Why Arrow works so well

This is not a review of any particular episode but the series itself.  The series is the best superhero television show I've ever seen.  There's no contest for real.  I couldn't make it through two seasons of Smallville; that's how bad I thought it was and it was on for ten seasons.  Everything else I've watched was pure camp (The Incredible Hulk, the Adam West Batman, Wonder Woman) or just terrible (the short-lived Flash and Birds of Prey series).  A lot of people apparently like Lois and Clark but I never saw it so I won't comment on it.  And for reasons I'll explain later, I'm not including Agents of Shield in my comparison (I like that show a lot, for what it's worth).  But anyway, back to Arrow.  It works so well for a lot of reasons, but in my opinion the main one is continuity with the source material.  To be short, there isn't much.  And that's a good thing.  Luckily for the show's creators, Green Arrow is not one of the all time iconic comic book/superhero characters.  People who read them regularly know who he is, but to casual fans or nonreaders he is a complete unknown.  That liberates the writers in a big way; they can pretty much take any character who wouldn't translate well from printed page to television screen and completely revamp them.  A few examples are Count Vertigo, Black Canary, and Roy Harper.

In the comic, Vertigo is from a fictional foreign country and has a device attached to his head that emits a signal that makes people unbalanced.  On the show he was a drug dealer/chemist who sold drugs that threw off people's balance.  The former wold look ridiculous on a television show but the latter worked just fine.  In the comics, Canary was a denizen of Gotham City whose super power was a super high pitched scream; she would eventually became Green Arrow's wife.  On the show she is the sister of Oliver Queen's ex-girlfriend/true love who was stranded on the same island as Oliver and learned to fight there like he did.  Her scream isn't a super power but the sound effect of a device she carries.  And Roy Harper was a trained archer who was adopted by Oliver Queen and became his sidekick.  On the show he's a teenager who dates Oliver's sister and gives him inside tips on what's happening on the streets.  There's been some foreshadowing that he may be Oliver's sidekick one day, but that's it.  These character differences would be an outrage if they were done on a Batman show or movie.  Imagine the Joker as a drug dealing standup comedian or Catwoman as Batman's live in/lover and sidekick.  Fans would hate it. What about a Superman show where Lois Lane was Superman's sister instead of his love interest?  People would riot.

But Arrow can do this.  Because the audience was not previously invested in any of the characters as they were depicted in the source material, the show's creators are free to change things to fit the show.  If they were forced, by overly devoted fanboys, to keep Count Vertigo as he was in the comic it w  ouldn't work well.  But it should also serve as a notice to all the fanboys out there: fealty to the comic book isn't a vital part of making a good superhero movie or TV show.  If Christopher Nolan stuck to the source material, Batman Begins might have ended with some of Ra's Al Ghul's minions pulling his dead body out of the wrecked subway train to haul off to a Lazarus Pit.  In a 'realistic' story world like Nolan was going for that would have been ludicrous. Or if Bane had to shoot up on the venom every time he was about to fight Batman.  So kudos to the team behind Arrow for knowing how to use the freedom they've been granted from the realtive obscurity of their main character.

Money in the Bank Review

A little late, but here's my take on Money in the Bank.  All in all, a good show in my opinion.  This was my first time watching a Money in the Bank event.  The match, and the pay per view that it soon become, became staples of the WWE calendar during my last hiatus as a wrestling fan.  (I was a regular watcher from 1985 to 1992, dropped out until 1997 and stayed in through 2002, then went away until 2011/2012)  I love the concept, and it provides a lot of intrigue and drama over the next several months for the two winners and the champions they'll be chasing.  Now last year they kind of blew the post-event payoffs. John Cena cashed his in and failed to win the title in his championship match, and then Dolph Ziggler was badly booked through the ensuing months before he cashed in the night after Wrestlemania 29 but then promptly get injured.  Here's hoping that this year goes better for the winners and their storylines. 

