Wrestling Road Diaries Three: Funny Equals Money

Longtime readers of this blog may recall how big a fan I am of indie comedy wrestler, Colt Cabana and his pair of self-produced documentaries, The Wrestling Road Diaries (WRD). For those unaware, they are about life in the ring and behind-the-scenes at the arena and on the road as Colt and two guest wrestlers tour a string of indie wrestling shows. The first WRD guest starred Bryan Danielson/Daniel Bryan and Sal Rinauro and had the theme of hard work paying off while having good, clean fun on the road. The sequel does a 180 and it features Big LG/Luke Gallows and Cliff Compton/Domino, who have a darker sense of humor, and it features a edgier take of life on the indie scene.

That brings us to Wrestling Road Diaries Three: Funny Equals Money (trailer). This installment has Colt more in his wheelhouse as the notorious comedy wrestler of RoH teams up with a comedy wrestler from TNA, Grado along with a fellow comedy wrestler from Japan, Kikutaro. I have always been bummed out about how Colt never took off in WWE after being a fan of his comedy in RoH for several years prior. He had bad timing as Colt made his way into WWE developmental the around the same time Santino Marella and Hornswoggle started on the main roster, and by the time Colt got called up, Santino and Hornswoggle proved themselves as WWE’s go to comedy acts and there was no room for Colt’s shtick, which I felt was always more original and better than what Santino and ‘Swoggle brought to the table.

I have only seen just a little bit of Grado in TNA before since I do not watch nearly as much of that promotion as I use to, and I have never seen Kikutaro in action before. WRD3 makes sure to give proper introductions to Colt’s travel buddies to bring everyone up to speed on the duo. Grado’s entrance is pretty memorable and it instantly won me over as I could not get it out of my head for days. I also quickly grew to like Kikutaro’s brand of comedy slow-motion antics that are part of his matches. I dug an early scene of Colt’s apartment/warehouse/podcast studio, which is jam packed with wrestling memorabilia while Kikutaro and Grado record promos into Colt’s soundproof booth/mini-fridge.

WRD3 follows the trio to three indie shows for the promotions of AIW, PWC and Freelance Wrestling. At the Freelance Wrestling event, the gang is joined by other indie sensations Joey Ryan and Dick Justice. When this was filmed, Joey Ryan was in the midst of a modicum of viral fame with anew move in his repertoire gaining nationwide attention. They make sure to touch on that here and build off of it in this indie show in one of the standout scenes from the documentary.

Highlights of the matches are shown as they tour while Colt, Grado and Kikutaro reflect back on the match on what did and did not work. With the art of comedy in wrestling being a central theme here I got a lot out of the three breaking down their matches and how they are constantly trying to work in improv into the matches based on spontaneous chants and callouts from the crowd. Some of their improv works really well, like when Grado gets a girl to upstage Tracy Smothers in an impromptu singing competition to the crowd’s delight. However, there is also the opposite shown when it does not work out in one case where Colt got irked at a pair of fans who were being obnoxious and ruining the show for everyone else despite Colt’s attempts to silence them. Hearing Colt after the show visibly pissed at how the match went down is a potent scene that I do not catch too often of the talent letting loose when things do not go as planned.

Like the previous WRD films, I enjoy the road traveling scenes in between shows where the guys tell stories and justify what their style of humor and how comedy will always have a place in wrestling. It is obvious these three care about their craft, and are not only there for a paycheck or to fill a slot on a show. WRD3 does not overstay its welcome and is the shortest of the three films clocking in at one hour and 22 minutes.

If I only had one qualm about WRD3 it is that the road traveling scenes seem dialed back a little bit compared to the first two films, and I would have liked to see a little bit more stops and scenes of the trio in between shows. If you pay the extra $5 for the bonus disc, that gripe is resolved with 30 minutes of additional scenes that consist of mostly stories and anecdotes from Colt, Grado and Kikutaro in the car. There is a lot of good tales to indulge in such as Grado’s love of flying, Kikutaro recalling his stint in XPW and Colt dissecting his feud with Tye Dillenger in OVW and how his TNA tryout was a flop. There is also a gem with Colt filming a promo with a security guard hyping up a mysterious wrestler known as “Fireman Chris” that you just have to see to believe.

