The Dive Bars of America: The Harbor Inn (Ocean City, MD)

by Dan Moore
@SouthieDanimal

Back with another edition of The Dive Bars of the Good Ol’ U.S. of A. I’ve got a 5-category rating system between 1 and 4 handlebar mustaches, which is the preferred mustache by 9 out of 10 old timers in dive bars.

Harbor Inn

216 Somerset St

Ocean City, MD 21842

Being from Boston, I miss out on a lot of things offered in bars outside of Massachusetts. We have no happy hour here, and it’s essentially ruined my life. Oh sure, I can go out and buy a bottle of Bud Light for $6.25 but how am I supposed to get messed up off three beers? (Here’s a secret: Ludes). Therefore, I am forced to venture elsewhere to find happy hours, and on my most recent trip to OC, I stumbled upon this gem of a bar down by the waterfront. The Harbor Inn is a rectangular room with a misshapen floor, a ceiling that’s far too low, and patrons with nary a full set of teeth among them. So, it’s heaven.


Fun Factor: There’s enough to do here that doesn’t involve drinking. There’s a pool table, a touchscreen game and TVs for your sports-watching. Why you would waste your time with any of that when there’s GALLONS of cheap booze hanging out is beyond me. Get your priorities in line, young man.

Cast of Regulars:. This is what you’d call a "Locals Bar." It’s like Cheers, but with more alcoholics. And the locals, at first, don’t take to kindly to strangers. I walked in and you could hear that record scratch. They looked at me like I had shit dripping out of my ears. But then, a patron by the juke box cracked a somewhat suggestive joke, I laughed, and I became one of the gang. By the time I left, I had heard some new and very colorful vulgarities being spewed from the drunken mouths of all my new friends. It was a pleasure.

WWE TLC 2018 Preview & Predictions

Welcome to the final 2018 PPV Predictions column here at Enuffa.com!  This Sunday is Tables, Ladders and Chairs, and it's a loaded lineup to say the least.  Let's get to it!

I'm not sure how they think they're fitting 12 matches onto this show, but I'm assuming 2-3 of them will be bumped to the pre-show.  That said, about half this lineup looks pretty great, and three of the matches are important enough to main event the show.  There's definitely some filler as well, but if they don't screw it up this should be a good show with some potential main roster MOTYCs.

On to the predictions!

***Dan is back in the lead with a stellar 7/8 Survivor Series showing.  He's at 68% (67/99), I'm behind by one pick with 67% (66/99), and Dave and Landon are tied for third with 65% (64/99).  This race continues to be a nailbiter!***

Mixed Match Finals: R-Truth & Carmella vs. Jinder Mahal & Alicia Fox

What a pointless tournament this was.  Can you imagine a tournament that originally included AJ, Charlotte, Braun, Asuka, Miz, and Finn, that ends up with this as the Final?  Why even include anyone of consequence in this tournament if they're just gonna be subbed out anyway?  So the winners here get the #30 slot in their respective Royal Rumbles next month.  Which means #30 isn't winning either Rumble match.  Whoever draws that number in our house pool can go ahead and eat it, shit it out, and then pee on it.  This match has to be on the pre-show, right?

Justin: I guess Truth and Carmella?  Though I do love Jinder/Alicia's tag team name: Mahalicia!
Dan: Mahal has to win and then when he runs in at 30 be immediately eliminated from the Rumble. BOOK IT.
Landon: Fuck you all, Truth and Carmella
Dave: Truth & Carmella but does anyone care?

Tables Match: Natalya vs. Ruby Riott

Ah, the feud over sunglasses that needlessly exploited the death of Nattie's father.  What a classy organization Vince runs.  A carny to the end.  The action should be decent but I don't care about this feud.  Or tables matches really.  Another pre-show candidate I'd say.

Justin: Nattie wins to put this to bed
Dan: RIOTT SQUAD FOR LIFE
Landon: Natalya
Dave: Nattie

Cruiserweight Championship: Buddy Murphy vs. Cedric Alexander

Murphy's a helluva hand, as is Cedric.  This should be a fine match, even though, again, I don't care much about this division.

Justin: Murphy retains
Dan: Buddy Buddy Mitchell
Landon: Murphy retains
Dave: Heh, Buddy Murphy (winner)

Dan's Top 9: Christmas Movies/TV Shows

This list is in response to Jingles' ri-GODDAMN-diculous list from the other day. There are no parameters here. Anything that’s been in the movies or on TV that has burned some piece of it into your eyeholes is allowed. Because this is America. Also, Just Friends will be nowhere near this list because FOR FUCKSAKE it’s Just Friends. Neither will It's a Wonderful Life because I’m not 92.  (JB Note: I'm still not sure why my picks bother you so much, but whatever-the-fuck-ever.)

9. The Muppet Christmas Carol

Kermit and the gang’s version of Charles Dickens classic is goddamn HILARIOUS. Filled with very adult-themed jokes (the first ghosts are Jacob & Robert Marley...think about it), a few decent original songs and a fine turn as Scrooge for Michael Caine. Featuring all your favorite Muppet characters, this one’s a keeper.

8. How The Grinch Stole Christmas

A true television classic, The Grinch is a must watch each Christmas. Excellent animation by the master Chuck Jones and beautifully narrated by Boris Karloff, this one also contains the great song “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch”, sung by Tony the Tiger himself, Thurl Ravenscroft. The Grinch is a personal favorite of mine as every year when I was a kid, my Nana would read the book to me and my brother and sister on Christmas Eve. The cartoon is great, but I think Nana did the voices better.

Top Ten Things: Ladder Matches

Welcome to another Top Ten Things, here at Enuffa.com, where I count down the ten best or worst things I'm thinking about!

What's on my mind this week?  Why it's the Ladder Match, which was created in the late 1970s in Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling, brought to the WWF by Bret Hart in 1992, and revolutionized by Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania X.  Since then the Ladder Match has been a perennial stuntfest utilized to crown Champions, elevate new stars, and test the limits to which a wrestler can push his body.  For the purposes of this piece I'm disqualifying TLC matches since they technically aren't the same thing, and there would be way too many of them on this list.  I'm also eschewing the Money in the Bank match, as most of those kinda blur together for me now.  There's very little else that can be done with the multi-man Ladder Match, sadly.  Might be time to put a moratorium on those for now.  Anyway, these are the ten best standard Ladder Matches, in my opinion.

