USITT 2011

Hey Russellmaniacs! It's The Russell Cage Experience coming from The Blake Hotel in Charlotte, NC! Since Wednesday my classmates and I have been at a technical theater conference here in NC called USITT (United States Institute for Theatre Technology). It is a Theatre technicians HEAVEN! They have classes/seminars/sessions for everything from lighting (which was what I hit the most) to costuming. Anything to doing with the backstage aspects of Theatre it was happening. During the conference they also  have a stage expo where you can walk around to various vendor booths, internship opportunities, & colleges. During the expo (mainly the first day) you get a lot of swag (free stuff) from the booths on the stage expo. I've got everything from a yo-yo, to gel books, to a frisbee at the product showcase which was held the first night. The conference is a great way to network and make connections within the Theatre industry and certainly a learning experience with the various sessions that they offer.


Like I said I hit a lot of the lighting sessions that they offered and if you're friends with me on Facebook you'll see a lot of the photos from some of these sessions and just overall the adventures around Charlotte, NC! There is even a video that I'm tagged in where I'm yo-yoing and playing a kazoo in front of the Bank of America Stadium & a giant panther statue! The lighting sessions that I have been to have been really helpful in showing various aspects of lighting techniques and designing lights for shows. I was able to talk to one of the vendors about how to light a dance recital and tips on what to do. The possibilities are endless as to what sort of connections you can make at this conference!


I'll hopefully be making a Vlog soon on You Tube talking more about USITT and how you can get involved. With this being the last night of the conference I guess I can promote the fact that next year USITT will be in Long Beach, California! I would love to go to it BUT my main issue would be getting enough money together to be able to go. No doubts hotels and food would be expensive because 1. It's California and 2. It's MUCH further away from home! I also will be working on making video compilations of our time here at the USITT conference that I plan to post on You Tube as well! I hope this gets you guys as excited about USITT as I am! If you want more info check out the USITT website go to http://www.usitt.org/

LaFollette Weekend...

Well it's been a while since I've checked in with everyone. A lot of things have happened in the past couple weeks. In my own personal life I auditioned for Cumberland Idol and made it. I got to the first week and sang with my duet partner, Darcy. I have to say even though I was eliminated by the judges I really enjoyed being able to sing for my fellow student body along with a very talented young lady whom I enjoyed every moment singing with. Darcy is still in the competition along with quite a few of my friend still. I made some new friends as well through Idol. I'm looking forward to seeing and hearing the remaining contestants on this season of Cumberland Idol

I'm also doing the spring production of Thornton Wilder's Our Town at school. I'm playing the father of the male lead, Doc Gibbs. I'm convinced that his real name isn't Frank Gibbs but Leroy Jethro Gibbs haha. It's a majority young cast with some of us Cumberland Veterans thrown in. I'm enjoying seeing some of the new blood, so to say, come in and take part in the plays at school. I can see each of them continuing on when I'm gone this semester and I look forward to coming back and seeing them grow as performers.

In the wrestling realm of things we've seen the return of Big Daddy Cool Diesel and Booker T to the world of the 'E'. Booker T taking part in the commentary booth on the Smackdown side. Not sure what plans they have for Nash but I'm sure it'll be something good. Being an old school wrestling fan it's great seeing the guys I grew up watching still wrestling and being just as entertaining as they were in the 90's. Also the big buzz around the internet is the date of 2/21/11. A lot of people are speculating that Sting is headed to WWE. I'm still convinced that it was just a video package promoting the return of the Undertaker to begin building his next WrestleMania feud. Now don't get me wrong, if Sting did show up on WWE I'd be all for it. But until I see that with my own two eyes I'm going with the return of the Deadman on the 21st of this month.

Tomorrow is the Super Bowl and I'm totally rooting for the Green Bay Packers. Why is this? Well first I don't like the Steelers BECAUSE of my team of preference, The Cincinnati Bengals. Second I'm looking forward to seeing how Aaron Rodgers fairs in his first Super Bowl appearance and would love to see them bring home a Super Bowl Championship. I'm hoping for a great game! SGA (Student Government Association) will be hosting a Super Bowl party on campus tomorrow so that's how I plan to watch and enjoy the biggest game in Football. It's the WrestleMania of Football if you will lol

With as busy as I've been I've not been blogging as much as I've wanted to so far this year but I'm still keeping my hopes that I'll be posting more as the year progresses. So with that being said I'm going to go rest and continue to recuperate from this cold that I have. Needs lost of rest and liquids. Peace out Russellmaniacs!

TNA Genesis Predictions...

So instead of a prediction video on You Tube I figured I'll do a prediction Blog. TNA Genesis is tomorrow live on PPV and they have a pretty decent card minus one match that I'm not too interested in.

