh. Yes, I would.
Would you like to fuck me?
– Bingo.
– Well then let’s see what you’ve got. (Grabs crotch). It doesn’t interest me. Nothing there.
(Murtagh gurning)

OSW review Samurai Cop audio now available!

iTunes: iTunes.OSWreview.com
Android: RSS.OSWreview.com
Direct MP3: left click
Watch the YouTube video (our first major release on YT in 7 months!): OSWreview.com/media/movie-samurai-cop
Note: Audio for today’s Super OSW 64 radio show will take a couple of days.

This week’s Tough Enough/Tough Talk review: OSWreview.com/tough-enough-s6e4
Latest film/TV/game review: Scream TV show eps 1&2
News on the next OSW episode: OSWreview.com/osw-update-10-july

July 18, 2015
Tough Enough S6 Week 4

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][bquote prk_in=”What happened last week? Blonde Fiancée Dianna quit, and MMA Lesbian Bartender Daria was voted off. During the week it was revealed that “replacing“ Dianna is Chelsea Green; aka WWE’s version of Claire Lynch (Megan Miller, Daniel Bryan’s physiotherapist). I call bullshit! The competition is set at a final 13. Substitutions AFTER weeks of eliminations makes a joke of THE RULES! It’s also an insult to the competitors. I’m annoyed that no-one’s annoyed by this. It is addressed during Tough Talk. It’s like Orton subbing for Booker T, and winning him the US title in 2006!” type=”plain”]tricker[/bquote][vc_video link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzmi9fR7luo”][vc_column_text]

TOUGH ENOUGH

• Kick off with more hens clucking, however Amanda (fake Barbie) admits her yelling/picking fights is intentionally trolling Gabi, to get her to quit. This foul play isn’t referenced again, oddly.
• King Barrett arrives to talk about promos. Sucks Wade Barrett didn’t turn up. Hilarious as he’s beside King Booker and King Billy Gunn, lol. I’ll always remember Edge (after winning the 2001 KOTR, pledging to not “Billy Gunn” the KOTR). Way Barra stays for 1 minute of TV time where he asks for promos. Extremely rushed, but they do it again in….
• Challenge 1: Improv is Jericho! Pair up and cut promos on each other. They match lance’s students (Georgia & Chelsea). It’s highly-edited so it’s hard to gauge actual quality – this would be best served in the live section. And they do! (For the bottom 3). Patrick and Mada were the stand outs, your #1 & #2 respectively. Patrick insulted MMA’s Tanner on not knowing old school wrestlers like Cactus and Piper (the fans in attendance and myself ate it up) whilst Mada’s was his Pharaoh gimmick again; very intense eyes, heavy breathing, good stuff. Mada gets hot about losing and bitch Josh throws water on Patrick. Jericho tries to rile up lovely/dorky Sara Lee but she takes his criticism/smack talk as constructive advice. She tries to shout & be mean and it doesn’t work. It’s as intimidating as a baby wearing a leather jacket. It’s hilariously cute.
• Improved format: They’ve pared back Jericho’s role even more (Rene picks up the slack, does the final interview etc) and have removed rounds of applause before the judges talking – it *really* helps. If we could just calm down on the hyper-editing (used insidiously to tell the stories WWE want to tell) we’d have a much better show. Like Dianna didn’t quit because she didn’t have passion (the TV reason the judges gave), it’s because she went to help a very close friend who was attacked and paralyzed from the neck down. Fuck.
• They’ve turned Paige picking on Sara lee into an angle, as despite her trying really hard, Paige says she’s not. She still needs to reel it in, bellowing out confrontational remarks which only she finds funny and cutting over Bryan, Hulk and the contestants.
• Challenge 2: PowerSlam drills. Sara Lee can’t take or perform it correctly. Chelsea (who stank at promos) wins it for the females, and Josh for the males.
• Back to the judges: Hulk was actually paying attention this week! He picks Mada (the shouty big guy promo ala Zeus) as the best promo, over knowledgeable smaller guy Patrick; saying he didn’t have a character, don’t be “Patrick the Smart Mark”. The Cuntster was also obviously butt-hurt as Patrick insulted Mada by saying “the time of the big guys are over – Warrior’s gone, Hulk’s retired”. He should’ve known better than to indirectly insult a judge. You can slag Bryan, possibly Paige, *absolutely not* massive ego/hugely insecure Hogan! That said, the vindictive Smart Mark gimmick worked extremely well for CM Punk and now Kevin Owens…
• Bottom 3: Sara Lee (via Paige; not stepped up), Gabi (via Bryan, no concept of promo), Tanner (via Hulk; bad promo). They all get to cut 30 second promos on the judge that nominated them as their plea to win votes:
– Gabi: She shows she doesn’t know what a promo is and asks to not be let go. Horrific.
– Tanner: He wishes he was Tito Santana with his “I’m gonna try my best” promo. Bomb.
– Sara Lee: nothing too special “I’m gonna be a diva and face you one day” but light years above the other two.
• No saves. Jericho spoils the vote telling Sara Lee she’s not going home. I wonder if WWE are pissed that she keeps smashing the voting, despite trying to send her home. Gabi is eliminated with 11%; and Sara Lee kills it (again) with 63%. WWE do not bring this up. She’s at least the 2nd most popular in the whole thing behind ZZ.
• There’s this awkward silence as Rene shuffles on stage to prod the loser Gabi for an interview. This needs a musical sting. Gabi inexplicably says she’s happy to end this and start her training again, and she wasn’t there to pick fights. Rene goes whaaat and alrighty. In a parting face turn, Gabi hopes Sara Lee will win it.

