Earl Hebner Don't Take No Crap from No One

Photo via Stephen Stone via /woo/

Triple H is having his way with Mankind in the corner, ignoring the count from Earl Hebner. Hebner takes matters into his own hands. The results are awesome.

Who Said Lucha Is Unrealistic?

Photo found via Brendan Meehan

Some schoolyard wrestling to kick off your September, and shit, it's not a LARIATOOOOOOOOOOOO~! or some other strike. That's some grade-A, well-executed lucha libre right there. I'm impressed.

The Best Part of Smackdown Last Night

Screen Grab/Gif credit: Brandon Stroud

Brandon Stroud did a Best and Worst of Super Smackdown. He also did some mighty fine work .gif-izing the best part of Smackdown last night, Christian deking out Randy Orton on a RKO attempt. Christian is such a master worker, and no matter what, he's going to give you a good match. Here's hoping for an extended program with Daniel Bryan coming up.

Last Night's Epic Line in .gif Form

Via Dead N---- Storage Via Flubby

Seriously, there's no one better than CM Punk right now. NO ONE.

Your Midweek Links: Chikara and Kate Upton... Best Links Dump Ever?

This isn't from the WL shoot, but
I'm sure you don't care.
Photo found by Mat Harrell

It's hump day, so here are some links to get you through the rest of the week:

Self-Shilling:

- I rarely link back to earlier posts on here that aren't podcasts, but I really feel strongly about this Chikara review. Read it. Love it. Experience it. And then buy their DVD from Smart Mark. If any promotion in this country is worthy of your money, it's Chikara Pro Wrestling. [Sara del Rey and a World of Sport: Chikarasaurus Rex 2011 Review]

- And if you couldn't get enough Chikara talk, I wrote something for Fair to Flair about the match the English Johnnies had on Saturday. [Your Match of the Week, 7/25-7/31]

- Me and the mysterious but intriguing flubby from Kissing Suzy Kolber talk about football, bourbon and Memphis wrestling. Talk about a manly triad. Also, I insult his profession, and we talk about Nnamdi Asomugha like he wasn't going to the Eagles (because he hadn't signed there yet). [Episode 13: Jar of Superflies]

- Another FtF piece from me, this time using super-nerdy calculus terms to describe why we need people like me and Trey Irby of Wrestling Theory FJMing the shit out of bad wrestling journalism. [Differentiation and Integration]

- Where I call people out for dishonest criticism of Rey Mysterio. [A Preemptive Requiem for Rey Mysterio]

Wrestling Links:

- Another Chikarasaurus Rex review from DDS, a more concise one than mine as well as one with a lot of really awesome pictures. [Dirty Dirty Sheets]

- Colt Cabana gets an AWESOME write-up in a local Chicago magazine. Must-read. [Chicago Reader]

- The Best and Worst of Monday Night RAW, 8/1, or, Get to 200 Comments and We Get Prizes (Maybe), or, Tell Brandon Stroud He Totes Should Do a Podcast and Have Me on as His First Guest [With Leather]

- Kenny Omega wrestles a 9-year old girl... no, he's not a pederast either. [I Want Wrestling]

- Eric Gargiulo looks at a WWF MSG show from 1984. [Camel Clutch Blog]

- K. Sawyer Paul and Garcian Smith discuss sexuality in wrestling and Sting's run in Impact among others. Guess which one I found to be more controversial? If you said the former, you don't know me very well, do you? [International Object]

- Razor's Smackdown review [Fair to Flair]

- And hey, he has thoughts on RAW too! [Kick-Out!! Wrestling]

- An interspecies match that may be better than "Dogface Gremlin" Rick Steiner vs. Ernest "The Cat" Miller [Youtube]

- Why am I linking Cracked in the wrestling links section? Because this list has an entry hitting the nail on the head why pro wrestlers have a pretty rough job. [Cracked]

- So, how good is Derrick Bateman? [Musings of a Mark]

- In the interest of fairness, a missive from an unbeliever in the power of Y2J [South Atlanta Wrestling]

- John Morrison is not at 100%... I can't see this ending well for him or for WWE [Cageside Seats]

