Smash Archive

New Column Added To Google Site: Ryan Owens Predicts The Rumble

2012-01-29T10:38:00.001-08:00

Former Smash Wrestling columnist Ryan Owens has very kindly passed along his predictions for tonight's Royal Rumble PPV.

Below is a sample of his thoughts:

" Royal Rumble Predictamania: By Ryan Owens (29/01/2012)
Last year’s Rumble match was very exciting, not just cause of the 40 man format, but because there were some very exciting Rumble debuts (Nexus, Del Rio, Bryan, etc) and some even more exciting Rumble returns (Nash, Booker-T, etc). However, I don’t think the same excitement is generating from the build-up to this year’s event.

The Card

Kane vs John Cena :

For me, this feud was killed by "creative" trying to work Kane into this angle that Cena has to be meaner in order to beat the Rock, that Cena has somehow lost his inner ruthless aggression. This angle started when Piper, in a weak Raw segment post Survivor Series, called Cena to the ring and criticised him for allowing the Rock’s attack on him the night before, and the crowd’s reaction to that attack to just roll off his back.

What made this segment weak was when Piper tried to stir the crowd to boo against Cena, surprisingly not all of them responded the way he said they would. Note: this reaction was because outside of cities where pro wrestling somewhat matters (Toronto, New York, Chicago and Philadelphia) the crowd reactions to Cena are not all that venomous. The majority of crowds outside those types of cities are clearly in attendance, because they support the establishment of the WWE and John Cena is the establishment.

Piper ended the segment by slapping Cena in the face, while this didn’t prompt the cheers that I’m sure "Creative" was aiming for from the crowd, it can be interpreted that the point of this was to focus more on how Cena is not aggressive enough to face the Rock. This is where Kane’s angle with Cena picks up...."

To read the predictions in full, go to the following link:

https://sites.google.com/site/ringriot/home/columns/royal-rumble-predictamania-by-ryan-owens

New Column Added To Google Site- "WCW’s “Ultimate Renegade"

2012-01-22T09:04:00.000-08:00

Below is a sample of my latest column for the Google site:

"Retro Wrestling: WCW’s "Ultimate Renegade": By Matthew Evans (22/01/2012)

For my latest edition of my "Retro Wrestling" columns, I thought I’d go back way back in time to 1995. It was a much simpler time in pro wrestling and a time where the business in general was in a slump.

Vince McMahon’s WWF (World Wrestling Federation) were struggling to recreate the success of the "Rock N’ Wrestling"/ "Hulkamania" era with their "New Generation" campaign. ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling) was still in its infancy but was already growing a cult following with it’s fresh brand of a more adult-orientated product, the likes of which the WWF couldn’t (or wouldn’t) consider a good business strategy at the time.

WCW (World Championship Wrestling) had left the WWF "smarting" long before the launch of Nitro and the start of the infamous "Monday Night War." You see, in 1994, they had acquired undoubtedly their biggest acquisition to date, the WWF’s own Immortal Hulk Hogan.

Of course, one major former WWF star was missing from the group and had WCW attained him in 1995, would have been the 3rd biggest "coup" following Hogan and Savage: The Ultimate Warrior......

The full article can be read at the following link:

https://sites.google.com/site/ringriot/home/columns/retro-wrestling-wcw-s-ultimate-renegade-by-matthew-evans

Important Update Regarding Smash Wrestling

2011-12-23T11:53:00.000-08:00

It is with a heavy heart that I sadly report that Smash Wrestling is apparently no more. The site has been down since November and appears to have disappeared from the server for good.

Going forward, updates will continued to be made at the temporary Google site:

https://sites.google.com/site/ringriot/home

Please continue to visit and support this site and keep checking back there and at this blog, as I am planning something big in 2012.

At this time, I think it's very much necessary to thank all those who worked on and helped out with Smash Wrestling.

Smash began in 2000 and in 2001, got regular plugs on the now-cancelled "Talk Wrestling" radio show hosted by Tommy Boyd and "Showstealer" Alex Shane. I began visiting the site in 2001 thanks to the radio show, became a regular columnist in 2002 and in 2006 branched out into helping with news stories and general site updates.

Along the way, I was greatly helped by Tony Cottam, Arnold Furious (not his real name, but you know the guy!) and of course, Doug Merchant and the main man, Angelo. Special thanks also goes to Alastair Sutherland and Ryan Owens who joined us later on and added lots of depth and variety to Doug and I's "Predictamania" pools and the general columns area. Special thanks also to all who worked on Smash over the years (e.g. Shaz, Rick Politz and many more).

It was one hell of a ride and if this is the end, then it's obviously a sad time, but it's also the start of something new (watch this space!). I'm not "tapping out" quite yet!

Matthew Evans

[For queries and questions please contact: attitudewrestling2003@yahoo.co.uk].

Latest Smash Wrestling Update

2011-12-01T12:04:00.001-08:00

Still nothing to report on Smash Wrestling. However, news should be forthcoming shortly.

In the meantime, please continue to visit:

https://sites.google.com/site/ringriot/home

Further updates have now been made, and archived columns (as well as new ones) will be appearing on there shortly.

Further announcements regarding Smash Wrestling will be posted here, so please keep checking and thanks for your understanding and support.

Matthew Evans

Smash Wrestling Update

2011-11-19T10:16:00.000-08:00

Still no update on Smash Wrestling, apologies for this.

In the meantime, please continue to visit this blog and the following "temporary base" site:

https://sites.google.com/site/ringriot/home

Please note: Construction of the temp site is on-going. I'm doing my best to update it with new content as well as some of the columns and news/ results I've managed to archive prior to Smash going down.

Thanks for your patience and support.

Matthew Evans

Smash Wrestling Update

2011-11-11T12:52:00.001-08:00

While Smash Wrestling is having some down time, please visit a "temporary base" at:

https://sites.google.com/site/ringriot/home

Please note construction of the site is ongoing.

Regarding Smash Wrestling, there should be further updates shortly.

In the meantime continue to check this blog or the new site for further info.

Thanks

Matthew Evans

Smash Wrestling Site Problems

2011-11-07T12:36:00.000-08:00

Smash Wrestling is currently unavailable due to technical problems. These problems should be fixed shortly but in the meantime, continue to check this blog for updates or contact:

attitudewrestling2003@yahoo.co.uk

Thanks

Matthew Evans

Smash Wrestling Reporter & Contributor

Smash Wrestling Update

2011-09-03T04:13:00.000-07:00

Visitors to Smash Wrestling (a site for which I am a contributer) may have had some problems accessing the site (http://www.firetank.com/smashwrestling/) as of late.

However, I am pleased to announce that Smash Wrestling is now officially up and running again.

Please visit now at:

http://www.firetank.com/smashwrestling/

Many Thanks

Matthew Evans

TNA 2010 Round-Up: By Matthew Evans (23/01/2011)

2011-09-01T11:31:00.000-07:00

Here is a belated round up of all the happenings in TNA (along with other non-WWE news) in 2010:

January:

Speaking to The Sun in the UK, TNA President Dixie Carter said that the company’s signing of Hulk Hogan (Hogan joined TNA in October 2009) was "absolutely the right time and it was meant to happen". Dixie also talked about TNA’s move to Monday nights (head-to-head with WWE) with the live "IMPACT!" on January 4, 2010 ["How I define success is just being there. Just the fact that we are there on Monday night is a huge success for us. It makes the exact statement that we want to make. This is a marathon not a sprint. The ratings, quite honestly, are irrelevant."].

The live-3 hour edition of "IMPACT!" on January 4, 2010, ended up getting a 2.2 rating, the show’s highest up to that point on Spike TV. (The bad news was that it still didn’t beat WWE’s Raw show, although many people didn’t expect them to right off the bat).

The show (which was one of TNA’s strongest up that point, and was choc-full of former WWE and WCW Superstars, some making "cameo" appearances, others making their official TNA debut) featured the company debut of Hulk Hogan, who teased an "NWO" reunion with Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and Sean "Syxx-Pac" Waltman (but then backed down and talked about building TNA for the future), the TNA return of Jeff Hardy (who marked his comeback with an exclamation point by drilling X-Division competitor Homicide with a truly brutal steel chair shot to the head), the TNA debut of "Nature Boy" Ric Flair (who observed the great TNA World Heavyweight Championship main event between AJ Styles and Kurt Angle), the return of Sting (who hadn’t been seen in months and in WCW-like fashion, observed the commotion between Hogan, Nash, Hall, Waltman and Eric Bischoff from the arena rafters), an appearance by legendary tag-team The Nasty Boys (who kick-started a feud with Team 3D), plus uncredited appearances by Shannon Moore and Val Venis (who wasn’t referred to by name, but had all the Venis character traits; playing a game of "Strip Poker" with The Beautiful People in a backstage segment). Also, two championships changed hands: ODB beat Tara to regain the TNA Knockouts’ Championship and Awesome Kong & Sarita defeated Taylor Wilde & Sarita to become the new TNA Knockouts Tag-Team Champions.

Elsewhere on the show, Matt Morgan & Hernandez defeated Raven and Dr. Stevie to earn a TNA World Tag-Team Championship Match against The British Invasion at Genesis on January 17, and AJ Styles retained the TNA World Heavyweight Championship against Kurt Angle in the aforementioned main event.

Speaking on BJ Shea’s Morning Experience on January 4 (ahead of TNA’s live, 3-hour edition of "IMPACT!"), Hulk Hogan said that he’d had the chance to return to WWE a few months before joining TNA, but "didn't want to play the political game with Shawn Michaels and Triple H" (he also said he "didn't want to be getting in trouble because the fans cheered too loud for me."). Hogan also compared jumping to TNA to him moving to WCW in 1994, saying, "WWE is in a whole lot of trouble".

TNA President Dixie Carter was pleased with the rating for "IMPACT!" on January 4, and tweeted the following:

"Thank you, thank you for helping TNA set RECORD ratings in every way last night. We ALL won."

Spike TV officials were also impressed with the rating.

Shortly after his appearance on the live "IMPACT!", Wrestling Epicenter.Com reported that Jeff Hardy apparently had a verbal agreement to return to WWE, which made his TNA return all the more surprising. It was also reported that Hardy had allegedly signed a short-term deal with TNA.

It was reported that Ric Flair had signed a deal with TNA just days prior to the "IMPACT!" special on January 4. It was believed that Flair had signed a guaranteed money deal for 1 year, with the option to make personal appearances outside of TNA.

According to reports, Hamada suffered an ankle injury during the TNA Knockouts Tag-Team Championship Match on January 4. However, she managed to continue the match and also work the TV tapings the following night.

TNA Superstar Frankie Kazarian (who at the time was playing the masked character Suicide) married TNA Knockout Traci Brooks on January 7. In a classic case of pro wrestling irony, Christopher Daniels (who portrayed the Suicide character while Kazarian was out injured) was the best man. Many TNA wrestlers and performers (and even a few WWE ones) were in attendance for the ceremony.

In a Facebook chat, TNA writer Vince Russo picked WWE Superstar Randy Orton as the WWE performer he would like to see in TNA. Russo also noted that TNA were considering replacing the six-sided ring with a more traditional four-sided one and that a 2nd TNA "brand" had been discussed.

Tomko returned on the January 14 edition of "IMPACT!" as the mystery masked assailant who’d been jumping AJ Styles for the past few weeks.

Elsewhere, TNA Knockout Angelina Love returned; sitting ringside for the TNA Knockouts Tag-Team Championship Match between Awesome Kong & Hamada and The Beautiful People (Velvet Sky and Madison Rayne W/ Lacey Von Erich). After the match, Love jumped Lacey Von Erich and then attacked Velvet Sky; officially breaking her ties with the "BP" faction.

TNA Genesis took place on January 17 and was a mixed bag overall. For fans in the UK, it was a disaster, as it was only available via BT Vision (which virtually no one had) as Bravo had for some reason dropped the PPV events from their schedule. With a UK tour on the horizon, this wasn't the best time to lose some of their TV presence in the UK ("IMPACT!" remained on Bravo).

Even U.S. fans who saw the PPV were miffed when Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff began the show by announcing that the six-sided ring was history (Hogan even referred to it as a "play-pen") and that they were going back to the traditional 4-sides (which prompted a loud and very audible chant of "We Want Six-Sides!" from the TNA audience). Fans in attendance were also annoyed by the near-constant camera presence of Hogan’s daughter Brooke (who later received another very audible chant of "Sit Down Brooke!") and in the second match of the evening, literally turned their backs on ex-WWE star Sean "Val Venis" Morley as he defeated the far-more popular, "home-grown" star Christopher Daniels.

Elsewhere on the show, Amazing Red retained the TNA X-Division Championship against "mystery opponent" Brian Kendrick in a good opening match, Tara regained the TNA Knockouts Championship from ODB in a so-so 2-Out-Of-3 Falls Match (ODB was working with a burst implant, which explained why she was slower than usual), Matt Morgan & Hernandez defeated The British Invasion to become the new TNA World Tag-Team Champions in a fair effort, Mr Anderson (making his TNA debut) beat Abyss in a mediocre bout, and AJ Styles retained the TNA World Heavyweight Championship against Kurt Angle in the best match of the night when he joined forces with Ric Flair (turning heel in the process) and decked Angle with the belt.

In other news for this month, Karen Angle was reportedly spotted at a series of TNA live events with Jeff Jarrett, which set the rumour mill in motion about a possible return to TV.

In non-TNA news, legendary wrestler Jake "The Snake" Roberts announced that he would retire from the sport at the end of 2010. Roberts (a huge star back in his WWF/ WCW heyday) had been earning a living on the independent scene in the U.S. and UK, but at the age of 54, now believed that he was no longer physically able to compete.

The Sun in the UK reported that TNA Knockouts Tag-Team Champion Awesome Kong "sucker-punched" controversial Florida radio host Bubba "The Love Sponge" after he’d made some distasteful remarks on Twitter about the disaster in Haiti (his remarks were in response to Kong’s charitable pledge to raise money for the victims). The incident took place at the "IMPACT!" TV tapings and both Kong and Bubba were sent home immediately by TNA officials. (Kong returned for the Tuesday tapings).

According to Bubba (who spoke of the incident on his show):

"She was wearing wrestling gear and she came in on me and sucker punched me right on my left cheek."

"Then she came at me again, hit me again in the mouth, and she goes, 'This if for Haiti! This is for Haiti!' and I'm like 'What is going on?'

"Then she hits me again and finally I put my left hand out and push her away from me, and she comes at me again and I just cover up, because I cannot fight back on a woman.

"Not only will I be fired from TNA, which I probably am, but my radio career is gone if I take a woman out!"

Bubba had been brought into TNA due to his ties with Hogan (there were best friends) and had a job as an "unofficial" backstage announcer/ reporter. Following the incident, Kong referred to him as a "talentless hack" and added that she’d made him "eat his words."

There were reports that Melissa "Alyssa Flash" Anderson had left TNA. Anderson made her debut on January 2008 as Raisha Saeed", the "handler" and "spokeswoman" for Awesome Kong. In 2009, she began portraying two characters, Saeed and the "Future Legend" Alyssa Flash. At Bound For Glory 2009, the "Raisha Saeed" character was written out of the story lines when she was brutally attacked by Kong, but Alyssa Flash remained on TV until Anderson’s departure from the company.

In an update on Awesome Kong, Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer reported that following the aforementioned incident with Bubba "The Love Sponge", Kong (real name Kia Stevens) had handed in her notice.

In a further update, Wrestling Epicenter.Com reported that Kong had apparently "been unhappy for some time" and that the Bubba incident was the "final straw." Kong also admitted fault with hitting Bubba, saying she’d only intended to give him a "piece of her mind." Her leaving TNA wasn’t said to be a certainty, but she was at home "pondering her future".

TNA’s European tour at the end of January was a huge success. I attended the show at the Cardiff CIA on January 27 and was very impressed (we even saw a title change: Wales’ own Rob Terry beat Eric Young to become the new TNA Global Champion. The footage was even captured by BBC cameras for "Sport Wales"). The show and the tour in general did not feature the likes of Hogan, Flair, Bischoff etc (or even the 4-sided ring), but demonstrated why TNA could be considered a true alternative to WWE. All the TNA stars on hand performed marvellously and gave the fans a night to remember.

To Be Continued...

Previously posted on Smash Wrestling

Looking At The TNA UK TV Situation; Predictions For “Genesis”: By Matthew Evans (09/01/2011)

2011-07-09T05:34:00.000-07:00

For this column, I thought I’d focus on two subjects: The current mess that is TNA’s UK TV situation and also TNA Genesis (a PPV, which by now, you’re all probably aware will NOT be airing on “free” TV in the UK).

First of all, let’s look at the recent UK TV problems. As we have reported on the site, TNA Wrestling is no longer available on UK TV, in any form whatsoever. Bravo (who carried “IMPACT!”) ceased transmission on January 1, 2011 (this was the result of Sky purchasing the Living Group of channels in September 2010; Sky decided that as Bravo reached a similar demographic as their own entertainment channel Sky One they would close the Bravo network down). “IMPACT!” has been off our screens ever since, as Sky look to make a decision in regards to which channel TNA will move to (it will move somewhere, at some point, as it is one of the “protected” shows that got high ratings for Bravo).

Extreme Sports apparently lost interest in TNA altogether, as “Xplosion”, “Epics” and the monthly PPV events (which were broadcast for free on a 5-day delay) have all suddenly disappeared from the channel’s schedules. This now leaves TNA’s UK presence in a precarious position to say the least.

Bear in mind that it’s been far from “plain sailing” for TNA in regards to their UK TV output. Back when they mainly existed as a PPV-only product, they made their UK TV debut on the now-defunct Friendly TV on Sky (this was in October 2003 and was part of a trial for “The Wrestling Channel” that was due to launch in March 2004, the day after WrestleMania XX, to be exact).

TNA gained a good following in the UK, and when “TWC” officially launched the following year (the trial was a success), they got a regular slot on the channel.

Although “TWC” could only show the weekly TNA PPV shows on a 3-month delay, it was better than nothing and TNA soon became one of the most popular forms of wrestling on the channel.
In 2005, “TWC” acquired the rights to broadcast TNA’s new prime-time U.S. show “IMPACT!” on a 7-day delay, along with the monthly PPV events (again on a 7-day delay).

By 2006, TNA Wrestling was officially the top draw for “TWC” (now re-named “TWC Fight!”). “TWC” (which later went through another [and final) name change; “The Fight Network”) had to sacrifice their remaining programming and run repeats in order to get their TNA programming up to date, and after the Bravo network did a deal to broadcast “IMPACT!” and the PPV’s (“IMPACT!” on a 2-day delay and the PPV’s on a 3-day delay), the channel struggled until finally throwing in the proverbial towel in December 2008 and disappearing for good.

Bravo (who had previously broadcasted WCW Nitro from 2000-2001, ECW “Hardcore TV” in 2000 and the one-off Tommy Boyd-backed UK “Revival” show in 2002) was a great choice for TNA. Although the channel was subscription-based (it was part of Sky’s “Entertainment” package), it had a stronger presence than “TWC” (which wasn’t featured in the majority of TV listings and could only really be found by people who knew it was there) and went on to have a very successful partnership with Dixie Carter’s group (for example, the Bravo deal helped increase product awareness and allowed TNA to start touring the UK).

Bravo began broadcasting “IMPACT!” and the PPV events in January 2007 (“IMPACT!” was initially on Bravo 2, but it was eventually moved to Bravo when the ratings came out much better than expected; the PPV’s remained on Bravo 2) and it looked like both parties would be in it for the “long haul”. However, in January 2010, it became apparent that TNA Genesis would NOT be airing on any of Bravo’s channels (the irony is that, one year later, we find ourselves in a similar situation).

TNA “IMPACT!” remained, but the PPV’s were gone. Why did this happen? My theory (and please bare in mind, the actual reasons have never been divulged by either party) is that: A) TNA saw the high ratings “IMPACT!” had been getting following the appearances of well-known stars like Hulk Hogan, Mick Foley, Ric Flair etc and got greedy; demanding a higher price for the PPV events [Bravo then baulked at the demands and decided to just drop the events and retain “IMPACT!” or B) Bravo could no longer afford the PPV events [even at the original price] and decided it would be in their best interest to get rid of them.

Whatever the case, TNA PPV’s were now off UK TV. Or were they? TNA President Dixie Carter then announced that “Genesis” would be available to BT Vision customers (the big problem was that hardly anyone in the UK had BT Vision and those who didn’t weren’t willing to go through the hassle of having it installed at their house and paying for it when they already had Sky or cable). It was a disaster, TNA would have to strike a better deal soon.

The next PPV “Against All Odds” was in February. Again, it was a BT Vision job, although this time it was also available (at a price, and not a cheap one, either) via TNA’s “On Demand” service. Most UK TNA fans boycotted the online option (why pay [in $, no less] to watch something at 1 in the morning [when the majority of people have jobs to go to the next day] that will no doubt stream badly and not be repeated?]).

Thankfully, a deal was struck with Extreme Sports, who began broadcasting PPV events starting with “Destination X” in March (they also broadcasted the international “wrap-up” show “Xplosion).

But even that got off to a bad start. Extreme Sports cut off the broadcast early, causing fans to miss the second half of the Kurt Angle VS Mr Anderson match and the entire AJ Styles VS Abyss main event (Extreme later apologised and aired the show in its entirety soon after and to be fair to them, this mistake never happened again).

Later in the year, Extreme Sports also added TNA “Epics” to its schedule, which suggested that TNA Wrestling was a ratings winner for the channel and would likely be a long-term fixture on their network.

Alas, it wasn’t to be. TNA programming disappeared without a trace in the New Year. There was no announcement from either Extreme or TNA. Fans tuned in and it just wasn’t there anymore (it reminded me of the time ITV dropped WCW Worldwide Wrestling from it’s Wales/ West region in late 1994. My brother and I were getting ready to set the tape (it was on at a silly “night owl” time) and watch highlights of “Clash Of The Champions” the following day after school, and all of a sudden it was gone, never to return).

I have no idea why Extreme dropped TNA. I’m looking to e-mail them shortly, but I would speculate that it may have been ratings-related.

Now, I have no idea what sort of ratings TNA got on Extreme. However, I simply can’t believe that they were any lower than what “Kill Arman” and “Man Tracker” was getting (then again, I might be wrong). Surely, they were higher than whatever rating the ridiculous “Man VS Beast” show gets (this daft programme has actually replaced TNA in the 9PM slot, and this past week featured Boxing and former WCW ring announcer Michael Buffer announcing and giving analysis on a “hot-dog eating contest between a real grizzly bear and a Japanese world-eating record holder).

Perhaps Extreme were looking for the “cheaper option” and so TNA got the cut in favour of hot-dog-eating bears and jumbo jet-pulling elephants. Regardless, I think TNA should have made some sort of announcement, to keep UK TNA fans in the know (they already knew that “IMPACT!” was gone, losing “Xplosion” and the PPV’s is a double blow).

Getting back to the Bravo situation, “IMPACT!” is in limbo until a new channel is found. Because Sky now owns the Living Group channels, they hold all the cards and TNA are basically at their whim while they decide a new home and time-slot for “IMPACT!”

Personally speaking, I think TNA will HAVE to move to Living, Living It or Channel One. These channels have already picked up some of the previous Bravo shows, so the move would make sense.

People have speculated over whether TNA could move to Sky 1, Sky 2, Sky 3 or even Sky Sports, but I can’t see that happening. I know there’s been talk of this “is it there/ isn’t it there?” apparent “clause” that WWE has with Sky that prevents a “rival promotion” broadcasting on the same family of channels (it’s been rumoured for years that this was why WCW couldn’t get onto Sky back in early 1990’s and had to settle for ITV on terrestrial TV), but I don’t think Sky would want to inundate these channels with wrestling anyway (their argument would be that with WWE programming alone, they have enough already). If this “clause” actually exists, then this wouldn’t even be an option and even if it doesn’t, I also think that WWE would be weary of TNA moving in to “their territory (“IMPACT!” has often outperformed WWE in the ratings here in the UK) and may try and get Sky (who’s relationship with WWE goes as far back as Sky’s official launch in 1989) to reconsider their options.

In regards to the PPV’s (I can’t see “Xplosion” being a priority for any channel), this is a bit more tricky as Sky is only contractually obliged to carry over “IMPACT!” from Bravo. Sky Box Office may be an option (I for one wouldn’t object to this; I don’t mind paying for wrestling if it’s on at a good time and is available through my TV [and is of good quality, no pesky “delayed streaming”]), but then again WWE may have exclusive rights there (plus, even if they didn’t, I don’t think they’d be too happy with TNA “muscling in” [sorry, terrible pun] on their money-making perch, especially when an additional form of wrestling on the channel could potentially split the PPV audience and cause fans to choose one over the other (and at this point, I think a lot of UK fans would choose TNA, especially at times when WWE would be promoting “lesser” events like “Fatal Four-Way”).

ESPN is a possible candidate to take up the PPV’s, although they already have a full schedule and may not wish to spend their cash on wrestling.

Terrestrial TV isn’t even an option, in my opinion. I know a lot of people would like to see a mainstream, non-pay channel pick up TNA (and for brand awareness, it would be great for TNA, and would definitely give them an edge over WWE), but I can’t see it happening.

