Chad C has a super early Suicide Squad review to hold you over for the next couple weeks and throws in Jungle Cruise and The Green Night because he’s a decent guy.
This column will introduce you to the most popular movies that are coming out in theaters this weekend.
If you’re not seeing Guardians 2 again….
What movie will you see?
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword
Jax is back again. First was The Lost City of Z a few weeks ago and now this. Also starring in this action adventure flick are Jude Law, Astrid Bergès-Frisbey (Pirates of the Caribean: On Stranger Tides), Djimon Hounsou, Eric Bana, Aidan Gillen (Game of Thrones), and more. The writer and director of this motion picture is Guy Ritchie. Ritchie’s last four directorial films are The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Sherlock Holmes, and RocknRolla. He he also directing Sherlock Holmes 3 and the live action Aladdin. Go see King Arthur: Legend of the Club….I mean Sword this weekend
The Wall
The Wall tells the story of 2 American Soldiers trapped by a deadly sniper, with only a wall to take cover behind. Starring in this war drama are Aaron Taylor-Johnson, John Cena, and Laith Nakli (24: Legacy). Doug Liman is in the director’s chair for this one. Liman’s last 4 directorial films are Live Die Repeat/Edge of Tomorrow/GroundTom Day, Fair Game, Jumper, and Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Liman is also directing Live Die Repeat and Repeat and a movie about the Attica state prison uprising. Go check out The Wall this weekend.
Snatched
This is not Guy Ritchie’s sequel to Snatch. Nope, this is a broad comedy starring Amy (alleged joke stealer) Schumer and Goldie Hawn, where this mother/daughter duo travel to paradise and get into shenanigans. Also starring are Randall Park (The Interview), Ike Barinholtz (Neighbors), Wanda Sykes, and Joan Cusack. Directing this buddy action comedy is Jonathan Levine. Levine has directed The Night Before, Warm Bodies, and 50/50 (shh…movie homework this week). Go snatch some snacks and hit the theater.
FINALLY…the tag team podcasting champions of the world have come back to the Binge SportsCast. It’s been five weeks in between pay-per-views, but Luke and Batch return with a vengeance to bring you the latest in the world of wrestling.
The show gets off to a rocky start with Luke worrying about the tornado sirens that are going off, but the show comes together with talk of babyface Brock Lesnar and WWE Battleground. We run through the card, most of it anyway, as we discuss Roman Reigns and Bray Wyatt, Kevin Owens and John Cena, and run through the rumor mill involving The Undertaker and Sting.
Outside of the PPV, we get into how great the Divas segment from RAW was, run down the live event from Tokyo, and how disappointing Tough Enough has been.
From there, we jump into the hot mess that is TNA right now, the return of Bully Ray, the Jeff Jarrett return and how it could and should lead to some kind of invasion angle with Global Force Wrestling, which has gotten off to a decent start with a very good roster, which Batch is nice enough to run down for you.
To close up, we give our thoughts on the hilarious bitchfest that is the Steve Austin vs Roddy Piper fiasco, as Luke goes off on how and why Stone Cold gets a free pass when he probably shouldn’t and answer the fan question on who we would start a brand new wrestling company around, which leads into a conversation about a possible Binge Media Wrestling (BMW) draft, but only if we can get our listeners involved. If you think this is something we could get going, leave some comments below or find us on Twitter @BingeSports, @THElukenorris, and @multiversefive. We’re also taking ideas for a special Summerslam show, so stay tuned for that as well. It’s good to be back and we hope you enjoy the show.
It’s a PPV Sunday, so you know what that means. Batch and I are back for another wrestling edition of the Binge SportsCast.
We were a little short on time this week, but this show is certainly filled with some interesting content, which includes a surprise appearance about five minutes in. We’re gonna say that it adds a little character and real life to the show.
As far as what we’re talking about this week, we actually do cram quite a bit into the short amount of time we had. Obviously, we get into plenty of Elimination Chamber talk, but before we get to that, we discuss the big news of the week involving ROH and TNA and how it “impacts” Wednesday nights. Damn, I’m good. But seriously, all four of these shows will now be on Wednesday nights in the near future.
From there, we dive into the Elimination Chamber PPV, including perhaps the only match that interests Batch.
It’s been a crazy week, so that makes for a crazy show. Just listen…you’ll like it. Keep up with the latest from Binge Sports on Twitter by following @BingeSports. You can catch up with Batch @multiversefive and as always, you can follow me @THElukenorris.
Yep, that smokin’ hot lady on the main page is a wrestler, and so is the blonde you see above, so you’re welcome for that. And they’re damn good wrestlers too. Oh yeah, welcome to the Binge Sportscast.
