2025 in 2025: Day 21

Best of Van Halen, Vol. 1 - Van Halen

Man, the David Lee Roth era flies by so quick on this compilation. I've never considered myself a huge fan of Van Halen, but when I listen to this I just dig it so much. Except for Dance The Night Away and And the Cradle - they're just kind of okay. The rest are absolute killer. The Sammy Hagar era is not represented entirely well, IMO; I feel like there were better songs that could have made the cut. However, Dreams is awesome and the guitar solo is one of my absolute fav Eddie Van Halen moments. And Right Now always gets me air-drumming. The return of David Lee Roth at the end is pretty awesome, too. Pretty sure we've been singing "Trampoline" in Me Wise Magic for 28 years now. This makes me regret not picking up the Van Halen box sets when I saw them cheap a while back, because clearly I need more Van Halen in my life. Or maybe this is the perfect amount, and that's why I like this CD so much?

Highlights: Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love, Runnin' with the Devil, Unchained, Jump, Panama, Dreams, Right Now, Me Wise Magic

9/10

The Best of WCW Vol. 1: Nitro - World Championship Wrestling

Well, I guess this makes up for me not watching WCW for the past few months. Oh you want to watch Bret Hart stick fools in the Sharpshooter? How about 90 minutes of playing 'guess the pro-wrestler's entrance music' instead? The Total Package theme almost sounds like a Chariots of Fire ripoff. And it's been 30 years and I still can't tell the difference between Rey Misterio and Dean Malenko's themes when I first hear them. Pro-wrestling themes with lyrics are always way funnier - especially when they talk about doing all the wrestling moves and what not. The Four Horsemen theme is legit badass. And after watching so much WCW and no Pearl Jam, I'm now convinced this Chris Jericho theme is how Even Flow actually sounds. La Parka's theme is so funk-rock it's awesome and makes me want to play air-guitar on a steel chair. Wait - The Four Horsemen have a second theme song? American Made is no Real American, but it still rocks hard. Luckily we save the best for last with Bret Hart's second WCW theme.

Highlights: Four Horsemen, Satan's Sister (Hollywood Blondes Theme), Parental Advisory Explicit Acts (La Parka Theme), Hart Attack Comeback (Bret Hart Theme)

7/10

The Best of WCW Vol. 2: Thunder - World Championship Wrestling

Oh, I still haven't learned my lesson? Voodoo Child would have been good right now, but those nWo quotes in it are mixed way too loud. At least I get some more disco music with Disco Inferno's theme song? I mean, I'd prefer Disco Inferno from The Trammps again, but sure. Buff Bagwell doesn't even seem to know what's going on with his theme song. 3 Count is just laughable - and purposely so, given their gimmick. Hitman in the House has grown on me, but still stands as his third best theme song. the nWo Midcard theme is super funky. Oh cool - Badstreet U.S.A. is on here! I will never tire of A Man Called Sting. Wolfpac in the house! Wait - almost three hours and no appearance of Brad Armstrong's theme song? I feel cheated.

Highlights: Disco Fever (Disco Inferno Theme), Hitman in the House (Bret Hart Theme), Tear It Up (nWo Midcard Theme), A Man Called Sting (Sting Theme), Billy Kidman (Kidman Theme)

6/10

Best Shots - Pat Benatar

I think we must be almost done with Best ofs! This is some serious 80s power ballad stuff. Hit Me with Your Best Shot really is so weak - needs to be rocked up a notch or two. 

Highlights: Love is a Battlefield, All Fired Up, Hell is for Children, We Belong

6.5/10

BEST★SCANDAL - SCANDAL

No, this is not a best of. This is SCANDAL's debut album. Maybe they called it BEST★SCANDAL because they think they are the best? They might not be, but they can come close some times. These days, anyway. Their early work is more in the vein of pop-punk idol music. Which is totally cool with me! In fact, some of this seriously great.

Highlights: DOLL, ひとつだけ, SAKURA グッバイ

7/10

Between the Black and Gray - MONOEYES

Ugh American spelling. Anyways, more 細美さん means more good times, even if this album is more of a darker vibe. Likely a product of the times, as this was released at the end of 2020, so in the midst of the pandemic and lockdowns and awesome stuff. This is overall probably the weakest MONOEYES album, but the highlights are SUPER highlights. And a weak MONOEYES album is still better than a lot of band's stronger efforts.