BBC is a definite “no-no”, ITV lost interest in wrestling back in 1995 when they officially dropped WCW from all their networks (they did briefly air Trans-Atlantic Wrestling in 2000, but that went over about as well as the proverbial fart in church), Channel 4’s association with wrestling between 2000-2002 (when they broadcasted WWF Heat and 4 WWF PPV’s a year) was disastrous (C4 decided to drop WWF programming as early as the first PPV of the deal, Royal Rumble 2000, when Cactus Jack and HHH butchered each other with barbed wire and thumb-tacks in their memorably violent “Street Fight” and OAP Mae Young had a “wardrobe malfunction” in the smutty “Miss Rumble 2000” swimsuit contest), and although Channel 5 (now Five) broadcasted WCW Worldwide in prime-time from 1999-2001, this was at the height of wrestling’s popularity in the UK, plus the footage was over a month old.

Put simply, wrestling simply isn’t a big enough deal for any terrestrial station to invest in it. Indeed, it may have a strong “hardcore” following from the likes of you and me, but the days of it being the “in” thing (and therefore attractive to a number of TV channels) have gone. These days, it’s a case of WWE and TNA being grateful they’ve got somewhere to output their product; it’s not like TV stations are having a “bidding war” over them.

It’s for the above reason that I advise TNA to take a deal, any deal with any channel, and be grateful for it.

Moving on to Genesis, even though I won’t be watching the show, I thought I’d give some predictions, just for fun:

#1 Contender's TNA World Heavyweight Championship Match:

Matt Morgan VS Mr Anderson

I think TNA have built this one up really well. Morgan was the guy who stood up for the health and well-being of Anderson throughout the whole concussion saga. When Anderson returned, he took exception to Morgan questioning his decision to be “stubborn” and get back in the ring. Now at Genesis, it comes down to Morgan and Anderson: Two friends/ acquaintances batting it out to see who will face TNA World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Hardy (provided that the belt remains on Hardy or if Hardy even remains with TNA).

This should be a good match. I think the TNA fans will favour Ken Anderson over Matt Morgan and I think that the end result will be Anderson beating the “Blue-Print” to get the title shot he never really lost in the first place.

Winner: Mr Anderson

MMA Match:

Kurt Angle VS Jeff Jarrett

The “Double J MMA Challenge” has been ridiculous but at least it’s given us the return of Kurt Angle, who had a great 2010, despite being absent for the last half of it.

Angle has had his ups and downs and I still worry for the man when I see him perform death-defying, ill-advised neck-jarring moves with pain etched on his face and that “far away” look in his eyes. However, when he’s “on” and performing to his very best, he is a man without peer and is an asset to TNA (I just hope that his body isn’t secretly falling apart).

To his credit, Jarrett has played the “bully” and “cocky heel” role with gusto, to the point where one can’t wait for Angle to give “Double J” his “just desserts” at Genesis.

My prediction is that Angle will come close, but there will be some sort of screw-job finish that allows Jeff to scurry away and leave Angle seething (and banned from participating in future “MMA Exhibition” matches).

Winner: Jeff Jarrett

RVD VS “Immortal’s Mystery Opponent”

I have no idea who the “Mystery Opponent” is and wouldn’t like to hazard a guess. However, what I CAN see is that Van Dam has appeared generally miffed with TNA in his recent promos and appearances on “IMPACT!” (I’m not saying he genuinely is, it’s just the vibe I’m getting).

Bear in mind that this man has been out of the title picture ever since Abyss “carved him up” and has generally been “filling out” the mid-card ever since. I have no idea what sort of deal he signed with TNA, but it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if he decided to leave the company as soon as it expires.

Whoever his opponent is, I see Van Dam losing here and moving further down the pecking order in TNA.

Winner: “Mystery Opponent”.

Brother Ray VS Brother Devon

Note to TNA: The world did NOT need another Brother Ray/ Brother Devon feud. These two work better as a tag-team (ECW knew it, and so did WWE, especially after they split them up in 2002 with disastrous results), although they’ve pretty much done it all now as a tandem.

I can see what TNA are trying to do here. They’ve signed Ray and Devon to new deals and are trying to get as much mileage out of them as possible, without repeating the same matches and routines they did as a tag-team. But it’s not working.

I fear that the TNA fans (who would probably rather see Team 3D retire as a tag-team rather than battle it out as singles stars) will switch off come bell time, leaving all concerned in an embarrassing situation.

I’ll admit that both Ray and Devon have tried very hard (Ray as the “bully”, Devon as the righteous fan-favourite) to get this feud over, but it hasn’t convinced me that’s worth seeing them go at it on PPV.

Winner: Brother Ray

TNA Knockouts Championship Match:

Madison Rayne VS Mickie James

Mickie “Hardcore Country” James finally gets her TNA Knockouts Championship Match against Madison Rayne, after drawing a line under her feud with Tara in an epic Cage Match on “IMPACT!”

Mickie has been great during her TNA run so far and Madison has excelled as the arrogant champion, managing to break away from the Beautiful People “understudy” stigma in the process.

This should be a great match, but I can’t see Mickie winning the gold just yet. Interference from Tara will ensure that the strap stays around the waist of the gorgeous Madison Rayne for now.
Winner: Madison Rayne

TNA Television Championship Match:

Douglas Williams VS AJ Styles

It’s “make or break” for AJ here, as it looks like if he comes up short at “Genesis”, he’s out of “Immortal” for good.

Doug will certainly give Styles a run for his money and has been a fighting champion ever since he unseated AJ for the gold at “Final Resolution.”

With the pressure on, I think Styles will regain the gold here, buying himself some more time in “Immortal” for a while yet.

Winner: AJ Styles

TNA X-Division Championship Match:

Jay Lethal VS Kazarian

“Immortal” has vowed to win all the gold they can at “Genesis” and with Lethal being a multiple-time X-Division Champion , I think the gold is likely to move to Kaz here, as it would have more benefit to him (that said, Kaz himself is a former X-Division Champion and is “above” the title IMO, however he doesn’t come across as much of a “stop-gap champion” like Jay Lethal).

Winner: Kazarian

TNA World Tag-Team Championship Match:

The Motor City Machine Guns VS Beer Money

These two teams can certainly do the business in the ring, but after the exhausting “Best Of Five” Series and more in 2010, we’ve already seen enough of these 4 going at it.
Because I think this will be “Immortal’s” night, I predict a title change here.

Winner: Beer Money

Overall, TNA Genesis looks like a great show and should be a solid start to the new year for the company. However, after giving my predictions, the question is, “Will I Be Watching It?”

The simple answer is “Not For That Price, Not At That Time, & Not On My Computer.” No thanks, TNA. I’ll wait for the DVD.

Previously posted on Smash Wrestling:

http://www.firetank.com/smashwrestling/

2010: A Year In WWE (Part 2): By Matthew Evans (21/12/2010)

2011-07-09T05:29:00.000-07:00

July:

A photo emerged online showing Undertaker (who according to the story line, was still in a “vegetative state”) marrying WWE Diva Michelle McCool. Apparently, WWE weren’t happy with the “leak”, as it contradicted the angle they’d concocted to keep ‘Taker off TV.

It had been reported that ‘Taker and McCool had married in a low-key ceremony in Houston, Texas. It’s believed former WWE Divas Torrie Wilson, Sharmell (Booker T’s wife) and Lisa “Victoria” Varon (TNA Knockout Tara) were among those in attendance.

It was reported that WWE’s former Head Of International Operations Shane McMahon (who quit his post in January 2010) was now part of a consortium who’d made a multi-million pound investment into Sports Management.

The Wrestling Observer and The Sun reported that HHH would be likely to miss the SummerSlam PPV in August after under-going surgery on his arm.

Following a physical angle on Raw (I.e. a “gang-attack” from The Nexus) WWE Hall Of Fame inductee Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat suffered bleeding to the brain (which according to doctors, was caused by a ruptured blood vessel), although WWE reported that this health scare was “most likely not related” to the 450 Splash he took from Nexus member Justin Gabriel. (Thankfully, “The Dragon” went on to make a full recovery).

The “Money In The Bank” PPV took place on July 18 and saw Kane beat Kofi Kingston, Matt Hardy, Christian, Dolph Ziggler, Drew McIntyre, Cody Rhodes and The Big Show in SD!’s “MITB” Ladder Match, which secured him a World Title Match, any time over the next 12 months. (Kane chose to “cash in” that very night, easily beating Rey Mysterio for the WWE World Heavyweight Title after Rey had retained the gold in a good bout against Jack Swagger).
On the Raw brand, The Miz became “Mr Money In The Bank” when he scaled the rungs and beat Randy Orton, Evan Bourne, Edge, John Morrison, Chris Jericho, Mark Henry and Ted Dibiase (accompanied by the lovely Maryse).

Elsewhere, Alicia Fox retained The WWE Divas Championship against Eve Torres, The Hart Dynasty (DH Smith & Tyson Kidd, with Natalya Neidhart in their corner) retained the Unified Tag-Team Titles against Rikishi’s sons, The Usos (accompanied by Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka’s daughter, Tamina), Layla (with Michelle McCool) retained her WWE Women’s Championship against Kelly Kelly (with Tiffany), and Sheamus retained the WWE Championship in a boring Cage Match against John Cena (the finish featured an inevitable run-in from The Nexus).

August:

Redhotdivas.com reported that WWE Diva Tiffany (Taryn Terrell) had been “suspended indefinitely” after reportedly being arrested on August 8 following an alleged “domestic disturbance” with her husband, SD! Superstar Drew McIntyre (Drew Galloway).

Multiple sources also reported that Tiffany and McIntyre attended a party together in Los Angeles on August 7 and that police and security were reportedly called following an apparent “domestic disturbance.”

WWE weren’t happy, as Tiffany had been in Los Angeles promoting SummerSlam, a PPV for which she had been scheduled to appear.

Tiffany was also removed from the video opening of SD!

Despite the charges later being dropped, Tiffany never returned to WWE TV.

In an interview with The Sun’s Rob McNichol, Stone Cold Steve Austin praised WWE’s return to a “PG” format and also called Bret “Hitman” Hart a “true legend.”

Former WWE World Tag-Team Champion Lance Cade (Lance McNaught) sadly died of heart failure on August 13. He was just 29.

Cade was best known for his tag-team partnership with Trevor Murdoch. Together, they held the WWE World Tag-Team Championship belts on 3 separate occasions. Just like with Chris Kanyon, WWE acknowledged Cade’s passing on WWE.Com but did nothing to pay tribute to him on TV.

SummerSlam took place on August 15: The Undertaker (looking genuinely frail and banged up) and Daniel Bryan (re-hired sooner than many had envisioned) made their respective returns: ‘Taker popped out of a casket during Kane’s WWE World Heavyweight Title defence against Rey Mysterio (however, Kane had the final say on the “less than 100%” Undertaker) and Bryan was unveiled as The Great Khali’s replacement in the Team Raw (led by John Cena) VS Nexus main event (Team Raw won after sole survivor Cena flattened The Nexus).

Former WWF, WCW & ECW star Luna Vachon passed away aged just 48 on August 27. Vachon had been one of the most convincing characters and one of the greatest all-round female performers the business had ever seen. Throughout her life, she had battled with bipolar issues and prior to her death, she had been dealt a cruel blow when she lost her home and all her possessions in a fire. She sadly became yet another wrestling tragedy.

“SES” member Serena was fired on August 27 after reportedly irking management for the last time with her antics outside the ring (I.e. her partying). Her departure was the beginning of the end for CM Punk’s “cult” on-screen faction.

Kaval (previously known as Loki in ROH and Senshi in TNA) won the 2nd series of “NXT” on August 31. The fact that Kaval (who as a well-travelled veteran of the independent scene, has more experience than most of the current WWE roster) was “mentored” by Lay-Cool (Layla & Michelle McCool) must have been WWE’s idea of a joke.

September:

Former WWF Superstar Bastion Booger (Mike Shaw) died of a heart attack at the age of 53 on September 11. Although the “Booger” character was more recognisable to the majority of wrestling fans, Shaw’s previous work in Stampede Wrestling (as Makhan Singh) and WCW (as “Norman The Lunatic” and “Trucker Norm”, respectively) was considered better than his stint as the lower-card comedy heel in the WWF.

In relevant from the WWE “Night Of Champions” PPV held on September 19, Dolph Ziggler (accompanied by his “girlfriend” Vickie Guerrero and her “NXT” Season 3 “Rookie Diva” Kaitlyn retained his IC Title against Kofi Kingston, Daniel Bryan beat The Miz (with his “NXT” Season 2 rookie Alex Riley) cleanly via submission to become the new WWE U.S. Champion, Michelle McCool beat Melina in a dreadful “Lumberjill” Match to unify the WWE Divas and WWE Women’s Championships, Kane retained the WWE World Heavyweight Title against his “brother” The Undertaker (cleanly, I might add), Drew McIntyre & Cody Rhodes won a tag-team “Gauntlet” Match to become the WWE Unified Tag-Team Champions by beating Mark Henry & Evan Bourne, The Hart Dynasty, The Usos and Santino Marella & Kozlov, and Randy Orton became the new WWE Champion when he won a “Six-Pack Challenge” against Sheamus, Wade Barrett, Chris Jericho, Edge and John Cena.

Former WWF Superstar Giant Gonzalez (Jorge Gonzalez) passed away on September 22 at the age of 44, following a long battle with diabetes. It was yet another sad loss for the wrestling business.

Gonzalez had a short but memorable run with the WWF in 1993, feuding with The Undertaker. Prior to the WWF, Gonzalez worked for WCW (World Championship Wrestling), under the name “El Gigante”. Gonzalez also worked briefly for New Japan Pro Wrestling following his departure from the WWF.

October:

WWE Hell In A Cell took place on October 3. It was a pretty forgettable show. In relevant results: Daniel Bryan retained the WWE U.S. Title in a Triple Threat “Submissions Count Anywhere” Match against The Miz and John Morrison, Randy Orton beat Sheamus In A Hell In A Cell Match to retain the WWE Championship, Wade Barrett beat John Cena (by virtue of the loss, Cena was then forced to join the Nexus), and Kane beat The Undertaker in a rather dull Hell In A Cell Match (and thus retained his WWE World Heavyweight Title) when the recently returned Paul Bearer turned heel on ‘Taker.

Speaking on his blog, Jim Ross noted that former WCW and WWE Superstar Bill Goldberg “could be a nice addition” to WM 27 in Atlanta.

Matt Hardy was finally released from his WWE contract on October 15 (I say “finally” because Hardy had almost turned his unhappiness with WWE into a game of “How Can I Get Them To Fire Me?” ). Hardy had been dissatisfied for some time (and in some respects, had reason to be). However, he also didn’t help himself with some of his online musings and ultimately, gave WWE little choice in the end. Matt is expected to show up in TNA to join his brother Jeff next year.

In noteworthy happenings from the “Bragging Rights” PPV on October 24: John Cena & David Otunga (of The Nexus) defeated the make-shift WWE Tag-Team Champions Drew McIntyre and Cody Rhodes in a farcical match that made a mockery of the tag belts and the push that McIntyre and Rhodes had previously been receiving (Cena and Otunga couldn’t get along and Cena basically won the match all by himself), Kane once again retained his World Title against his “brother” The Undertaker by beating him in a “Buried Alive” Match, after some unexplained interference from The Nexus (the match was improvement on their previous two PPV bouts, although it still wasn’t great, but in fairness Undertaker was totally banged up with injuries again), “Team SD!” (Captain Big Show, Edge, Rey Mysterio, Alberto Del Rio, Tyler Reks, Jack Swagger & Kofi Kingston) defeated “Team Raw” (Captain The Miz, John Morrison, Santino Marella, Ezekiel Jackson, R-Truth, CM Punk & Sheamus) in an inter-brand tag-team elimination match (the match was good but the result was forgotten around a week later), and Wade Barrett (with John Cena in his corner) beat Randy Orton via DQ in an awful WWE Championship Match (Cena deliberately interfered, saving the title for Orton, but giving Barrett the DQ win).

November:

Former TNA Superstar Kevin Nash reached out to Vince McMahon and WWE via Twitter, offering to return and win the Royal Rumble and then “get ‘Taker at Mania”. Nash, as we all know, worked for WWE between 1993 and 1996 and then again between 2002-2003 and has always remained on good terms with Vince McMahon and his company.

The Sun in the UK reported that CM Punk and The Undertaker would both be on the shelf for several months. Punk (who had suffered a damaged hip) was looking at 3 months, while ‘Taker was having serious shoulder problems that could possibly require surgery. WWE were hoping that both wrestlers would be fit and well again in time for WM 27 in 2011.

WWE wielded the axe on November 19, cutting the jobs of 6 of their talents (6 Superstars and 2 Divas). Let go were Shad Gaspard, Luke Gallows, Vance Archer (Lance Hoyt), Caylen Croft, Tiffany and Jillian Hall.

Survivor Series took place on November 21 and saw Rey Mysterio, Big Show, Kofi Kingston, MVP & Chris Masters defeat Alberto Del Rio, Drew McIntyre, Cody Rhodes, Jack Swagger & Tyler Reks in a traditional 5-On-5 Survivor Series Elimination Match, Natalya beat Lay-Cool (Layla & Michelle McCool) in a 2-On-1 Handicap Match to become the new WWE Divas Champion, and Randy Orton retain the WWE Championship against Wade Barrett in a match refereed by John Cena (as per the match stipulation, Cena was now “fired”).

The following night on Raw, The Miz “cashed in” his “MITB” opportunity and beat Randy Orton to become the new WWE Champion (oh, and John Cena showed up, even though he’d been “fired” just 24 hours prior).

The “Divas”-themed season of “NXT” concluded on November 30 with Kaitlyn winning the honours (runner up Naomi was very humble in defeat). Kaitlyn later appeared on the SD! Brand, furthering the “love triangle” saga between her, Dolph Ziggler and Vickie Guerrero.

December:

SD! Superstar MVP asked for and received his release in early December. MVP confirmed via Twitter that he was looking to “freshen things up” and hinted at joining New Japan Pro Wrestling.

Former WWE Diva Jillian Hall tweeted to update fans on her status:

“Many don't know the truth about my release, but the truth is I asked for my release a couple times before I actually was officially released. No hard feelings towards WWE. This is just where I am in my life right now."

It had been erroneously reported that Jillian had actually been kept on with the company as a trainer. (The belief was that WWE had “released” her as an on-screen performer but not as a employee).

WWE TLC (Tables, Ladders & Chairs) was a strong way to end the year. In full results: Dolph Ziggler retained the IC Title in a three-way Ladder Match against Kofi Kingston and Jack Swagger (the match was good, the finish [Dolph grabbing the belt off the mat after Kofi and Swagger dropped it from the hook] was s***), Natalya & Beth Phoenix defeated Lay-Cool In The first-ever Divas Tag-Team Table Match (another good match, although there was a scary moment when Beth came close to breaking her neck after falling head-first to the floor), Santino & Kozlov retained the WWE Tag-Team Titles against The Nexus (nothing match, cheap DQ finish), John Morrison beat Sheamus in a great Ladder Match to earn a WWE Championship Match, The Miz beat Randy Orton in a Tables Match to retain the WWE Championship (this was adequate, although the “re-start” was pointless), Edge beat Kane, Rey Mysterio and Alberto Del Rio in a “TLC” Match to become the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion (this was the best match of the PPV), and John Cena beat Wade Barrett in a very effective, well-executed “Chairs” Match (after the match, Cena continued to attack Barrett with a chair, and then caused 20-odd chairs from the “TLC” set to fall on Barrett).

Previously posted on Smash Wrestling:

http://www.firetank.com/smashwrestling/

2010: A Year In WWE (Part 1): By Matthew Evans (14/12/2010)

2011-07-09T05:21:00.000-07:00

Here is part 1 of a round up of all the relevant goings-on in WWE in 2010:
January:

The year began with WWE.Com reporting that one of their Divas; Mickie James would be releasing her first Country music single in February 2010, followed by an album in March.

Speaking to CMT blog, Mickie said:

“As in any entertainment industry, you have to see the sheep in wolf's clothing and you have to be able to differentiate who's being real and who's just hopping on board for all the wrong reasons."

It was confirmed that Mickie had signed a deal with Nashville producer Kent Wells, who had previously worked on albums with Dolly Parton and Neal McCoy.

Wrestling Epicenter.Com reported that WWE had offered the January 11, 2010 Raw “Guest Host” gig to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, but he turned them down. WWE then offered the role to “Iron” Mike Tyson.

Following Melina’s vacating of the WWE Divas Championship, it was reported that the former “MNM” member would not be due back following her ACL surgery until July 2010 at the earliest.

Bret “Hitman” Hart made his official WWE return on the January 4 edition of Raw and in an unbelievable and gripping pro wrestling moment, made peace with Shawn Michaels after over a decade of bad blood following the “Montreal Double-Cross.”

However, the night ended on a sour note for Hart (at least in story line parlance). After shaking his hand and hailing him as the “Excellence Of Execution”, Vince McMahon callously kicked Bret in the groin, putting the wheels in motion for their inevitable showdown at WrestleMania 26.

Unfortunately, Bret’s comeback did not give Raw the “4.0” rating WWE was expecting, although it did beat rival company TNA, who’s flagship programme “IMPACT!” was going out live and head-to-head with WWE in what had been dubbed the “return of the Monday Night War.” (The final rating for Raw was 3.6 (5.6 million viewers). Although TNA didn’t better this, their rating did go up to its highest point in their history on Spike TV, while WWE’s rating remained the same as usual).

Following Jeff Hardy’s return to TNA on the January 4 live edition of “IMPACT!”, WWE removed Jeff from the opening “history” video that preceded the 05/01 edition of ECW On Syfy (previously, WWE had removed Hulk Hogan and Mick Foley, however it should be pointed out that Ric Flair could still be seen in the piece, despite his appearance on the January 4 show).

Also this month, PWInsider.Com reported that SD! Superstar Drew McIntyre and ECW General Manager Tiffany had got engaged and were planning on tying the knot sometime in May.

Former WWE Diva Stacy Keibler made headlines as well. Speaking to Sports Illustrated.Com, Stacy said she would “love” to guest host Raw sometime in the future (apparently, Stacy had wanted to do it when WWE was in her hometown of Baltimore, but her request was ignored. When her publicist called them a few months later, they said they would “love to have her”, but in the end the dates didn’t work around Stacy’s schedule).

It was reported that former WWE Superstar Ludvig Borga (Tony Halme) had passed away, aged just 47. Borga had a brief run as an “anti-American” heel in the WWF between 1993 and 1994 and following the end of his wrestling career, had a short stint as an MMA fighter. He also had a political run in Finnish parliament from 2003-2007.

SD! Superstar Eric Escobar was released from his contract on January 17. Escobar had made his debut in October 2009 as the “boyfriend” of the returning former SD! General Manager Vickie Guerrero. However, after this story line relationship came to an end, Escobar was jobbed out without mercy every week.

Speaking to the Daily Star Sunday, WWE Diva Kelly Kelly noted the loss and heart-ache she still felt following the death of her former boyfriend (and former WWE and TNA Superstar) Andrew “Test” Martin, who passed away aged just 33 in March 2009. Kelly called him “the love of my life” and added, “Not a day goes by when I don't think about Andrew.”

The Sun’s wrestling writer Mike Aldren reported that Chris Jericho and Shane “Hurricane” Helms had been arrested in the early hours of the morning of Wednesday, January 27.
Apparently, police had found them “extremely intoxicated" in a public place.

The Royal Rumble PPV took place on January 31. The under card (highlighted by a much-better-than expected WWE World Title scrap between The Undertaker and Rey Mysterio (‘Taker won, although Rey accidentally busted the champion’s nose during the bout)) saw one title change, with Mickie James finally getting her revenge on the “mean girls” LayCool by beating Michelle McCool for the WWE Women'’ Championship in quick fashion to officially end the uncomfortable “Piggie James” angle.

The Rumble match itself was okay, largely thanks to some creative touches such as Beth Phoenix becoming the 2nd woman to enter a Royal Rumble (the 1st being Chyna) and eliminating The Great Khali.

CM Punk (who eliminated Phoenix after hitting her with the “GTS”) was also a riot as he took a breather from eliminating participants to berate the crowd about not being “straight edge.”

The Rumble was won by Edge, who returned (early) from injury at #30 and got revenge on his former tag-team partner Chris Jericho (who’d apparently just received a “slap on the wrist” (if even that) from WWE following the aforementioned arrest prior to the PPV) by eliminating him from the match.

February:

Following her entry into the 2010 Royal Rumble, “The Glamazon” Beth Phoenix took a shot at the “9th Wonder Of The World” Chyna in an interview with WWE.Com:

“Chyna would have had a slight size advantage in her prime, but I’ll tell you what Chyna was missing and that was heart."

"Chyna got comfortable, she got soft in her position. I’m quite the opposite. I get better and better."

WWE.Com reported on February 1 that WWE Hall Of Fame inductee Jack Brisco (one half of the famous Brisco Brothers tag-team) had passed away at the age of 68. Jack and his brother Gerry (who could been seen serving as one of Vince McMahon’s “henchmen” at the height of the Austin/ McMahon rivalry in 1998) were both inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame in 2008 and in the prime, were considered to be the best technical wrestling tag-teams in the business.

Following Vince McMahon’s announcement on February 2 that the ECW brand would cease broadcasting at the end of the month, former WWE and ECW star Rob Van Dam joked to The Sun (UK) that he thought the group had died years ago.

TNA announcer Taz (who also worked for the original and revived version of ECW) also weighed in with his thoughts on his official Facebook page, criticising McMahon and WWE for not giving the company a “proper send off”:

[Credit: Facebook/ The Sun Online]:

“If you are going to thank cameramen and directors, then acknowledge the past history because it's well deserved."