The show opened with the World Title ladder match.  Cody Rhodes, Dean Ambrose, Damien Sandow, Antonio Cesaro, Jack Swagger, Wade Barrett, and Fandango.  I had no idea who would win this one; by the night of the show I was leaning towards Ambrose.  I figured Swagger got his World Title shot chance earlier this year and the other guys weren't likely to get the belt put on them.  As the match progressed, I still had no clue.  When Ambrose's Shield-mates Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns hit the ring I figured that would seal the deal for Ambrose.  But then they all ended up outside the ring, and Cody Rhodes made it to the ladder.  As he started climbing I noticed that you could see everyone on the floor except Sandow; my radar went off but then Rhodes got to the top of ladder and I figured it was nothing.  But lo and behold, Sandow got in the ring and knocked his soon to be former partner off the ladder to claim the win.  I was totally shocked.  Sandow is one of my favorites, but I figured he was a midcard type of guy in the eyes of WWE management.  Color me surprised.  All in all a good opener.

Next up we had Curtis Axel vs. the Miz.  Meh.  I like the Miz, and I like what they're doing with Axel but I kind of want them to get on with it.  He obviously has a date with CM Punk ahead, and I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up happening at Summerslam instead of Punk vs. Brock Lesnar.  Axel won the match, which didn't surprise me.  I like the Miz a lot more than most internet fanboys, and I hope he gets something good to do going forward.

Divas Title Match:  I don't hate the Divas; that's another area where I diverge from the 'net fanboys.  I will say for the millionth time that the mix of good looking women who can actually do stuff in the ring is better than it was during either of my two earlier stints as a regular fan.  The Rock and Wrestling Era had some good wrestlers who didn't exactly set one's heart aflutter.  The NWO/Attitude Era had really attractive women who could do next to nothing in the ring.  In fact they  barely even had any actual matches other than bra and panties matches and the like. If you ask me that was the height of chauvinism, not to mention the physical violence that often received at the hands of male wrestlers.  So here we are.  The match between AJ and Kaitlyn was what it was, not bad but not particularly good.  AJ wins, and she really needs a new challenger now.  Which leads us to....

World Title Match: Alberto Del Rio vs. Dolph Ziggler.  I had Ziggler not winning the title here.  Wasn't sure how it would happen, but I figured it would some kind of way.  I was not wrong.  Ziggler did well, but AJ got him disqualified.  Match was good and suspenseful enough towards the ending.  Once AJ came down to the ring I rightly figured she would cost her soon to be ex the match.  But instead of a full on betrayal, which  happened the next night on RAW, we got the accidental match ending.

Chris Jericho vs. Ryback:  Pointless match beyond getting a win back after his recent losses to Cena. I didn't like the match, I knew Ryback was winning from the start because Jericho is world class at putting guys over.

John Cena s. Mark Henry:  Pretty decent match.  I picked Cena to win, but didn't know if it would be a decisive, storyline ending or a some kind of non finish to keep things going for another month.  Turns out we got the clean finish.  Cena haters did what they usually do, bitch without providing any real arguments worth listening to.  Henry and Cena have moved on to other things already but they gave us something good here.

Main Event: Christian, Rob Van Dam, CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Randy Orton, and Sheamus.  Great match.  I didn't have Orton winning; total shocker.  I figured going in that neither he nor Christian, nor Sheamus had a shot.  But other than that, I didn't know.  Van Dam showed he can definitely still go at a high level and the others (Bryan and Punk) performed at the high level they usually do.  As the match went on I figured either Punk would win or would be stopped from winning by Paul Heyman or Lesnar; that turned out to be right.  When Van Dam was making his final run at the ladder I just knew he was going to take it; Orton pulling out the RKO and stealing the victory was a nice surprise.

So where do they go from here?  I think Orton will eventually cash in on Cena or whoever beats him after a title match, and it could come as early as Summerslam.  Sandow will be waiting a while.  Alberto Del Rio has to drop the belt to somebody first.  Should be fun to watch what happens, though.

