Month: July 2015

The Spotlight Tough Enough Power Rankings for Week 3

Tom Lynch Spotlight On The WWE Network, Wrestling , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Last Night the third episode of WWE Tough Enough took place live on the USA Network and it was a noteworthy episode to say the least. First it was revealed that Dianna had finally had enough of being away from her fiance while in the midst of planning their wedding and decided to drop out of the competition.  This was something that we mentioned as a distinct possibility and was a shame as she seemed to be one of the more athletic girls in the competition.  I was prepared to get all over Dianna for giving up the opportunity of a lifetime, it was revealed in an exclusive interview on the tough enough app that Dianna also left because one of her friends that worked at a bar that Dianna owned was attacked at the bar and left paralyzed.  Thus, if Dianna also left because of that unfortunate circumstance than I can’t fault her for that and wish her nothing but the best.  Dianna’s loss is somebody else’s gain as a new contestant Chelsea was able to enter back into the competition.  Chelsea is a student from Lance Storm’s Storm Wrestling Academy and is probably remembered by die hard WWE fans as Daniel Bryan’s physical therapist who claimed that her and Bryan were having an affair (in a storyline quickly dropped, I might add).  This is an interesting choice for a new contestant as I’m sure some viewers, like me, were either hoping to skip an elimination this week or that Ashley (who had the heart condition from the casting special) would be returning.  Regardless, if she was trained by Lance Storm she is probably going to be very good in the ring, just ask Tyler Breeze.

Also last night on Tough Enough, in a bit of a surprising move, Daria, was sent home.  (A quick side bar here, did you know that Daniel Bryan is a perfect 3 for 3 in that every contestant that he has placed in the bottom three, has gone home).  I thought honestly that Daria was better than a few of the contestants and she had a ton of heart, as evidenced by her “Save Me” speech this week and how crushed she looked going home.  It is obvious at this point that if it comes down to a fan vote and you’re in the bottom three with ZZ and Sara Lee, you can pack your bags.

Thus, after a noteworthy episode, ten contestants remain so let’s get into this week’s Tough Enough Power Rankings

IMG_4062

1) Patrick Clark Jr. (Last week #2)

After two straight episodes in which Patrick won the skills competition, he has finally jumped up to the top spot in this week’s tough enough power rankings.  One thing that I liked about Patrick this week was that he’s the only one who woke up to watch the Beast In The East Special at 530AM and was periscoping with fans right when he woke up.  The guy obviously respects the business and looks to really be living his dream with this competition.   I also really liked that Patrick showed that he was not going to be a push over this week by standing up to Tanner and coming right at him. Patrick also had a great answer when Tanner called him out for being a trained wrestler prior to coming on the show by saying tht his past training didn’t count as he’s here to learn WWE style.  With Patrick showing his depth this week as a performer in the entrance competion, the sky is truly the limit for Patrick.

IMG_4056

2) Tanner Saraceno (Last Week #1)

Tanner continues to be dominant in the athletic competitions and it really looks like it’s going to come down between he and his rival, Patrick as the competition continues.  One thing I’d start to worry about with Tanner is that he doesn’t seem to be reacting well to Patrick beating him in competitions.  His constant challenging of the other male contestants to fights may start to rub fans the wrong way, who in the end have the final say on the voting.  Tanner’s lack of love of the business is also starting to really show and that’s not good.

IMG_4057

3) Giorgia Priscina ( Last Week #11)

After plummeting last week all the way down to the lowest ranking for female contestants at number 11, Giorgia has really come into her own in the competion.  She has won the last two athletic competitions amongst the girls and showed off some of her personality in the entrance competition this week.  Giorgia is also the one girl to avoid all of the drama that so many of the other contestants have found themselves consumed by.

