Author: Tom Lynch

The Spotlight On Wrestling Podcasts- Wrestling Observer Live 

Tom Lynch The Spotlight On Wrestling Podcasts, Wrestling , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hello everyone and welcome to the this weeks edition of The Spotlight On Wrestling Podcasts where we look at different wrestling podcasts you may have never heard of , you may be overlooking or maybe an episode of a wrestling podcast you should go out of your way to listen to. This week on the docket I’m going to talk to you about Wrestling Observer Live. Hosted by F4Wonline.com’s Bryan Alvarez & Mike Sempervive, Wrestling Observer Live airs Sunday thru Friday across the sports byline USA networks as well on Sirius Satellite Radio. Without any further ado lets get into some of the highlights of the show.

Highlights

1) Daily Wrestling Radio- As a lifelong wrestling fan I’ve always dreamed of a time where I could head home after a long day of work and turn on the radio to hear some wrestling radio. Well one of things I love about WOL is that it airs Monday thru Friday at 3PM EST. The show is also easy to find replays of either on F4WOnline.com or by finding a replay schedule on sports byline USA’s website. I personally love to listen to WOL on the way home from work as its a great source to find out all of the up to the minute news in a concise fashion.   Being that it’s only an hour each day, It’s the perfect way to get my fill of all of the wrestling and MMA news of the day quickly. Also don’t forget about the Sunday show, which airs at 6PM EST for two hours each week. The 2 hours on Sunday allow for the show to really go in any direction and it’s often my favorite show of the week. In particular, these two hour shows often end up making for a great pre show to the pay per view on Sundays when there’s one. For an example, just last night they did their own commentary to the Meta Powers/Ascension pre show tag match prior to the payback show.

2) The Hosts- Bryan & MIke are both incredibly knowledgable in both wrestling and MMA. Bryan Alarez in particular not only has been covering the world of pro wrestling for over 20 years but used to wrestle in his own right. This, to me sets him apart from other wrestling journalists because he can offer that in ring perspective, and that’s meant as more praise for Bryan than a knock on anyone else. That said, while the guys will offer there opinion in an entertaining fashion, you know that the insight you hear on Wrestling Observer Live can be trusted.

3) The Guests–  One of the real highlights of Wrestling Observer Live is that you never know who’s going to show up for a guest appearance on the show.  Anyone from Chris Jericho to Rey Mysterio to Ethan Carter III has been on WOL recently and this really makes the show can’t miss.  Guests are usually on the show on Tuesdays and Thursdays and what’s cool is that if you subscribe to f4wonline.com then you can usually catch a longer interview with Bryan and the guests, though the free interviews on Observer Live are also great listens.  What’s great about the guests is that they are usually timely so that when a guest is on they’re also their to promote something that may otherwise go unnoticed by the wrestling fan.  For example, last week JTG was on to promote his book “Damn Why Did I Write This Book?”  which I knew nothing about prior to Observer Live but picked it up after his appearance and found it quite enjoyable.  Other appearances included Court Bauer & Wale prior to Walemania as a part of Wrestlemania week as well as Jay Briscoe prior to a Ring of Honor pay per view.

Closing Thoughts

I think Wrestling Observer Live is definitely worth going out of your way to listen to.  While the hosts may be critical, I feel that they come off fair as opposed to many in the wrestling media that are often negative for the sake of being negative.  I also feel that the guys do a great job in mixing in some mixed martial arts chatter, but not enough to overwhelm the wrestling fan listening.  If anything Wrestling Observer Live and the coverage that they do on MMA makes me more of a fan of UFC and keeps me up to date on important issues going in the sport. That said, on shows where a big wrestling show is coming up, you will rarely hear any MMA talk on the show and vice versa on the shows prior to a big UFC show so it’s a good mix.  In closing one other really cool thing about WOL is that because it’s also a radio show, fans are given the opportunity to call in towards the end of the show provided that they stay on topic. The phone lines remain open a good amount longer on the Sunday shows where really nothing is off limits.   Thus, go out and listen to wrestling observer live which you can find streaming live here  http://sportsbyline.com/wrestling-observer-live/ or you can subscribe to the wrestling observer website at f4wonline.com.  If you check out the show I would love to hear some of your feedback and if you have any other suggestions for future editions of the spotlight on wrestling podcasts feel free to leave those as well as I’m always looking for more content.

