Star Wars Weekends 2014 - Part 3

The Magic Kingdom has had a lot of changes made to it over the past several years what with all the construction that's been underway in creating New Fantasyland, an expansion of the existing Fantasyland section of the park. (There's still construction happening but it's at the front of the park near Cinderella's castle; the project there is geared towards adding more walkways so as to alleviate congestion as well as to give more room to spectators for viewing parades and fireworks.) The final piece of that effort is the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train roller coaster attraction, which we were able to ride even though the official opening date for it wasn't until May 28. If we're going to be guinea pigs, at least we were guinea pigs for Disney!

Truth be told, we weren't sure we were going to be able to ride the Mine Train. We got in line as soon as we entered the park because we didn't think FastPasses were available for it - low & behold, after we'd been in line about 30 minutes, FastPasses became available. (If you don't know what FastPasses are, please do your own research; the system is much too complex for me to quickly surmise here!) We quickly grabbed a pair of them for later in the afternoon. When we returned and entered the FastPass queue we got turned around because the ride had a malfunction and had to close. We were told to come back in about an hour and that our FastPasses would be honored at that time (Jill became immediately paranoid at this). Sure enough, about an hour and a half later, the ride re-opened and we were able to get on.

[SIDE NOTE: While we were waiting for the ride to re-open, we ventured over to Gaston's Pub to cool off with some of LeFou's Brew. No, it's not an alcoholic beverage, it's a frozen beverage made from apple juice that's topped with a passion fruit foam. The result looks kind of like a beer but of course it tastes nothing like it.

A lot of people compare LeFou's Brew to Butterbeer which is available at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter inside Universal Studio's Islands of Adventure park. Personally, I think Butterbeer is better as I love butterscotch and that's the primary flavoring behind Butterbeer. That's not to say LeFou's Brew is bad, though, as it was quite tasty & refreshing on what was an extremely hot day.

Speaking of heat, that is my one complaint with how New Fantasyland is arranged. There are almost no areas where someone can go to get some shade to try and cool off. There are few trees and what seating areas are available are either concrete made to resemble stone (meaning that sitting on them is like baking your tush on hot rocks) or too few & far between to give fair service to patrons.]

Jill & I both feel like we've watched this ride come up out of the dirt as we can remember when it wasn't much more than a hole in the ground. The area around the Mine Train is so intricately decorated that you truly lose track of the fact you're in a theme park. Disney does an amazing job of making their experiences immersive and this is another great example of the kind of work the Imagineers do.

I almost wish we had been in the standby line instead of the FastPass queue because there are interactive elements in the standby line to which the FastPass queue apparently doesn't get access. Even so, I think we waited in line about 20 minutes, tops, before we were on the ride.

I'm a bigger guy and I always have concerns about getting on rides like this because I have long legs and the lap bars won't conform to my anatomy. Case in point, I can't ride Space Mountain. I can get in the car but when the lap bar comes down it hits my knees and won't go any further. There are a few rides at Universal Studios Orlando I've hesitated to get on because they, unlike Disney, offer tester seats outside certain attractions so you don't waste your time waiting in line for a ride you may not be able to get on. The Mine Train presented a challenge to me because the lap bar is a U-shaped. The tips of the bar connect at the floor of the car then the restraint swings forward to hold you in place. Your knees/legs have to fit into the restraint and I had a real time forcing mine into the gap. (I had to squeeze my legs together as tightly as I could then pull down on the bar to get it in place.) It made for a very uncomfortable ride and the sides of my knees are sore as a result. I don't know why these ride vehicles can't be made larger. It boggles my mind that the designers seem to think most people are 5'6", weigh less than 200 lbs., and have rear-ends that are less than 18 inches wide.

My personal issues aside, the ride itself was fun but very short. The portion where you see the Dwarfs inside the mine seemed especially quick. By comparison, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Everest are at least twice as long as the Mine Train, so in terms of bang-for-your-buck I would say there are better rides out there. Regardless, it was quite cool to be able to partake in a brand new ride that wasn't even technically open.

The other big event of our day at the Magic Kingdom was Jill's visit to Princess Fairytale Hall to meet Anna & Elsa, characters from the hugely popular Disney animated film Frozen. Fairytale Hall is another relatively new addition to Fantasyland; the presentation therein is that guests are invited inside to meet any number of Disney princesses (or queens as is the case with Elsa). Anna & Elsa have been residents at Fairytale Hall for a number of months now and you need no further proof of their popularity than to look at the standby line wait times - it's not uncommon to see 300 minutes on the signage outside the attraction. I'm not sure if that means it's a legitimate 5 hour wait or if that's just as big of a number as the sign can display. We wouldn't have to worry about that, though, because we had FastPasses which Jill had booked several months (yes, months - they get snatched up that quickly) in advance.

The experience at Fairytale Hall is definitely geared towards those young at heart and Jill fits that bill. She and I are still kids even though we look grown up, and you need look no further than her reactions to getting to spend time with Anna & Elsa for proof of this.

And yes, she took a selfie with them as well (Anna & Elsa referred to it as an "us-sie")...

No, I didn't get my picture taken with them. Why? By that point in the day I probably smelled like the inside of a gym locker, and if I had gone to meet them I'd have probably spent the whole time pestering Elsa with questions about how she's way more powerful than anyone seems to realize.

We had dinner that evening at Tony's Restaurant, an Italian eatery taken directly out of Lady & the Tramp. I have to share with you that our waitress there (who was an Asian woman named Jing) did something I've never had any other member of the service industry do. I ordered the New York strip and asked that it be cooked medium as I like a warm, pink center on my steaks. A member of the kitchen staff delivered our food and our waitress arrived not long thereafter but before I'd had a chance to cut into the steak. She looked directly at my steak and I could tell by her expression that something was wrong. She said that the steak had been butterflied to speed cooking and that it was more than likely overdone. This was the plate in question.

I am not one to send food back unless there's something clearly wrong. To her credit, she was 100% correct in her statement as the steak was overcooked (not horribly so, mind you, just more than I would've preferred). I allowed her to take it back as she wanted us to have the best experience possible. The second steak she brought out could not have been more perfect.

The meat was tender, succulent, and juicy. The herb butter it was basted with added to the flavor but the beef was still the real star of this show. I haven't had many steaks in my life that could top this one and I have eaten a LOT of steak in my day. It goes without saying, though, that I greatly appreciated our waitress's effort. She is a shining example of what a top quality server should be and I felt privileged to have had her assistance.

We finished off our meal by sharing two deserts, the chef's special cheesecake (the plate was adorned with an image of Lady & the Tramp made from powdered cocoa) and tiramisu.

By this point in the day the weather had started to sour, not only with rain but with thunder & lightning. Instead of trying to wait out the storm to try and get a few more rides in (it was in the area of 9 PM but the Magic Kingdom typically doesn't close until at least 1 AM) we spent some time wandering through the shops along Main Street. Inside the Crystal Arts Shop, we found an example of hidden things there are to do and see around the Magic Kingdom (and all the Disney parks, for that matter) in the form of an artist who was giving a demonstration on glass blowing. In less than 30 minutes, he completed a Frozen-themed vase from nothing more than raw materials right before our very eyes.

The ride back to our hotel that evening was a little sad, truth be told. That's the disappointing thing about vacations, at some point they come to an end. The reality of the matter just hurts a little more when it's a Disney vacation that's ending, I guess. We made the long drive back home the next day.