IMG_4055

4) ZZ Loupe (Last Week #3) 

ZZ drops a spot here this week, although if this competition continues to be decided by fans voting, he’s going to win the show as he continues to dominate in all of the fans votes at the end of the episodes. ZZ was called out for acting, what Billy Gunn perceived to be, silly during the entrance competition when he came out in a red, white and blue headdress and his underwear when he was supposed to be dressed as an American hero.  I thought this was good for ZZ, however, as it allowed him to show off his more serious side.  ZZ was offended that Billy felt he wasn’t taking the competition seriously and quickly spoke up about how bad he wants to win this competition.  Lastly ZZ didn’t back down from his costume as he said that he felt he was portraying a hero because a hero could be many different things to many people.  He said he was getting the fans out of their elements and getting them to believe in what he was doing.  At the end of the day ZZ proved that his best quality is the support he has from the fans as he got the most again when in the bottom three.

IMG_4061

5) Mada Abdelhamid (Last week #6) 

I hate to be so male contestant heavy but I’m really not impressed with too many of the female contestants yet.  I was actually most impressed with Mada this week to the point that I thought he won the character competition.  It’s taken Mada a bit to show some of his personality but now that he’s showing off some of it and getting more comfortable, I think he has a shot to do well.

IMG_4060

6) Amanda Sacaranato ( Last Week #4) 

Mandy continues her desecnt down the power rankings as she really hasn’t showed me too much from week to week.  I thought she did alright during the character competition but had one of the easier characters to emulate.  I give Amanda credit for trying to ignore some of the things that Gaby says about her, which are basically that Amanda couldn’t be more phony if she tried, until shecf but she has to show more during the episodes or she isn’t going to be around too much longer.

IMG_4063

7) Joshua Bredl (Last Week #9)

Joshua seems to have improved over the past two episodes.  I liked that he was uncomfortable with the British Brawler character but he did his best with it and ended up doing a good job.  He also seems to be getting better in the athletic competitions.  While he remains a step behind Tanner, he seems to be giving it his all to get closer to beating him.  I don’t think it’s smart of him to continue to go against the beloved ZZ (by telling ZZ that he’s just upset because the judges didn’t like his entrance when ZZ seemed really down about how he was treated) and I still cotnsider him to be the weakest amongst the five remaining men, but it’s good to see him improving nonetheless.

IMG_4050

8) Sara Lee (Last Week #5)

Readers of my rankings know that I support Sara but truth be told she really hasn’t impressed in any of the competitions whether it be athletic or in personality. That said she continues to show her realism factor that the other female contestants are lacking. She is honest about struggling but working hard to improve. She has also survived two straight bottom 3’s so it’s obvious that she has the fan support which is key.

9) Chelsea Green (Last Week N/A) 

It would be really easy to put the new contestant on the bottom but Chelsea is a trained wrestler and it seems that WWE is leaning more towards women’s wrestlers as opposed to the divas.  Likewise, I’m sure if she does well enough, she won’t be put into the bottom three as she’d be at a distinct disadvantage being so new.

IMG_4053

10) Gabi Castrovici (Last Week #10)

Gabi is gorgeous, but unfortunately that is where her good qualities start and end.  Gabi continues to cause drama with the other girls in the house and really bullied Amanda, so much so, that I expected her to be kicked out of the house.  Furthermore, I question how bad Gabi actually wants this as she continues to spend time away from the Barrocks with her husband.  The main part about Gabi though is that she really lacks likability which means that if she’s ever in the bottom three, she won’t get the votes needed to stay.

That’s going to do it for me this week but as always if you disagree with my power rankings, feel free to let me know where I was wrong.  Be sure to catch WWE Tough Enough live tonight on the USA Network at 8Pm EST.


The Spotlight On Raw for 7/13/2015

Tom Lynch Spotlight On Raw, Wrestling , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

First off I like to apologize for being off the grid these last few days. I’ve been a bit under the weather really since last Wednesday and it just got worse until finally kicking my ass all weekend. I’ll get more into that on tomorrow’s Daily Spotlight but thankfully I started feeling a bit better just in time for a great Raw (and an awesome Home Run Derby, which I’ll also get into tomorrow morning). As for Monday Night Raw, it emanated live from Atlanta, Georgia and was the final stop of the road to WWE Battleground. Without any further ado, let’s get right into some of the highlights of the show… 

Highlights: 