Overall a decent episode (relative to this season) with some creative and format improvements. Focusing on promos is a far more interesting & useful gauge of talent. ZZ had almost no role in the show though…

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TOUGH TALK

• Crowd bit rowdier than usual, nice. They chant for Miz.
• Bryan reads a scripted question. Jaysus c’mon mate. He also calls the PPV Battleground “Battlefield” which everyone laughs about. He expertly says Hogan called it the Superdome!
• They have Amanda and Gabi up (people groan expecting a repeat of last week’s shouting match) but they cordially disagree.
• Hogan asks Josh what was with the “bitch move” throwing water in Patrick’s face. He fobs it off saying he was acting thirsty, which the crowd accept.
• Mada and Josh whine about Patrick and it ends up as a promo battle between Mada and Patrick: Mada basically repeats his kinda generic “I’m gonna beat you up” heaving breathing promo; the strength of which is his intense eyes. Patrick has gotten a lot cockier this week, it ain’t cocky if you do it and you back it up! He kills it with the king/crown jewel/bow to me promo and gets a large round of applause.
• ZZ is charming as ever, saying being at raw this week “it…touched me” and deflects the cardio issue saying “round rolls”. He works the crowd really well. Hulkster likens him to Dusty which he graciously appreciates.
• Lita kinda says we’re far away from Season 1 of Tough Enough where the winners made an impact, which is bollocks (I know Maven had that one shocking spot eliminating Taker in the rumble, it worked as he was a nobody; and only won the hardcore title when it was passed around like lice. Nidia is best known as Jamie Noble’s trashy girlfriend and never standing in her own light)
• Chelsea (WWE’s Claire Lynch) first flubs saying getting there “it took long enough”, which people gasped. She explains it took Dianna forever to quit. She was #14 in the 13-person competition; her slotting in isn’t really fair but she’ll take it. Bryan brings up her role as his physiotherapist/Claire Lynch storyline which they laugh about, and Brie gave her a burst ear-drum (which is common; Bryan got one as well)
• Hilariously Gabi thinks Miz will shake her hand when he turns to her, but he turns away and ends the show, lol.

Overall: Some good stuff! Definite improvement from last week. Great to finally see focus on promos (in both TE and TT), not some stupid costume competition. Even Hulkster looked like he was actually paying attention and did some kind of research this week! With Gabi gone it hopefully means we’ll not have the “skanks shouting over each other” storyline anymore. And yay Sara Lee! The “boy” of Tough Enough!

Brucie Bonus video coming tonight![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

July 16, 2015
Super OSW 64 news!

