Part 2 of Geektified's "What If?" series

By Jim Scroggs
JHScroggs on Twitter and Instagram





Have you ever wondered what a Batman rogue's gallery movie or a Superman movie starting Nic Cage would have looked like? These are the films that we've all wondered if they would have worked or very thankful that they didn't get out of developmental hell.

Joss Whedon's Wonder Woman


Between his time of working on Firefly and leading the charge for Marvel's The Avengers, Joss Whedon was making plans to bring Diana to the big screen. Warner Brothers tapped him to write the first movie adaptation of the princess in 2007 but it was a short lived process after the studio kicked him off the project. Some of the drawings that were leaked of the costume showed a fashionable but warrior ready Diana, almost similar to how Whedon's previous works looked like on Buffy, Firefly and Dollhouse. Nobody was cast in the title roll but I still think this could have been a solid attempt to get a strong character on the silver screen but I'm so glad we finally saw Gal Gadot steal BVS and I hope that momentum will carry on into her solo film in June.

James Cameron's Spider-Man

Long before Marvel and Sony decided to play nice with our favorite wall crawler, a certain director who was looking to "Terminate" the way we thought of comic-book movies with the "Titanic" notion of making the first big screen adaptation of Spider-Man. (Yes, I know the Cameron jokes were forced) That's right, coming off The Abyss and Terminator 2, James Cameron agreed to direct,  wrote a small version of the script for the movie and that would've hopefully put Marvel on the same standing as DC when it comes to films. This version would have put Leonardo DiCaprio in the suit and to be honest, I wonder how much of Peter Parker we would've seen or even if the character would have been correct. The villains would've been Sandman and Electro but with different human names instead of the regular Flint Marko and Max Dillon. Lance Hendrickson was tapped to play Electro and Micheal Biehn, an actor who I don't have that much familiarity with, would have been Sandman. Robyn Lively, who's known from her time on Twin Peaks,  was to play Mary Jane Watson. The rest of the script called for a love scene between Peter and MJ on top of the Brooklyn Bridge, Organic Web Shooters,  and it was fairly heavy on the profanity so this would've been a more grown up version of Spider-Man. So far, I don't have a huge issue with these casting choices but the next two characters certainly peaked my interest. The joke on the Internet is by the time Aunt May gets cast again, she'll look 25 but I think the one character that all the Spider-Man films have gotten right has been Aunt May. Rosemary Harris did an amazing job in the Raimi trilogy, I'll certainly give Sally Field her due as well, even though the "Amazing" films didn't live up to it's name and I'm excited to see what Marisa Tomei will bring to the table in the MCU version of May Parker. Now, with all that said, I think the Cameron version could have been better than all of those. His Aunt May was to be Dame Maggie Smith. I do wonder if she would have kept her accent but I'm certain that it would have been a good performance. Finally, the character that I think is the perfect translation from page to screen that I've ever seen.  J.K. Simmons portrayal of J. Jonah Jameson is up there with Christopher Reeve as Superman/Clark Kent and I'd even put Alfred Molina's Otto Octavius in that conversation but my point is, I didn't think I would've wanted to see anyone else run The Daily Bugle than Simmons. That might be up for debate now after I saw who James Cameron wanted to step in those shoes. R. Lee. Ermey was tapped to play Jameson and I think the tirades would have put Simmons to shame. I think this was a product of the late eighties/ early nineties action films. A little dark with some comedy as well so I get what they were going for but I'm glad we finally have an appropriate version of Peter/Spider-Man in the MCU almost 25 years later.

Justice League Mortal


For the Justice League fans out there, November can't get her soon enough and I think it's going to be a really solid outing for WB/DC when we finally see the historic team up on the big screen. George Miller was signed on to direct the film and the cast was a nice mix of young actors. Adrian Brody was Flash/Barry Allen, Armie Hammer was Batman/Bruce Wayne, Megan Gale was Wonder Woman/Diana, Hugh Keays-Byrne was Martian Manhunter), Santiago Cabrera was Aquaman/Arthur Curry with Zoe Kasan as Iris Allen. The villains side were Jay Baruchel as Maxwell Lord and Teresa Palmer as Talia al Ghul. The script called for plenty of story lines coming straight from the comics like Tower of Babel, where Batman's files on his friends get stolen to be used against them, Crisis on Infinite Earths and The OMAC project, kind of Age of Ultron-y. The writers strike of 2007-08 was one of the bigger causes of the failed project, as the studio tried to get a script done it time. The other was involving Australia and allowing the film to be shot there. A documentary is being worked on now so I hope that will shine some light on to this project that sounds like it would have been a win for DC/WB

