Wow, that was fast! The spring months just flew by! Just like with the last post, I'll talk first about video games during April-June and then wrestling! Let's get in to it!
This was another quarter that set up for the rest of the year. E3 was this past June and we got a lot of release dates for games coming out in the late months. Fallout 4, which was announced the during the weeks leading up to E3 and Rise of Tomb Raider were both announced to be coming out on November 10th. That makes it the greatest release date of the year, which will be following the release of Black Ops 3 the previous week and followed by Star Wars Battlefront the following week. Once again, November will be the biggest month for gaming. The amount of money gamers are going to pour into these games is going to be insane. Just Cause 3, Hitman and Xenoblade Chronicles X are all going the safe route of releasing in December, basically all within the same week it seems. I'm pretty excited for the later months but we'll discuss them in the coming months.
I finished Bloodborne during these months. It was another fantastic journey through Hell. I didn't get to fight the Moon Presence since I only had two of the required items instead of three but I still enjoyed my 40+ trek through the games. It's definitely my Game of the Year right now as nothing during the 2nd quarter really impressed me like Bloodborne did, except ONE game. It took a tried and true formula and made it its own. They announced that there will be some type of expansion for the game and since I downloaded the full game, I'll be playing the DLC whenever it arrives.
I finally finished Xenoblade Chronicles. I'm very happy that I did it with plenty of time before the sequel releases. I hope people don't haze me or anything like that but you know what I realized upon playing this again? I was LITERALLY 1 hour away from beating the game. I could have finished this title LONG ago. I guess I was too focused on the side quests and such that I just tired myself out. I had well over 60 hours in the game and was preparing myself for the superbosses in the game. I never did fight them or beat it on the Wii version. Ah well, at least it's all finished now. I'm fully prepared for Chronicles X on December 4th.
I did a lot of catching up from games in the 1st quarter and of course, played some that were released in the 2nd. The most notable being Mortal Kombat X and Batman: Arkham Knight. Mortal Kombat X is more of the same amazing fighting that the series is known for. There's a well thought out story mode, just like the last MK game and Injustice. All the new characters fit right in with the MK elite as many of them are actually the descendants of them. For example, you can play as Cassie Cage, the daughter of Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade. There are others as well and they all fit. I'm not the biggest fan of fighting games but I always try and play the new additions to either Tekken, Soul Calibur, Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat when I can. If you love fighting games, you should definitely check it out.
Batman: Arkham Knkight is more of the same and that's not a bad thing. Arkham Asylum and Arkham City are two of the greatest superhero games ever. Arkham Knight only furthers this amazing trilogy. The addition of the Batmobile is amazing and much welcomed along with the familiar combat and predator sections. Although this is the fourth go around with Batman, AK does a fantastic job of keeping things fresh. You're never doing the same thing for too long and nothing ever overstays its welcome. Getting tired of destroying tanks? Don't worry, the game will force you on foot eventually. Tired of fighting goon after goon? Don't worry, you'll have to deal with a Riddler puzzle soon. I think the best thing about the Arkham games in the assembly of super villains in the game. They're not all apart of the main story as well so if you really want to see some of the best villains, you actually have to do the side content. You'll be investigating murders, tracking down the Man Bat, or destroying The Penguin's weapon caches. Everything feels different and fresh, even after doing it numerous times and the addition of the original villain Arkham Knight is amazing as well. I haven't completed the game as of this typing but it's easily becoming my #2 game of the year right now. Rocksteady has made Batman a household name in the video game community again. The big question is now what's next for the team. There are dozens of Superman references in the game so maybe that's next?
(I've since completed Batman on July 3rd)
Next up, wrestling!
-Seth Rollins backed up his Wrestlemania title win with victories over Orton, Reigns and Ambrose during the 2nd quarter. He will face Brock Lesnar at Battleground though. That should be a very good match. Rollins and Lesnar had great moments from the Triple Threat from the Rumble and certainly have unfinished business from Wrestlemania. It all makes for an amazing match up but at Battleground of all events? It definitely boosts up the PPV's status a bit but why not wait until SummerSlam? They must have a few big matches planned for the show then.
-Sheamus won the Money in the Bank contract Ladder match in June, thus basically guaranteeing he'll be champion this year or next. I like Sheamus. His new look works, he's a call back to the villains of old and his hard hitting in ring style makes for a good match with just about anyone. I'm really hoping that WWE will pair Sheamus as the new face of WWE, in the storylines at least. The Authority is getting tired of Rollins as champion so what better way to have Rollins turn face then by having them turn on him? You could either have Rollins somehow beat Lesnar, only for Sheamus to cash in or just have Sheamus cash in after Lesnar wins, setting up for Lesnar/Sheamus at SummerSlam. THAT WOULD PUT BUTTS IN SEATS! Well, at least mine in my couch.