Also on the bonus disc is a half hour episode of Colt’s podcast, The Art of Wrestling, where Colt brings on Grado, Kikutaro, Dick Justice and Joey Ryan throughout the episode to talk about their time on WRD3. Finally, there are two matches in their entirety as extras that were filmed while the gang was on tour for this documentary. The first is Colt & Grado teaming up against the Four Star Heroes while Kikutaro faces off against Dick Justice and Darin Corbin in a triple threat encounter. For $5 the extra hour and a half of content the bonus disc contains is well worth it and gave me a lot more value out of my purchase.

I think I would rank Wrestling Road Diaries Three in the middle of the pack, with the first one being my favorite. I appreciate the lighthearted theme this time around as it is much needed after witnessing some of the sick shenanigans that Compton and Gallows brought into the fold in the previous film. I like most of WWE’s documentaries, but if you are only accustomed to those style of wrestling documentaries, than I highly suggest trying out Colt’s trio of films as it is a much needed change of pace and shows you what it is like for wrestlers who are trying or just are not meant for the WWE and why they still perform their craft.

Past Wrestling Blogs

Best of WCW Monday Nitro Volume 2
Best of WCW Monday Nitro Volume 3
Biggest Knuckleheads
Bobby The Brain Heenan
Daniel Bryan: Just Say Yes Yes Yes
Dusty Rhodes WWE Network Specials
ECW Unreleased: Vol 1
ECW Unreleased: Vol 2
ECW Unreleased: Vol 3
For All Mankind
Goldberg: The Ultimate Collection
Its Good to Be the King: The Jerry Lawler Story
Ladies and Gentlemen My Name is Paul Heyman
Legends of Mid South Wrestling
Macho Man: The Randy Savage Story
Memphis Heat
OMG Vol 2: Top 50 Incidents in WCW History
OMG Vol 3: Top 50 Incidents in ECW History
Owen: Hart of Gold
RoH Supercard of Honor V
RoH Supercard of Honor VI
RoH Supercard of Honor VII
RoH Supercard of Honor VIII
RoH Supercard of Honor IX
RoH Supercard of Honor X
ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery
Sting: Into the Light
Superstar Collection: Zach Ryder
Top 50 Superstars of All Time
Tough Enough: Million Dollar Season
True Giants
Ultimate Fan Pack: Roman Reigns
Warrior Week on WWE Network
Wrestlemania 3: Championship Edition
Wrestlemania 28
Wrestlemania 29
Wrestlemania 30
Wrestlemania 31
The Wrestler (2008)
Wrestling Road Diaries Too
Wrestlings Greatest Factions
WWE Network Original Specials First Half 2015
WWE Network Original Specials Second Half 2015
WWE Network Original Specials First Half 2016
WWE Network Original Specials Second Half 2016

OJ: Made in America 30 for 30

The 89th Oscars were last weekend, and aside from its flub of a Best Picture announcement, I was also surprised at one of its winners that I will be covering here today. I always give ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary series some love each year in my annual TV recap blogs. 2016 saw ESPN go with their most ambitious 30 for 30 project yet: a five part series covering the entire life of OJ Simpson. The bulk of the feature is dedicated to the controversial murders of Ron Goldman and OJ’s ex-wife Nicole Simpson. This documentary also covers the many racial injustices on the streets and in the courtrooms of Los Angeles from the prior decades and how they ultimately proved to be a major factor in the outcome of the Simpson/Goldman murder case in what many dubbed as “The Trial of the Century.” This documentary had the catchy, but effective name of OJ Simpson: Made in America (trailer).