Batman Unchained

Say what you will about the Joel Schumacher Batman films but I somewhat enjoyed them for what they were. They were an obvious 180 from the Burton films, which were to appease the mid 90's colorful period with marketing and to be family friendly. WB thought  (that is the key word here) they had a good thing so when they saw the dailies for Batman and Robin, they hired Shumacher to make his third film in the franchise. The film was to be called "Batman Unchained"and it would have brought back George Clooney, Chris O'Donnell, Alicia Silverstone and added Scarecrow, played by Nic Cage,  along with Harley Quinn, rumored to be played by Courtney Love. Personally, I would have gone with Brittany Murphy in that role. The little caveat in this was Harley would have been Joker's daughter instead of being in a relationship, which on paper sounds decent considering the really messed up relationship they have but it's not true to the origin so that might have put some fans off. The script called for Joker, Catwoman, Penguin, Riddler and Two-Face to be played by the original actors(Yes, even Jack Nicholson) in a hallucination brought on by Scarecrow's fear toxin. The concept alone of seeing Jack, Michelle Pfiffer, Danny Devito, Tommy Lee Jones, and Jim Carrey all interact in something this crazy would have been worth giving this movie a chance but I totally get why WB put the brakes on the franchise.

Super-Man Lives

This was the closest movie to getting made on this list. So much so that Jon Schnepp produced a documentary on it, which I recommend you watch. At the time, which was mid 1990's, Tim Burton signed on to reinvigorate the Superman franchise and a lot of people thought it would be a success considering what he did for Warner Brothers with the Batman franchise.  The film started out as 'Superman Reborn" with Brainiac and Doomsday as the villains.  The storyline was based off the recent "Death of Superman" comic and that seemed to be the one constant in the pre production process. Director Kevin Smith wrote the first draft of the film that included a cameo from Bruce Wayne/Batman and he was eyeing Ben Affleck for that role. Smith was later replaced by other screenwriters, Wesley Strick and Dan Gilroy, which had scripts that were a little darker than what Smith had penned. Nic Cage was cast as Clark Kent/Superman and I can be certain that it would have been an amazingly bizarre but believable performance. I believe they wanted to copy the look from Superman 75 and give him long hair so to see Nic Cage in a possible black suit and maybe some late 90's neon looking thing would have been amazing. Sandra Bullock was eyed to play Lois Lane, Chrisopher Walken was set to be Brainiac, Lex Luthor was to be played by Kevin Spacey and I think at one point, Chris Rock was cast as Jimmy Olsen. Producer Jon Peters wanted to put his stamp on this project so much so that he suggested there be polar bears at the Fortress of Solitude and having Superman fight a gigantic spider. Smith appeased Peters by calling it a Thangarian Snare Beast and I think in one of the following scripts, Brainiac turned into a giant spider so Peters must have had a thing for them. Peters did get his giant spider in Wild Wild West so not all was lost.  One of the main reasons why this didn't happen is at the time, Warner Brothers had a string of flops, failures and disappointments coming out of the studio and considering the amount of money that was probably going to be spent, they pulled the plug on it. I get why from a financial standpoint but some of the artwork and seeing Nic Cage in a Superman suit is the biggest "What If" on this list.



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The SmackDown Files: When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong (An Ode to Chappelle's Show)

By: Keila Cash 

Hello everyone and welcome to another installment of The SmackDown Files. Tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live emanated from the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California. After Randy Orton refused to face Bray Wyatt for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania, Daniel Bryan announced on Talking Smack that a Battle Royal to determine the new number one contender for Wyatt’s WWE Title would take place on tonight’s show. With the table reset, who punched their ticket to Mania? The answer to that question can be found throughout this blog. Without further ado, let’s dissect tonight’s episode of SD Live in no particular order.

·        SD Live began on a somber note when Naomi relinquished the SmackDown Women’s Championship due to an injury she suffered during her match against Alexa Bliss at Elimination Chamber last Sunday. Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon reviewed her medical report and determined that she would not be able to defend her title within the 30-day timeframe.

·        Naomi cut a heartfelt promo about giving up the title and vowed to win it back. Hopefully, her injury timeout is not a lengthy one.

·        Bliss came out and assumed that Bryan was going to give the Women’s Title back to her. Bryan swerved her by announcing that she had to wrestle Becky Lynch for the championship as the opening segment came to a close.

·        This was a good way to start the show. Naomi giving up the Women’s Title sucked, but her strength and resiliency will help get over as a lovable babyface when she returns. The “Feel The Glow” gimmick is cute, but it’s one-note in terms of getting Naomi over as a fully fleshed out character. Her speech was a nice step towards making her more relatable to the audience. It’s unfortunate that it happened due to injury, but this will fuel Naomi to come back better than ever.