If you didn’t get a chance you can check out my spotlight on wrestling podcasts from last week which focused on the Lapsed Fan wrestling podcast and you can view that right here https://thedailyspotlight.com/2015/05/09/the-spotlight-on-wrestling-podcasts-the-lapsed-fan/.  Thanks for all of your support, now go listen to some podcasts!

The Spotlight On WWE Payback 

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WWE Payback was presented live tonight on the WWE Network and on pay per view from Baltimore, Maryland. The show kicked off a four week stretch for WWE in which they have four different live event pay per view style events on the WWE Network with WWE Payback, NXT Unstoppable (Wednesday night at 8PM  EST), the Elimination Chamber two weeks from tonight and then Money In The Bank on June 14th. It’s an exciting time to be a fan of WWE to say the least. With that said lets get into the highlights of tonight’s show in chronological order. 

For those looking to avoid spoilers Id stop reading now as the show has already aired. If you’re looking for a recommendation, I’d suggest going out of your way to watch the show. The show was a lot of fun with no match being bad & everyone making the most of their time. With their only being 7 matches I felt that every match got time to develop & kudos to the superstars & divas who did the most with that time. 

 1) Ziggler vs Sheamus- Lets be honest the build for Ziggler & Shemus has been a bit silly with all of the kiss me arse stipulations. The truth is the kiss me arse stuff just isn’t necessary as these guys have good to great matches every time out. Tonight was no exception as the two gave 110% and had a great match to start off the show. The finish where Ziggler legitimately spilt his head open by head butting Sheamus & taking a Brogue Kick was brutal. Since each guy got a win I actually hope they are both kept out of the Intercontinetal title match at the chamber & we get a rubber match.   2) The New Day Vs Kidd & Cesaro- To me this was the second best match on the show as both teams looked so strong. All four men worked so hard to put on an exciting 2 out of 3 falls match. The New Day are also continuing to do a great job in their role. Having the New Day go out there and trying to encourage the Baltimore Orioles to finally win a World Series, made them even more hated in Baltimore and was a great way to utilize the players in attendance. I just hope that Kidd & Cesaro stay together as a team. They are both so strong in the ring & should be big single stars but have worked hard to perfect their tag craft that they’ve become an integral part of the tag team division. I personally can’t wait for the tag team elimination chamber match.   3) The I Quit Match- I figured that the finish here would have either been Lana quitting for Rusev or Lana in on it with Rusev all along and the two getting one over on Cena. In the end, Lana did in fact quit for Rusev but I didn’t take it that she was screwing Rusev at all. Rather, I took this to mean that she was actually in love with Rusev and couldn’t stand to see him suffering in the STF, I could be completely off by the way. Regardless this match was great! Total brutality that you would expect to see in a match blowing out off the feud, as I assume this was the end. Both men came off strong in that neither man quit and, as unpopular as this may be, John Cena continues to have great matches week in and week out while helping to make younger stars shine so kudos to him. The only thing I thought was a bit off was that I would loved for one guy to get a clean win & thought Rusev winning by knock out would have been cool as that’s how the feud started. Regardless if Cena winning means more Open Challenges than sign me up because those have been great.   4. What a Main Event!- I do these chronologically but if I had to pick one match that stood above the rest it would have to be that main event. There was so much that went on in that match, it was just so much fun. Even though I feel some of the interferences make Rollins look weak, WWE is doing a great job in making him absolutely hated in that he continues to find a way to keep the title. (Though I will say that this has to be the end of whether Kane is going to turn because he’s made it clear he’s loyal to Triple H).  Moment of match for me had to be the shield reunion and the return of the triple powerbomb through the table. (Especially since it was at Payback last year when the Shield had their defining win, as a unit, in sweeping Evolution) It was also nice to see Ambrose & Reigns going at it without one turning on the other. As we saw in the shield documentary these guys are friends & so it would make sense for them to work together and then admirably go at it. I felt this was another strong showing for Reigns, who’s gotta be winning over even his most passionate of haters at this point. In the end Orton is the right guy to take the pinfall here as he’ll always be a bonafide main eventer, so it’s good to protect Reigns & Ambrose. 