Lucky you! Due to the WWE scheduling a surprise PPV at the end of this month, this is the first of two wrestling podcasts that you’ll get this month. It’s a little out of the ordinary, but my Binge Sportscast “contract” states that I get my regular bi-weekly spot during the week and a wrestling version every time there’s a pay-per-view, so I’ll take it.
Before I get into the heart of this week’s show, I talked in the intro about what’s coming up later this week. I’ll be talking more about the NHL and NBA Playoffs, but there’s something else that’s been a big topic in the sports world and we all know what it is. Tom Brady’s balls have been dominating the headlines and our resident New Englander, Jack (aka MovieFreak) has been annoying all of us with his status updates, so I’m leaving this to you. I said that I wouldn’t talk about it, but I’d be willing to go back on my word if you feel that Jack coming on the show and ranting would be as entertaining as I think it could be. But in the essence of fairness, we’re going to do this the democratic way. And if there’s one thing you know I like, it’s a good fan vote. So where do you stand? Should we let Jack finally get this out of his system?
[yop_poll id=”240″]
Oh right, there’s actually a 90 minute show to discuss. Well, it’s Sunday, so as per usual, it’s Batch and I talking wrestling, wrestling, and more wrestling. At the request of some of our listeners, we spend the first half of the show discussing a promotion that we really hadn’t touched on yet, and honestly, it’s one of the best things going in professional wrestling today: Lucha Underground. We talk about its origins, what drew us to it, who the stars are, and the surprising production they can afford. No, seriously, they’ve got Robert Rodriguez doing some of the producing. It’s fantastic. And those two ladies that you’ve seen are also part of Lucha, so there’s that. And you get to listen to Batch do his best Dario Cueto impression. Even if you hate the rest, that makes the show completely worth listening to.
We then turn our attention to the WWE and discuss the Stephanie McMahon interview with Chris Jericho, the unfortunate Daniel Bryan situation, what to do with the Intercontinental Championship, and the new season of Tough Enough. We do a very quick rundown of NXT before getting into the Payback pay-per-view match by match.
I’ll be back later this week with more talk of the NBA and NHL Playoffs, and depending on how you voted, Jack will be joining me to discuss the situation in New England. Batch and I will be back two weeks from today to discuss the Elimination Chamber and I’m sure we’ll get into his ROH experience as well. Until then, you can find us on Twitter @BingeSports, follow Batch @multiversefive, and catch me @THElukenorris. Enjoy.
Welcome to the start of another busy week here at Binge Media. We start things out this week with another episode of the newest addition to the podcast family, the Binge Sportscast.
Thanks to all those who downloaded and listened to the premiere episode this past Wednesday. We do now have a plan to run this show bi-weekly, basically alternating with the Gamecast. But there’s also a plan to run this type of show, the wrestling version, every Sunday that WWE has a pay-per-view. So at least now you know when to catch up with us for the Sportscast.
As far as this episode is concerned, Batch and I get into all things wrestling. Batch talks the indy circuit and really gets into the Ring of Honor show heading to Toronto in a few weeks. We talk a little Global Force and TNA as well.
From there, we talk a little bit about the awesome documentary on The Iron Sheik, and then we get into a full breakdown of what we thought of Wrestlemania. To close, we fill you in on the matches for Extreme Rules and our thoughts on those as well.
The show ran a little longer than we expected, but hey, it was worth it. It’s wrestling, so of course it’s going to be drawn out and over the top. Deal with it.
I talked about this at the start of the podcast, but stay tuned later this week for the written word of Binge Sports, where I’ll get into the Kentucky Derby and really get into my thoughts on Mayweather vs Pacquiao. Catch up with us @BingeSports. Catch up with me @THElukenorris. And catch up with Batch @multiversefive. Enjoy.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know you’re probably sick of me and my wrestling by now, but with the good response I’ve gotten from the preview article on Saturday and the podcast on Sunday, I figured I’d go for the trifecta. So with that being said, welcome back to Binge Sports and our coverage of the “showcase of the immortals”, Wrestlemania.
First off, let me touch on the Hall of Fame ceremony that happened on Saturday night. Overall, it was a decent show, but it ran really long. There were a few of the speeches that didn’t really interest me, but the ones that were good were really good. By the way, I think The Bushwhackers are still talking. Good lord, that was way too long and terrible. But here’s a few of the highlights.
Alundra Blayze was amazing. She told some great stories and still has a ton of charisma. And yes, she did get to the controversial trashing of the Women’s Championship from twenty years ago. It was nice to see her make light of the situation, and it’s nice to see that it can be put to rest. Certainly one of the best speeches of the night. Her intro from Natalya was pretty solid as well.