So much of what makes Disney appealing, to me, is the fine details. The little things that add so much to whatever it is you're being a part of in the moment. When a Make a Wish child is allowed to go to the front of every line. When a waitress goes out of her way to make sure your experience is memorable. When Minnie Mouse leans in to give you a kiss and you can hear a smooch sound come from the character. Okay, I admit that last one's a little creepy but you get the idea. There aren't many other companies that go to the lengths that Disney does to make magical memories for their customers - I, for one, am a huge fan of how they do business and I can't say enough about how amazing this trip was. It was too short, that's for sure, as Jill & I both have said to each other in the days since we returned "When are we going back?"

I don't know but I'd bet it will be sooner than later.

Star Wars Weekends 2014 - Part 2

Unfortunately for us, our neighbors in the hotel weren't all that kind in maintaining a quiet atmosphere. We could hear children running and yelling outside (this shouldn't have come as a surprise since the Magic Kingdom was open for 24 hours that day) and it sounded as if there was a baby crying in one of the adjacent rooms. I know we were both up until at least midnight and I was up at several points during the night. Come to think of it, I'm not sure that I ever got into a deep sleep. I knew it would make things tough on us the next day since our wake-up call was at 6 AM, but we were going to make the best of it regardless.

One of the best things about staying on property at the Walt Disney World Resort is that as a guest you're provided with transportation all around the resort. You have access to buses, the monorail, boats, and probably other methods of conveyance I don't know about. Point is, you never have issues getting from where you are to where you want to be. The buses typically run on a schedule to where you can expect to see one roughly every 20 minutes.

Maybe it was just my anticipation of wanting to get to Hollywood Studios as early as possible, but on the morning of May 24 it felt like they were running more than a little late. We were in line outside the hotel by 6:45 AM; I believe the bus arrived near 7:15 AM and we were dropped off around 7:40 AM. By the time we got there a sizable crowd had already gathered at the front gate, however it wasn't as huge of a crowd as I'd expected. Again it seemed like it took forever for us to get through admissions - I take the blame for that as I picked the ticketing lane we got into. Fortunately we were inside the park for the first treat of the day, "Storm the Gates"!

We immediately headed for Pixar Place so that we could get in line for Toy Story Midway Mania. If you didn't know, TSMM is arguably the most popular ride in any of the Walt Disney World parks. It's not unusual to see wait times for it upwards of 90 minutes. We had a FastPass for the ride later in the day but we wanted to get on it first thing so we could do it twice. I think we may have waited 10 minutes, tops, which boggles my mind.

Next we went to Darth's Mall (Get it? Darth Maul - Darth's Mall?), a pop-up shopping mall filled with - you guessed it - Star Wars merchandise. You'll find apparel, toys, and plenty of accessories therein, most of which was emblazoned with either the SWW logo or the logo for the upcoming Star Wars: Rebels animated show. There is a character meet & greet area in Darth's Mall and we were able to spend time with Darth Goofy as well as Jedi Mickey and Princess Minnie. Also in Darth's Mall is Ackbar's Snack Bar (as in Admiral Ackbar), an eatery offering themed beverages & snacks. This year the hot item was a Storm Trooper stein, which they were sold out of when we were there. They also had popcorn buckets shaped like Darth Vader's helmet, churros, cupcakes, frozen beverages, and a pair of specialty drinks called the Dark Side and the Force which could be served with or without alcohol. Not only was it too early for vodka and rum, it was also much too hot which is why we sampled the non-alcoholic versions.

Both were quite refreshing but I enjoyed the Force more so than the Dark Side. (Side Note: The Dark Side came with a glowing Death Star "ice cube" and the Force came with a light-up lightsaber.) I can't say that they paired too well with our cupcakes, however I will say that the Vader cupcake was amazing. It was like a German chocolate cupcake with a combination of chocolate and peanut butter flavored toppings.

The great thing about SWW is that there's a lot going on throughout the day, and yet the horrible thing about SWW is that there's almost too much going on throughout the day. What I mean by that is it felt like we were running from one area of the park to another for the rest of the day so that we could try to make it to certain events. The scorching heat only made matters worse (local news outlets were reporting that the days we were in Orlando were the warmest they've seen so far in 2014). I don't believe I've perspired as much as I did that day in a very long time. To Disney's credit, there are water fountains everywhere and park guests can bring canteens in from outside (which we always do), so they have obviously realized they have an obligation to protect their customers from heat-related injuries by offering water.

We rode a several more rides (Star Tours, The Great Movie Ride, and the Tower of Terror) and saw a special preview of the upcoming film Maleficent, starring Angelina Jolie. We didn't get to some of my favorites like the Back Lot Tour, the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular, or Lights, Motors, Action, but we definitely had a full day. There were an assortment of meet & greet spots set up throughout the park so that fans could interact with a number of characters including Darth Maul, Darth Vader, Boba Fett, Jango Fett, Storm Troopers, Clone Troopers, and more. My favorite moment of the day, though, was getting to see Stars of the Saga, a live variety show of sorts hosted by James Arnold Taylor (the voice actor who gave life to Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Clone Wars animated series) and featuring appearances by Jeremy Bulloch (Boba Fett) and Warwick Davis (Wicket).

We waited in line for almost 90 minutes to be assured that we'd get a seat in the theater for Stars of the Saga and I'm glad that we did. It's a one of a kind show and those three made for a very entertaining combination of personalities.

For supper that evening we dined at the 50's Prime Time Cafe, which is a real hoot of a dining experience I'd recommend to anyone who might visit Hollywood Studios. The gimmick is that the interior dining rooms are all decorated to resemble kitchens or diners from the 1950s. The staff take things further by addressing everyone as "you kids", the kitchen staff are collectively known as "Mom", and you better eat your vegetables and keep your elbows off the table else you won't get any desert. Jill & I started off our meal with an order of beer battered onion rings served with horseradish sauce. (I've noticed the kitchens at Disney use horseradish regularly; you won't find any complaints from me about that as I love the flavor.) We both selected the Mom's Favorite Recipes sampler as our main course. It comes with fried chicken, pot roast, meatloaf, mashed potatoes, sauteed green beans, and collard greens.

I don't eat fried chicken often (all the KFCs in our area closed last year, believe it or not) but that there was some of the best fried chicken I've ever had!

Our day at Hollywood Studios ended with the Symphony in the Stars fireworks show and a ride on the Tower of Terror. I get a kick out of that ride regardless of what time of day I ride it but it's especially awesome at night. (PRO-TIP: If you want to feel what it's like to free fall, leave a little bit of slack in your seat belt.) I think Rod Serling would be impressed with it.

Speaking of impressions, I can't say enough about how much fun the whole day was there at Hollywood Studios for Star Wars Weekends. It would've been nice to have had more than one day there to get the full experience of all there is to do at the park normally plus all there is during SWW. That's as good of a review as I guess anyone can give of something like this - to emphasize that it would've been great to have been able to stay longer.

Trust me when I say we didn't have any issues sleeping that night. We took luke-warm showers to wash off the grime of the day (a rather grotesque mixture of sweat residue, body oils, and sunblock) and I'm fairly certain we were both asleep by the time our heads hit our pillows. Good thing, too, because we had another busy day ahead of us, this time at the Magic Kingdom.

THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES IN PART 3!