Where we are now

OK, so we're 30 days out from Wrestlemania, and right now the card is looking like this:

• John Cena vs. the Rock for the WWE Title
• Alberto Del Rio vs. Jack Swagger for the World Title
• Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar
• CM Punk vs. the Undertaker
• Ryback vs. Mark Henry
• Big Show, Sheamus, and Randy Orton vs. the Shield
• Divas title match 

We'll probably get an Intercontinental championship match, a U.S. title match (I'm figuring Miz vs. Cesaro), and a Tag Team title match.  That's 10 matches, so we might get one or two more.  Dolph Ziggler and CHris Jericho need to get some work in , so there will probably be something for them, either against each other or separate opponents.  So far so good if you ask me.  Yeah, I know the emo hipster fans probably will have some kind of gripe because we're not getting  that Ziggler-Punk-Daniel Bryan three way title match they want so badly, but they'll have to get over it.  Now don't get me wrong that would be a great match in the ring and would probably draw some interest among even the biggest Cena-loving, we-only-want-the-icons types (I refuse to call them marks.  Who is the real mark, the fan who mainly wants to see John Cena or the guy who spends hours disseminating about the workrate of Justin Gabriel?)  I love a great technical match as much as the next guy, but people pay to see stars.

I got back into wrestling after an eight year break because I saw the Rock was coming back to take on John Cena last year.  That's how these things work.  When I got back in I knew Cena, the Undertaker, Triple H, Big Show, Mark Henry, Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, Rey Mysterio, Jr. and Booker T.  By the time I was back in full time I was also familiar with Sheamus and CM Punk.  Those are mostly guys who were around when I got out back in 2002/2003, and two others.  Once you get past the backstage politics, who gets pushed is a matter of who the guys in charge think can draw.  As good as Dolph Ziggler is in the ring, on the mic, etcc. someone in the booking committee is skeptical of his ability to draw money.  Now they might be totally wrong, but they probably know better than we do.  He's not Chris Jericho from 1998 getting bigger reactions in his 8 to 10 minutes of TV time than some of the bigger names on the roster.  Ziggler has gotten some big wins in late 2012; Money in the Bank, Survivor Series, TLC.  And yet, 'Dolph Ziggler, WWE Champion' still seems a little forced to me.  But I digress.

Thirty days out, and I like where we are.  Let's see how the rest of the card shapes up.

Cena won, get over it.

So John Cena beat CM Punk last night and is solidly entrenched in the Wrestlemania main event for good.  Get over it, emo fans.  Although I wasn't sure what would happen going in to last night, which was a good thing, the chances of Punk going over weren't too great.  But it is a credit to him that both this match and the main event at the Elimination Chamber Pay Per View did not feel like foregone conclusions when the participants hit the ring.  But now we're on to what was probably penciled in a year ago, a rematch between the Rock and John Cena.  Which is making the emo fans out there want to guzzle a gallon of antifreeze, I'm sure.  They were all good with the Rock coming back last year because it gave them hope of seeing their favorite whipping boy Cena going down to defeat.  But now, they're resigned to the fact that the Rock is a part timer and a short timer, coming back to do the run up to Wrestlemania and the big show itself, then going back to Hollywood.  And it just doesn't sit well with them.  Well I got news for you emo fans; the WWE is a business and the Rock brings in money.  A lot of people like me got back into WWE a year ago when the Rock came back, and we've stuck around.  I'm even ordering Pay Per Views again, every one since Summerslam, so the Rock coming back has made Vince over $300 off of me alone.  Imagine what that means when you multiply me by 1000, which isn't out of the question.  That's almost half a million dollars in either new or replacement money.  So yeah, it's worth it having the Rock come back for a three match stint every Spring as long as he's willing and able.  If the Undertaker is able to go for the big event, then I'm sure that will get some more buyers.  Without the business there is no show.

