#early cole is fascinating and i am very interested to see where he goes now that i’m like. aware of themes and character development and ahi

[un-pearable]

obsessed with cole’s introduction being “nice ta meet ya. i got your back” while holding a live blade to kai’s throat

[samprestonbigbadabruce]

NXT Takeover: New Orleans - Thoughts and Review...

Sunday 8th April has been a very difficult day, due to my having to avoid any and all spoilers for this show. Normally, I’ll either watch the event live, or watch it at a later date knowing the results. But for a show like this, one that could legitimately be one of the best of the year, I wanted to immerse myself fully into the show, not knowing any results at all. Oh, NXT, you have made me your bitch with ease.

Of course, we have Mauro Ranallo (the one and only legend), Nigel McGuinness (who has really grown into the role fantastically), and Percy Watson (who has demonstrated some good commentary when given the chance), who are probably the strongest 3 man team on the commentary booth. My predictions are at this link.

Ladder Match for the inaugural NXT North American Championship.

EC3 (Ethan Carter III) vs Killian Dain vs Adam Cole vs Velveteen Dream vs Lars Sullivan vs Ricochet

The audience already knows who Ricochet is, his name resonating around the arena, and he gets the first major pop with a tremendous Shooting Star Press to the outside on Dain and Lars. Ricochet is so crisp and beautiful to watch in the ring, he’s instantly fascinating. One of the sub-plots of the match was the build-up to Lars and Dain facing each other, bumping into each other a few times, before an awesome tope onto Lars early on. Watching Lars throw a ladder onto his five opponents was a great moment, he’s starting to convince me he may be more than just a big hoss. He took a great powerbomb from Ricochet, Dream and EC3 off the ladder.

I loved EC3 & Cole, the two snakes who will just as soon betray you as use you, getting along briefly, before EC3 stole Cole’s “bay bay” Schtick, and super kicking EVERYBODY’s face off. The next big moment was Dream’s beautiful Elbow off the ladder onto Lars, some tremendous elevation. Bringing the ladders in so quickly seemed like a better method as it allowed them to hit the ground running. Killian’s Vader Bomb with Cole on his back onto EC3 under a ladder was reminiscent of Rikishi flattening Val Venis off the top of a cage. Lars Sullivan and Killian Dain throwing Ricochet back and forth was akin to two T-Rexes fighting over a pork chop, I laughed, but Lars catching Killain was awe inspiring. And then Ricochet beat it with a moonsault off a falling ladder onto Cole & Dain, that’s Highlight Reel material. Ricochet is coming across very impressive in this match, as I expected.

Dream’s rolling Death Valley Driver on Ricochet onto a ladder was terrifying, but looked amazing, then Lars SMASHING EC3 onto Dream THROUGH a ladder, just raised the bar again, only for Dain to metaphorically go for “Hold My Beer” and put Cole & Ricochet through his own ladder! This is insanity and I love it. I love the subtlety of having the two hosses, Lars & Killain, on one ladder, then the two heels Cole & EC3 on another ladder, and then Dream opening up the third, each ladder representing a different style, culminating in Ricochet joining him. Cole took down EC3, Ricochet took down Dream, and STILL the two beasts were on the ladder. And just as Lars was near victory, Ricochet made the save, the competitors continuously nearing so close, then getting knocked off, before Adam Cole stole the title!

I love how the match allows each style to get their own moment in the sun, either Lars smashing people, Killian’s agile destructions, Ricochet & Dream’s high-flying antics and great bumping, Cole’s smarmy opportunist, or EC3’s arrogant smarts, none were underutilised. I was surprised at the choice for Cole to win, I thought EC3 would make more sense as a heel for the others to chase, but Cole has earned the title, he’ll be The Miz of NXT, elevating the second title. Cole won in character, but everybody looked tremendous. Loved this match.

Adam Cole wins the NXT North American Championship.

Ember Moon defends the NXT Women’s Championship versus Shayna Baszler

Okay, first of all, my favourite band Halestorm opened for Ember and it was awesome, such a rocking tune and great voice from Lzzy Hale. I found that a lot more interesting than Ronda Rousey being in the audience. If only Shayna wasn’t involved…I get that some people may like her, but I’ve found her generic and boring, a flat track bully. To be fair, her knee strikes were making ME feel sore, and it was something a little different, expanding her arsenal. Moon still comes across as the desperate champ struggling with the bully, including a dropkick to force Shayna into the ring steps. I have to admit, seeing Ember turn Shayna’s own elbow stamp onto Shayna was so gratifying.

