The Boondock Saints 2: Disney's "Song of the South Boston"

It is quicker for me to grab a disc from my more prominently displayed Blu-ray collection than it is from my standard definition collection. So, since owning a HD player (circa 2009, Thanks Fingerhut.), I have probably reached out for the sequel to the cult classic, "The Boondock Saints", more often than its predecessor. In these 10 years since I saw "All Saints Day" in theater, watching it makes me feel a little dirtier with each viewing.

It has been well established that director Troy Duffy's reputation is awful. His arrogance lead him getting blackballed by the Weinstein Brothers (no sexual assault allegations) for a decade. This basically lead him to write a script that is solely fan service for the original film's cult. "The Boondock Saints II" is a film about two "devout" white Christians murdering criminals as they make homophobic jokes through out the picture. Add in the love for the concept of John "Duke Fucking" Wayne, and it has aged well a day since its release. Sony could re-release the film and make bank from incels.

...

But let us go back 10 (perhaps 11 years if the following review was for the first run theatrical viewing) to see if I have become a bit more woke, or if I had a clue and chose not to give a crap. Hopefully I have never been a douche (outside of kayfabe), but we shall see.

The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day

Read the rest of this blog and other stories at Main Event of the Dead.com and determine if this thought process can be translated into a B-movie comedy about pro-wrestling 

More Championships: Better Cards and/or Merchandising

The most common thought about championships in wrestling is that there are too many. Because there are too many, they lack meaning. It takes away from people just beating each other up over personal issues like:

• NWA Hollywood Wrestling's Roddy Piper versus the Guererros in the 1970's
• WWF's George Steele versus Randy Savage in the 1980's
• WCW's Chris Benoit versus Kevin Sullivan in the 1990's
• WWE's Mick Foley versus Randy Orton in the 2000's
• ROH's Kevin Owens versus SCUM in the 2010's
• WWE's Rusev versus Bobby Lashley 2020

With 2020's first prominent personal issue being a cucking angle, I think we might want to step away from personal issues. Were the feuds listed above the best of each decade? No (I cannot actually judge Piper's [which did involve trophies and bets...research].), and I know that. Because most feuds need a championship to create the personal issues or further emphasize how important it is for the challenger (in most cases) to dethrone a champion. The latter being the basis for ECW's Raven character.

Raven made it a point to ruin Tommy Dreamer's life for alleged past indiscretions. ECW's fans knew that whoever the summer camp bully was, it was not the Dreamer they knew. To make matters worse for Dreamer was that Raven had become the heavyweight champion, so Raven reigned the Land of Extreme as a tyrant and it fell upon Dreamer to come up with a way to save the promotion. Raven's most heinous actions were at the expense of Dreamer's best friend, The Sandman. He stole his wife and child in order to make it nearly impossible for him to win his title back. The belt elevated one feud and was the center of the drama for the other.

You can argue that the championship's sole purpose is to instruct the fans which feud is suppose to be the headliner. That was definitely the case in the organizations that did not belong to the NWA, but in the NWA, every territory needed their own sets of belts. The fans needed to know who the best were when they went to the smoke-filled venues, and the promoters needed something to kick off the feuds.

It also promoted the wrestlers who had the belts on the national stage. A title reign just looks great on a resume.

As roster sizes grow, more championships give wrestlers more to do. Bookers cannot come up with a personal issue for every pairing. If somebody has a championship, they motivate wrestlers to become challengers. This is a play on the original premise of professional wrestling. Two would fight just to get the winner's purse. There is no reason to take it personally, until someone takes shortcuts to secure it.

The Wrestling Compadres Slamcast started to lose my interest after Wrestle Kingdom 13. Two of the current three host (only one of which was a founder) complained about eight of the nine bouts being for championships. They thought it was poor creative. They also failed to do the research to understand what the Kenny Omega entrance was, so it was not like they had a clue about how personal some of the issues were. Eventually, the cracks in the pod eventually made it Jake Lloyd's WWE-schilling opportunity as the year went on. Should someone remind Jake that Peter Rosenberg already does that?

If you want to say WWE has too many championships, you should be focusing on the lousy creative. People forget about championships because writers are told to do the same. With five belts of meaning (WWE/Universal, IC/USA, Womens', Tag Team, Women's Tag Team...sorry 24/7), should we not have at least one title defended each week? If not a title defense, than a number one contendership match for a secondary championship? This will let people remember them and it allows you to save your primary titles solely for pay-per-views.

And when you have two rosters (sometimes three), what makes more sense about who should be on the card? The one vying for the biggest prizes or those trying to resolve a wife-swap angle?

If bringing back honor into wrestling is too novel an idea, then what about the merchandising? With a little market research, you can figure out the toy replica production numbers and you have more products to sell. Do I ever visit WWE? No. Do I visit WWE Shop? Well, I only have so much content to write when the customers are not about.

If you do not want to have more titles, then why not introduce a new belt design after each WrestleMania? If the new look gets a backlash, your sells for overpriced replicas of the old belts will increase. It makes more sense than Superstar Highlighter sets.