"If you utilised the letters ECW to make a lot of money over the past several years I would assume that you respect the history of ECW?”

It was reported that former WWE Diva and 7-time WWE Women’s Champion Trish Stratus had landed her first film role after signing up to be the lead female in the Canadian movie “Bail Enforcers.” Trish was quoted as saying, “I'm thrilled to be a part of a production that is 100% Canadian and I look forward to delivering some Stratusfaction!”

Prior to his appearance at the Historic Purks International Championship Wrestling show, former WWE/WCW/ECW Superstar Ron “Farooq” Simmons announced that his match at the event would be his last as he was officially confirming his retirement.

WWE Chairman Vince McMahon announced that the company was axing the annual “Survivor Series” PPV as “it's outlasted its usage.” (McMahon would later change his mind and keep the event after all, although with less emphasis on the team elimination matches).

The final “ECW On Syfy” show on February 16 featured “Show-Miz” (The Big Show & The Miz) retaining their Unified Tag-Team Titles against the “odd couple” tandem of Yoshi Tatsu and Goldust. In other action, Ezekiel Jackson became the last man to hold the ECW Championship when he beat defending champion Christian in an “Extreme Rules” Match.

WWE’ s updated PPV schedule confirmed that Backlash, Judgment Day and The Bash had all been given the boot. The idea was to now promote “theme” events such as Hell In A Cell and Money In The Bank.

The “Elimination Chamber” PPV took place on February 21 and saw three World Title changes in one night. After John Cena outlasted defending champion Sheamus, Randy Orton, Ted Dibiase, Kofi Kingston and HHH in the Raw “Elimination Chamber” Match, “The Animal” Batista showed up (by order of Mr McMahon) and beat Cena in an unscheduled additional match to become the new WWE Champion.

Elsewhere, Chris Jericho became the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion when he pinned The Undertaker in the SD! “Elimination Chamber” Match (after Shawn Michaels emerged from the chamber “floor” and super-kicked ‘Taker, setting up their “Career VS Streak” match at WrestleMania). Also competing in the match were CM Punk, Rey Mysterio, John Morrison and R-Truth.

However, the biggest talking point of the PPV was what happened before the SD! “Chamber” match had even began. During his trademark ring entrance, Undertaker was briefly engulfed by a fireball that shot up from the flames that make up his “fiery” entrance. Undertaker suffered some nasty burns and could be seen dousing himself in cold water as he waited to emerge from his pod for the “Elimination Chamber” Match (which he carried on competing in as planned).

It was reported that former UK Gladiator and independent wrestler Jemma “Inferno” Palmer had signed a developmental deal with WWE and would be relocating to Tampa to work for Florida Championship Wrestling.

WWE went wild with the talent cuts on February 26, releasing WWE Diva Maria Kanellis, and former ECW Superstars Paul Burchill and Shane “Hurricane” Helms. Of all the releases, Maria’s was the most surprising (she was scheduled to appear on a Celebrity Apprentice special in the U.S., which could have got WWE some big mainstream exposure had they kept her until at the least after the show had aired). Burchill’s and Helms’ departures were no great shock, considering how they’d just been “making up the numbers” on the ECW roster prior to its demise (plus Helm’s aforementioned arrest in January didn’t help his plight).

WWE Referee Scott Armstrong was added to the list of cuts that very same day. Armstrong was a former pro wrestler (and part of the legendary Armstrong family) who’d been “wearing the stripes” for WWE since 2006.

Charlie Haas (who was in the middle of his 2nd run with the company) was sent packing on February 28. Considering the way he “flip-flopped” between brands and barely got utilised, Haas’ release was far from surprising.

March:

Mickie James noted on her Twitter page that she’d recently undergone surgery due to a staph infection in her leg (at this point, it looked like Mickie would surely be missing WM).

After serving as “Guest Host” on Raw, Stone Cold Steve Austin appeared on the Hardcore Sports Radio and said that he liked the fact that TNA was going head-to-head with WWE, as it created competition for the betterment of the business.

Former WWE Superstar Colt Cabana criticised the company’s handling of his career in an interview with The Sun’s Rob McNichol in the “One Sided Ring Podcast.” Cabana said WWE hindered his progression and stopped him and his character from developing.

Former WWE and WCW Superstar Bill Goldberg confirmed via Twitter that he had been approached by TNA but was considering an offer from WWE. (This was surprising considering WWE’s handling of him between 2003 and 2004).

WrestleMania XXVI (held on March 28) did not live up to the hype. Held in Phoenix, Arizona, the company’s biggest event of the year was headlined by an entertaining and sometimes gripping “Streak VS Career” Match between The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels (won by ‘Taker, which forced Shawn to retire from WWE).

The rest of the show however, was disappointing on the whole. The Unified Tag-Team Title match between The Miz & Big Show and John Morrison & R-Truth was way too short (“Show-Miz” retained), Randy Orton’s triple threat victory over Cody Rhodes and Ted Dibiase destroyed the progress of the former “Legacy” members and was far too predictable, the “Money In The Bank” Match was the usual mix of crazy ladder stunts and painful, career-shortening spots that didn’t really work as an-all round “proper” match (plus the winner, Jack Swagger took bloody ages to unfasten the briefcase), HHH VS Sheamus was okay, but Sheamus should have won and the bout itself was far from a classic, Rey Mysterio’s bout with CM Punk was exciting while it lasted (which wasn’t nowhere near long enough and once again, the wrong man won), Bret Hart’s “No Holds Barred” Match against Mr McMahon (which featured members of The Hart Family all giving poor Vince a pummelling) was utterly dreadful (even with the knowledge that Bret couldn’t take bumps), Jericho’s WWE World Title defence against Edge had it’s moments but was not PPV-worthy overall, the 10-Diva tag-match (which featured Vickie Guerrero paying homage to her late husband Eddie Guerrero with the match-winning Frog Splash [seeing Vickie pay tribute to Eddie was the only good part of the match, and even that was ruined by Michael Cole calling it a “Hog Splash”) was the usual abomination, John Cena VS Batista (where Cena regained the WWE Championship via submission) was entertaining on a crowd reaction level, but like Edge/ Jericho didn’t convince as a PPV headline match and even the aforementioned ‘Taker/ Michaels rematch wasn’t a patch on their effort at WM 25 the previous year.

The following night on Raw, Shawn Michaels proved to be a man of his word and bowed out gracefully in an emotional “farewell” that lacked the “pomp and circumstance” of Ric Flair’s “retirement” in 2008 but nonetheless, worked very nicely (Undertaker even appeared to literally tip his hat to Shawn and long-time buddy HHH embraced his friend and left two green glow-sticks on the ramp to symbolise “DX).

April:

Former WCW & WWE Superstar Chris Kanyon (Christopher Klucsaritis) was found dead in his New York apartment on April 2. He chose to take his own life after battling depression for several years. He was just 40 years old. WWE acknowledged his death on their official web site but did not pay tribute to him on-screen.

It was reported that Jim “JR” Ross had acknowledged that his announcing career was “likely history”, with options being “weighed up” for him for another role in the company in the coming months. Ross had been absent from the announce desk since suffering a serious Bell’s Palsy attack in October 2009, prior to the “Bragging Rights” PPV. He was in attendance at WrestleMania 26 and according to him “would have loved” to have called the Undertaker/ Shawn Michaels main event.

The “Syfy” network in the U.S. announced on April 13 that they had signed a multi-year agreement to broadcast “Friday Night SmackDown!” beginning October 10, 2010. However, to make way for the WWE’s 2nd biggest show of the week, Syfy decided to axe the doomed “NXT” programme (which had been getting some truly dreadful ratings).

WWE wielded the axe on April 22 and released 7 wrestlers (5 WWE Superstars & 2 WWE Divas). The unfortunate recipients of the dreaded “pink slip” were former WWE Women’s & WWE Divas Champion Mickie James, former FWA star Katie Lea-Burchill, Raw Superstar Shelton Benjamin, SD! Superstar Funaki, SD! Superstar Slam Master J (Ray Gordy), SD! Superstar Jimmy Wang Yang and former ECW Superstar Mike Knox. The most surprising release of the lot was Mickie James (many fans were upset with WWE for giving her the boot).
Speaking of released talent, former WWE Diva Maria Kanellis spoke to The Sun’s Rob McNichol on The One Sided Ring Podcast (Credit: The Sun Online] and said that WWE didn’t give her the freedom to pursue other things (like her fashion and music careers) but did say that she “had such a great relationship” with them overall. She admitted that the release “came as a shock.”

WWE Extreme Rules took place on April 25. Overall it wasn’t all that “extreme” (or very entertaining, to be honest). Notable results included new WWE World Heavyweight Champion Jack Swagger (who had recently “cashed in” his “Money In The Bank” opportunity and beaten Chris Jericho on an edition of “Friday Night SmackDown!”) retaining his title in an “Extreme Rules” Match against Randy Orton, Beth Phoenix beating Michelle McCool in an “Extreme Makeover” Match (which featured some creative use of an ironing board) to become the new WWE Women’s Champion and John Cena retaining the WWE Championship in a “Last Man Standing” Match against Batista (the finish was silly: Cena simply used duct-tape to tie Batista to the ring-post so he “couldn’t stand”).

The annual “WWE Draft” the following night on Raw saw Kelly Kelly, Big Show, Kofi Kingston and Christian move to SD!, while John Morrison, R-Truth, Edge and Chris Jericho moved to Raw.

In the “Supplemental Draft”, Raw got The Hart Dynasty (DH Smith, Tyson Kidd & Natalya Neidhart), Goldust, Ezekiel Jackson, The Great Khali & Ranjin Singh, while SD! acquired MVP, Rosa Mendes, Hornswoggle, Chris Masters, Cody Rhodes and Chavo Guerrero.

May:

Speaking to WWE.Com about her latest injury (a torn left ACL ligament), “The Glamazon” Beth Phoenix said “Rehab will be the hardest thing for me”, adding that “I'm not used to being told, ‘Take it easy.’ It's usually ‘Push the limits!’ More than anything, this comeback will be a test of patience for me.” Following her victory over Michelle McCool at “Extreme Rules”, Beth was forced to drop the WWE Women’s Championship to Layla following the aforementioned injury.

The Sun reported that WWE Chairman Vince McMahon had expressed his disappointment with the buy-rate for WrestleMania 26 (it was down 12% from WM XXVI the previous year). McMahon put the decrease down to factors such as 2010’s WM not having a “theme” (the 2009 PPV was branded around the “25th Anniversary” of the event) and fans ordering the show together, as opposed to individually. Vince also dismissed the notion that WM 26 may have suffered from UFC having a big PPV event 24-hours prior to the “Granddaddy Of Them All.”

Carlito got released on May 21. According to the statement on WWE.Com, “Carlito’s termination was due to his first violation of the WWE Wellness Program and his subsequent refusal to attend a rehabilitation facility." Carlito’s career had been on the wane for quit some time (when he made his debut in 2004, big things were expected of him).

In notable results from the “Over The Limit” PPV, held on May 23: Kofi Kingston beat Drew McIntyre to become the new WWE IC Champion, Rey Mysterio beat CM Punk in an “SES Pledge VS Hair” Match (as a result, Punk had to have his head shaved bald), Big Show beat WWE World Heavyweight Champion Jack Swagger via DQ (this was yet another example of WWE having no faith whatsoever in portraying Swagger as a credible world champion), Eve Torres retained the WWE Divas Championship against Maryse, and John Cena retained the WWE Championship in an “I Quit” Match against Batista (this one had a ridiculous finish: Cena hoisted Batista up on a platform on the stage and threatened to give him an “Attitude Adjustment” to a prop car below. Batista feared for his life and yelled, “I Quit!”. Cena then did the move anyway and an “injured” Batista appeared on Raw the following night and actually “quit” WWE live on air (he was legitimately leaving the company, for reasons that have never officially been confirmed [it’s rumoured he was miffed with losing out on a movie role to HHH and also wanted a change of scenery]).

June:

To explain Undertaker’s absence from Television, WWE concocted a story line in which his “brother” Kane had apparently found him in a “vegetative state.” In reality ‘Taker was recovering from a broken orbital bone (some fans in the UK and some reporters in India thought the story was legit). With him off-screen, WWE developed a “Who Done It?” saga that would be drawn out until he returned.

Daniel Bryan got released on June 11. Bryan had competed on the first series of “NXT” and had recently formed the “Nexus” group with the season 1 winner Wade Barrett and most of the other contenders on the show. It’s believed that WWE fired Bryan for breaching their strict “PG” guidelines (Bryan was apparently given the boot for simulating a choke on ring announcer Justin Roberts [using his tie] and spitting in John Cena’s face at the conclusion of the wild “Nexus” invasion at the close of an edition of Monday Night Raw).

WWE “Fatal Four-Way” (a new PPV that bombed at the box office) took place on June 20. The event saw Kofi Kingston retain the IC Title against Drew McIntyre, Alicia Fox win the WWE Divas Championship in a Four-Way Match against Eve Torres, Gail Kim and Maryse, Rey Mysterio become the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion when he beat Jack Swagger, Big Show and CM Punk in another Four-Way Match, The Miz retain the U.S. Title against R-Truth, and Sheamus win the WWE Championship by beating John Cena, Randy Orton and Edge in Raw’s 4-Way main event.

*Check back soon for Part 2 (July- December 2010).

Previously posted on Smash Wrestling:

http://www.firetank.com/smashwrestling/

The Late TNA Turning Point 2010 Review: By Matthew Evans (14/12/2010)

2011-07-09T05:15:00.000-07:00

*Apologies for the lateness of this review and the lack of column updates lately. I’ve been busy with other things outside of Smash and have been rescheduling things of this nature over the past month or so. The regular “Smash Service” should now resume! :)

You have to feel sorry for one Ken (“Mr”) Anderson (the artist formerly known as “Mr Kennedy”). It seems that if he didn’t have “bad luck” he’d have no luck at all.

Wrestling fans will not doubt recall WWE WrestleMania 23, the night Anderson (then known as “Mr Kennedy”) became “Mr Money In The Bank” by winning the “Money In The Bank” Ladder Match on the “Grandest Stage Of Them All.” The briefcase Anderson now held in his mitts gave him the contractual right to challenge ANY World Champion on ANY WWE brand, ANYTIME over the next 12 months.

Indeed, it appeared that Anderson was now on the proverbial rocket-ship to the moon. Unfortunately, Anderson never made it to his destination. Put simply, the rocket didn’t just run out of fuel, it pretty much crashed and burned, shattering Anderson’s WWE main event aspirations in the process.

Soon after winning his briefcase, Anderson went down with an injury (obviously, not good and a double blow to Anderson as he’d already been “banged up” and “left on the shelf” a few times already in his short WWE career). Initially fearing Anderson would need surgery and a long recuperation period, WWE booked him to lose his “MITB” case (and obviously, the contract) to Edge, a former “MITB” winner. Anderson did just that, as planned, which was fine (obviously, not for Anderson, but it was effective “damage control” for WWE, who quickly had to postpone Ken’s main event run for at least another year). That is, until they discovered that Anderson’s injury wasn’t as serious or career-threatening as they first thought and would not require surgery (however, by this point, the deed had been done and Edge was the new “man with the briefcase”).

Anderson would eventually return, battle through more injury woes and ultimately get released from his contract for being (allegedly in the eyes of some WWE bigwigs and wrestlers) a “liability” in the ring.

At TNA Genesis in January 2010, Ken Anderson made his debut for Dixie Carter’s company, beating Abyss in a mediocre bout. It was a shaky start for sure, however, when Anderson began to verbally and physically provoke Kurt Angle in a series of realistic and gripping segments on “IMPACT!”, it appeared that Mr Anderson had truly “arrived” (indeed, his ring work and all round character hadn’t been this effective or entertaining since those early WWE days when many insiders and industry experts hailed him as one of the “next big stars”).

Fast-forward to the “Turning Point” PPV and Anderson had finally been given his first headline main event singles match at a major event. Since the aforementioned Angle feud first caught fire, he’d been on a roll, gaining such a huge fan-base of “***-holes” that he’d been turned baby face.
Anderson’s opponent at the PPV would be the TNA World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Hardy, another ex-WWE talent who’d just come off the heels of a shocking heel turn at “Bound For Glory” the previous month, where “They” had been revealed to be a devious new faction comprised of Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff, Jeff Jarrett, Abyss and Jeff Hardy (Ric Flair’s group “Fortune” would join forces with what would soon be known as “Immortal” on the post-PPV edition of “IMPACT!”).

An angle on “IMPACT!” would see Hardy attack Anderson from behind with a steel-chair. Anderson would be unprotected, but this would be fine from a safety standpoint (obviously, it would hurt, but it was unlikely to take Anderson out of the game for real, especially coming from a experienced pro like Hardy). It would work for both men: Hardy would be portrayed as the cowardly champion, attacking from behind, Anderson would be the hero caught unawares and then vowing to get his revenge at the PPV.

Unfortunately, Hardy accidentally struck Anderson in the back of the head with the chair, swinging the weapon at full force. Anderson got legitimately busted open and blood gushed from the wound like water from a fountain (TNA later filmed footage of Anderson getting stitched up for “ReAction!”; it was nauseating even for the non-squeamish: The back of his head looked liked it had literally been torn open).

Unsurprisingly, Anderson also suffered a serious concussion to go with the nasty head wound. TNA now had a legit injury on their hands as they faced a race against time to try and get Anderson fit and healthy again before the PPV. But it wasn’t to be.

TNA was forced to hastily split Matt Morgan from Fortune and Immortal and draft him in as the potential replacement for Anderson. They even used Anderson’s concussion in the story line, having Morgan “stand up” for Anderson and the health of “the boys” by reiterating the dangers of working with head trauma (TNA may have got more credit for this if they hadn’t already booked an angle where comedy wrestler Eric Young began acting goofy and confused every week after taking a [planned] head-first fall to the mat from the ring).

Even a week away from the PPV, TNA advertised Anderson for the match as originally scheduled. But he’d been quite literally “knocked for six.”

Morgan ended up being the replacement, but had been given precious little time to connect with the fans as a fan-favourite, and more importantly, be considered a threat or a legitimate challenger to Hardy’s crown.

This was a major road block for TNA heading into the show. How would they deal with it and turn an in-ring accident and a muddled main event into something positive?

Kicking off proceedings was a good TNA X-Division Championship Match between defending champion Jay Lethal and the challenger Robbie E (accompanied by the awesome Cookie). Lethal dazzled Robbie with his usual array of high-flying moves (including a superb spring-board back elbow off the ropes) as Cookie tried to distract Jay and the referee time after time to try and swing the bout in the favour of her “dude.”

She eventually succeeded, pushing Lethal off the top rope and allowing Robbie to hit his version of the “Rude Awakening” on Jay and become the new TNA X-Division Champion (seriously, my dude!).

There were no championships on the line in Mickie James’ lively scrap with her fellow ex-WWE Diva Tara (even Tara’s buddy and current TNA Knockouts Champion Madison Rayne took a back seat to proceedings and didn’t actually wrestle on the PPV at all). Indeed, this was a deeply personal grudge (apparently based on some alleged animosity dating back to WWE; TNA didn’t elaborate on this so as usual, the viewers weren’t given the full story and so didn’t know WHAT exactly went on with these two previously), so personal that the ring literally couldn’t contain these two.

It was a hard-hitting, realistic brawl that saw both Knockouts battle towards the stage and force the referee to deem the bout a double-DQ. Of course, this didn’t stop the battle; as Tara snapped a broom over Mickie’s back, before Mickie responded by bashing Tara in the head with a bin.

Overall, this match resembled the sort of out-of-control angle one might find on “IMPACT!”, plus the cheap DQ finish didn’t help. It made sense in the end, as a rematch was booked under “Falls Count Anywhere” rules at Final Resolution and on the “IMPACT!” following that PPV, there was the decisive “Cage Match” to perhaps conclude the rivalry. However, I still feel that perhaps TNA could have by-passed this match at Turning Point, or at least have given the fans a winner.

TNA made the right call by having The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) retain their TNA World Tag-Team Titles against Team 3D (Brother Ray & Brother Devon) in what had been promoted as 3D’s “last match.”

Of course, most of the fans didn’t buy the “retirement” story (good job, too as it turned out to be another ruse. On the next edition of “IMPACT!”, Brother Ray callously attacked Devon from behind and later explained his actions by saying that Devon had “screwed up” at Turning Point and that he had carried the team for years. It doesn’t seem like Ray or Devon are leaving TNA any time soon). However, they did get behind 3D in the match and willed them on to “retire” as champions.

It was certainly an action-packed, if a little short, encounter. 3D kicked out of the “Skull & Bones” (neck-breaker/ vertical splash double-team combo). Brother Ray accidentally drove himself through a table. The Guns kicked out of the “3D” finisher. The Guns eventually got the duke with a 2nd “Skull & Bones”, ensuring that the tag belts remained in their camp.

Up next was an “Extreme Rules” match between Rob Van Dam and Tommy Dreamer. Their friendship had been strained heading into the PPV thanks to RVD (who was betrayed by former friend Jeff Hardy at Bound For Glory) being paranoid that Eric Bischoff had secretly recruited a member of “EV2” to join “Immortal” and betray Van Dam. Dreamer was adamant that this was not the case, but felt that his hand had been forced into having this match to get their grievances out in the open.

This match was ok, but they took some silly risks out there with chairs and ladders (Van Dam actually did “Rolling Thunder” on a steel ladder, unprotected). It should have been stopped when Dreamer injured his hand, giving fans and viewers at home the sick visual of the outline of bone protruding through the skin. But Tommy continued right through to the planned finish: A “Five-Star Frog Splash” from Van Dam while Dreamer was laying on a steel chair.

The 10-Man Tag-Team Match between “Fortune” and “EV2” was better, albeit a little rushed. The stipulation was that someone from the losing team would be fired. Since “EV2” had the most dispensable guys (most of whom likely to be on short-term deals), there were no prizes for guessing which team would come out on the losing end here.

Brian Kendrick (who’s not strictly an ECW guy, but had to make up the numbers) got taken out early with what looked to be a legit knee injury (it wasn’t). Rhino (who looks to have now left TNA following Final Resolution) nearly sent Robert Roode flying out the ring with an extra-powerful “Gore”, while Sabu was the bout’s true “MVP” (which was a shame, because he ended up being the guy who got “fired”, after taking a match-winning top-rope “Styles-Clash” from AJ Styles).

It was said to see Sabu legitimately leave TNA. It was just as said to see Raven join him just a short time later.

Now it was time for the “Lumberjack Match” between The Pope and Abyss. Based on the build up (I.e. Abyss “kidnapping” audience members and dragging people out of the crowd), I was under the impression that TNA would stage the (admittedly naff) “Fan’s Revenge” match, where “fans” (or “plants”) would “get their own back” on “The Monster.” From a story line perspective, this would have made more sense than what TNA ended up running with.

TNA booked a “Lumberjack Match” featuring members of Pope’s “congregation.” One of these men was supposedly Pope’s “brother.” Presumably, they would have Pope’s “back” as he fought the odds against Abyss.

Pope was “banged up” before the match even started. He had his ribs taped up from a previous Abyss attack. In all honesty, the action in this bout was pretty forgettable up until the finish, which was lame to say the least.

Eric Bischoff appeared and made the “money” sign to the “congregation.” They responded by attacking Pope: IT HAD BEEN A SET-UP ALL ALONG! (YAWN!).

They tossed Pope back into the ring and allowed Abyss to hit the “Black-Hole Slam” for the win. So, it seemed that Pope had been screwed out of victory by a bunch of mystery men whom the live audience and viewers at home had only just met. Therefore, there was no reason to care.
There was also no reason to care about Samoa Joe’s dull “Submission Match” against Jeff Jarrett. This bout just didn’t have any real flow to it and the finish (again) was screwy (Jeff’s hired goons Gunner and Murphy interfered and Jarrett choked Joe out with a nigh-stick for the win. Since then “Double J” has been doing a rather embarrassing turn as an “MMA Fighter.” If this whole saga ends with an angle involving a real MMA Fighter standing up to Jeff on PPV, then perhaps it has some logic [however, since it probably won’t, then it’s little more than another idiotic TNA idea]).

Thankfully, Jeff Hardy’s TNA World Heavyweight Championship defence against “The Blue-Print” Matt Morgan was an improvement on the previous two matches, although it was far from main event-worthy when it comes to PPV events.

The first real problem was that Morgan didn’t get the desired baby face reaction. Despite Hardy’s heel turn at BFG, fans still want to root for this guy, and this was clearly evident in this match.

Also, Morgan struggled to shake off the “last-minute replacement” stigma and didn’t really make the match his “own.” Finally, and generally speaking, this match just felt like a match that TNA, Hardy and Morgan had to “get out of the way”, it didn’t come across as significant, like any World Title PPV headline match should.

That said, there were a few bright spots. Hardy kicked out of the “Carbon Foot-Print”, and Morgan kicked out of the “Twist Of Fate” and later blocked the “Swanton Bomb.”

The finish was a bit messy (even if it was intended to look that way). Morgan hit another “Carbon Foot-Print” but rookie referee “Jackson James” only counted two because Hardy’s leg was raised and in his way (Hardy’s shoulders were still on the mat).

Morgan couldn’t believe it, but Hardy came back with the “Whisper In The Wind” and another “Twist Of Fate” to retain his title.

The post-match proceedings saw “Immortal” celebrate with Hardy. He would live to fight another day as champion.

And that’s how Turning Point ended. Morgan, the “middleman” getting cheated out of the title by an inexperienced official and Hardy capitalising on the mistake and scurrying away with the title. The show had certainly been a mixed bag of highs, lows and baffling booking decisions.