Brother Ray vs Brother Devon:
This is the match that I'm not all that interested in. Now that Team 3D has split and "retired" as a team they're feuding with one another. I'd venture to say that this match will be a hardcore type match even though it doesn't have that stipulation attached to it. This will be a brawl between the two and the possibly of someone being busted open. If the feud will continue after Genesis then I'd say Brother Ray will win this one.
Prediction: Brother Ray

X Division Championship - Kazarian vs Jay Lethal (Champion):
The match that they announced will open TNA Genesis, just like any TNA PPV. The X Division matches always tend to open the shows & get the crowd pumped. Lethal and Kaz are both amazing talented wrestlers and no doubt will make this a great match all in it's own. The pressure isn't on Kaz as much as it is AJ Styles to win the match even though there is some pressure because he is a member of Fortune. On the flip side Jay Lethal hasn't had the title that long since regaining it from Robbie E. Once again on the flip side it appears that Fortune it trying to built as a strong stable.
Prediction: New X Division Champ - Kazarian

Knockouts Championship - Mickie James vs Madison Rayne (Champion):
"Hardcore Country" Mickie James is an amazing addition to the TNA Knockouts Division which was a loss to the WWE although WWE has picked up Awesome Kong. With as long as Mickie James has been in TNA I'm surprised they've not put the Knockouts title on her by now.
Prediction: New Knockouts Champion - Mickie James

MMA Match - Jeff Jarrett vs Kurt Angle:
Interesting way to bring Kurt Angle back on TV. It wasn't a surprise that Kurt Angle was going to be back BUT I'm curious as to if they're going to try to bring him back in a wrestling capacity or if he's really retired, although I've never read anything about him retiring for real. So I'm thinking that Kurt Angle will win this match setting up a later confrontation between him & Jarrett with a possible stipulation that will reinstate Angle to the active roster.
Prediction: Kurt Angle

RVD vs Mystery Opponent chosen by Fortune:
This one I'm guessing is gonna be Rob Terry as the mystery opponent. He's the only member of Fortune that isn't involved in a match at Genesis. It'll be a somewhat easy win for RVD here though.
Prediction: RVD

TNA TV Championship - AJ Styles vs Doug Williams (Champion):
As I stated before AJ Styles has a lot of pressure on him that he doesn't win he's kicked out of Fortune. Now this could go two ways. AJ wins and brings another title to Fortune for the night OR he loses and goes back to being a face. I think AJ's been a good heel, especially when he turned heel & had Flair in his corner. I think after all this fans would like to see AJ come back to the good side especially since he's been pushed week after week.
Prediction: Doug Williams retains the TV Title, AJ turns face

TNA Tag Team Championship - Beer Money Inc vs Motor City Machine Guns (Champion):
I think this is going to be ANOTHER top notch match between these two teams. Both are EXTREMELY talented and certainly are what a tag team wrestling match should be. This is supposed to be a big night for Fortune to take titles for there group. With the exception of AJ I think it will be Fortunes night to shine.
Prediction: New Tag Team Champions - Beer Money Inc

#1 Contender Match - Matt Morgan vs Mr Anderson:
I'm torn in this one because I like both of these guys and feel they could be a great champion. Morgan is certainly great young new fresh champion for the company but Anderson has been long over due for a title run, even if it's a short one. I realize this is a #1 contender match but whoever wins I think would go on to win the TNA World Championship. They've been pushing this Anderson concussion angle quite a bit. Morgan could very possibly win this match due to kicking Anderson in the head and the ref stops the match. It's a difficult prediction to make though.
Prediction: #1 Contender for Jeff Hardy's TNA World Championship - Matt Morgan

Those are my predictions for the TNA Genesis PPV which will air tonight live on PPV. I'll hopefully be watching the PPV some how and having a review either on here or on You Tube.

2011... Time for new things

July of 2009 was my last blog post on here! MAN has it been a long time! 2011 is a start of a new year and with a new year comes a time for changes. My first change is the fact that I'm going to try my best to start doing Blogs again. Along with blogs I also have The Russell Cage Experience on You Tube as well where I post my thoughts on week to week wrestling shows as well as DVD reviews. The DVD reviews will be on wrestling DVD's that I purchase which will hopefully increase as the year progresses (and if I have the money haha). I already have a DVD review of WWE's Bobby The Brain Heenan DVD and I'll be working on a WWE Top 50 Superstars of All Time DVD review in the coming days.

Now what is new since I last posted in 2009. Well if you take a look back I was angry at the fact that The Miz was getting whooped pretty bad by John Cena. In 2011 The Miz is the WWE Champion! This pleases me a great deal! I'm a big advocate of The Miz. But with the 2011 year I've come to have a better respect for John Cena as well. This new found respect comes from watching the Top 50 Superstars of All Time DVD. This will be discussed more in my video review.

So with this new post of 2011 I'm going to do my best to keep up with this and stay focused. This will not always be wrestling related, which may be a challenge all within itself =P I'll try to post general things that are on my mind, talking about whats going on at my college, as well as anything else about my personal life that I want to post. 2011 get ready for an experience! A Russell Cage Experience!