Chin up, it's Caturday!

Old School Wrestling: Royal Rumble 1990

Though I know Hogan's in the Royal Rumble this year, I'm still looking forward to this one because they are really pushing DiBiase to win this one. Last year DiBiase cheated his way to the last position, so this year there's a lot of heat on DiBiase to lose.

Anyway, there's a few good matches to start the pay per view off, and one terrible match.

The Bushwhackers (Butch and Luke) vs. The Fabulous Rougeaus (Jacques and Raymond) (with Jimmy Hart)

The sound was a little off at the start of the pay per view, it sounded like a gym. I was surprised that one of the Rougeau brothers grew a beard. They seem like they are pretty boy types, which would never have beards these days. I haven’t seen much of the Bushwhackers and it is amazing how over they are, the crowd goes nuts when they come out!

The match is full of biting and is full of pandamonium. It is a hectic pace, but both tag teams sell each move like crazy. The Rougeaus do a great job making the Bushwackers look like they are out of control with their moves and when the Bushwackers hit their moves, it feels like lightning hits the ring. It’s so fun, you can’t help but cheer. The Bushwhackers win and it’s an electrifying way to start the pay per view.

Brutus Beefcake vs. The Genius

Oh god. Beefcake’s pink mesh tights. Why does anyone like Beefcake? Anyway. Genius does a lot of acrobatic showmanship moves. It’s funny, Beefcake makes fun of the Genius for being prissy, but Beefcake is very prissy himself. This match is horrible. The crowd is rude and the match is uncomfortable to watch. The ref takes a terrible hit and bounces on the match badly. There is a double-disqualification and it’s just awful.

There is one of the few chair shots when Mr. Perfect comes out to save the Genius’s hair as Beefcake cuts it off. Beefcake just does a terrible job throughout this entire match, Genius did all the work and the full time wrestler, Beefcake, just flopped around like a dead fish. The crowd only made the match worse. Probably the worst match I’ve seen so far in the old school pay per views.

Ronnie Garvin defeated Greg Valentine (with Jimmy Hart)

Both of the wrestlers have leg braces on. This will be important during the match as they keep trying to use their braces to cheat. It starts out like a boxing match, though. They kept going for pins, a few too many, but using the leg braces to apply and block the figure four submission holds was really funny and inventive. It added a different dimension.

Jim Duggan vs. The Big Boss Man (with Slick)

This started out fast and furious. Hacksaw is a street fighter so this feels like a bar fight, yet he still has the time to “Hooooo” every minute. This is a pure brawl match, almost no wrestling, technical-wise. It was a basic match, but exciting. Simple.

Onto the Royal Rumble!

It starts out with DiBiase vs. Koko B. Ware. DiBiase got spot number 30 last year, so this year he got spot number one. Koko fought well, but he was eliminated quickly. Marty Jannetty came out next and was eliminated before Jake the Snake came out. DiBiase actually goes out of the ring to fight Jake the Snake before he gets into the ring, of course going out under the ropes. Macho Man is next, so there are three people in the ring. Next is Piper. He saves Jake from the heels. Finally the ring is getting full. Bret comes out.

Macho Man takes out Jake the Snake over the top rope. I can tell that the method of taking a wrestler out over the top rope is starting to become more common. Rhodes comes into the ring and takes Macho out with the second most common move used these days to take a wrestler out during a Royal Rumble. As the methods to take wrestlers out of the ring become more standard, the storytelling during the match become more important.

Andre comes out. Bad News and Piper eliminate each other and have a rough brawl to the back. The brawl is slightly messy, they trip a bit, so it feels real unlike these days when even the brawls are heavily scripted.

Andre gets eliminated. Unlike the other Royal Rumbles he’s very slow at this one. He’s really slowing down at this point.

Every time DiBiase gets close to being eliminated, the crowd goes crazy. Five wrestlers get eliminated by Earthquake. Really? Earthquake? It gives him a little push. The Ultimate Warrior comes out and ends up eliminating DiBiase and everyone loves it. It does a great job of pushing the Ultimate Warrior, and it also gives DiBiase credibility because he lasted so long and could only be eliminated by one of the physically strongest wrestlers in the card.

Since the ring is full of a bunch of people, Hogan comes out and eliminates the world. Of course. I am not surprised that it ends up as Hogan vs. Warrior for a while. Warrior gets thrown over the top rope with Hogan’s help and gets mad about it. I’m not at all surprised about this.

It ends up with Rick Rude, Mr. Perfect, and Hogan. Rude gets taken out, and Perfect gets in a Perfect Plex. Of course Hogan no-sells it. Hogan his move and Perfect sells it because Perfect is a better wrestler. Perfect goes over the rope and Hogan wins. No surprise. This sets up Hogan versus Warrior.

It wasn’t a bad pay per view. The ending was very expected, and besides the travesty that was Genius vs. Beefcake, the rest of the matches were decent. Not my favorite pay per veiw, but it was good to watch it. I am liking Warrior far, far more than Hogan. It’s like a breath of fresh air.

Cute Kendall on Caturday!

Cooking: Vegetable Soup Stock

So I picked up the Wagamama Cookbook, which is for a lot of soups and ramen type food. One of the basic soup bases is a vegetable soup base that uses Chinese cabbage, leeks, onions, white and sweet potatoes, and a few other things I couldn't find, so I made a lot of subsitutions. 

My crock pot was filled to the brim!

I couldn't find some of the items, like the butternut squash because our grocery store was out of them. My crock pot is very small, I decided to modify the recipe a little and added beans. I had a brussel sprout, my latest obsession  so I added one of those, too. I was supposed to add some tomatoes, but I forgot to add those.

Without the lid on. So colorful!

The recipe said to simmer on the stove, but my cats tend to get on the stove, plus our stove tends to burn out if I leave it on simmer for too long, so I decided to crock pot it. Generally I'll use a crock pot for anything that requires a long time to simmer. I ended up having it on high for about 3 hours and on simmer for about four hours.

All done!

It came out looking very green and smelled very earthy. I didn't add any spice or salt to the broth when it cooked, so I had to add it to the broth after I strained it.

Strained. Oops, some carrots fell into the strainer.

When the broth was strained, it was a nice brown color. Very tasty, I think, but it will need some good noodles for it to really be good. The taste is very green. I think I should have added the tomatoes. I remembered to add the spices to the broth before I put it in the freezer.

The nice thing is all the sweet and russet potatoes I mashed together with the remains of the leek, then added a tablespoon of butter and a bunch of garlic, so I have some mashed potatoes to use later if I need some. I hate wasting food like that.

The soup I intend to make is the swordfish ramen, but I'm waiting to find some swordfish on sale. Once I find the fish, I'll take the broth out of the freezer and make the soup itself!