10. The Rock vs. Triple H - SummerSlam - 8.30.98

 

After the template had been set in 1994, The Rock and Triple H attempted to redefine this gimmick match as more of a no-nonsense brawl that happened to feature a climbing implement.  These two rising stars would feud on and off for the next two years, but this is the match that really catapulted both to the next level.  While not a gasp-inducing spotfest like the two HBK-Razor matches, this one featured gritty, hard-hitting action, some outside interference, and a nuclear crowd who cheered for the heel Rock just as much as for the babyface Triple H.  In fact this match led to a brief face turn for Rocky, before he swerved everyone and joined Mr. McMahon's Corporation.

9. London & Kendrick vs. MNM vs. Hardy Boyz vs. Regal & Taylor - Armageddon - 12.17.06

  

This multi-car pileup of a wrestling match was probably the closest the company would ever come again to the TLC series from 2000-01.  Three of the teams involved were known for high-flying antics, while the fourth was comprised of two down and dirty ground grapplers.  The only word to describe this match is "chaos."  But in a good way.  This one will always be remembered as "That time Joey Mercury lost his face."  An errant see-saw ladder spot resulted in Mercury's nose exploding, leaving pools of blood all over the ring.  Just brutal.  But even outside of that unfortunate occurrence, this was a helluva match.

PPV Showdown: NJPW WrestleKingdom 9 vs. WrestleKingdom 10

Welcome to another edition of PPV Showdown, where I'll take two editions of a given wrestling show and compare the shit outta them to determine which one is better.  

Today I'm looking at the two best WrestleKingdom shows from New Japan, both of which rank very highly among the greatest PPVs I've ever seen.  From top to bottom each of these shows delivered a spectacular cross-section of the NJPW product and yielded multiple MOTY candidates.  WWE (or anyone else) will be hard-pressed to come up with anything nearly this good anytime soon.

But there's a question that's been bugging me for a while now: which was better, WrestleKingdom 9 or 10?  Both editions were universally praised, and trying to pick one over the other is like trying to choose your favorite child.  Structurally the two shows were pretty similar and thus should be easy to compare.  Yet they were both so outstanding, how does one choose?  Well let's take this one step at a time and go down the card.  Hopefully when this is over we'll be able to determine once and for all which show was superior....




4-Way Jr. Tag Match

Both WKs opened with a 4-way match for the Jr. Tag Titles (as did WK8) to energize the crowd.  In both cases this match featured insane tandem offense and nearly non-stop action.  2015's match pitted Jr. Tag Champs reDRagon against The Young Bucks, Forever Hooligans, and Time Splitters.  There wasn't a wasted moment here and all four teams went basically balls-to-the-wall for 13 minutes before reDRagon retained.

By comparison WK10's version also saw reDRagon defending the straps, this time against The Young Bucks, Roppongi Vice, and hot new team Matt Sydal & Ricochet.  It was a similarly contested lightning paced battle, but this time The Young Bucks captured the belts after nearly 17 minutes.

So these matches were both roughly ***1/2 star spotfest-type affairs, but I'll give a slight edge to the WK10 version since it had a bit more time to breathe, plus Ricochet's mindboggling offense was a difference maker.

Point: WrestleKingdom 10

Dan's Top 9: Die Hard Characters

DAN'S TOP

by Dan Moore
@SouthieDanimal

Today, the world lost one of the great actors, Alan Rickman. He succumbed to cancer at age 69. I’ve watched him in many films throughout the years, but of course, his role in Die Hard comes to the front of my dumb brain. And what better time to discuss the best Die Hard characters ever than today as a sort of memorial to Mr. Rickman’s work? Here we go.

9. The "No More Table" Guy

We all know him. He's the shiny, hairy, gold chain-wearing, greasy German-but-sounds-Greek gunman that shows up about halfway through John McClane's first adventure.

He's got some real terrorist hubris, asking our hero "Where are you going, pal?" as McClane evades him while running out of table. It leads beautifully into one of John's most sternly delivered action hero quips.

Wild N' Crazy Guy: Next time you have the chance to kill someone, don't hesitate!
McClane (all sweaty-lipped and serious): Thanks for the advice...

8. Richard Thornburg 

The prototypical scumbag reporter beautifully played by ginger hammer William Atherton (That he didn't play that worm Roger Goodell in Concussion is a travesty). He not only invades the privacy of the McClanes' children but he also singlehandedly causes outright panic by broadcasting about plane hijackings on Christmas Eve! Throughout the two flicks he's in, he spreads beautiful lies and propaganda. In other words, he's got a job waiting for him at Fox News.

Parents' Night In #15: Rocky (1976)

Welcome to another episode of Parents' Night In, here at Enuffa.com!

This week Kelly and Justin pop open some wine and watch one of their favorite Thanksgiving-time films, the movie that launched the most unlikely blockbuster franchise of all time, ROCKY!  We'll talk about the series as a whole, why it still resonates over forty years later, why Stallone is so lovable, and why Rocky and Adrian's first kiss could never be done the same way in 2018.  Tune in and laugh as we discuss the most beloved underdog story ever, Rocky! 

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Top Ten Things: Essential NJPW PPVs

Welcome to another edition of Top Ten Things, here at Enuffa.com, where I count down Ten Things that are at the Top of my list.  Pretty simple really.  Not sure why I have to explain it.

