WWE: I've Got Some Bad News!! :(

Yep, this is yet another crushing blow for me. Between this recent news and Daniel Bryan's retirement(I decided not to make a post since so many others already had), two of the wrestlers who were in my top ten will no longer be competing for the WWE in a couple of months. It's hard to describe just how disheartened I feel, but I'll attempt to put it in words.

For those who missed it, Stu Bennett, aka Wade Barrett, has announced that he will not be resigning with the WWE when his contract expires in a few months. Barrett was first introduced to WWE audiences in 2010 in the earliest incarnation of NXT, and was the leader of the group known as the Nexus that invaded the main roster later that year. After a famous burial at Summerslam, the group's momentum petered out, and Barrett would end up flying solo for most of the rest of his time in the company. He's had several gimmicks that got him pretty high up the card, but a combination of bad booking and injuries meant that he never moved past midcard status.

I've mentioned before that I began watching wrestling in 2009, and the Nexus' run in 2010 was what made me the fan I am today. Throughout all his many hardships, I've remained a loyal Barrett fan, and one that always wanted to see a massive push. He has remained one of the hardest workers in the company, and likely still has a massive future ahead. Despite that, this is still some pretty horrible news. Barrett will go down in WWE's history as one of their misused talents that could have been something with a proper push, but John Cena made sure that would never happen. This isn't the time or place for a rant, but this is one of the many reasons I will never be a Cena fan.

I'm sure Barrett will find work elsewhere, and will likely be one of the many WWE flops who turns out better on the indies. However, it is every wrestler's dream to work under the bright lights and every fan's dream to see him or her there, and he will never get another job as good as this one. That's about all I can manage.

Although this is sad news, there could be hope in the future for Wade Barrett. As I already mentioned, between this and Bryan's retirement, I'm a pretty unhappy wrestling fan at the moment. Stay tuned for my review of Fastlane, which airs on Sunday.

-Henry

WWE: The Ambrose Asylum

I know I haven't posted on this blog in a really long time, but I do want to bring it back. I'm planning on restricting my "A" blog, Otterworld, to the big series ideas with a careful schedule, and I'll post on this blog whenever I have something to share. I'll also include a category, if you will, in the title that tells the reader what this post is about, so you can skip it if you aren't interested in the subject. As you can see, today's topic is the WWE, which has found a home on Otterworld, so I wanted to share so of my thoughts off-script, if you will.



It's pretty common knowledge that the WWE is suffering through one of the biggest crises in a long time, with seemingly half the roster out injured at the moment, and the biggest event of the year in 2 months. However, I've come up with a sure-fire main event angle, that could not only serve to get WWE's hottest star massively over, but provide a great closing to 'Mania.

At Fastlane, the main event is a triple threat match between former champ Roman Reigns, IC Champ Dean Ambrose, and that other guy. The winner of this match will head to 'Mania to face Trips for the belt. Now, the obvious assumption is that Reigns will get the fall, Dean will take the fall, and Brock Lesnar will do some Wyatt stuff. Reigns has been given chance after chance, and the audience has yet to really connect with him. Having him go over at 'Mania is a horrible idea, as it furthers the idea that Vince wants to push Roman to the moon. You can have Roman win at 'Mania, but you can't do it in the main event. There is someone that can, however, and that's Dean Ambrose, the subject of this post.

Since the ending of the Shield, Ambrose was the forgotten man, with Rollins holding the belt and Reigns with Vince at his side. At the end of last year's 'Mania, it was like the WWE completely forgot Ambrose existed, giving Reigns and Rollins the main event rub. With the Rollins heel turn, one of Reigns or Ambrose was going to have to be the main face, and the WWE has desperately attempted to make that Reigns. Reigns has failed, somewhat spectacularly, to fill that role and it's time Ambrose got his shot.

How do this work? It's actually pretty simple. At Fastlane, have Ambrose pin Roman after Trips interferes. The following night, Triple H otherwise occupies Ambrose's time, perhaps screwing out of the Intercontinental belt, while he orchestrates an assault on Reigns, ensuring Ambrose will not have any backup. Ambrose will have lost everything at the cost of his big win, and goes on an absolute tear, ending with him winning the belt and receiving one of the biggest pops of the last decade. Knowing the WWE, though, they're likely to copy this exact story, but just reverse Reigns and Ambrose. We can only hope, as Ambrose winning the belt at 'Mania would be an awesome moment.

I'll have a part 2 to this post, explaining why Ambrose is the next top face in a company that desperately needs one. Hopefully you've enjoyed, and I'll see you next time.

