Tag Archives: wwe

Food, Wrestling

Mikey’s Eats (January 31, 2012) and Post-Rumble Raw Musings

Mikey’s Eats is a series of chronicles of what Mikey ate in the given day. It is not the official Hurry up the Cakes review of the dish or restaurant discussed.

Last night, we ate at the new Pho Hoa, which is the same as the old Pho Hoa, except it’s in Festival Mall and it shares its space with MyThai and the old College classic Jack’s Loft. Thanks to Anthony Bourdain’s food porn second memoir, Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook (Amazon link), I had been craving for Vietnamese pho for a while now, so we ordered the Beef Brisket and Tendon Pho, along with some Fresh Spring Rolls and a Grilled Pork and Shrimp Rice Meal.
The Pho was tremendous—the noodles were perfectly cooked, the brisket tender, the tendon heavenly. And the broth! The sexily delicious beef broth, bean sprouts, some chili sauce, and a squeeze of lemon all combined to tell me to say a prayer to God in heaven, because I was having some damn good food. (At Festival Mall. Who would have thought?)

The sudden rush of flavors and spices, salty and sour and spicy and umami, sealed the deal for the Brisket and Tendon Pho to be the star of the evening. She took center stage and didn’t allow her Spring Roll buddies and Grilled Pork and Shrimp chorus to share her moment—the Pho had stolen the show.

This used to be a bowl of Brisket and Tendon Pho. I was hungry, and it was delicious.

Hurry up the Cakes verdict: Good food night.

Monday’s Raw (which I can only watch Tuesday night here in Manila) was one of the best in recent memory, with a perfect balance of pure, athletic wrestling, story advancement, and silly soap opera drama.

Randy Orton vs. Dolph Ziggler was, as expected, clean and violent and beautiful. I wouldn’t mind watching a couple hours of Dolph Ziggler bouncing around and getting beaten up every week. He’s that good.

Daniel Bryan vs. CM Punk, even if it was inexplicably interrupted by Chris Jericho, is an early match of the year contender. What excites me is that Jericho’s involvement will make sure there will be several more surefire contenders in the coming months.

The Undertaker’s Return and subsequent WrestleMania challenge to Triple H was melodramatic, soap operatic sports entertainment at its finest. And, just like last year’s challenge, not a word was spoken. We all know that those two are sharing the main event stage with Rock and Cena at WrestleMania, but I’m glad that WWE is taking the time and making the effort to make us enjoy seeing how they get there.

(For full results, go to WWE.com.)

Standard
Wrestling

Rumble Predictions: Odds and Ends (of the world as you know it)

"This Sunday, at the Royal Rumble... it's gonna be the end of the world as you know it." - Chris Jericho, last Monday night on Raw

WWE has been promoting the Royal Rumble as the most unpredictable match of the year, but I’m going to try anyway, because this is Hurry up the Cakes, where we (I) attempt to do the impossible.

Here are the Hurry up the Cakes picks to win the 2012 Royal Rumble, with the odds in Resorts World Manila Vegas format:

Chris Jericho

In interviews during his vacation Fozzy World Tour, Jericho would say that he only wanted to come back to the WWE if he were to do something he (or anyone else) hadn’t already done before. And that he most certainly did—in all his creepy viral video, non-promo-promo, sparkly jacket glory. And he made us wait three weeks before he spoke that delightfully ominous statement quoted above.

Meanwhile, the IWC and the TWC were getting wet (with perspiration) in anticipation for a match between the “Best Wrestler in the World” CM Punk, and the formerly-self-proclaimed “Best in the World at What He Does” Chris Jericho.

Surely this is something Jericho himself would’ve wanted upon his return. Right? Right?

Hurry up the Cakes odds – 2:1
—–
Sheamus
He constantly dominates in Goldberg-esque fashion, he gets the biggest pops every week for anyone who isn’t named Randy Orton, and all the kids love him: all ingredients to what WWE traditionally wants in a WrestleMania main event babyface. He ran roughshod over the entire SmackDown roster since he was drafted, but came nowhere near the World Championship. And recently, he’s been “vowing to win the Royal Rumble”, the same way nearly everyone who has ever won the Rumble ever has.

I smell a new Irish Spring World Champion come WrestleMania time.

Also, wouldn’t it be cool if the SmackDown main event for WrestleMania is Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan, when the same match for the US Title was bumped off of the card last year? What a difference a year makes, indeed.

