The E3 Nintendo
Direct was broadcast on Tuesday May 16th, 2015 at 5pm (BST).
Nintendo Direct Hits
Starfox Zero: The interview with
Shigeru Miyamoto in the shrine was informative. We finally got details about
vehicle transformations, cast members and a vague release date. Graphically, it
wasn’t astonishing but they have five months to add polish and tighten the
interesting controls. Barring a surprise announcement, Starfox will likely be
the major swansong on Wii U so fingers crossed it doesn’t disappoint.
Yoshi’s Woolly World: Another
developer interview, except this one was a touch overlong. Regardless, my
partner and I can’t wait to play this fluffy 2d platformer together. The
gameplay and colourful, woollen art style are expertly blended. With different
difficulty levels and modes this is sure to offer hours of fun, whatever your
skill level.
Mario Maker: I can’t believe that in
the 1980’s Miyamoto designed the original Mario levels on graph paper. Technology
has progressed at an alarming rate; we will soon have a course editor in the
palm of our hands. With endless creative possibilities and four game palettes,
this should have been released earlier in the Wii U lifespan. A bittersweet
hit, can Mario Maker get the recognition and support it deserves?
Nintendo Charm: Puppets? Check.
In-jokes? Check. Nostalgia over substance ending? Moving on …
Nintendo Direct Misses
Lack of surprises: Nobody
realistically expected news on ‘Nintendo NX’, Nintendo’s mobile developments or
Legend of Zelda. Even so, with no major shocks it feels like they’re treading
water until the make or break announcements of E3 2016. Which leads me onto …
Filler games: Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival, Mario Tennis and Metroid Prime
Federation Force were the worst offenders. The first one annoyed my partner immensely.
She lamented, “Why did they make a stupid board game instead of a proper Animal
Crossing!” My cynical head reckons it’ll be a shameless cash in like Mario
Party. We’ll probably have to wait until NX now for a proper Animal Crossing
along with countless other franchises. What a waste.
Too many Amiibo: A fool and his
money are easily parted. Unless you’re a dedicated toy collector Amiibo are
useless because their only function is unlocking features unfairly trapped
behind paywalls. With new Smash Bros, Animal Crossing and Skylanders Amiibo
announced this fad will unfortunately continue.
Thanks for reading. Any thoughts on this article? Get in touch on Twitter (@philipregan1986)
Wednesday, 17 June 2015
WWE Money in the Bank 2015.
This event was broadcast live on the WWE
Network on Sunday June 14th, 2015.
Money in the Bank (ladder match).
Sheamus defeated Roman Reigns, Dolph Ziggler, Neville, Randy Orton, Kane and Kofi Kingston.
My partner and I make predictions before watching WWE network shows. We couldn’t look past Reigns winning this entertaining spectacle; good to see WWE can still be unpredictable. Can Sheamus as ‘Mr Money in the Bank’ produce better drama than if Reigns had won? I’m not convinced yet but future developments may make this odd result seem logical.
On the positive side, Roman Reigns looked strong in defeat. As he was about to win, the lights went off and Bray Wyatt interfered. This means Roman may be diverted from seeking championship glory for a few months. Once he’s done with Wyatt the chase can resume, possibly against a new foe.
Divas Championship.
Nikki Bella beat Paige.
This went over ten minutes and was better than Nikki Bella’s usual efforts. Towards the end, Paige reversed Nikki’s Rack Attack into the Cradle DDT and I honestly believed it was over. The action continued and after a double turnbuckle bump the Bella’s attempted a tiresome, twin magic switch.
In a refreshing moment of progression, Paige had the roll up scouted and reversed Brie for the 1-2-3. Brie admitted cheating and unstuffed her bra to show she wasn’t Nikki. At this point the ref should have disqualified Brie for interference. Instead he let the match continue and Nikki won with a cheap shot. My head hurts, that was a rough ending.
Intercontinental Championship.
Big Show won via disqualification. Ryback retains his championship.
The Miz insulted his home state fans pre-match and remained at ringside. That severely reduced the likelihood of a clean finish. Ryback showed off his strength by suplexing Big Show and also wore the giant down with a Goldberg style arm submission. Show gave Ryback a KO punch and ‘The Big Guy’ rolled to ringside. After a confrontation with Big Show, Miz attacked with a microphone causing the DQ and set up a triple threat down the road.
John Cena pinned Kevin Owens.
At Elimination Chamber, these two arguably had the match of the night. Their rematch earned that honour without dispute and was another four star war of attrition. Cena came out on top this time but Owens regained his heat immediately with a powerbomb onto the ring apron.
Without spoiling the specifics there were many memorable moments. Owens copied Cena’s signature moves. Cena appeared vulnerable and tried new things which is admirable and showcased his desire to win. With a quality similar to the first, this is once again highly recommended.