1) Divas Get Their Chance- Tonight’s Raw didn’t only see one call up from NXT but rather saw three call ups as Charlotte, Becky Lynch and NXT Women’s Champion Sasha Banks all made there Raw debut tonight. The segment was probably the greatest womens segment since Paige debuted and beat AJ Lee for the women’s title the night after Wrestlemania 30. This was really a relaunch for the women’s division in WWE as Stephanie McMahon showed up to introduce the three ladies from NXT. What made the segment even more special was that the crowd absolutely exploded with “This Is Awesome” chants and showered the ladies with praise. It was really a telling sign as to how far NXT has come that the NXT women were instantly reconized and admired for their athleticism and past accomplishments. If you only have time to check out one segment from this week’s Raw, its this segment right here. 

2) The U.S. Title Open Challenge- What else is new? These segments are great every week and it is nice to see that each week more and more people continue to come out and challenge John Cena. The U.S. Title has become the most prized possession in WWE & it’s great to see how John Cena has brough prestige back to that belt. Cesaro continued his streak of having the best match on Raw as he and Rusev (and for a little while Kevin Owens) had a great, nearly , 24 minute match. It was great to see that Rusev is back showing his aggressive side and it was nice to see him, not only, getting a big win over Cesaro but also to see him getting a DQ victory over Cena. Kevin Owens costing Rusev the match ,after taking himself out of the three way, added some heat on Owens. Owens is obviously respected and, by a certain percentage of the audience, adored. The problem with that is that he’s being counted on to be a top heel in the company so by having him taking himself out of matches and then also costing the fans the opportunities to see clean finishes, (with Cesaro and now Rusev) the crowd may be more inclined to boo him. WWE has done a good job over these past few weeks of adding Cesaro and Rusev to the Cena and Owens story. They’ve used a hot feud like Cena-Owens to create new contenders for the US title in Cesaro and Rusev and giving both of those guys a rub in the process. Good stuff all around. 

3) The Champ Stands Alone…Confidently?!?– This week Brock Lesnar continued his destruction of the Authority by taking out Kane after previously taking out J & J Security. This set up the showdown between Brock Lesnar and Seth Rollins well in that now, theoretically, Rollins is all alone to face Lesnar. In the process, however, I felt that Rollins cut his best promo to date in that he claimed not to be afraid of Brock Lesnar while also rediculing  Kane.  He  also, correctly, pointed out that while Lesnar had gotten better of all of his past challengers, he never did get the better of Rollins. I felt the end of Raw did a good job in setting the stage for the Battleground main event and a number of possibilities moving forward. If Seth Rollins proves he doesn’t need anyone and defeats Brock Lesnar retain the championship, he’s a made man. If Brock Lesnar wins back the championship and Triple H doesn’t come out to help Rollins or fails to help when he does, this starts issues between Rollins and Triple H. Lastly, it’ll be interesting to see where Kane goes from here after being verbally undressed and humiliated by Rollins to end the show. 

4) Stardust Returns- While I was surprised to see Stardust return as a heel (presumably to continue his program with Stephen Amell), it was great to see Stardust back on Raw for the first time since the untimely death of Dusty Rhodes. I thought Stardust cut a great promo to hype his return prior to his match with Neville and seemed incredibly passionate. It was nice to see him get such a warm reaction from the crowd and it’ll be interesting to see just how long WWE will be able to keep Stardust a heel. 

Closing Thoughts

Overall, I think Raw was a really good show, perhaps the best since the Raw the night after Wrestlemania. The show did a good job in building towards Sunday’s Battleground and even beyond. It’s interesting to note that with only Smackdown remaining before the Battleground show, Dean Ambrose (who’s main evented the past two pay per views), Cesaro, Rusev and the Divas are not on the Battleground show. I’m sure some will be added but since Battleground is, likely, part of the larger Summerslam picture, it’s ok not to have everyone on every pay per view. 

That’s going to do it for me but I’d love to hear your thoughts on tonight’s Raw. Until then keep your eyes pealed for a new Daily Spotlight in the morning, updated Tough Enough power rankings prior to tomorrow’s show and a whole lot more right here on thedailyspotlight.com!

