Big Van Vader was a BEAST before it was cool.

The Mastodon Big Van Vader swinging at Hulk Hogan in WCW.

I was watching SuperBrawl V on the WWE Network and sketching. I had forgotten just how awesome Vader was at the peak of his career.

One of the first wrestlers that I thought was awesome because of his size was Leon White, also known as Big Van Vader, or just Vader. It's unfortunate that most of the fans these days only know him as the guy who wrestled Heath Slater that one night on WWE Raw.

Before that, this giant of a man was impressing crowds with his agility and sheer strength. Sure, he wasn't as agile as a luchador per say, but this guy was doing moonsaults off the top rope!

Vader V. Hulk Hogan at Superbrawl V. I can't help but feel WCW dropped the ball with this one.

Vader was well known all over the world. It was in Japan where he became a bigger star and received the name Big Van Vader. There are two matches that should stick out when thinking of Vader. One is his match with Stan Hansen at the Tokyo Dome in 1990 where his eye socket popped out. The other match involves Cactus Jack where he lost his ear while touring in Germany in 1994. It was said that this is the match that made Eric Bischoff seriously consider releasing Cactus Jack (Mick Foley) from WCW after pressure from Turner Executives.

I remember spending the night at my cousin's house watching Vader V. Hulk Hogan for the WCW Championship back when I lived in San Antonio, Texas. I was in 7th grade and I was more of a casual fan at the time. My cousin was more of a WCW fan since we were younger, but he did like both promotions. I was going for Hulk Hogan, but that's only because I didn't know much about Vader. He would explain to me why Vader was awesome, and man he was right as I'd see it with my own eyes. He sort of reminded me of Bam Bam Bigalow except he seemed to be a bit more stiff with his punches and a little slower. He indeed seemed more powerful.

It's unfortunate that when he landed in the World Wrestling Federation they dropped the ball with him. It seemed like whomever could work his style had great matches in the end, like Cactus Jack/Mankind or Bret "Hitman" Hart.

Having the WWE Network is really a great deal to me. I can go back and watch everything that I had missed when I was just sort of "meh" to wrestling. If you do not have it, I suggest you give it a try. Each month it seems like you can get the first month free and can cancel at any time. However, unlike the WWE, I don't think it's a better deal than Netflix for obvious reasons.

Now if you excuse me, I'm going to go watch some classic WCW. For some reason I have been watching a lot of "Ravishing" Rick Rude matches. Perhaps I'll write about it soon...

Diva's "Revolution"

I think this revolution is a dud.

Now, that doesn't mean I'm not for this idea. I think some of the best matches are the Women's Division on NXT. The problem is that it seems like whomever writes the shows on WWE television have no clue WHY the women on NXT are well respected.

I think it's really silly of Paige and the other Divas to come out and blame the Brooklyn crowd for not being behind them.

Did they not hear them cheering for Sasha? Did they not hear the loud OVATION Bayley and the Four Horsewomen had at the end of their match? I think they did, they just need to blame someone other than whomever is in charge.

It's not the Divas fault either. It's whomever books (or writes) this stuff.

You could argue that Nikki, Brie, and "Foxy" blaming the Brooklyn crowd can be a heel thing to do...but I can see  similar things to Shawn Michaels or Bill Goldberg in Canada. These three in New York is going to follow them until the end of their careers.

These four should have been the face of this revolution.

Besides the terrible story line, I really dislike the "diva" term. That word is just a nice way of calling a women a bitch. They sure aren't referencing female opera singers, that's for sure.

They need to branch of the women into different angles and story lines. Right now they are all bunched up in different cliques fighting for "change" when there should be one that stands out and says "No, I don't care about change. I want that title." 

WWE desperately wants #divarevolution to trend on Twitter every time. They want the phrase to be on t-shirts and want everyone to regurgitate that over and over again. WWE is pushing this so hard that the fans are turning on this, just like they turned on Roman Reigns. The givedivasachance hashtag was organic, started by true fans that saw all the great things that were happening on NXT and possibly other wrasslin' promotions. I don't understand why everything has to have a "face." Why does Stephanie McMahon have to be the person that introduces this new change? Why couldn't it just happen on its own? So if it were a success, we can have Stephanie McMahon take credit for it on TV every week? I'm sure that was part of the intent.

The women need to break off, have their own feuds, have their own builds, and have their own characters. Other than Sasha Banks, there isn't any of the NXT ladies that are much different. Poor Charlotte...wanting to distance herself from her father in NXT now needs to remind everyone who her father is each and every time now on WWE Raw. Also, what was the WWE thinking telling her to say the Four Horsemen were one of the most popular factions in WWE HISTORY. I know someone had to have told her to say that from up high. Can't reference "wrestling" or "wcw" on TV!

I sincerely hope someone, anyone can step back and watch NXT or ask Triple H for some pointers as to what to do to help jump start this story.

They are the ones that should #givedivasachance.

Summer Slam 2015

NXT Takeover Brooklyn spoiled my expectations for SummerSlam this year.

What is traditionally looked at by the WWE UNIVERSE™ as the number two pay per view of the year, felt flat thanks to the talent at NXT.