Tag Team Championship.
Prime Time Players beat New Day (Big E and Xavier Woods).
With all the heels coming out on top, a feel good moment was urgently needed. Unfortunately this wasn’t it. Muted crowd celebrations meant the change felt flat and underwhelming. It built up to Titus receiving the hot tag. He went wild with his running tackle and won with a spinebuster. I like the Prime Time Players but New Day had plenty of mileage left. For now though, the ‘Players’ can have fun belt warming.
WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
Ladder match.
Seth Rollins won against Dean Ambrose to retain his championship.
HHH gave Rollins a pep talk before the match and yelled “SHOW THEM!” repeatedly. After his speech, the scene was set for a contest without interference. Rollins wanted to prove to ‘The Authority’, “I can get the job done, by myself.”
In less than five minutes, Rollins hit Ambrose on the knee with a steel chair. Rollins took advantage and worked the injury with a ring post figure four. Plucky underdog Ambrose eventually made a spirited comeback. His highlights included backdropping Rollins out of the ring through a ladder bridge and hitting Dirty Deeds on the announcers table.
Rollins eventually regained control and dished out an insane amount of punishment to Ambrose, whose selling was excellent. If they’d ended it there, nobody would have complained. Instead ‘The Lunatic Fringe’ made another comeback. After a tug of war, both men fell down with the belt in hand but Rollins held on tighter for the victory.
In conclusion, Money in the Bank was a three match show and these lived up to the hype. The undercard also offered more enjoyment than anticipated. Looking forward to Battleground (on July 19th) we can expect a Reigns/Wyatt grudge match, more developments in the Cena/Owens feud and BROCK LESNAR versus Seth Rollins. As always, I’ll be covering it all for another instalment of philreganreviews.
See you then wrestling fans.
Money in the Bank (ladder match).
Sheamus defeated Roman Reigns, Dolph Ziggler, Neville, Randy Orton, Kane and Kofi Kingston.
My partner and I make predictions before watching WWE network shows. We couldn’t look past Reigns winning this entertaining spectacle; good to see WWE can still be unpredictable. Can Sheamus as ‘Mr Money in the Bank’ produce better drama than if Reigns had won? I’m not convinced yet but future developments may make this odd result seem logical.
On the positive side, Roman Reigns looked strong in defeat. As he was about to win, the lights went off and Bray Wyatt interfered. This means Roman may be diverted from seeking championship glory for a few months. Once he’s done with Wyatt the chase can resume, possibly against a new foe.
Divas Championship.
Nikki Bella beat Paige.
This went over ten minutes and was better than Nikki Bella’s usual efforts. Towards the end, Paige reversed Nikki’s Rack Attack into the Cradle DDT and I honestly believed it was over. The action continued and after a double turnbuckle bump the Bella’s attempted a tiresome, twin magic switch.
In a refreshing moment of progression, Paige had the roll up scouted and reversed Brie for the 1-2-3. Brie admitted cheating and unstuffed her bra to show she wasn’t Nikki. At this point the ref should have disqualified Brie for interference. Instead he let the match continue and Nikki won with a cheap shot. My head hurts, that was a rough ending.
Intercontinental Championship.
Big Show won via disqualification. Ryback retains his championship.
The Miz insulted his home state fans pre-match and remained at ringside. That severely reduced the likelihood of a clean finish. Ryback showed off his strength by suplexing Big Show and also wore the giant down with a Goldberg style arm submission. Show gave Ryback a KO punch and ‘The Big Guy’ rolled to ringside. After a confrontation with Big Show, Miz attacked with a microphone causing the DQ and set up a triple threat down the road.
John Cena pinned Kevin Owens.
At Elimination Chamber, these two arguably had the match of the night. Their rematch earned that honour without dispute and was another four star war of attrition. Cena came out on top this time but Owens regained his heat immediately with a powerbomb onto the ring apron.
Without spoiling the specifics there were many memorable moments. Owens copied Cena’s signature moves. Cena appeared vulnerable and tried new things which is admirable and showcased his desire to win. With a quality similar to the first, this is once again highly recommended.
Tag Team Championship.
Prime Time Players beat New Day (Big E and Xavier Woods).
With all the heels coming out on top, a feel good moment was urgently needed. Unfortunately this wasn’t it. Muted crowd celebrations meant the change felt flat and underwhelming. It built up to Titus receiving the hot tag. He went wild with his running tackle and won with a spinebuster. I like the Prime Time Players but New Day had plenty of mileage left. For now though, the ‘Players’ can have fun belt warming.
WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
Ladder match.
Seth Rollins won against Dean Ambrose to retain his championship.