Star Wars Weekends 2014 - Part 1

Like most people who grew up in the 80s, I am a huge fan of Star Wars. I had the toys when I was a kid, I still have replica armor from the various classes of Imperial troopers, and I have multiple copies of the movies - you know, because there was that awkward moment in time where George Lucas thought he should go back and "improve" the original trilogy. I've been to a few fan conventions in my life but one event that I've always wanted to attend yet never had the opportunity to get to is Star Wars Weekends, an annual month-long celebration of all things Star Wars running from mid-May to mid-June held at Disney's Hollywood Studios located in the Walt Disney World Resort.

SWW has been something I've wanted to check out for a very long time. It's Disney and it's Star Wars, who wouldn't want to be a part of that? The event was first held back in 1997, way before LucasFilm was sold to Walt Disney (it was not held in 2002 but has been ever since 2003). Hollywood Studios was the natural choice to host SWW seeing as how the park features a Star Wars-themed ride called Star Tours which has been in operation almost as long as the park itself (the original version of Star Tours was taken offline in 2010 so that it could be updated; the ride re-opened with its current configuration roughly half way through 2011) and the park also hosts the Jedi Academy, an interactive live show where young prospective Padawans can train with a Jedi Master. There have been rumors that Star Wars' presence at Hollywood Studios could expand even further in the future but whether or not that will ever come to fruition remains to be seen.

A few months ago, my loving wife caught me off guard when she hatched a plan for us to make a trip to Walt Disney World on Memorial Day weekend during the 2014 edition of SWW. Suffice to say, I was surprised - when someone does something for you because they love you is the best kind of surprise.

We've become seasoned veterans as it pertains to making trips to Walt Disney World (see my previous entry "10 Things That Will Help You Survive a Walt Disney World Vacation"), and we were both looking forward to spending more time in the Mouse's House. This would be a shorter trip than our previous visits, though, with only 2 full days at the Disney theme parks. We anticipated that this trip would be a whirlwind of an adventure, packed to the gills with memories, and that's exactly what we got!

Having packed the car, we departed from our base of operations in Saint Matthews, South Carolina after work on the evening of May 22. Jill was behind the wheel, I had shotgun. We got hungry not long after we crossed over into Georgia so we stopped in Pooler, GA for a bite to eat. We didn't intend to go there but we wound up chowing down at a pizzeria called Stevi B's, which is a chain neither of us had ever heard of. It's like Pizza Inn or Cici's Pizza in that there's a buffet but you can also request a custom-made pizza or order one of their specialty pizzas. I don't know that we'll be near one of their locations again any time soon but the hot wing pizza is enough to make me want to return.

To split up the drive into more manageable segments whenever we make this trip we've gotten into a habit of stopping in Kingsland, Georgia, a town that is literally half way between our home and our destination in Orlando, Florida. We've stayed in a number of hotels in Kingsland and for this occasion we'd booked a room at the Red Roof Inn.

I don't know what it is about staying in hotels but it's something I enjoy for whatever reason. Maybe it's because I feel like I don't have to worry about messes we may make or that it reminds me of sleeping over with friends. This particular Red Roof Inn was perfectly adequate - no frills but it presented all we needed for an overnight stay while on the road.

We awoke Friday morning and went down to the hotel lobby for breakfast. (There was a Shoney's in Kingsland, which we ate at on one of our first stops there, but for whatever reason it has closed.) Freebies are never easy to turn down, even on something that can be a toss up like a continental breakfasts; sometimes you luck up and get a selection of hot items with proteins, then sometimes you feel lucky because you got the last box of Fruit Loops. That morning we had your typical continental affair, that being a ton of carbohydrates. I had a waffle and a bagel while Jill had cereal (much to her chagrin, there was no fresh fruit to be had). We choked down our food with what little bit of juice & milk was available as the coffee maker had gone kaput at some point during the morning (truth be told, I'd made a cup of black sludge that passed for coffee using our in-room coffee maker while Jill was getting ready). Several patrons complained and the staffer at the front desk didn't seem to know what to do.

In the days since we've returned from this trip, I received an email from Red Roof Inn with a link to a survey asking for my input on our experience. I relayed what happened with the coffee maker and also suggested that it would be great if they offered a wider selection at breakfast beyond various types of bread. This was the response that I received.

I don't know quite what to make of that other than I am almost certain whoever wrote it doesn't have English as their first language.

With our bellies full of dough, we returned to the interstate, heading south on I-95. We weren't on the road for long, though, as Kingsland is only a few miles from the Florida state line. You can't enter Florida without making a stop at their welcome center because they offer free samples of fresh orange and grapefruit juice. I don't drink grapefruit juice that often but I always get a cup when I'm there - I love that sweet, tangy, peppery flavor.

Jacksonville can be a tricky area to get through and I expected it to be especially so seeing as how we were traveling on a holiday weekend but it wasn't all that bad aside from a few construction zones. Construction was an issue as we got onto I-4 past Daytona as well. It seems as though that stretch of road has been a construction zone for several years, though, and likely will continue to be for several more from the look of the terrain.

For us, driving to Orlando could be summed up like this: Drive south for 4 and a half hours then turn west and drive for 2 and a half more. That's really all the route is until you get close to where we were going, in this case the Pop Century Resort.

[SIDE NOTE: When last we were at Walt Disney World, we stayed at the All-Star Sports Resort. The food court at the hotel was undergoing refurbishment while we were there so we would go to breakfast at either the All-Star Movies or All-Star Music Resort. It was during this stay that my wife developed an affinity for Minute Maid Lite Pomegranate Lemonade. Apparently this is a product that's made exclusively for the Disney parks as you can't find it anywhere else. Trust me, we looked! As such, my wife had a plan to get herself a stash of it when we returned - the plan involved a sanitized gallon milk jug and some skillful pouring. Unfortunately it turned out that the Pop Century food court did not have the drink on tap at their soda fountains. Such is life, but I have a feeling whenever we book our next trip we'll be back at one of the All-Star resorts.]

We arrived at the hotel around 1:30 PM. This would be our second stay at Pop Century, a hotel that is classified as a value resort by Disney standards. That may make it sound cheap but believe me when I tell you that a cheap Disney hotel is nicer than most any hotel you will ever stay in. The rooms aren't palatial and there's no mini-bar but the beds are comfortable, the air conditioning works great, and the showers are hot. What more do you really need from a hotel, especially when you're only going to be in your room long enough to sleep and bathe?

Not our room but an example of one at Pop Century

After we got checked in (a process during which we managed to witness a patron get into an argument with a member of the concierge staff and I unwittingly gave a stiff hip check to a 7 year old resulting in bar-b-que sauce on my pants), we dropped off our stuff in our room then went over to the Blizzard Beach water park to play a round of miniature golf at Winter Summerland, where Santa & his elves go to get away from the chill of the North Pole. We played the Winter course and, somewhat unsurprisingly and despite my having hit several holes in one, Jill won.

We came back to our room to freshen up a bit after our golf outing as we didn't have much time until our dinner reservation was due. This night we would be dining at Raglan Road, an Irish pub and restaurant in Downtown Disney. I got a real kick out of the experience at Raglan Road as it is definitely a scene where a party could break out at any moment, although I will say that if you want to have a quiet evening with the one you love this probably isn't the place to go. Between the music, dancers, and crowd the noise inside was just this side of deafening. Be that as it may, the food and drinks were fantastic. We started off with an appetizer that could've been a main course, a combination they call Appetizers D'Lirrah - sausages, fried scallops, wings, and ribs. For her dinner Jill chose the Mighty Mixed Grill, a platter loaded with several different meats and mashed potatoes. I had the braised beef, which was similar to traditional pot roast only this was so much more tender than any pot roast I've ever had. It was served with roasted carrots & parsnips and a big dollop of horseradish mashed potatoes (my new favorite kind of mashed potatoes). Finishing up the meal with desert (as if we needed more to eat by that point), we each ordered a unique dish so that we could share and each get a taste of something different. (This became a trend at supper over the next few days.) Jill ordered the Ger's bread pudding and I had Dundon's Delight, a pavlova with raspberries and vanilla ice cream. The bread pudding was amazing - like eating a bowl of sweet, buttery fresh bread - and the Delight was great even though I had no idea what it was when it was brought to our table (good thing I like meringue).