Shawn Michaels introduction was pretty solid. Probably his best line was saying that he actually needed a bodyguard because nobody in the back really liked him. I was waiting for the director to move right to a shot of Bret Hart, but it didn’t. Too obvious, I guess. Pretty good stuff as usual from HBK, but then we were on to the man being inducted. “Big Daddy Cool”. “Big Sexy”. Whichever nickname you feel like using today.
Kevin Nash’s speech was pretty solid. This was a guy whose career I’ve been able to watch from start to finish, so hearing some of the stories was pretty cool. And who knew he’s been married for 27 years? Very nice comments about keeping his wife away from the business. All in all, it was a pretty good close to the ceremony.
And, of course, the obligatory picture of The Kliq. Sure, they’re all friends on Saturday night.
Watching Hulk Hogan induct Randy “Macho Man” Savage into the HOF was a very cool thing for me. These were the two guys when I was a kid that really brought me into wrestling. Whether they were friends or enemies (on the show or in real life), there’s no denying that these two will be linked to one another forever. Pretty good speech by the Hulkster.
Call him “The Genius”. Call him “Leapin’ Lanny”. Call him whatever you want, but Lanny Poffo still knows how to work that microphone. As I was hoping and praying for, he went right into character for a little bit and read some poetry he’d written about his brother. While I obviously still wish that they had inducted Savage before he died (just to hear that speech), I suppose we got the next best thing. But none of those moments could even come close to this….
The first ever Warrior Award was given out on Saturday night and it was absolutely amazing. The Ultimate Warrior’s widow, Dana Warrior (yes, that’s her actual name) came out first and talked about the legacy of her late husband, who died just a few days after Wrestlemania last year. That whole situation is still really creepy, but her speech was solid and her offer to run the ramp and shake the ropes if people could raise one million dollars for Connor’s Cure was pretty cool. Especially when she brought up who she wanted her opponent to be, “brother”. Obviously a jab at Hogan, but it came off pretty funny. From there, we were treated to a wonderful speech by Connor’s hero.
Daniel Bryan owned that crowd on Saturday night. Listening to him talk about Connor and all of the fun he had with the wrestlers was truly great, especially the story of Connor punching Triple H in the face. It was just awesome. He laughed. He cried. I laughed. I cried. You wouldn’t think that things could get any better until he introduced Connor’s father, Steve Michalek.
It was easy to see that he was nervous, but listening to this father talk about his son and the legacy he’s left behind was truly inspiring. He used so much wrestling vocabulary to relate to these guys, and the audience as well. He talked about how Connor told him that he was going to be famous one day, and that with this induction, it turned out to be true. From start to finish, the crowd was captivated. Honestly, if you can watch this and not start crying, you probably don’t have a soul. But just when you thought things couldn’t get more emotional than they were already, he brought out Connor’s little brother, Jackson, who only had one thing to say to his brother.
“I love you, Connor.” Oh, I freaking lost it, and I think everybody that was in attendance did as well. There didn’t have to be a ring. There didn’t have to be a match. There didn’t have to be anything else. This was a Wrestlemania moment.
Before I start tearing up again, let’s get to the action from last night.
The Fatal Four Way tag match went just about how I expected it too. It wasn’t the most fluent match, which is hard with eight guys anyway, but there were some decent spots. As I figured would happen, Tyson Kidd & Cesaro retained the titles, which is the way to go for right now. At some point, as it usually happens, somebody will turn on the other and they’ll split. But for now, they’ve got a good thing going, so we’ll probably see them with the belts for a while.
There’s three stories that came out of the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal. The first one happened about ten seconds in. They’ve officially buried Curtis Axel. They really dropped the ball on this one. Axelmania is so freaking over right now, and they’ve completely embarrassed him in the last seven days. They let a celebrity throw him out of the ring last week, and then he was eliminated from the battle royal by every other superstar within 10 seconds of the match starting. Dreadful. Hopefully, they rectify this on RAW tonight, but I don’t know if Axel can recover from this.
As I predicted, the split between The Miz and Mizdow is now official. Along with Big Show, they were two of the last three in the match. Miz was hoping for some help, but Mizdow had finally had enough and eliminated his boss. It had to happen sometime, so we’ll see when the match between these two officially happens.
I guess I never realized that Big Show had never won a battle royal. Well, you figured he had to get one at some point. Might as well be here. This just gives The Authority something else to brag about on RAW tonight. And there’s plenty more for them to be happy about. I’m okay with this choice. Big Show has always done what’s asked of him, so it’s actually nice to see him get a decent win.