Closing Thoughts

Overall this was a really fun show with a strong main event that had everyone I was watching with jumping with every near fall. I try to limit these posts to three or four highlights but if I extended it to one more I would have added Wyatt & Ryback, those guys also worked hard especially with Ryback pulling out a version of a frog splash. In the end they also had me excited to see where they go from here and interested to see who Rollins and Cena defend their respective titles against in two weeks at the Chamber. However, before we even get that far, the guys & gals on NXT have one helluva show to follow. I can’t wait! 

The Spotlight On Survivor: Second Chance- Did They Ruin The Worlds Apart Finale?

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Next Wednesday Popular CBS Reality show main stay, Survivor will wrap up it’s 30th “Worlds Apart” season.  Survivor prides itself in making sure that nobody knows the results of the season finale prior to the show’s airing but I wonder if they shot themselves in the foot this time.

Two weeks ago Jeff Probst announced that for the first time ever, Survivor will be handing the casting power over to the fans with it’s “Second Chance” concept for it’s 31st season.  Jeff went on to explain that the cast will consist of players hoping for a second chance on the show.  The show will consist of 10 women and 10 men, 20 contestants in all who are chosen out of a possible 32 returning contestants and will be chosen based on an online fan vote.  The possible contestants all have one thing in common, they have all only played Survivor one time and they all haven’t won, hence they are getting that “Second Chance”.

I personalty love when Survivor brings back old favorites and, as much as I love Russell Hanz and Boston Rob, I’m glad that the choices of returning contestants are made up solely of players who have only played the game one time.  I plan on breaking down my choices for Survivor:Second Chance and who I predict will make it  but before getting that far I was curious if any of the contestants on the current season of Survivor were on the ballad.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Joe Anglim on the ballad and figured that he would no doubt be on the list as he was a fan favorite and the ultimate underdog,  I fully expect Joe to make it onto the cast of “Survivor: Second Chance”.  Likewise, it was nice to see that quirky lifelong fan and Survivor: Worlds Apart contestant, Shirin Oskool was also on the ballad for Second Chance.

Now here’s whee it gets interesting, not only are Shirin and Joe on the ballad but so are Mike Holloway and Carolyn “Mama C” Rivera, both of which are still in the running for the million dollar prize that will be determined this Wednesday.  If Survivor is already telling us that the contestants are going to be returning contestants looking for a second chance, doesn’t that pretty much make it clear that Mike and Mama C wont be winning the finale on Wednesday?

It also makes sense from the perspective that Mike has been on a miracle run winning most individual immunity challenges, at least since Joe was voted out, but is obviously on the chopping block if he should slip up on the challenges along the way.  Likewise, this past week Carolyn’s fate would have been sealed had she not played her immunity idol as the tribe turned on her.  Thus, by both candidates being on the ballad for Survivor: Second Chance, one would have to expect that Mike will slip up on an immunity challenge down the stretch and, with no more idols in play, Carolyn will be the other to go over the next two votes.  This would mean that the winner of Survivor: Worlds Apart will be one of the aligned Will Sims II, Rodney Lavole Jr. or Sierra Dawn Thomas, who would all lose if they took Mike or Carolyn to the end anyway.