Highlights: Fall Out, Interstate 46, Outer Rim, 彼は誰の夢

8/10

"Albums" listened to so far: 174

WrestleMania March Madness, Day Thirty-One: WrestleMania XXXI

29 March 2015
Levi's Stadium
Santa Clara, California - USA

Attendance: 76,976

Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry 'the King' Lawler & JBL

My thoughts before this viewing:
I have not seen this show before. It took place yesterday and I've been busy watching 30 other WrestleManias to fit it in. Plus it would have been weird to watch it out of order. I haven't been paying too much attention the past few month to WWE because I have lost a lot of interest in it - and considering I didn't have the greatest interest in the first place, the bar is now very low. So I don't expect much from this show. But Sting will make his WrestleMania debut so that should be fun. I like Sting. As usual, my BFF decided to spoil a few things for me because he is a swell guy. I must remember to punch him in the balls next time I see him.

America the Beautiful
Aloe Blacc is our singer? I'm showing my age by not being familiar with this guy. He's all accapella and awesome.
9/10

Opening Video Package
LL Cool J talks to us about how the world has changed and technology and so on... it somehow relates to WrestleMania.
9/10

Opening Match

Ladder Match
Intercontinental Championship
Daniel Bryan vs Dolph Ziggler vs R-Truth vs Dean Ambrose vs Luke Harper vs Stardust vs Bad News Barrett (c)
Hey, Daniel Bryan, how does it feel to be the most popular man in WWE and ending last year winning the WWE World Heavyweight championship and realising a lifelong dream... and then the following year being relegated to the opening match for a meaningless title?
This match is nuts. Absolute nuts. And then Dean Ambrose is murderised.

Daniel Bryan and Dolph Ziggler make me laugh out loud by having a headbutt war.
Winner = Daniel Bryan via climbing a ladder before other men
8/10

Roman Reigns is strong because he wears Tapout.

Video Package
Randy Orton has done everything in WWE. Including getting people fired, failing the wellness policy multiple times and being slapped with sexual harassment lawsuits. But they don't cover those in this video
8/10

Randy Orton vs Seth Rollins
Randy Orton DDT's Seth Rollins' little bodyguards and they sell it like death for the entire match. Until the end when they get involved and Rollins and Orton are kicking out of each other's finishers. And then Rollins doesn't.
Winner = Randy Orton via pinfall following RKO outta nowhere
6/10

Buy WWE Toys!

Video Package
Triple H loves WWE more than anyone. Definitely more than me. Especially when he's involved. Sting is here for reasons? At least his coat looks awesome.
7/10

Sting vs Triple H
Sting gets some weird Japanese entrance and is wearing a coat not nearly as cool as the one he had in the video. Of course, the H bomb gets an even bigger and crazier entrance that involves terminators.

How much do they spend on his entrances every year???
The commentators bury Sting and WCW as much as they can. Because WCW has only been out of business for 14 years and WWE still can't move on. The match gets nostalgic as D-Generation X come out and get beaten up by Sting. Then the NWO come out and beat up D-Generation X. This would have been really cool in 1997 when these guys weren't all dinosaurs and make me cringe. Then Shawn Michaels kicks Sting in the face. Sting fights back but is no match for the H bombs ego.
Winner = Triple H via pinfall following a sledgehammer to the face
1/10

Because this company is just bullshit and incredibly insecure. To make it worse, they shake hands. Because Triple H really needed Sting to put him over.

Fuck. You.

Advertisement for the WWE network. If you pay for that shit I have no sympathy for you when the Diva Search sucks all kinds of suckiness.

Backstage
Maria Menounos interviews Daniel Bryan. But not really - it's just a lot of Hall of Famers telling him how proud they are. Should you guys have been more proud when he won the WWE World Heavyweight championship? You're proud of him for winning a title for nobodies? WWE really want to make sure we accept this is his spot now.
-1/10

Maria even fucked up the Ron Simmons "Damn!" part. Shut your mouth, stupid bitch.

Musical Performance
I'm pretty sure this is the the third time Skylar Grey is performing at WrestleMania. She sucks as much as Travis Barker is awesome.
1/10

Diva Tag Match
AJ Lee & Paige vs The Bella Twins
AJ gets punched once and sells it like death. The Bella twins are actually two of the worst wrestlers I have ever seen.
Winners = AJ Lee & Paige via submission from AJ's octopus thing they call the Black Widow which makes no sense because she is not a widow. Unless her husband become the first person to die in a UFC fight
1/10

Hall of Fame highlights.
Lots of people that suck - if I had a hall of fame, these dudes would not make the cut. And I sure wouldn't have Kevin Nash/Diesel as the headlining name. Worst WWF Champion ever.