When we were done eating we wandered through the gift shop where we picked up a Raglan Road magnet and a print of the Truesdale family coat of arms. It was too cool looking not to bring home. The shops at Downtown Disney are nice but they were extremely crowded that evening and we needed to get some rest - for in the morning we would have to be up bright & early so that we could be at Disney's Hollywood Studios!

THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES IN PART 2!

The Sudden Proliferation of Bad Pro Wrestling Posters

I've been going to independent professional wrestling events in the Carolinas since the late 1990s (I use the fully qualified version of that era as opposed to "the 90s" because you never know, someone may be reading this at or beyond the year 2090). I still remember the first show I ever attended which was at the South Middle School gymnasium in Lancaster, South Carolina. "The Boogie Woogie Man" Jimmy Valiant was there, and he more or less conned me into buying one of his autographed 8x10s. That right there is what you call a hustle.

Suffice to say that in the span of time from here to there, I've seen a lot. Some good, some not so good, some great, and some just plain awful. For the most part I've learned to accept the negative with the positive; truth be told these days the pluses do seem to outweigh the minuses, and that's absolutely fantastic. Be that as it may, there are a handful of things that occur in relation to indie wrestling that truly bother me, and unfortunately I've encountered them all too often for my own comfort. They bother me to the point that when I see them either at a show or online I literally become physically ill for a brief moment, after which I immediately develop the urge to give someone a knife-edge chop to the throat.



Why do they bother me so? Because I love professional wrestling. I'm being completely serious when I say that I wish the people who are responsible for its further ruination would realize what kind of harm they're doing by not working harder to create a better product. They got into this business, surely they must respect it and love it as much as I do? Not hardly, from the look of what I've seen from some promotions.

Trust me, I know I'm opening myself up to criticism here because I'm sure someone will read this and say to themselves, "Well if he thinks he's so smart, then why isn't he running shows?" The answer to that is simple - even if I had the kind of money it would take to run a promotion properly, I more than likely wouldn't be doing it. Promotion is a genuine money pit and these days there's very little reward in it if, in fact, you are lucky enough to create something lucrative and sustainable. Sure, I probably could do it but the risks far outweigh the rewards.

Like I said, there are a handful of issues common to indie pro wrestling that bother me. The one that gets under my skin quicker than any other is when promotions use replica championship belts from World Wrestling Entertainment, World Championship Wrestling, or TNA/Impact Wrestling to represent their outfit. (I never thought I'd see it but believe it or not there's a company in South Carolina right now that's using a slightly modified version of the current TNA belt [seen here] as their championship. Previously they'd used a WWE Championship belt [like this one] for their top prize. To make matters worse, this same company uses a replica WWE Intercontinental title [this version] as their "southern states championship" [a descriptor that makes zero sense seeing as how they only run shows in one state] and a pair of WCW World Heavyweight Championship replicas [otherwise known as the "big gold"] as their tag team championship belts.) Nevermind the fact that replica belts are cheap and typically poorly made, what I find insulting about a promotion using them is the fact that in doing so they expect their fan base to not be knowledgeable enough to realize what's going on. Wrestling may be near the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to well-respected forms of performance art, but what this boils down to is that I don't appreciate being made to feel like an idiot. Suspension of disbelief is one thing, asking your audience to choke on what amounts to a cleverly disguised lie is something else.

Investing in a custom made belt is specifically that - an investment. I wish more promotions would take the extra step of having their own belts. It adds so much to the presentation and authenticity of the experience for a fan like myself as it conveys a sense of how valuable that title is. If you'd like to see examples of what a great belt maker can produce, check out Dave Millican Belts or Top Rope Belts. I'm a bit of a "belt mark", truth be told, but the kind of work groups like DMB and TPR produce is nothing short of art in my opinion.

On the ladder of things that get my dander up about indie pro wrestling, directly below replica championship belts are poorly designed event posters. To me, the most basic form of promotion other than word of mouth is an event poster. It should be eye-catching without being too exotic in its layout (read, it shouldn't be too busy) and informative instead of vague or otherwise devoid of pertinent details. There aren't many excuses for turning in a bad poster seeing as how a better-than-average camera won't set you back too badly and editing software isn't that expensive (Paint.net, GIMP, and event Photoshop CS2 are free). Trust me when I say that it can be a bit of a juggling act in trying to find a happy medium but it can be done and there are a lot of companies that do it quite well. For example, here are a few posters that represent what a great event poster should be.

 

This poster was for OMEGA Championship Wrestling's "CHAOS IN CAMERON" event, which my wife & I were lucky enough to be able to attend. What makes this a solid poster? Three things:

1) You've got eye-grabbing graphics - what's more eye-grabbing than a logo that's on fire? Maybe a logo with boobs on it, but that wouldn't be prudent as we're going for family entertainment here.

2) The talent on display all look like a million bucks; that's as much a testament to their physical conditioning as it is to the fact that someone took the time to make sure quality stock photos of each of those athletes were available.

3) The pertinent details regarding the event (date/time/location) are plainly visible in an obvious location that is complimentary to the rest of the design.

Notice as well that the color choices made in composing this poster allow for everything to be seen without one area or another winding up looking fudged, blurry, or over-saturated. This is a fantastic poster, one that would definitely make me want to attend the event.

That kind of poster takes some real skill to pull off. I don't know who put it together but they're obviously talented when it comes to image editing. As an example of what a quality poster can be that's not as involved, I give you this poster from G.O.U.G.E. - Gimmicks Only Underground Grappling Entertainment.

I dig this poster for the fact that it is colorful and fun, which is 100% indicative of the kind of wrestling you'll see at a G.O.U.G.E. event. It's much more simplistic than the OMEGA poster, clearly, but it's just as effective in its delivery.

Finally, as a third example of a good wrestling poster, here is one from Premiere Wrestling Xperience.

I like this poster a lot as the bold graphics are neat, although I will say that this one is on the precipice of being a little too involved. There's a lot going on here between the text at the bottom and images of 11 guys in the upper half. Even so, this poster is successful in that it gets your attention, shows off the talent, and lets you know the what, where, and when.

This next poster from a recent WrestleForce show is a 'tweener. What I mean by that is that it isn't necessarily bad but it isn't necessarily good either.

There are a couple issues here. For starters, it comes off like whoever designed it is fairly new to Photoshop because they've gone a little nuts with filters and saturation. That may sound like nonsense to you but it relates to how the images of their talent look washed out and not all that clear. The background looks like a black chalkboard that hasn't been washed in quite some time. The color choices aren't terrible but the green "Spring Fling" logo on top of the green Matrix-esque pattern in the header make for a muddy combination. To its credit, the details are there and there's obviously been an effort to showing off the talent.

Now, dear readers, is when we get into the realm of bad indie wrestling posters. I feel as though I have to preface what follows by telling you that these posters are real. They represent promotions that either were or are currently running shows. I have not edited them in any way, shape, or form - what you see is what they have made available as advertising.