Sure, they could always add a stipulation in before the finale stating that if Carolyn or Mike is voted in and win the finale Wednesday, they won’t make it onto the cast of Survivor: Second Chance, but I haven’t seen that anywhere just yet.  It’s a surprising move for CBS who is usually so protective of their results getting out ahead of time. Regardless, I’m looking forward to Wednesday’s season finale and hoping I’m wrong as I’m pulling for Mike Holloway to pull off his miracle run and win Survivor: Worlds Apart.  The Finale of survivor 30: Worlds Apart airs this Wednesday night at 8 PM EST.

The Spotlight on Attitude Era Raw-12/22/1997

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Just last month the WWE Network launched a collection of 55 episodes of Monday night Raw that were titled “Attitude Era Raw”. The Raws started with the final two episodes of Raw from 1997 & spanned up until the first Raw from 1999. This means that for the first time since its inception, every single Raw from 1998, one of the most successful years in WWF history, is available in the on demand section of the WWE Network. So beginning today, I’m going to go through every single Raw on that list once a week spanning a full year. The idea with this is not to break down every segment of every Raw, but to do the Spotlight on each Raw like I have everything on here with some highlights of each show & also some overall thoughts.  There will also be a “Do You Remember?” feature which will cover a variety of superstars, storylines or matches that you may have forgotten about, most of the time with good reason. My plan is to release these over a full year and drop these posts at 630PM EST so you have the full 90 minutes to check out these classic attitude era Raws prior to this week’s Raw, if you’re so inclined.  Thus, without any further ado let’s get to Monday Night Raw from December 22, 1997 which took place at the memorial auditorium ins Lowell, Massachusetts.

Highlights 

1) Raw Is Christmas–  I’m a sucker for holiday themed wrestling specials.  I always used to feel like the old Survivor Series events that took place in and around Thanksgiving did a great job incorporating Thanksgiving into the show and getting you into the holiday spirit.  Well this episode of Monday Night Raw is, arguably, the most Christmas themed episode of in history (and this includes the Raw hyped around the good santa vs the evil santa just a couple of years ago).  From the infamous clips of Stone Cold giving Santa a stunner the week before, to Sable coming out first dressed as a reindeer then revealing a sexy mrs claus get up, to vader  claus, to the merry DX mas mooning to start the show to even the entire arena being decked out in red & green while snow fell throughout the night, made this a very festive Raw.

2) D Generation-X in Classic Form– The main story of this episode of Raw was the continuing saga of the feud between DX & Commissioner Sgt Slaughter.  The show starts with Slaughter, offended by DX’s antics mooning the crowd & wearing mistletoe G strings to the ring, forcing World Heavyweight Champion Shawn Michaels to defend his European Championship against Dx counterpart Triple H.  The entire show is then built around this developing tension between Shawn & Triple H with the announcers wondering if this was the end of DX.  Of course in the end DX was in on it and Shawn basically lays down for Triple H as the two laugh at Sgt. Slaughter to end the show, but not before Sarge gets one last jab in on DX by saying that next week Triple H would defend his title against Owen Hart.  I always liked this about Raw back then, they always gave you something to look forward to the following week.  I also felt that DX vs. Sgt. Slaughter was a really underrated feud.

3) The Rock Vs. The Undertaker– From an in ring standpoint the only real match that you were able to sink your teeth into was an often forgotten but solid match between the Rock and the Undertaker.  This was during the time period where the Rock was in the Nation of Domination and still finding his way as the intercontinental champion but still this was a fun match that went about 10 minutes.  In the end, their really wasn’t a finish as Kane showed up.  This was during Kane’s first few months in the WWF and so he was still trying to get The Undertaker to fight him.  Kane was so scary upon his debut, the character was so great.