The Spotlight On Raw 7/6/15

Tom Lynch Spotlight On Raw, Wrestling , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

WWE Raw just went off the air and I have to say I really enjoyed this show as it did a good job in continuing the build for Battleground while also delivering with a great main event. Let’s get right into some of the highlights of the show. 

Highlights:

1) Chicago Made- It’s not easy for me to admit it, as a proud New Yorker, but the best WWE fans belong to the city of Chicago. This crowd was into everything on the show and remained lively for the whole three hour show. The crowd was a lot more than CM Punk chants as they showed support for everyone and respect for everyone not named John Cena (though I think with Cena its a little tongue in cheek and he won the fans over in the end). I hope WWE also heard the support for Bo Dallas. As I say on a weekly basis, they have something in that guy, I just hope they realize it.,

2) What a Main Event- Another week of raw, another show where the John Cena US Title Open Challenge has stole the show. John Cena and Cesaro tore down the house for over a half hour pulling out innovative moves and reversals while going move for move with each other. In the end I found myself torn as, while I wanted to see Cesaro get the win, I don’t want to see the John Cena Open Challenges end. Cena continues to reinvent himself with new opponents each week and knows how to work a crowd like none other. He knows he’s hated in Chicago and has no problem embracing the hate as a bit of a heel. I also like the nice tough of Cesaro wearing the Candian armband out of respect to Tyson Kidd. A very classy touch from Cesaro, who I hope to only see grow from here. 

3) Brock Lesnar Vs The Cadillac- Right when Seth Rollins rewarded J & J Security with a brand new Cadillac last week, you knew it was only a matter of time before Brock Lesnar got his hand on the $55,000 automobile. Well this week Brock didn’t disappoint as he destroyed the car as only Brock could. I also liked that he was able to take out Noble and Mercury. They’re doing a great job in building up the Lesnar-Rollins title match at Battleground as Brock continues to take out Seth’s support system. 

4) Rusev Crush- Maybe it’s just me but ever since Dolph Ziggler started hooking up with Lana, I started to feel a bit bad for the Bulgarian Brute. Every week Rusev would show up to Raw, broken foot and all, and every week he’d have to see his ex girlfriend kiss another man. This week when I saw Dolph and Lana kiss right in front of Rusev, I was hoping Rusev would take him out..and did he ever! Thankfully, Rusev revealed that he had healed and destroyed Dolph (Who did a stretcher job to boot). Maybe Rusev isn’t supposed to be the baby face here but I like the shades of grey of all the characters involved here that allows fans to support who they’d like to. This slow build between Rusev and Ziggler can lead to a fun match at Summerslam either with just the two or a mixed tag with the ladies involved.

Closing Thoughts:

You know as much as I loved the period in May and June where every two weeks there was another pay per view, WWE has done a good job building Battleground with a little extra time to do so. We’ve known the big matches for that show for a while and each week of television has nicely built to those matches.  This week was no exception as if you have some extra time, I’d suggesting checking out this weeks Raw as it was a really fun show. On top of the highlights mentioned above, you also had a nice return by Randy Orton and I also thought Titus O’Neil, of all people, did a great job on commentary during the New Day-Lucha Dragons match. 

That’s going to do it for me but I’ll be back with the Tough Enough Power Rankings and a whole lot more tomorrow. Until the. Let me know what you thought of this week’s Raw in Chicago and be sure to subscribe to the Daily Spotlight below. Thanks for all of your support!

The Daily Spotlight For 7/5/2015

Tom Lynch The Daily Spotlight , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