- Cris Cyborg to WWE? It was closer than you thought at one point. [Diva Dirt]

- Your CMLL TV report, featuring the most impressive application of the Last Chancery ever [Luchablog]

- Jason Mann and Bill Baconhill discuss the Lex Express SummerSlam. [Wrestlespective Radio]

- All Charlie wants is a dang retweet, dangit [PizzaBodySlam Tumblr]

- And he's STILL not on a damn collector's cup... [Kentucky Fried Rasslin]

Jamie Dobson Interviews:

NO new interviews this week

Non-Wrestling Links:

- Spencer Hall is on The Wrestling Podcast tonight. Here is his take on Les Miles' foraging habits, because making fun of Les Miles is never not funny. [Every Day Should Be Saturday]

- Kate Upton is without a doubt the hottest woman on the planet. Here's a gallery of her with barnyard animals. [With Leather]

- Justin Henry checks in with the best arrests from this lockout-addled offseason in the NFL! [Camel Clutch Blog]

- 20 of the best 66 movie tag lines from the last 30 years... that's a lot of numbers! [Pajiba]

- Being a good Samaritan... you're doin' it wrong [Jalopnik]

- Guy Fieri crowns the best cheesesteak in Philly at the AC Wine and Food Festival. You may think he's a douchejuice (Buzz Bissinger ®), but the guy knows food. [Food Network]

- The Emo Eagle responds to his team's flurry of free agent moves [Kissing Suzy Kolber]

- Vlad Putin tries to restart the Cold War by calling us parasites... okay maybe he's not trying to restart the Cold War, but hey, I figured I'd try my hand at sensationalist journalism, okay? [Foreign Policy]

- Shark Week in a nutshell [Internet Cocaine]

- More sharks, the 10 biggest species in the world [Buzz Feed]

- At least Christopher Meloni has a sense of humor about the whole thing [Videogumblr]

- Anyone who tells you that Libertarians are anywhere remotely close to Republicans needs to get bitchslapped [Coyote Blog]

- Amazon looking to get into social gaming? [20th Level Marketing]

- A travelogue of a local Philly sports blogger exploring the Northern West Coast [Flyers Goal Scored By]

- The ultimate in cameo [Unreality Mag]

- On changing brands and being fickle [Aggressive Art]

- The definitive guide to booger growth [Deadspin]

- Gabrielle Giffords is either really courageous or she's biting off way more than she can chew aiming for a 2012 reelection bid [The Atlantic Wire]

- Five animals we should be eating, or, mmm... endangered, aaaahhhh [Cracked]

- Batman's new origin story! [Ironph]

- Everyone calm down, the three-boobed hooker will be in the Total Recall remake. [Film Drunk]

- For those who care (and judging by ratings, a whole shitload of you do), Charlie Sheen's character in Two and a Half Men is getting killed off. [Warming Glow]

- 75 songs that TSS has enjoyed so far in 2011. Prepare for a lot of hip-hop and some Adele. [The Smoking Section]

- A review of the book, The Swinger, which sadly, isn't about indiscriminate groupsex. [Hugging Harold Reynolds]

- Handheld Gamecube? Handheld Gamecube. [Gamma Squad]

- Donovan McNabb on Eagles' signings: "WHY THE FUCK COULDN'T THEY DO THAT WHILE I WAS HERE?" [The 700 Level]

- Hooray, gambling! [Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal]

- Why'd Cowboys and Aliens bomb? Well, you can start with, as my wife pointed out, the title which was seemingly created after a focus group with 10-year old boys [Grantland]

- We love you, Charlie Kelly [Skull Swap]

- A bunch of Photoshops celebrating Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro, Jr. I dunno, I only thing this'll stand to make him MORE smug. [I Want to Go to the Zoo with Roy Halladay]

- The new Ultimate Spider-man is black. Guys, I think you were a little late on making it happen since they already didn't cast Donald Glover in the new movie. [Topless Robot]

- Alison Brie doesn't like when people ask for her underwear over Twitter. In other news, NO SHIT. Seriously folks, this is why we can't have nice things. [Screen Junkies]

