Batson's Blog

Surprise entrants in the Royal Rumble are always one of the highlights of that event. Sometimes, WWE management lets the fans down by failing miserably at the booking. 2020, in particular, was an awful year for the men's Royal Rumble. Edge was the big surprise return, and that was definitely awesome, but no other surprises (big or small) happened in that match. I'm not entirely sure what will happen at this year's Royal Rumble. It's the first Rumble under Triple H's management (assuming that Vince McMahon doesn't regain creative control before then). Really, anything could happen. I'm assuming Shane McMahon won't be an entrant or involved in any of the planning, but Bad Bunny, Logan Paul, The Rock, or John Cena could all show up. I'm assuming Cody Rhodes returns, but that's more of an expected surprise. I would honestly not mind if he didn't take part in the Rumble and showed up the following night on Raw, or a few days later on Smackdown, t...

The new year means a few things: new year's resolutions.  Award shows.  The Super Bowl. For wrestling fans it also means a few things: the Royal Rumble, the road to Wrestlemania and ... Hall of Fame inductions. One of the best nights of the year has become the night of the Hall of Fame ceremony.  Colorful speeches, fun road stories and seeing wrestlers of yesteryear are all part of the night that kicks off Wrestlemania weekend. Here are a few of my ideal Hall of Fame classes The years aren't exact, but a rough timeline of what I think would work out well 2020 (in Tampa): The Rock (headlining, obviously) Christian (he's from Tampa) Jushin Thunder Liger (he's retiring this month) Vader Taz Molly Holly 2021: The Undertaker Rob Van Dam The British Bulldog Jim Cornette Victoria 2022: The Big Show The Steiner Brothers Cyndi Lauper (Celebrity Wing) Eric Bischoff Goldust Luna Vachon 2023: Batista Rob Van Dam Paul Heyman (I assume he'll...

I didn’t intend on watching this but it was the best option of the flight I was recently on. So, Rampage it was. Sometimes it’s best to go into a movie with no (or minimal) expectations because it surprises you. I’ll admit that the movie didn’t start the way I thought it would. Granted I didn’t watch every trailer so maybe the setup of the movie was previewed in one of those. The Rock is a zookeeper (or zoologist?).  He has a special bond with one gorilla in particular.  A space crash, one mad scientist and a full-on mutation later, Davis Okoye (The Rock) is now teaming up with an attractive genetic engineer, Dr. Kate Caldwell (Naomie Harris). Davis' relationship with George was a bit corny. Or a lot corny. I don’t know exactly what it’s like dealing with apes, but I find it very hard to believe that they can understand dialogue the way The Rock’s character was delivering it. A basic understanding? Sure. But understanding sarcasm (enough to flip a human off)? I ...

It's been a while since I tackled the casting for the upcoming He-Man / Masters of the Universe movie. Turns out that Sony is not pursuing the movie anymore.  Mattel announced their own film division in the past couple of weeks. So, it's still possible a He-Man movie gets made.  In fact, maybe the Mattel film division would put more focus on the movie. I'm somewhat happy about this because Sony seems like a cluster --- to put it mildly. I'm hoping Mattel is a little more organized and can help get a He-Man movie made, regardless of which studio it ends up working with. Assuming a He-Man movie does still happen, today, I present you with something a little different. Instead of people who should be considered for the role, I'm giving you 5 actors who should NOT be cast as He-Man Mike O'Hearn He's not a realistic choice anyway, so I'm not concerned that he'll get the role, but he's certainly been expressing interest in getti...

Ooh. I'm a bit disheartened writing this review because I had such high hopes for this one. Some people don't like Kevin Hart, but I think he's hilarious. He's got this charisma and style to his punchlines that just kills me. The Rock usually does well, too. He's one of the most successful dudes in Hollywood right now. I figured Central Intelligence would be a great movie with those two involved. Unfortunately, I was wrong. This was one of those movies where the trailer showed the best parts of the movie. They took a different route than the typical buddy cop movie plot. Instead of having two guys team up to the save the world, they through a twist in there. The Rock's character -- Bob Stone -- was a good guy. Or was he bad? Or maybe good? Or bad? The storyline throughout the movie had you guessing whether his character was an insane bad guy or a misunderstood agent. It was different. I'll give them credit for that. It didn't r...

There were a few things that were learned over the course of the last 12 months. Here are the most important things: If you want a successful movie at the box office, put The Rock in it . The man was the highest grossing actor of the year (even beating out Robert Downey Jr.). Batman is the best super hero of all time . They wouldn’t even let him rest in peace. The Dark Knight trilogy just ended and they're already planning more movies with a new Batman. Even Spider-Man got three years before they rebooted his franchise. Billy Ray Cyrus is not the father of the year . Watch the Mtv Video Music Awards to see proof of that. The Carolina Panthers can be a legitimate team . They've had the best season in over a decade. Super Bowl chances?? We'll see. One thing is for sure: it's Cam Newton's best season yet.

Well so much for my prediction. Last week I predicted that Fast 6 would have a tough time getting number one at the box office since it was facing competition like Iron Man 3 and Star Trek: Into Darkness (both opened earlier in May) along with The Hangover III , which opened Thursday. It's time for me to eat crow though. Fast 6 ruled the box office , with $98.5 million in the U.S. and more than $250 million worldwide. So about those roles The Rock wants in Star Wars and Transformers, along with a possible role in a Marvel movie?? I think some movie studio executives may be ringing his phone, texting his mobile, sending PMs on Twitter and knocking on The Rock's door. Related Content: • 2013 - The Year of The Rock? • G.I. Joe: Retaliation - reviewed. • Iron Man 3 - reviewed. • Hollywood's Best Espionage Agents

In Chinese culture it may be the year of the snake , but globally, it seems to be the year of The Rock. Years ago (feels like a loooong time now that I'm at the elderly age of 27), when I first started watching pro wrestling, The Rock was just starting to break out on his own. I started watching in 1997, less than a year after Rocky Maivia debuted.  He was supposed to be a fan favorite, but when fans weren't reacting favorably, the World Wrestling Federation made him a heel (or villain). That's when he showed some personality and became very popular -- a household name in fact. Still, predicting that he would one day be a box office draw for major motion pictures would have gotten a lot of laughs. Yet that's exactly what happened. I figured he'd do well in the action genre, but I had no idea that he'd end up being all of the place. On May 24 he'll be in Fast 6 . That will be the fourth movie he's been in this year. He's signed on to be i...

I was going to see the sequel G.I. Joe flick earlier, but I unexpectedly found that the normal rate for a evening ticket to a movie is at least $10.00. AMC and Regal Theatres were actually more expensive than $10.00. So, I decided to wait and go to a mid-day showing. $5.00 ticket? Much more reasonable. The medium pop and popcorn still cost about $12, but oh well. Popcorn has always been part of the movie theatre experience for me. Evidently is just now a costly one. I was worried for a moment that I wouldn't get to see the movie. There were projector problems throughout the previews. The Wolverine, opening in May, sounded very cool. The black screen I was watching left me eagerly listening to the entire trailer. Maybe it's better that way. It'll be more of a surprise when I watch it. Thankfully they fixed the video issue before the movie started. There's a pretty fun action sequence that kicks off Retaliation involving Duke (Channing Tatum), Roadblock...