·        Alexa Bliss became a two-time SmackDown Women’s Champion thanks to a nasty shot to Becky Lynch’s throat followed by a rollup with a fistful of tights for the tainted win. Lynch vs. Bliss was good as Lynch took 90% of the match until Bliss tried to pull a portion of the ring skirt into the squared circle. The referee was busy putting the skirt back in place which led to the aforementioned finish.

·        Mickie James came out to celebrate with Bliss and tried to sneak attack Lynch, but Lynch caught her with a kick to the midsection as James scurried up the ramp.

·        Bliss regaining the Women’s Title makes sense because she can get easy heat as a heel. Her work rate is solid and it sets up Naomi winning the title back from here whenever she is medically cleared to compete. Also, Lynch continues her feud with James which should lead to one of them vying for the title at some point. James’ allegiance to Bliss has its limits. It should be interesting to see when the other shoe will drop.

·        Breezango tried to get an early jump on American Alpha, but their plan backfired when Chad Gable and Jason Jordan regrouped as they defeated Fandango with the Tech Fall.

·        After the match was over, The Usos made their way through the crowd to “congratulate” American Alpha and told the SmackDown Tag Team Champions that they were living on borrowed time with the titles. They cut a fiery promo about how Gable and Jordan were suffering from paranoia, but that wasn’t the case because The Usos were breathing down their necks in the literal sense. Jimmy and Jey were amped to the nth degree during their promo, but their passion and conviction were on point. When both teams finally go at it, it should be great because they haven’t fully let loose in the ring despite the handful of matches they’ve had on television over the past few months.

·        Natalya defeated Nikki Bella in their Falls Count Anywhere match thanks to an assist from Maryse. Nikki and Natalya brawled backstage as Maryse was minding her business. Natalya shoved Nikki into Maryse which caused the latter to take a bad tumble through the curtains into an assortment of lead pipes.

·        Nikki rammed Natalya’s head into a mirror near the makeup counter before taking the fight back to the main stage. Nikki nailed Natalya with a Spear before they brawled down the ramp.

·        Natalya was about to put Nikki in the Sharpshooter, but Nikki countered with the Fearless Lock instead. It appeared that Natalya was about to tap out until Maryse attacked Nikki with the fakest lead pipe known to mankind.

·        Maryse continued to hit Nikki with some the softest lead pipe shots of all time until The Miz ran down to the ring to intervene. The damage was already done as Natalya picked up the scraps to score the tainted win.

·        Natalya and Nikki had a decent match, but it was more about hitting high spots instead of weaving a strong narrative from start to finish. Plus, Natalya earned a few demerits when she broke character to praise Nikki for doing a good job after using one of the production tables as a launching pad for the backflip calf kick. She probably wasn’t aware that there was a live mic in the area, but she totally killed kayfabe for the viewers at home.

·        As for Maryse attacking Nikki Bella, this is was a nice way to lay the groundwork for the presumed John Cena and Nikki Bella vs. The Miz and Maryse mixed tag team match at WrestleMania. The first breadcrumb was dropped when Nikki accidently caked Maryse with makeup powder during her backstage brawl with Natalya at Elimination Chamber last Sunday. Tonight’s incident only threw more gasoline on the bonfire.

·        It’s a random match that seems beneath Cena, but I’m sure he will find a way to make it work. Miz’s mic work should do the trick in terms of pushing their match over the top as well.

·        The Battle Royal featuring John Cena, AJ Styles, Dean Ambrose, The Miz, Luke Harper, Baron Corbin, Dolph Ziggler, Kalisto, Apollo Crews, and Mojo Rawley ended in a draw when Styles and Harper’s feet hit the floor at the same time.

·        Daniel Bryan announced that that Styles and Harper will face off with the winner going on to face Bray Wyatt for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania.

·        SD Live went off the air with Wyatt cackling at Harper’s misfortune as Orton looked on in the background.

·        The ending of the match was weak, but every elimination leading up to the finish made sense in terms of planting seeds for Mania.

·        Dolph Ziggler eliminated Kalisto only to get eliminated by Crews moments later when he nailed The Showoff with an Enzuigiri.

·        Ziggler didn’t go away quietly as he attacked Kalisto with a steel chair at ringside. This distracted Crews long enough for Corbin to eliminate him from the match. Ziggler tried to nail Crews with a chair shot, Crews moved out of the way and chased Ziggler backstage.

·        Ambrose eliminated Corbin only for Corbin to drag Ambrose out of the ring to lay him out with the End of Days onto the floor.

·        John Cena eliminated Miz only for The Miz to toss John Cena over the top rope a short time later. Since Battle Royals are contested under no disqualification rules, this was perfectly legal.