Today I present the ten (or more accurately, fifteen - narrowing this list down to ten is nigh impossible now) best NJPW PPVs I've seen thus far in my relatively young New Japan fandom (New JaFandom?).  I started watching NJPW in January 2015, when they launched NJPWWorld.com, a subscription streaming service not unlike The WWE Network (If you haven't subscribed you should do so - it's cheaper than WWE's version and you'll get access to forty-plus years of New Japan).  Basically from day one I was hooked, and I started poring through the archives to absorb as much New Japan awesomeness as I could find.  So here are fifteen essential NJPW PPVs you need to watch (and if you've already seen 'em, watch 'em again!).  Here we go:

15. WrestleKingdom IV

The WrestleKingdom series evolved from New Japan's 25-year tradition of holding a huge Tokyo Dome show every January 4th.  Regardless what weekday that falls on, the Tokyo Dome show is always on the fourth day of the year (weird, right?).  The name has changed several times, and starting in 2007 they turned the event into a PPV and called it WrestleKingdom.  In my opinion he first WK show to really deliver on all fronts was the fourth edition.  The undercard was a bit cluttered with tag matches (as was customary at the time), but once Intermission was over this show really took off.  Besides the couple of standout tags (Prince Devitt & Ryuske Taiguchi vs. Averno & Ultimo Guerrero; No Limit vs. Team 3-D vs. Bad Intentions), WK4 featured four good-to-great singles matches in a row to close out the PPV.  Tiger Mask IV vs. Naomichi Marufuji holds up as one of the best Jr. Heavyweight matches I've seen, which was then amazingly topped by a superb Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Go Shiozaki heavyweight match, which was followed by the surprisingly awesome Takashi Suguira vs. Hirooki Goto for the GHC Championship.  The main event, for the IWGP Heavyweight Title, saw Shinsuke Nakamura (pre-rock star persona) defend against the bruiser veteran Yoshihiro Takayama, in a slow but intense brawl.  This show started out slow but escalated to a fever pitch in the final 90 minutes, making it the best of the early WrestleKingdom events.

Key Matches: Takashi Suguira vs. Hirooki Goto; Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Go Shiozaki; Tiger Mask IV vs. Naomichi Marufuji

14. Power Struggle 2013

Often seen as something of a transitory PPV due to its place on the calendar so soon before WrestleKingdom, the annual November show Power Struggle generally features little in the way of important angles or title changes.  But that didn't stop NJPW from presenting a very strong edition in 2013.  Undercard standouts included the Young Bucks vs. Suzuki-Gun tag match and a short-but-intense Shibata-Honma slugfest, but once again the final four bouts were where business really picked up.  Hiroshi Tanahashi and Tomohiro Ishii stole the show with a 17-minute war, Tetsuya Naito settled his months-long feud with Masato Tanaka, Shinsuke Nakamura narrowly retained the I-C Title against Minoru Suzuki, and Kazuchika Okada defended the IWGP Title against Karl Anderson in a main event that far exceeded my expectations.  The last three Power Struggle shows have essentially just been a collection of good matches without major consequences, and the 2013 edition was the best of the series.

Key Matches: Kazuchika Okada vs. Karl Anderson; Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Minoru Suzuki; Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tomohiro Ishii

13. WrestleKingdom 8

The 2014 edition of WrestleKingdom has the unfortunate distinction of being sandwiched between two of the all-time best WKs, but that doesn't stop it from being a helluva good show in and of itself.  The show started out strong with two good Tag Title matches - The Young Bucks defended the Jr. Heavyweight straps against Time Splitters, Forever Hooligans and Suzuki-Gun in a blistering spotfest, while Lance Archer and Davey Boy Smith jr. faced the new Bullet Club combination of Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows for the Heavyweight belts.  The middle of the show featured several okay matches before the final third once again took things to the next level.  Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata delivered a brutal war, Kota Ibushi dethroned Prince Devitt for the Jr. Heavyweight Title in a great piece of storytelling, Okada and Naito had a marathon IWGP Title match, and in a first for WrestleKingdom the Intercontinental Title took the main event slot, as Nakamura faced Tanahashi in the clear Match of the Night.  While WK8 lacked a true MOTY candidate, it still stacks up as one of the better editions of NJPW's flagship event. 

Key Matches: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi; Prince Devitt vs. Kota Ibushi; Hirooki Goto vs. Katsuyori Shibata

12. WrestleKingdom 12

The 2018 edition of the Tokyo Dome spectacular was a loaded, rock-solid show capped off by two epic main events and drew the biggest NJPW crowd in 20 years.  Aided hugely by the involvement of former WWE mainstay Chris Jericho, WK12 drew 35,000 paid and garnered a ton of industry buzz.  While the show wasn't quite on the level of the tippy-top editions, WK12 was nonetheless an excellent, satisfying PPV with a very strong undercard and the first Match of the Year candidate in Omega vs. Jericho, a wildy violent contest that ranged all over ringside.  The main event of Okada vs. Naito took a shockingly unexpected turn when Naito, overwhelmingly favored to capture the IWGP Title, failed to do so in a 34-minute war.  Elsewhere on the card, Jay White made his post-excursion return in a somewhat underwhelming Intercontinental Title challenge against Tanahashi, while Kushida, Will Ospreay, Marty Scurll and Hiromu Takahashi nearly stole the show in a blazing 4-way Jr. Heavyweight Title match.  WK12 continued the still-ongoing trend of excellent Tokyo Dome supercards, becoming in my estimation the sixth consecutive WrestleKingdom to score a 9/10 or better.

Key Matches: Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito; Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho; Marty Scurll vs. Kushida vs. Will Ospreay vs. Hiromu Takahashi

11. King of Pro-Wrestling 2012

Voted the Best Major Show of 2012 by the readers of Wrestling Observer, King of Pro-Wrestling was the first PPV to use that moniker, and was a streamlined, loaded lineup.  Both Jr. Heavyweight Titles were defended in top-flight matches - Forever Hooligans defended the tag belts against Time Splitters, and Low-Ki defeated Kota Ibushi for the singles championship in a 17-minute showstopper.  After a few good but largely inconsequential bouts, the show kicked into overdrive with a trio of excellent matches.  Okada defended his WK7 #1 Contender's slot against Karl Anderson, Shinsuke Nakamura and Hirooki Goto had a blazing I-C Title match, and in the main event Hiroshi Tanahashi faced Minoru Suzuki in an epic 29-minute match with loads of psychology and nary a pin attempt until the very end.  Incidentally this bout was named Match of the Year by the Observer.  KoPW was a tremendous PPV that outshined every other NJPW show in 2012, and amazingly it would be outdone by its 2013 sequel.