On to the main show.
The ladder match for the Intercontinental Title was pretty solid. It didn’t have as many big spots as maybe we’re used to, but it was still pretty good. In my preview, I said it was one of my two options to open the show, and it was a really good way to get the crowd going. Everybody looked really good in this match, and really helped each other. The picture you see above was one of the spots that almost went bad. They were a lot closer to the ropes than I think they thought they were, but Cody was able to keep his legs in to avoid hitting them, and the spot looked really nice. Ziggler almost got caught in the end as well.
Barrett got some really nice bullhammers in towards the finish. The spot of the match, however, was probably the Ambrose through the ladder on the outside.
As usual, Ambrose had a good overall showing, but the finish went about as I expected it to. Ziggler and Bryan battled at the top of the ladder. I don’t care what you say, the flurry of headbutts was awesome. But in the end, the favorite won.
I think they’re really looking to put the IC title back into play, so putting it on one of the company’s top stars will do that. A program with Bryan and Ziggler or Bryan and Barrett could be really good, so let’s hope they go in that direction. Good match to start.
Randy Orton and Seth Rollins basically came out and said “FOLLOW THAT!” I knew this was going to be a good match, but this was even better than I thought. From start to finish, these guys went all out.
We had some nice false finishes, with Rollins and Orton both kicking out of each other’s finishers (a normal thing for Wrestlemania). I’ve always said that everyone drinks their “Wrestlemania juice” before the show. But this match was really, really good. I know that the storyline is that Rollins is “the future of the WWE”, but it’s actually the truth. This guy can go, and being in the ring with Orton, who still puts on some of the best matches when he feels like it, did nothing but good things for him. But in the end, we were treated to one of the best RKO’s of all freaking time.
If you didn’t see it, spend the ten bucks to watch the replay just for this. Rollins goes for the curb stomp, but Orton lifts, Rollins springboards up, and comes down right into the RKO. It was definitely one of the highlights of the show. The match of the night by far.
HHH v. Sting. If you read the preview, then you know I wasn’t crazy about this match to begin with. But before I get to the match, just let me talk about the entrances. Sting’s was bad, but HHH’s was ten times worse. Come on, man. You’re better than this. I know that the new Terminator flick sponsored the show, but this was absolutely ridiculous. I could go on, but just look at the picture. If I were HHH, the only way I’d have agreed to this is if they let me take one of the robots home. Dreadful.
And then there’s the match itself. Painful. Just plain painful to watch. Sting is 56 and looked every bit of it. I thought HHH might be able to carry him, but this was just not good. And apparently I wasn’t aware that this was a No-DQ match (it wasn’t), but we got run-ins galore anyway. It started with DX.
Okay, sure. Not a bad idea, but it was all leading to this.
The nWo. I know we still see them from time to time, but I still mark out for this. Not sure why they’d be helping Sting, but whatever. We got nWo v. DX. Unfortunately, just like this match, it’s fifteen years too late. But just when you think we couldn’t get anybody else involved….
BAM! Shawn Michaels superkicks Sting to the freaking face. Why the hell not? I’m a Shawn Michaels guy and have never been a Sting guy, so this made me happy.
The finish did surprise me. I didn’t think there was any way that HHH would go over, but I’ve been wrong before. With Sting not sticking around, I suppose it’s just another thing for The Authority to brag about. The match was garbage, but the moments afterward (besides the stupid handshake) were pretty cool for nostalgia’s sake.
All of these guys from DX and the nWo in the same ring was awesome. Do you think there was a “we don’t want Waltman, you take him” argument in the back? But honestly, for anyone who watched wrestling in the late 90’s, this was great.
I was really hoping for a little more from the Divas this time around. You had two of the best teaming up against the Bellas, who know how to at least get under your skin. But then AJ spends 3/4 of the match outside on the floor. Paige looked good, but if they want to make something out of this division like they’ve been talking about, we need more than this. Paige and AJ win. Moving on.
Now that’s how you do an entrance. Rusev came in on a freaking tank. Good stuff there.
This match was about as good as it could be. A lot of back and forth between the two. We saw Cena’s usual stuff, but he did add on the back springboard kinda stunner (that’s what I’m calling it), which actually looked decent. I don’t think it’s something he’s going to do every week, but it worked here. Super Cena finally broke out of the Accolade, which led to our finish.
Lana jumps up to distract, gets hit by Rusev (who’s then distracted himself), Cena finishes it and begins a U.S. title reign. I’m sure there are some who say that Cena didn’t need this one, but Rusev didn’t come out of this looking weak. He already beat Cena once. He’ll just blame this on Lana and go back after Cena, which will ultimately lead to a match at Extreme Rules, which could be decent if done right.