So where does CM Punk go from here?  Hard to say.  A three way dance in the 'Mania main event, which is what some people were hoping for, obviously isn't going to happen.  A match against the Undertaker?  Maybe, although I'd question the logic of feeding Punk to the Undertaker at this juncture.  The World title match is set, so forget that.  Maybe a blowoff match against Ryback, but he's not done with the Shield just yet.  We'll see.  Where he goes after WrestleMania is a big question mark also.  Assuming Cena wins the title back, then we could get a series of matches with Cena as champ and Punk as challenger, a reversal from last year.  Or maybe something starts at 'Mania and goes on through the Spring.  I'd love to see more Pay Per View work between him and Chris Jericho.  We'll see what happens, but he's definitely at a crossroads right now.  As is Dolph Ziggler; Ziggler has been jobbing left and right as of late. He put over Ryback last night, Alberto Del Rio a week ago, and never got a win over Cena after TLC.  He's still got his Money in the Bank briefcase so the question is when, not if, he cashes it in.  He's got until July, so whenever Del Rio is done with Jack Swagger, I figure he's likely to get his chance to be a champion again.  I have no idea where the Swagger/Del Rio thing ends up.  Swagger was likely to win the World title until his DUI bust; now the booking committee has to be deliberating over whether this was a blip on the radar or a sign that he can't be trusted to have any kind of prominent role.

Dwight Howard Sucks

Yeah, you read that right.  OK, he's not Sam Bowie, but he's not somebody the Lakers should pin their future hopes to.  He's very limited offensively, and his attitude is terrible.  He is not a franchise player.  On my 5 point scale he's a 4, which is All-Star.  The scale is:

• 5 - Franchise Player
• 4 - All Star
• 3 - Starter
• 2- Rotation guy
• 1 - Roster guy
• 0- D-leaguer

Howard has trouble scoring without being set up or getting a wide open dunk or layup.  After almost ten years in the league he has no reliable post up moves and sloppy footwork.  He still gets rung up for offensive fouls and violations and can be defended straight up by big guys who can hold their ground in the paint like Kendrick Perkins.  You can't make a guy like that the centerpiece of your team if you want to win a championship.  If the Lakers seriously are thinking about ditching Kobe and going with him, they are sadly mistaken.  Kobe might be old as dirt and may only have a couple of seasons left in him, but I'd ride with him over Howard any day.

With Howard as the focal point you must have a top notch point guard in his prime (not Steve Nash) to get him the ball in the right places, shooters who can knock down open looks, a guard or wing player who can create their own shot and score 20, and a big man who can come in for him and hit foul shots when it's time for the other team to start fouling him.  Hack-a-Shaq did not work because Shaq would get 30 points despite going 5-for-10 from the foul line.  Howard can't do that; you will have to pull him in crunch time (contrary to popular belief, you didn't have to do that with Shaq).    

WWE Musings

OK, so the Elimination Chamber is done and now it's on to Wrestlemania.  All in all I thought it was a good show.  I thought the matches were all good or better, and even the Divas match wasn't terrible.  I wasn't sure what direction they were going to go with the Chamber match; Jack Swagger's return and big push made him winning a definite possibility, but Mark Henry has been getting the same good treatment since his comeback so he was safe pick as well.  The other four guys (Kane, Daniel Bryan, Chris Jericho, and Randy Orton) were obviously there to for purposes of showing well and putting those two over.  Once Henry went out it was a done deal.  So now we get Swagger vs. Alberto Del Rio at Wrestlemania to go along with the Rock vs. John Cena in the main event. 

The six man tag team match really surprised me.  That one had the look of a blowoff match where the heels would get their comeuppance.  In the week leading up to the show, it was looking like the Shield had met their match and wouldn't be as dominant when the odds were even.  Them coming out victorious is a clear indicator that they won't be going the way of the Nexus or the Corre, the last two outsider factions that got some run in the WWE.  I think that shifting them from indomitable outsiders to hired guns who are regulars on the roster is better for them in the long run.  The whole 'these guys don't work here! Oh my God!' angle needs to be left on the shelf for the forseeable future.  Since 1996 we've had the NWO, the Alliance, the Nexus, and the Corre.  We don't need another invasion/takeover storyline for a while.