Key Matches: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Minoru Suzuki; Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Hirooki Goto; Kazuchika Okada vs. Karl Anderson

Music Review: Haken - The Mountain (2013)

I just became aware of acclaimed English prog-metal outfit Haken about a month ago, having researched them upon seeing their new album Vector in a Newbury Comics weekly "new releases" email.  I consider myself a fairly casual prog fan.  For me the genre is like horror films; I tend to ignore most of them but when someone does something really special with the form it's spectacular.  Being desperate for some new music, I went right over to YouTube to check out Haken's latest singles, "The Good Doctor" and "Puzzle Box, and was instantly blown away, not only by their musicianship, but more importantly by the band's uncanny songwriting ability.  Haken use their incredible technical acumen in service of crafting the best possible songs, something I find many prog bands seem to forget.  Instead of just being a showcase for blazing chops, Haken's music consists of great songs that just happen to include the bells & whistles of prog music.  I pretty quickly digested Vector (its 45-minute running time positively scant for a progressive rock album) and its predecessor Affinity, before settling on their third album, 2013's The Mountain.

It's this conceptual masterwork I'm here today to talk about.  The Mountain is a loose concept record about overcoming life's struggles, rising and falling, etc.  Hardly novel subject matter, but the music on this album is simply fantastic.  Listening to Haken's first two records - impressive in their own right but stylistically similar to Dream Theater and other bands of that ilk - gave me a full appreciation for how much the band stretched their legs on The Mountain.  This record has many of the usual prog-metal hallmarks but also jazz influences and choral arrangements, plus far more mood swings than you'll find on most albums.

The Mountain begins gently with "The Path," a piano/vocal introduction centering on the start of a daunting journey, which then gives way to the soaring, hopeful "Atlas Stone," a lofty 7-plus-minute piece about rising to the challenge.  Things get quirky on "Cockroach King," with its seeming nod to the music of Danny Elfman, before a pair of excellent 4-minute tracks.  "In Memoriam" is a powerful dirge in 7/8 time with one of many brilliantly infective chorus hooks found on this record, while "Because It's There" begins with a haunting jazz a capella intro before settling into a saccharin acoustic ballad.

Awesomely Shitty Movies: Rocky IV

Welcome to another edition of Awesomely Shitty Movies, here at Enuffa.com!  Today I'll be talking about one of the most popular installments in the Rocky franchise, the one that probably most evokes 80s nostalgia, and certainly the most dialed-up of all the films.  It's east vs. west.  It's America vs. Russia.  That's right, it's Rocky IV!

After regaining the world boxing championship from Clubber Lang at the end of Rocky III, Mr. Balboa settles into semi-retirement, content to enjoy his life as a wealthy family man.  But when a monstrous Russian boxer named Ivan Drago throws his hat into the US boxing ring, Rocky's best friend Apollo Creed will not stand for it.  No sir.  Creed challenges the young powerhouse to an exhibition fight, things go horribly wrong, and Rocky finds himself in enemy territory, face-to-face with his most intimidating opponent yet.

Like the previous three installments, Rocky IV was a major box office success and everyone remembers it fondly.  Everyone except me apparently.  There's a lot, repeat, A LOT wrong with this film, and for me it doesn't hold up very well at all compared to the first three.  Sooo, let's break this sumbitch down and see what went wrong....




The Awesome


Rocky Nostalgia

I'm a big fan of the Rocky series (particularly the first three films and Rocky Balboa), so even despite all its flaws it's hard to not want to watch this movie when I get done with III.  I also have fond childhood memories of seeing this one in the theater with my parents.  We were on vacation in Newport, RI and it was a snowy November evening.  We were looking for something to do and my sister and I both lobbied intensely to see Rocky IV.  My parents reluctantly obliged, and at the time my sister and I loved this stupid movie.




The Fight

As absurdly over-the-top as the big Rocky-Drago fight sequence is, it's shot and edited with Stallone's usual slick sensibilities and for the time it made for a pretty epic climax.  Drago beats the shit outta Rocky for 15 rounds but can't put him away, Rocky's iron jaw keeps him in the fight and he manages to score the knockout right at the end.  It's basically a one-dimensional version of the second Apollo fight but it's well photographed and choreographed.

I'm thinking he didn't actually connect with that one.

Movie Review: Creed II (2018)

Like its original hero, the Rocky franchise simply will not stay down.  And that, as it turns out, is a good thing.  After 2006's Rocky Balboa shockingly proved a wonderful return to form (Rocky IV and V are both terrible films, let's be honest), and then 2015's Creed spinoff took the franchise in a whole new direction, I learned to never again bet against this film series.

Creed II picks up three years after Creed; Apollo's son Adonis has recovered from his split-decision loss in the first film and become a top contender, ousting over-the-hill Danny Wheeler for the Heavyweight Title, and proposing to his girlfriend Bianca.  Halfway across the world Ivan Drago (an uncannily compelling Dolph Lundgren) has been training his son Viktor to be the same type of in-ring killing machine he himself was 30 years ago.  Viktor challenges Creed for a shot at the title and the battle lines are drawn for a sequel to the first tragic Drago-Creed fight from Rocky IV.  I won't go into plot specifics beyond that, but suffice it to say this film is predictable in that same good way all the other Rocky films are, while further developing these well-drawn characters.  Director Steve Caple Jr. and screenwriters Juel Taylor and Sylvester Stallone have crafted yet another moving, highly entertaining chapter in the Rocky saga that hits all the familiar notes while throwing in some nice new passages.