Don't get me wrong. There were some decent matches at SummerSlam but nothing came close to the Sasha Banks Vs. Bayley Women's Title Match. Let's not forget that NXT Takeover Brooklyn was two hours in comparison to the four hours of SummerSlam. Quality over quantity every time.

Seth Rollins showed tonight why he is the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Finally! It's been a long time since Seth Rollins has been able to break out of his role as cowardly heel and finally perform. He looked good tonight. John Cena did a decent job although he really screwed up the Springboard Stunner. Hey, I'm not the only one that thinks so. 

Maybe it's time for John to drop the move and put it in his back pocket for a special match. Jon Stewart getting involved was fine, it was a "swerve" that nobody saw coming except for the fact that Cena was a little late getting up. Stewart had to stand around a little bit too long before he cracked him with the chair to the gut.

The Divas "revolution" is a dud as of this pay per view. At the very least, why not set up a feud between Nikki Bella against Charlotte? It seems like that's the direction they want to go, or is it? Why not give Charlotte the pin over Nikki to really put the stamp on it?

I don't really have much to say about Kevin Owens Vs. Cesaro other than it was a good match, and I was impressed that Kevin Owens had two good back to back matches. 

The rematch between Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker was way better than I expected. This match wasn't a wrestling match, but it was a really good story with two tough guys kicking each other's asses inside and outside the ring. The Undertaker went out there and performed way beyond expectation considering his body is battered and bruised up. Big props for taking that F5 on the table! Baw GAWD somebody stop the damn match!

However, this IS the WWE and leave it to them to screw up something good.

I understand what the WWE was trying to do. They wrote themselves into a corner and wanted to make everyone happy with this match by keeping both of them looking strong.

In a lot of ways, the two matches were similar. 

Now I'm not saying The Undertaker/Lesnar match stacks up to what Hart/Austin at Wrestlemania 13 did, but a lot of the beats were the same. The tone was the same. It had a similar story of the two hating each other and wanting to get the better of the other. Both matches were mostly brawls with good wrestling sprinkled in there. Both matches also ended in what looked like a double turn, where one man looks like the good guy and the other the bad by the end. The defiant hero refuses to give up and passes out, and the fallen hero wins at any and all cost.

That ending though. 

I think it could have been done a lot better. I've watched a lot of matches from many different wrestling promotions and have seen many different controversial endings. However, I don't think I've ever seen a time keeper decide to ring the bell without being told by a referee or the person in charge of the company to do so. Also, if the time keeper witnessed Undertaker tap out, then why didn't he ring the bell and disqualify Seth Rollins for the Jon Stewart involvement in the title for title match?

It's the little things that sometimes matters.

I DID like the low blow by 'Taker and the middle finger to passing out finish. That part was really well thought out and they turned something that might have been a footnote (the constant lowblows) into an element in the story. There was a payoff where The Undertaker couldn't resist and gave Brock Lesnar the low blow when the referee had his back turned. Not only did he get away with tapping out, but also committing a dickish move by giving Brock a low blow. 

It was a really good main event and was happy with how great the Undertaker and THE BEAST both went out there and performed their assess off...it now looks like they might have a third match...possibly at Wrestlemania in Dallas?

Galaxy Note 3 crunch

 

I needed to do artwork for the school newsletter and I forgot to bring my Surface Pro. The only option I had was using my Galaxy Note 3. I had doodled with it here and there, but nothing serious. I was surprised what this phone with Sketchbook Pro installed can do. I was very impressed with the result. This was a drawing for Mother's Day.

This is the final version used on the newsletter.

INKtober

#INKtober

I don't have traditional ink to take part, but I wanted to do it anyway. Here's a simple sketch of Rock to get warmed up.

Figure sketch

Still playing with different poses using women as models. The usual trick I do is head to google and see what I can find. I also happen to have a few sketch books that friends or other artists have published and flip through those pages.

This particular pose took me a little longer than I would like, mostly because I kept going back to fix things and eventually just sort of flesh it out. Next time I just have to focus on poses, several of them and just lay them down on a single page for practice. I can always go back and pick one out and flesh it out....I suppose this can be a result of that, but with only one pose. Ah well, I will do better next time!

Last one for today...

I was just messing around trying to get used to the screen and the pen.  The screen is a bit more glossy than I would like, similar to the Apple iPad, but it's not something difficult to get used to.

The great thing about the Surface Pro is that you can use any regular drawing software you might use on your desktop, only now there's a screen you can interact with rather than use an external device such as a Wacom.

Nothing too radical here. This is inspired by Mandy from Dean Yeagle, and it was a picture he had drawn in one of the sketchbooks I have of his.

New Toy

I've been using the iPad with the Bamboo stylus as my main way of sketching, but I just recently purchased a Microsoft Surface Pro. Yes, I am aware of the battery life...it's actually not too bad. I mostly got it because a friend of mine hyped up the pen technology on it. So I looked up videos and was impressed. I used it at the store and just had to buy it. I love sketching on this thing, I'm finally getting used to it!

I have a few books on Dean Yeagle, and I love the way he draws girls...so I'm going to be using his stuff as reference for a while.

A Constant Reminder.