·        Ambrose recovered long enough to be in the final three alongside Harper and Styles but was eliminated by Harper after a kick in the gut caused him to double over onto the floor.

·        The match came down to Style and Harper which led to the aforementioned non-finish. Both men tried to eliminate the other, but it wasn’t a back and forth battle. Based on the outcome, it was clear that Styles and Harper were in cruise control until their match next week to determine the new number one contender for Wyatt’s WWE Title.

·        Styles vs. Harper was teased late last year when Styles was still WWE Champion. I expect both men to put on a show next week because a spot in the WrestleMania main event is at stake. It doesn’t completely erase the crappy way the Battle Royal ended, but it softens the blow a bit.  

·        Overall, I thought tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live was decent at best. The wrestling action was so-so prior to the main event, but progress was made on the Mania front. John Cena and Nikki Bella vs. The Miz and Maryse is starting to take shape while Dean Ambrose and Baron Corbin continue their feud heading into their presumed Intercontinental Championship match at WM. Throw in The Usos putting American Alpha on notice and we have ourselves a pretty decent undercard representing the blue brand at the biggest show of the year.

·        The Women’s Division feels a little disjointed due to Naomi’s knee injury. Perhaps she will pull off a miracle and appear at WM in her hometown of Orlando, Florida. It should be noted that WWE has not gone into great detail regarding the extent of her injury. Therefore, the company could be playing things by ear to see if she can heal up in time for the big show. Bliss is a great heel, but the pickings are slim in terms of opponents because Nikki is preoccupied with Maryse while Becky Lynch is busy feuding with Mickie James. Short of Natalya doing an 180 and turning face on a whim, Bliss is stuck in the neutral zone at the moment. Let’s hope the creative team can reshuffle the deck heading into Mania.

·        We are five weeks away from the biggest show of the year. The pieces are starting to fall into place, but SD Live is lacking a bit of oomph at the moment. They can afford a couple of blah weeks because the Road to WrestleMania is a long and arduous journey. However, they can’t get too comfortable because Raw is stacked with heavy hitters despite the extra hour dragging things down. The Royal Rumble card was heavy on Raw matches. WM should balance things out a bit, but the blue brand has to hold up their end of the bargain to ensure that most of their matches are not featured on the preshow instead. Fingers crossed!

On that note, this wraps up another edition of The SmackDown Files. I hope you enjoyed it and I will be back next week with a brand new installment of The Raw Exposé. See you later, boys and girls! 

The Raw Exposé: The Braun Strowman is a Baaaaddddd Man Edition (2-20-2017)

By: Keila Cash 

Hello everyone and welcome to another installment of The Raw Exposé. Tonight’s episode of Monday Night Raw emanated from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. With Fastlane a little under two weeks away, the Road to WrestleMania is starting to come into focus. Last week, Kevin Owens kicked Chris Jericho out of his professional and personal life in the literal sense by ruining the Festival of Friendship celebration. Was this Owens’ way of exorcising his demons heading into his Universal Championship match against Goldberg at Fastlane?

Meanwhile, Bayley’s lifelong dream came true as she defeated Charlotte to become the new Raw Women’s Champion. Happy ending aside, will the win feel hollow if The Queen regains the title at Fastlane to become a five-time champ? Will Bayley end Charlotte’s PPV Winning Streak and avoid coming down with a bad case of Sasha Banks Syndrome when it comes to losing the belt during a special event on the WWE Network? Some of the answers to these questions can be found throughout this blog while the rest will be revealed in due time. Without further ado, let’s dissect tonight’s episode of Raw in no particular order.

·        Kevin Owens wore his finest corporate suit and warned Goldberg that he would outlast and outsmart the WCW Legend during their Universal Championship at Fastlane in a couple of weeks. Owens vowed to ruin Goldberg’s narrative of being a superhero to children by keeping the title around his shoulder heading into WrestleMania. As for Owens’ attack on Chris Jericho, KO dropped the mic and headed backstage as the opening segment came to an end.

·        For the first time in months, Owens was unanimously booed. He got the right amount heat as he chalked up Goldberg’s 86 second victory over Brock Lesnar at Survivor as pure luck because Lesnar underestimated Goldberg. Owens wouldn’t make the same mistake because he knows how to play the game better than anyone else. I guess he took tips from Triple H.

·        In any event, Owens was confident heading into Fastlane. Jericho was nowhere to be found, but I expect that to change during Owens’ Universal Title match against Goldberg. Just a hunch.