This film amazingly adds depth to the silly, one-dimensional romp that was Rocky IV by exploring the consequences of Ivan Drago's two fights in that film.  Set off by a television appearance of Viktor, Adonis becomes haunted by his father's death going unrevenged, while Drago's loss to Rocky in 1985 has left him disgraced and divorced; his obsession with Viktor finishing what he started has all but eaten him alive since.  The script gives father and son Drago a conflicted relationship - Ivan's brutal training borders on torture, while Viktor can't fathom seeking admiration from people he doesn't respect.  The intervening years have somehow made Dolph Lundgren an absolutely fascinating figure; I found myself unable to take my eyes off his weathered face that wordlessly conveyed shame, longing for esteem, and a buried affection for his son.  That Creed II lends Rocky IV so much purpose has to be considered a triumph in itself.

On Adonis's side of things, the film examines his increasingly complicated home life (Bianca finds out she is pregnant and fears the baby will inherit her hearing issues) and his relationship with Rocky, who urges him not to get in the ring with the son of his father's killer.  Michael B. Jordan is once again a sympathetic and at times misguided hero, while Stallone continues to find new corners to explore in the lovable Philly street fighter he created 40+ years ago (the running theme this time around is strained father-son relationships).  Rocky's training regimen here involves teaching Creed how to adapt to the most unforgiving conditions and absorb more punishment than he ever thought possible, making the climactic showdown a punishing war of attrition.

Creed II incorporates story elements from Rocky II, III and IV, while continuing to forge its own path in developing the the two lead characters.  It may tread some familiar ground as its predecessors have all done, but in the end it's a very worthy entry in a series that seems determined to go the distance.

I give the film *** out of ****.


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Mass Music Review #3: The Modern Lovers

Welcome to another Mass Music Review here at Enuffa.com, where our friend Chris Gillespie looks back at a seminal Massachusetts-based band of yesteryear.....

The brainchild of Natick native Jonathan Richman, The Modern Lovers ironically was born of his failure to make it as a professional musician in New York City while living on the couch of Steve Sesnick, the manager of the band with whom he was infatuated: The Velvet Underground. Richman spent nine months in New York and would go on to live in the infamously poorly kept Hotel Albert, but would later return to his home state and settle in Boston following a trip to Europe and Israel.

The "classic" lineup from left to right: David Robinson, Jerry Harrison, Ernie Brooks, and Jonathan Richman

Deciding to organize a band modelled after the Underground, Richman recruited his childhood neighbor and friend John Felice on guitar. Following this, the duo quickly recruited drummer David Robinson and bass player Rolfe Anderson to the newly christened Modern Lovers. In September of 1970, the group played their first date with another local band called the Sidewinders only a month after Richman had returned home. From the beginning, it was clear that Richman had a unique manner about him during performances: he had short hair while wearing a tie and jacket and would often improvise new lyrics and monologues for different shows.

Young Jonathan Richman during the band's heyday

The History of NXT TakeOver: WarGames II

Well WWE's third brand outdid themselves this past weekend, presenting an absolutely fantastic TakeOver special headlined by an EPIC WarGames main event. 

The show opened, unexpectedly, with the originally planned Matt Riddle-Kassius Ohno match, which Triple H admitted publicly was never off the table; rather he didn't want to advertise it and have people pissed off that it only went six seconds.  Thus it was "pulled" from the show so when it did end after one move, the crowd would see it as a bonus match instead of a ripoff.  Riddle cut a promo and challenged Ohno to meet him in the ring for a match, Ohno acquiesed and then ate a running knee, followed by the three count.  This was literally the first Riddle match I'd ever seen, so I'm looking forward to watching him in a full-length match.  NR

The first proper bout was the 2/3 Falls match between Shayna Baszler and Kairi Sane.  This was, shall we say, underwhelming.  The action was intense and nonstop, but for a 2/3 Falls match to only go eleven minutes is criminal.  Sane got attacked on the outside by Baszler's two pals Jessamin Duke and Marina Shafir, and fell victim to Baszler's rear naked choke at the two-minute mark.  Sane evened the score only minutes later following an Insane Elbow, but after a ringside brawl involving Duke, Shafir and Io Shirai and Dakota Kai, Sane went for another elbow but got rolled up for the third fall.  Baszler retained and it looks like we'll get a six-woman tag in the near future.  Baszler and Sane work wonderfully together, but for a blowoff of sorts this match deserved to be twice as long.  ***

The rest of the matches on this show were all above ****.

Aleister Black and Johnny Gargano put together an incredible, fast-paced war that went 18 minutes and had nary an ounce of fat.  The strikes on display were crisp and stiff, and both guys looked amazing.  Gargano played the role of the babyface who's lost his way and let his obsession destroy him.  The feud with Tomasso Ciampa poisoned his soul and now he is a violent maniac.  Gargano is fantastic in this persona.  Black was out for revenge and made Gargano pay for his transgressions without coming off as sadistic.  The finish involved Black hitting a Black Mass and holding Gargano upright for a moment just so he could hit a second.  An excellently worked match, and I wonder if we'll see a triple threat with these two and Ciampa in January.  ****1/4

WWE Survivor Series 2018: This. Was. Awesome.

Well I'll be goddammned.  WWE actually pulled off a really great Survivor Series PPV that for me even exceeded the miraculously good show from 2016.  Including the pre-show match (which has to be one of the two or three best pre-show matches of all time), this had three very good elimination matches, four excellent singles bouts and only one throwaway tag match.  In 2018 this is about as good a main roster WWE show as you could ever hope for.  Let's get into it.