 Hello everyone, I hope you had a happy and safe 4th of July. I don’t think it would have worked out any better with the 4th falling on a Saturday as it gives all of us a chance to recover with a lazy Sunday before getting back on the weeklong grind tomorrow. I ended up getting to Jones Beach for their annual fireworks celebration, their first in six years. I really enjoyed the fireworks and there isn’t anything that compares to being on the beach with your girlfriend watching fireworks on the boardwalk.  Unfortunately, however, the fireworks celebration was run terribly.  You would really think that over the six years in which Jones Beach didn’t do the fireworks, they would find a better way to handle the traffic. The fireworks show ended around 10PM & we didn’t get out of the lot  until it was close to midnight.  I understand there was some 100,000 people who attended the fireworks spectacular but 2 hours to get out of the lot is inexcusable. To make matters worse, there was nobody in the lot to offer any sort of assistance. This led to people getting into accidents, fights breaking out and of course people shooting fireworks everywhere you turned. Fireworks were another major problem as there were people setting off fireworks in the middle of the boardwalk and causing a major disturbance for everyone. Sure, setting off fireworks can be fun but they’re incredibly dangerous and there’s no place for that at a family event. It was a real shame for me who grew up on the tradition of the Jones Beach Fireworks and couldn’t wait to give my girlfriend and her kid brother to the experience. If the Jones Beach fireworks are back for good, I hope to see an uptick in security next year and they really need to hire some extra help to control the parking lot crowds. Even if they put people there to guide the cars in order, then you wouldn’t have hundreds of cars trying to get to the exit at the same time.

 – Really interested in seeing the MLB All Star Game Selection Show Tonight if for no other reason than to see how many Kansas City Royals get to start the game for the American League. I am actually pulling for the team to consist only of Royals and Mike Trout like it looked like it was going to be just a few weeks ago. People will complain and some may even whine about how this makes the all star game a joke due to home field advantage in the World Series being on the line here but I have no problem with it. I feel that if you’re ever going to take the voting power away from the fans, they should just put all of the statistically best players as the starters but that’s not as much fun. It isn’t as if the city of Kansas City is the biggest city in the US, every other fan base had an equal chance to send their players so if the Royals fans voted all of their players into the game, then they should be rewarded.

– Last Wednesday night i went back to the Adventureland Amusement Park in Farmingdale, NY for the first time in about a decade. I had grown up going to Adventureland and so it was cool to return there for an impromptu visit. My girlfriend and I brought along three kids including our two year old god daughter and there was plenty for everyone to do. What I like about Adventureland is that despite being a little smaller they’re always trying to find ways to differentiate themselves. The new Turbulance Roller Coaster is like nothing I’ve ever rode before as its a coaster that features spinning cars. Thus, you’re spinning the entire time you’re riding the coaster which is a real blast. Likewise, the Crocodile Run water ride is really unique (and my favorite attraction) as you control your own ride as you stand on a rotating platform while trying to avoid different waterfalls (or going under them intentionally if you’re inclined to get drenched) by controlling your individual pod. Though I really enjoyed the new rides, I was glad to see some of the classic rides like the water flume, the classic Ferris wheel, the ladybug roller coaster and the pirate ship were all still there. Speaking of the pirate ship, I couldn’t believe that after all these years the mermaid on the pirate ship has finally been covered up!

That’s going to do it for me today, I’m on my way currently to New York City to try out the new Hunger Games exhibit in Times Square! Keep your eyes pealed for that but until then feel free to visit Adventureland.us for more information on the theme park!

Editor’s Note: I never did post this yesterday so sorry for the delay.

The Daily Spotlight for 7/4/2015- The Fourth Of July Edition

Tom Lynch The Daily Spotlight , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Happy 4th of July everyone.  I hope that all of you guys celebrating have a great time but do so responsibly.  If you’re going to have a few beverages find a place to stay if you don’t have a designated driver.  Even if you do have a designated driver, it may be a good idea to find a place to stay as there will be people on the road who aren’t as responsible.  Furthermore, if you’re thinking of driving after having any drinks whatsoever, cops will be out in full force.  It’s Saturday night and so everyone is off tomorrow, the party factor will be greater than ever (as it should be) but everyone also has no excuse not to find a place to crash until tomorrow morning.  Now that I’m off my soap box, for today’s blog I’m going to talk about my favorite personal 4th of July memories.  Let’s get right into it.