Seeing Shayna trying to pop her shoulder back into place against the ring post was actually impressive, it feels like they are trying to create sympathy for Shayna, who has been a despicable bully so far. Ember’s finisher onto the outside was excellent, a great moment. Ember’s powerbomb on Shayna was even more impressive, I’ll admit, despite having no interest in this match, these two put in some great work to draw me in. And then, Shayna choked out Ember to win the title. I can’t say I’m surprised, and the match was better than I expected, but I do think it’s a mistake to give her the title so soon. I’m also curious about their decision to push Ronda as the babyface, only for her to be friends with despicable heel Shayna, lack of consistency.

Shayna Baszler wins the NXT Women’s Championship.

Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Final: The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole & Kyle O’Reilly) defend the NXT Tag Team Championship against The Authors Of Pain (Akam and Rezar with Paul Ellering) versus Pete Dunne & Roderick Strong

The Authors Of Pain have gone on strength to strength, improving every match, whilst Strong is consistent and tough, respected by the audience, Dunne is a tough nasty bastard, and The Undisputed Era are heat magnets…this match is such a great choice. The Authors Of Pain instantly come in and destroy the opposition, powerbombing Cole straight through the announce table. O’Reilly simultaneously holding an AOP & Strong in submissions was a great image and makes it believable for him to have to wrestle alone.

O’Reilly being German Suplexed, jumping up screaming, then falling out of the ring, was my favourite moment of the night so far. Dunne and O’Reilly are two hard hitters, and seeing them smash mouth each other was great. Dunne snapping an AOP’s fingers to avoid a move is one of those little character moments that add to a match, very in character. As the match continues, I’m starting to feel that Cole may stir from injury in time to steal the win?

Strong using AOP’s strength and speed against them, including into the steel steps, and then WHAT THE FUCK?! Roderick Strong turned on Pete Dunne and helped The Undisputed Era retain? What a twist, O’Reilly’s reactions are awesome. I remember Strong supposedly being a great heel on the Indie scene, I am legitimately shocked at this development, but it definitely makes things interesting. I assume until Fish heals, Strong and O’Reilly will defend the Tag Team titles?

The Undisputed Era win the Dusty Rhodes Classic and retain the NXT Tag Team titles.

Andrade ‘Cien’ Almas defends the NXT Championship versus Aleister Black.

Almas has already been so impressive as NXT Champion, really raising his game for the title. Black is awesome all round, and comes flying out of the blocks. A tremendous moment where Almas flipped out of a sunset powerbomb off the top rope, only to miss the knees, only to lead into a backsault off the top rope and another Moonsault onto Black, great flow to the match. Almas surprisingly matched Black with some great strikes, until Black kneed his face out of place. Almas has scouted Black tremendously, catching him out every time Black goes to his arsenal. And the few times Black did on top, Zelina spiked Black twice with hurricaranas, playing the ref like a fiddle. Third time should surely lead to Zelina getting Black Massed by Black,

When Black did hit the Black Mass, Zelina saved Almas, she does such an amazing job as a heel manager, saving Almas four times already! Several close shaves, including a tremendous Hammerlock DDT from Almas to Black that I thought would end it. But this leads into the perfect finish, as Zelina tried interfering again, Almas catching her, and turning into Black Mass!

Almas may have only had a brief title reign, but it was very impressive, a 5 Star Classic and a great victory, but Black was the right choice, he’d been on track for the title since he debuted, and he offers a different style to some of the previous Champions. Black has earned this victory, but Almas can take pride in his reign, and I cannot wait to see who Black faces first…maybe a returning Drew McIntyre?

Aleister Black wins the NXT Championship.

Unsanctioned Match: Tommaso Ciampia fights Johnny Gargano A story years in the making, two former friends and brothers, now hated rivals. Johnny Gargano placed his career on the line for the NXT Championship, and lost because of Ciampia. Now, in an unsanctioned match, one where you can only win by pinfall or submission, Johnny Wrestling gets the opportunity for revenge. If he wins, he is reinstated to NXT. If he loses...he’s gone. This won’t be a five star classic, it’ll be a fight.

The atmosphere is engulfing. The punches and kicks that started the match lead into Ciampia getting more vicious, slams against the guardrail, and threatening with an unprotected floor. Johnnny Wrestling, the nice guy, throwing Ciampia into the announce team, really helped sell how consumed by anger and hatred he was. They would tease with one act of violence (suplex on the unprotected floor, suplex on the table) and then subvert it with something just as violent (suplex OFF the announce table onto the mat), sprinkling little Chekhov Guns to come into play later. Seeing the top of the announce table used to be suplexed through was something I hadn’t seen before, these little unique moments really add to the match.

