WWE: WHO IS THE REAL WWE CHAMPION?

Rey Mysterio won the WWE title last night in a great tournament final match against The Miz. Rey was defintely the star of the show and proved why he is one of the most enduring superstars ever in pro wrestling. Not just because of his high-risk style but because he can wrestle anyone and have a good matrch.

Mysterio's reign would not last though, as he would go on to lose the title to John Cena later on in the show after Triple H (The new "WWE COO") set up a match between the two.

This was a great match. No big hype. No over developed storyline. Just two guys who respect each other and both want to be WWE Champion, BUT THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE (Highlander reference).

After Cena won the title, CM PUNK came out and stood in the ring with Cena with both men holding belts.

(Picture courtesy of WWE.COM)

Punk is holding the belt he won from Cena at Money In The Bank and Cena is holding the new belt that he just won from Mysterio. The common thought is that these guys will fight at Summerslam on August 19th to determine who is "the real world champion."

This is really a great angle. It has great opportunity to be the biggest storyline of the year.

I've covered this storyline from the beginning so check out these other blogs I've written if you need to get caught up:

http://professorscorpio.blogspot.com/2011/06/cm-punk-is-best-in-world.html

http://professorscorpio.blogspot.com/2011/07/cm-punk-is-money-in-bank.html

http://professorscorpio.blogspot.com/2011/07/wwe-raw-i-want-my-new-wwe-champion.html

Class Dismissed,
The Professor

THE NEW SUPERMAN

Superman in "Action Comics" (Picture Courtesy of DC Comics.com)

In September DC will relaunch its line and all titles will start off with a new number one issue. This will include "Action Comics" and Superman.

According to an article in USA Today which you can read here: http://www.usatoday.com/life/comics/2011-07-18-superman-a-bachelor-in-comics-relaunch_n.htm, there are certain things that are changing about the Man of Steel.

Action Comics will take place in the past, at the time when Superman first starts his career as a superhero and Bleeding Cool News has provided bullet points on the changes in both "Action" and "Superman"

* This Superman is very much an alien, one struggling to adjust to his adopted home. In the series, he must come to terms with both the loss of his home world, as well as the loss of both of his adopted parents. He is more Kal-El from the planet Krypton than Clark Kent from Kansas. He’s a loner trying to find his place in the world.

* The series’ first storyline will explore the origins of Superman’s costume, as it evolves from a look that includes jeans and work boots to a new look: a suit of battle armor that pays tribute to his Kryptonian past.

* His great powers have limits. When the series begins, Superman can leap tall buildings, but his ability to fly is in its infancy.

Superman in Superman#1 (Picture courtesy of Google Images)

When "Superman" debuts in September this will be Superman in the present day and there will be some changes as well including that:

* Clark Kent is single and living on his own. He has never been married.

* Lois Lane is dating a colleague at the DAILY PLANET (and his name isn’t Clark Kent) and she has a new position with the paper.

My personal take on the new Superman:

Superman is my favorite Superhero of all time. I understand why DC is making these changes. No matter what, Batman will always be cooler than Superman and DC is hoping to make Superman more interesting by making him more like Batman with the loss of his adopted parents (Ma and Pa Kent) and make him angrier and more brooding. I don't think this take will be as effective in the long run but it should provide a short-term boost in sales for DC.

On the dissolution of the marriage between Lois and Clark:
Here's a quote in USA Today from Jim Lee, Co-Publisher at DC: “We just felt there were more interesting, creative stories to mine in that time period of Superman’s history prior to him getting married”

In other words DC couldn't think of ways to keep the marriage interesting without Lois continually playing the "damsel in distress" role so they're dissolving it. I loved the marriage but there were only a few writers that could handle it well. So I'd rather see it go away rather than be treated as an afterthought in the comics.

Look! Up In the Sky! It's a Bird!, It's a Plane!, It's Super Iron Man!!
And Finally, Why is Superman wearing armor? He's invulnerable. Unless DC has changed that fact then I don't understand the need for armor from a story standpoint.

I do understand it from a marketing standpoint though. In DC's mind if Superman wears armor then that will make him look cooler and equate him with Iron Man and Thor in the minds of teenagers and young adults.

As I stated earlier I don't think that this type of relaunch or reboot will give DC a boost in sales in the long-term but it will help them in the short-term. Probably if sales are bad again in five years we will see another reboot.

Class Dismissed,
The Professor

WWE RAW: I WANT MY NEW WWE CHAMPION!!!

After the exhilirating events of Money In The Bank and CM PUNK leaving with the WWE title after his contract (legitimately) expired on Sunday I was looking forward to Raw Monday night.

Vince Mcmahon set up an 8-man tournament to crown a new champion. The final match had Miz vs. Rey Mysterio for the title.