I pretty much always skip the pre-shows for these PPVs but since this particular pre-show included my beloved 10-team elimination match I made it a point to watch, and I was glad I did.  While this was obviously no Powers of Pain-Demolition epic from 1988, these ten teams worked their asses off to do something memorable.  The first half felt a bit rushed as teams were getting eliminated pretty quickly, but once it boiled down to New Day & Usos vs. Revival & Gable/Roode, this kicked into high gear.  Loads of crazy offense and dives over/off the top rope (including an absolutely nuts spot where Jimmy Uso German suplexed Gable off the top, onto the pile of guys on the floor).  It boiled down to The Usos vs. The Revival - nice to see Dash & Dawson make it to the end - and Jimmy & Jey hit their superkicks followed by a top-rope splash to win the whole thing.  Just a damn fun opener that won the crowd over (WWE should hold every PPV at the Staples Center, by the way; this crowd was awesome).  ***1/2

The proper PPV opened with the women's elimination match, and this was roughly on par with the 2016 edition.  Some last minute changes improved the match, as Nattie and Ruby Riott were subbed out after a locker room fight in favor of Sasha and Bayley (nothing against Nattie and Ruby, but you can't omit Sasha and Bayley in one of these things).  Mandy Rose disappointingly ended up being the mystery partner for Smackdown, but she at least earned her keep in this match.  Of course the match started with two "shocking" quick eliminations.  WWE has to stop doing this - both main card elimination matches had them and they never get the desired reaction.  They seemingly set up dissension between Rose and Sonya Deville, as Rose stole a pin on Mickie James after Deville leveled her with a sliding knee.  Sasha tapped out Mandy with a Bank Statement and Bayley and Sonya got double counted out.  This paved the way for a super engaging exchange between Sasha and Asuka that lasted a good four minutes.  I'm hoping Sasha gets moved to Smackdown so we can actually see this feud.  More on that later.  Sasha gained the upper hand and climbed to the top rope only for Nia Jax to push her off into a waiting Asuka, who slapped on the Asuka Lock for the tap out.  Nia then pounced on Asuka with three legdrops, followed by a Samoan Drop for the win.  Nia had nuclear heel heat coming off her injury of Becky Lynch.  I'm torn on the idea of exploiting a real-life injury to get someone else over, but I guess that's kinda the nature of the biz, and I have to commend Nia for running with it so well.  She came off like a total asshole here.  Very enjoyable match to open the main card.  ***1/2

Next up was a top contender for Match of the Night, as Seth Rollins faced Shinsuke Nakamura.  I daresay this was Nak's best main roster match to date.  He looked a lot like his old NJPW self here, pulling out every move in his arsenal and played the antagonist to the hilt.  The first half of the match was a little slow in spots and they struggled to keep the crowd into it, but in the second half everything picked up tremendously.  They built to a furious pace by the end, trading finisher attempts and counters, and finally Nak went for a Kinshasa but missed, allowing Seth to hit the Curb Stomp for the win after 22 minutes.  I was very happy to see this get the time it deserved and even happier to see Nakamura look really motivated again.  This was pretty excellent.  ****1/4

WWE Survivor Series 2018 Preview & Predictions

Yeah, I know, RAW vs. Smackdown is a stupid angle every time they do it.  Babyfaces and heels who have been feuding all year putting their differences aside for brand loyalty makes zero logical sense since both brands are part of the same company and many of these people switched brands within the past seven months anyway.  It's nonsensical.  But ya know what?  I don't care, IT'S SURVIVOR SERIES, BABY!

Since the inception of this PPV I've been a huge sucker for the big elimination matches (as I've mentioned at least once or twice on this site), and if RAW vs. Smackdown is the only way to get Vince to care about the gimmick, then so be it.  But we also have four big Champion vs. Champion matches, all of which have real potential.  On paper, even with this week's changes, Survivor Series looks like the main roster's strongest lineup all year.  I've already gone into the potential ramifications of Daniel Bryan's WWE Title win so check out that column.

Let's get to the picks.

***Guess who just took the lead, bitches!  I have pulled ahead with 67% (61/91), Dan's close behind with 66% (60/91), and Dave & Landon are tied at 64% (58/91).***

Pre-Show Tag Teams Elimination Match: Bobby Roode/Chad Gable, The Revival, The B-Team, Lucha House Party & The Ascension vs. The New Day, The Usos, SAnitY, The Club & The Colons

I'm a little sad this got bumped to the pre-show, as I love the tag team elimination matches when they do them.  The 2016 edition was a fine throwback to the old school Survivor Series shows, and hopefully this will get enough time to be that as well.  Sadly the tag division on RAW is a shambles, with essentially five jobber teams.  Thus Smackdown should run away with this match.  New Day and Usos ought to both be survivors.  This'll be fine if it gets time to breathe.

Justin: Team Smackdown
Dan: Yes'm
Landon: Smackdown
Dave: Smackdown

Cruiserweight Championship: Buddy Murphy vs. Mustafa Ali

This should also get bumped to the pre-show since it has zero to do with the RAW vs. SD theme and only the 205 Live niche gives a shit.  I'm sure the match will be fine, no disrespect to the cruisers, but the company brass obviously don't care about this division so why should I?  Murphy just won this belt so he keeps it here.

Justin: (channeling Matthew McConaughey in Interstellar) Come on, Murph....
Dan: I've never heard of these men.  But I'm going with Murphy because of Robocop.
Landon: Murphy retains
Dave: I guess the champ wins.

Authors of Pain vs. The Bar

It's the RAW tag champs vs. the SD tag champs, and this should be a smashmouth kinda match.  Four power broker brawlers who like to fight stiff.  I can dig it.  This shouldn't go much more than 10-12 minutes of nonstop fighting.

Justin: I'll go with Cesaro & Sheamus
Dan: AOP. Because why not?
Landon: Authors of Pain.  RAW's gotta be strong, bro.
Dave: Authors of Pain

NXT TakeOver: WarGames 2018 Preview & Predictions

Goddamn this show looks great.  Despite only being four matches, this might be the most stacked show in NXT history.  Oddly the NXT Title match is the LEAST interesting of the four, but that should be excellent nevertheless.  This weekend has some serious potential in general, even on the main roster side.

Let's get to pickin'....

Aleister Black vs. Johnny Gargano

I can't believe Gargano is a heel now.  Apparently the feud with Ciampa broke his soul and made him a violent bastard.  Not a bad story I guess.  I wonder if DIY will eventually reunite as heels.  This match could steal the show given the talent involved, and on this card that's saying something.

Justin: This has to be more than a one-off match, right?  If so, Gargano should win the first go-round.
Landon: Gargano

NXT Women's Championship 2/3 Falls: Shayna Baszler vs. Kairi Sane

I love this.  These two have had two very good outings so far and 2/3 Falls matches when done well are fantastic (Okada-Omega anyone?).  Since there are only four bouts on the show I think this'll get adequate time; I'm thinking in the 25-minute range.  Baszler just regained the title last month so she's gotta retain here.