Previously posted on Smashwrestling:

http://www.firetank.com/smashwrestling/

Randy "Macho Man" Savage: RIP

2011-05-21T09:32:00.000-07:00

Thanks For The Memories "Macho One."

A Girl Named Trish.... : By Matthew Evans (18/04/2003)

2011-03-24T12:27:00.000-07:00

Photo Credit: World Wrestling Entertainment

It’s been just over 3 years since Trish Stratus made her first WWE TV appearance. Appearing twice on an episode of Sunday Night Heat (dressed in a different outfit for each segment), Trish "scouted" Test and Albert and began the first stage of creating (and managing) a new tag-team.

However, Trish has come a long way since the days of T And A (the team name for the duo of Test and Albert). She is a 4-time (and current) WWE Women’s Champion, she’s been voted the WWF/WWE Internet Babe Of The Year for 2 years running (2001 and 2002, respectively), and has also had the prestigious honour of being the WWE Raw Diva Of The Decade.

Most impressive though, is Trish’s progression from a valet and occasional "gimmick" performer to a fully-fledged, full-time wrestler, and how she has contributed to making the new and improved Women’s division so interesting. 3 years ago, nobody could have (or would have) predicted just how far Trish could come as a performer. But did we underestimate Trish Stratus? After all, she wasn’t a typical "girlie" girl growing up.

Born Patricia Anne Stratigias on December 18, 1975, the Canadian beauty grew up (and still resides) in Toronto, Canada. Somewhat of a tomboy, Trish played soccer from the age of three and also played field hockey. She also had a keen interest in science and enjoyed dissecting frogs and the like and examining them with her microscope. Her interest in wrestling began at an early age, but she never envisioned a career for herself in the wrestling business.

Trish’s goal in life was to become a doctor. She studied Biology and Kinesiology (the study of muscle movement) at York University and looked set to achieve this goal until a teachers strike put her education on hold. Stuck, Trish took a job as a part-time receptionist at a gym and it was there that her first door to fame was opened.

By chance, someone at the gym knew the Musclemag International publisher, Robert Kennedy and arranged for Trish to meet him, as they thought that Trish had the looks of a fitness model. Kennedy told Trish to get in shape for a photo shoot in a few months time, and although Trish had an interest in bodybuilding and was fit, the shoot still required her to train in the gym for 6 days a week.

Trish was up to the task and managed to get into the modelling business. She still had aspirations to return to York and complete her studies (the strike eventually ended), but with her foot firmly in one of the toughest to break into businesses, she decided to stick with the modelling and finish her schooling later on in life.

One thing led to another. Through her fitness model work, she landed various media opportunities, such as being the co-host of a fitness radio show. She also began to regularly appear on On The Record alongside WWF Superstars. Rumours began to run rampant that she would be signing a WWF contract, but at the time there was no truth to this.

The LAW (Live Audio Wrestling, the Wrestling Observer’s Internet-based radio show) even phoned Trish up to see for themselves, but she said that the rumours weren’t true. However, they still offered her a job as a co-host, so that she could give a fan’s perspective on the wrestling business.

Her work with The LAW led her backstage at a WWF show and several WWF wrestlers (recognising her from her Musclemag fame) told her to send a resume and promo tape to Jim Ross (Head of Talent Relations). Trish did this and was told by JR that she would be considered if she got some wrestling training.

Trish enrolled at Sulley’s Gym in Toronto and was trained by Ron Hutchinson. For a year, she trained vigorously and was often the only female in the gym. Eventually, she was signed to a WWF contract in November 1999.

Trish was meant to debut in January 2000, but Visa problems prevented this, and so she didn’t appear on TV until March 19th. On Heat, she observed the matches of Test and Albert and looked good in the process. However, the next part of the plan required Trish to talk, and like many females in wrestling, she was not up to it.

Stumbling over her words and looking very uncomfortable, Trish’s announcement on the following Raw that she was forming a new tag-team called T And A was an embarrassment for all concerned, as Trish will freely admit (her speaking skills have since improved). However, apart from that setback, Trish’s 1st year with the WWF ran more or less without a hitch.

She allowed herself to get driven through a table by Bubba Ray Dudley at Backlash in April and had an entertaining feud with Lita over the summer months. She also offered her managerial services to Val Venis, but this affiliation didn’t last long.

In January 2001, T And A split up. Trish managed Albert for a while, but had her eyes on Mr McMahon, who she started flirting with at Christmas time. This storyline is probably best forgotten, as it was WWF Ego at it’s worst.

Poor Trish had a foul-looking pea-soup substance poured all over her and was forced to strip and bark like a dog in the middle of the ring as a way of "apologising" to Vince McMahon.

The best part of this controversial storyline was the match Trish had with Stephanie Mcmahon-Helmsley at No Way Out. To everyone’s suprise, Trish and Stephanie (with the help of HHH) knocked up an entertaining and incredibly physical encounter, which Stephanie won after William Regal turned on Trish. The Vince/Trish relationship saga continued until Wrestlemania X7, where Trish turned face by slapping McMahon (Vince’s wife, Linda also got her revenge by kicking her husband in the "grapefruits", after rising from her wheel chair after supposedly being drugged-up for months).

As a babyface, Trish’s career appeared to have no real direction. She teamed with Too Cool and Steve Blackman (and became the first WWF female to do "The Worm"), but she was never given anything that would keep her busy in the long term. When the WCW/ECW Invasion took centre stage in July, she teamed with Lita to fend off the invading WCW babes, Stacy Keibler and Torrie Wilson. Then, in August, she suffered an ankle injury and missed in-ring action for 3 months.

Trish used her time away from the ring to decorate her new house, and of course, prepare for her comeback. She also co-hosted the ill fated Excess show with The Coach, but presenting wasn’t her forte. It wasn’t really her fault, as Excess was a live show at first, and Trish had no prior experience of presenting live television. When the format of the show was changed to pre-taped, she did improve a bit.

At the Survivor Series in November, Trish won the vacant Women’s Title in a 6-Pack Challenge featuring Lita, Ivory, Mighty Molly, Jazz, and Jacqueline. The victory came as a huge shock to many people, as Trish was the least experienced of all the women in the match. She also unveiled a new finishing move (The Stratusfaction), and used it to finish off Ivory.

Trish’s critics argued that she was only given the title as a "reward" for becoming the WWF 2001 Internet Babe Of The Year, but Trish proved her worth by vacating her spot on Excess to regulary defend the belt. She had shown improvement in the ring, but when Jazz returned in January to challenge Trish to a match at Royal Rumble, many fans feared the worst.

Everyone expected Trish to be shown up in her match with Jazz, and due to the difference in their experience levels, fans expected the match to be poor. But Trish proved them wrong again and had a good match with Jazz. The feud continued for the next few months, with Trish impressing everyone with her ring work each time, before Trish aided Bubba Ray Dudley in driving Jazz through a table in May, giving a storyline excuse for Jazz’s absence over the next 9 months (really, she was having knee surgery).

By now, Trish was a 2-time Women’s Champion (she lost the belt to Jazz in February but regained it in May). She was challenged by the "virtuous" Molly Holly and had a good feud with her over several months, although it did go on a bit. Trish lost her title to Molly at King Of The Ring in June but won it back at Unforgiven in September.

The arrival of former fitness model, Victoria gave Trish a new challenger to work with. Portrayed as a psycho who was bitter at Trish for become a WWE Superstar before her (although Victoria was in the WWF in 2000 with The Godfather and Too Cool, but why let the truth get in the way of a good story, eh?), and belted Trish in the head with a steel-chair shot in October (Trish proved her toughness and willingness to try new things again).

At Survivor Series in November, Trish and Victoria competed in a Hardcore Match for the Women’s Title and put forward a great effort. Trish lost the match, but did not lose any momentum. She eventually won the title back at Wrestlemania in a commendable Triple Threat Match against Jazz and Victoria.

Recently, WWE fans have seen a previously unseen side of Trish on MAD TV. Although her segments on the show were short, she received glowing reviews and has already been signed for another guest appearance.

So what does the future hold for Trish Stratus? Well, according to the interview she did for Toronto Life magazine recently, once her WWE career comes to a close, she would like to start a family and go back to York University to complete her courses, possibly during her pregnancy. When this time comes, Trish can hang up her boots with a smile on her face, as she would have achieved so much in her wrestling career, especially for a woman.

Infact, if Trish Stratus was to hang up her boots tomorrow, she still would have achieved a hell of a lot in her career, much more than what many people expected. As a female in the wrestling business, she could have easily have relied on her good looks to speak for her, rather than her actions in the ring. There is no doubt that Trish Stratus is a name that no wrestling fan will ever forget. Her career has been one Stratusfying experience, and it’s not over yet.

Previously posted on Smash Wrestling:

http://www.firetank.com/smashwrestling

About Me (Not A Column!)

2011-03-24T12:16:00.000-07:00

I'm from Wales in the UK and have been a wrestling fan since 1991. This blog archives my previous columns that were originally posted on Smash Wrestling.

I've been writing for the site since 2002 and have been helping to contribute news features since 2006.

If you have found this blog via Internet search engine or other means not directly through Smash Wrestling, then I urge you to visit and support Smash, which also features thoughts and opinions from writers and contributers other than myself.

The link is as follows:

http://www.firetank.com/smashwrestling/

*Please note that it's my intention when archiving my columns on the blog to repost them in their original format. However in some instances, minor edits have been made to some columns. Please also be aware that although I will be trying to archive as much of my work as possible, some of the older columns from the earlier years will not be available as they have been lost. Apologies for this, but I hope that you enjoy reading the columns that are available.

Regards

Matthew Evans

Dancing Her Way To The Top: By Matthew Evans (05/03/2006)

2011-03-21T05:03:00.000-07:00

Photo Credit: WWE

Stacy Keibler has been all over the U.S. tabloids and TV networks recently and the reason is not her involvement in wrestling. Rather, Stacy has endured herself to the non-fans and the mainstream media with her involvement in BBC "Strictly Come Dancing" rip-off, "Dancing With The Stars".

Although she ultimately came third in the final, Stacy proved to be a natural and even in defeat, she’s managed to impress all the right people. Truth be known, Stacy probably wasn’t well known in the general media before "Dancing With The Stars" (as wrestling is looked upon as being a lowly form of entertainment for the lowest common denominator), although she was admittedly the biggest celebrity on the show. That said Ms Keibler put any misconceptions to rest early on and was an early tip to be the winner of the contest.

But should we have expected this all along? After all, in her near-7 year involvement in "Sports Entertainment", Stacy has displayed the sort of qualities that have had us wrestling fans seriously thinking about whether she could one day "outgrow" the sport and branch out into other avenues in entertainment. Has that time now come?

An avid dancer since childhood, Stacy first found partial fame as a cheerleader for the Baltimore Ravens. It was her dancing background that bagged her a WCW contract in November 1999, after she won the "Search For A Nitro Girl" competition.

A wrestling fan herself, Stacy was ecstatic with her break (even though WCW had well and truly lost the "Monday Night Wars", they were still the world’s 2nd biggest wrestling company by default). Dubbed "Skye", Stacy officially joined the "Nitro Girls" dance troupe and put her natural dancing skills to good use.

However, in early 2000, WCW saw the potential for Stacy to branch out as an official on-screen character (although they used to open big matches on Nitro, the "Nitro Girls" had now been reduced to just entertaining the fans while the cameras weren’t rolling). To this day, World Championship Wrestling receives stick for giving the top name players too much power and for not using the younger talent to the best of their abilities. But their handling of Stacy Keibler was one of few things that WCW got right.

Dressed in a shockingly short skirt and business suit and with her hair neatly arranged in a bun, the bespectacled "Ms Hancock" (Stacy’s latest ring name) was truly one of the hottest female acts ever seen in pro wrestling.

With her ever-present clipboard and sophisticated "business woman" look, Ms Hancock was supposed to represent "Standards & Practices" (who were later represented on-screen by Lenny and Lodi), but that was debatable when you considered the fact that it was Hancock who was the one breaking into a sexy dance routine and threatening to strip on the commentary table, the stage or even in the ring.

For a short time, Stacy did "double duty". She danced as "Skye" and also donned the "Ms Hancock" attire on the same night. However, the character of Ms Hancock soon became so popular that WCW decided to drop the "Nitro Girl" handle and just have Stacy play the one role.

In her first real story line, Ms Hancock was portrayed as a scheming, manipulative home-wrecker (as women are often portrayed in wrestling) who had "stolen" the off-the-wall David Flair from the equally out-there Daffney.

The story line itself wasn’t too bad, but the matches (if you could call them that) sucked. However, this was mainly down to the booking from Vince Russo, rather than the ladies themselves.

A feud with Major Gunns (aka fitness model, Tylene Buck) was even worse, although Buck should shoulder some of the blame for that as she was completely unconvincing with her promo work leading up to and following the abysmal "Mud Match" the two had at "New Blood Rising".

With Stacy and David Flair still an item (on-screen and off), WCW decided to do a "Randy & Liz" and have the two lovebirds get married in a ceremony on "Nitro". Unfortunately, this was a far cry from the famous "Match Made In Heaven" or most of the other "WWE Weddings".

This angle was the first time that Stacy was referred to on-screen by her real name (after this, the "Ms Hancock" name was officially dropped, for no apparent reason). And this being a pro wrestling wedding, there had to be a twist.

It had already been announced that Stacy was "pregnant", so WCW (or rather, Vince Russo) thought it would be a great idea for Stacy to announce that David WASN’T the father. Therefore, the wedding was off and so was Stacy (she didn’t return until March 2001, by which time Russo had left and the story line had been long forgotten).

In the meantime, David Flair set off on a crazed quest to "find the father". He applied the "Figure-Four" to a postman and also had a "DNA First Blood Match" with suspect Buff Bagwell (seriously, I’m not making this stuff up).

When Stacy returned in March 2001 as Shawn Stasiak’s new valet, the whole "pregnancy" angle turned out to be a hoax (Stacy’s "baby" was apparently Mr Stasiak).

Stacy and Shawn didn’t spend much time together as an item as on March 26, WCW was purchased by the World Wrestling Federation in a truly shocking ultimate conclusion to the "Monday Night Wars". As well as acquiring all the WCW logos, PPV names and trademarks, Vince McMahon also bought the contracts of younger talent like Booker T, Shane Helms, Shawn Stasiak and Stacy Keibler (the bigger names like Sting, Goldberg and Kevin Nash were locked into "Time Warner" contracts and would have to have taken substantial pay cuts to go and work for the WWF).

At Wrestlemania X7, Stacy, Stasiak and others sat in the "Skybox" in Toronto while their "new owner" Shane McMahon battered their "rival" Vince McMahon in a breathtakingly brutal "Street Fight". On this evidence, it appeared as if the WWF were slowly building towards a long-awaited WWF/WCW feud that would make a ton of money at the box office.

In June 2001, Stacy Keibler made her official WWF debut during an edition of SD! broadcast from her home town in Baltimore, Maryland. Accompanied by "WCW Owner" Shane McMahon, Stacy showed off her famously long legs and wiggled her well-rounded backside during a "Hardcore Match" between Rhyno and Test.

From there, Stacy became involved in the usually entertaining (but still poorly managed) "Alliance" story line. Her first duty on PPV was to team with fellow WCW babe Torrie Wilson and face WWF Divas Trish Stratus and Lita in a "Bra & Panties Match" at "Invasion". Although it was part of a highly competitive "inter-promotional" PPV, the match was merely and excuse to see all 4 women in their underwear and to give pro-WWF fans a look at the "new girls" wearing skimpy thongs.

The flesh flaunting continued at "No Mercy" when Stacy fought Torrie in a "Lingerie Match", which actually turned out to be pretty entertaining on the wrestling front as well.

After that, Stacy started to manage The Dudley Boyz and became the official "Duchess Of Dudleyville". Even though the WCW/ECW alliance "went out of business" at "Survivor Series", Stacy kept her job (the Dudley’s had unified both the WWF and the WCW Tag-Team Championship Titles at the PPV) and stayed with the "half-brothers" until April 2002 when they got tired of her and drove her through a table (although hardly anyone in the UK saw this as "Sky Sports" refused to air the footage).

After recovering from her alleged injuries, Stacy was drafted over to SD! and became Mr McMahon’s official "personal assistant" (Stacy fought off the competition with a Ms Hancock-style "table dance" for Vince). She soon found herself at odds with new arrival Dawn Marie (who also had the hots for McMahon; after all what woman doesn’t, right?), but that mini-feud soon ended when it became clear that Stacy had allowed a valuable contract to get into the hands of Raw GM Eric Bischoff.

Fresh from her double-cross on SD!, Stacy showed up on Raw and marked the occasion by stripping and dancing on the commentary table. However, she was soon given something a little more constructive to do (that is, make a star out of Test).

At one time in his career (1999, really), Test had been tipped to be a main event star by many people. But that was a long time ago. The man who once found himself in the middle of one of the WWF’s biggest story lines of the year (i.e. the HHH/Stephanie McMahon "Wedding"), soon found himself in a worthless tandem with the equally floundering Prince Albert, who despite having the voluptuous Trish Stratus in their corner, never got over.

Test’s most recent story line saw him join the "Un-Americans" (which also consisted of Chris Jericho, Christian and William Regal). By order from WWE management, Test had been told to cut his hair for the role (as had Christian, I believe). Test refused and WWE weren’t happy. However, the "Un-Americans" gimmick was soon dropped anyway.

However, WWE management doesn’t easily forgive or forget things like that. As Test’s new manager, Stacy’s first task was to CUT HIS HAIR! Stacy also dubbed the term "Testicles" (for Test’s fans, not that he had many) and actually did everything within her power to get him over with the audience once again.

However, it didn’t work. Much like the fans only concentrated on Trish during Test’s "T & A" (Test and Albert) days, the WWE faithful only cared about Stacy. This was proven to be the case in 2003 when during a feud between Scott Steiner and Test, Stacy got the biggest (or really, the only meaningful) reaction.

In 2004, Stacy (like many others) fell victim to the common problem of inconsistent booking. While she was involved in the passable "Evening Gown Match" at WM XX, she did very little for the remainder of the year.

It was a similar story in 2005. Although she stole the show with her performance in the "Basic Instinct" WM 21 spoof and then inducted Hulk Hogan into the "Hall Of Fame" at the event itself, she soon got lost in the shuffle for the remainder of the year.

The truth is, WWE hasn’t really known what to do with Stacy Keibler for a while now. Which is why it was somewhat of a relief when they announced that she would be a part of "Dancing With The Stars". At the very least, her involvement could inspire the creative staff to come up with SOMETHING for her upon her return.

However, has Stacy’s brush with bigger fame had the opposite effect? With regards to Stacy’s comeback, it’s now a matter of "if" rather than "when".

The reason is simple. Although Stacy seemed to impress all the judges throughout the contest and seemed to impress the general viewing audience (she lasted until the final), she still didn’t win. But at the same time, she got her name out there and has shown such flair and determination for showbiz that bigger and better things could just be around the corner.

But what about wrestling? Stacy has admitted that she’s not quite sure. Her WWE contract expires in July and WWE haven’t had a proper use for her in almost 2 years. Is it really worth her going back to that or would she be wise to take a more mainstream route and look at TV and movie roles?

If it’s the former, then Stacy would be wise to remember that the list of former WWE Divas who successfully cracked the non-wrestling market is very short. Sunny, Sable and Chyna were all huge stars under the WWE spotlight, but none of them could surpass or even replicate their former glory elsewhere.

Then again, Stacy isn’t your average WWE Diva. It’s her natural looks, her strong charisma and "girl next door" charm that has propelled her from the bright lights of "Sports Entertainment" to the huge media spotlight that is followed by the general public, not just pro wrestling fans. And it could very well be these qualities that lead her even greater things.

Previously posted on Smash Wrestling:

http://www.firetank.com/smashwrestling/

Backlash Thoughts: By Matthew Evans (04/05/2003)

2011-03-21T04:55:00.000-07:00

For those of you wondering, I did see Backlash, but due to my trip to see FWA on Monday (see my other column for my thoughts on the show), I haven't had the time to produce a column regarding my thoughts on Backlash. Until now, that is.

I didn't catch the live edition of Sunday Night Heat, but I don't think there was a whole lot to see there anyway. The show opened with a promo video for the historic clash between Goldberg and The Rock. As usual, I can't fault the production staff for this promo package. It was superb.

1 Team Angle Retained The Smackdown! Tag Team Titles Against Los Guerreros

Despite many people praising this opening bout, I was rather disappointed by it. It wasn't an awful bout by any means, but it just felt, well...ordinary. For me, the highlight of the whole match was Team Angle placing a portrait of Kurt Angle (complete with gold medals) at ringside, and Tazz joking that it was the man himself.

Both teams got in cheap shots and broke the rules. Chavo choked Shelton Benjamin with the tag ropes, but Team Angle fought back when Charlie Haas caught the legal man, Eddy Guerrero with a sneaky shot to the back. Team Angle then set "Latino Heat" up for the Team Angle "leap-frog/back splash" combo.

Eddy was in trouble, but in an impressive move, turned Haas' gut-wrench suplex into a flying headscissors! Chavo got the tag and destroyed Team Angle, but could not put the champs away. Eddy got back into the fray and hit a series of brainbusters on Charlie.

The finish appeared to come out of nowhere. After Eddy had squashed Haas with a Frogsplash, and Haas had escaped the all-important pinfall, Shelton Benjamin tripped Chavo during a back suplex attempt, which allowed Charlie Haas to get the three-count!

Following the decision, Chavo took out both team members with a dive to the floor (which knocked down the Kurt Angle portrait), and Los Guerreros made off with the tag belts. The following scene where the Latinos left in their car was cringe inducing to say the least.

In another backstage segment, Test began hitting on Torrie Wilson. Honestly, WWE, I didn't pay £14 to watch c**p like this. Test kissed Torrie, and Torrie walked away in disgust. Then Sable appeared, which meant that there would be more awful backstage segments later on in the show.

2 Sean O' Heare w/Roddy Piper Defeated Rikishi

Piper headed to the ring with a basket of coconuts (I can't believe that they’re using an angle that's 20 years old). He introduced Sean O'Heare, who had awful music. The match itself was awful aswell.

The crowd just didn't care about this match (they weren't really into the opener, either), but this match deserved to have no heat. Piper got involved immediately, which allowed O'Heare to catch Rikishi with a kick.

O'Heare increased the boredom level further by keeping Rikishi in a neck-hold. Rikishi tried to Stink Face O'Heare, but the bearded brute used his leg strength to send Rikishi flying onto his rear! (Which did grab my attention for a moment).

Piper returned to the apron and brought a coconut into the ring. Both Rikishi and O'Heare took each other out with a pair of weak crescent kicks. Piper handed the coconut to the referee, but Rikishi grabbed it and shattered it over Piper's head. Piper went down like only a bloated washed-up has-been can, and did a ridiculous sell job on the mat. Then O'Heare hit a Death Valley Driver on Rikishi for the 3-count.

The match did nothing to get Sean O'Heare over, it only succeeded in showing how useless Roddy Piper is and that Rikishi is strictly a TV-only comedy act. O'Heare's character may be dead in the water already.

Backstage again, and Sable told Stacy Keibler that Test was cheating on her with Torrie. Honestly, this had to be one of the most poorly acted segments EVER. I'm certain that Sable had her lines pinned up on the wall opposite, she was so robotic. Stacy wasn't happy with the news, although the acting wasn't too convincing.

Meanwhile, RVD and Kane were discussing their tag-team collision with The Dudley Boyz later on. Apparently, Chief Morley was the referee, so the champs were really up against the odds.

3 Rob Van Dam And Kane Retained The Raw World Tag-Team Titles Against The Dudley Boyz (w/ Special Referee Chief Morley)

Finally, something worth coughing up the cash for. Although RVD shouldn't be messing about in this division, and the Morley/Dudleys nonsense appears to be never-ending, I found this match to be very entertaining.

Although it didn't get off to the best of starts (when RVD nearly failed to land on his feet, following his flip over Bubba Ray Dudley's back), it soon picked up steam when "The Whole Dam Show" hit a spinning heel kick on Bubba and then another spin kick on D-Von. RVD also got Bubba into the corner and after back flipping off his head, caught him with a drop kick to the face!

Kane got the tag and cleaned house, booting D-Von in the face, but then tasting a bulldog from Bubba Ray (amidst chants of "We Want Tables" from a restless crowd). Kane recovered and drilled Bubba with spinebuster for a 2-count. So far, "The Chief" was calling it right down the middle.

RVD returned to action and registered a 2-count following a Split-Legged Moonsault on Bubba. RVD had his monkey flip attempt blocked by Bubba, and received a side-slam for his effort.

After some double-teaming from both Dudley brothers, RVD managed to tag out to "The Big Red Machine".

Kane annihilated both Duds' again, and RVD soon took out Bubba with The Rolling Thunder. He dove at D-Von and leap-frogged onto the turnbuckle, but D-Von countered with a nice neckbreaker from the top-rope, which RVD sold, like a pro. Inevitably, Morley turned on the champions, and gave Kane a low blow.

After depositing if Kane, Morley aimed for RVD, but missed and nailed Bubba Ray instead! D-Von went mad and pounded Morley with fists to the head. Lance Storm then showed up, which prompted The Coach to come out with the biggest whoppers of the year,
"It's Lance Storm, he hasn't be seen in 3 weeks!"