Hurry up the Cakes odds – 2:1
—–
Randy Orton
Orton made his return to WWE TV this past Friday on SmackDown. I suspect they had him return before the Rumble because if he was a surprise return at the Rumble itself (which, conveniently, will be held in his hometown of St. Louis, Missouri), there would be no way for him NOT to win. His entrance pop would overshadow any audience reaction for the night, and the crowd would boo the soul out of whoever would win, if Orton were to be eliminated.

Having him return early would eliminate the Pavlovian “surprise pop”, leaving him with just a “hometown pop”, which would be more manageable if he were to lose.
That being said, Randy Orton still is Randy Orton, The Wrestler Who Wins (™). And the Rumble is going to be held in his hometown. Everyone seemed to be high on him and his work this past year, and the (not-that-)“smart” fans are less sick of him than they are of Cena. Moreover, World Champ Daniel Bryan did go on record to say that his dream opponent for WrestleMania is Mr. RKO himself.

Perhaps we’ll see RKO back on top in the main event of WrestleMania, to the detriment of everyone who has seen him on top in the main event of every single event for the past 8 years.

Hurry up the Cakes odds: 3:1
—–
The Miz
Whenever WWE announces number one entrants beforehand, it’s usually a good guy whom the audience should want to overcome the insane 29-man strong obstacle placed before them (see: Shawn Michaels 1996, Steve Austin 1998/1999/2001, Chris Benoit 2004).

This year it’s The Miz, the pudgy, bullying, media darling.

Miz should get points for having the Rumble story built around him this year, but it’s unlikely they’ll have him win—CM Punk vs. Miz isn’t that much a marquee match on a big card, but especially on WrestleMania.

Hurry up the Cakes odds – 5:1
—–
Wade Barrett
Barrett and his Barrage have been on a roll this past year, almost simultaneously with Sheamus’ heavy-handed babyface push. But two heel Royal Rumble winners in a row just doesn’t sound like WWE’s style (Shawn Michaels 1995 doesn’t count—he was pushing tweener-babyface by then).

The only way this can happen is if Orton somehow wins the Championship between now and WrestleMania, and they have the blowoff match to their long feud. I’d like to remain optimistic, however, that WWE would like to have something new in the main event of the most important card of the year.

Hurry up the Cakes odds: 7:1

Standard
Wrestling

WWE Royal Rumble 2012 Meta-Preview

Tomorrow morning, 9AM Manila time, is WWE Royal Rumble—the most unpredictable night of the wrestling calendar, and the beginning of the road to WrestleMania 28.

WWE has been promoting it as the “25th Anniversary” of the Royal Rumble, but since it’s the 25th annual, it’s only the 24th anniversary. They made the same mistake with WrestleMania 25 three years ago. Didn’t anyone have the cojones to tell Vince and company that they were wrong about it? Weirdos.

Grantland’s previewed the Royal Rumble, and it’s a must-read, as per usual from “The Masked Man” David Shoemaker.

The Rumble is also an annual high point of fan interaction. The anticipation of each new entrant — contrived though it may be — is often exhilarating, with the audience counting down the seconds to every reveal. Moments like that are rare in wrestling — a near-perfect meeting of the crowd’s pure, almost Pavlovian reaction and WWE machers’ careful manipulation.

K Sawyer Paul (of Fair to Flair fame) provided some counterpoints to the Masked Man’s preview, as he is wont to do. It’s useful as an addendum, but also as a preview for the Rumble in and of itself.

A wrestling show will often swing between favouring “characters” and “real people”, often within the same match. Punk’s character is that of a real person with real issues. Jericho and Clay, meanwhile, are 100% characters right now. It’s interesting to watch the audience swing between preferring one over the other, too.

The guys at Droptoehold made their predictions for the Rumble, but threw in some WWE ‘12 commentary as well.

I expect that the WWE will continue to pull storylines from WWE ‘12 in order to validate the game’s weird roster. In the next week or so, there will be a DLC Pack that coincidentally features three people who I think might make an appearance tonight at the Rumble.

And finally, WWE.com’s Royal Rumble page has in-depth, well-written previews of each match, but they also have a fantastic feature on the “Top 25 Stunning Royal Rumble Statistics”. I won’t tell you what number one is, but I will tell you it’s almost a guaranteed mark-out moment. Good stuff.

Standard