As for the main event, I wasn't totally sold on the foregone conclusion of the Rock retaining the title but once the match was over I was like 'well, duh!'  Unless they were thinking Triple Threat for Wrestlemania, which they aren't, there was no reason to not go with the ending that they gave us.  Now we get Rock-Cena II at Wrestlemania, and it should be a good one.  Yes, the smart money is on Cena getting a win in return for last year's loss and the title to boot.  I know the Cena haters want to puke at the mere thought of that but they just need to get over it.  The man has been without the title for over a year now, and has put over plenty of people during that time.  The larger question is who he'll take on afterward.  I'd vote for Sheamus, with Cena doing the honors and dropping the title to him at Summerslam.  But hey, that's just me.

Get out while you can.

So last night on RAW was apparently Eve Torres last night in the WWE.  She lost her Diva's title to Kaitlyn, which looked like it was bound to happen soon to anyone who's been watching for as long as I have.  Over the last few weeks she went from beating Kaitlyn and others clean to the cowardly lion running for the hills to save her title.  That the match was in the challenger's hometown was another tip.  And then word came down on the internet earlier yesterday that she'd be leaving and that title switch was a foregone conclusion.  You can count me among her fanbase, and it will kinda suck not having one of your favorite wrestlers on television anymore.  The Divas division is much maligned by the internet crowd, and not without merit, but it's nowhere as bad as the whiners say it is.  The biggest problems to me are that they don't give the ladies enough time to have a good match on television and don't do much in the way of character development beyond a few of them (AJ, Eve).  Their tv matches are often two and three minute affairs that end abruptly.  The match last night went about six minutes, which is an ironman match by diva standards, and was better than what we usually get out of them.

So now what happens with Eve?  I'm assuming she has some other projects or something lined up to pursue. And good for her and everyone else who took advantage of some other opportunity and decided to leave the business.  Despite the prearranged endings, wrestling is a grueling business to be in and it takes its toll on everyone that participates.  Travel, injuries, you name it.  So if you can leverage a few years in the ring into something less daunting on your body and personal life, go for it.   That goes the same for actors/actresses, models, and  other professional athletes. Yes, I count wrestlers as pro athletes.  They are professionals at what they do and it is athletic.  You go out there and try it if you think otherwise.  They get the same injuries as football players.  Concussions, torn ACLs, you name it.  But I digress.  Spending twenty years tearing your body up and then trying to live off of your rep when you're pushing 50 and can't do what you used to isn't a good look.  For a woman, who is unfairly judged on her appearance every time she steps in front of a camera, it's worse.  So if you can shut it down early and live well you do it.  They don't owe us anything beyond a good effort when they're performing in front of us, and the necessary work to ensure that they're capable of putting in said effort.  That's it.

People still love the Rock, and he straight bailed in 2002/2003 to do movies.  He didn't come back until 2011, and even that's been part time.  But he's made it work.  We like most of his movies, and we still enjoy him when he shows up on WWE television.  If Eve comes back we'll enjoy her return, and if she does well in whatever she does next we'll enjoy that, too.  So good luck to her, and everyone else in the future who chooses to make the most of what life offers them.  They're not our property so we wouldn't act like it.

In defense of....

OK folks, a little wrestling talk this time.  I'm here to defend......John Cena.  Yes, the man the internet wrestling community hates and a lot of fans who aren't children love to hate.  To be honest, I just don't get it, and I think you folks are akin to the indie music fans who hate everyone that's sold more than 10 copies of their CD out of the trunk of their car.  There several supposed arguments as to why John Cena is terrible, and in my opinion none of them hold water after careful investigation.  You folks really need to get over yourselves, and enjoy the show.  It's pro wrestling, people.  We watch it for entertainment and because we like it.  To get all Siskel and Ebert on every segment of every show is just stupid.  And so is focusing most, if not, all of your contempt on one guy who doesn't deserve it.  Are you convinced yet?  Of course not, so let me go through the arguments one by one:

• Tired of him winning the title all the time - Yes, he is a ten time champion, more than Triple H (8 times), the Rock (7 gong on 8), Stone Cold, Hulk Hogan, and Randy Orton (6 times each); Bret Hart (5), the Undertaker and Kurt Angle (4), and Shawn Michaels (3).  That looks excessive on face value but consider these facts.  One, several of those reigns were really short.  His fourth reign was less than a month, his sixth time as champ ended the same day it started, and his last two reigns were under a month.  He had a few more reigns were around two months (five, seven, and eight).  So that's three times out of ten where he held the title for any considerable amount of time.  And there some very long stretches between reigns.  Eight months between two and three, almost two years between three and four, almost a year between seven and eight.  And he's gone over a year since he last held the title.  The idea that's he been dominating the title is just crazy.  By contrast, Bruno Sammartino's first title reign was longer than the entire time Cena has been in the world title picture.  Bruno held the title uninterrupted for seven years and eights months.  That is dominating the title.  Cena's longest reign was just over a year.  The idea that he's some kind of title hog is just not correct.

• Too much exposure - Here's another one I don't get.  Cena gets about 15 to 20 minutes of combined television time on RAW every week, and his segments get replayed on the other shows.  He does little live work on any of the other shows.  How is that overexposure?  15 to 20 minutes combined on a three hour show....yeah, it's more than everyone else except maybe CM Punk but it's not like we're having three hours of nothing but Cena every Monday.  That's ridiculous. And the proof is in the ratings pudding; the last time he was off the show entirely, the rating sucked.

• Can't wrestle - As someone who watched Hulk Hogan main events in the eighties and early nineties, I can call b.s. on this in a major way.  I've watched five Cena Pay Per View main events, and I can say without a shadow of a doubt that they were better than 99% of the Hulk Hogan main events I saw (the exception being the WrestleMania main event against the Ultimate Warrior).  The match Cena had against CM Punk and Ryback went 17 minutes; that's short for him but longer than damn near any Hulk Hogan match ever.  He led the Rock, who hadn't competed in almost a decade, through a pretty damn good Wrestlemania main event that went over 20 minutes.  Hulk Hogan couldn't have done that if his life depended on it.  And for those who want to play the 'limited movest' card, give me a break.  Most of the all time great main eventers, even technical wizards like Ric Flair and Bret Hart, had a set of moves that they pulled out for every match.  Hart had the 'Five Moves of Doom' a term given out by internet writers who actually liked him.

•  Wins too much -I both agree and disagree here.  There have been some definite instances over the past year when he's gotten some wins that made little sense from a booking standpoint, mainly beating Brock Lesnar at Extreme Rules 2012 and his multiple TV wins over Dolph Ziggler.  But taking that and running with it means you have to ignore the multiple Pay Per View losses he's had over the past year and some other losses as well.  He lost pay per view matches to the Rock, John Lauranitus, CM Punk/Big Show, CM Punk/Ryback, and Dolph Ziggler. He fought to an effective draw with CM Punk and Kane at two other Pay Per View shows.  He also lost on RAW to Tensai of all people, and was the first Money in the Bank winner to fail on his cash-in attempt.  I can tell you that Hulk Hogan might have lost by pin three times, period during his entire eight years as top dog.  So please, spare me.

• He's stale - This is often used as a justification for the dueling chants for and against him.  Again, I call b.s. on this.  Why?  I watched a match of his from 2005 against Chris Jericho and heard......the dueling chants!  In 2005, before the title reigns, the main events, before 'Super Cena'.  So please, just stop it already.

You know what I really think?  You guys never did like him, and then he became the big man in the business.  Which just burns.  I get it; facing a possible decade of a wrestler you don't like becoming the big dog just sucks at the beginning and sucks while it's happening.  But just own it, will you?  Stop with the lame excuses already.  There's nothing they can do with him that will make you happy and be good for business right now.  Turn him heel?  Uhh.....no.  The guy does too much good guy stuff offstage, and turning him heel would make that too awkward.  You don't see CM Punk out there doing all that charitable stuff, even if he might want to.  It just doesn't work without the character to portray along with it.  And it hurt the house show business, because the people who go to house shows largely treat it like a blockbuster movie, and want good guys to cheer and win at the end.  Evil John Cena would hurt that dynamic and not add anything in the process.  And you internet fans would get tired of that soon and go back to hating on him.  You don't have to be fans of his, but please at least get a good reason to hate first.