Storm received a Bubba Bomb from Bubba Ray, but Morley had got to his feet. However, Bubba managed to reverse his whip into the ropes from Morley, and both Dudleys gave "The Chief" the 3D! Meanwhile, the match was still going on, and Kane capitalised on all the distractions by choke-slamming Bubba Ray, and then allowing RVD to hit a 5 Star Frog Splash before taking the fall for his team.

An impressive match, but what was the point of this storyline is The Dudleys are now faces and "suspended" again? And why are RVD and Kane even involved?

Stacy Keibler then confronted Ms Wilson in the women's locker room. A terrible catfight ensued (in a rather ironic and funny moment, Ivory actually dropped a cat!), with the faces (Ivory, Jacqueline) trying to break it up, and the heels (Victoria, Dawn Marie, Molly) egging them on.

4 Jazz w/ Theodore Long Defeated Trish Stratus For The Women's Title

Trish came out and did a rather convincing job of selling her rib injuries. The two women grappled for a bit, before Jazz worked on the ribs.

Jazz attempted a gut-wrench suplex, but Trish countered it nicely by landing on her feet and delivering her own gut-wrench to Jazz! Jazz removed the turnbuckle to expose the unforgiving steal, but almost got taken out by The Stratusphere from Trish!

In a painful-looking counter hold, Jazz grabbed Trish by the leg and clamped on a half crab. Trish escaped and got one up on Jazz by applying a FULL Boston Crab. Then she really stuck it to her rival by locking her in her very own STF submission finisher!

Jazz managed to break the hold, but got her bell rung with a Chick Kick, which got the champ a close 2-count. Jazz got a 2 of her own following a drop kick, but Trish surprised Jazz with The Stratusfaction! However, Theodore Long broke up the pin by throwing his shoe into the ring and then blaming a fan.

Trish attempted another Stratusfaction, and this time converted it into a great-looking sunset flip attempt. However, Jazz reversed the move and got some extra leverage from the ropes to bag the title. A very good Women's match, where Jazz and Trish tried new things and made their collision different compared to their previous battles.

Meanwhile, Booker T and Shawn Michaels were busy discussing the big 6-man tag later on. Nash tells them not to worry about a thing. Sure, take Nash's word for it. He's reliable.
The Big Show Defeated Rey Mysterio

I'm sorry, but this match was a total p**s take. I've also heard that Rey Mysterio is now injured FOR REAl due this time-wasting match. Way to go, WWE.

Rey used his quickness to annoy The Big Show, and even brought a chair into play. Would Rey become "The Giant Killer" once more? To be honest, I wouldn't have gave two hoots (and that's the mild version, folks) if he did manage to defeat the bumbling oaf.

The sequence where Rey stunned The Show with a series of 619's (to the legs, rear and face) was ridiculous. Predictably, The Big Show walked the effects off and beat Mysterio with a Choke-Slam. What a waste. Michael Cole and Tazz feign concern about Rey even though the Choke-Slam wasn't even that powerful.

The idiocy continued when Rey was placed on a stretcher and Show returned to the ring and whipped the fallen Mysterio into the ring-post while he was still attached to the stretcher! It later turned out that Show was too rough, and that fantasy had become reality, which means that we won't be seeing Rey in a while.

Backstage, Lillian Garcia had got an interview with HHH, Ric Flair and Chris Jericho. Lillian removed the microphone too soon, which prompted HHH to say, "I'll tell you when I'm done" (something along those lines). Jericho hilariously called her "Vivian".

In the corridor, Torrie and Stacy are having a p**-poor scuffle. Stacy was thrown into a few shelves, which caused a tool box to bounce off her turnip for REAL! See what this mindless nonsense can do? Scott Steiner (being the gentleman that he is), helped her up and took her to see a trainer (wow, that's some contribution to a PPV!) Test wasn't happy, he wanted to know what was going on. Steiner told him that that's what Stacy wants to know. Quite frankly, I'd like to know what's going on aswell!

5 Brock Lesnar Retained The Smackdown! World Title Against John Cena

On this evidence, John Cena is NOT ready for main events. I found this match to be mediocre. On Smackdown! it probably wouldn't have looked out of place, but it was definitely not PPV material. Cena had been built up like he didn't have a shot at winning, and he didn't even get to execute his FU (DVD) finisher.

Cena got onto Lesnar immediately. However, "The Pain" destroyed "Mr Thuganomics" with his power moves. Outside of the ring, Lesnar gave Cena and up close and personal look at the World Title belt. The pause proved to be mistake, as Cena recovered and threw Lesnar into the steel steps.

Lesnar was now cut open and soon the crimson really began to flow. Lesnar predictably kicked out at 2, but Cena kept on the attack with a back suplex, reverse elbow and gullotine leg drop. Lesnar got thrown into the post, and kept the juice streaming down his face.

Cena kept going and DDT'd Brock for yet another 2-count. Brock retaliated with a spinebuster, but walked into a jawbreaker from Cena. Cena then clamped on a chin-lock for way too long.

Brock fought back, but the crowd was now on Cena's side! Cena took a cheap shot on the champ and the crowd loved it! Cena tried to finish off Brock with the aid of a steel chair, but the ref snatched it off him! The crowd didn't like the decision, but it allowed ample time for Lesnar to hit Cena with an F5 for the 3-count.

As far as the match goes, it didn't cut the mustard IMO. However, one positive thing to come out of it is that Cena's gimmick is working. Much like the match between Brock Lesnar and The Rock at Summerslam, the crowd turned on the favourite and got behind the underdog.

7 HHH, Ric Flair And Chris Jericho Defeated Kevin Nash, Booker T And Shawn Michaels In A 6-Man Tag-Team Match

Again, another letdown. While decent (although no thanks to Nash), this match was no where near the big time face-off it should have been. Shawn Michaels and Jericho started things off rather nicely, with a series of near falls.

Nash got tagged in, and was his usual lazy self. Honestly, his offence was appallingly bad. Fortunately, Booker T soon came in and stomped a mudhole in Y2J with a spinebuster and flapjack that both received near falls.

"The Game" was the next man to enter the ring, and had a brief scuffle with "The Booker Man". After planting Book' with a spinebuster of his own, he tagged in "The Nature Boy", who should never be used as an active wrestler again.

HBK returned to action and to be fair to Flair (as the great Bobby Heenan would say), he took Michaels' flying forearm and Sweet Chin Music rather well. HHH soon stepped in to prevent a pinfall by driving HBK into the canvas with The Pedigree.

Jericho saw that Michaels was in a weakened state, and beat him without mercy. HHH stuck his big nose (which he's made good use of) in again and knocked HBK down with a flying knee smash to the temple. Flair got in again but nearly got pinned when Michaels reversed a Figure Four Leg-Lock into a small package.

Michaels managed to survive a 3-man beat down and tagged in Nash. He knocked Flair out of the ring and onto the floor and took on both Y2J and HHH at the same time. The match soon developed into a wild brawl, with Flair locking on a Figure Four, and Jericho delivering a Lionsault at the same time!

Nash gave Y2J The Jack-knife, but the ref was out cold. So was Nash a moment later, when HHH struck him in the face with a sledgehammer for the match winning fall. Even in a 6-man tag, HHH didn't do the job. Not only that, he got the fall for his team!

8 Goldberg Defeated The Rock

Finally, one of the dream matches that we've all waited for! The Rock VS Goldberg! A match that would truly be legendary! I was really pumped for this one!

The Rock got a huge reaction, which was not good when you're planning on having Goldberg replace The Rock as "Raw Main Event Guy" after this match. Goldberg got a few chants, but nowhere near as many as you'd expect (or the WWE would want). And what happened to his music? The theme sounded like it was being played backwards!

In the ring, and the "Rocky" chants were relentless. Some "Goldberg" chants, but again not enough. The two franchise players locked up and Goldberg showed his power by shoving The Rock down and out of the ring!

The Rock bought some time outside, before returning to the fray and slapping "Da Man" in the face! Goldberg gave an evil grin and clobbered "The Great One" with a clothesline to the floor. The Rock recovered though, and hung Goldberg up on the ropes.

Back inside and The Rock knocked the monster down with a clothesline of his own. Goldberg got to his feet and Rock Bottomed "The Great One"! Sensing victory, Goldberg was poised for The Spear, but The Rock moved and Goldberg sent himself flying shoulder-first into the ring post!

When the action continued inside the ring, The Rock tried to force Goldberg to tap to The Sharpshooter, but Goldberg would not quit! Before long, he shot back with a Spear, although in doing so he aggravated his sore shoulder. Goldberg kept fighting, but The Rock turned the tide with a Spear of his own!

Goldberg got Rock Bottomed immediately after, but managed to kick out, although it looked like a 3-count to me. Undeterred, The Rock delivered a Spinebuster and then a People's Elbow but still could not put Goldberg away. Goldberg came back to life and crushed Rock with a pair of Spears and then a single Jackhammer for the fall.

Although, this wasn't on the same level as Rock/Hogan or Hogan/McMahon, Goldberg Vs The Rock was still a memorable, engrossing encounter and the best match on the show (although, it didn't have much competition). However, the fan reaction was quite disturbing. Luckily, Goldberg was indeed a hit with the crowd on the following Raw, but the WWE are still going to really miss The Rock.

As a show, Backlash was a dissapointment. The only bouts that really had my interest were Goldberg/Rock, Trish/Jazz and RVD And Kane/ The Dudley Boyz. The other bouts ranged from abysmal (O'Haire VS Rikishi, Mysterio VS Big Show) to average (The 6-Man Tag, SD! Tag Title Match, Lesnar VS Cena), and I could have done without the Test/Stacy/Torrie/Sable garbage. I did get some entertainment out of the show, but I still feel short-changed. I'm am still going to watch WWE religiously because I consider myself to be a true fan, but after a show like this, I fear that they are slipping further and further into a hole in which they may not be able to get out of. Please WWE, sort yourselves out.

Previously posted on Smash Wrestling:

http://www.firetank.com/smashwrestling/

WWE Backlash 2006 Thoughts: By Matthew Evans (01/05/2006)

2011-03-21T04:48:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday, WWE Raw presented "Backlash", live on PPV. Despite not compiling my usual predictions, I hadn’t forgotten about the event that could be dubbed "the aftermath of WrestleMania". I simply didn’t have time to analyse the card and make predictions and also complete my extensive account of the Raw crew’s recent trip to Cardiff .
However, I DID see "Backlash", and being as today is a Bank Holiday here in the UK, saw it a lot sooner than usual. So here without further ado, are my thoughts:

Carlito Beat Chris Masters

After my great meeting with "The Master-Piece" last week (and my general loathing of Carlito) I was secretly hoping for a Chris Masters victory here. Sadly, it did not come to pass.

Though Masters tried hard (choking Carlito with his own shirt and generally over-powering the young Caribbean), it was "Mr Cool" who had the crowd support and the eventual pin fall win (although in somewhat controversial circumstances; Carlito hit Masters with the "Back-Cracker" but then used the ropes for additional leverage).

Overall, this was a good opening match that had a great atmosphere. Carlito broke out some new and impressive moves, although the fan reaction to him was still astounding.

Umaga W/ Armando Alejandro Estrada Beat Ric Flair

The "man beast" Umaga had been squashing people left and right before "Backlash". The question was, could he dominate Ric Flair in a fair, one-on-one situation?

Not really, but there was still little doubt that Umaga would be leaving "Backlash" as the victor. Though "The Nature Boy" chopped the hell out of the "uncivilised monster" and even caused him to head butt the steel ring post, Umaga soon recovered and finished off "Slic Ric" with the crappy-looking "taped thumb" finish.

Overall, this match was much better than I had anticipated. Although Flair got led to the slaughter, he did put up a fight and also showed that he’s willing to put new acts like Umaga over (even if they look doomed to fail, at least that’s what it looks like at the moment, judging by the crowd reaction (or lack thereof) to the artist formally known as Jamal).

Mickie James Retained The WWE Women’s Championship Against Trish Stratus

Although this rematch had largely been built around the fact that Mickie had imitated Trish and Trish had imitated Mickie, both women came out dressed as themselves (which was kind of disappointing, as Trish makes for one hot brunette).

This match started off really well, with Trish executing a few new moves such as a "Stinger Splash" in the corner.

Unfortunately, when Mickie shoved Trish to the floor following a succession of rights on the turnbuckle, "The Canadian Beauty" landed awkwardly on her arm outside and spent the remainder of the match in a great deal of pain.

The seriousness of the injury became clear when Mickie refrained from working on the body part. Instead, she tried to choke Trish out, thereby earning herself the DQ. It was a terrible way to end the match, but under the circumstances there was no other way. I just hope that Trish isn’t hurt too badly as she’ll be a huge loss to the women’s division (or what’s left of it) if she misses any ring time.

Rob Van Dam Beat Shelton Benjamin To Become The New WWE Intercontinental Champion (RVD Also Retained His "Money In The Bank" Title Shot)

This was the first match of the show that made you feel like you were watching a PPV. A tremendous showcase for the talents of both men, this was an excellent display that had the crowd on their feet.

Throughout the match, there was shades of their previous clash in Cardiff (particularly the spot where Shelton bailed on a "Rolling Thunder", only to get wiped out by a cross-body to the floor from RVD).

Shelton soon hit an impressive sunset flip/power-bomb on Van Dam from the ring apron and tried to keep "Mr Money In The Bank" grounded.

In the closing moments, RVD missed the "Five Star", but Shelton connected with a delayed cross-body from the top.

In the midst of a referee bump, Shelton grabbed the briefcase but soon took it to the face when Van Dam connected with a "Van Daminator". A "Five Star Frog Splash" later and RVD was leaving "Backlash" as "Mr Money In The Bank" AND the new Intercontinental Champion!

Kane Beat Big Show Via DQ

I wasn’t expecting much from this match, but I was still taken aback with how truly awful it turned out to be.

Kane had Big Show’s "injured" eye to work on, so Show targeted "The Monster’s" choke-slamming arm. Over the years, Kane and Big Show have had few good matches together, but this was truly the worst by far.

As if things couldn’t get any worse, Kane apparently went insane during the closing moments, as his own voice boomed over the PA ("May 19th, May 19th, You Know What Happened Then"). During the confusion (let’s face it, it was confusion), Big Show whacked his former friend with a steel chair, apparently "knocking sense back into him!"

I have no clue where this "May 19th" angle is heading, but after that abomination, fans will have trouble forgetting about this match as it was off the charts horrendous.

Shawn Michaels Defeated Mr McMahon & Shane McMahon In A "No Holds Barred Match"

Despite the unsavoury, anti-religion angles and promos that surrounded the build up to this match, I was still looking forward to seeing HBK wage war against the McMahon’s.

Unfortunately, Vince wasn’t through with his offensive rants. After putting "God" in this match as Michael’s tag-team partner, Mr McMahon also insisted that God "make his entrance", "get down" and "bring it" (out of all the crazy, ill-judged stunts Vince has pulled over the years, this was the most shocking and the most brazen. This man will exploit anything, won’t he?).

When it came down to the actual match, I was entertained. True, there was a shameless amount of over-booking and short cut tactics used, but for my money, this handicap match (let’s be honest, it was a handicap match) was far better than the singles match Vince and Shawn had at WM.

As usual, Michaels was on his "A Game" here. Early on, he took out Shane with a diving senton splash to the floor and before long, he had wiped Vince out with a cross-body onto the "Backlash" technical area.

However, Shawn soon got busted open by a wicked chair shot from Shane. He continued to work the match with a crimson mask, while Vince bashed a trash can over his head and yelled, "God Has Left The Building!" (The crowd booed uncomfortably at this remark).

Of course, this wouldn’t be a "Mr McMahon match" without the patented "sick chair shot", and lo and behold, we had one (Shane took a swing for Michaels, but absolutely drilled Vince in the cranium by mistake).

Shawn soon came back and wasted both McMahon’s with "Sweet Chin Music". Determined to get his revenge, Michaels laid out both father and son on separate tables and set up an extra long ladder.

Bizarrely, Shawn ultimately dived in the wrong direction (to the floor). His aim was to take out the interfering Spirit Squad, and he did (the camera didn’t catch them until Shawn wiped them out).

However, the strength in numbers soon overwhelmed Shawn. "Team Spirit" moved the McMahon’s out of harms way and proceeded to "Spirit Slam" Michaels through a table. This allowed Vince to make the cover and get the cheap victory (which was "Bull S***" in the eyes of JR).

John Cena Retained The WWE Raw World Championship In A Triple Threat Match Against HHH & Edge W/ Lita

This was by far, the "Match Of The Night". Brilliantly booked and executed, this was truly a match befitting of a main event.

HHH was easily the crowd favourite, and although the reaction to Cena wasn’t as hostile as it was at WM, it was still clear that "The Champ" continues to be hated no matter where in the world he goes.

Early on, Edge made the smart decision of standing outside the ring and letting "The Game" and Cena duke it out. However, it wasn’t long before they were both hauling him into the ring!

The true extent of the Cena hatred became clear when Lita pulled down the top rope (causing Cena to tumble to the floor) and actually got cheered for doing so!

Before long, HHH was bleeding (and I mean BLEEDING) and this match was turning into a blood bath. Edge went for an "Edge-Cution" DDT on the Spanish Announcer’s desk, only for it NOT TO BREAK and HHH’s bloodied head to rather sickly bounce off it!

Still gushing blood, "The Game" recovered in time to stop Edge tapping out to the "STFU" (he did this by walloping Cena in the head with the microphone). Then, HHH took aim and fired Edge into the front row with one of the hardest chair shots of the night!

During the last few minutes of the match, all 3 men got taken out with an innovative "FU/ Electric Chair" combo that really impressed the live audience.

With the referee now down, Lita ran in with a chair, but got drilled with a "Spine-Buster" from "The Game" (which caused the chair to bounce off the back of her head).

HHH went to use the sledgehammer, but Edge gave him a "Spear". Cena had Edge ready for an "FU", but HHH broke it and "The Rated R Superstar" got dropped to the floor.

HHH then went for a "Pedigree" but Cena reversed it into a pinning combination to defy the odds once again and retain his title!

Post match, HHH went crazy and knocked out referee Mickey Henson, Edge and Cena with the sledgehammer. A lot of fans cheered, although there were a few noticeable boos. "Backlash" closed out with a bloody "Game" surveying the damage while the majority of the crowd lapped it up.

Overall, I enjoyed "Backlash". Coming straight after a highly successful European tour, this was the sort of show that could have got "lost in the shuffle" and been "just another PPV". However, though it had its share of faults, "Backlash" was still a great follow-up show to WM and another positive step for WWE.

Previously posted on Smash Wrestling:

http://www.firetank.com/smashwrestling/

Armageddon 2004 Review: By Matthew Evans (18/12/2004)

2011-03-21T04:38:00.000-07:00

Forget Armageddon. Those of you who were looking for an action-packed wrestling super card would have been better off checking out FWA: British Uprising 3 on The Wrestling Channel on Sunday night. This 4-hour spectacular was filled amazing aerials, brawling and technical wrestling (as well as the odd surprise) and was truly one of the strongest events of the year.

But despite a stellar effort from the Frontier Wrestling Alliance, I was still looking forward to WWE Armageddon (which, as I mentioned in my "predictions" column, didn’t look too offensive on paper).

Of course, I wasn’t best pleased when Sky Sports dropped the ball (no pun intended there) at midnight and aired a repeat showing of Sunday Night Heat, making me look like a right fool for reporting on Smash that Heat would be live (well, it was scheduled for 12 midnight after all; the live British time for the American Heat). Over on Setanta Sport, there was an Armageddon preview/recap show with Josh Matthews. Needless to say, I gave that a miss.

Armageddon opened up with yet another superb video package that suggested that the end was near for "JBL" (I sure hoped it was). With comments from all 3 of the champ’s opponents (Undertaker, Booker T, Eddie Guerrero), together with the official Armageddon theme song, this piece truly set the stage for the final WWE PPV of 2004.

RVD & Rey Mysterio Retained The WWE SD! Tag-Team Championship Against Rene Dupree & Kenzo Suzuki W/ Hiroko

Although this feud has turned out to better than I thought it would be, I was sincerely hoping that this would be the final match between these two teams. The crowd was very much into this opening match, which greatly aided its appeal. However, in my opinion, it was only decent at best, and somewhat cack-handed in places (especially when Suzuki was involved).

RVD and Rey had the early advantage, until Dupree and Suzuki cornered Mysterio and prevented him from making the tag to "The Whole F’n Show". The match went back and forth, until Hiroko predictably got involved and Torrie Wilson predictably chased her away from the ring.

Kenzo used the distraction to his advantage and broke out a suplex from his arsenal on Rey, before Rene broke out the "French Tickler" and hit a head-butt on "Rey Rey".

Mysterio made the tag and RVD took over on Dupree. Following a Rolling Thunder/leg-drop double-team from the champs, Rene and Kenzo were set up for a double 619 from Rey (Kenzo’s selling was beyond a joke here). Van Dam then took flight with a Five Star Frog Splash on Dupree to retain the straps.

Kurt Angle Beat Santa Claus In A "Kurt Angle Invitational Challenge"

According to Michael Cole (as if you can believe him), Kurt wasn’t due out to the ring until later on. So what was all this about?

Kurt explained that he was willing to put his gold medals on the line in a special "Invitational Match" against...Santa Claus? (That’s "Father Christmas" here in the UK, folks).

Santa came out and took some candy canes from his sack and tossed them into the crowd. He was having a jolly old time until he came face to face with "The Olympic Hero" in the middle of the ring.

Kurt complained that all his little daughter wanted to talk about was "Santa Claus". Angle said that Santa insulted hard-working people like himself and vowed to make an example out of him for his baby daughter.

Kurt immediately tore into Mr Claus and finished him off in near record time with an Angle Slam and an Ankle-Lock. Although I enjoyed Kurt’s promo in the ring, this "match" was a total waste of PPV time and resembled the sort of segment that you would expect to see on an edition of SD! It’s also somewhat depressing that Kurt’s first PPV victory in 2 months was against Santa Claus.
A nice video package aired for the upcoming "Dixie Dog-Fight" between Tough Enough 2004 finalists, Daniel Puder and Mike Mizzanin. It was good to see footage from the start of the competition, as well as comments from the eliminated competitors (Daniel Rodimer didn’t seem quite as cocky after getting cut).

Daniel Puder Beat Mike Mizzanin In A "Dixie Dog-Fight"

Al Snow joined Michael Cole and Tazz on commentary for this Boxing Match. These shoot-style concepts always have the potential to blow up in the face of the company (for example, "Brawl For All" in 1998 didn’t quite go as planned; WWE hyped up Doctor Death Steve Williams as the legitimate tough guy, only for Bart Gunn to go on and win the tournament).

This match was fought under official boxing rules and had a genuine boxing referee overseeing it. Mike Mizzanin gave it a good go in Round #1, and surprised many people.

Round #2 saw both men go on the defensive, and therefore wasn’t very good (Puder hit "The Miz" with a cheap shot to the back of the head). As Round #3 began, the chances of a knock out looked less likely. Puder and Mizanin went at it, but were beaten by the clock.

The match was ruled a draw (which the crowd naturally hated). There wasn’t a point system in place, so the decision was put in the hands of the audience. GM Theodore Long did a vote, and both men got a near equal reaction. But Puder was awarded the match anyway. "The Miz" got screwed there.

Overall, this boxing match was a complete letdown, and WWE couldn’t even properly declare a winner. However, I don’t blame either competitor for the way in which this match turned out. After all, they trained to be wrestlers, not boxers.

Backstage, Eddie Guerrero and Booker T were debating the Fatal-Four-Way Match later on. After arguing about who would pin who, "Latino Heat" and "The Book" decided to form a temporary tandem and take out The Undertaker.

As they were saying this, "The Dead Man" suddenly appeared behind them and cut their conversation cold. Eddie and Booker then blamed each other for talking too loudly and giving away their plan! This was an amusing segment; Eddie’s facial expressions are just great during comedy spots such as this.

The Basham Brothers Defeated Hardcore Holly & Charlie Haas

This was a special "bonus" match (which, of course meant that it was a pointless snooze-fest). There wasn’t even a story line reason for it to occur, and why give Hardcore Holly the benefit of appearing on PPV after yet another in-ring incident involving him (i.e. the Rene Dupree potato job)?

However, Holly got some punishment in the form of the crowd, who reacted to his offence with complete and utter silence. Things picked up when Charlie Haas came in, but the match returned to its normal form when Doug and Danny took over.

During the closing moments, Haas got knocked to the floor, prompting Dawn Marie to come out and check on his condition. This led to an appearance from Miss Jackie and a near-cat fight between the two. While Charlie tried to restrain both women, Hardcore got rolled up and pinned.
Following the loss, Holly got on the mic and blasted Haas for not paying attention to the match. This match was apparently very important to him. Well, at least somebody cared about it.

I don’t usually mention PPV adverts, but the one that aired for Royal Rumble 2005 was rip-roaringly hilarious. It featured the WWE Superstars sporting some hideous hairstyles and singing about the Rumble in an Opera-like voice. The ad closed out with Vince McMahon waking up and saying, "that wasn’t the sort of Royal Rumble I had in mind".

Up next was a Street Fight for the U.S. Championship, pitting John Cena against Jezus. This had the potential to be very good.

John Cena Retained The WWE U.S. Championship Against Jezus W/ "Carlito" Caribbean Cool In A Street Fight

Cena was way over with the crowd and these little film breaks have succeeded in getting him more over with the crowd than when he left. The champ (who came to the ring with a rather nifty "rotating" U.S. belt) jumped Jezus at the bell and unloaded with a vicious flurry of punches.
"Carlito" (with his shoulder still in a sling) threw a kendo stick to Jezus, who used it on the kidney area of John Cena. But Cena no-sold it and used the stick himself; cracking it off the head of the hulking bodyguard.