Do You Remember…

Kurrgan?- This was still during the period of time in which Kurrgan was apart of the Truth Commission, with Snyper, Rekon & The Jackyl.  On this show Kurrgan destroys 8-Ball while The Jackyl cuts a promo throughout the entire match.  While Kurrgan looked menacing, there wasn’t much to this match or the entire Truth Commission vs. DOA feud.

Closing Thoughts

This was obviously a taped show as the announcers are shown in front of a green screen.  This was also during the period of time in which they would separate Raw into Raw is War and the Warzone.  They’d end the show at 9 and then have a separate introductions, theme songs and announcers (Except Jim Ross he called both shows) for each half of Raw which I never understood why they did that.  There were also a ton of video packages and highlights on this show so it looked like they filmed the few matches and DX storyline before or after Raw the previous week.  It was also interesting to see how much the crowd was into the Legion of Doom who were taken out the week before.  I also liked that on a Raw in December you already saw some of the pieces coming together for Wrestlemania 14 with Kane-Undertaker, HHH-Owen and Mankind-Outlaws.  Overall a fun show and they got you excited for the next week by announcing that Owen Hart would finally be able to get his hands on DX following the Montreal Screwjob.

The Spotlight On Disney’s California Adventure 

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Hello everyone and welcome to my first travel series here on thedailyspotlight.com. Over the past month I have had the opportunity to travel to both Walt DisneyWorld in Orlando, Florida as well as the Disney Parks in California. Thus, every Sunday I’m going to be shining the spotlight on a different Disney park or something else Disney, related to the theme parks. This 8 part series will attempt to look at both the good and maybe not so good of the Disney parks.  The goal here is to get you geared up if you’re planning on vacationing to the most magical place on earth sometime this summer. So without any further ado let’s get things started with Disney’s California Adventure.

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 My girlfriend and I recently went to Disney’s California Adventure on a trip through California. I always feel that because the parks are smaller, the Disney parks in California tend to be be overlooked but shouldn’t be. California Adventure fell on our sixth day of the trip and it was a real highlight of our trip. We ended up doing California Adventure the day after we went to Disneyland and while we enjoyed Disneyland more, California Adventure also had it’s perks. Let’s get into some of the highlights and some closing thoughts on Disney’s California Adventure Theme Park.IMG_2503[1]

Higlights

1) Ariel’s Grotto- I booked Ariel’s Grotto for my girlfriend’s birthday and I’ll say that she felt just as special celebrating her 27th birthday with the Disney Princesses that many of the kids celebrating their birthday the same day. The restaurant is set up with both an indoor and an outdoor location but I chose the indoor for the “Under The Sea” decor and it added to the experience. The dining experience started with my girlfriend getting a crown for her birthday and a photo/ meet & greet with Ariel. We made our way to our seats when a knight came out to sing some Disney classics and again had the birthday celebrators stand for acknowledgement. From there four different Disney Princesses made there way out one by one, Belle, Tiana, Rapunzel & Cinderella. By staggering out the princesses, it really added to the experience as it kept us guessing who was next throughout the meal. Once they arrived, the princesses walked to each table and were sure to spend a little time with each and every table while taking photos. It was a great experience, not priced horribly at $40 for a meal, drink & dessert, and the food was also really good

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2) Aladdin Live- If you live in NY you know that Aladdin recently went live on Broadway. Well, I haven’t seen the show and now don’t have to because included if your admission to California Adventure is a free 50 minute Broadway like play of Aladdin Live. These are things Disney does that I love and that they don’t have to do as they can easily charge separately for the show but it’s especially great for people who don’t love rides. This show was top notch and they added fun modern tidbits that added to the enjoyment of Aladdin.

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3) Thrill Rides- Whereas Disneyland is about the nostalgia & the classic rides, Disney’s California Adventure is much more about the more modern & thrill rides which is why the park is such a great companion park to Disneyland. From California Screamin to Radiator Springs Racers (my favorite ride, maybe in all of the Disney Parks) to Mickey’s fun wheel and of course The Tower Of Teror, the thrill rides are really a highlight of this park.