-Kevin Owens is the future. Owens won the NXT Title in the first quarter and continued to dominate NXT from there. He came up to the main roster during one of John Cena's US Open Challenges and attacked him, which led to a match at the pop up event on WWE Network, Elimination Chamber. Kevin Owens shocked the world when he defeated John Cena CLEAN. No holding the ropes, no dirty tactics, just straight up finisher into the cover. It's easily the moment of the year from a potential match of the year. They had the rematch at Money in the Bank and while still a match of the year contender, Owens lost. The rubber match will probably happen at Battleground for the US Title as Owens will probably lose the NXT Title to Finn Balor at the live special event from Tokyo on July 4th. This is only further confirmed by the fact that neither Balor or Owens are featured on the tapings after July. Owens on the main roster is great but it also means that we won't be getting anymore matches right now between him and Samoa Joe, that is, until they meet again on the main roster. With Owens soon to be departure from NXT, Finn Balor would be the head of the class, with guys like Sami Zayn and Hideo Itami feuding with him upon return. Solomon Crowe could really grow from this opportunity and Uhaa Nation and Samoa Joe will add to the already great indy talent that NXT has. NXT may be losing a power player in Owens but they will gain plenty more in the coming months. I still want Adam Cole and/or AJ Styles to make their way. I don't care about the rumor of WWE not wanting to use ROH talents. CM Punk, Daniel Bryan and Seth Rollins all are former ROH Champions and also all walked out of different Wrestlemanias as WWE Champion. Maybe hiring guys from ROH ISN'T a bad thing? Just saying... And Cena's open challenges has been amazing. Sami Zayn getting a shot in his hometown was magical and Cesaro/Cena was absolutely amazing. While I'm pushing for Owens to win the US Title, if Cena does retain, I can't be too mad, especially if we see more great challenges.
-I already said in the last paragraph but Kevin Owens VS John Cena from Elimination Chamber was a match of the year type of encounter. While it was fantastic, there is still one match that tops them all for me and that was Sasha Banks VS Becky Lynch from NXT Unstoppable. I don't think I've seen a better technically sound women's match better than this. These girls WRESTLED. Armbars, takedowns, these two were just so in sync with each other. When they announced this match, I did not think it would be as amazing as it turned out to be but Banks and Lynch really put on a stellar performance with the 15 minutes they got. No Divas match from the main roster has ever come close to being this amazing. THIS is how you do a Women's wrestling match.
-Paige is continuing to feud with the once again seem to be villainous Bella Twins. Paige flashed the Bat Signal on the Raw after MITB and no one responded so is it time that one of the Four Horsewomen be called up to the main roster? Bayley has been in NXT for a LONG time so maybe a push to Raw wouldn't be so bad. Sasha's the champ so I can't see it being her while Becky is still honing her craft so it's probably not her. My money is on Charlotte. There's really nothing left for her to do in NXT. Sasha and Charlotte had what we probably be their final NXT match together on the tapings in June, which is set to air on July 15th. With that, it looks liek Charlotte could make her way up to show the WWE Divas how it's done. Maybe....We'll see what happens
What does the 3rd quarter hold for gaming and WWE?
For gaming, the summer kind of a drought. There are games releasing but not a lot that I'm going to play. The biggest release that I want to play during this quarter is definitely Until Dawn. As many of you know, I love story heavy, visual novel type games. Indigo Prophecy, Heavy Rain, Hotel Dusk etc. Until Dawn is going to mix them altogether with a horror based story and multiple pathways and endings. How could I not be excited for it? I can't wait until August 25th!
Gamescon is in August so we'll get to see more from some games that missed E3, liek Quantum Break, Crackdown and Scalebound AKA the three games I currently want most for Xbox One.
The biggest release of this quarter is definitel Metal Gear Solid V, which releases on September 1st and will start the amazing lineup of games coming out in the months to come. Now, I'm not a big MGS fan but with this game rumored to be Kojima's last in the series and with Konami, I'm definitely going to be reading all about it come September.
Obviously, all eyes are going to be on the 4th quarter, which holds MANY big titles, including Call of Duty, Fallout 4 and Assassin's Creed just to name a few. Just have to get through this slow quarter. Lost Dimension, Until Dawn and Mighty No. 9 will tie me over until then. Not to mention I still have Batman, Dying Light, and The Witcher 3 ALL to beat.
For wrestling, the first big thing to happen is going to be Finn Balor winning the NXT Championship. (This has happened) It's all but guaranteed. They had a whole special on him. It's like when John Cena had a DVD release without winning a title yet. Owens will then be on the main roster permanently, eventually dethroning Cena for the US Title so Cena can go back to the main title picture.
Rollins will probably lose the title at Battleground to Lesnar, only for Lesnar to lose to Sheamus, setting up for that monster clash at the show, along with a now face Seth Rollins VS Triple H. Reigns and Wyatt will have some type of specialty blow off match while Owens and Cena will do battle for the last time for the US Title.
NXT will continue to impress and at the next live event, Balor and Samoa Joe will likely main event for the title. Balor will hold onto the title until Hideo is cleared to wrestle again. Balor/Itami is the same as Neville/Zayn. If Itami doesn't come back until January, then Balor NEEDS to hold the belt until then. I feel bad for Itami. I wonder, had he not gotten injured, would he have been the one to win the title in Tokyo? It would have been that much more special.
The 2nd quarter wasn't too bad. It featured another strong contender for Game of the Year and several great matches for Match of the Year. For the 3rd quarter, I'm most looking forward to seeing Crackdown and Scalebound in action, while finally getting to play Until Dawn. For wrestling, the amazing weekend of a NXT Takeover Special IN Brooklyn on Saturday and SummerSlam on Sunday is almost too much for me to handle. Almost I said....
That's all! Until next quarter!
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