Give me anything involving Stephanie and I’m good to go. No, seriously. So when she comes out to announce the attendance of 76,976 people (you couldn’t sell 24 more tickets), I’m okay with just that. But then she goes into how it’s all about….ME! She’s so good at what she does. But then she gets rudely interrupted.
Oh, joy. It’s Dwayne. I’m seriously done with this guy.
But I suppose that once again for nostalgia’s sake, we’ve got The Rock and Triple H at Wrestlemania. Perhaps a hint for things to come next year? But then my girl Stephanie puts him in his place.
She’s so freaking hot. So Rock leaves, but who’s sitting ringside?
It’s Ronda Rousey. For those who don’t know, she’s in UFC and the ultimate badass chick. So she gets in and Stephanie continues her brilliance saying that they’re friends and this and that until we get the inevitable brawl.
There really wasn’t a point to this entire segment, but it was entertaining enough for me. Like I said, I’ll take as much of Stephanie as I can get.
Boring!
Boring!
Bray Wyatt really took care of The Undertaker last night. While ‘Taker certainly looked to be in better shape than he was last year, he’s just not able to go like we all want him to. It’s a shame that this match didn’t happen a year ago when it could have done something for Bray. Instead, we got only one cool moment out of this match.
Bray Wyatt made this entire match and moment possible. His facial expressions and body language sold everything. But as I expected, what shouldn’t have happened….happened.
Undertaker wins. 22-1. YAY! (It’s hard to type sarcastically). Where does Bray Wyatt go from here? All they can maybe do is have him destroy The Undertaker tonight on RAW if he’s there. Then he can go away for another year and waste our time next Wrestlemania as well. Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing but the utmost respect for The Undertaker. He’s an icon. But the streak is over. What’s next? Undertaker v. Sting. Who in the hell wants to see that now? Especially with the performances we got from them last night. It’s a shame that Bray’s brilliance went to waste last night.
And here we go with the finish.
And it starts just like I thought it would. This is one of multiple suplexes that led to the line of the night: “SUPLEX CITY BITCH!”
I knew this match was going to be physical, but damn. Seriously, that clothesline on the apron was sick. These guys were hitting each other HARD.
One of quite a few F-5’s of the night. As I said, these guys really got into it. It was quite a pleasant surprise. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from these two. I certainly never expected a technical match, but it wasn’t bad. Well, except for some of this.
Reigns didn’t come off looking that horrible, minus that Superman punch. That thing is just atrocious. But he came off that he could actually hurt Brock Lesnar, something that’s been hard to accomplish in the past year.
And we had blood. And plenty of it. It didn’t look to be planned that way, as Brock got opened up “the hard way” on a few different occasions, but it certainly added to the overall brutality that they were trying to get across.
As we get toward the close of the match, Brock hits another F-5 but can’t quite make the cover. Both men are exhausted, creating the perfect opportunity for what I was hoping would happen.
Seth Rollins cashes in the MITB briefcase and we’ve now got a triple threat for the title, setting up a great scenario, which was done to perfection. After a great sequence of curb stomps, F-5’s, and spears, the end result is awesome.
Seth Rollins walks out of Wrestlemania as the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion. He comes off as the ultimate heel making the most of his opportunity. Lesnar looks strong because he pummeled Reigns from pillar to post and didn’t even get pinned to lose his title. Reigns got pinned, but took everything Lesnar threw at him and kept on coming. He just got caught in a bad situation. Everybody comes out of this just fine. And finally, we get the big cash-in at Wrestlemania. And we kind of got the double turn we thought might happen. Reigns basically got booed out of the stadium. Lesnar got possibly the biggest pop of the night. And now Lesnar has to chase the title while dealing with The Authority. Hell yeah. There’s a ton of ways that they can continue this.
Overall, I thought it was a good show. Not a great show, but better than what they’ve been doing, so I’ll take it. What was your favorite match? Did you like the finish? Let me know below or follow me on Twitter @BingeSports and/or @THElukenorris. I’ll be back later this week with more Binge Sports as I preview the Final Four. Until next time.
In yet another first for Binge Media, Luke and Batch dive into the world of professional wrestling for the premiere of BingeMania. What better way for you wrestling nerds to get ready for Wrestlemania than listening to Batch’s disdain for all things John Cena and Luke’s hatred of The Bushwhackers? Oh, and they break down the actual Wrestlemania card and the 2015 Hall of Fame. These guys are wrestling freaks and they don’t care who knows it.