Hey yo. I’ve a good news sandwich (2 bits of good news with bad news in the middle). Hey, it’s a thing. If it isn’t a thing, it’s a thing now 😉

• Here’s the good news: Super OSW 64 is getting a third show! It’s gonna be this Saturday, 18th July, LIVE at 1pm BST!
• Here’s the bad news: It will be the *final* show. Stadium Saturday will be back next month so the interrim replacement shows won’t be needed anymore.
• And the good news: I’m gonna kill it! I’m gonna kill my creation! Since it’s my last show, I’m taking requests, tell me what your favourite videogame songs are and I’ll try include them, no franchise restrictions. Comment below, and please include a youtube link, it makes it so much easier for me and I’m more likely to pick it! Also include what city/state or country you’re from so I can name-drop you & your town on the show!

Latest update on the new OSW Review: OSWreview.com/osw-update-10-july

July 13, 2015
OSW Update! 10 July

Hey yo! Here’s what’s going on with OSW in July:

• We recorded a special Brucie Bonus episode, and it’ll be out sometime in the next week! It’s a 3-man film review (like The Happening was) and we think you’ll really dig it. It’s a mental review. It’s not a wrestling film either – you’ll never guess what it is, unless you’re extremely vigilant, in that case, yes it’s that one.
• I’m hoping to lock down another episode of my videogame music show, Super OSW 64, I’ll find out in the next day or two. UPDATE: Coming this Saturday, 18th July!
• The next OSW Review – Episode 52, Simulcast RAW – is in the books, in the pocket, out of sight! We recorded it on Thursday. Was a whopper show, had a great time doing it. It’ll feature the MONTAAAAAGE of artwork you guys sent us in over the last couple of months! I’m hoping to have it out by the end of the month, but I’ll let you know when I’ve broken the back of editing.
• We’re also looking to sort a panel for Dublin Comic Con next Month! All going well we’ll have the deets in a few days.
• Chatted to V1 yesterday about live-streaming more games, he’ll only do it if he’s around for an hour or two. I’ll prod him for an Arkham Knight stream because I pledged not to buy it until the GOTY edition comes out!
• I’ve been working on getting the YouTube episodes back up, WWE and YouTube are very, very slow but I’m making headway. They’re all still there, just not available if that makes sense. The first order is getting the episodes that’ve never appeared on YT (Halloween Havoc onwards) online! I do have some small snippets of videos waiting to be edited but I’ll get the Brucie Bonus episode out first.
• My new advice for anyone making videos is to include the word “Lesbians”. Our Lesbian Pollen video clocked over 3 million views! It didn’t help AJ & Paige’s feud though 😀
• My latest horror film review is Texas Chainsaw 3D, featuring Woody Harrelson’s gorgeous mistress from True Detective S1! Check it out: OSWreview.com/media/movie-texas-chainsaw-2013/
• I’ve been reviewing the current season of Tough Enough as well! Not enough people are annoyed that they’re flagrantly breaking the rules by adding a new competitor 3 weeks in! OSWreview.com/category/tough-enough/

See you in the funny pages!

Jay

July 10, 2015
Tough Enough S6E03 “Who Are You?”

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TOUGH ENOUGH S6E03

• Double episode length this week (41 minutes). I wonder if this season will finish a week earlier now…
• Dianna works the reality TV routine “it sucks that I don’t get along with anybody. One half are bitches, the other half are boring. I just wanna go home” this is the forced drama WWE want, but she actually quits! The judges bury her first chance they get.

• Woot! Seth Rollins! First Challenge is to do a ring entrance for a silly gimmick (cutting a promo as this character would’ve been far more insightful). Rollins says the character you’re given might not jibe with your actual personality (Man, get Sparky Plugg in for this!). Of course it’s just an excuse for silly costumes: We have “British Brawler” (Josh who smokes on the way to the ring, OOC style!), “Bitchy Boss” (Giorgia), “Barbie doll” (perfect for plastic face/tits Amanda), “King of the Ring” (Egyptian Mada dresses like a Pharaoh), “Fallen Angel” (Daria, who literally starts bumping/falling!), “Stud Muffin” (Tanner, who botches jumping into the ring), “American hero” (ZZ, who moves like a CAW; the judges hate his Santino comedy gimmick), “Queen of Mean” (Sara Lee, who can’t be mean), “Evil intellect” (Patrick, who uses Lita’s dog as a prop), and “Farmer’s Daughter” (the brazilian Gabi, who whores it up with fishnets). It’s cool that this is taped during the week so it’s up to date (TE1 was recorded before Austin’s 2001 heel turn but aired afterwards). Seth leaves before seeing the finished products making his appearance almost as useless as Roman’s last week. Patrick wins, despite not speaking and others looking their part/showing more personality.