Video Package
Rusev is an evil Russian, so American hero John Cena must stop him.
4/10

US Championship
John Cena vs Rusev (c) (w/Lana)
Rusev rolls in with a tank.

John Cena comes out to speeches from George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan, so Rusev is the winner in my books. Crowd seems to agree with me and sings "John Cena sucks!" to his theme song. I think the only person they like in this match is Lana.
Winner = John Cena via pinfall following attitude adjustment
New Champion!
5/10

Some chit-chat between the 'Kickoff panel'. Booker T has a new book that he plugs every chance he gets. That would probably be a good read.

In The Ring
Stephanie McMahon and Triple H announce the attendance and brag about how successful WrestleMania is. Makes me glad I illegally download all your shows when I can bothered watching them. Thank Prime - The Rock is here to help me not hate this show any more. And he brings in Ronda Rousey to help him lay the smack down on these two. Kinda exciting but that took half an hour - and I am not exaggerating.
8/10

The Undertaker vs Bray Wyatt
The commentators are surprised The Undertaker has returned. Really? WWE advertised this match - you should have known he was going to appear.
Winner = The Undertaker via usual
6/10

Chris Jericho has a podcast on the WWE network. I am sure he thinks it is the greatest.

Video Package
Roman Reigns is a guy trying to live up to his family's legacy and provide for his children. Brock Lesnar gives no fucks about that because he murderises everyone.
8/10

WWE World Heavyweight Championship
Roman Reigns vs Brock Lesnar (c) (w/Paul Heyman)
Lesnar beats the shit out of Reigns and welcomes him to "Suplex City, bitch!" - much to the approval of the crowd. Roman Reigns is the new John Cena; booked as the underdog, overcomes all the odds, loved by women and children everywhere. And hated passionately by everyone else.
Seth Rollins? What the?
With both men down, he cashes in his Money in the Bank briefcase to make this match a triple threat.

Roman Reigns vs Seth Rollins vs Brock Lesnar (c) (w/Paul Heyman)
Reigns takes out Lesnar with a spear so Rollins gives Reigns a curb stomp and steals the title!
What the FUCK?!?!?
Winner = Seth Rollins via pinfall following a total what the fuck
New Champion!
8/10

Unbelievable! I was ready to write this off because I figured Reigns was going to just 'John Cena' this shit, but that was incredible. Rollins swings the belt around like a boss and gives a big fuck yeah to send us out!

WrestleMania XXXI: The Awards

1. Best Match
   Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns (and vs Seth Rollins)
   It was hilariously entertaining. And then the surprise cash-in made it even better.
2. Worst Match
   Sting vs Triple H
   I hope they paid Sting a lot of money to come in and lose his first match in WWE after all these years. Fuck you, WWE.
3. Highlight of the Show
   The Rock and Ronda Rousey standing in the ring together. The actual segment was way too long but those two are awesome.
4. Lowlight of the Show
   Sting losing his first match with WWE. I can not express just how ridiculous it is to have him finally come to the company after all these years just so he can lose to Triple H. Fuck you, WWE.
5. Star of the Show
   Seth Rollins. Dude is awesome and he managed to save WWE from an angry crowd at the end of the show.
6. Best Celebrity Appearance
   Ronda Rousey. I wish the segment had been a bit better but she is awesome and a total superstar. The UFC better hope she never loses.
   
7. Worst Celebrity Appearance
   Maria Menounos. She couldn't even keep her mouth shut for 20 seconds to let Ron Simmons do his thing.
   
8. Tonight's Meal
   Tonight I decided to celebrate the end of the marathon with my favourite meal - corn chip casserole. And then put it in a wrap, because this whole marathon has been wraps and I don't mess with the rules. It was delicious. Pepsi Next was as good as always, as were the Chips Ahoy! with Reese's peanut butter cups.
9. T-Shirt Cleanliness
   No changes today. But guess what? It looks gross anyway.
10. Overall Score
    I was ready to write this off after Sting lost, because that was bullshit and there is no other way to put it. Luckily the main event was exciting. Well, the end of it was. It was otherwise an enjoyable show, I guess. Great ending. But fuck you, WWE.
    5 out of 10
    
    
    
    

WrestleMania March Madness, Day Twenty-Eight: WrestleMania XXVIII

1 April 2012
Sun Life Stadium
Miami, Florida - USA

Attendance: 78,363

Commentators: Michael Cole & Jerry 'the King' Lawler

My thoughts before this viewing:
This was another group viewing and as such I remember having a great time. But mostly in the same way as WrestleMania XXVII - we barely paid attention to anything outside of the main event. Hopefully I will pay more attention to everything else on the card today. I say that now, but there will probably be an 18-Diva match with Hornswoggle and Michael Cole as the guest commentators so I can't promise anything. I swear, if I see anything that is close to what I just wrote I will be out of here and back to playing 80's arcade games faster than you can steal my lemonade. Leave it alone! Now let's start the show and see how I go...