HHH gave Rollins a pep talk before the match and yelled “SHOW THEM!” repeatedly. After his speech, the scene was set for a contest without interference. Rollins wanted to prove to ‘The Authority’, “I can get the job done, by myself.”
In less than five minutes, Rollins hit Ambrose on the knee with a steel chair. Rollins took advantage and worked the injury with a ring post figure four. Plucky underdog Ambrose eventually made a spirited comeback. His highlights included backdropping Rollins out of the ring through a ladder bridge and hitting Dirty Deeds on the announcers table.
Rollins eventually regained control and dished out an insane amount of punishment to Ambrose, whose selling was excellent. If they’d ended it there, nobody would have complained. Instead ‘The Lunatic Fringe’ made another comeback. After a tug of war, both men fell down with the belt in hand but Rollins held on tighter for the victory.
In conclusion, Money in the Bank was a three match show and these lived up to the hype. The undercard also offered more enjoyment than anticipated. Looking forward to Battleground (on July 19th) we can expect a Reigns/Wyatt grudge match, more developments in the Cena/Owens feud and BROCK LESNAR versus Seth Rollins. As always, I’ll be covering it all for another instalment of philreganreviews.
See you then wrestling fans.
Thursday, 4 June 2015
WWE Elimination Chamber 2015.
This event was broadcast live on the WWE Network on Sunday May 31st, 2015.
WWE Tag Team Championship.
Elimination Chamber.
New Day beat Prime Time Players, Cesaro & Tyson Kidd, The Ascension, The Lucha Dragons and Los Matadors to retain their championship.
If the primary goal of this opening contest was to increase heat on New Day then mission accomplished. During the introductions, we were told all three members were legal. New Day cheated from inside the pod early on and received “New Day Sucks!” chants.
If the second goal of the match was crowd warming this was also achieved thanks to wild dives from the cage roof and additional high spots. Eventually it came down to New Day vs Prime Time Players who had a good showing. Titus rallied with his power moves but the numbers game was too much to overcome as ‘The Players’ were pile on pinned for the loss.
Divas Championship.
Triple Threat Match.
Nikki Bella defeated Naomi and Paige to retain her championship.
The ladies tried hard but this was a sloppy effort. They hit a tower of doom but the impact was diluted because we saw a similar move in the first match. Nikki won with the Rack Attack. My complaints from Payback remain here. New blood from NXT and better storylines are urgently required.
Kevin Owens pinned John Cena.
This was thrilling, four-stars and an instant classic with a shocking ending. Logical booking made Owens a genuine star in one night. Abbey Arthur, wrote this article for Pro Wrestling Mania before the event. I thought her points were valid but didn’t believe WWE creative would have the balls to pull the trigger.
Fortunately they did. Kevin Owens pinned John Cena clean, without any interference or cheating after a back and forth war of attrition. A heavily invested crowd enhanced the drama and a post-match promo by Owens cemented his newfound superstar aura. The undisputed highlight of the show. Go out of your way to watch this, you won’t be disappointed.
Neville beat Bo Dallas.
What a comedown after the previous epic. No wrestlers want to be in that slot. It told a simple but effective story. Bo used his technical wrestling ability to keep Neville grounded and take away his speed. Neville made a comeback and hit the spectacular Red Arrow for the victory. They may have longer NXT style matches again down the road but this wasn’t their time.
Intercontinental Championship.
Elimination Chamber.
Ryback beat Sheamus, Dolph Ziggler, Mark Henry (replacement for Rusev), R-Truth and King Barrett to win the vacant championship (formerly held by Daniel Bryan).
The second chamber outing was the weaker of the two by some margin. This match was cursed by Rusev’s withdrawal (due to a foot injury), a snoozing crowd and the announcers who failed to highlight the door cheating antics of Sheamus. In the end, Ryback eliminated ‘The Celtic Warrior’ and won his first championship. Fresh storylines are possible now, even if ‘The Big Guy’ is arguably keeping the belt warm until the injured Rusev returns.
WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
Dean Ambrose beat Seth Rollins via disqualification, Rollins retains his championship.
The return of the Dusty finish was a satisfying conclusion to the worthy main event. Backstage earlier on the show, Triple H told Roman Reigns his interference would cause a disqualification for Dean Ambrose. That removed the likelihood of Reigns getting involved and inadvertently costing Ambrose his championship opportunity.
Cowardly champion Rollins had his usual entourage of Kane and J & J security at ringside. Inevitably, they interfered and Ambrose took a lot of punishment to demonstrate his fighting spirit. After hitting an elbow drop onto Kane and J & J, the emotional rollercoaster began.
