Henry's World

After complete pandemonium befell the Divisional Round of this year's NFL Playoffs, I, for one, was absolutely certain that the NFC and AFC Championship games were certain to disappoint. We had two obvious favorites in the Chiefs and Rams, two teams that bolstered star-studded rosters and supposedly excellent, innovative head coaches, who would surely have their locker rooms in prime position to win out at home and punch their tickets to the Super Bowl. A Chiefs-Rams finale wouldn't be the most interesting matchup on paper, but both possess dazzling offenses, and would likely bring in a huge viewership for the NFL to crow about. It would be the most obvious ending possible, but in year that's been one of the most unpredictable in recent memory, just being a favorite on paper didn't mean jack squat.  #4 Cincinnati Bengals (27) def. #2 Kansas City Chiefs (24) The Bengals looked, for all the world, like dead meat in the first half of this one, failing to generate anything ...

When he entered Osaka on February 12th for The New Beginning , Kazuchika Okada was merely a boy. Okada had demonstrated some upside, but fans had little reason to believe in Okada, who had been reduced to a joke in TNA, and when given the spotlight on his return, Okada was immediately overshadowed by Hiroshi Tanahashi, an actual star, not a youngster playing dress-up. Everything about Okada's appearance at Wrestle Kingdom 6 was haphazard, from his oversized coat to the lack of any impact to his new finisher, the Rainmaker. There was no rhyme or reason for Okada to be destined to be anything more than a random detour for Tanahashi, a little piece of trivia during the fifth IWGP Championship reign of New Japan's resident Ace. But when Tanahashi and Okada stepped into the ring together, all reasonable logic and predictable booking soared out the window. Okada hung with Tanahashi on that night, doing a passable job looking the equal of Japan's brightest star, and in the flash ...

In many ways, the rivalry between Triple H and Shawn Michaels epitomized the peaks and valleys of WWE's creative throughout the early 2000's. Shawn's triumphant return, plus a revitalized Hunter playing the dastardly heel, lead to a spectacular display in their SummerSlam 2002 clash, turning what was intended to be a wrestling cameo for Shawn into another full-time run in the business. But the mood would sour within months, as online naysayers began to express disgruntlement with how the saga following SummerSlam played out. Triple H spent an eternity in the world title scene, frequently putting viewers to sleep on Monday night with his long-winded promos and formulaic, drawn-out matches, while the still beloved Michaels was sent to the midcard, staying away from his supposed blood rival. Their match at Armageddon 2002 received a mixed reception, while their Last Man Standing bout at the 2004 Royal Rumble was significantly more exciting, but the draw finish was roundly r...

Despite a heapload of hype, Wild Card Weekend was something of a bust for the NFL, with acceptable TV ratings and most games ending in blowouts, as it was clear that adding another team to the playoff picture completely broke all sense of competition. But the advantage for the league is that it guaranteed that those teams that advanced had been established as excellent, and the four games that made up the Divisional round seemed to promise a tad more excitement. Boy, was that an understatement. Let's take a look at what was learned throughout the weekend, beginning with Saturday's games.  #4 Cincinnati Bengals (19) def. #1 Tennessee Titans (16) Pound for pound, this was probably the least interesting clash of the quartet, which I never pictured saying on Saturday afternoon. It was a messy game on both sides, and while the occasional breakaway runs from Ja'Marr Chase and D'Onta Foreman provided a few highlights, this proved to be just an appetizer for the chaos to come. ...

Welcome to your main event of the evening. Tonight, we have on tap the legendary final showdown between two of the greatest to ever grace the squared circle, the innovative and destructive Kenta Kobashi, and the spiritually transcendent Mitsuharu Misawa. Throughout the 1990's, the two have blazed a trail built on a mutual thirst for violence, stealing the show night after night in All Japan Pro Wrestling, exiting the decade as two of the biggest stars in The Land of the Rising Sun. After Misawa led the controversial exodus that stripped All Japan's roster down to bare bones, he utilized the talent he brought with him to found Pro Wrestling NOAH, the puroresu powerhouse of a new millennium. Kobashi was one of many to jump ship, joining his old rival and tag partner in this ambitious venture, though the creator of the Burning Hammer was running on spare parts. Kobashi's bum knees forced him out of action after playing his part to establish the new brand, and in the interim, M...

