Weekend Recap (6/17/16 - 6/19/16)

Friday (6/17):

• I ordered pizza from Grimaldi's and we headed over to Josh and Tanisha's place to hang out for a bit. We just talked for a while, doing some catching up before Tanisha and Nix came him. Nix is like the most freaking amazing toddler I ever met. Incredibly intelligent and imaginative and polite. After she and Tanisha went to bed, we just watched Josh play some Uncharted 4 before heading home
• I printed out a giant Shroomish sign for MITB.

Saturday (6/18):

• I went to Ann's Salon to get my highlights redone and my haircut. I went with the really short bob. I went with a different stylist from last time so instead of just touching up the highlights on my hair and keeping the same color, she pretty much bleached it X_X
• I bought some pasta so that Vince and I can have lunch before watching "Finding Dory." I love that movie. Not quite as good as "Finding Nemo" but it made up for it by showcasing more characters at the aquarium.
• Went around Downtown Summerlin for a bit and then drove to Vivido for some gelato.

Sunday (6/19):

• Called and greeted my dad Happy Father's Day, because I had to.
• Vince and I got ready to head to the T-Mobile Arena for MITB. I made a long and detailed post here on my Wordpress blog.

What to expect for Monday Night RAW:

DEAN FUCKING AMBROSE:

THE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION

You get us. :) https://t.co/fw7tFyZw4t

— SiriusXM Busted Open (@BustedOpenRadio) June 14, 2016

I loved listening to Busted Open but I get annoyed with how much they bash on Ambrose despite saying they don't hate him. One of the hosts' daughter is an Ambrose fan, must to her father's chagrin.

"Ambrose Asylum: Electric Boogaloo": Monday Night RAW (6/13/16)

This is it. This is the go-home show of Monday Night RAW. Usually go-home shows are notoriously bad for having significantly less wrestling matches, backstage segments, and promos and sadly, that was the case here - there was reportedly less than 1 hour of in-ring wrestling in the 3 hours of RAW. Still, this show did as much as it can to create hype for MITB this Sunday while also addressing the impending roster draft and brand extension. The results can be found here.

The New Day and Enzo and Cass kicked off RAW to a weird start, with Cass telling Xavier that Enzo has put his lips all over Francesca the other night. It resulted in an amusing argument full of double entendres, resulting in Xavier Woods yelling "I'M THE ONLY ONE WHO BLOWS MY GIRL!" at Enzo's face. The Vaudvillains and The Club (sans AJ Styles) would come out to argue, which lead to be the first match of the night. The New Day has reached a point where they don't need the titles anymore so there's a good chance that they're going to lose their tag team titles very soon with the brand extension coming up.

Ever since Seth Rollins' shocking return at Extreme Rules and immediately being made the main event for MITB, there was very little reason to invest in his and Roman Reigns' feud. It was hampered by the fact that Rollins was still a chickenshit heel, even though his WWE: 24 Documentary painted him as a sympathetic babyface. On top of that, Rollins and Reigns never wrestled in the ring since the announcement and their story was only explained in video packages. That task fell upon Dean Ambrose and his talk show (which was brought back by Shane) to hype up their feud. The trios on-screen dynamic was great to see again. It was an excellent segment that re-established their history as The Shield and reminded the audience why this main event is important. Even better, Ambrose presented him as a threat to both of them, saying that if he wins MITB, he could just cash in and be the new champ.

Funny enough, the match that truly feels like a main event is AJ Styles vs John Cena. There was a bit of confusion as to why there was a contract signing, despite no title being on the line. Turns out Cena presented 2 contracts for Styles to sign; Cena vs The Club (barring The Club from ringside) or Cena vs Styles. Prior to the signing, Cena talked up Styles in a respectful manner, even name-dropping PWG, ROH, and NJPW (TNA was not mentioned) from his body of work. Styles, on the other hand, said that if he had stayed with WWE, he would be the 15-time World Champion because and beat Cena's "K-Mart shopping ass." Even though Styles turned heel recently, this feud doesn't feel rushed at all. Chalk it up to Cena and Styles performance and past body of work to give his a "big fight" feel.

Speaking of MITB, the entrants all got involved at the end of RAW with Ambrose vs Jericho as the main event, Cesaro being the ring announcer, Albert Del Rio being the timekeeper and Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens on commentary. It was wonderfully chaotic after Ambrose got another win over Jericho, who wisely grabbed a ladder and set it in the middle of the ring to grab the briefcase.