America the Beautiful
It's Lillian Garcia again, along with some bullshit military salute or something. Why can't Lillian just sing normally? She's good and all - and this song is lame - but she is just ridiculous with the way she sings all over the place. And I don't think she is quite as good as she seems to think she is.
3/10

She leads the crowd in a "USA" chant.
Oh just fuck off.

Opening Video Package
Once in a lifetime. I'm from the future and I call bullshit.
8/10

Opening Match
World Heavyweight Championship
Sheamus vs Daniel Bryan (c) (w/AJ Lee)

Daniel Bryan is the bad guy - but you wouldn't know it from the crowd reaction. They love him! Which means WWE have to destroy him.
Winner = Sheamus via pinfall in 18 seconds
New Champion!
3/10

And this is why it pays to be friends with the boss.

Backstage
The bad guys are fighting for Team Johnny. He compares their upcoming match tonight to Andre/Hogan and Austin/Hart. I'm from the future and I call bullshit. Hell, even in 2012 I call bullshit.
2/10

Randy Orton vs Kane

Kane is back in the mask and his hair has grown back? More of his evil magic powers, no doubt.
The crowd are so excited by this match they chant "Daniel Bryan!"
There is a guy in the front row that can't believe Kane didn't win from a chokeslam, Dude, he never wins from a chokeslam. Oh wait...
Winner = Kane via pinfall following top rope chokeslam
3/10

Backstage
Santino Marella and Mick Foley combine to create the worst backstage segment I have seen in a long time. Ron Simmons enters to say "Damn!" because he has the best job in the world.
-3/10

Video Package
Big Show is big... a big dummy! Especially at WrestleMania.
8/10

Intercontinental Championship
Big Show vs Cody Rhodes (c)

The commentators bury Daniel Bryan so we at home know not to care about him like the fans in the arena.
Winner = Big Show via pinfall following KO punch event though it should be illegal
New Champion!
4/10


Big Show starts crying. Add that to his embarrassing WrestleMania moments.

Video Package
The Divas brag about their job. OK then?
3/10

Kelly Kelly & Maria Menounos vs Beth Phoenix & Eve Torres
They show a video of why this match is happening. I wish they hadn't.
Winners = Kelly Kelly & Maria Menounos via Maria pinning Beth
2/10

Nothing like having a TV show host pin your Diva's champion.

Backstage
Matt Striker talks to Shawn Michaels, who is just typical Shawn Michaels and say nothing.
3/10

Jim Ross comes out for commentary. Because the H bomb gets the best for his matches.

Hell in a Cell - End of an Era Match
Undertaker vs Triple H
Guest Referee: Shawn Michaels
What does "End of an Era" even mean?
I'm guessing it is why the H bomb spends half of this match yelling at Michaels to "end it!", which gets really old really really quickly. A second referee comes out and gets chokeslammed, which he sells for about 12 minutes. Must have been the deadliest chokeslam in history. And then they kinda rip off the ending to WrestleMania XXVI.
Just way lamer.
Winner = Undertaker via pinfall following tombstone piledriver
5/10

Hall of Fame highlights. Ric Flair thanked Chris Benoit but they didn't it. Mike Tyson made a joke about when he was arrested and people laugh? Yeah, it's funny he raped a girl.

Backstage
Heath Slater wants to work with Flo Rida, who does not have a sense of humour.

8/10

Team Teddy vs Team Johnny
For control of Raw and Smackdown
I can not begin to describe for you just how much indifference I feel towards this match.
Winners = Team Johnny following The Miz pinning Zack Ryder
3/10

After he gets pinned at WrestleMania, Eve kicks him in the balls. If I'm learning anything from this WrestleMania, it's that you should not try and get yourself over with the fans or WWE will kill your career.

More highlights of WrestleMania week and all the good WWE do for the world. If I'm learning anything else from this WrestleMania, it's that WWE is full of bullshit.