• ZZ sulks as he bombed, Gabi and Sara Lee decide to team up (in the fakest bullshit storyline angle), and Patrick and Tanner tussle (it looked like Patrick had the upper hand in those few seconds). Patrick’s a wrestling coach back in D.C. and wrestled amateur in a Military Academy. Tanner calls him out later about not mentioning it, and Patrick expertly bats it away saying it’s the WWE way of wrestling that matters.

• Paige settles in nicely to the vindictive Simon Cowell role, she keeps cutting across DB to give out. Hulkster’s the grumpy grandpa who’s far too old to give a shit, and Bryan’s the lovely nice guy. Paige hates Sara for being too nice but loves Giorgia for being too cute, and pledges to put Sara Lee in the bottom 3 each week until she improves.

• Bottom 3: Daria (who did nothing), Sara Lee (again via Page) and ZZ (again via Hulkster). They do their entrances again to sway voting. Should’ve let them enter the stage again to reveal the costume instead of “hey just start walking”. Oh man, Sara Lee just awkwardly sneers. It was v poor but the judges think it’s better. I like her from what little I’ve seen. She’s seems goofy reminds me of Bayley. Imagine Bayley trying to do a bitch gimmick! Everyone brings attention to ZZ’s junk (if he stuffs it). He KILLS it working the crowd and explaining his character. Daria’s entrance was much more serious/boring but the judges approve.

• Final plea: Daria pushes her MMA background and Paige takes umbrage with it. Death. ZZ talks about making kids laugh brah. Sara Lee revoices last week’s plea of she won’t give up (*Cena tune*). Jericho asks the opinions of the other contestants, ending with “a lot of people with opinions but those opinions don’t matter, text/tweet etc” well why did you ask them then?! No saves from the judges.

• ZZ wins with 52%, Daria’s voted off with just 14%. DEAFENING silence following it. Renee hassles her for her reaction (Daria’s still stunned) and pushes LGBT community support, it’s weird WWE wouldn’t keep her on to exploit that. She holds herself well.
• Separate instances of CLAPPING final tally xxxxxxxxxxxxx = 13 TIMES

Overall: An improvement over last week. There’s only one challenge in a double-length show, but WWE do a good job with it, extending the final segment, so more time spent with contestants having to think on their feet. It’s not a good show, but it is better!

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TOUGH TALK

• Bryan and Hulk give Daria positive advice (noting her qualities; if you want to be in wrestling, get there), and she shows why she shouldn’t have been eliminated – she does a great job turning it into a big shouting match with Gabi and Amanda, which is exactly what Vince & Dunn want in a reality show: gorgeous skanks bitching, reinforcing the negative stereotype. Somewhere out there, Vince Russo is shouting OH GAWD BRO, THIS IS EMMY TE-LE-VISION BRO! It’s a big portion of Tough Talk, Bryan laments outing her for elimination afterwards. We still have the Brazilian Gold-digger Gabi as the Queen bitch who works the other contestants, bringing the drama; so dropping Amanda (or Giorgia, or Josh) would’ve been better for the overall quality of the show.

• Oh man. Miz plugs the Beast in the East show, and Patrick‘s the only one who watched live. Patrick’s just won the hearts of every wrestling fan watching the show. Hogan (and Paige revoices) to just end the competition and give it to him, to a rousing applause. From then on it’s shooting fish in a barrel putting him over and chastising the others. Patrick shows he knows both what viewers and judges want to hear – he MURDERS everyone saying the right things (“Indy experience doesn’t matter, I’m here to learn the WWE way”). It was a thing of beauty. He bats away any verbal jabs by Tanner, who outs himself as a liar, saying he watched Beast in the East later but can’t answer a follow-up question. Paige suggests they should kiss and make up and Patrick backs off; Miz asks if that’s real and Tanner asks if Miz wants some. Hilarious.