There are other matches and segments that happened but it's not really worth looking into. I mean, Sheamus and Apollo was just added as another pre-show match. And the women's division was represented in another rushed match where Paige got a win over Charlotte, thanks to Dana interfering. The women's title is not on the line, it's just a 4-women tag team match. Oh, and the IC title is not on the line either because The Miz is filming "Marine 5."

So that's the card for this Sunday. Seriously can't wait to be there! I'm pretty convinced that Ambrose isn't going to win (he's never won a match at MITB) but I won't stop cheering for him.

• Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship
• John Cena vs. AJ Styles
• Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn vs. Chris Jericho vs. Cesaro vs. Alberto Del Rio in a Money in the Bank ladder match
• New Day vs. Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson vs. Enzo Amore and Big Cass vs. The Vaudevillains in a four-way for the WWE Tag Team Championship
• Rusev vs. Titus O’Neil for the U.S. Championship
• Charlotte and Dana Brooke vs. Becky Lynch and Natalya
• Dolph Ziggler vs. Baron Corbin in a Kickoff Show match
• Sheamus vs. Apollo Crews in a Kickoff Show match

Weekend Recap (6/10/16 - 6/12/16)

Friday (6/10):

• Ate at The Cutting Board, a Filipino gastropub that opened up near our place. We were ready to walk out of the place because no one took our order for nearly 15 minutes. We got a seafood paella and pork belly and got bibingka souffle as a comp.
• We just walked around the park for a bit
  

Saturday (6/11):

• Dropped off Biko to get her summer hair cut. It always baffles me how tiny and skinny she looks afterwards.
• Went to do some grocery shopping at Costco and Wal-Mart. I made some Swedish Meatball pasta for lunch.

Sunday (6/12):

• Ate at Original House of Pancakes for breakfast. We haven't eaten here in years!
• Went to Santa Fe Station to watch "Popstar: Never Stop Stopping." This movie hasn't been doing to well, and it was evident when we were seated in a smaller theater with 2-3 other people.
• Walked around Fashion Show Mall for a bit
• Went to Berry Blends to get smoothies
• Just stayed at home and played Overwatch. Also watched Preacher and ROH before sleeping.

What to expect for Monday Night RAW:

It's really tough to say. Considering that MITB got so much focus last week, it looks like they're shifting the focus back to Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns for the WWE WHC. As usual, continuity is thrown out the window with the return of the Ambrose Asylum (the show not the cage match) and with Rollins and Reigns as the guests. What makes this interesting is that it will be Ambrose and Reigns first time to actually interact on screen since Fastlane and Ambrose and Rollins haven't interacted since his injury last year. For weeks, WWE has been teasing Ambrose as the favorite to win MITB, and he's been winning a majority of his recent matches, save for Smack Down where Jericho beat Ambrose via Codebreaker. Ambrose is being used to tease the Shield Triple Threat but I'm convinced that this is just a red herring again.

The big thing that isn't being talked about is the brand extension that's happening next month when Smack Down goes live. The recent Smack Down scored one of its lowest TV ratings. If they want to elevate Smack Down to be an equal flagship brand, they need to get their shit together quick.

"This is important": Monday Night RAW (6/6/16)

Monday Night RAW kicked off with the most unique opening segment I've ever seen in a long time. Rather than the usual shot of the venue with the pyro going off, it started with Dean Ambrose walking towards the ring, where all 5 of the MITB entrants are perched upon 6 tall ladders, surrounding the MITB briefcase. They all had a funny banter on who was going to win, with Jericho reminding everybody who created this match before it devolved with everyone getting down from the ladders and beating each other up. This lead to a surprise appearance by the infamous former Smack Down general manager, Teddy Long. He tossed out interesting ideas for tag team matches before Stephanie McMahon interrupted him to get all entrants in 3 singles matches (Jericho vs Cesaro, Alberto Del Rio vs Sami Zayn, and Ambrose vs Kevin Owens). The results can be found here.

The other best segment of the night was the banter between AJ Styles, and John Cena. It was not just a typical heel talking down a face. There was a sense of truth in their promo, such as Cena calling Styles a dud for coming to WWE despite being heralded as the "hero of sports entertainment" and Styles flat out saying to Cena that "guys like you bury guys like me." Cena has somehow enlisted the help of The New Day to help him out, which makes sense considering Gallows and Anderson started feuding with them. Speaking of tag teams, thanks to a wonderful idea by Teddy Long, Stephanie added another match for MITB. There will a Fatal 4 Way for the title with The New Day, The Club, Enzo and Cass, and The Vaudevillains.