Ambrose went for another elbow drop but Rollins pushed the referee, who took a full force bump. Ambrose hit Dirty Deeds but nobody was present to make the count. Suddenly, a second official ran down for the 1-2-3! I couldn’t believe it and neither could the crowd who suddenly woke up with roars of approval. With the decision reversed, “Bullshit!” chants rained down and The Authority prepared their ambush. Reigns made the save, he and Ambrose then took off with the championship.
Overall, Elimination Chamber was wildly inconsistent but still exceeded expectations with two high level matches. WWE tested the waters for Ambrose becoming champion in the not-so-distant future. Will he make it to the top before his buddy Reigns? We’ll get those developments, Cena/Owens II and much more at Money in the Bank. I’ll be covering it all for another instalment of philreganreviews.
See you then wrestling fans.
WWE Tag Team Championship.
Elimination Chamber.
New Day beat Prime Time Players, Cesaro & Tyson Kidd, The Ascension, The Lucha Dragons and Los Matadors to retain their championship.
If the primary goal of this opening contest was to increase heat on New Day then mission accomplished. During the introductions, we were told all three members were legal. New Day cheated from inside the pod early on and received “New Day Sucks!” chants.
If the second goal of the match was crowd warming this was also achieved thanks to wild dives from the cage roof and additional high spots. Eventually it came down to New Day vs Prime Time Players who had a good showing. Titus rallied with his power moves but the numbers game was too much to overcome as ‘The Players’ were pile on pinned for the loss.
Divas Championship.
Triple Threat Match.
Nikki Bella defeated Naomi and Paige to retain her championship.
The ladies tried hard but this was a sloppy effort. They hit a tower of doom but the impact was diluted because we saw a similar move in the first match. Nikki won with the Rack Attack. My complaints from Payback remain here. New blood from NXT and better storylines are urgently required.
Kevin Owens pinned John Cena.
This was thrilling, four-stars and an instant classic with a shocking ending. Logical booking made Owens a genuine star in one night. Abbey Arthur, wrote this article for Pro Wrestling Mania before the event. I thought her points were valid but didn’t believe WWE creative would have the balls to pull the trigger.
Fortunately they did. Kevin Owens pinned John Cena clean, without any interference or cheating after a back and forth war of attrition. A heavily invested crowd enhanced the drama and a post-match promo by Owens cemented his newfound superstar aura. The undisputed highlight of the show. Go out of your way to watch this, you won’t be disappointed.
Neville beat Bo Dallas.
What a comedown after the previous epic. No wrestlers want to be in that slot. It told a simple but effective story. Bo used his technical wrestling ability to keep Neville grounded and take away his speed. Neville made a comeback and hit the spectacular Red Arrow for the victory. They may have longer NXT style matches again down the road but this wasn’t their time.
Intercontinental Championship.
Elimination Chamber.
Ryback beat Sheamus, Dolph Ziggler, Mark Henry (replacement for Rusev), R-Truth and King Barrett to win the vacant championship (formerly held by Daniel Bryan).
The second chamber outing was the weaker of the two by some margin. This match was cursed by Rusev’s withdrawal (due to a foot injury), a snoozing crowd and the announcers who failed to highlight the door cheating antics of Sheamus. In the end, Ryback eliminated ‘The Celtic Warrior’ and won his first championship. Fresh storylines are possible now, even if ‘The Big Guy’ is arguably keeping the belt warm until the injured Rusev returns.
WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
Dean Ambrose beat Seth Rollins via disqualification, Rollins retains his championship.
The return of the Dusty finish was a satisfying conclusion to the worthy main event. Backstage earlier on the show, Triple H told Roman Reigns his interference would cause a disqualification for Dean Ambrose. That removed the likelihood of Reigns getting involved and inadvertently costing Ambrose his championship opportunity.
Cowardly champion Rollins had his usual entourage of Kane and J & J security at ringside. Inevitably, they interfered and Ambrose took a lot of punishment to demonstrate his fighting spirit. After hitting an elbow drop onto Kane and J & J, the emotional rollercoaster began.
Ambrose went for another elbow drop but Rollins pushed the referee, who took a full force bump. Ambrose hit Dirty Deeds but nobody was present to make the count. Suddenly, a second official ran down for the 1-2-3! I couldn’t believe it and neither could the crowd who suddenly woke up with roars of approval. With the decision reversed, “Bullshit!” chants rained down and The Authority prepared their ambush. Reigns made the save, he and Ambrose then took off with the championship.
Overall, Elimination Chamber was wildly inconsistent but still exceeded expectations with two high level matches. WWE tested the waters for Ambrose becoming champion in the not-so-distant future. Will he make it to the top before his buddy Reigns? We’ll get those developments, Cena/Owens II and much more at Money in the Bank. I’ll be covering it all for another instalment of philreganreviews.
See you then wrestling fans.
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