·        The theory of a Triple Threat Match featuring Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows vs. Cesaro & Sheamus vs. Enzo Amore & Big Cass was nullified when Big Cass pinned Cesaro with the East River Crossing as he and Enzo became the number one contenders for the Raw Tag Team Championship.

·        Cesaro was in control until he tried to swing Big Cass. Enzo hopped on Cesaro’s back which gave Cass enough time to hit his finisher for the win. Enzo and Cass will go on to Face Anderson and Gallows for the Tag Team Titles at Fastlane.

·        Enzo got a little too cocky when he poked fun of Cesaro’s Swiss Superman moniker by saying that he was loaded with kryptonite. Sheamus nailed Enzo with a Brogue Kick as the fans chanted “Thank You, Sheamus.” I don’t think that was supposed to be the desired reaction, but Enzo had it coming. I wonder if this is leading to Enzo and Cass turning heel or Enzo getting a little too comfortable for his own good because he has backup in the form of his seven foot best friend. The fact that the crowd turned on Enzo spoke volumes about the latter scenario possibly coming to fruition.

·        Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn will take place for the 25^th time later tonight. I’m sure they will have a great match, but WWE has completed pissed on the “Final Match” stipulation from Battleground last July.

·        The Brian Kendrick vs. Akira Tozawa never got underway as Kendrick nailed Tozawa with a clothesline. Kendrick rammed Tozawa’s neck into the exposed turnbuckle before putting him in the Captain’s Hook. This was in response to Tozawa rejecting Kendrick’s offer to mentor him during a backstage segment on 205 Live last week. Kendrick noted that the Japanese star learned his first lesson in respect. This was a nice way to add heat to their feud even though The Wizard of Odd was faintly cheered in his home state.

·        It was Déjà vu all of again as Roman Reigns faced Anderson and Gallows in a 2-on-1 handicap match. Like last week, the match ended via Disqualification when Reigns nailed Gallows with a steel chair shot to the gut. Reigns delivered several chair shots to Gallows’ back until Anderson intervened. He got drilled with a series of clotheslines in the corner until Gallows made the save.

·        Gallows was in control until Reigns nailed him with a Superman Punch. Anderson tried to save his partner, but Reigns destroyed him with a wicked Spear from midair. It was a sick spot that popped the crowd. That was the highlight of an otherwise ho-hum match.

·        On the Brightside, Anderson and Gallows didn’t eat the pin for a second week in a row.

·        The New Day’s Triple-Encrypted Ice Cream Blueprint just got hacked by Lana. It’s a Russian Conspiracy!

·        Crisis averted! Big E and Kingston pinned Jinder Mahal with the Midnight Hour while Xavier Woods retrieved the tablet from Lana that contained the Ice Cream Blueprint and smashed it to bits. The match itself was decent at best.

·        Once again, the WWE Production Team top themselves with a classy video tribute to George “The Animal” Steele who passed away this past Friday.

·        Quick Side Note: Who knew Kevin Hart was a noted Wrestling Historian. I give David Arquette a pass because he is a noted fan who will live in infamy for winning the WCW Championship on an episode of Thunder 17 years ago. Yes, that actually happened.

·        The Cruiserweight Championship contract signing between Neville and Gentleman Jack Gallagher was very good. Neville tried to browbeat Gallagher by telling him that his gentlemanly ways were not a true representation of actual British Brawlers. Neville claimed that real Brits are ugly and rough around the edges. The people were laughing at Gallagher instead of with him and vowed to prove that point by beating him at Fastlane. Gallagher made a nice comeback as he defended his prim and proper ways. He didn’t like the fact that Neville’s proclamation of being the King of the Cruiserweights made him better than anyone else.

·        Neville tossed the table upside down and asked Gallagher what he planned to do about it before shoving Gallagher. Gentleman Jack responded by head-butting Neville out of the ring. It appeared that Gallagher knocked himself loopy. If that’s the case, he needs to retire that move because it’s a concussion waiting to happen.

·        Thanks for coming, Sarah Pierce! Nia Jax laid out Pierce with the Samoan Drop for the quick and decisive win.

·        After much consideration, Bayley decided not to relinquish the Raw Women’s Championship after Stephanie McMahon tried to guilt trip her into doing so. Stephanie talked about Bayley being a role model to young girls and should do the right thing by giving up a title she didn’t win fair and square. She claimed that Sasha Banks did all the work and that’s not how championships should be won.

·        Bayley was about to do the unthinkable when Banks made her way to the ring to talk some sense into her best friend. Stephanie tried to stir the pot by saying that Banks only wanted Bayley to keep the championship because she could beat her more easily than Charlotte. Stephanie encouraged Bayley to the do the right thing by forfeiting the title.