Backstage
CM Punk and John Laurinaitis get together for a bit of a chin-wag. Good old Johnny Ace decides that if Punk gets disqualified or counted out he will lose his title. CM Punk still has his lip-piercing here. I he doesn't get another one before his UFC debut.
7/10

Video Package
Chris Jericho thinks he is better than CM Punk because people in Punk's family have substance abuse problems. And people wonder why I am so done with Chris Jericho...
5/10

WWE Championship
CM Punk (c) vs Chris Jericho
These guys get the coolest entrances. As much as I dislike Chris Jericho, I certainly admire his choice in jackets.

And I post this so you have an idea of the scale of things. Is best viewed with Cult of Personality by Living Colour playing in the background:

After that awesome, this match starts with lots yells like "Your Father's a drunk!" and "Your sister's a drug addict!". Fucking cringe.
Remember when Johnny Ace said if CM Punk gets counted out he loses the title? Someone needs to remind Chris Jericho. And the commentators; they just said that he was pulling Punk back into the ring because it was the only way he can win the title. You are all stupid.
At least the end of this was good.
Winner = CM Punk via submission
7/10

Brodus Clay calls his 'Momma'.
I call my psychiatrist to find out what compells me to continue this marathon.
-3/10

Video Package
The Rock vs John Cena is the biggest Main Event in the history of WWE. I'm from the future and can't argue with the numbers. Chris Jericho claims this will be the greatest Main Event of all time. I'm from the future and I call bullshit.
9/10

Musical Performance
Diddy is here to introduce Machine Gun Kelly. Diddy should have performed instead. Machine Gun Kelly suck worse than Metallica. They even end their performance by saying John Cena is the biggest underdog tonight. Oh fuck off and learn some musical skill.
-1/10

Musical Performance
Flo Rida has a cool mic stand.

He changes the whole last verse of Wild Ones to rap about The Rock kicking ass and beating John Cena. Flo Rida is cool.
9/10

Main Event

The Rock vs John Cena
Note to WWE: near-falls would work much better if wrestlers still won matches from things like suplexes and rollups, otherwise you have to do like this match and have dudes constantly kick out of finishing moves.
Winner = The Rock via pinfall following rock bottom for like the third time
7/10

The Rock celebrates as his theme plays us out.

WrestleMania XXVIII: The Awards

1. Best Match
   The Rock vs John Cena
   This match didn't involve someone yelling at their opponent about their family being a drug addict or a drunk.
2. Worst Match
   Kelly Kelly & Maria Menounos vs Beth Phoenix & Eve Torres
   Maria Menounos is about as good a wrestler as Kelly Kelly. Think about that.
3. Highlight of the Show
   Flo Rida beating up Heath Slater. The guy is actually huge and made Slater look like a chump.
4. Lowlight of the Show
   Mick Foley and Santino Marella attacking their dinner with their sock puppets.
5. Star of the Show
   The Rock. Because The Rock is so obviously a bigger star than anyone else on this show it is hilarious.
6. Best Celebrity Appearance
   Flo Rida. He looked like he wanted no part of that backstage segment, beat up a clown with a Southern drawl, and then rocked the house with his songs. Thumbs up from me!
   
7. Worst Celebrity Appearance
   Those Machine Gun Kelly clowns. Their music is bad and they should feel bad.
8. Tonight's Meal
   Tonight was a collection of flavours; avocado, kale, red onion, tomato, cucumber, capsicum, carrot hummus and falafel topped with fried mushrooms and sweet chilli sauce. Was very tasty and filling. Being the weekend, I moved back to 7-Up. I should have stuck with Pepsi Next. And added tequila. Maybe one-fifth Pepsi Next and four-fifths tequila. The Chips Ahoy! with Reese's peanut butter cups were again very wonderful.
9. T-Shirt Cleanliness
   Even the logo has gross stuff stuck to it now.
10. Overall Score
    Jeepers - what a way to kill a good run! All the backstage stuff was awful, some of the video packages were fun and then the matches were mostly boring. Or quick and boring. The main event and the WWE championship match were good enough, but there was just something missing all night. Remember at WrestleMania III how all night you heard from Hogan and Andre, which just added to the drama and got me excited for the main event? This show had none of that; not a single promo by one of the greatest promo men of all time? No John Cena telling us how bad he needed to win? Just a video package telling us this was going to be the biggest main event of all time - I think that hurt it a bit. And that Triple H/Undertaker match is by far the most overrated match possible. Just an overblown spotfest that meant nothing. End of an era? Both are still wrestling and stuff - what was the point? Oh well, tomorrow is another day. Another day of WrestleMania... damn!
    4 out of 10