• Giorgia is very much the Lance Storm student, who doesn’t create drama, excels physically but doesn’t show much personality, and is courteous and professional. She’s the female winner of the last two challenges. Hmm. Mike (the Hammer) got eliminated for saying ZZ’s the worst of them all, even the women…but the women are judged separately! It’s probably just the way he said it, using women as an insult, and Paige raking him over hot coals.

• Elsewhere, Hogan says he sees greatness in ZZ but is terrible physically, Mada is pressed about seeing rough things in his life in Egypt (eg tanks being outside his house), both himself and Josh talk about not seeing their kids, and the Sara Lee/Gabi “alliance” (as Sara Lee calls it) is brought up, holy shit it’s so fake. She literally asks Miz for cues and what she’s doing is ok. End on a slow-mo of Daria crying and we’re done.

Overall: Shouldn’t have eliminated Daria, esp. with her beef with Gabi, and promoting her LGBT background would be good for WWE. You do not need to watch the main show! Watch Tough Talk for the Patrick segment, schooling the lads.

WWE Beast in the East Review: OSWreview.com/wwe-beast-in-the-east
Last week’s Tough Enough Review: OSWreview.com/tough-enough-602

Question! Is Patrick your new boy?
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]UPDATE: Wanna hear some ol’ bullshit? Tough Enough are adding A NEW contestant after THREE WEEKS of elimination. AND….it’s WWE’s Claire Lynch! (aka Megan Miller). In reality she’s another of Lance’s students and had a WWE tryout in January. I know nobody’s watching this show, but shit, this is a huge fuck you to both the other participants and the viewers. Well, viewer. I’m not joking when I say WHAT ABOUT THE RULES?

https://twitter.com/WWEToughEnough/status/618797316733075456[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

July 8, 2015
WWE Beast In The East

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WWE Beast In The East house show
New Sumo Hall, Tokyo, Japan, July 4th, 2015 (10:30am BST)

I’m so glad they made the decision to air this on the Network. Despite having hallmarks of a house show, it’s very cool to see WWE in unfamiliar surroundings with a different setup. The production was more like NXT: harsh bright lighting, less rigid camerawork – no cutting every second or zooming in/shaking on moves like stomping. With Michael Cole & Byron Saxton on commentary (live from Stamford, CT) they weren’t shilling Sonic Burger or whatever bollocks about the United Authority – there were no promos, no backstage skits – they just talked about the match being presented and the background of the wrestlers, in a reserved, relaxed way. It was much more of a legitimate sporting event feel – really great stuff.

Two untelevised matches: Cesaro submitted Diego, and Lucha Dragons got the pin over New Day.

CHRIS JERICHO vs ADRIAN NEVILLE
Jericho has his light-up jacket, which is fun to see again. Cool to think the last light-up jacket used in Japan was Prince Devitt’s, who’s now in WWE but back in Japan! Mildly jarring remembering that Jericho’s in WWE (with Tough Enough) but doesn’t wrestle. He has more knacker tattoos than ever! Cole & Saxton talk about their pre-WWE backgrounds, it’s surreal, FMW (Jericho), DG (Pac). It makes Michael Cole especially sound so much smarter and credible. The lads are wearing matching purple attire. Jericho’s very windy and Neville’s SO much faster. Oddly they don’t work the crowd. Speaking of, there’s an awesome “I’m deaf” sign. It’s so odd to hear a Japanese crowd go through the usual WWE chants (this is awesome, later on ‘let’s go Cena, Cena sucks’ etc). There’s a couple of mistakes and very short sequences i.e. they’re calling this one in the ring, but overall it’s an entertaining match. Lots of Jericho countering/cutting off Neville. Y2J didn’t do any high-risk moves, he’s too old for that! The only real choreography was the finishing sequence. He catches Neville with a lionsault, Code Breaker, countered the Red Arrow with his knees and applies the Lion Tamer (a great treat! Something we only see with smaller opponents like Tyson Kidd) for the win in 16:20. I quite enjoyed it despite being a little sloppy and a little too long.

DIVAS CHAMPIONSHIP: NIKKI BELLA (c) vs PAIGE vs TAMINA
Nothing really of note here. Tamina gets teamed up on, replies with a Tower of Doom. She gets caught with a Nigel forearm from Nikki, who retains at 7:04.