Hoo-boy...First up, this offering from Southern Wrestling Alliance.

This looks cheap and poorly made. I probably could have whipped this up when I was 18 using nothing but MS Paint. The most egregious failure here (other than the typo - admission to this event is 6 "doolars" - and the fact that the background gradient goes from lime Jell-O green to bile green) is that the images of the talent are just plain bad. If I ran a promotion I would have a photo area set up where everyone on the roster would have to come at least once so that I could get a set of current stock photos for use in promotional materials. (All you need is a sheet or some other background to have them stand against that's a solid color; the software will allow you to separate them from the background rather easily so that the resulting image can be used in material like this.) Lastly, I think at least 2 of the sponsor images at the bottom are, in fact, photos of business cards.

What's worse than a yucky green background on a wrestling poster? Lightning.

I'm sure there's a website somewhere that specializes in graphics like that. I wouldn't be at all bothered if the server hosting it exploded and all back-ups were lost in a fire. Again, it looks cheap, and it makes me think these guys are all hacks because if they were any better they'd be working somewhere that could afford to make a better poster. (That's harsh, I admit, but it's honest.) On the plus side, they included a picture of the venue so at the very least if you for some reason actually wanted to go to this show you shouldn't get lost.

Sometimes when a person is putting together a poster they have good intentions but the execution gets botched. That's what's going on in this next image which is a poster for Disciples of Christ Wrestling.

This is a mess, on a number of levels, and it's an example of why adhering to a consistent theme is crucial when laying out a poster. The background looks like a pool of water that's been polluted with some sort of foulness. I can only assume the wolf/lamb/ring image is a part of the DCW logo - it doesn't make much sense, period, but I'm trying my best to figure out why it's there in the context of the thing. I assume the Lions Club is sponsoring this event because they're featured quite prominently, so prominently in fact that their logo is bigger than any of the images of the DCW talent. Actually, that might be on purpose because if you get a closer look at those guys do any of them strike you as being wrestlers you'd pay to see? Do they strike you as wrestlers at all? A lot of people who buy wrestling boots should be buying wrestling tickets, and DCW might be an entire promotion where that's true.

I don't want to come off like I'm making fun of someone who's apparently suffering from a debilitating illness but this next one has the misfortune of putting an ugly face on what's hopefully a good deed.

WASP Championship Wrestling - I don't like them already based on nothing other than the name. Wasps are some of the most ornery critters in the entire animal kingdom. One got into our house not too long ago and I felt as though I would've been justified in using a shotgun to kill it, even at the expense of perforating our cabinets.

My personal feelings about wasps aside, I don't know where to begin here. A mustard-yellow background - at least it's not lightning or chain link fencing, I guess. The text regarding the benefit information is poorly written, loaded with grammatical errors (some punctuation would've been great), and there are a handful of misspellings. As for the rest of the poster, the images are all horribly grainy. They look as if they were scanned at low resolution settings, printed on an old inkjet, and then scanned again at even lower resolution settings. I would sooner mail the guy for which the benefit is being held a money order for $6 than I would go to the show, quite frankly.

I've poked fun at the way the talent is presented on several of these posters. I don't get to do that with the poster below because there is no talent presented on the poster - yes, you could take that statement a couple of different ways, all of which are valid in this instance.

When I first looked at this poster I thought I had a flyer for a hardware store, what with the ladders, table, and rope. Apparently the name of this promotion is Pro Wrestling. That's it. You were looking for pro wrestling, well guess what - here it is, Pro Wrestling. They're so new and so cutting edge that they didn't want to burden themselves by trying to adhere to a standard that might be set forth by having created a unique identity for themselves. (Oh, great - pro wrestling for hipsters!) Likewise, they wanted to be so modern and forward-thinking with their advertising that they didn't see the need to show off any of their talent. That would've been too pretentious, obviously.

Last and definitely least, I give you the poster that recently set a few threads on Facebook afire. 

To begin, the reason for it having caused such a stir is the fact that TNA/Impact Wrestling star Gunner was vocal on social media that he would not be at this show and that his likeness was being used to promote the event despite his having no involvement. He was never booked for this event but you wouldn't know that by the look of the poster. (Nikita Koloff, from what I've read, did appear as advertised.)

This doesn't happen that frequently anymore but it does happen. Scumbag promoters will do things like this in order to sell tickets then their excuse to a disappointed fan will be the "card subject to change" clause that seems to accompany ever wrestling event by default. (Or as was done by one local promoter a few years ago who advertised Samoa Joe as being on one of his events, you could claim the star no-showed [even going so far as to arrive late to your own venue, with the story being that you were at the airport waiting for "The Samoan Submission Machine" to arrive] only to have it revealed later that you never paid his appearance fee or booked his travel.) That phrase used to be in place because there were times where talent had travel issues or injuries and couldn't make it - in this situation it's there because the jerk running the show knew he wasn't going to draw a crowd unless he could get the people to believe there were known wrestlers on the card. It's pathetic and people like this should be run put of business; sadly enough, they're usually the ones who manage to hang around the longest.

One of the other talents shown on this particular poster is a guy who calls himself Rex Rumble. I mentioned in a previous paragraph how one of the posters featured talent that didn't quite look like anyone that would be worth paying to see. (Get a membership to a gym and a tanning salon, for crying out loud - maybe go to "GNC" and get some "supplements", if you know what I'm saying?) Notice that the image on the poster of Rex makes him appear to be a tough guy, as he has his fists clinched, ready to fight. If you squint real hard, you might even say he could pass for someone whose look was inspired by Kevin Nash.

Here's a more, shall we say, honest picture of him.

 

Yeah, people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones and I'm certainly not the one to be criticizing people about their physiques, but I'm also not squeezing my voluptuous beer gut into an Under Armour-style shirt and wrapping my arms in electrical tape up to my elbows so I can go play fight with my buddies.

Beyond that, I'll say that this poster looks more like a page out of a high school football program than anything. (That or one of those athletics schedule posters you find at gas stations. You know the type - the schedule gets about 2 inches of space and the rest of the poster is nothing but ads.) Sponsors are great but you can't put that many corporate logos on a poster. It detracts from the purpose of the thing, which is to promote the event. Give those businesses an opportunity to hang banners at the venue, sure, but don't saturate a poster with that nonsense.

I've written this entry with a tongue in cheek approach, and I hope that's detectable. I'm reaching a point in my life where even though I love wrestling I'm beyond being able to take any of it seriously. No matter how much people like myself would appreciate it, Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat can't go for 60 minutes anymore. Arn & Ole Anderson aren't going to come to a ring and make you believe that they're capable of crippling their opponents. Bret Hart isn't going to be having any more 5-star bouts with the likes of Mr. Perfect or Steve Austin. As much as it pains me, I've accepted these things. Similarly, I've accepted that there's no better way to handle the goofball side of pro wrestling than by treating it as such. If Mystery Science Theater 3000 taught me anything, it's that there's fun to be had in pointing out the ridiculousness of what some people would call art, so that's exactly what I'll continue to do - have fun and make the best of what's left of indie pro wrestling in the Carolinas.