Jezus soon got busted open and this very one-sided brawl continued through the crowd and back to the ring again. "Carlito" allowed his bodyguard a temporary respite with some timely interference, but Cena battled on and eventually polished off Jezus with the FU.

Following the match, Cena knocked out "Carlito" with his steel chain and took his personal property back. Although this was a heated, atmospheric match, it did nothing to get Jezus over as a worthy adversary to Cena and made a mockery of the realistic angle that WWE had spent so much time on.

Dawn Marie Beat Miss Jackie (Special Referee: Charlie Haas)

For the 2nd time that night, Charlie Haas came out, this time as an official. He made his entrance with Jackie, but anyone with any common sense could see that they wouldn’t be happy couple by the end of the night.

This match was beyond awful. Dawn and Jackie topped themselves here, because this bout was even worse than the other ones they’ve been involved in. Charlie remained impartial and soon counted the fall on his fiancée, after Dawn used the tights for the roll up pin.

Jackie was in shock, but there was more to come. Haas confirmed that he and Dawn had been having an affair, and then went down to one knee to apparently propose to Ms Marie (using Jackie’s engagement ring). But instead of asking her to marry him, he asked why she was "such a slut" and left without either woman! (Hilariously, the crowd liked his attitude and began a "Charlie" chant!).

The Big Show Beat Kurt Angle, Luther Reigns & Mark Jindrak In a Handicap Match

This was a predictably plodding and outright boring match that didn’t do anything for any of the talent involved. There was an amusing moment early on in the match where Jindrak tagged in Angle against his will, but that was about as fun as things got.

"Team Angle" triple-teamed "The Show" until he made the big comeback, flattening everyone in sight. Jindrak took the release pancake/power-bomb, while Angle hit the Angle Slam and applied the Ankle-Lock, only for the giant to escape. In the end, Show hit Jindrak with the F5 to get the win (which is either an "FU" to Brock Lesnar, or a sign that "The Next Big Thing" is on his way back to WWE).

Backstage, Funaki interviewed himself regarding his upcoming Cruiserweight Title Match against Spike Dudley. This was a likeable segment, until Spike appeared and said that Funaki had no chance of winning the belt (which got me thinking that he probably would).

Funaki Beat Spike Dudley For The WWE Cruiserweight Championship

This was a lifeless match that admittedly picked up towards the end, but still did nothing for PPV or the Cruiserweight Title. Funaki got a series of near-falls early on, and got even more during the closing moments of the match.

Funaki went for a swinging DDT, but Spike countered it into the Dudley Dog. However, the "SD! No 1 Announcer" countered that into a roll up and became the new Cruiserweight Champion.

As I mentioned in my "predictions" column, I like Funaki, but it’s hard to take him seriously as a competitor after he’s lost so many matches and been a comedy character for so long. It’s certainly not a good move to put the cruiser strap on him, especially when the likes of Paul London and Billy Kidman are wasting away on Velocity. But who am I to argue? The Cruiserweight Title is virtually a redundant belt now, anyway.

Backstage, "The Cabinet" bid their "farewells" to "JBL" ("the cabinet" is an appropriate name, considering the wooden acting skills that Amy Webber and The Basham’s possess). All of them wished the champ good luck, as Bradshaw made the long walk to the ring (which again, hinted to me that "JBL" might retain his title).

"JBL" Retained The WWE! SD! Championship In A Fatal Four-Way Match Against The Undertaker, Booker T & Eddie Guerrero (Interference From Heidenreich)

Amidst all the nonsense and crap booking that one had to endure at Armageddon, this enjoyable (and sometimes exciting) main event almost saved the entire show. I can say without hesitation, that this was probably the best SD! World Title Match in months.

The match began with the fan favourites fighting amongst themselves (while "JBL" took a break outside the ring). Before long, though, Bradshaw had been dragged into the fray and was a human pinball for Undertaker, Eddie and Booker!

Later on, Booker took a plunge into the front row, while Undertaker took some punishment from the ring steps (brandished by "JBL"). However, Undertaker soon back-dropped his way out of a power-bomb attempt through the announcers’ desk!

Eddie soon brought a ladder into play and drove it into the head of The Undertaker! He also kicked out of Booker T’s axe-kick, before "JBL" drove Booker through the announce table with an elbow drop (the power-bomb spot went awry).

On the other side was the Spanish announce table, so Undertaker cleared that and drove Bradshaw through it with "The Last Ride"! Inside the ring, Eddie was hamming it up again, but soon got caught by "Big Evil"! Guerrero got a Choke-slam, but soon bounced the title belt off Taker’s skull during a "Last Ride" attempt!

Eddie hit 2 Frog Splash’s, but Undertaker sat up. A Frog Splash from the ladder did the trick, but "Latino Heat" hurt himself on the way down. "JBL" pulled the referee out on Eddie’s count, and the match continued.

Eventually, Undertaker was the last man standing and looked set to win the belt with a Tombstone on the champion. But in a right buzz-killer, Heidenreich ran and assaulted him.
"JBL" still couldn’t pin anyone, but Heidenreich reduced the odds by taking Undertaker out to the floor. While the camera was squarely on ‘Taker and Heidenreich, Bradshaw hit Booker T with the Clothesline From Hell and retained his title.

The screw-job finish ruined the match for me. "JBL" is still the champion (despite low PPV and TV numbers) and for the umpteenth time, needed blatant interference to get the job done. And who the hell wants to see Undertaker and Heidenreich again? That feud should have been done and dusted at No Mercy.

Even though Armageddon produced a great main event (well, until the finish at least) and wasn’t a totally piss-poor effort like Judgment Day and The Great American Bash, it still failed to justify its £15 price tag and generally felt like an extended version of SD! (the "bonus" matches, the TV-style angles, the overbooking etc); and a bad one at that.

I’m sure I’m not alone when I find myself saying, "screw it, that’s the last SD! PPV I’m going to order", as I’m sure that other fans aren’t going to pay for crap like this next year when Sky are charging for 8 PPV’s. Raw-only and combined events have given me better value for money this year, so from now on, I’m going to be more selective and not settle for lazy events like Armageddon.

On the plus side, Armageddon did advance a few story lines and also gave Charlie Haas a new career direction. And as I’ve already mentioned, it also produced the strongest SD! main event in ages. But let’s not kid ourselves. Armageddon was a lousy event and a rotten way for WWE to end the year.

Previously posted on Smash Wrestling:

http://www.firetank.com/smashwrestling/

WWE Armageddon 2007 Thoughts: By Matthew Evans (23/12/2007)

2011-03-21T04:34:00.000-07:00

Coming off the heels of the exciting nostalgia trip known as the "Raw 15th Anniversary Special", WWE’s latest PPV extravaganza; Armageddon certainly had the proverbial deck stacked against it in regards to whether the general public would be willing to give up their hard-earned cash for a 3-hour show after just having another (and a very unique one at that) 3-hour show given to them for free.

It’s no secret that WWE PPV buy-rates have continued to decline overall over the past few years (the company eliminated "single brand" PPV’s for that very reason). It appears that the "E" is finding it increasingly difficult to justify monthly PPV events (I’ve thought for a long time now that they should cut back on some of them). Even some of the hardcore WWE fans that stick by the company though thick and thin have become blasé about the "lesser" events (or "B" shows).

That said, Armageddon (on paper, at least) did have some things working in its favour. But much like that WWE shows that transpired after the 1st truly awesome ECW One Night Stand in 2005, there was always the chance that it would pail in comparison to the "feel-good" nature of the Raw special that it was forced to follow.

It certainly set off on the right foot with a lively and exciting U.S. Title bout between MVP and Rey Mysterio. Unfortunately, Mysterio hurt his knee early on in the match, meaning that overall, their efforts failed to reach the lofty heights that both men were capable of reaching.
In fairness to Rey, he worked around the problem nicely and hopefully will not miss any ring time (he seemed to be in good shape on the following SD! show, although he was in a 6-man tag-team match).

The biggest problem with the match was the finish. MVP simply went to the floor and took the cheap way out (he lost by count-out, but retained the title). It was an insulting way to end such a promising match, but at least Rey got a measure of revenge on the champ.

The "inter-brand" tag-team bout between Big Daddy V & Mark Henry and CM Punk & Kane may have worked out better had they not been given so much time out there (it wasn’t really a long match overall, but whenever "V" and Henry were on the offence, it dragged).

It appeared as if Punk and Kane were going to topple the big men, until "Big Daddy" caught Punk with an admittedly impressive flying Samoan Drop. Great finish, but how depressing was it to see the ECW World Champion job to two useless lugs like "V" and Henry?

Shawn Michaels VS Mr Kennedy had the potential to be Kennedy’s biggest and best match to date. Sadly, it was average (and sometimes boring) fare that didn’t make Kennedy look like a main event-calibre star.

There were too many rest-holds for my liking, plus the story of Michaels trying to "break" Kennedy’s hand didn’t really aid the match much (I’ve noticed that Michaels has opted to work simpler, more ground-based matches as of late. With his part-time schedule and the risk of him suffering another injury by doing a succession of high spots and "high impact" moves, I can understand the change. But for the fans, it’s not something that they’re used to seeing from him).

I will give credit for the finish (Kennedy paused a took a sudden "Sweet Chin Music" to the face) and some of the near-falls at the end. But overall, this should have been much better.

While there was nothing wrong with Jeff Hardy’s upset win over HHH in their number 1 contender’s match, there was certainly A LOT wrong with "The Game’s" reaction after he realised he’d had his shoulders pinned to the mat.

Instead of flying into a rage with Hardy or the referee (or getting thoroughly pissed off with himself), Hunter merely laughed to himself (in what looked like a "piss-taking" manner). To me, this suggests that Hardy doesn’t have a chance of beating Randy Orton for the WWE Championship at the "Rumble" (and yes, I will commend HHH for "doing the job" and "putting Jeff over". But why didn’t he show anger, pause for a few moments and then shake the better man’s hand? Why does Jeff’s win have to look like a fluke?).

The match itself was very enjoyable (save for a few minor miscues from Hardy). However, it appears that despite the general consensus on the "net", HHH is popular where it truly matters most: With the live WWE audience. Anyone expecting the younger Jeff Hardy to get a thunderous response and have the fans in the palm of his hand would have had a rude awakening. It was HHH all the way with the crowd.

I think they were as shocked as anyone was when Hardy reversed Hunter’s "Pedigree" attempt into a pinning combination. As I said earlier, it was nice to see HHH put over a younger talent, but at the same time I don’t think he helped with his facials after the match.

Finlay’s match with The Great Khali was fairly painless (although still pointless). It was shocking to see "The Tough Irish B*****d" and his little leprechaun friend Hornswoggle get the better of the giant, but it was a fun little twist as well that seemed to entertain the fans.

As mentioned in my "Predictamania" piece, Chris Jericho’s much hyped comeback has been flatter than an ant that’s been sat on by an elephant. And I don’t think that throwing him into a WWE Championship match almost immediately was a good idea, either.

Jericho proved this much to be true with his rather dull match with Randy Orton (again, too many rest-holds and a tepid crowd reaction). This match did pick up when "Y2J" broke out the "Lion Sault" and began to get several near-falls. But was it a PPV worthy, main event-quality match that showcased Jericho (and Orton for that matter) as a true main event talent? Certainly not.

I did enjoy the finish, though (ok it was a cheap DQ finish, which I normally hate. But it DID set the table for a feud between Jericho and the returning "JBL"). After accidentally crashing into Bradshaw at the announce booth (and then moving him out of the way). Jericho was blindsided by a pissed-off Texan, who delivered a big boot to the head, causing the match to be thrown out on a DQ.

Post-match, Orton drilled Jericho with a "RKO". It seems that Jericho will now be returning back to the mid card. I think that’s a wise decision, at least for the time being.

Sandwiched in between two championship matches and played out in front of a burnt-out audience, the WWE Women’s Championship Match between "The Glamazon" Beth Phoenix and the feisty Mickie James never really stood a chance (which is a shame, because they really tried their best out there).

Phoenix dominated James for the most part and just when it looked like Mickie might defeat the powerful Diva, "The Glamazon" drilled her foe with the impressive release fisherman’s suplex and retained her strap.

The crowd was definitely into the triple threat main event between Batista, Edge and The Undertaker, and with a strong performance from all 3 men, how could they not be?

I loved the way Edge tried to dodge the proverbial bullet and leave ‘Taker and Batista to fight it out (only to get caught and get knocked from pillar to post by both men). And the sequence where "The Animal" turned on Undertaker and clobbered him with a clothesline on the ring apron (while "The Dead Man" was about to drop a big running leg-drop on Edge) was also very well executed.

The finish was also a little different (ok so Kurt Angle did it in 2003 but that was only with one guy; his brother Eric); with Edge using two "impostors" to divert the referee’s (and the participants’) attention away from the match and ultimately allowing him to hit a spear and win the title.

The "Edge Heads" later turned out to be The Major Bros, although I think WWE dropped the ball slightly by announcing their identity so soon after the show (the "mystery Edge’s" angle could have been kept going well into the New Year, with Batista and Undertaker on the warpath demanding to know who screwed them out of the championship).

Overall, Armageddon was a "hit and miss" show, with more "miss" than "hit" I’m afraid. However, WWE have at least set up 2008 quite nicely. Raw has a new number 1 contender to its crown (Jeff Hardy) and SD! has a new WWE World Heavyweight Champion (Edge). ECW still has CM Punk as their champ (although another loss to "Daddy V" can’t be far away) and in general, things are looking bright for next year.

Previously posted on Smash Wrestling:

http://www.firetank.com/smashwrestling/

WWE Armageddon 2006 Thoughts: By Matthew Evans (22/12/2006)

2011-03-19T14:30:00.000-07:00

"The End Is Here". That’s the slogan for "Armageddon", WWE’s annual "apocalyptic" PPV event.

Following the disaster that was ECW "Dismembered In December", many fans have come to the conclusion that WWE’s "new breed unleashed" will be history by next year. SD!, meanwhile, hasn’t been predicted to have a much brighter future. Indeed, in the eyes of many, the "B team" has been on life-support for months.

It’s not hard to see why. Forget the fact that Raw has been a WWE staple since 1993 and will always be the "big one" as far as McMahon-driven TV shows go. SD! has always had a problem when it comes to star power. It seems whenever they have a huge star (for example, John Cena), he defects to Raw. Likewise, some of their newly established stars (i.e. Lashley) may also jump to ECW.

When you look at SD’s "big name Superstars", their biggest is unquestionably The Undertaker (and even he’s part-time these days). They did recently acquire Kane from Raw, however that was only because "The Monster" lost a "Loser Leaves Raw" Match to Umaga (so in hindsight, it looks [at least on paper] like Kane is a "Raw reject" and has stepped down to the "minor leagues").

However, despite their limited talent pool and the overall "B show" stigma, SD! did a decent job of building interest in Armageddon. Obviously, the booking of two gimmick matches (an "Inferno Match" and a "Last Ride Match") was a shameless way of attempting to boost the buy-rate, but to be fair, these matches were far more appetising than regular, standard rematches between the relevant participants.

As mentioned in my "predictions", I was very much looking forward to Armageddon. So now let’s see if me paying £14.95 to watch the show on PPV was worth it.

Kicking off the show was the "Inferno Match". This was the 4th of its kind to be held, with the last one taking place in September 1999.

Obviously, it was a dangerous match, which is why it’s only done on rare occasions (Michael Cole wasn’t lying when he said that the announcers’ desk and the fans had to be moved back several feet).

It would be unfair for me to draw comparisons between this "Inferno Match" and previous efforts such as the first one in 1998 between Undertaker and Kane. That particular match had an aura behind it before it even began (I will say, though that this "Inferno Match" between MVP and Kane served its purpose and was definitely the best match of Mr Porter’s WWE career thus far).

WWE deserve credit for the finish, as no "tricks" were used. MVP really WAS on fire and was burning from his back. Perhaps he didn’t run quick enough to sell the overall horror of his "human torch" act, but credit to the man for "taking one for the team" so to speak and proving that he’s willing to put his body on the line in the name of "Sports Entertainment".

On paper at least, Paul London and Brian Kendrick’s tag-title match with Brits William Regal and Dave Taylor looked like a terrible clash of styles. And although both teams had proven that they COULD work together convincingly on TV, there was always the risk that the live audience could "switch off" for their PPV meeting.

However, there was no chance of this happening when SD! GM Theodore Long showed up before the match was due to start and announced (completely out-of-the-blue) that this would now be a four-way Ladder Match involving two other teams!

The mystery opponents were MNM and The Hardys. Fans didn’t care that neither team officially resided on SD!. All of a sudden, a fairly interesting match had turned into a potentially exciting, high-risk gimmick bout that you simply could not afford to miss.

The match did not disappoint. It was unquestionably a strong contender for "Match of The Year" and was truly the best thing to happen on a SD! event all year.

Early on, Joey Mercury got completely busted open when he took a sick ladder shot to the face following a "see-saw" routine from The Hardys (Mercury suffered a broken nose and lacerations around the eye. The blood loss was so severe that he was forced to leave the match and immediately get rushed to a nearby hospital).

Left on his own, Mercury’s partner, Johnny Nitro drop-kicked a ladder, sending Jeff Hardy flying onto and catapulting off the top rope.

In other action, Paul London took a nasty back-drop from the top of a ladder from Matt Hardy and Brian Kendrick nearly broke William Regal’s neck with a slightly-botched "Sliced Bread # 2" from the top rung of another ladder.

In the end, London and Kendrick retained the titles. But it was the fans that were the real winners. This was truly an awesome match, although you have to wonder why WWE didn’t advertise it beforehand (it surely would have boosted the buy-rate). Perhaps they just wanted to give the fans something special after the unbelievably bad "December To Dismember" event 2 weeks ago.

Gregory Helms’ Cruiserweight Title defence against Jimmy Wang Yang was in some ways, a pointless exercise (they had no story line reason to fight, other than Wang being the number 1 contender, and even that was done at the last minute). That said, they did make the effort to have a very good match, even if the fans lost interest halfway through.

"JBL" (who really brought his "A game" to Armageddon) actually ripped into the fans when they began to chant "BORING" as Wang and Helms continued to ply away in the ring (in one way, he had a point, but on the other hand, again they were given no real reason to have a match, and Helms has been cruiser champion for so long now that it was somewhat predictable that he would retain the title).

Helms did get the win, after hitting a "chin-crusher" variation on Yang, after the "Redneck" missed a twisting sky-press from the top-rope.

The "Last Ride" Match was always a huge selling point of Armageddon for me. Even though a victory was inevitable for The Undertaker, you just knew that the match itself would live up to the hype.

And it did. Kennedy took a beating here, and towards the end of the match, was busted open by a brutal chair shot to the head. However, he did give "The Dead Man" a run for his money.

On more than one occasion, Kennedy managed to get Undertaker into the hearse (but could not drive it away). He also threw ‘Taker several feet from the Armageddon set (which looked great, until WWE foolishly showed a replay that proved that "Big Evil" landed on a padded area of the stage).

But in the end, he fell to "The Reaper". Undertaker took a bloody Kennedy and gave him a "Tombstone" on top of the hearse. He then rolled him into the vehicle and drove out of the arena.

GM Theodore Long had really delivered the good with his unadvertised ladder match earlier on, however his 2nd surprise of the even was comparable to having a lump of coal (or worse) in your Christmas stocking.

It was a "Naughty Or Nice" Lingerie Contest between Layla, Kristal, Ashley and Jillian (I presume that she was filling in for the recently-fired Amy Zidian, as I haven’t seen Ms Hall on SD! [let alone PPV] in ages).

It would have worked fine if the Divas had been wearing attire that was at least half-sexy. Unfortunately, this was a disaster, especially when "Santa Claus" stripped off to reveal himself as the awful male-stripper "Big Dick Johnson". Apparently, "everyone" was declared the winner, although upon seeing the fat Johnson dancing around in a thong (as opposed to the Divas), I would say that everyone was a "loser" here.

Unfortunately, the show was now in somewhat of a rut, from which it never quite recovered. The tag-team main event between Batista & John Cena and King Booker & Finlay would have worked fine as a TV match, however it came across as a mediocre affair on PPV.

To make things worse, the boos for Cena could be heard loud and clear and Batista was the worst he’s ever been here (and this was a tag-team match).

In the end, Cena tackled Finlay and took him out of the match, allowing Batista to easily finish off "The King" with a "Batista Bomb". Overall, this was a pretty flat way to end a show that had by and large, been rather strong.

I think that Armageddon surprised many people, especially after the "doom and gloom" that came with the backlash from the ECW PPV. This was proof positive that WWE CAN do great PPV’s, even SD! ones.

More than anything, Armageddon renewed faith in the SD! brand and proved that WWE are eager to make up for the disastrous ECW show and get back to justifying their #1 spot. And with TNA breathing down their necks, they’d better keep up the good work in 2007.

Previously posted on Smash Wrestling:

http://www.firetank.com/smashwrestling/

WWE Survivor Series 2006 Thoughts: By Matthew Evans 27/11/2006)

2011-03-19T14:21:00.000-07:00

Last night, WWE presented its 20th Annual Survivor Series PPV live from the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia. As well as featuring traditional elimination-style "Survivor" matches, this show had an added bonus in the fact that the elimination matches featured Superstars from Raw, SD! and ECW.

Effectively built up in the space of just 1-week, Survivor Series still looked set to be one of the biggest events on the WWE calendar. The question is, did it live up to the hype?

Kicking off the show was the "legends" VS The Spirit Squad in a traditonal 4-On-4 "Survivor" match. Ric Flair led his team of old-school veterans (Sgt Slaughter, Dusty Rhodes and Ron Simmons) to the ring, and also had some moral support from his old "Horsemen" buddy, "The Enforcer" Arn Anderson.

Ron Simmons appeared to be the most over legend of all, although he was quickly eliminated on a cheap count-out decision (as was Spirit Squad member Mitch). "Double A" then got banished from ringside for shoving Mitch into the ring-post in full view of the referee.

Next to hit the showers was Sgt Slaughter, Although he locked Nicky in the "Cobra Clutch", Mikey came in illegally and drop-kicked him in the back of the head, thus allowing Nicky to steal a victory and eliminate "The Sarge".

Nicky didn’t last long though, as "American Dream" Dusty Rhodes then came in to deliver a huge elbow drop and eliminate another Spirit Squad member from the contest.

Kenny soon surprised "The Dream" with a roll-up, leaving Ric Flair in a 3-On-1-handicap situation. Against the odds, Flair eliminated Mikey (with his feet on the ropes) and then shockingly pinned Kenny as well!

Now it was down to Johnny and Flair. After pushing Johnny into Kenny (who was stood on the ring apron), "The Nature Boy" applied the "Figure-Four" and forced the youngster to tap out.
Post-match, The Spirit Squad jumped Flair and amazingly, the legends didn’t return to help their team member.

Overall, this match was ok, although there were far too many cheap and abrupt eliminations for my liking. Plus there’s no way that Flair and Co should have won this one.

I said in my "predictions" column that Lita and Mickie James would have been eager to reverse the trend of bad matches together, and I was proved right with this effort.

Lillian Garcia actually announced this as being Lita’s last match, although the Philadelphia crowd sure as hell didn’t give her a warm send-off (and JR and King didn’t do her any favours, either. But more on that in a moment).

Following a slow start, Lita and Mickie soon put on a decent and occasionally exciting WWE Women’s Championship match that the crowd was well into.

Lita was shocked to see Mickie kick out of her top turnbuckle moon-sault (incorrectly referred to as a "Lita-Canrana" by an incredibly off-the-pulse Jim Ross) and got a rude awakening when Mickie planted her with a swinging DDT for the 3-count.

Then came the humiliation. Cryme Tyme (who had been snooping round Lita’s locker room earlier on) came out and began to sell off Lita’s personal possessions to members of the audience.
To her credit, Lita’s reactions were great, as she pleaded with Cryme Tyme to stop. However, this segment (together with the scripted comments from JR and King about Lita being "on her back again") was disrespectful and unnecessary.

To compare the situation, WWE made a big deal of Trish Stratus’ retirement by producing a nice video package of her career and by having the likes of JR and The King put her over on commentary as possibly the greatest Women’s Champions of all time.

Now look at their treatment of Lita. This woman joined WWE at near enough the same time as Trish and was actually a BETTER in-ring performer than her for the first few years of her career (Trish only really stepped up her game in the last 4 years of her career). She actually helped Trish GET OVER and worked with Trish when she was nowhere near being the skilled performer that she would eventually become.

At Survivor Series, it was as if in one foul swoop, WWE spat on Lita’s legacy and attempted to turn her into one big sexual joke (you know the "hoe" references and all that). As a pioneer of women’s wrestling and one of the biggest (male or female) names to break into the business in the last 6 years, Lita deserved better than this. (Incidentally I’ll be doing my own tribute to Lita here on Smash).

Now it was time for the 2nd elimination-style match of the evening, "Team DX" VS "Team RKO". Following a very long pre-match introduction from DX (in which CM Punk hilariously beat them in the popularity stakes, forcing even HHH to publicly acknowledge it), it was time to get down to business.

Mike Knox (accompanied by "exhibitionist" Kelly Kelly) suffered one of the fastest eliminations in Survivor Series history when he got super-kicked by Shawn Michaels after telling HHH to keep his eyes off his girlfriend.