BROCK LESNAR vs KOFI KINGSTON
No Heyman and instead of pyro, dry ice discharges! Brock is SO huge. A beast of a man, if you will. Cole mentions Brock being IWGP champion, which was this whole messy affair: Antonio Inoki left NJPW to create the IGF. Champion Brock left NJPW, but kept the title over a monetary dispute. He dropped this title to Kurt Angle at the first IGF show. Kurt then wrestled in NJPW and lost it to Shinsuke Nakamura, who became their new unified IWGP/IGF champion! (And all was right with the world again).
An obvious mismatch turned to be…an obvious mismatch. Kofi’s gameplan was to WCW Brock and counter suplexes by landing on his feet. After a minute Brock stops selling Kofi’s offense (looked great) and just catches him, suplex city over and over, F5 and pin. A blowout, dominant performance in a nothing match – just him being there was the draw. That felt quite house show-y but it gets over how big a deal Lesnar is, and god help Seth Rollins. He destroys/F5s New Day afterwards.

NXT CHAMPIONSHIP: KEVIN OWENS (c) vs FINN BALOR
I haven’t mentioned it but WWE have been doing a mini-documentary about Finn for the 3 weeks leading up to this match, it’s superb viewing. Devitt comes off as very humble, professional and dedicated. He loves legos and is big pals with Tensai. Becky Lynch is given tons of time talking about Fergal and going to his wrestling school. They show lots of photos, tweets and footage from his time in the Irish, English & Scottish indies, which is really amazing to see on WWE TV. They put the three parts together into a 26-minute mini-docu called “The Demon Revealed”, track it down!
Balor’s entrance is kinda in fast-forward, he didn’t revel in it. His full-on body paint has a Japanese demon head on his back, awesome. I LOVE the giving of flowers for championship matches. It’s so out of place with Demon Balor and KO. Finn thanks the Geisha whilst Owens throws his out onto the ramp. Fans throw coloured streamers for Balor’s entrance. Oh man, I’ve said it before but I wish someone worthy in WWE would take that gimmick of the streamers. Bryan (well, it’s too late now) or Itami or Balor himself would be perfect. After a dropkick into the barricade, you can see someone dressed as Curry Man. AWESOME. There’s also a Japanese Simon Gotch.
Owens spends a lot of time working the crowd, bowing to each side. He also builds up a big head of steam and into a headlock, shouting how he hates the country and everyone in it. Hilarious. He’s great. He successfully gets even me to hate him as they wrestle a WWE match, where the heel gets the shine for the vast majority; making it a slow affair, Devitt keeps getting cut off. Owens, the man with the most feuds of anyone in wrestling (Itami, Balor, Joe, Zayn, Cena) does the 5 Knuckle Shuffle. No chained sequences, just move to move; until Finn gains momentum, hitting a reverse & regular Bloody Sunday. Owens hits a sweet release german, cannonball and package slam; before a Green Bay Plunge from the 2nd rope. Some really sweet moves but at a heel’s pace. In the end, Balor his a running dropkick, sliding dropkick in the corner, and coup de grace double footstomp to win the NXT title at 19:26! Afterwards WWE HOF’er (lol) Tatsumi Fujinami congratulates Balor and the commentators and replays put Devitt over really strong.
Overall it spent a bit too much time with the heel being intentionally slowly dominant (we’ve seen even in WWE with Cena that KO can do a much faster pace) but it’s great to see the two have a prominent match, KO dropping the belt and fully graduating to the main roster, and Balor’s next in line to do so. This should’ve main-evented.
NXT right now is this weird (awesome) hybrid of extremely talented ROH/Japan guys and then dudes like Blake and Murphy, who REALLY need developmental. I wonder if people will still love NXT after Itami, Sayn and the most talented guys leave.

MAIN EVENT: JOHN CENA & DOLPH ZIGGLER VS KANE & KING BARRETT
A tag match main event? Featuring Dolph, Kane and Barrett no less? It must be a house show! Half an hour left to kill too. This match drags and drags, lots of time spent working over Ziggler. He eventually tags in Cena, who hits all of his signature moves on Barrett and gets the win at 23:51. Sadly Kane didn’t come out with a lei (Hawaiian wreath of flowers). That would’ve been boss. Hawaiian Kane. Since he went on Va-kane-tion. I’m so sorry.