You may say that all my ideas only apply to major promotions, and you are right for the most. If there are indie promotors out there who can mass produce belts, how the hell are you still indie? This does make me reminisce about my early days in the indies when there were NWA affiliates, but that is now studio wrestling's acronym. But for the aspiring indie promotors, the more belt designs out there, the easier it is to pass them off as your own instead of "wasn't that the" remarks from the marks. It is definitely more affordable than Dave Millican.

I guess I have just discovered the fault to my idea. Vince McMahon is not out to help the fans or the indies. What he produces is solely to get his name out there.

This has been an exercise for an audience of 900 when the wrestling world is an audience of one. It is great to know that my blog is doing better than wrestling is. If you want to increase my influence send an email to russthebus07@gmail.com and ask for a treatment of my pro-wrestling zombie comedy, "Main Event of the Dead". I would love suggestions on how to get this product out of development hell to development purgatory.

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The Lack of an AEW Narrative and The Disgruntled's Real Women's World Champion Part 4.

*List started being comprised on 6/24/20. Intro started on 7/16/20

Can I blame the lack of views on the rollback of COVID-19 the lockdown? The liberal in me says yes, but I cannot say that I am suffering when it comes to viewership. With the amount of Twitter followers and Facebook friends, my view rate is definitely the same as the virus's death rate. This seems to indicate that I am in a morbid mood does it not?

If anything, hustling to make sure I end up ahead of the bills with the specter of being left to my own devise/demise financially has been weighing on me. That was addressed in my "Silent Running" review, so I should not linger on it. I think I am good through August, but as insurance, going back to blonde is not in the cards. Unfortunately, the lack of three-check months is indicating that I will probably not be settled into my new place like my parents hoped. Hence, letting them know that I am trying to enjoy life is not in the cards.

The trick will be avoiding my iTunes account. You cannot say many good things about COVID-19, but for an impulsive cinephile, the lack of new movies to own is not a bad thing. Yeah, if a Coen Brothers film goes on sale or "Aquaman" is offered at $7.99 or less, impulses may get the best of me (To my credit, I have resisted buying "The Ladykillers".). To get a new post out Monday, I will need to watch a 90-minute movie at some point this weekend. That, YouTube, and video games (provided the cats allow me time in the gaming chair), not flaunting my current resources should work out.

Provided Olly Davis from "WrestleTalk" will not be ranting about the lack of attention given to the AEW Women's Division. I do not want to lose any of my current means of amusement. YouTube is for better wrestling content than WWE, not negativity.

They have injuries and travel restrictions. If they could have two matches a show, they would. It is not like it is a good time to hire if you are avoiding coronavirus lay offs. But I will acknowledge that they could be making stars out of some of the developmental talent to add some depth. Without that depth, firstly, I would not have had a segue to get from the doldrums of my life to the meat of the blog, and secondly, WWE gets to claim to have a Real World Champion. It sucks when the narrative does not turn out the way you want it to.

The 43rd Disgruntled's Real Women's World Champion:

Stardom's Toni Storm (4/10/18 to 6/9/18)

WWE has just done an awful job with the women's Money in the Bank cash ins. Twice, they have happened on the same night. That accounts for half of the star-making moments. From 2005 to 2016, a man cashing in on the same night has only occurred twice. No one on the Internet (I think we can all call the IWC disgruntled.) wants to recognize Nia Jax's success. Toni Storm would go on to win the Mae Young Classic in 2018, so she is definitely an adequate place holder in the Real Women's World championship lineage.

The 44th Disgruntled's Real Women's World Champion:

Stardom's Kagetsu (6/9/18 to 5/4/2019)

This is what happens when you are determined to have a celebrity headline WrestleMania. Alexa Bliss may deserve a spot on this title history, but she won her third Raw Women's Championship with a Money in the Bank cash in just to show how dominant an MMA champion can be. Fans eventually ended up despising Ronda Rousey which was definitely not WWE's plan.

The 45th Disgruntled's Real Women's World Champion:

WWE Raw and Smackdown Women's Champion Becky Lynch (5/4/19 to 5/10/2020)

Winning the belt on the grandest stage and having the first year long reign since Io Shirai as the 40th gets you a spot on this list. On top of that, she was not beaten for the Raw portion of her double championship, and the second championship was lost in a two-match night.

The 46th Disgruntled's Real Women's World Champion:

Smackdown's Bayley (5/10/20 to at least 7/19/20)

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I cancelled the WWE Network after the BAR wrestling cease and desist order (That seems like the wrong hill to die on now, but how much Saudi blood money intake can a Newcastle United fan tolerate.) so I do not have an idea when the next pay-per-view defense will be (By the time this blog is posted, I have figured it out.). Since she has the tag team championship to focus on (losing), it would be surprising to see her not take the belt into SummerSlam.

The AEW Championship is only nine days older than when this reign started (10/11/20). Riho ran through the division before losing the title to Nyla Rose (whom she technically won it by defeating) in February. Unfortunately the COVID-19 pandemic left Rose of television, so she did not have the defenses to say she was better than the Smackdown champion who was four months into her reign. Asuka was awarded the Raw championship when Lynch forfeited the belt to take pregnancy leave. Another misuse of the Money in the Bank briefcase.

In the end, it is really based on preference. Do you want women's or joshi-style wrestling? AEW focusing on the latter is not the tradition casual wrestling fans are use to.