Hilariously, Michaels and HHH claimed to have no idea who Knox was (ordinarily, this would bother me, however Knox is a lost cause anyway).

The comedy continued when Michaels slid out the ring during an exchange with Johnny Nitro and posed with Melina (who for a moment, thought she was standing next to Nitro!).

CM Punk (who had to be the most popular guy in this match) soon forced Nitro to tap out to the "Anaconda Vice". Not too long after, a Hardy Boyz double team sent Gregory Helms packing. This now left Edge and Orton in a 5-On-2 situation.

It didn’t take long for Edge to get double-teamed by Matt and Jeff and then super-kicked by HBK, thus eliminating him from the match. "Legend Killer" Randy Orton then got some "Sweet Chin Music" from Michaels and a "Pedigree" from HHH to officially end this squash-style slaughter.

Overall, this match was a huge letdown for me. Once again, it was a "DX Domination" and in the process, WWE killed off the strong run of Edge and Randy Orton. I defy anyone to tell me whom exactly DX have put over this year apart from themselves. Go on, I’m listening.

Speaking of "putting over", Undertaker simply HAD to put Ken Kennedy over in their "First Blood" Match. Thankfully, he did, although the fact that Mr Kennedy needed help from MVP took the shine off his win somewhat.

Up until MVP’s interference, this match was a wild brawl that rarely stayed in the ring. Kennedy was bleeding from the mouth early on, but the referee didn’t see it (Michael Cole made a big deal of it, but it shouldn’t have mattered. Since when has a "First Blood" Match ended due to a little trickle of blood coming from the mouth?).

An apparently inadvertent chair shot from MVP meant that Undertaker was spewing red stuff from his skull, meaning Kennedy was the winner.

Needless to say, Undertaker was pissed and he took out his frustration on Kennedy. In one of the sickest chair shots I’ve ever seen, ‘Taker literally had Kennedy wearing the chair round his neck. It’s quite possible that Kennedy’s subsequent blood loss was the result of the chair itself and not a blading job on the mat.

Now it was time for "Team Cena" to tangle with "Team Big Show". Would Philadelphia give John Cena a loving welcome? Er..no. Not at all.

The crowd positively hated Cena, even siding with Umaga at one point. Logically, you would have expected "The Samoan Bulldozer" to dominate and possibly eliminate a few members of Cena’s team before moving on to "Mr Word Life".

However, WWE decided to have Umaga go nuts and get himself disqualified almost immediately (to take the idiocy further he didn’t even return later on to "finish the job").

MVP got eliminated after taking an illegal choke-slam from Kane, followed by a Five-Star Frog Splash from RVD. Van Dam then took a boot to the face from Test, thereby eliminating him from the contest (why?).

Sabu eliminated Test with an impressive swinging DDT, but then walked into a choke-slam from The Big Show for an early exit.

Kane soon squared off with The Big Show but soon got eliminated when Finlay’s "Leprechaun" interfered and allowed "The Man Who Loves To Fight" to strike "The Monster" with an illegal shillelagh, thus allowing Big Show to get the pin.

Finlay soon got eliminated by Lashley, leaving Big Show outnumbered. It didn’t take long for Lashley and Cena to double team Show and set him up for the match-winning (and always-impressive) "FU".

Again, like the previous elimination, this featured far too many quick-fire and unnecessary eliminations, thus rendering the "Survival" concept worthless. If WWE had no intention of making proper use of guys like Sabu and RVD then they shouldn’t have included ECW in this match.

Another thing WWE shouldn’t have done was end Survivor Series with a World Title match between King Booker and Batista. On paper, this wasn’t a PPV-calibre main event and their boring, slow-paced bout did nothing to change that perception.

Before the match, SD! GM Theodore Long added the stipulation that the title could change hands on a DQ or count out (perhaps he’s been watching TNA). Most of the fans in attendance didn’t really care.

When the match got underway you could almost hear a pin drop. Younger members of the audience seemed to be behind Batista, but most sat on their hands.

In the end, it took a cheap belt shot from Batista to get the duke (Sharmell bought the belt into play). Survivor Series closed out with Batista getting emotional in the ring, but curiously there was no proper acknowledgement or the usual PPV ending from Michael Cole and JBL.

Overall, Survivor Series had its moments but was far from the extravaganza that it should have been. The booking rarely made sense, a long-time employee (Lita) received one of the worst send-offs in company history and the commentary, by and large, was a shambles (were JR and JBL doing badly on purpose?).

Also, where was the ECW representation (I’m talking about Styles and Tazz)?. WWE may have hyped December To Dismember during the show, but ultimately this will just be another watered down attraction, peppered with WWE brand names. Will ECW even be around next year?

Previously posted on Smash Wrestling:

http://www.firetank.com/smashwrestling/

WWE SummerSlam 2007 Thoughts: By Matthew Evans (02/09/2007)

2011-03-19T14:17:00.000-07:00

SummerSlam may have been dubbed "The Biggest Party Of The Summer", but it might as well have been renamed "The Return Of HHH & Rey Mysterio". For you see, the show had largely been built around the respective comebacks of the mighty "Game" and lightning quick luchador sensation.

Indeed, even a big WWE Championship match between John Cena and Randy Orton took a back seat to the long-awaited (and after a big injury crisis, most-welcome) returns of two of the biggest stars on the Raw and SD! brands.

For me, that was really my sole purpose for buying SummerSlam. None of the matches floated my boat in a big way and to be honest, I wasn’t expecting to see a knockout show. And I didn’t.

I’ve written at length before about how the over-saturated PPV market has damaged the overall quality of WWE monthly events. Even with every PPV now being "tri-branded" (which means that poor Joey Styles and Tazz have to sit at a commentary desk for a 3 hour show just to call one 15 minute match), there still really isn’t enough time to build every one of them to the point where the audience thinks that what they are shelling out their hard-earned cash for is "must-see" TV.

Over-saturation means that "the E" often stages the same matches over and over, to the point where even the most loyal fans grow tired of the same routine. To give an example, you need to look no further than the opening bout of SummerSlam, Kane VS Finlay.

While this particular match turned out to be a lot better than I had anticipated, it was still disappointing to see WWE resort to booking yet another Kane/Finlay match after we’ve seen them tangle on Friday Night Smackdown! for what seems like aeons.

Again, you couldn’t argue with the actual in-ring action. It was a fun and occasionally exciting battle that concluded with some interference from the leprechaun Hornswoggle (who handed Finlay an extra "shillelagh" to use on Kane’s "injured ribs") and an earth-shattering choke-slam from Kane to secure victory.

From leprechauns and "monsters" to "Samoan Savages". It was now time for the mighty Umaga to defend his IC strap against Carlito and Mr Kennedy.

The way this match had been built up on TV had been piss-poor. But thankfully, this match was anything but. It was enjoyable stuff, with the crowd rallying behind Kennedy all the way (me thinks WWE dropped the ball by pushing Umaga as a fan-favourite).

In the end, Umaga struck Kennedy with the dreaded "Samoan Spike" to retain his gold. Poor Carlito wasn’t even involved in the finish. Surely this gives him the right to an immediate rematch.

Rey Mysterio’s comeback should have been a huge milestone in WWE history. After all, he’d been out of action for nearly a full year and has always been one of SD!’s few shining stars when it comes to big-name talent.

Sadly, the crowd reaction didn’t reflect just how big a star Mysterio is. His return excited the kids, but generally the whole thing felt a bit flat.

His "grudge match" against Chavo Guerrero (the man who supposedly put him on the shelf) was ok, but not exactly a classic display. Then again, this was to be expected. Mysterio will have to be careful from now on, after having a history of knee problems (mainly due to his high-risk style).

Mysterio (who sort of resembled the "Silver Surfer") had his knee attacked by Chavo, but in the end he came back with a "619" and a top-rope splash to defeat his former friend.

To describe the "Diva Battle Royal" as "garbage" would be an insult to rubbish everywhere. Much like WCW’s ridiculous "Junkyard Battle Royal" in 1999, this was dull and very hard to follow (in WCW’s defence, their match was filmed in a real junkyard. What was WWE’s excuse for all those crappy long and wide camera shots that made it extremely difficult for the viewer to identify the participants?).

People bashed Jim Ross for getting Jillian Hall confused with Beth Phoenix on Raw, but here it was easy to get Ms Hall confused with Ms Phoenix, Torrie Wilson or even Kelly Kelly.

In the end, Beth Phoenix won the match, lastly eliminating Michelle McCool (who continues to improve, it has to be said). I predict a WWE Women’s Championship reign for "The Glamazon" very soon.

John Morrison’s ECW World Title defence against CM Punk was ok, but the crowd wasn’t really into it and this match offered nothing new in their series.

Morrison cheated to win but if you’ve read the spoilers on this site, you’ll know that the Morrison/Punk rivalry took a different turn this past Saturday.

HHH’s big comeback (although I personally don’t think it was quite as big as his other comeback at MSG in January 2002) dwarfed that of Rey Mysterio’s (no pun intended there, by the way). I was just thankful that "The Game" left his "Conan" costume at home and came out as "The Cerebral Assassin" that we all know and love (ok, maybe some folks on the Internet don’t like the guy, but politics aside, I have a lot of respect for HHH and have missed him over the last couple of months).

His match against King Booker was pretty predictable. You knew who was going over and that it was probably going to end with a "Pedigree". Still, at least it wasn’t a total squash (he’s saving that for Mr Kennedy).

Many had hoped and prayed that SummerSlam would be the end of The Great Khali’s reign as World Champion. The days of the 7-foot lummox holding his title upside down, cutting awful promos/interviews and generally stinking up the joint would be over.

But alas, no. WWE decided to have "Big Dave" Batista beat him by DQ (a cheap cop-out that no one should have to witness on PPV), meaning that the giant keeps his title. The match was hideous. The fact that it ended so cheaply made it that much worse.

Finally, it was Cena VS Orton for the WWE Championship. As with all Cena matches, there was a divide between the crowd (the kids and the younger women wanted Cena to win, the older male part of the audience wanted Orton to win). This made for a good atmosphere, although the match itself wasn’t quite as hot.

It was a good effort, nonetheless. Cena kicked out of an "RKO" and Orton managed to break an "STFU" in the ropes. In the end, Cena planted "The Legend Killer" with the "FU" to retain the gold. "The Champ" is still here.

Overall, SummerSlam was one of those shows that had its moments, but didn’t really leave a lasting impression. No one will remember it in 2-3 years time, however in the fast-moving world of wrestling, the attention is now already on the next PPV, Unforgiven. This show will feature the return of The Undertaker as well as a WWE Title Match between The Great Khali and Rey Mysterio. Here’s hoping that Mysterio can end the "Khali Era".

Previously posted on Smash Wrestling:

http://www.firetank.com/smashwrestling/

WWE Taboo Tuesday 2005 Thoughts: By Matthew Evans (06/11/2005)

2011-03-19T14:10:00.000-07:00

One week. One apparent release (which later turned out to be nothing more than a rumour) one WWE Superstar deciding to quit and one just deciding not to show up and honour his advertised appearances. Somewhere in the middle of all of this, WWE had a PPV to promote, but with so much going on behind-the-scenes, it was easy to lose focus and forget about "Taboo Tuesday".

Anyone who watched Raw Monday night/Tuesday morning must have been rushing to the Internet as soon as they could after watching the show (I know I was). For in the space of just one 2-hour broadcast, WWE had apparently scrapped the highly hyped Stone Cold VS Coach match at "Taboo Tuesday" and replaced it with WWE SD! Champion Batista VS the self-proclaimed "Voice Of The People".

Of course, there was no real story line reason for this to happen. Even the addition of Goldust and Vader (who was in no shape to perform in any way whatsoever) reeked of desperation. And as it turned out, WWE was pretty desperate.

Word got out on "the net" that Stone Cold Steve Austin had pulled out of his Raw appearance and his "Taboo Tuesday" match when he learned that he was booked to lose to The Coach and that his good friend Jim Ross would not be brought back (even though prior story line developments seemed to dictate that he would be). With their backs against the wall, WWE couldn’t pull the plug on one of "Taboo Tuesday’s" biggest attractions. So they put SD!’s Batista in Austin’s place and threw a last-minute angle together on Raw to give the match some sort of meaning.

From Austin’s perspective, he was within his right to refuse to job to Coach. I’m sure everyone would agree that asking a performer of Stone Cold’s calibre to lose to a non-worker announcer is ludicrous, even if it were just for one night.

On the other hand, Stone Cold had an obligation to appear on Raw and at "Taboo Tuesday" and by "taking his ball", he let the fans and the company down (incidentally, Austin did a similar thing in 2002 when WWE asked him to lose to Brock Lesnar, who was an unproven newcomer at the time). Then again, WWE could learn from this little bust-up. Perhaps in future they shouldn’t invest so much time and money into a part-time novelty act who can basically come and go as he pleases and can only be of benefit to the company if he shows up and is inspired to work (don’t get me wrong; I like Stone Cold, but at this stage of his career, he should only be used on special occasions and shouldn’t be used in a regular story line).

If you watched Raw, you may have also noticed the absence of Torrie Wilson. Even though she had just worked a few house show dates in Australia, Torrie was nowhere to be seen (and had been replaced in the "Fulfil Your Fantasy" Diva Battle Royal by dopey interviewer, Maria).

Torrie’s apparent "release" was soon announced on every Internet forum and news source, with the exception of WWE.Com. It has since been announced (by Torrie) that she hasn’t been released, she’s just taking some time off due to personal family reasons (in actual fact, he release wouldn’t come as a huge surprise, although it would be rather disappointing considering the amount of established Divas who’ve been released over the last year).

The Christian issue has also been somewhat of a "hot topic" since WWE.Com announced that "Captain Charisma" had quit the company, effective from October 31. Much more shocking than the Torrie Wilson news/rumour, this actually turned out to be true (Christian chose not to renew his contract and fulfilled his obligations to appear on Raw and at "Taboo Tuesday").

At press time, its not known whether Christian is simply taking a break from the wrestling business or (as some fans and insiders seem to think) is TNA-bound. Whatever the case, this is certainly one of the most shocking and interesting real-life developments we’ve seen in wrestling this year.

Finally (I know, I’m going off on a tangent here; I’ll get to my review of "Taboo Tuesday" eventually), if you checked out the various "spoiler" wrestling sites prior to "Taboo Tuesday" you would have known that there was a good chance that Joey Styles (of ECW fame) would be calling the action on the night (you would also know that WWE was hot on his heels attempting to sign him up to Raw to become the new lead announcer).

I know it took a long time to get here, but without further ado, here are my "Taboo Tuesday Thoughts":

Rey Mysterio & Matt Hardy Defeated Gene Snitsky & Chris Masters

"Taboo Tuesday" got off to a great start for me from a personal standpoint, as my two choices in the voting were Mysterio and Hardy. Just like last year, votes were calculated up-to-the-minute and all the Superstars were lined up backstage (pretty interesting that "JBL" got more votes than Christian, who seemed to be unpopular than usual [due to the whole "quitting" announcement, perhaps?]).

In a last-minute change, Edge announced that he wouldn’t be competing in the match, because he doesn’t really care what the fans want to see (really, Edge is injured and couldn’t really wrestle at "Taboo Tuesday"). His replacement was Gene Snitsky, who along with "The Master-Piece" now made up one half of potentially one of the worst tag-teams in WWE history.

However, despite this fact, this match DID NOT suck. In fact, it was a thoroughly exciting opener that must rank up as the best of Snitsky and Masters’ careers.

Of course, this was all thanks to Mysterio and Hardy, who carried their lumbering foes all the way with high-flying moves and a fast pace. For a while, Snitsky and Masters over-powered the fan favourites (with Mysterio getting a huge sympathy vote from his hometown crowd), but "Team SmackDown" soon fought back and wiped out "Team Raw" with a pair of stereo cross-body blocks to the floor!

In the end, Masters was left alone in the ring, allowing Mysterio and Hardy to double-team him. Rey hit the ever popular "619", while Matt executed the "Twist Of Fate". Finally, the hometown boy Mysterio got the duke with a springboard splash on "The Master-Piece".

Overall, this was a great match (the idea of having two different referees was also a nice touch). For one night at least, SD! looked stronger than Raw (then again, who could possibly argue that Snitsky and Masters are superior to Mysterio and Hardy?).

Eugene & "Superfly" Snuka Defeated Rob Conway & Tyson Tomko

This "legends"-based match was changed from a handicap match to a tag-team match, with "Problem Solver" Tyson Tomko added in as Conway’s partner.

Eugene’s partner though, was up to the fans. The choices were Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Kamala and Jimmy Snuka (I picked Hacksaw). Even though Hacksaw appeared to be in with the best chance of getting into the match, the majority vote went to the "Superfly".

This fun, nostalgic bout was kept short and saw Eugene get dominated by "The Con-Man" and the "Problem Solver", until he tagged in Snuka for the finish. (Snuka got a good pop and is undoubtedly a legend, but his moves and reactions in this match were so slow, it was unbelievable).

Even though it would have benefited Conway more to win this match, he ended up jobbing to Eugene and the legend. After taking the "Rock Bottom" from Eugene, "The Con-Man" got flattened by the "Superfly Splash" (which Snuka took ages to execute) for the win.

Post-match, Tomko jumped Eugene and Snuka, but got his comeuppance when the remaining legends (Duggan and Kamala) ran in and hit him with their signature moves. Again, it would have been more beneficial to Tomko to put him over as a monster and not get ambushed by the legends, but Tomko is a lost cause and overall the whole thing was pretty harmless.

Mankind Beat Carlito Via "Socko-Claw" Submission

Even though Mankind was my choice for the "Face Of Foley", I was actually surprised that the fans didn’t choose Cactus Jack. Then again, Mankind was a WWE creation and had his unorthodox but fun sidekick, "Mr Socko".

Even though the crowd didn’t get into this match like they should have, I thought this was an enjoyable bout. Granted, it wasn’t a classic match, but keep in mind that Foley has been away from the ring for a long time. He’s going to have to ease his way back in and take things slowly if he he’s going to get back to the standard that many expect of him (make no mistake; Foley was by no means lazy in this match. He simply kept it short and simple and left plenty for a series of rematches).

Mankind dominated early on and had the advantage until he grabbed a steel chair and allowed Carlito to drop-toe-hold him into the chair and the steel steps. Foley took another sick bump when Carlito drop-kicked him, causing him to catch his head on the edge of the steps.

The head-trauma continued with an Electric Chair from the corner, and Carlito seemed to be in control. But Mankind soon came back and drilled "Mr Cool" with a running knee-smash into the corner, a sick flying elbow-drop to the concrete and a double-arm DDT.

Then, it was "Socko Time!" This version of "Mr Socko" sported a Carlito Afro and before long, "The King Of Cool" found himself gasping for air and losing the match via submission.

Kane & Big Show Defeated Cade & Murdoch To Become The New WWE Raw Tag-Team Champions

"The Monster" and "The Show" were predictably put into this match after Shawn Michaels won the lion’s share of the votes to qualify for the main event (although Kane got far more votes than what was expected).

Creatively, this match was pointless (WWE may as well pull the plug on the Raw tag scene now). However, the match was at least kept short and fairly interesting.

It basically revolved around the two giants overpowering the cowboys, with Cade and Murdoch only getting the advantage when Trevor pulled Kane from the top-rope and sent him crashing to the floor.

But it couldn’t last. Kane and Big Show soon took Murdoch out of the equation and finished off Cade with a double-choke-slam. Just like that, we had new Raw tag-team champs.

Batista Beat The Coach (Along With Goldust & Vader) In A Street Fight

There was really no point to this match, but after Stone Cold threw a spanner in the works on Monday, WWE had to do SOMETHING. Under the circumstances, this match was as good as it could have been. I have no idea though, why Vader (who fell on his backside on Raw just by leaving the ring) was so heavily involved in this glorified "handicap" match.

Coach got virtually no offence in on Batista (save for a brief moment when he whipped "The Animal" with a leather belt while Goldust and Vader held him down) and let his "henchmen" do most of the work (Vader screwed up again by not taking a spine-buster properly).

In the end, Coach was the only one left and Batista wiped him out with a "Batista Bomb" for the 3 count. Overall, this didn’t really serve much of a purpose, although the crowd seemed to enjoy it.

Trish Stratus Retained The WWE Women’s Championship In A "Fulfil Your Fantasy" Diva Battle Royal Featuring Victoria, Ashley, Mickie James, Candice Michelle And Maria

The Diva’s attire had been announced earlier on and was "Lingerie" (once again, the fans choose the most uncreative of all the options. I really thought "Cheerleader" would have got the most votes).

As a result the Divas (apart from Candice Michelle and Maria) didn’t look all that sexy (was it me, or did all the girls look far sexier in their robes while the votes were being counted?).

This match was better than last year’s abomination and actually made sense (i.e. the running theme of Mickie James helping Trish was a good idea). The first Diva to be eliminated was Maria (courtesy of Trish and Mickie). Then Candice got eliminated by Ashley while she show-boated on the ring apron.

Ashley was soon sent packing thanks to a catapult from Victoria. This left the pros to fight amongst themselves (although, Mickie James still refused to fight Trish).

In the end, James sacrificed herself for Trish and tumbled to the floor along with Victoria. This made Trish the winner by default.

Post-match, Mickie James cut in on Trish’s interview time and really went OTT. Trish looked puzzled as Mickie continued her "hero worship" whilst walking up the ramp. This could be the feud that revitalises the women’s division.

Ric Flair Retained The WWE Intercontinental In A Cage Match Against HHH

"The Nature Boy" got his wish and got "The Game" inside a steel cage. For some reason, this match was now also a title match (Joey Styles, who had been making Coach and Michael Cole look even worse than usual, honestly pointed out that the belt was a non-issue, although he may have been rapped for saying that).

This was an entertaining, very old-school bout that ultimately dragged on a bit, but still delivered plenty of drama and excitement. In between the barrage of "F-bombs" (all very audible) from Flair, "Slic Ric" got busted open, became trapped in his own "Figure-Four Leg-lock" and generally got "taken to school" by HHH.

But when it came time for Flair to fight back, then that was truly something. He split "The Game" wide open and gave him the "Figure-Four" as well!

Towards the end, Flair scrambled for the door and managed to lay his hands on a steel chair. HHH went for the "Pedigree" but "Naitch’" back-dropped out and caused "The Game" to land on the chair.

Then Flair grabbed the chair and drilled HHH with a sick chair shot to the head. He had his chance to leave and win the match, but Flair wanted revenge in the worst way. Another two chair shots came crashing down on the bloodied head of "The Game". "The Nature Boy" then walked out the door for the surprise victory.

John Cena Retained The WWE Raw World Championship In A Triple Threat Match Against Kurt Angle And Shawn Michaels

It was no coincidence that two of the greatest in-ring workers of all time (Angle and Michaels) were involved in one of the greatest main event matches ever seen this year. Indeed, this was one main event that lived up to the hype.

Angle and Michaels had apparently formed a pact earlier on, but that was soon destroyed when Kurt immediately turned on "HBK" after the bell. However, they DID form a partnership later on in order to take out Cena.

When this happened the crowd (with the exception of the kids and the females) loved every minute of it. There was a huge roar of approval when Angle and Michaels drove Cena through the Spanish announcers’ table with a double-front-suplex.

With Cena out of the equation, Angle and Michaels did their thing and the fans lapped it up. "The Olympic Hero" brought them to their feet with a super "Angle-Slam" from the top rope, which amazingly only yielded a 2-count (even though it was enough to beat Shawn in the Iron-Man match).

Cena soon returned to fight off both opponents, much to the chagrin of the crowd. "HBK" hit a reverse pescado on the floor, giving the fans a huge "Holy S***!" moment. Shawn also took a nasty fall to the floor when Angle belly-to-belly suplexed him clean out of the ring!

Angle soon had the advantage with an "Ankle-Lock" on Cena, but Michaels broke it up with a flying-elbow from the top. A great sequence of moves then took place, when Shawn gave Angle "Sweet Chin Music" but walked right into an "FU" from "The Champ". This gave Cena a shocking (and not too well received) victory.

However, "Taboo Tuesday" WAS well received by me. I can honestly say that it was the most entertaining WWE PPV I’ve seen in a while (far better than the predictable dross SD! usually puts on). In my opinion, there wasn’t a truly awful match on the show (even the ones that looked bad on paper were kept relatively short and interesting).

After all the problems WWE faced earlier in the week, "Taboo Tuesday" could easily have gone to hell. It didn’t, which just goes to prove that WWE can do anything (and do it well) if they just put their minds to it.

Previously posted on Smash Wrestling:

http://www.firetank.com/smashwrestling/

2002 Awards: By Matthew Evans (31/12/2002)

2011-03-19T13:56:00.000-07:00

As I write this column, we are just hours away from the New Year, which means another year of WWE wrestling has nearly passed us by yet again. So, was 2002 a good year for WWE wrestling? Well, I would say "yes and no".

Good things about 2002: Hulk Hogan's return, along with the NWO (hey it was exciting at the very beginning of the NWO's run, and the hype for their return was huge), Hogan's history making match with The Rock at Wrestlemania, Eric Bischoff's appearance on Raw as the General Manager, the court ruling with The World Wildlife Fund that forced the McMahons get rid of the WWF initials (it was good for me, as I got loads of old and new videos and DVDs for cheap), Shawn Michaels' return to active competition, and the exciting Elimination Chamber Match at Survivor Series, amongst other things.