There was one uncomfortable bump where it looked like Gargano landed on his neck after he was Irish-whipped into the corner, flipping upside down and landing on his head. A great touch was when Johnny got to the ropes when Gargano had a submission on him, only for the ref to tell him “No rope breaks”, i loved that! Really adds to the authenticity of the unsanctioned fight. So far, the only element I disagree with is that to me, an Unsanctioned match works better if the wrestlers are in street clothes, but I digress.

So far, the weapons being used really tie back to the history of their rivalry, the announce table from when Ciampia first betrayed Gargano, then the crutches from the crowd tying into Ciampia’s injury and multiple attacks with the crutches. The unprotected mat came back in a vicious way, Johnny going for a slingshot DDT attempt, reversed into Ciampia’s finisher attempt, only for Johnny to slither out and powerbomb Ciampia onto the floor - I admit, I let out an involuntary noise at the sound of Tommaso’s back landing on the floor.

The tired tug of war over the crutch really amplified the war these two are going through, and the cathartic strikes on Ciampia by Gargano, who refused to let go of the crutch even when thrown out, leading to a sickening crack on the head. It was only after that and a slingshot DDT, that I think the first pinfall attempt was made, twenty plus minutes into the match, a great detail for such a volatile fight. The reverses keep on happening again and again, showing how well these two know each other, Johnny even willing to pull on Tommaso’s beard.

Gargano locked in his submission hold, and the rope breaks came into play again, almost reaching ironic glory, and then the roll back into the middle of the ring, ala Benoit/Triple-H at Wrestlemania XX, seemed poised for the ending, only for Tommaso to dig at Gargano’s eyes. The desperation of Tommaso was then intensified by using his wrist rope to try and strangle his opponent.such a brilliantly layered story. A low blow, crutch to the back, then powerbomb backbreaker had me convinced it was over, but Johnny Wrestling kicked out again. I have no idea who will win at this rate.

Johnny using Tommaso’s kneepad to drag himself toward Ciampia was such an iconic image, leading into the lawn dart into the unprotected turnbuckle, then two vicious low superkicks, the second eliciting another unexpected noise from me. I know I said this would be a fight, not a five star classic, but these two are pushing close. Ciampia did another powerbomb backbreaker onto his knees for a massive near fall, and the knee brace has taken damage, these two are going all out. And now the final callback, the removal of Ciampia’s kneepad, ala the Cruiserweight Classic, only for Johnny to smash the brace into Ciampia’s knee!

A brief moment with a callback to the sit down in the ring together, lead to an amazing STF on the knee with the knee brace pulling back on Ciampia’s neck, that looked diabolically painful! And Ciampia tapped, Gargano gets reinstated, Johnny Wrestling has done it! He’s beaten Ciampia, vanquished his demon, and he’s reinstated to NXT! What a brilliant match, such layers and story telling, reversals, hard hits, big moments, character moments, emotional and unforgiving, a rollercoaster ride, but the hero has defeated the psycho.

Johnny Gargano defeats Tommas Ciampia

Yet again, NXT Takeover does an excellent job, great matches, fantastic stories, and even my personal weakest match (the NXT Women’s Championship) is exactly that, a personal indifference, but still a solid match. In fact, I probably couldn’t call any of these a weak match. What a brilliant PPV, NXT just keeps getting better and better and better.

[lavender-montgomery]

Polaroid (2019) thoughts and feelings [SPOILERS]

I haven’t watched a good horror in a while. It is over a week into isolation from the corona virus and I’ve been glued to Disney+. I don’t think I’ve watched a horror since The Invisible Man (which I am yet to write about, I just realised I haven’t done it yet. Maybe I’ll do it tonight.)

As usual I didn’t have high hopes for this movie, considering I’d never heard of it, it’s a Netflix horror and isn’t on any other subscription service. But, I am bored, so I watched it... It surprisingly wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. 

It started off simple with a bit of back story - that you don’t realise was back story until later. My complaint about the beginning was that it was too dark. I understand darkness makes it spookier, but it was to the point wher I considered adjusting my laptop settings as no matter how I angled my screen, I could barely see it. The movie is about a camera, so it starts off with two young girls using said camera. Friend goes home and stupid girl, knowing things are creepy, walks round her house in the pitch black and goes up into her attic in the dark. Surprise surprise she dies, within minutes of the movie starting. I thought it was a bit soon to kill someone off but that’s okay, it set enough of the scene to gather what’s going on. 