·        Bayley teased handing the belt to Stephanie, but she said hell no because she earned the title fair and square. Besides, Bayley already beat Charlotte three times which made the outcome almost academic.

·        Charlotte came out to invoke her automatic rematch clause and will face Bayley for the Raw Women’s Championship at Fastlane. Banks challenged Charlotte to a match since her knee was healed up and Charlotte accepted. However, she wanted to make sure that Banks left the arena in a wheelchair as the segment came to an end.

·        This was a good segment that played into the wholesomeness of Bayley’s character. Bayley always talks about doing the right thing, but sometimes it comes at a price. Stephanie tried her best to manipulate her, but it was too no avail as Bayley stood her ground as the new Raw Women’s Champion. The crowd did a great job as they were solidly behind their home state girl.

·        Plus, Sasha Banks avoided a verbal beat down by Stephanie McMahon. That is a miracle in of itself.

·        Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte was a solid match that featured Charlotte working on Banks’ neck throughout. Banks got back on offense when she nailed a Charlotte with a Bulldog followed by the double knees on the outside.

·        Dana Brooke ran down to the ring to interfere, but Bayley cut her off at the pass. The distraction allowed Banks to lock Charlotte in The Bank Statement for the win.

·        For the second week in a row, Samoa Joe attacked Sami Zayn from behind after Zayn talked about Joe during a backstage interview prior to his match against Kevin Owens. Joe kicked Zayn’s ass from pillar to post before landing a sick Running Senton on Zayn from the outside.

·        Joe tossed Zayn back in the ring as Owens licked his chops in the proverbial sense.

·        The referee checked to see if Zayn was able to compete. Zayn gave the all clear as the ref rang the bell. Owens went on the attack and finished Zayn off with the Popup Powerbomb for the win. This was a one-sided match that made sense because Joe has an ax to grind with Zayn and Owens needed a dominant win heading into his Universal Championship match against Goldberg at Fastlane.

·        Also, the audience was spared from seeing Zayn and Owens have a good match that would have felt hollow with KO still getting the win by hook or crook. This was the best case scenario, all things considered.

·        Mick Foley stood up to Stephanie McMahon, but at what cost? It appeared that Stephanie was about to put a hit out on Foley for bucking her authority. Foley’s days as Raw General Manager are numbered.

·        Brock Lesnar mean mugging in front the camera during Paul Heyman’s promo was creepy as hell. Heyman did a great job explaining why he was impressed with Kevin Owens, but Lesnar didn’t share the same sentiment. Lesnar wants Goldberg to win the Universal Title at Fastlane and walk into WrestleMania with the Big Red Kryptonite Belt so he can take it from him. Sounds easy enough. However, will The Beast make the same mistake thrice? We shall find out soon enough.

·        Braun Strowman and The Big Show had a shockingly good main event match. It was two big dudes going at it. The match featured power and incredible agility by Strowman. The fans were a little lukewarm towards the match at first, but the near falls and Big Show threatening to deliver a Superplex from the top rope got them on their feet down the stretch.

·        Big Show had Strowman dead to rites by nailing him with the knockout punch, but Strowman kicked out at two. Moments later, Strowman dropped Big Show with a Powerslam for another near fall.

·        The World’s Largest Athlete tried to chokeslam Strowman for the second time, but the big man countered with another Powerslam for the win.

·        After the match was over, Roman Reigns made his way down to the ring and nailed Strowman with a pair of Superman Punches. Reigns was in position to lay him out with a spear, but Strowman countered with a dropkick to Reigns’ knees. He followed things up with an emphatic Running Powerslam and left Reigns lying in the prone positon for the third week in a row as Raw went off the air.

·        Strowman continues to be portrayed as a dominant force that cannot be stopped. Reigns has failed to gain the upper hand which makes their match at Fastlane all the more interesting in terms of how the outcome is booked. Strowman should not lose the match via pin fall because it would derail his push something fierce. A count out or DQ victory is a more favorable option. Reigns should get some of his heat back, but pinning Strowman outright would be a dumb call. Let both men beat the hell out of each other and call it draw.

·        For the first time in years, a homegrown monster from the WWE Production Factory is thriving. Let’s hope the company is not using him as a means to prop up Reigns heading into WrestleMania. That would suck in the worst possible way.

·        Overall, I thought tonight’s episode of Raw was adequate. For the second week in a row, the third hour saved the show because the first two hours were a drag. The Los Angeles market is usually treated to a fun event, but tonight seemed a little off. It lacked a certain spark that was apparent back in October when Sasha Banks won the Raw Women’s Championship from Charlotte for the second time. Just like that show, the follow-up was key in terms of consistency.