-It’s funny but in a pre 9/11 world there were fireworks shows literally taking place everywhere in every town.  I actually remember many of these shows we would go see as a kid would be held by police officers.  My family and I would go to local parks and watch police officers fire off fireworks that they probably had confiscated from people who had them illegally.  Looking back these were pretty unsafe as well as you could stand right under them.  Speaking of standing under fireworks, back in the Shea Stadium days, the Mets still fired off fireworks behind centerfield so you can see them anywhere in the town (Nowadays the Mets do an impressive Pyrotechnics show which are brought out after the game in the middle of the outfield).  Well my friends and I would head down to watch the fireworks and we would lineup by the fence right outside of shea stadium.  The firework residue would actually fall onto us after the fireworks went off, it was insane.  As I got into my teenage years my family, friends and I would all head to Jones Beach to watch the fireworks.  We would always plan to stay on the beach until we were kicked off because the traffic on the way home was always the worst.   I remember one year in particular, I ended up hurting my hand during July 4th weekend a few days prior to the 4th of July.  I wore a sweatband on my right wrist but didn’t it let it stop me from driving everyone and spending the entire day at the beach.  Well, it turned out that I actually broke my wrist and spent the entire day there with a broken wrist hanging there.

-As we got older my friends and I ended up going from Jones Beach to Montauk, once the Jones Beach fireworks went on hiatus.  Montauk was great because you were able to make bonfires right on the beach and also stay there all night if you wanted to because most of the people there were spending the weekend there.  Well one year, I was the designated driver and we piled four friends into a room at a budget hotel with my girlfriend and I.  We had a good amount of snacks with us at the beach and my friend, James, infamously brought along a full pizza from Seven Eleven.  In any event, as time went on, we started to file out of the beach and drive back to our hotel.  Well in one car it was my friends James and Bruce as well as my girlfriend and I and in the other car it was my friends, Adam and LP.  I was leading the way for Adam but halfway through the trip a police officer pulled me over.  I hadn’t drank anything so I wasn’t worried but had some sort of busted tail light or may have been swerving a bit due to forgetting my glasses (I told you cops are looking for any reason whatsoever to pull you over).  Well before long, the cop let us go but Adam and LP didn’t know as they were already at the hotel.  James had a great idea to pretend I had been arrested for a DUI (bear in mind I didn’t drink anything at all) and to arrive with Bruce back at the hotel without my girlfriend and I.  My girlfriend and I hung out around the pool area of the hotel and my girlfriend called James pretending to be at the police station picking me up.  The story was ridiculous that the police would arrest me and let my girlfriend tag along, then let James take my car to the hotel but Adam and LP bought it hook line and sinker.  When I returned triumphantly to the hotel 10 minutes later they still weren’t sure if I had really been arrested.  It was a pretty good rib.

  -This year for the 4th of July Flo Rida and Robin Thicke will be performing “live” on the Macy’s Fireworks Spectacular.  Well the show was actually recorded on Thursday night and we were invited to the live taping in what we being billed as a free Flo Rida concert by the New York skyline in Long Island City.  First things first, this was really cool venue for a show.  It was awesome to see Flo Rida right by the water with the Empire State Building lit up nicely right behind him.  However, to call this show a concert, would be the understatement of the century.  First off despite the venue selling food and craft beer, you couldn’t bring any of this into the concert area which made things pretty annoying for everyone who purchased food.  From there Flo Rida came out with Robin Thicke and the two did their new hit ” I don’t Like It, I Love It”  which got the crowd really into it.  Then the producer of the special came out and said they had to do the song again and finally a third time to get the best take.  They then played the song a fourth time so that they can film just the band and the dancers.  Finally they played the same song a fifth time just to film the crowd during the song for crowd reactions.  After this, Flo Rida came out and did his new song “GDFR (Goin Down For Real)” which was great and then they went through the same thing playing the song five times.  Then…that was it! That’s right Flo Rida performed two songs, five times each and that was it.  I don’t know if it was a Flo Rida call or a producer call but it would have been nice for him to do a few more songs for the live crowd that spent their night coming to see him perform.  At the end of the day we ate at a great place called “Shi” so it was nice night out with friends, but still this rubbed me the wrong way.  That’s going to do it for me today but be sure to check out the Wrestling section of the site.  I was up and at em at 5:30 this morning providing you guys with coverage of the WWE Network live special “Beast In The East” and I’d love your feedback on that. Until then, have a happy and safe independence day everyone.  God Bless America!