Overall: I hope they do this televised house show every so often, it’s very cool. The house show mentality (for better and worse) made for a much more refreshing WWE production. 2 hours is perfect (like NXT Takeovers). Imagine if they had Cesaro/Brock instead. Could’ve used Ambrose & Rollins in the main event instead if they were intent on a tag match. If you’re sick of WWE’s 20-minute promos and 3-hour RAWs, I recommend giving this a watch. Great place to give Balor his first title in the company.

Link to the new Tough Enough/Tough Talk “Swamp Stories” review: OSWreview.com/tough-enough-602/[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

Our brah Nate’s photos and live event experience:

[/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”flexslider_fade” interval=”10″ images=”4171,4172,4173,4174,4175,4176,4177,4178,4179,4180,4181,4182,4183,4184″ onclick=”link_image” custom_links_target=”_self” img_size=”717×538″]tricker[/vc_gallery][vc_accordion active_tab=”false”][vc_accordion_tab title=”Nate’s live show experience:”][vc_column_text]The crowd were straight up smoking hot! Folks got into the austere tradition and the funky colorful side of it, too: a whole gang of gents were in full Cena garb, fans were in cosplay like mad (I’ll send pics of that soon), and there were plenty of old school diehards running around – I saw Warrior shirts, Big Gold Belts, and even a Bunny!! (no Adam Rose, tho). Lots of foreign dudes were there – we all had an instant international chant-heavy connection.

Hope you loved the show! The crowd did manage to crank out some pretty good English chants, yeah? – even bigger than what was heard on the Network broadcast (someone seriously needs to muzzle Michael Cole!!). Too bad they left out the Cesaro vs. Matador Diego match, and New Day vs. Lucha Dragons, which the crowd were insane to see. All in all, it was a smaller-sized venue full of fans who were genuinely happy to be there; no cynics or grumblers in sight. They were GLUED to the performance, too – nary a side conversation going on, and so much energy for every move!!

This really was one of those cool live shows that just can’t be done proper justice on a TV. Never mind the surprisingly satisfying in-ring product (even the divas’ and the main event!) – the atmosphere was all positive, all enthused, and all inclusive. I could even hear myself roaring out “Y-2-J!!” and “Fozzy Rocks!!” on the broadcast like a mad shameless mark, but folks always got into it – people were yelling out great J-English phrases all the while: “Supa-koo(l), mahn!!” and “Yooo rock-oo!!”. Even my girlfriend was bouncing up and down for every match – too damned cool!!

Also on that, we were trying to do the old Savage / Elizabeth-on-shoulder pose for the picture. Didn’t realize that the shirts were so obscured, but that’s what a sushi / saki warm-up snack will do to a guy… C heck out the square whitish photos of Sumo wrestlers in the top left wall area! World class ! Y2J looks when I yell FOZZY and MOONGOOSE!

On the dark matches:
Yeah, they were solid! Cesaro / Diego was nice and fast with competing “Ole’s!!”, and Cesaro really knew how to work-up the crowd. He wings Diego for 27! The Matadores used some hilarious twin-magic with hugging each other and spinning in a circle at ringside, and when Cesaro went after them, they split up and ran under opposite sides of the ring, so he dug them both out and squashed both. It culminated with Torito wiggle dancing on top and pouncing on Cesaro, so he caught the baby bull and gorilla-pressed him over the turnbuckle onto Fernando before getting the pin.

New Day got great heat with the clapping and chanting, and LDragons started well with their signature speed-over-power action (awesome). Xavier looked great, and even Big E looked faster than usual with Sin Cara crawling all over him. After New Day pummeled them for a bit, Dragons turned it around with a double tope dive through the ropes, and Calisto spun around and rolled up Xavier for the win. Great opener-style match.

The crowd was just manic for both matches, and they actually kept awake for the whole show after (though some did leave during the final match — Cena just moves at such a glacial pace..). Still a surprisingly good show, and so much more fun to watch without having to listen to the commentators — this actually restores a bit of my faith in WWE, which is great considering the drop in wrestling numbers worldwide…[/vc_column_text][/vc_accordion_tab][/vc_accordion][/vc_column][/vc_row]

July 6, 2015