Each part of this five part series is just over an hour and a half. So add it up and it is nearly eight hours all together! I watched the first two parts around Christmas, and blitzed through the final three a few days ago. Part one is all about OJ growing up and his football career in USC and for the Buffalo Bills. Once OJ exploded into success for the Bills, Made in America made sure to point out how OJ was one of the first athletes to transcend race with his use of the line, “I’m not black, I’m not white, I’m OJ.” Part one went on to cover all his successful endorsement deal he had with Hertz and other companies and how he pursued films in the NFL offseason. Part one definitely made it come across how much of a superstar OJ was in the 70s. Part one also gave some time to the civil rights movement and race riots of the 60s and 70s that was a prelude of things to come later in the series.

Part two is about life after football for Simpson. A fair amount of time is covered here showing his post-football endeavors such as carrying the Olympic Torch, Monday Night Football announcing and his middling acting career until finally getting a hit with the Naked Gun films. The feature shows around this time how he lost his two year old by drowning and friends interviewed stating how he was never the same afterwards and it was catalyst for his first divorce. Made in America then focuses on his marriage with Nicole Simpson and chronicles how it quickly devolved with many domestic disturbance 911calls played from Nicole and interviews officers on the scene from the incidents. A lot of part two has scenes covering more and more examples of racial injustices from this time, with the Rodney King beating of 1992 being the most prevalent example and how a lot of racial tension was building from the past few decades until this point.

Part three kicks off with police officers describing the crime scene with the bodies of Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman. Adequate time is shown how evidence quickly leads to OJ being the prime suspect and the infamous Bronco chase that transpired about a week after the deaths. For those not up to speed on one of the world’s most notorious car chases, ESPN did another masterful 30 for 30 on that event and other noteworthy events in sports happening simultaneously. That 30 for 30 is called June 17th 1994 and is available on Netflix streaming which I highly recommend giving a viewing.

Part three then proceeds to cover the early stages of the near year-long trial by introducing the key players for the prosecution and defense legal teams, many (but not all) who are on hand here 22 years later to be interviewed for Made in America. Having their insight and reflections added a lot to the documentary. I understand why Cochran and Shapiro did not appear here, but to still get the thoughts here from Marcia Clark, Mark Furman and others all these years later added a lot to the film. Made in America stressed how difficult it was to find an impartial jury due to the nature of events leading up to the trial, OJ’s superstar nature and because of the aforementioned decades of racial tension in LA.

Part four is devoted to the trial and all the pivotal moments throughout it. I was in middle school when the trial was in process, and was shocked from how much I remembered of the key moments highlighted here such as the crime scene glove not fitting OJ’s hand, Furman’s controversial testimony and how the TV and tabloid media turned the trial into a circus among itself. A lot of time is dedicated here on how OJ’s defense team picked away at the prosecution’s case, with Furman being the obvious weak link due to his history. I will give Furman credit for defending himself as best as he possibly could in the new interviews he did for the film, and the documentary made sure to get across how he was the weak point of the prosecution’s case that played a big factor in the outcome.

The final part of the documentary opens with the interviewees recalling how surprised they were at how short the jury deliberations lasted. The not guilty verdict clip is shown in its entirety, along with many reaction shot clips from across America that indicated how much of a racial divide there still was (is) in the country. I still vividly recall getting dressed in the locker room of 8th grade gym class when our teacher came in with the news of the verdict. This moment is also why so much time was given in the earlier installments to the many past LA racial injustices because some of the jurors interviewed in this documentary stated their justification for the verdict was payback for those decades of past wrongdoings.

After winning the case, the feature shows life after the trial for OJ as he tried to keep living his life while enduring the countless wrath of America taunting him wherever he went. Only a short time is given to the civil case that OJ lost, but the film made sure to point out how its outcome forced OJ to move out of LA and into South Beach, Florida. The series made it clear at this point that OJ embellished his infamy by this point with a more flamboyant lifestyle to stay in the news with his controversial music videos and the “If I Did It” autobiography. Finally, until this documentary I was never perfectly clear on how the memorabilia theft charges OJ was involved in and how it lead to him being currently incarcerated. Even the interviewees here state it is a very convoluted case, but the film breaks it down and got across OJ’s involvement. People involved in that incident were interviewed to lay how it all went down and why all the charges got piled on OJ and it resulted in a judge sentencing him to the current 33 year prison sentence he is serving. People interviewed state that the sentencing ranged from fitting to ridiculous to “white justice” payback.