- I know this is for a game that's been over for about 12 hours now, but I just wanted to link to the sweet Photoshop of Kyle Kendrick's head on Brian Kendrick's body [The Fightins]

- Woman goes into labor during bar exam, finishes it regardless. I'd like to think of this as a makeup link for flubby and all my lawyer listeners out there from the podcast. [Mental Floss]

- "Exhaustion", Kings of Leon? Ooookay... [Uproxx]

- Penn State's season forecast... I'll take 8-4 this year, I suppose. [Dr. Saturday]

- Paul Kukla's hockey guilty pleasures [Puck Daddy]

- David Stern doesn't like basketball. Okay, I know this is satire, but it's entirely possible this is the case, right? [Sports Pickle]

- The top pizza moments in cinema history [Doughboys]

Pipe Bomb!

CM Punk is rad, yo.

Thanks to Friend of TWB Zia Hiltey for finding this!

Whoa, a Flippy Move That Looks Good

Via Luchablog/TheCubsFan

Front flip Bus Driver-style DDT? Front flip Bus Driver-style DDT. Unlike the Yoshi Tonic and the Canadian Destroyer, this move, performed by Dark Dragon on Fenix, actually looks like the guy doing it can do it all by himself, without help from the victim. God bless those crazy-ass Mexicans.

Best Fan Reaction Ever... Well, Since Miz Girl at Least

Seriously, those are the kinds of reactions that make me glad that I'm a wrestling fan.

Thanks to @RingsideXcess for making the gif and Andre Harrison for sending it to me!

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!

TWIOT: You Win or You Die, but Either Way, You Get Your Face Ruled

Peter Dinklage masterfully plays Tyrion Lannister in this landmark series
Photo Credit: Boomtron.com

I don't know if you know this yet, but my new televised obsession is the HBO medieval serial Game of Thrones. The show is based off the series of novels by George R.R. Martin called A Song of Fire and Ice, with GoT being the title of the first novel in the series. I don't know, I think in terms of titlage, Game of Thrones way rules over the other one, so right there, you get the feeling that it's going to be epic.

Through the first six episodes, that epicness is justified. The show combines so many different plot devices that it really is something for everyone. It has bloody gore and violence, and some of it is so innovative. Like this one, after the jump:

.gif Credit: Matt Ufford of WarmingGlow

Just in case you don't know what's going on there, it's murder by crowning. And by that I mean the guy is getting molten gold poured over his head. The show also has political intrigue, murder mystery, gratuitous nudity, elements of horror (the White Walkers, who were only shown once so far but will figure in big later on) and Peter Dinklage playing Tyrion Lannister, the sauciest and wittiest dwarf you'll ever encounter. I think this show has something for everyone.

Despite the above exampled depiction of ultraviolence being the norm rather than the exception, it doesn't turn the series into a freakshow. The core of the series, at least through six episodes, has been based on strong storytelling and great acting, the best of which comes from Dinklage as well as Sean Bean, who plays the main character Ned Stark. Right now, there are three or four main angles swirling around that look to coalesce sooner rather than later in a big way. All the characters have some sort of intertwining. Plus, the actual history of Westeros is so rich and developed but extra care is taken to let that shine through without making it an exercise in imagined history. It's actually made a part of the story rather than clunkily tossed in with meaningless displays of lectured exposition.

Right now, my wife is reading the novels, and if they remain as faithful to them as they are now, then things are going to get even more epic as this season and Season 2 progress (the show was renewed for a second season immediately after the first one). If you have HBO and you aren't watching this? They have the entire season on demand so you can catch up. If you don't have HBO, then I suggest getting this when it comes out on DVD, because it's that good so far. I don't expect it to drop off all that much.

The thing is, HBO comes out with so many great shows that it's hard not to go by the track record. For every clunker like John from Cincinnati, they have five critical smashes that either have their finger on the pulse of culture or are instrumental in shaping said culture. From a network that gave us The Sopranos, True Blood, Treme and several other great programs, it's not surprising they delivered with Game of Thrones. The tagline for the show is "You Win or You Die", but the only way you're not winning is if you're not watching. Highest recommendations.

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!