Our Road to Building a Family - The Moment Things Got Real

I will fully admit that I haven't written much about the experiences my wife & I have been through in trying to adopt children. I don't want it to seem like I feel it's not important enough to chronicle here - gosh knows all my thoughts on professional wrestling, movies, and the like deserve their space - but Jill has taken the reigns when it comes to keeping all those stories together in her blog, The Truesdale Times. (That blog was originally supposed to have been a shared space for the both of us. Over time it's metamorphosed into her personal chunk of blogging territory just as Redbeard's Rambling is mine.) She's done a fantastic job of documenting our every move and what it amounts to is that I simply don't think I could do a better job, so if you're curious to read more about what we've encountered thus far please take the time to check out her entries. They're quite insightful, especially for anyone who may be thinking of or otherwise already involved in dealings similar to ours.

That said, I wanted to share an update with you, dear reader, about a realization I had recently.

Truth be told, Jill & I have been having some frustrations with this process here lately. We've done all the paperwork, we've gone through all the inspections, and we've gotten our approvals. It is my understanding that where we are at this point is more or less a waiting game. When it comes to adoptions through the Department of Social Services here in South Carolina, there are boards in place the members of which work to try and pair up children with prospective parents. We're to the stage where it seems like the best we can do is hope we get noticed - to make a sports analogy, it's like we've declared for the NFL Draft and our Wonderlic scores came back high but we don't know which team (if any) will give us a chance to prove ourselves.

Jill has gone out of her way to be our own best advocate. That she has done this was no surprise to me. Jill is her mother's child; when I say that, I mean to point out that - much like her mother - she is not content to merely sit idly by when it appears that there's work to be done on something she's passionate about. (I added that last bit regarding her passions because while my wife will not hesitate to assume the role of master and commander when it comes to a situation in which she's emotionally invested, I have yet to have her sprint to action over matters of state like laundry, cleaning the house, or dish washing.) She has done all she can to investigate details on children, those in South Carolina as well as in other states, who are available for adoption by contacting the agencies providing them care. On top of that, she has sent countless emails and made Lord only knows how many phone calls to our own social worker.

I understand that everyone is busy these days and that it seems like every government office is having to learn to do not more with less but more with nothing. (Having worked in the public sector for more than 6 years, I can tell you that statement is true on a variety of levels.) Be that as it may, it's been difficult to get over how uncommunicative certain entities have been with us now that we are where we are. You're in the office 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Did you forget your voicemail passcode? We rarely get a callback, and when we do it's typically not in a timely manner. How hard is it to reply to an email? We're not expecting a message that's 10 paragraphs in length, just a simple acknowledgement that you are still there and that we're not wasting our time by contacting you is more than enough.

I feel like patience is one of my better virtues, and as it relates to the adoption process I have done my best to be patient in navigating the various twists and turns. When we got into this I knew it wasn't going to be something that came to fruition within a couple weeks. For that matter, I knew it was going to take a number of months if not more than a year for our efforts to pan out. (People I know and work with ask me often how long it's been since we've been at this; I try to keep it in perspective by remembering that were we genuinely pregnant we'd only be about 7 months into the delivery. In reality, were things to have worked out differently, we'd still have at least a little ways to go.) As much as I would like for it to be different, this isn't a situation where you can force someone's hand with sweet talking, threats, bribes, or even litigation (which would probably draw it out even further, more than likely). Jill, on the other hand, has never been a particularly patient person. Try as I might to remind her of the teachings of Master Yoda ("Patience you must have, young padawan..." is a favorite quote of mine to use on her), I've learned over the course of our relationship that there's not a whole lot I can do to divert her away from whatever path she's on. I'm not saying that her desire and passion is a bad thing, especially in these circumstances, rather I merely wish she would understand the subtle difference between persistence and insistence (she knows I feel this way, so don't go thinking I'm taking to my blog to air dirty laundry).

Be that as it may, within the past week we made contact with an out-of-state agency about a child in their care and they responded to us almost immediately (as in within 24 hours; that's a precedent no other group has lived up to). The agency said that they were fielding a number of inquiries about the child and that they were in the process of trying to narrow down prospective families but they felt we would be great candidates, part of their reasoning being Jill's experience as a social worker. They granted us an opportunity to learn more about the child's history at which point we were required to sign confidentiality waivers which is why I have to be somewhat guarded in saying what I'm going to talk about next.

There is no reason a child should have to endure what this one has. The report we received spelled things out very clearly and concisely, detailing the data they've collected over the span of time the child has been in their custody (roughly three years). As painful as it was to read, it was more painful to come to the quiet realization that it didn't seem like there was an opportunity for us to help. The list of issues they are dealing with felt insurmountable in my mind, and the fact that the child has begun to develop defense mechanisms in order to deal with them made their plight that much more awful.

It wasn't until I read the report that it dawned on me, this is the kind of abuse that gets found out and these are the kids that we'll be adding to our family. It hasn't dissuaded me from the prospect - not in the least. However, it has made me come to terms with the fact that we're all broken in some way, shape, or form. No one gets through life without chips, dings, and cracks. Sometimes the damage is so bad it seems like it can't be fixed, and even when it can be sometimes you have to admit, no matter how bad you want for things to be otherwise, you aren't the one to handle the repairs.

I mentioned earlier about how the agency representing this child made a point to bring up my wife's career as a social worker. A close friend of ours made a fantastic comment about this and it is one that I'm sure we'll need to be reminded of again as this process continues. The comment was that my wife isn't going to be our child's (or children's) social worker, she's going to be their mother. While her experiences in social work give her a unique perspective, she shouldn't have to be saddled with that role because it would undoubtedly get in the way of the bigger task, that of being a parent.

We decided this particular child has needs we are not prepared to tackle. We have had a tough time of admitting this because we don't know how many opportunities like this we may get. Sure, there are thousands of children out there, but there are potentially as many prospective families. As odd as it may seem, this is something of a competition. What's more, we've both felt in a way that we're letting the child down. Even though we'll never meet the child and the child will never have any idea that we made an inquiry, it's been as though we had to tell the child "no" face to face.

That is what's broken my heart. Two letters, one word, and yet so much hurt it can cause.

Video Killed the Radio (Blog?) Star

If you're a frequent visitor to my part of the blogosphere (just for reference, that is the first and more than likely the last time you'll ever see me use that word) you may recall that earlier this year I made a post wherein I set a goal for myself to make at least 3 blog entries per month. I've held pretty close to true on that, although I will say that there are only two entries for the month of April even though at one point in time there were 3.

"What happened to the third one?", you ask. Well, a while ago I purchased a keyboard dock for my Asus Transformer tablet which essentially turns the tablet into a handy-dandy Android-based netbook. It's great because it's portable, has awesome battery life, and because it's Android it runs just about every app you could think of, including one that's meant for users of Blogger such as myself. I sometimes will start a blog in the app then work on it again when I'm in front of a PC or vice versa. The missing blog from April (which was an event report from a recent WrestleForce show I attended) is an apparent victim to the fact that I published that piece through the web after having started it in the app. Evidently when I went back to the app my Blogger entries were updated based on the data that was (for some reason) still queued in the app, meaning that published entry reverted to an unfinished draft state.

Suffice to say I was pissed when I realized what had happened. I guess whoever Google has working on this particular product skipped over the importance of checking date stamps on database entries; that, and they also offer no ability to recover material in situations like this. Once it's gone, it's gone. Such is life, eh?

Be that as it may, I haven't soured on the prospect of keeping up my blog but I have gotten quite into the realm of video here lately. I'm not going so far as to label myself a vlogger (there's another word you may or may not ever get from me again), however I can tell you that I genuinely enjoy the experience of working with video! Perhaps it's the newness of it or the excitement may be from my merely getting with the times - whatever the case, I've taken to YouTube and have some actual content to share. That said, what follows are a handful of my most recent videos and a bit of commentary on each. If you'd like to see my full YouTube channel, you can do so via this link.

