A Hawk, a Dragon, and 30 Years of 'Nevermind'
The Return of the American Dragon
This Wednesday, the American Dragon Bryan Danielson made his in-ring debut for All Elite Wrestling in a dream match against the promotion's world champion, and one of the best wrestlers of the last ten years, Kenny Omega. The show was in front of the largest AEW audience to date, Dynamite opened with the non-title match, and to say that it was electric would be an understatement. The two would go on to have an absolutely brilliant match that ended in a time limit draw, which really was the only possible outcome for this match all things considered.
What stood out to me the most was Danielson himself. I first saw him work in WWE as Daniel Bryan in the months leading up to Wrestlemania 30 (which was magical btw) and was immediately a fan. What was so interesting about this match on Dynamite was how comfortable and at home Danielson appeared. He was great in WWE, don't get me wrong, but this was different. This was Danielson being allowed to do what he does best, without the delusions or machinations of a 76-year-old man getting in the way. Gone were the "YES!" chants, but that didn't matter. This is a different part of his career and all he needed to have 20,000 people eating out of the palms of his hands was a chance to really wrestle.
Danielson is a class act. Prior to his AEW debut, he released a heartfelt statement thanking the WWE. He's also stated that he does not want to infringe on the WWE's intellectual property, referring to the "YES!" chants --
"I'm not doing it myself because I respect WWE's intellectual property. I don't think anything legally...they haven't threatened anything legally. I had a great conversation with Kevin Dunn before I debuted with AEW. I was very up front with WWE on 'I want to let you guys know I'm leaving. This is my debut date.' They asked me, politely, to respect their intellectual property even on some things that couldn't be legally enforced. I'm trying my best to do that. There are also certain expectations fans have of me that they want to be able to do and I'm happy they still get to do that. I'm going to do my best to avoid swinging my arms in the air."
He does not have to do this, but he wants to out of respect. Now could we someday, maybe say in his last match, see him bust out a "YES" one last time? I think so (or at least I hope so) but in the meantime, don't expect it. And that is okay. Danielson doesn't need a chant to get over in AEW, or anywhere for that matter. This man is one of the greatest in-ring performers of all time and the fact that we get to see him wrestle is a joy and a privilege. And based on his post-match statement, it sounds like he feels the same way.
Oh, and the icing on the cake? Danielson finally got that elusive five-star match rating from Dave Meltzer.
Ben Lee Goes Bro-Country?
This week, indie-rock legend Ben Lee announced a new album, I'M FUN!, slated for a June 2022 release, along with the debut of the record's first single "Born for this Bullshit." The song is dripping with Lee's wit and stark commentary set to the twangy sounds of a bro-country beat. I'm not doing this justice, so just check out the video.
Hawk Takes Flight as Alan Ritchson Says Goodbye to ‘Titans’
The ninth episode of the third season of the HBO Max original series Titans is quite possibly the show’s best. Centered around three recently departed characters and their struggle to return to the land of the living, the episode also served as the final sendoff for Alan Ritchson’s Hank Hall / Hawk. Without getting into spoilers, this episode showed genuine growth and a final acceptance of Ritchson’s character as he moves on to his new adventure on the other side.
Hawk & Dove was one of the first series that I followed when I got into reading comics as a teenager, so needless to say, I was excited when it was announced that the duo was going to be part of the upcoming Titans series for the fledgling streaming service DC Universe. While I wasn’t completely happy with some elements that were and were not used from the comics, I loved Ritchson’s portrayal of Hank Hall / Hawk and Minka Kelly’s Dawn Granger / Dove.
Entertainment Weekly interviewed Ritchson about his exit from the show, and I just loved his response to their first question —
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Was this officially your last episode?
ALAN RITCHSON: Is anything ever really finished on this show or any superhero show, right? [Laughs] I spoke with the producers and writers before leaving, and was just very humbled by how gracious they were and how open-ended they left the conversation. "Would you ever come back if we wanted to have you back?" And I said, "Absolutely."
I don't know if they'll ever feel like servicing Hank and that Hawk-Dove storyline again, but I do love where we left it. I think it's really beautiful. This journey that Hawk was on mirrored my own life in such an eerie way. His ups and his downs really, I don't know who was channeling who, but it just seemed to really parallel where I've been in my journey, and the fact that he sort of crossed over, and he's made peace with that, and he's now living in a world where he has committed to continuing to help people and accept that. Not to get too pseudo-enlightened, but I think I left a piece of myself there on set [and] on screen when he died. It really was the end of an era, and I kind of found myself on the show.
“Souls” was one hell of a way for Hawk to take his final flight and while I’m bummed that he is leaving the show, I am looking forward to what he does next and how the Titans cope and learn from his absence.
Nirvana’s Seminal Album ‘Nevermind’ Turns 30
God, I’m old. I remember watching the world premiere of the video for “Smells Like Teen Spirit” on MTV’s 120 Minutes back in 1991. I hadn’t realized that yesterday, Friday, September 24, 2021, was the anniversary of the album’s release until I listened to the latest episode of Indiecat on my morning walk. After that, I decided to give Nevermind a listen. While Nirvana in general, and this album specifically, is not a band that I revisit often, their music did have a big impact on my life. Going back to that record led me to listen to some of the band’s other material which in turn led me to record an impromptu edition of One Band, 5 Songs covering the career of Nirvana. I wasn’t able to record an episode last Sunday (the day I usually record), so my plan was to just skip this week. Instead, I got to talk about one of the most important music acts of my generation.
And with that…
I shall take my leave. Be safe everyone.
Dave