There is a little over an hour worth of archived ESPN extras. The primary extra is a 43 minute interview with Chris Meyers and OJ a few years after the trial with Meyers grilling OJ about the criminal and civil trials, the bronco chase and life after the trial. There are several Sports Center montages of the anchors breaking down the latest from the trial, and two segments from The Sports Reporters where their panel dissects the initial murder discovery and then react to the verdict of the trial. Of these extras the only one worth checking out is the Meyers interview as it was very fascinating watching OJ’s responses at the time and standing his ground while Meyers held nothing back.

It should not come as a shocker when I say this documentary is a must-see. Made in America is easily the stud in the entire 30 for 30 catalog, which is saying a lot because it is in very good company with many other standout pieces. Props to filmmaker Ezra Edelman for Made in America’s ‘Best Documentary’ Oscar win last weekend. I highly recommend setting the eight hours aside to watch Made in America. It is available for streaming on Hulu right now and the discs are available on Netflix. If neither of those options works for you, most retailers are selling the entire five-part series as a DVD/BluRay combo pack for around $20.

Past TV/Web Series Blogs

2013-14 TV Season Recap
2014-15 TV Season Recap
2015-16 TV Season Recap
Adventures of Briscoe County Jr: The Complete Series
Angry Videogame Nerd Vol 8
Angry Videogame Nerd Vol 7
Mortal Kombat: Legacy - Season 1
RedvsBlue - Seasons 1-13
Roseanne – Seasons 1-9
Seinfeld Final Season
Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle
Superheroes: Pioneers of Television

Ultimate Fan Pack: Roman Reigns

On this blog before I have made past references to how my friend Matt and I both have a tradition of intentionally ‘gifting’ each other movies we know we will despise. This past Christmas Matt did not disappoint and delivered big time with WWE’s first DVD dedicated solely to their roster’s biggest douchebag, Roman Reigns. This DVD is not your traditional full blown WWE Home Video release. As you can see in the picture, it is a pack-in with a Roman Reigns action figure and official Roman Reigns biker glove. The DVD is titled Ultimate Fan Pack: Roman Reigns (trailer).

Since this DVD is just a simple pack in, it does not get the standard WWE DVD treatment. Instead of the standard size DVD case, the Ultimate Fan Pack is just a simple cardboard, fold-over sleeve that I have seen other past promotional DVDs or video game demo discs usually come in. The main menu is just a still graphic with only a ‘play all’ option. Most other WWE DVDs have animated menus with background music, the ability to pick a match to instantly jump to and subtitles for the commentary, all three are absent in this budget release. Also absent is the WWE Home Video ID number, which is usually found on the spine of WWE’s BluRays and DVDs. It is like WWE does not want to recognize the Roman Reigns Ultimate Fan Pack DVD as on official release. I do not blame them, after all take a look at that cover art where Reigns has his trademark grimace on his face where he looks like he is about to pop out of your TV, knock you out and steal your girlfriend all while Michael Cole is screaming, “Here comes the Big Dawwwwg” in the background.

The only thing that can be considered a positive is that I did not suffer terribly long as this DVD has a runtime just under 68 minutes. It consists of only five matches from early 2013 to early 2015. The first bout was when people kind of dug Reigns as the heavy for The Shield where him and Seth Rollins won the tag team titles from Daniel Bryan & Kane at Extreme Rules 2013. I forgot how much I enjoyed Team Hell No as this match was near the end of their successful run as a tag team and you could tell they were clicking and having fun out there. The next match was from an episode of Smackdown later that year where Reigns faced off against my favorite big man, Mark Henry. Henry is at that gatekeeper stage of his career to put over other up and coming talent and successfully elevate them up the card. He did that here against Reigns, just like he did against Braun Strowman on RAW a couple weeks ago.