CLIP #1) Rasslin' with Redbeard - Episode 4

I'm particularly proud of this edition of RWR mainly because I think it's the best example to date of what RWR is all about, that being an honest depiction of the fan experience at professional wrestling events. In this instance, the video follows my wife & I as we made our way to Cameron, North Carolina for an event promoted by OMEGA Championship Wrestling headlined by the Hardy Boyz as they faced off against the Briscoe Brothers.



CLIP #2) Random Clips & Match Highlights from CHAOS IN CAMERON

Also recorded during our trip to Cameron were these clips from the show we attended. I'm a little gun shy of promoting this simply for the fact that I had another highlight package I'd put together of nothing but footage from the main event (which was one of the best tag team matches I've ever seen, quite frankly), but I was asked to remove it by someone in OMEGA's "front office" after having published it. Hopefully if they see this they'll understand the point is to make people interested in their product.



CLIP #3) Team Alexander vs. Team Konley (WrestleForce; 5-4-2014)

At almost 45 minutes in length, this match is more than a little beefy. There's a story to be told here, though, and if nothing else I would hope that should you watch the entire thing you'd come away from it impressed by the skills of those involved. It takes a ton of cardiovascular conditioning to gut out a match of this length, which is why competitors like Cedric Alexander and Vordell Walker are in a very small group of elite athletes out there on the independent pro wrestling scene today. Should you not have 45 minutes to invest in it, at least watch the last 15 minutes - TRUST ME.



That's a sampling of what I'm doing with my YouTube channel. I have a few other videos I've amassed but haven't done anything with, primarily because I'm not 100% certain they're worth putting out there. I may add them someday to round out the kind of material I publish because I'll be the first to admit that my channel is very wrestling-heavy. Then again, it's my channel and I'm a big fan of wrestling, so it's only fitting. Regardless, if you've been a fan or follower of mine here on Blogger I would hope you'd take the time to see what else I've been working on. I'm still working on learning the ins and outs of this but I like where it's going.

WrestleMania 30 - My Picks vs. Reality

It's difficult for me to think of a moment in recent history where the state of professional wrestling has been as good as it's been over the course of the past week. I may be jumping the gun here but it suddenly feels cool to be a fan of rasslin' again!

Unfortunately, as triumphant as we pro wrestling fans may have felt coming away from the 2014 World Wrestling Entertainment Hall of Fame ceremony, WrestleMania 30, and Monday Night Raw the next day, we have also had to come to terms with the tragic death of a man who, for many of us, was a childhood hero.

In one of my previous blog entries (which you can read for yourself here), I attempted to predict winners of the matches scheduled for WM30. I faced two challenges in doing so seeing as how I not only tried to use logic to determine who the winners would be (I, of all people, should know that logic and wrestling go together about as well as scrambled eggs and chocolate pudding) but also to try and figure out the rest of the card since only half the bill was known when I published the aforementioned blog. As it would turn out, I am not a clairvoyant when it comes to match outcomes but I wasn't too bad in terms of figuring out what matches were going to take place. What follows is a comparative rundown of my predictions versus what actually happened at WM30.

1) Tag Team Championship Match: The Usos (Jimmy & Jey) (C) defeated Los Matadores (Diego & Fernando), RybAxel (Ryback & Curtis Axel), and The Real Americans (Jack Swagger & Cesaro)

Prediction: The Usos

It seemed highly likely to me that a tag team championship match would get on the card somewhere, although I wasn't certain which teams would be involved outside of The Usos. With a lineup as packed as WM30 was, one of them was going to wind up relegated to the pre-show and sure enough it was this particular match. (In my mind it was a toss up between this and the Divas Championship.) Somewhat conspicuous by their absence were the team of the Rhodes Brothers, Cody Rhodes & Goldust. I can only take that as a sign that their time as a pair is over, which is bothersome to me because they made a great team, as you would expect.

2) Daniel Bryan defeated Triple H

Prediction: Daniel Bryan

No real shocker here, even though I know some in the IWC (short for Internet Wrestling Community) were thinking Triple H would get the nod to further infuriate the fan base only to have something transpire during the show leading to Bryan getting into the main event for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. The match lasted just shy of 30 minutes, making the task of one of these guys wrestling again later on in the evening that much taller of an order. Even with an hour's rest between bouts, having two main event level matches in one day is an extraordinary tribute to the conditioning of someone like Daniel Bryan.

3) The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns) defeated Kane & The New Age Outlaws (Billy Gunn & Road Dogg)

Prediction: Kane & The Ascension

I was going in the right direction in putting together the dynamic of this match but I did not anticipate The New Age Outlaws being put with Kane to face off against The Shield. (When I first heard of it I couldn't fathom the idea of Kane - corporate or otherwise - being aligned with two of the primary members of Degeneration X, then I was reminded that for a brief moment Kane had formed a tag team with X-Pac and the two of them had won the WWE Tag Team Championship together.) I had it in mind that this might be an opportunity for new blood to be brought into the upper tier of WWE's roster; truth be told, young talent did get elevated here, and it was Ambrose, Rollins & Reigns. Those three were hot before WM30 but now they are truly at the top of charts when it comes to popular Superstars.

4) Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal: Winner - Cesaro

Prediction: Cesaro

No kidding around here, I'm fairly impressed with myself in having accurately predicted the winner of this match. It's anything goes when you talk about a battle royal, so to have been able to accurately say Cesaro would come out on top is quite cool to me. I admit that I got lucky because Cesaro wasn't an announced entrant in the match yet when the opening bell rang there he was. With that, you have no one but two guys who pulled double duty at WM30, Cesaro and Daniel Bryan.

5) John Cena defeated Bray Wyatt

Prediction: Bray Wyatt

The story that has been conveyed around these two is that Wyatt is attempting to break John Cena in such a way that he has no choice other than to abandon his chipper, boy scout ways and embrace a state of mind that is much, much more visceral and dark. From that perspective, this match was very successful in what it accomplished as there were points where Cena looked to be teetering on the edge of his own character. I'm not sure if this feud will continue but at the very least it made Cena interesting for once in what seems like forever.

6) Brock Lesnar defeated The Undertaker

Prediction: The Undertaker

Well, THAT didn't go at all how I expected...

Suffice to say, neither did most of the pro wrestling world. Be that as it may, according to Forbes there were apparently a number of betting websites that began getting a lot of action on Lesnar within an hour of WM30 starting.

The Undertaker's undefeated streak at WrestleMania stood at 21 victories and now his WM record stands at 21-1. That one loss bothers me, and it bothers me a lot. I'm not saying that Taker should never have lost at WM as it was bound to happen eventually (provided he didn't retire beforehand, of course). What bothers me is that the loss was to Brock Lesnar, a guy who for all intents and purposes stands to reap the least possible amount of benefit from having scored that pin fall. I do not get why he was the one to be rewarded with that opportunity as it makes no sense to me from a booking perspective. All I can say is I hope he does something significant for wrestling in the future, otherwise this will go down as a terrible blemish on all involved.

7) Vickie Guerrero Divas Championship Invitational: AJ Lee (C) defeated ALL the Divas

Prediction: AJ Lee

Putting this match so late in the card, especially after what was essentially the end of an era that will never be duplicated, is one of the most absurd pacing decisions I've ever encountered. Fans tend to make fun of Divas matches as being bathroom breaks during a show because the contests aren't generally something to which anyone looks forward. They're like getting a gift card to a store in which you never shop; sure, it's a gift but you didn't want it and you're likely to never use it for anything other than to maybe buy someone else a gift they in turn might not want themselves.