·        The trend continued tonight as the broadcast felt lifeless until Bayley came out during the third hour. From there, the show ended on a high note but I question WWE’s thought process because the third-hour rating is traditionally weak. If the first two hours sucked, why should fans stick around until the end? Give them an incentive to stick around and they will keep the channel locked on USA Network. If not, fans will continue to DVR their way through life. I can’t blame them because the show was a bore until the last hour or so.

·        Here’s hoping the energy picks up next week as Goldberg will appear on the go-home show before Fastlane. He should cut a great promo on Kevin Owens if he is allowed to speak in his own voice.

·        Also, Seth Rollins will update fans on his knee injury and confirm whether or not he is missing another WrestleMania after Samoa Joe’s attack a few weeks ago.

·        Most importantly, WWE needs to string together a strong show from top to bottom with minimum fluff because the past couple of weeks have been a chore to get through. The Road to WrestleMania needs to kick into high gear. Stat!

On that note, this wraps up another edition of The Raw Exposé. I hope you enjoyed it and I will be back tomorrow night with a brand new installment of The SmackDown Files. See you later, boys and girls!

Comic Book Review: Batman #17, I Am Bane, Pt. 2

By: Jerry Montgomery
February 16, 2017

Batman #17
“I Am Bane, Part Two”

Written by: Tom King
Pencils and Inks by: David Finch

Prepare to have your mind blown. But, to be fair, I'll be your Morpheus to your Neo and give you a choice…the red pill or the blue pill.  Take the blue pill and the story ends, wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe…so stop reading now… or take the red pill and see how deep the Rebirth universe goes. Wait a minute, you say, I thought this was a review for Batman #17 , so why are you talking about Rebirth?  I’ll get to that in a sec. For now, just take a moment to let it all soak in to help wrap your little noggin around it.

“I Am Bane, Part Two “  is chapter two in the third arc in a trilogy of story lines which began with the “I am Gotham” story, followed by the “I Am Suicide” arc. Though these storylines all dealt with different plots, they all had an underlying common one… Gotham Girl and the Psycho Pirate. You may not be familiar with Gotham Girl as she is a new character, first appearing in DC Universe: Rebirth #1, and featured with her brother, Gotham,  in the “I Am Gotham” arc. Writer Tom King has stated that Gotham Girl stands to play a very important part in the life of Batman, evident in her narrative, mentioning her marriage to Duke Thomas/Batwing and the death of Batman.

 The Psycho Pirate, perhaps in his most significant appearance since “Crisis on Infinite Earths” also plays a pivotal role in this “I Am” trilogy. In “I Am Gotham” arc, he fractures the mind of Gotham Girl and almost defeats the Justice League.  In the “I Am Suicide” arc, he comforts a venom-free Bane with his powers, the only thing that relieves Bane’s pain wracked body. That power is sought after by Batman to heal the mentally fragile Gotham Girl, prompting him to form his own suicide squad from the cells of Arkham to capture the Pirate from the island fortress of Santa Prisca and Bane.

Now in the “I Am Bane” arc, Bane wants him back and revenge upon the Batman.  This, Batman knows. In the previous issue #16, Bruce Wayne attempts to get all those he cares about away from Gotham City, aware of the storm that is coming. What Bruce’s friends and allies cannot understand is that he wants to face Bane alone. Gotham Girl begins her first psychotherapy session with the Psycho Pirate at Arkham Asylum. Batman has estimated that it will take five days for her mind to heal. Five days to get everyone he loves out of harm’s way. By the end of the issue, we know that he severely underestimated Bane’s timeline, as Batman finds Nightwing,  Robin and Red Hood hanging lifeless from ropes around their necks in the Batcave. The storm has come. Issue #17 picks up with Batman placing the past and present Robins into some sort of stasis or life support chambers within Superman’s Fortress of Solitude. Once again, Superman is perplexed why Batman must face Bane alone, promising to look after those who are injured. It is revealed that Bane has not come to Gotham City alone to draw out Batman. He has brought old allies himself to see his plan through.

Now, let’s get back to that mind-blowing bit. You know that when Rebirth began, it set all characters back to issue 1 to bring them into these contemporary times…make them relevant to issues and themes that are of concern today. What you may not know is how it happened or better yet, who made it happen. If you know comics then you know The Watchmen.  It's perhaps the greatest comic series ever written. If you know The Watchmen,  then you know the character of Dr. Manhattan. It is he who set the DC universe back, erasing the known continuity and making everyone ten years younger. Why? It hasn’t yet been revealed his reasons but what is Dr. Manhattan doing in this DC existence? What does this mean? Could it mean a convergence of the two universes?! Imagine Rorschach and Batman together…or the Comedian. That will twist your head! Both Batman and The Flash know that something is amiss. He knows that ten years are gone and all he’s got to go on is a smiley faced button with some bean juice on it (Human bean juice.)  Who better to unlock the mysteries of Rebirth? And the Psycho Pirate? He’s one of the few characters that still remembers all the continuity…even what doesn’t exist anymore, so these relationships with one another should prove to be nothing more than interesting of what is and what could be.