The absolute worst segment of the night goes to, no surprise, the women's division. Charlotte uncharacteristically issued an apology to the WWE Universe on how she treated her father but still maintained why she had to do it. She mentions that she took in Dana Brooke to be her protege, which saddens me that they had to go this route with her since Emma is still injured. Natalya and Becky came out to try to sway Dana from siding with Charlotte and of course, it doesn't work. There was dead silence for this segment and it pretty much showed that this whole Charlotte and Natalya feud is quickly getting stale. In a 3 hour show, there was no room for any women's wrestling. Not even for freaking Sasha Banks.

Neither Reigns or Rollins made an appearance tonight, which meant the world title was taking a break this week in favor of the MITB feud and Cena vs Styles. They ran 2 lengthy video packages that revisted their history together as The Shield as well as the beginning of their feud from their perspective. Rollins' video package incorporated some segments from his WWE: 24 documentary, which actually made Rollins come off a little different now than his chickenshit heel persona before his injury. No longer backed by The Authority, Rollins wants to prove that he can beat Reigns and he's been waiting 2 years to do it. Reigns video package, on the other hand, conveniently skipped his first 2 title reigns and his reliance on Ambrose and The Usos, despite him saying that he now stands alone. They even showed his WM 32 moment where he holds up the title to a thunderous applause that was clearly edited in. This was a great to build up their feud (and prevent Reigns from getting booed for cutting another promo) than that silly silent treatment they did last week.

To be honest, despite how this episode got mixed reactions by AV Club, I personally enjoyed it. Well, most of it anyways. I do want to note that Ambrose is being heavily featured again. He had a quick backstage segment with Owens, where he noted that Ambrose seems to be going off at the deep end more than usual. In addition to making another appearance on Sports Center with Coach, he has a scheduled match with Jericho on Smack Down. And the previous cancelled Ambrose Asylum (the talk show, not the cage match) returns for the go-home show with 2 very special guests. Once again, Ambrose is being positioned as the favorite to win MITB and they're making it obvious. It's funny that everyone wants to see this happen and knowing WWE, they'll go in a completely different direction and delay pulling the trigger on Ambrose. If he doesn't win, I'm fine with Owens, Zayn or Cesaro walking away with the briefcase.

Memorial Day Weekend Recap (5/27/16 - 5/30/16)

Friday (5/27):

• Went to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner
• Walked around Target for bit
• Played L4D2 with Dan and Corinne
  
  

Saturday (5/28):

• Went to IKEA, it wasn't terribly crowded. We bought a new door mat, a container for plastic bags, and a splatter guard.
• Ate at Suzuya, this small Japanese dessert cafe
• Went to 169 Market to buy ingredients to make Bicol Express. It was a minor success.
• Bought Overwatch and played for a bit

Sunday (5/29):

• Watched "The Nice Guy" starring Russel Crowe and Ryan Gosling. We opted for this move over "X-Men: Apocalypse" (we never wanted to watch the movie anyways). This was a great buddy film.
• I wanted to eat at this Guam restaurant, Red Ricem, for lunch. Vince couldn't find his wallet so we had to go back to the theaters to get it. When we got back, I saw that they were closing early. We went to Hot N Juicy Crawfish for lunch and ran into Joel, Pam, John, and Jonathan, who also just got out from Hot N Juicy crawfish earlier.
• We walked around Town Square and Fry's for a while before heading home

Monday (5/30):

• We stayed home the whole day
• We gave Yumi and Tsuki a bath
• I got restless and decided to go to the gym early, which was nice
• Got home to watch Monday Night RAW on Taima, which was pretty much a throwaway episode, save for a few segments and the main event match. Nope, I'm not making a Monday Night RAW post.

What to expect for Tuesday Night Smack Down!:

Ha, I had to make this because we had a 3 day weekend. Seeing how Monday Night RAW was incredibly disappointing, I'm hoping Smack Down will step up this week, especially now that they addressed Smack Down going live and each brand having a unique roster. Money In The Bank is shaping up to be an even bigger PPV with those feuds carrying into the draft.