Justin: Shayna retains
Landon: Shayna

New WWE Champion: Did Bryan Danielson Just Debut in WWE?

Well that was certainly a surprise.  As WWE often does, the company shook up the Survivor Series lineup at the eleventh hour, and the for the second year in a row the WWE Title changed hands less than two weeks before the PPV, thus altering one of the top matches.

Daniel Bryan is the new WWE Champion.  Perhaps the most surprising thing to me is how mixed my feelings are about this development.  On one hand, I've been waiting four-and-a-half long years for Daniel Bryan to win back the belt he never lost.  On the other, AJ Styles was so close to eclipsing CM Punk's reign (mid-January would've been the benchmark).  On one hand, Daniel Bryan is now a heel and will undoubtedly be incredibly entertaining in that role (Please please please bring back "I have till five!").  On the other, Styles very possibly would've eked out a win over Brock Lesnar to avenge last year's loss.  On one hand we finally get to see the SummerSlam 2014 main event we were supposed to get.  On the other, that match was designed to be a complete squash and this could be too.  On one hand, this shakeup is super newsworthy and may create loads more interest in Survivor Series.  On the other, it's now kind of a heel vs. heel main event, where it used to be a clear babyface-heel dynamic.  On one hand, Bryan winning the title is a big Smackdown moment obviously engineered to create a can't-miss feel about the show and increase its ratings before Fox takes over.  On the other, they gave away a huge title change on free television with zero buildup.

So yeah, I'm conflicted on the whole thing, but mostly leaning positive.  After all, this ensures the AJ-Bryan feud will continue into December and we should finally see that match on PPV at TLC.  Between that and the likely Ambrose-Rollins match, that PPV is looking pretty sweet right now.  Plus the smart money would be on Bryan keeping the belt till WrestleMania at least, more or less guaranteeing a strong co-main event.

As for Bryan vs. Lesnar, I just want to see a competitive match like Brock vs. AJ was.  I imagine Brock has enough respect for Bryan to not just steamroll the guy, not to mention it would look really lame for a newly turned, newly crowned heel champion to get killed five days later by the other champ (WWE has done more insane things of course).  So I think it's realistic to hope for a reasonably back-and-forth match, especially if Bryan cheats his ASS off.  And on that note, I think Bryan should steal the win here.  Think about it; Bryan is definitely staying with the company for three more years, Brock may not be (no one knows what he's doing after WrestleMania at this point).  Bryan plans on wrestling every PPV and every weekly TV show, Brock won't be back till at least the Rumble.  Have Strowman and AJ both try to cost their respective enemies the match if you have to, have Bryan go full-on Zack Sabre Jr. and try to tie Brock in knots or win with cradles, have him go full Eddie Guerrero and cheat at every turn, I don't care how underhanded it is.  But Bryan should get the cheap win to give him plenty of heat going into TLC, a show Brock isn't wrestling on anyway. 

Top Ten Things: WWE Survivor Series Teams

What up, m'nerds!  Welcome to another Top Ten Things here at Enuffa.com!

With another Survivor Series around the corner I thought I'd take a look back at my ten favorite Survivor Series squads over the years.  As many of you may know I'm a huge fan of the Survivor Series concept - always have been - especially when we get to see two superteams duke it out on the big PPV stage.  Often an elimination match is only built around one feud: the captain of one team vs. the captain of the other.  In cases like that you'll often see teams like The Undertaker's 1995 bench, comprised of low-carders Henry Godwin, Savio Vega and "Make a Difference" Fatu.  Hardly an all-star cast, and since they swept that match Taker didn't even really need them.  But when a match consists of multiple A-listers trying to resolve multiple angles and rivalries, magic happens.  Let's take a look at the list.

***Note: I'm presenting this in chronological order, as ranking these ten teams would be difficult, and I don't like things that are difficult.***

1. Team Randy Savage (1987): Randy Savage, Ricky Steamboat, Jake Roberts, Brutus Beefcake & Jim Duggan

The first-ever Survivor Series match pitted Intercontinental Champion The Honky Tonk Man and four of his pals against two former Champs and a few other guys who'd had issues with HTM.  Savage's team boasted easily the strongest lineup of the inaugural PPV.  Beefcake, Roberts and Duggan were all super over, but the most mind-blowing inclusion was Savage's former archnemesis Ricky Steamboat, with whom he'd feuded on and off for two years.  The sight of these two working together after Savage's babyface turn was incredible.  Ultimately this team made fairly easy work of HTM's lineup, only suffering one pinfall loss (Beefcake) and losing Duggan to a double countout before gaining a 3-on-1 advantage on Honky Tonk, who took a powder at the end.  This stacked team kicked off the grand Survivor Series tradition with a bang.

2. Team Powers of Pain (1988): Powers of Pain, Hart Foundation, British Bulldogs, Rockers & Young Stallions

This particular concept yielded the Match of the Night at the first two Survivor Series PPVs and I can't believe no effort was made before 2016 to bring it back.  The 1987 20-man match was excellent and highlighted the WWF's robust tag team division.  The 1988 incarnation did it one better, delivering my favorite WWF match of 1988.  The Powers' team included three of the most talented duos in wrestling history - The Harts, The Bulldogs and The Rockers - and looking back now it's stunning to think about how much talent resided in that corner of the ring.  The match eventually boiled down to The Powers vs. Demolition and The Conquistadors, when Demolition's manager Mr. Fuji turned on them before being adopted by the now-heel Powers of Pain.  Probably still my all-time favorite elimination match.

3. Hulkamaniacs (1989): Hulk Hogan, Jake Roberts & Demolition

The match may have been a staggering disappointment full of lazy disqualifications and no surprises, but there's no denying what a strong team this was.  WWF Champ Hogan, Tag Champs Demolition, and perennial favorite Jake Roberts assembled for the 1989 main event (slated third on the card for some reason) to take on Ted Dibase, Zeus and The Powers of Pain.  Had the booking been stronger and the heel team not been comprised of stale characters, this could've been a classic battle.