That said, this wasn't a surprising outcome. There was no clear rival to Lee going into WM30 and the Divas division is mostly geared towards promoting the Total Divas show these days and that's quite sad in my opinion. There are some talented wrestlers in WWE's employ who just happen to be women, and I feel like they get relegated to disrespectful positions because of that.

Consequently, this seems to have been Vickie Guerrero's last appearance with WWE as she has decided to pursue other interests rather than remain with the company. What's more, the following night on Raw, AJ Lee lost the Diva's Championship to Paige, who is now the NXT Women's Champion and the WWE Divas Champion. That's a lot for her to carry seeing as how prior to Monday night only a portion of the WWE audience was aware that she existed, but I have a feeling she'll handle it well.

8) WWE World Heavyweight Championship Triple Threat Match: Daniel Bryan defeated Randy Orton and Batista

Prediction: Batista

In pro wrestling vernacular, there exists the term "overbooked". What that means is that there's potentially too much going on in a given angle or match that the whole thing becomes muddy, difficult to follow, or altogether pointless. It's more common than you'd expect as there seem to be times where people involved in the creative aspect of wrestling write their material to where there's no convenient resolution. This is why you end up with a WrestleMania main event that involved 4 wrestlers (one of whom got carted out on a stretcher half way through the match only to return), 2 referees (the second of which hadn't been seen in months since the point in time he was implicated in having rigged Daniel Bryan's victory over Randy Orton at the 2013 Night of Champions pay-per-view), and Stephanie McMahon in its outcome.

Yes ("YES!"?), there were a LOT of moving parts here but I think the final product was a thoroughly satisfying conclusion to a storyline that has lasted in the area of 7 months. That kind of long-range booking is almost unheard of anymore, and to see it play out to fruition was really something else. You had all the major players involved, they all did their part, and in the end Daniel Bryan walks out of WM30 as the WWE World Heavyweight Champion.

All things totaled, I was able to accurately predict 4 of the 8 matches from WM30. 50% might not sound that great but as any baseball fan will tell you, a .500 average is nothing to scoff at. I'll take it, even though it represents a drop off from my 6-2 record last year in trying to guess the outcomes of the matches held at WM29.

I can't wrap up this entry without speaking on the sudden death of James Hellwig, who was better known as the Ultimate Warrior. Warrior died earlier this week while at a hotel with his wife, having been inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame and appeared on Monday Night Raw within three days prior. He was an intense individual, inside and out of the squared circle, and as the Ultimate Warrior he left an indelible impression on a generation of young pro wrestling fans, myself included.

As a kid, when you read comic books you never expect there to be an issue where a character like Spider-Man, for example, dies. Sure, he may get beat up, bleed, and be on the cusp of mortality but he never actually expires. He gets up, he heals, he perseveres, and he overcomes. This is an unrealistic presentation because comic book characters exist in a vacuum, a conveniently self-contained universe where the laws of physics and nature don't always apply. So it is that when one of our heroes expires, we're left wondering why him, why now - just plain why?

We're all born and some day we'll all die. Like it or not, that's how it works. It doesn't matter if you're a person who's name isn't known to more than 5 others or if you're a celebrity like the Ultimate Warrior, death comes for us all. We're not guaranteed our next breath - try as though we may to fight it, there's nothing to be done when your time is up. Warrior knew this, which is why his comments during Raw are especially poignant.

"Every man's heart one day beats its final beat. His lungs breathe their final breath. And if what that man did in his life makes the blood pulse through the body of others and makes them believe deeper in something larger than life then his essence, his spirit, will be immortalized. By the story tellers, by the loyalty, by the memory of those who honor him and make the running the man did live forever. You, you, you, you, you, you are the legend makers of Ultimate Warrior. In the back I see many potential legends. Some of them with warrior spirits. And you will do the same for them. You will decide if they lived with the passion and intensity. So much so that you will tell your stories and you will make them legends, as well. I am Ultimate Warrior. You are the Ultimate Warrior fans. And the spirit of the Ultimate Warrior will run forever!"

- Ultimate Warrior

If nothing else, Warrior's passing should be a lesson to us all that life is too short to spend it holding onto grudges and the sins of the past. Our lives are but moments in time and often undervalued until it's too late. We should all strive to make the best of every second of every day, because to do otherwise is to insult the gift that is each of our lives.

Introducing RASSLIN' WITH REDBEARD

I watch a lot of random stuff on YouTube. If you want verification of this, you need ask no one other than my lovely wife. She oftentimes shakes her head at me when she sees me with my tablet or smart phone in hand, my head drooping downward in the "don't bother me, I'm watching something online" position (don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about), and my mind so consumed by whatever content I happen to be watching that I'm totally oblivious to the rest of the world. It's a state that's closely related to the video game stare, perhaps the only difference being that there's no input required with this version.

I have a few video genres, if you can call them that, which I prefer. Fail videos are always great - if you don't know what that is, think something that would be suitable for America's Funniest Home Videos but with less editing requirements for things like vulgarity. I enjoy movie trailers, of course, and there's usually a tremendous amount of fresh material along those lines being published this time of year. Believe it or not, there's a wealth of educational information on YouTube as you can find tutorials on anything from how to make toast to how to configure a VPN on a Cisco network security appliance. Vlogs are essentially video diaries (they're like a blog but in video format, hence the term "vlog") and I follow a handful of YouTube channels maintained by folks who do a great job of documenting their lives, although how certain of them have so much free time as to shoot, edit, and consistently publish so many videos is beyond me quite frankly.

All that having been said, I've had a YouTube account for a while (I think the hip thing is to refer to your account as a "channel", because the line that separates how we consume content needs to be blurred even more so than it is) but I never tried to do much with it. I wasn't sure if the clips I'd assemble would be interesting enough for anyone to actually want to watch. Most of what I've uploaded, ironically enough, are videos of or relating to professional wrestling (there's some in there from our trips to Medieval Times and Walt Disney World as well).

It goes without saying that there's tons of wrestling videos online as is but not necessarily that much from around the Carolinas. Additionally, I've noticed that it seems like when it comes to material online you get either matches or behind-the-scenes commentary but no real focus on the experience of attending shows. I'm not talking about the jaded ramblings of some fan who feels like he knows better than Vince McMahon when it comes to how World Wrestling Entertainment should do business (Pot, meet Kettle!) - gosh knows there are plenty of armchair bookers out there. Rather, what I'm talking about is the experience of traveling to an event, getting around in the town hosting the card, thoughts on venues, perhaps reflections on restaurants and hotels, and that sort of thing.

If anyone else is doing videos along those lines, I haven't seen it. That being the case, let me introduce you to a brand new YouTube series dedicated to the life and times of wrestling fans - RASSLIN' WITH REDBEARD!

I do love alliteration, if you couldn't tell - Redbeard's Rambling, Rasslin' with Redbeard, you get the idea.

At any rate, if you would be so inclined, please partake in the debut episode, posted below for your convenience, which was recorded around UNLEASHED, the March event for WrestleForce that took place at The Hangar in Cayce, South Carolina.

I don't have a timetable for how frequently Rasslin' with Redbeard will be updated but I hope to add at least one video per month, possibly more if I'm fortunate enough to make it to as many shows. I hope you enjoy it because I enjoyed putting it together. We'll see you down the road!