The biggest and newest angle to happen, which looking back now was wasted on a holiday episode, was having AJ Styles and John Cena in a program. What was thought to be a friendly face vs face rivalry turned into The Club vs Cena. Yup, Styles officially aligned with his good brothers to be, well, The Club, but for reals this time. Funny how this feud is the New Era vs The Old Guard when Cena and Styles are both in their late 30s. I was excited for the heel turn but Vince wasn't because they just killed off the hottest babyface opposite Reigns, who they still refuse to make him into a full-blown heel.

Despite what was advertised last week, they didn't feature a 7th MITB qualifying match. Instead, they had a 6 man tag team match with Ambrose, Zayn and Cesaro vs Jericho, Owens, and Del Rio. Team Indy Darlings won, with Ambrose pinning Owens after Dirty Deeds for the win. Speaking of which, it was mentioned on commentary that Ambrose was the odds-on favorite to win MITB. And as much as everyone wants to see the Shield Triple Threat happen, I personally think it's too soon for it. Rollins and Reigns need to build up their feud and Ambrose needs to get more wins again to get out the mid-card. Then again, they can't afford to hold it off and another freak injury happens by then. So I see another heel like Owens or Jericho winning it, or Zayn or Cesaro winning it. 

I don't have faith in WWE to push Ambrose again :/

"DAE think Ambrose is dull?"

So. It's finally happened. Fans are turning against Ambrose. Frankly, I'm surprised it's taken this long. And it's quite sad to not only see it happening but knowing the exact point when it started going downhill.

His match against Lesnar at WrestleMania was the make-or-break match for Ambrose, coming off from losing his IC title on RAW, losing at Fastlane, and losing at Roadblock. Realistically, Ambrose physically couldn't defeat Lesnar so everyone expected the two to go all out with their match, use the weapons that Ambrose picked up a few nights earlier, and maybe at the end, earn some form of respect from Lesnar and Heyman for being tenacious. This match had high expectations and it sadly became one of the most disappointing and forgettable matches coming out of WrestleMania 32. Lesnar dominated Ambrose easily and the only weapons used were chairs, a kendo stick, and a fire extinguisher. Neither Foley's Barbie or Funk's chainsaw were used by Ambrose and there was no blood, even for a match involving Lesnar.

Immediately following the aftermath, with no acknowledgement from Ambrose on his match against Lesnar, he entered a feud with Jericho. He resumed a program that was once hinted last year, when Jericho was Ambrose and Roman Reigns' third man against The Wyatt Family at Night of Champions. Jericho emerged from WrestleMania as the top heel after defeating AJ Styles in the rubber match (which seriously confused and pissed off everyone). Their feud was rebooted over Jericho's talk show getting cancelled by Shane and replaced with the Ambrose Asylum. After the death of Mitch the Plant and Jericho's $15k jacket, the two would go on to have matches for Payback and the first (and probably last) Asylum Match at Extreme Rules. Although Ambrose has won over Jericho twice now, the victories no longer mattered.

To date, Ambrose has had 3 back-to-back disappointing matches. It's hard to admit that, and it's getting harder and harder to defend why he should be worth investing when there are better, edgier babyfaces like AJ Styles and Sami Zayn on the main roster, new NXT talent getting called up, and a number of talent like Seth Rollins and John Cena coming back from injury. It looks like WWE is trying to build up Ambrose again, as he's 1 of the 7 qualified competitors for the MITB ladder match. He and Kevin Owens are big favorites to walk away with the briefcase, although most want to see Ambrose win so that they can build towards the much anticipated Shield Triple Threat match that was suppose to happen at WrestleMania before Rollins' injury. Even Dave Meltzer from Wrestling Observer admitted that "Ambrose's star has fallen after the Lesnar program."

This past week, WWE revealed that they are reintroducing the brand split. A draft will take place on July 11 before Smack Down goes live on July 19. My first thought was that Ambrose should absolutely go to Smack Down. Since WWE will never see him as a top guy for RAW, he and other talent will have a better chance at Smack Down. Besides, Ambrose seems to be given a lot more to do on WWE's B-Show, which seems fitting seeing how he has been headlining the B-Show team for the weekend live events for the last few months.

It's selfish but I want to see Ambrose win MITB. I would love to see either Owens or Zayn walk out as Mr. MITB but Ambrose needs this badly for his character and credibility. I can't see him feuding with Jericho again or anybody else. It'll be even better if he and Rollins are both chasing Reigns' for the title. It's just so weird that The Shield is heralded as the beginning of the New Era and yet Ambrose has to work his way to the top and fall back down whereas Rollins and Reigns are given those opportunities to stay at the top.