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4) Dedication- When we went to California Adventure, the little mermaid ride was down for three hours and the Radiator Springs Racers were down for 11 hours. It would have been easy for the rides to be shut down for the day but the team worked around the clock to make sure the rides reopened and that everyone got to ride them if they stayed in the park for them. Furthermore, there were cast members positioned at the start of the line who were so polite in continuing to answer every time that the ride was being worked on with a smile despite everyone, I’m sure, asking repeatedly when it would reopen.

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5) Anna & Elsa- let me first start off with two pieces of advice 1) if you want fast passes to meet Anna & Elsa get them as soon as you enter the park, we got them at 10am & our return time was for 5:30. 2) if you don’t get fast passes, prepare because this will be your longest wait of the day. The good news though is that your wait will be in a really cool holding area where they play classic Disney videos. Ok Advice over, Anna & Elsa were fantastic. They didn’t rush us at all and had so much enthusiasm, it was infectious. They also have commitment to the character so much so that you can’t help but believe. Kudos to them as well because I’m sure they meet thousands of people everyday, hours on end. Likewise, the cast members were all so pleasant. My girlfriend and I had conversations with a number of cast members who went out of there way to ask how we were and where we were from, they were also sure to wish my girlfriend a happy birthday. They made the wait we did have fly right by.

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6) The Pixar Parade- who doesn’t love a Disney parade? Whether it be the annual Christmas parade on ABC or the midday parade at the magic kingdom, parades are a pretty big part of Disney theme parks. Being that California adventure is focused on newer Disney movies, the parade is indicative of that. Disneys Pixar parade focuses more on the newer classics made by Pixar. While I’m a sucker for the nostalgia of Mickey Mouse, it was both different & interesting to see the characters from Cars & Toy Story prominently featured in a parade setting.    

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Closing Thoughts

1) No FastPasses For MidWay Mania-  Toy Story’s Midway Mania is a great ride that has the longest line throughout the day but for some reason there is no option to fastpass the ride. With such few fastpass options in California Adventure, there’s no reason that a limited number of FastPasses should not be distributed.

2) Only One World Of Color- As with all Disney theme parks there is a fireworks show to end the night in the park. World of Color is, like all Disney fireworks shows, tremendous. However, there is only one World Of Color show each night and it happens at the end of the night a half hour before the park closes. They also need to shut down about half of the park rides in order to make sure that they can put the show on. As you can imagine, this leads to thousands of people clamoring together to see the show and then a major delay leaving the park. Over in Disneyland, literal footsteps away, there are two showings of Fantasmic. What this allows for is people can catch the first show or the second and so it isn’t as crowded. Disney’s California Adventure can easily do this by extending the hours of the park to closing at midnight. One thing I’ve never been a fan of is one park closing earlier than the other. It makes said park, in this case California Adventure, seem less important. When ticket prices are the same for both parks, so too should the hours of operation.

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3) Bugs Land- I should point out that I personally enjoyed Bugs Land. The land itself is aesthetically pleasing & the “It’s Tough To Be A Bug” 4D ride is a lot of fun. That said, it seems that people are over it. My girlfriend & I were able to go in and out of Bugs Land in mere minutes which is great but it also means that more popular areas in the park, like Cars Land are too congested.  It makes sense too as it does seem that the Bugs Life franchise gets as much of push from the people in Disney as other franchises such as Cars, Toy Story, the Disney Princesses or Frozen. I personally don’t expect Bugs Land to be a part of the park five years from now.

IMG_2419[1]That’s going to do it for the spotlight on Disney’s California Adventure but have no fear I’ll be back next week with another disney park to take a look at.  If you have any feedback from your visit to California Adventure I’d love to here it, likewise if you have any questions about California Adventure or any of the other disney theme parks please feel free to ask.