Top Ten Things: Metallica Songs

And we're back with another edition of Top Ten Things, here at Enuffa.com!

Today I'll be talking about what are in my estimation the ten best songs by the greatest metal band of all time, Metallica!  For those of you who are new to the site, my associate Dan Moore and I argued at great length about Metallica's recent works HERE, but we both agreed that in the pantheon of face-melting, gut-pummeling, earhole-drilling heavy music, Metallica stand head, shoulders, knees and toes above the rest.  From their searing debut Kill 'Em All to their mainstream rock megahit Metallica (otherwise known as The Black Album), to their misguided, psychotherapy-infused St. Anger and subsequent return to shred-worthy form, the epic Death Magnetic, Metallica have crafted a masterful body of work consisting of nine (soon to be ten) distinctive studio albums that span three decades.

But which of their dozens of legendary songs are the best of the bunch?  It was tough to narrow it down to ten and I had to take into account both my own personal connection to the songs and their overall importance.  Let's take a look, shall we?



10. My Apocalypse - The blistering closer of Death Magnetic is reminiscent of the band's early thrashers.  The track is impossibly fast and visceral, and leaves the listener with the clear impression that, yes, Metallica is back to the business of making old-school speed metal better than anyone in the business.


9. Frantic - This selection will undoubtedly be controversial, but the one great song on St. Anger is a brutally heavy aural juggernaut that features a killer tritone-based guitar riff over Lars' relentless percussive hammering (for this one track I can forgive that horribly annoying ringing snare).  Plus I always dug the nu-metal influence of that "Frantic-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tock" line.


8. Fuel - The Load/ReLoad double album has taken a lot of flak over the years for being "too different," and "too grungy" for Metallica's core fanbase, but both albums contain several gems, the best of which is ReLoad's opening track.  "Fuel" has a kinetic, driving beat and an awesomely heavy detuned riff, accompanied by a tremendously hooky chorus.  This was the closest thing to a traditional metal song from Metallica's most experimental era.

Big NJPW & WWE News from The Weekend

Big weekend for wrasslin' news, folks.  Two major PPV events took place, one good, one embarrassing, but both have some heavy ramifications for the next couple months of matches and angles.  


Power Struggle

First off, NJPW's final major event of the year is in the books, and Power Struggle was a solid show with three very good top matches.  Chris Jericho of course retained the Intercontinental Title over Evil, in a highly entertaining back-and-forth brawl that helped build toward the Jericho-Naito rematch at the Dome.  Evil held his own in his second-ever PPV main event, while Jericho looked good once again working his Terry Funk-esque style.  Post-match Naito stepped up to challenge Jericho for the Dome, and Jericho said he's already beaten Naito and will not be facing him again.  But New Japan announced the match a day later anyway.  That was weird. 

The match of the night for me went to Naito vs. Sabre, a technically dazzling clash of styles typical of Sabre, with Naito struggling throughout to counter Zack's innovative grappling.  Naito worked over Sabre's neck early on, which ended up making the difference, as Zack couldn't lock in his Orienteering with Napalm Death finisher properly.  Naito hit a Destino out of nowhere and followed it up with a second for the win.  A very strong semi-main event match. 

The runner-up was Ishii vs. Suzuki, an absolutely brutal fight that mostly consisted of the two of them standing toe-to-toe and hitting each other as hard as they could.  Just insane strikes in this one.  Ishii outlasted his sadistic opponent to retain the RPW Title.  I'm curious if he'll get to defend it again at the Dome (hopefully against someone like Sabre?).

Hirooki Goto regained the NEVER Openweight Title in another stinker against Taichi.  I'm really not sure what they were thinking putting that belt on Taichi, who's a good chickenshit heel character but all wrong for the NEVER belt.  Goto needs a good opponent for the Dome so that title can get back on track.

The final piece of big news from Power Struggle was RPG3K winning back-to-back Super Jr. Tag tournaments, setting up a rematch of the three-way finals at WrestleKingdom.  Kind of odd that Bushi & Shingo would be included in the Jr. Tag Title match since they lost here, but I'm okay with it.  I called it in my predictions that no matter who won here we'd likely see a rematch at the Dome. 

NJPW Power Struggle 2018 Preview & Predictions

It's the last big stop on the way to the Dome!  Power Struggle is upon us, and on paper looks like a very solid show.  There's no monumental main event match but rather a host of very good uppercard bouts, including the New Japan return of Chris Jericho, defending his Intercontinental Title for the first time.  His presence alone should mean a sellout.

Anyway let's get to this WrestleKingdom 13-shaping show....

Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask IV, Soberano Jr. & Volador Jr. vs. Ryusuke Taguchi, ACH, Chris Sabin & Toa Henare

It's the leftover Jr guys from the tournament against each other.  Should be a fun opener that goes around 8 minutes.

Justin: Team Liger
Landon: Taguchi Japan

Kushida & GBH vs. Robbie Eagles & Guerrillas of Destiny

This is here to further build the BCOG guys I think.  Should be decent.

Justin: BCOG
Landon: BCOG

Super Jr. Tag League Finals: El Desperado & Kanemaru vs. RPG3K vs. Bushi & Shingo Takagi

We've got a very unusual scenario for this final match, a three-way tie with each team having beaten one of the other two teams.  The winners here (provided it's not Desperado & Kanemaru) will presumably get a title shot at the Dome.  Frankly I'd like to see Sho & Yoh vs. Bushi & Tagaki as the Dome Jr. Tag match.  But I have a feeling they'll set up another three-way somehow.  Anyway this should be fun.

Justin: Bushi & Takagi
Landon: LIJ

Kazuchika Okada & Beretta vs. Jay White & Bad Luck Fale

This one's all just to set up Okada vs. White in January, so we'll get a preview of that match.  Okada-White has potential to be one of the great feuds of 2019.  Beretta's gotta be here just to take the fall I think.

Justin: The New Original Bullet Club
Landon: White kills Beretta