The rest of the movie is about a modern day group of teens, one named Bird who wears a scarf all the time to cover a neck scar. Bird falls into possession of the camera. More dark scenes - why do they always sit in the dark in these movies? I mean, I get it, but they’re so dumb. She takes a picture of her friend and creepy wheezing entity guy kills her friend. That’s two deaths very early into the movie. Who is this guy? 

I kinda wish they waited a little before killing off the characters as I didn’t have much of a ‘bond’ with them so I didn’t care that they’d died. Also, you couldn’t see the deaths, the camera wasn’t on them when they died, you only heard it. I feel that was a cheap, cheating way to go about it. I want to see the deaths and the blood. That’s why I watch these movies. The movie woulda been so much better had they shown the death scenes.

The reason for the murder isn’t given yet but I mean, it’s pretty obvious - the camera. 

So she goes to the party and takes her camera like the dork she is, and she takes a photo of her friends and some bitchy chick took a selfie. I felt bad for Bird in this scene, she didn’t want to go to the party and she was so uncomfortable there, standing by the wall on her own while everyone else was drinking and having a good time. I definitely feel I’d be in her position if I went to that party. It was a bit awkward to watch and definitely relatable. It brought back memories. It also reminded me of Scott Pilgrim and Perks of Being a Wallflower. 

Shortly after, the next teen was killed - did I feel anything? No. Partly because, again, they didn’t let us ‘bond’ with the character, and also... She seemed a massive bitch. She didn’t do anything in particular, it’s just the way she acted. She seemed like a really nasty piece of work. 

The whole school these kids went to was sad, it reminded me of when a kid died when I was in school and everyone stood in the corridors crying and wearing black. It was an emotional time. I didn’t know the kid, but my friends did. 

It doesn’t take long for Bird to click as to what’s going on, thank God. Predictably, her friends don’t believe her until more spooky stuff happens then they do. I didn’t like how predictable this movie was, not one single thing shocked me as I knew every time what was going to happen. It was very reminiscent of The Final Destination and Nightmare on Elm Street movies.

I say this quite a lot about horror films but that’s because to me, it is a real life horror; the Entity made me think a lot of my main hallucination with my psychosis, this time more than any other movie, to the point where I nearly turned the movie off. However I continued watching as I’ve been better with it recently so hopefully I will be okay. 

Another teen dies while she’s in hospital, again, predictable. 

I liked where they discovered the origins of the camera. Turns out, it belonged to the daughter of a serial killer. He took sexual photos of his daughter, kids found out and tried to help her, so he murdered them all to silence them. He got caught just before he killed the fourth child, so he came back in spirit to finish the job. His daughter killed herself out of guilt. That was a good bit of back story I somehow wasn’t expecting, although I think now and it was quite obvious. 

Third teen dies, this time we got to know him a bit better - hurrah! I didn’t like him at all, he was an ass, so I didn’t care about his death. 

One thing I will say - the killer’s wife was really creepy, and seriously in denial about what really happened with her husband and daughter. She was probably the scariest thing in this movie, as it wasn’t scary at all.

I’m glad that allowing the killer to kill the fourth kid from back then didn’t stop him as that is such an obvious solution. Then again, so was the actual solution of taking a photo of him and destroying it. But hey, what more can I expect from such a predictable movie?

Another creepy bit was when Bird crumpled up the photo of the entity and his body was crumpled, then he walked like a spider. Contortion fascinates me, I loved this part and it inspired me to draw it. 

The worst part of the movie? At the end when she said ‘there’s something I have to do first’ and she disposed of the camera. How boring and cheesy, and a disappointing ending. I’m not sure how they should have ended it, but it shouldn’t have been with something so cliche. 

The person who played Connor reminded me of Cole Sprouse. 

Was I impressed by this movie? Somewhat. It was entertaining, I’ll give it that. It didn’t fully captivate me as I was on my phone a lot, but it was a good watch. Suitable for younger horror fans too as it wasn’t too violent, gory, play on your mind etc. It wasn’t scary but it was interesting, I’d give it a 5/10. It was an okay movie. I didn’t feel much after it, I wasn’t thinking ‘wow that was amazing’. I’d recommend it if you have absolutely nothing to watch.