Crash Bandicoot: N-Sane Trilogy (PS4)

EYEBROW POWER

My thumb hurts. This game's been out for 16 hours and my thumb hurts.

205 Live (6/28)

ON BOARD FOR T HIS

We haven't talked about 205 and the Cruisers for a while, because, well, 205 and the Cruisers have been stagnant for a while. But let's check in, as at least one new development has livened things up.

Motherfuckin' Lucha Underground! "Macho Madness" (6/28)

Lucha Underground gets its Motherfuckin' thanks to Killshot and Jeremiah Crane, but no screenshot because there aren't any good ones on the Internet and I still can't take my own easily.

They fucked my bracket! First, they had Paul London pick up a countout win over Vibora, a.k.a. Luchasaurus. Not a huge deal, because whoever won was getting squashed next week by Mil Muertes, and my other picks - Mil squashing Veneno, Taya defeating Joey Ryan, and Jeremiah Crane defeating Killshot - all went as I expected.

After a few weeks of lackluster first round matches, Killshot vs. Crane delivered the hard-hitting, competitive, spot-fest action I love Lucha Underground for. The match had everything, from strikes and flips and outside-the-ring shenanigans to a good energy, crisp moves, and a hot crowd. Sure, the Dante Fox distraction that gave Crane the win was as perfunctory as it gets, but other than that, perfection.

Crane also attacked Mil in the bathroom in a backstage vignette and did something to his neck. No idea if that'll play out once we get to Round 3 or not.

In the other major vignette, the final participant was revealed, and it's not Matanza, as I predicted. It's "Son of Madness", who is the guy who looks just like Son of Havoc who appeared in the Season 3 trailer. While this change makes me more confident in my pick of Prince Puma to win Group D, and I'm confident Son of Madness will beat Son of Havoc next week in Round 1, I don't know whether Son of Madness will beat Dragon Azteca Jr. or not. Probably not, because they probably don't want to push him that hard before his undercard feud with Havoc, but maybe. We'll see.

Smackdown Live (6/27)

About to make WWE history?

OK, first things first. SMackdown Live, right now, is more entertaining than it's ever been, and this episode was, for the most part, a stellar example of that.

Monday Night Raw (6/26)

Not quite the Festival of Friendship, but not bad.

 In the absence of much good wrestling or significant developments, Raw was really the tale of two segments.

GLOW (Netflix) (No Spoilers)

Five plus hours of fun, for the most part.

Thanks to half hour episodes, a ten episode run, and most importantly, a lack of interest by anyone esle in my life that might mess with scheduling, I watched the entire run of GLOW on Netflix in about four days. Oh, also thanks to it being wildly entertaining.

Lucha Underground: "Family Firstt" (6/21)

Well, the good news is, my Group C, Round 1 predictions in the Cueto Cup were also all correct, and we got a new installment of the Johnny Mundo / Rey Mysterio comedy documentary on their preparations for their match. Other than that, though, it was a lackluster episode, undeserving of either a screencap or a Motherfuckin'.

Raw and Smackdown (June 19-20)

Easily D-Bry's best moment since becoming GM.

In the interest of time, here are the significant events from Raw and Smackdown this week.

Money In The Bank 2017

Even he thinks this is a bad idea.

Money iIn The Bank has been successfully deposited, and as a brand-specific PPV, it was surprisingly entertaining. But as the delivery system for one of the most important gimmicks in the WWE currently, it fell short.

Wonder Woman

Still gonna wait for reviews on Justice League tho.

In an "objective" measurement of comparative movie quality, Wonder Woman clocks in at a high Thor 2. Solid, mythological, good action, decent story, mediocre villain.

Motherfuckin' Lucha Underground: "The Cup Begins"

Well, I didn't predict THAT.

The Cueto Cup has officially begun, and they're plowing through the matches fairly quickly, given that they only have 29 matches in the tournament and half a season before Ultima Lucha 3.

PREDICTIONS: Money In The Bank 2017

Two briefcases, no waiting.

Money in the Bank is here, with twice as many briefcases! It should actually be a decent show, at least on paper, but I am give-a-shit-impaired this week, so we'll see.

PREDICTIONS: The Cueto Cup

And so... it begins.

OK. It's been an awkward, shitty week, but the Cueto Cup starts tonight on Lucha Underground, they released the brackets, and I want to lock my predictions in before tonight's show airs.

The Jim Jefferies Show

Funny, if not strictly necessary.

I do have to wonder why this show exists.

I'm not saying it's not funny. In fact, it's probably the most laugh-out-loud funny of all the topical desk-based comedy shows. John Oliver puts the jokes between the serious bits, and with Samantha Bee, you're more agape in awe at the dead on, palpable hits she scores on everybody she targets.

Jefferies' show is, appropriately for him, way more joke-heavy. But other than that, it follows a VERY standard structure of monologues and a field piece. The field piec, a pretty standard "this interview subject doesn't realize what he's saying" bit in Holland about their racist Christmas mascot, Black Peter, is elevated by Jefferies' trademark bluntness.

Jefferines has spent a lot of his career arouind that tricky "ironic racism", "outlandish character", "politically incorrect provocateur" line that Bill Maher spent so much of the past week on the very wrong side of. He pulls it off in the premiere, and he's generally been more successfulat it in recent years, making it clear that his heart's in the right place when his jokes aren't. More Jeselnik than Tosh.  Can he maintain it? We'll see.

On the upside, Jefferies is super-confident and super-comfortable in his new role, and the show is produced with the kind of competence you'd expect from the incredibly familiar format. I'm glad it's weekly, and not daily, though the actual Daily Show could learn a lot from Jefferies' and his staff's joke-writing.

Smackdeown Live (5/6)

I don't know. I think their day one is getting pretty h.

This week's Smackdown featured two events of real significance, one event of veery mild significance, a bunch of farting around, and the always (for sufficiently short-term values of always) entertaining tag division.

Monday Night Raw (5/5)

Joe's gonna squeeze Paul's head until it's back to the same size as his face.

A middling Raw after a disappointing Extreme Rules, with few answers to many of my post-EXR questions, and the answers we did get were, for the most part, not great.

Extreme Rules 2017

Nothing makes sense anymore.

Want mediocre action, inexplicable stipulations, and disappointing finishes? Well, then have I got a PPV for you!

PREDICTIONS: Extreme Rules 2017

Even the graphic agrees with me!

My ambivalence level for Extreme Rules is astonishingly high, and made all the higher by the knowledge that nobody is going to get pushed down cement steps on a spine board. So how extreme can it really be?

Motherfuckin' Lucha Underground! (AlFl Night Long Again)

Man, I missed this show.

Lucha Underground is back after a newarly five month hiatus with the second ever All Night Long match for the Lucha Underground championshi between Johnny Mundo and The Mack. And oh, man, did it not disappoint.

Smackdown Live (5/30)

HOW IS THIS WORKING?!

Pretty good Smackdown Live this week, coming as it does in that sweet spot where they're setting up their matches for the next PPV.

205 Live (5/30)

Whew.

205 Live still desperately needs the shakeup they've been hinting at but not delivering on for months.