Rey Mysterio should have won the championship tournament last night and I was psyched that he was going to. I thought it was weird that the final match was taking place and there were only 10 minutes left in the show. The match didn't happen. Vince came out and said he had to deal with Cena so the match would happen next week.

Note to WWE: If you're going to do an 8-man tournament then please give the matches time limits so that people can enjoy the tournament in full and you don't have the problem of running out of time on your show. TNA wouldn't even do that.

I hated RAW last night. NO CM PUNK and the crowning of a new World Champion was postponed until next week.


Instead Vince went along with the angle that he was going to fire Cena. Anybody that believed Vince would fire Cena probably thought Kofi Kingston would win the WWE title. Triple H came out and said that he had a meeting with the Board of Directors and Cena was not fired and Vince was "relieved of his duties."

I don't believe that for one second. Vince McMahon, for better or worse will remain in charge of the WWE until he decides to step down.

It's only been one day and I really miss CM PUNK.

Class Dismissed,
The Professor

CM PUNK IS MONEY IN THE BANK

Above is a picture of CM PUNK just after he won the WWE Championship from John Cena last night. (The Picture is courtesy of WWE.COM). After this picture was taken, Punk proceded to leave the ring and go out through the crowd while Vince McMahon watched in horror.

CM PUNK's contract expired Sunday at midnight so technically, WWE doesn't have a WWE champion. No one knows if PUNK signed an extension or not. And that is what makes this storyline so fun. It is a mixture of realism and fiction. Something that has been lacking in wrestling since about 2001.

Personally I didn't think the WWE would let PUNK win the title on Sunday. And even if he did, I thought one of the Money In The Bank winners would come down, cash in their shot, and take the title from him. According to PW TORCH, one of the winners, Alberto Del Rio came down but PUNK kicked him in the head before he could do anything.

I have to commend WWE and Vince McMahon. They listened to the fans and gave us something unexpected.

Paul Heyman said on his Twitter account that CM PUNK is the voice of a generation and I agree. Like Austin, Rock, and Hogan before him, PUNK is "The Man" and he could have just started a new era in WWE.

Time will tell and I'm definitely tuning in to RAW tonight at 9pm.

Class Dismissed,

The Professor

MARVEL ENTERPRIES: NO NEED FOR DIGITAL LAUNCH

I was reading Warren Ellis blog last week and he was discussing the fact that Marvel has no plans currently to do a line-wide digital release of their comics like DC who will release both digital and print copies of their books when their relaunch occurs in September.

Mr. Ellis said on his blog on 6/30/2011 concerning Marvel's digital strategy: "Their digital store, then, is a big back-issue bin, with the occasional experiment in day-and-date simultaneous release in print and digital. They’re unlikely to go line-wide day-and-date like DC unless DC’s numbers are explosively successful and stay that way for six months — in digital AND print. Right now, Marvel own the comics stores in terms of dollar sales and market share, and probably see no compelling reason to risk a dilution of those figures. Those figures look good on quarterly reports. And that’s not a knock against Marvel, just an observation of the reality of their business life." (Courtesy of WarrenEllis.com. Check out his blog at http://www.warrenellis.com/).

Mr. Ellis mentions that Marvel owns the comic stores in terms of dollar sales and market share which is true but there is something else to consider. Marvel and their parent company, Disney realize that comics are no longer the optimum way to reach an audience anymore. TV and films are the best way to reach the masses.



Consider that Iron Man and Iron Man 2 have grossed millions of dollars in box office revenue since their release in 2008 and 2010 respectively. Since then there have been cartoons and action figures that have given kids a new action hero. 





Just this past Summer, "Thor" came out and introduced Marvel's counterpoint to DC's Superman. The film grossed over 400 million dollars at the box office according to the Chicago Tribune (http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-rt-us-harrypottertre75t22t-20110705,0,5429209.story). Thor 2 has also been announced for 2013 according to comic book website newsarama.  



And of course in 2012, Marvel Studios launches "The Amazing Spider-Man" movie according to the Internet Movie Database.  




In TV news the Incredible Hulk is coming back to TV according to an article from TV Guide:http://www.tvguide.com/News/Networks-Superhero-Shows-1034938.aspx.

Right now Marvel is in a great place with its characters while DC and Warner Brothers still struggles with a planned reboot of the Superman franchise and a Wonder Woman TV show that wasn't picked up.

Maybe the reason why Marvel doesn't concern itself with the launch of digital day and date of their comic book line is because it realizes that comics no longer interests the reader as they once did with their long-form storytelling but in the age of an audience that seeks instant gratification Marvel's flawed heroes can reach a broader audience through movies and television.

Class Dismissed
The Professor