From 2014 there is a battle royal from an episode of RAW, and guess who wins? That aside, what I was more intrigued in was the participants and who is not with the company anymore and how others have significantly changed since then. All three New Day members are in the battle royal in their personas before they started teaming for example. The oddball match of the DVD is from a Smackdown later in 2014 where Reigns goes up against Bray Wyatt and the match is thrown out after Luke Harper & Erik Rowan interfere just a few minutes in. I am guessing Reigns did not handpick this selection of matches, with the exception of this final match just so he could troll us all because it is his 2015 Fast Lane victory against Daniel Bryan. I had to indulge this awful Daniel Bryan loss already on his BluRay, and I had to shake my head just as much again after witnessing this outcome. For what it is worth, it is Reigns’ most watch-able match, but we all know who to thank for that.

Unless you have a kiddo that is a diehard Roman Reigns fan, avoid the Ultimate Fan Pack: Roman Reigns DVD at all costs! If I had to make my own ultimate fan one hour Roman Reigns DVD, I would have the only match be Roman getting obliterated by Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania 31. The rest of the hour would just be this fun facts video, this Reigns botch montage, and him stumbling over his awful promos that consisted of references to Looney Toones and Jack and the Beanstalk. That one hour DVD would be vastly superior to this pile of trash, believe that!

Past Wrestling Blogs

Best of WCW Monday Nitro Volume 2
Best of WCW Monday Nitro Volume 3
Biggest Knuckleheads
Bobby The Brain Heenan
Daniel Bryan: Just Say Yes Yes Yes
Dusty Rhodes WWE Network Specials
ECW Unreleased: Vol 1
ECW Unreleased: Vol 2
ECW Unreleased: Vol 3
For All Mankind
Goldberg: The Ultimate Collection
Its Good to Be the King: The Jerry Lawler Story
Ladies and Gentlemen My Name is Paul Heyman
Legends of Mid South Wrestling
Macho Man: The Randy Savage Story
Memphis Heat
OMG Vol 2: Top 50 Incidents in WCW History
OMG Vol 3: Top 50 Incidents in ECW History
Owen: Hart of Gold
RoH Supercard of Honor V
RoH Supercard of Honor VI
RoH Supercard of Honor VII
RoH Supercard of Honor VIII
RoH Supercard of Honor IX
RoH Supercard of Honor X
ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery
Sting: Into the Light
Superstar Collection: Zach Ryder
Top 50 Superstars of All Time
Tough Enough: Million Dollar Season
True Giants
Warrior Week on WWE Network
Wrestlemania 3: Championship Edition
Wrestlemania 28
Wrestlemania 29
Wrestlemania 30
Wrestlemania 31
The Wrestler (2008)
Wrestling Road Diaries Too
Wrestlings Greatest Factions
WWE Network Original Specials First Half 2015
WWE Network Original Specials Second Half 2015
WWE Network Original Specials First Half 2016
WWE Network Original Specials Second Half 2016

Gravity

I mentioned last month in my blog for Christmas Eve that I am a fan of films that spend a majority of their time in a single setting. I am also a fan of sci-fi. 2013’s Gravity (trailer) is what happens when you have a sci-fi take on that trope, but with the single setting being the deceptively large, vast, darkness of space.

Gravity is about astronauts Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) and Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) surviving in space after a freak space debris collision knocks out their space shuttle and kills the rest of their crew in the opening minutes. From there, Stone and Kowalski must find a seemingly impossible way out of their predicament and form an exit plan to make it back to earth and overcome all kinds of insurmountable odds that space throws in their way.

This was one of the few films I went out of my way to see twice in theaters. I wish I could say that my reason for doing so was because Gravity broke new walls for state-of-the-art special effects and cinematography. It came as no surprise that nearly all of Gravity’s seven Oscars it won were primarily for technical awards because of how spectacular it looked. No, my reason was because one of the friends I saw it with happened to consume a few too many beverages in anticipation and got a little too excited throughout the film. Buddy, if you are reading this I do not want this to come off as me calling you out, because I still look back at that day and laugh from an unforgettable theatrical experience. That personal anecdote out of the way, part of me still wanted to take it all in again on the big screen alone. I am glad I did because Gravity is a showpiece film that benefits from being on the big screen and having a loaded surround sound setup.