-Henry

My Favorite Moment in TV History

Now, I'm not much of a movies kind of guy. Movies can be fun, but so many of them seem to repeat each other with no unique ideas being involved. I love TV shows much more than movies because of the extra time allowed to the writers and producers to develop over years and years of time. My favorite TV show is American Dad, which was created by animation comedy genius Seth McFarlane. He is better known for his work with Family Guy, but I prefer American Dad much more as it contains much better characters and overall development. American Dad focuses around a family, as most of Seth McFarlane's show do, that is both traditional and completely radical. The family is lead by Stan Smith, who works at the CIA. This is about all the description I want to give, if you want to learn more about the show you can look it up.  My favorite moment from American Dad comes from season 2, episode 11 entitled "American Dream Factory". In this episode, Stan feels he is not moving up the ladder at his work and goes into a sort of mid-life crisis. He decides to finally enter his "dream profession" of  making festive teddy bears for the holidays. The problem is that, on his own, he is not able to make the bears fast enough to come out on time. It is at this point when Stan discovers the wonders of illegal workers, learning that he has to pay very little for their services. Eventually, the Feds catch wind Stan's business and attempt to shut him down. Acting quickly, Stan lies and says the workers are a part of his son's previously disbanded band, which is a story for another time. In order to keep up the facade, his son and the illegal workers perform "Country Roads" at the July Fourth episode. It really is a fantastic moment and a true display of how well animated characters can capture emotions on a screen. Stan realizes that the illegal Mexicans are true Americans just like him, and causes a distraction to get them to safety, giving up on his festive teddy bear dream. At the end of the episode, he sets them loose into West Virgina, where nobody apparently cares about citizenship. It's a fantastic piece of television, and if you're interested in animated comedy I would recommend checking both the episode and the whole series out.

Stereotypes

A very serious issue in society today is the issue of stereotypes. This is an issue that gets very little attention and is often quite misunderstood. A lot of stereotypes are out there today; I won't bother to go through all of them, but there are many. Now, a stereotype should not be confused with a racial slur, as is often the case; a racial slur is an ignorant remark made by a person who has no knowledge of what he or she is insulting. A stereotype is a remark made by a person taking into account the actions of a majority of a people and summarize it to include all of those people. As a Chinese, one I hear a lot is that all Chinese are fantastic in school, have parents like hawks, and love math. A lot of my friends like to make fun of these stereotypes, as they are pretty ridiculous. The truth is, however, these statements can be hurtful to a lot of different people. A common misconception is that stereotypes are good, like the one about Chinese people being good in school. Not all Chinese get fantastic grades, however, it's just a choice of those that do. Getting good grades has nothing to do with genes or family, but is just a personal choice to excel in this category. The stereotype hurts those that don't chose to to be good at school, because it tries to make them change their lifestyle. Stereotypes change normal people into jokes because they do or don't fit a preconceived notion of what they are supposed to be. Think before you speak, because you never know who is listening. The power of words is that they shape society, making it so that you can destroy a life with one sentence.

-Henry

My Favorite Time of the Year

This is pretty much my favorite time of every year. My birthday just happened so I'm still enjoying my gifts. After my birthday comes the start of spring training in the MLB, which signals the start of baseball season, which is awesome. Happening at the same time is the period called March Madness for college basketball, which means brackets, upsets and national champions. Words cannot even describe the incredible joy that comes during this time for me, and I'll be posting throughout all of it. Expect to see a ton of posts during this time, and if you want to see my live tweets during the NCAA tournament, follow me on Twitter under the handle @htk1999.

-Henry

The Big Dog

When Rascal first arrived at our house he was dwarfed both in size and stature by the big fat pug. Rascal stayed as the baby of our house until a couple years ago, when we brought in the little baby girl, Emma. Because of how miniature in size Emma is, Rascal quickly became known as the big dog, something of an irony considering he only tips the scale at about 12 pounds. But Rascal's nickname is more than just a piece of humor, it's a true fact. Rascal is made by the size of his heart and his caring nature. Rascal is always going to be my dog because of the connection that we share and his many impressive qualities. Rascal enjoys every second and takes nothing for granted. He is the sweetest dog that I will ever know, and that is a true FACT.

-Henry

A Love Ballad

Sorry I wasn't able to post yesterday, I had some computer issues. They're fixed now, so I'm back to posting!

For those who don't know, my birthday is on Sunday, February 15th. For those still awake, that is in fact the day after Valentine's Day, which is pretty interesting. I was telling my dad earlier today that Valentine's Day is both the worst and best holiday of the year. In some aspects, Valentine's Day showcases the best of society. The concept of Valentine's Day is fantastic and whoever came up with the idea should be commended. The holiday celebrates one of humanities strangest emotions: love. As quite a bit of literature states, love is incredibly powerful. The holiday itself, however, is just a waste. Somehow some idiots out there thought that the best way to celebrate love is to make tons and tons of candy. How does that make any sense? Valentine's Day means something to us all, and it's much more complicated than balloons or candy. Valentine's Day is a celebration of all the members of our lives that we cherish the most, and let's all agree to keep it that way.

-Henry