The Verdict: Issue #17 is a must read for any Batman fan, if not only for classic Bane, but for its piece in upcoming events that could reach epic proportions. Things that possibly involve the merging of The Watchmen universe. Tom King’s writing is great, having said he’s had the first 25 issues plotted out, specifically the above mentioned trilogy. David Finch’s artwork is detailed and awesome to illustrate what could become a much talked about title by the time its all done. Warning though… reading this issue could lead to trying to track down the previous issues to try and figure out the mysteries of Rebirth on your own.

Rebels Recap: Star Wars Rebels “Trials of the Darksaber”

 

Welcome back rebel fans to another recap of Star Wars Rebels, “Trails of the Darksaber”, an episode focused on Sabine’s inner struggle and breakthrough.  This episode dives into a piece of Mandalorian history as well as Sabine’s fallout from her family and people because of the discovering of the Darksaber. In a previous episode, the Darksaber was found by Sabine who claimed it and quickly disregarded the weapon. So, let’s dive right in with this recap and from this moment on a SPOILER ALERT is in effect for the remainder of this recap.

The episode opens with Kanan and Fenn Rau aboard the ghost when Kanan reveals the Darksaber.  Kanan also mentions that Sabine had found the weapon but has not spoken of its importance. Fenn Rau starts to give a little history lesson concerning the Darksaber and what it means to his people.  The Darksaber belonged to the first Mandalorian Jedi, Tau Rizsla, and this weapon is a symbol of leadership and power.  This weapon compares to that of Arthur and Excalibur, and this weapon belongs to a leader of Mandalore.

 

With this knowledge, they confront Sabine about what this could do for the rebellion to have Mandalore fighting alongside them against the Empire.  Like all great heroes, they are reluctant to answer their calling but no matter the reason for hesitation they do respond to the call. Sabine is putting the rebellion before herself and is willing to train with Kanan and Ezra. So, that when challenged for the Darksaber she can defend and win.  I will also add that Ezra’s comments about her not being able to do it might have also influenced her to prove him wrong.

 

 

The training begins with Kanan, Ezra, Fenn Rau, and Sabine finding a place to train safely. Once the training starts, Kanan gives Sabine a stick to practice with saying she’s not yet ready to duel with the saber.  Sabine quickly asks if Ezra was treated the same way and the answer was no which didn’t sit well with her. Neither did being talked down to by Ezra has he taught her the basic fighting poses.

 

 

 

These lessons started to seem like her annoying little brother showing her the ropes and bragging about his abilities.  When the two of them started to duel, and Sabine grew frustrated with losing to Ezra.  Fenn Rau seeing her frustrations pulls her to the side and gives her a weapon made for Jedi combat.

 

 

Sabine uses it on Ezra who is caught off guard and taken done a peg by Sabine. Kanan then jumps in and takes her down and utters the words, “The Jedi won the war with Mandalore.”  This line brings the Knights of the Old Republic into canon or least part of it which I know excited a lot of fans.  A story that deals with the war between Mandalore, the Jedi, and the Sith. This show does a great job bringing in the many pieces of literature about the Star Wars universe and making it canon for the show and the films.

 

The duel between Kanan and Sabine leads her to say that he is a “lousy teacher,” and she walks off to cool down.  This leads Kanan to call Hera for advice on how to get through to Sabine and Hera replies with, “...let her use the Darksaber.”  This advice is what sparks Sabine’s breakthrough and insight into a pain she’s been holding onto from the beginning.  Kanan hands her the Darksaber, and they start to fight, and little by little she reveals pieces of herself and story. The saber becomes an extension of her arm which allows her to beat Kanan.  She yells out that the weapons she made for the Empire were used against her people. When she turned to her family for support against the Empire, they decided to shut her out instead.  This breakthrough gave viewers insight into Sabine’s past and her relationship with her family. It also is going to give her the strength to face her family in the next episode that airs tonight at 8:30 on Disney XD, “The Legacy of Mandalore,” this promises to reveal more about Sabine and some more Darksaber action.

 

Here’s a trailer for tonight’s episode of Star Wars Rebels: #Geektified #StarWarsRebels #StarWars #Rebels #Empire #Force #Jedi #Sith #DisneyXD

 

Photo Credit: Star Wars.com, Disney, Lucasfilm

Created by: Jasmine Yard