Clooney and Bullock play off each other tremendously well and the two have an obvious chemistry that is clicking on all fronts. When their mission takes a turn about a third of the way into the feature, Sandra steps up her role going forward as the novice astronaut who has to pull it together in order to get back home. Stone reveals some personal anecdotes about herself throughout the film, and the film succeeds in relating to her survival being a rebirth for herself in a few pivotal moments of the film. If there was a part of the film I would have to nitpick, it is that Bullock has a couple monologue moments that come off cheesy than the inspirational feelings I think she was going for. However, looking back on it I am thinking that is now by design because Bullock’s character was not one I imagined would give those speeches at the beginning of Gravity, but her new initiative dug out new feelings in her that were not quite as polished and resulted in the intentional stiff delivery. Maybe I am over-thinking it, but if that is the case, then count me in and ignore my ramblings in this paragraph!

The high-tension moments when Ryan and Stone have to deal with space debris sailing by them at instant-death speeds, and the duo dodging and weaving from all kinds of explosions that result from the space debris provide many proverbial ‘edge-of-my-seat’ moments that still hold up today four years later. The cinematographer, Emmanuel Lubezki and the team of composers and sound mixers earned their Oscars here as the scenes are indescribably powerful as a result of their masterful work. The entire film looks simply dazzling on my ancient, 10-year old HDTV on BluRay. If Gravity gets a 4K UHD release, it would easily be one of the first films I pick up on that format whenever I make the jump to a 4KTV.

It comes as no surprise with Gravity having such standout special effects, that there a ton of extra features devoted to it. The primary one is titled, Mission Control which is a nine-part feature totaling an hour and 46 minutes, which is about 18 minutes longer than the actual film itself. Each aspect of effects like cinematography, camera work, costume design, CG and the score receive their own feature dedicated to how the team pulled off their stunning audio and visual milestones. There were a few moments where the interviews here went deep into the nuts and bolts of the process and parts of it went over my head, but I was expecting that to happen a few times given its length and the ground it covers. As comprehensive and well produced Mission Control is, I find it hard to recommend to watch all of it due to its daunting length. It is broken down by nine parts, so you would probably be best by picking the parts of the production process that intrigue you the most.

Shot Breakdown dissects five scenes in the film and explains the special effects for each of them. It clocks in at 37 minutes and probably best applies to only special effect junkies. There is also a 22 minute documentary I would recommend checking out called Collision Point that is about raising the awareness of space debris and what is being done to help reduce it in the future. Finally, there is an eight minute short film, along with a two minute introduction by the filmmakers I highly suggest checking out. If you recall, Bullock’s character has a radio conversation about midway through the film with another party who does not speak English. This short film reveals who that person is and what they were in the middle of when they start talking to Ryan.

Gravity is my favorite film of 2013, and I am kicking myself for waiting this long to finally get around to watching the BluRay. It is unlike any other sci-fi movie before it. If this one went underneath your radar then, by all means please give it a chance and make sure to crank up the volume and be prepared to be stunned.

Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs

3
12 Angry Men (1957)
12 Rounds 3: Lockdown
21 Jump Street
Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie
Atari: Game Over
The Avengers: Age of Ultron
Batman: The Killing Joke
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice
Bounty Hunters
Cabin in the Woods
Captain America: The First Avenger
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Christmas Eve
Clash of the Titans (1981)
Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special
The Condemned 2
Creed
Dirty Work
Faster
Field of Dreams
Fight Club
The Fighter
For Love of the Game
Good Will Hunting
Hercules: Reborn
Hitman
Ink
Jobs
Man of Steel
Marine 3 & 4
Mortal Kombat
The Replacements
Rocky I-VII
Running Films Part 1
Running Films Part 2
San Andreas
ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Steve Jobs
Source Code
Star Trek I-XII
Take Me Home Tonight
TMNT
The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2
Veronica Mars
Wild
The Wrestler (2008)
X-Men: Days of Future Past