Today, I bring you something a little off the beaten path for my blog, as I rewatch my very first Super Bowl, Super Bowl 43 between the Arizona Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers, which took place in February of 2009. This was an iconic game for me, filled with legendary plays, and now, after over a decade, it still feels truly special in a way that even more recent NFL games don't. For one, it's the farewell to John Madden in the booth, and with his passing at the end of last year still fresh for many, this is a bittersweet watch in hindsight. It also adds recent relevance due to the (likely) impending retirement of Ben Roethlisberger, as the 26 year old Big Ben went to war in a duel with the aging Kurt Warner, with Roethlisberger securing a major piece of his legacy as a result. I'm so curious to revisit this night with a ton of added football knowledge, and take an opportunity to once again experience a defining 60 minutes of NFL history.  Pittsburgh entered as 7 point fa...

The best hype machine TNA could drum immediately went behind Bound For Glory the second it was introduced, with vignettes promoting it throughout the last several months of programming, and the company's big debut on Spike TV setting the stage for what they hoped would be their WrestleMania alternative. It did lack the more organic excitement that comes from big shows from the WWE, WCW, or AEW given that the brand had yet to build anything at all worthy of this level of respect, but in the four weeks Impact! had on Spike, TNA ignited. The debuts of Team 3D (the renamed Dudley Boyz) and Gail Kim, plus the return of Kevin Nash, and formation of Jeff Jarrett's new alliance helped the top of the card stand out in a way it hadn't in months. Raven losing the NWA title in an untelevised match in another company (Border City Wrestling up in Canada) was certainly a bummer, but Jarrett as champ was probably the right choice as a representative of TNA for potential new viewers. Jarret...

There are signature matches intrinsically linked to a certain performer, or one marquee display that carried entire event, but rarely does any single contest define the entire legacy of a promotion like the main event of Unbreakable 2005 did for TNA/Impact Wrestling. To this day, you can find athletes, bookers, and fans alike that remain amazed of what AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, and Samoa Joe accomplished on this night, and it was fortunate for TNA that this three-way tango lived up to the hype, because the build to everything else on the card was mediocre at best. The largely forgotten "Chris Candido Memorial Cup" ate up most of the airtime between Sacrifice and Unbreakable, and while the attempt to honor the memory of Candido was touching, the single-elimination tag team tournament ended up as something of a waste of time. TNA's decision to throw together each team out of spare parts meant most of the duos had no experience working together, and it became an array ...

Nearly 5 months of competition ran down to one final week, where Rascal hunted down his first Dog League Championship, going against a formidable Rare Woofs behemoth. In this post, I'll take a look at how each team finished, and reveal a few planned alterations for The Dog League moving forward.  Final Standings 1. Ridiculous Rascals 2. Rare Woofs 3. Canine Comets 4. Tailwaggerz 5. Growlers 6. Tug of War 7. Leaping Girl 8. Bark Force Congratulations to Rascal for finally putting it all together and capturing his first Dog League title, crushing Rare Woofs' hope for a three-peat behind a 50 burger from Ja'Marr Chase. The Comets and Leaping Girl both survived late flurries to win their respective games, as Najee Harris (Tailwaggerz) and the duo of Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams (Bark Force) each came with an eyelash of pulling off historic comeback wins. Growlers, meanwhile, dominated on the strength of big games from Rashaad Penny and the Saints defense. These standings wil...

SmackDown entered the spring of 2004 in dire straits, as Kurt Angle (rehabbing from neck surgery) and Brock Lesnar (trying his hand at a football career), arguably the two most established names on the brand, were now out of all post-WrestleMania plans. The newly reinstated WWE Draft had the opportunity to get the show the starpower it so desperately needed, but instead, SmackDown was handed castoffs and scraps, left to build a cohesive main event scene out of whatever drawing power was left in Booker T and Rob Van Dam, and youngsters like Rene Dupree and Mark Jindrak. SmackDown was almost thrown a bone when Triple H was drafted to the show, but that was quickly nixed, and an injury to The Big Show in the weeks between WrestleMania and Judgment Day forced yet another potential contributor to the sideline. With Booker already scheduled for a program working against The Undertaker, there were no heels left on this shockingly empty roster to challenge the beloved Eddie Guerrero for his WW...