Bad things about 2002: The c**k up that was the NWO "revival", Triple H's selfish slaughter of Chris Jericho, Rob Van Dam and Booker T, the court case with the real WWF (it cost the McMahon's a ton of money, and is far from over), Kane's new look and attitude, "HLA", the amount of cheap finish's at Unforgiven, the Triple H/Kane/Katie Vick saga, the Al Wilson/Torrie Wilson/Dawn Marie saga, and The Undertaker's selfish attitude that screwed up the finish of the Unforgiven main event, to name but a few things.

Wrestler Of The Year: Kurt Angle

It's been quite a year for our Olympic Hero. He came up short in the Royal Rumble, but was the last man to be eliminated (by Triple H of course). Then with HHH's soon-to-be ex-wife (at the time) by his side, he took on HHH at No Way Out and predictably beat him (Steph was the guest ref after all). However, he lost his no 1 contendership back to Helmsley in a re-match (surely it would have made more sense to have a triple threat match at Wrestlemania with Angle, HHH and Y2J). Instead, Kurt was put against Kane in a good bout that had little storyline build-up and a badly executed finish. At Backlash, Kurt took on and beat Edge in a great match, which was part of an entertaining but short feud. (Kurt lost his hair to Edge at Judgement Day).

At King Of The Ring, Kurt beat Hulk Hogan cleanly via ankle-lock submission in a better than expected match (thanks to Angle). At Summerslam, he beat Rey Mysterio in a perplexing short feud. After that, he had a tag team partnership and rivalry with Chris Benoit, which gave our Olympic Hero a Smackdown! tag title reign (although a place in the tag division was a waste of our man's talents, IMO). Oddly enough, a week before Armageddon Kurt turned babyface and beat The Big Show for the SD! Undisputed Title, before turning heel again and admitting that he had been in cahoots with Paul Heyman for a while (?)Still, despite this confusing nonsense at the end of the year, Angle has been consistently superb all year long, on the mic aswell as in the ring. I hope he decides to not go to the 2004 Olympics after all.

Worst Wrestler Of The Year: The Big Show

A few people would be cruel and vote TE2 winner Jackie Gayda, based on her performance in that abysmal mixed tag on Raw. But not many people get it right first time, do they? Anyway, The Big Show has been his usual boring, lazy self this year. He was involved with the weaker, watered-down NWO, and has shown no improvement in the ring.

Amazingly, all this led to a world title reign in November, with the The Big Slow beating Brock Lesnar with assistance from Paul Heyman. Luckily for us, The Show's reign was fleeting and he dropped the belt to Kurt Angle at Armageddon. But, The Big Show is still involved in the title picture, which is very worrying for the fans.

Babyface Of The Year: Hulk Hogan

He came back as a heel (as part of the NWO) but the crowd just couldn't hate the Hulkster. This was proven at Wrestlemania when the crowd turned against The Rock and cheered Hogan more! The inevitable babyface turn soon followed, as well as a brief title reign. While none of Hogan's matches have been abysmal this year, his match with Triple H at Backlash was disappointing and his Judgement Day clash with Undertaker was pointless. But Hogan still has the appeal with the fans and can still work good matches with the right opponents. Plus he's willing to put over younger talent like The Rock, Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar.

Hogan had a brief and pointless tag title run with Edge, and was last seen in a WWE ring in August, putting over Brock Lesnar. Apparently, after that he had a contractual dispute with Vince, and then he rubbed the WWE up the wrong way with his autobiography. But with rumours rampant of a 2003 return, you'd be a fool to count a Hogan return out just yet.

Heel Of The Year: Eric Bischoff

As the former owner of WCW, he's despised by the pro-WWE fans and plays off his heel heat well. He doesn't even have to say or do anything. Just stand there with that smug grin. I can't wait for the Vince McMahon VS Eric Bischoff feud part 2.

Character Of The Year: Kurt Angle

Like last year (and the year before) Angle has been hilarious this year. Highlights include "I just got beaten by a freakin' 12 year old!" (on his loss to Rey Mysterio), "Sorry son, you have to be this tall to touch Kurt Angle" (another joke at Rey's expense) and "I was winning NCAA titles when you were playing Hungry freakin' Hippos, buster!" (to Brock Lesnar).

Female Wrestler Of The Year: Molly Holly

The "Mighty Molly" gimmick was getting her nowhere, so a change of character was needed. Molly developed into a RTC (Right To Censor) like figure who was disgusted with the other WWE women (especially Trish). She died her hair and changed her colours to plain black and white. She also had some good matches with Trish, but the feud got well past it's sell-by-date. The same goes for the big butt jokes at Molly's expense.

Molly is probably the best women grappler there, but after speaking out against the company's "HLA" publicity stunt in September, Molly was forced to drop her Women's title to Trish, and didn't get on PPV (and rarely got on Raw) for the rest of the year. While Trish and Victoria were impressing with their feud, Molly was left floundering. With the WWE intent on pushing one women's feud at a time, it's questionable whether Molly will have a bigger and better 2003.

Diva Of The Year: Trish Stratus

Trish is the hottest of the divas in my opinion and her risks in the ring certainly haven't damaged her looks. Trish has greatly improved her ring work this year. Many thought her match with Jazz at Royal Rumble wouldn't be much good, but they were proved wrong. Trish hasn't been afraid of dangerous bumps this year either (or pointless mud matches). After recovering from her eye problems after the mud match, Trish needed a fresh feud, and got it with Victoria. Intent on doing her best to get the feud over, Trish took a vicious chair-shot to the head from Victoria, and even mixed it up in a entertaining Hardcore Match. While their matches haven't been consistently great, the feud has been entertaining and has shown just how far Trish (and the women's division) has come in the last year.

Match Of The Year: The Rock VS Hollywood Hulk Hogan (Wrestlemania)

True, HHH VS HBK (Summerslam) was one hell of a match but did you really think you would ever see The Rock tangle with Hulk Hogan? True, it wasn't the greatest pure wrestling match of all time, but for emotion and entertainment value, hell just the sight of seeing them square off in the ring, it won't be beaten.

Worst Match Of The Year: Trish Stratus and Bradshaw VS Jackie Gayda and Chris Nowinski (Raw, July 8)

Poor Jackie Gayda managed to screw up every move possible (she missed Trish in the ropes, and didn't take a top-rope bulldog properly). It was so bad that the crowd booed the women and both girls were in tears after the match (as were the fans). In fairness to Jackie, she was inexperienced and had rarely performed on a live show before. I question the WWE's decision to put her out there so soon.

Most Shocking Moment Of The Year: Eric Bishoff's appearance on Raw (July)

It's a moment every wrestling fan thought they'd never see. True, that has been said of The Rock VS Hogan at Wrestlemania, but this moment was even MORE shocking. After competing with Vince Mcmahon during the "Monday Night Wars" and nearly putting the WWF out of business at one point, Eric Bischoff walked past Booker T on Raw!

I kept thinking that that didn't actually happen, but when Vince Mcmahon introduced "Easy E" as the new GM of Raw, I knew that it was indeed true: Eric Bishoff had joined the WWE! Infact, 5 months on, and I'm still a little shell-shocked. Never say never!

Most Offensive Storyline Of The Year: Triple H/Kane/Katie Vick

This year has been exceptionally bad for scraping the barrel of poor taste in a quest for ratings, but as far as sickening and low storylines go, this one took the biscuit. It started with Triple H accusing Kane of being a murderer (apparently, he murdered a girl called Katie Vick after a party, despite the fact that he was meant to be a burned recluse who didn't go to parties and pick up women). As fans worlwide groaned in unison, the WWE took it further and had Triple H insinuate that Kane had raped the girl after killing her.

As if this wasn't bad enough, the WWE then ran a disgusting angle where HHH went into a (knowing WWE, a real) Funeral home dressed as Kane and proceeded to you-know-what a dummy dressed up to look like the body of the dead girl. Thanks to Sky Sports' editing of the segment, UK fans were spared the site of HHH undressing the "corpse" and throwing "her brains" at the camera lens. The feud came to end with a Casket Match between Kane and HHH on Raw. This ill-judged publicity stunt only succeeded in even more people switching off WWE programming, making fools of Vince McMahon and Kevin Dunn, and by the looks of thing at the moment, wrecking the career of Kane.

Card Of The Year: Royal Rumble

The WWE produced 3 very strong cards in 2002: Royal Rumble, Summerslam and Survivor Series. Out of all 3, I enjoyed RR the most. There wasn't one bad match on the show and the Edge/William Regal, Vince McMahon/Ric Flair and Trish Stratus/Jazz matches exceeded expectations. And despite the predictability of HHH winning the Royal Rumble, the rumble itself was very exciting and action-packed.

Previously posted on Smash Wrestling:

http://www.firetank.com/smashwrestling/

Best Of 1997: By Matthew Evans (13/07/2003)

2011-03-19T13:53:00.000-07:00

Wrestler Of The Year: Bret "Hitman" Hart

In his final year in the WWF, "The Hitman" had an entertaining feud with Steve Austin, which featured a memorable (but overrated, IMO) "I Quit" blood bath at Wrestlemania 13, where Bret officially turned heel by pounding the bloodied "Rattlesnake" after the bell (Austin, meanwhile, officially won over the fans by refusing to submit and "passing out" due to the pain of The Sharpshooter).

Turning his back on the fans, Bret was a hated man in America, but in Canada, he could do no wrong. This provided the backdrop for a truly surreal and amazing 10-Man Tag-Team Match at In Your House: Canadian Stampede in July, where The Hart Foundation (Bret, Owen Hart, The British Bulldog, Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart and Brian "Loose Cannon" Pillman) were the heroes, and Team USA (Steve Austin, The Legion Of Doom, Ken Shamrock and Goldust) were the despised heels. The Harts prevailed over Austin and co in one of the most compelling wrestling matches of all time.

After beating The Undertaker at Summerslam to raise his final WWF World Title (due to an "inadvertent" chair-shot from Special Guest Referee, Shawn Michaels), Bret dropped the belt to Michaels at Survivor Series in a decent, brawling-based main event (you all know how it finished).

Leaving the WWF on bad terms, Bret arrived in WCW at Starrcade in December. Calling for the bell in the money-spinning Sting/Hollywood Hogan main event, Hart's WCW career got off to a promising start, but soon faltered due to inept booking. Unfortunately, he was wasted for most of his 3-year career with WCW. But the ultra-reliable "Hitman" still gets this award for being "The Best There Was" in 1997.

Babyface Of The Year: Stone Cold Steve Austin

Despite literally sticking his middle finger (sometimes two fingers) up to authority and engaging in unprovoked attacks on whomever the hell he wanted, the fans just couldn't hate Steve Austin. Even as early as 1996, cheers could be heard for "The Rattlesnake".

By 1997, these cheers had grown louder and were more obvious. At Wrestlemania 13, the WWF pulled off an incredible "double turn", turning Austin babyface and Bret Hart heel. Austin juiced a major gusher in his "I Quit" match with "The Hitman", and lost the match via stoppage when Guest ref. Ken Shamrock called for the bell.

The fans respected Austin's guts, but they didn't respect Bret's actions after the match. Bret pummelled Austin, signifying his heel turn to the fans (who had cheered on Austin for months while he attacked "The Hitman"). Although Austin suffered a devastating neck injury at Summerslam 97', his popularity remained as strong as ever, before exploding in 1998.

Heel Of The Year: Hollywood Hogan

Nobody thought it would ever come to pass, but Hulk Hogan actually developed into on of the most hated men in wrestling! 1997 was no exception. The NWO VS WCW story line was still compelling Television, especially with Sting thrown into the mix as WCW's eventual knight in shining armour. Hogan's feud with Sting did big business, and made sure that Hollywood truly remained a despised character.

Gimmick Of The Year: Sting ("Crow" Persona)

With the anti-authority NWO running the show, Sting's dated "surfer" character just didn't fit in with WCW's new direction. So in a truly spectacular metamorphism, Sting developed into a sinister and silent "Crow"-like figure and remained out of in-ring competition for a year.

The wheels were put into motion at Fall Brawl in September 96', where Sting helped put his WCW team mates in a War Games Match against The NWO, but then walked out on them and then told WCW and its fans to "Stick It" the following night on Nitro (Sting was tired of being accused of attacking Lex Luger and other WCW wrestlers, who were really being jumped by a bogus NWO Sting). At Starrcade, Sting unveiled his new look: Black and white face paint jet-black hair, a leather jacket and a baseball bat in hand.

The Sting/WCW/NWO saga was truly something to behold in 1997. Nobody knew whose side Sting was on, as he would randomly attack both WCW and NWO wrestlers. Climbing up through the ring, emerging from the crowd or flying down from the rafters, Sting could pop up anywhere at anytime.

Eventually, Sting defended the honour of WCW and battled Hollywood Hogan at Starrcade 97', bringing the WCW World Title "back home". Starrcade also achieved the biggest buy-rate of all time for WCW, which shows just how popular Sting's new persona was.

Match Of The Year: The Undertaker VS Shawn Michaels (Hell In A Cell Match: In Your House, Badd Blood)

The first ever Hell In A Cell Match remains the best one to date. "The Taker'" and HBK truly put on a spectacle that no wrestling fan had witnessed before. Michaels bumped like crazy and bled buckets for the cause. The awe-inspiring blood-fest was capped off brilliantly by the debut of The Undertaker's brother Kane, who tore the Cell door off its hinges and Tombstoned his sibling, allowing a battered and bloodied Michaels to make the cover and get the victory.

Feud Of The Year: WCW VS The NWO

On the back of the gripping Sting scenario, the WCW/NWO feud was still the hottest thing going in 1997. The booking and the execution of the whole thing was a thing of beauty, and kept WCW at the top, for another year, at least.

Card Of The Year: WWF: In Your House: Canadian Stampede (July 1997)

Kicking off with an entertaining brawl between Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Mankind (which continued into the crowd and in the parking lot for nearly the entire show), continuing with a truly amazing high-flying display from Taka Michinoku and The Great Sasuke, and a suprisingly enjoyable WWF Title Match between The Undertaker and Vader, Canadian Stampede came to a close with a truly breathtaking 10-Man Tag between The Hart Foundation and Steve Austin, LOD, Ken Shamrock and Goldust. Wrestling PPVs don't get much better than this.

Worst Card Of The Year: ECW: Crossing The Line Again (February 1997)

Some may disagree, but I'm afraid that "Team Extreme" crossed the line here, with regards to how bad a wrestling event can be. I believe this was a video-only event, but I'm still not letting them off the hook. Apart from the efforts of Rob Van Dam, Sabu and a few select others, there was little to enjoy on this card, which is a big shame as ECW almost always delivered the goods on PPV or on big shows like this.

Promotion Of The Year: WCW (World Championship Wrestling)

Although the WWF produced a superb rivalry between Bret Hart and Steve Austin (aswell as an ingenious America VS Canada storyline), WCW were still beating the pants off Vince and company by keeping wrestling fans on the edge of their seats with their Sting/WCW/NWO story telling. Indeed, an impressive year for the Atlanta boys. Shame the success story didn’t last.

Previously posted on Smash Wrestling:

http://www.firetank.com/smashwrestling/

Best Of 1994: By Matthew Evans (02/11/2002)

2011-03-19T13:48:00.000-07:00

1994 was a year that had good points and bad points. Good points: Hulk Hogan returning to the ring and joining WCW, the breath-taking Ladder Match at Wrestlemania 10. Bad points: King Of The Ring 94' and Survivor Series 94', two poor PPV offerings. Anyway, let's get to the awards:

Wrestler Of The Year: Bret Hart

Another superb year for Bret Hart. His feud with Owen Hart was the highlight of the year. Their exciting match at Wrestlemania would have stole the show if it wasn't for the efforts of Razor Ramon and Shawn Michaels later on in the evening in the Ladder Match. However, Bret and Owen really did steal the show at Summerslam in a long and engrossing Cage Match.

Babyface Of The Year: Bret Hart

Again, he remained a draw with the fans and his ring-worke more than backed him up.

Heel Of The Year: Owen Hart

The seeds had been planted at Survivor Series, but Bret and Owen made up and fought The Quebeccers at Royal Rumble. However, Bret's knee injury caused Owen to flip and turn on his brother. Now there was no going back. They fought at Wrestlemania 10, with Owen getting the surprise victory. Owen crowed about the win, but not as much as when he won the King Of The Ring in June! Owen was the highlight of a poor show, winning the tournament and dubbing himself "The King Of Harts". Unfortunately, following a string of losses to Bret, Owen moved back down to the mid-card.

Gimmick Of The Year: The Undertaker

The Undertaker's "death" and "ascension" at Royal Rumble was truly a surreal and memorable moment that kept the character strong. His return at Summerslam to fend of his "double" was also well handled. Despite being absent for 7 months of the year, The Undertaker still made a big impact in 1994.

Match Of The Year: Razor Ramon VS Shawn Michaels (IC Title Ladder Match, Wrestlemania 10)

After Bret and Owen Hart opened the show with an excellent wrestling match, many thought that they had witnessed the match of the night or even the match of the year. But with the aid of a ladder, Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon managed to top this and steal the match of the night AND the match of the year honours. With two IC belts suspended above the ring (one was the one that Shawn walked out with, during his "difficult" period), the two wrestlers used the ladder to their advantage and left the crowd with their jaws on the floor. The finish (where Michaels got his leg and then his arm tied up in the ropes) was also well done.

Feud Of The Year: Bret Hart VS Owen Hart

Owen was finally given the chance to show the world what he was really made of with his entertaining feud with his brother Bret. Owen claimed he was living in Bret's shadow and that he never got any of the attention. He and Bret put together some breath-taking matches and overall the feud was very enjoyable.

Angle Of The Year: The Undertaker's "Death and Acension" (Royal Rumble, January 1994)

A ridiculous, yet enjoyable angle. After Yokozuna and several heels had locked The Undertaker in a casket (during the Casket Match pitting Undertaker against Yokozuna), the lights went out and The Undertaker appeared on the screen, apparently inside the casket. He claimed he would "never rest in peace" and then his "spirit" ascended into the darkness. It got over well with the fans, and led to an Undertaker VS Undertaker match at Summerslam.

Tag-Team Of The Year: The Headshrinkers

A decent combo who had good matches throughout the year. Unfortunately, they dropped the tag titles to Diesel and Shawn Michaels the night before Summerslam, which deemed their match with Bam Bam Bigelow and IRS pretty worthless. And by the end of the year, they had split altogether (Barbarian replaced Samu under his new name, Sika, but the team flopped and soon disbanded).

Card Of The Year: Wrestlemania 10

A superb card, apart from a worthless dud between Earthquake and Adam Bomb, Wrestlemania 10 delivered entertainment all the way, especially in the opening match and the Ladder Match. Another great outing was the Falls Count Anyway Match between Randy Savage and Crush. That one had a really creative finish.

Worst Wrestler Of The Year: Rowdy Roddy Piper

I believe he only wrestled once (at King Of The Ring), but for many people that was enough. His match with Jerry Lawler was dire and had lame storyline build-up. The sad part is, Piper was past it in 94' and he was still wrestling up to 1999 in WCW.

Worst Card Of The Year: King Of The Ring (June 1994)

Vince McMahon needed neck surgery, so a commentary role for him at KOTR was out of the question. Instead, Vince brought in Art Donavon from the NFL. It was a big mistake. Art didn't know the first thing about wrestling and was awful. He made comments like, "This is great acting" and "Who's the guy with the american flag?" (after Gorilla Monsoon had said the name "Lex Luger" over and over). The in-ring action was nothing special, either. Apart from the WWF title match, and Owen Hart's KOTR matches and acceptance speech, the show was a huge let-down. Incidentally, it was a double kick-in-the-teeth for the WWF as WCW's Bash At The Beach (featuring Hulk Hogan VS Ric Flair) got more buy-rates.

Commentator Of The Year: Jerry "The King" Lawler

Bobby Heenan left the WWF for WCW, which meant that the days of comic one-liners were over for many fans (WCW Worldwide was on ITV, but Heenan didn't commentate on the show, and later in the year ITV axed it altogether). His replacement, Jerry Lawler wasn't quite as good, but he still played the role well and had a few funny remarks throughout the year.

Promotion Of The Year: WWF (World Wrestling Federation)

Overall, a great year for the WWF. Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania and Summerslam were all very good shows. WCW was picking up steam, especially with the aquisition of Hulk Hogan. But on the whole, the WWF were the better company.

Coming soon: The year Eric Bischoff became the laughing stock of the wrestling business by announcing that he would go head-to-head with the WWF on Monday Nights, and the year Vince McMahon blasted the ECW style, despite the fact that his WWF was becoming dated and sometimes uninteresting. 1995, an historical year in wrestling history.

Previously posted on Smash Wrestling:

http://www.firetank.com/smashwrestling/

Best Of 1992: By Matthew Evans (26/10/2002)

2011-03-19T13:44:00.000-07:00

Wrestler Of The Year: Bret "Hitman" Hart

Took some time off at the start of the year, but returned and beat Roddy Piper in a thrilling IC Title match at Wrestlemania 8. With The British Bulldog, knocked up the match of the night (and match of the year) at Summerslam, and beat Ric Flair for the WWF title later in the year. Truly the "Excellance Of Execution".

Babyface Of The Year: Macho Man Randy Savage

I can't give this to Hogan because he was gone after Wrestlemania 8 and didn't return for the rest of the year. The Ultimate Warrior didn't stick around long either. But Savage did, and had some fine matches in the process. After finishing his feud with Jake Roberts, Savage caught the attention of Ric Flair, who claimed that Elizabeth had been with him first. This led to a superb clash at Wrestlemania 8, where Savage won the WWF title, and the rivalry continued at Summerslam, where Savage fought The Ultimate Warrior in another great match.

Heel Of The Year: Ric Flair

Coming from WCW, and claiming to be "The Real World's Champion", Ric Flair was easy to hate. He also had Mr Perfect in his corner and he enjoyed playing with Randy Savage's personal life. Fans couldn't believe what they were seeing when Flair lasted 60 minutes in the Royal Rumble in January, and won the vacant WWF title in the process. 1992 was a prime year for Ric Flair the heel.

Gimmick Of The Year: The Undertaker

Another fine year for The Taker'. After preventing a Jake Roberts-steel-chair-attack on Macho Man and Elizabeth, The Undertaker was turned face and soon began feuding with his former ally, "The Snake". He took a steel-chair beating from him on an edition of The Funeral Parlour, but got his revenge at Wrsetlemania 8.

At Summerslam, he fought Kamala in a decent encounter and at Survivor Series he "put him to rest" in the first ever Coffin (later Casket) Match. True, The Taker's matches were hardly "Match Of The Year2 contenders, but as with 1991 it was the character that was most important. Few will forget his macabre entrance at Summerslam 92'.

Tag-Team Of The Year: The Legion Of Doom

A great year for Hawk and Animal. Their match with The Natural Disasters at Royal Rumble was rather good (despite the cheap count-out finish). Oddly left off the Wrestlemania card, they fought and beat Money Inc in a fine bout at Summerslam. Unfortunately, I believe they parted ways with the company later in the year (as they were not at Survivor Series and had definately left by 1993), but there's no denying their success and popularity in 1992.

Match Of The Year: Bret "Hitman" Hart VS The British Bulldog (Summerslam 92')

Wrapping up a superb wrestling show, the two brother-in-laws put on a great wrestling matches that had all the makings of a classic. the Bulldog was naturally the favourite with his home-country crowd at Wembley Stadium while Bret Hart was receving the jeers. The Bulldog escaped from The Sharp-shooter and "The Hitman" kicked out of The Running Powerslam.

The finish (where The Bulldog countered a sunset-flip into a pin) was superb and having Bret's sister and Bulldog's wife in the crowd was a good touch that added emotion to the match. Bulldog won the match and the IC belt, but soon left the WWF on bad terms (he returned in 1994).

Feud Of The Year: Randy Savage VS Ric Flair

Again, Savage had the best feud of 1992 IMO. By involving his wife Elizabeth, the WWF ensured that it was very emotional and Flair's un-sanctioned blade-job at WM 8 added to the drama. Unfortunately, the feud might have worked TOO well, as Elizabeth left the company after WM 8 and got a divorce from Savage.

Angle Of The Year: Naliz Jumping The Big Bossman on WWF TV

This storyline was so OTT that it was actually quite funny. Naliz, an "ex-convict from The Big Bossman's Jail" came into the WWF looking for revenge. At a WWF tv taping, he jumped out of the crowd and beat Bossman with his night-stick while he was hand-cuffed to the ring ropes. Bossman took a few months off to sell his "injuries" and the feud climaxed with a Night-Stick On A Pole Match at Survivor Series.

Card Of The Year: Summerslam 92' (August 1992, Wembley Stadium)

While business was less healthy than usual in the US (largely due to the tasteless Gulf War storyline), Vince did BIG business over in the UK, especially at Summerslam. Held at Wembley Stadium, in front of around 80,000 fans, the card turned out to be the best of the year, even better than Wrestlemania. There wasn't a bad match on the show, and the the top-liners really delivered the goods. Plus, the show had a special feel about it as it was the first US PPV to be broadcasted live from Great Britain.

Most Abysmal Match Of The Year: Owen Hart VS Skinner (Wrestlemania 8)

I mean no disrespect to the late, great Owen Hart by this, but this match was awful. I don't blame Owen or even Skinner for a ridiculously short insult of a match. The blame should be put on the bookers who arranged for the match to last that long. Speaking of poor matches, I didn't choose one for 1991 because I couldn't. WrestleMania 7 was loaded with so many stinkers that I just couldn't narrow it down to one.

Promotion Of The Year: WWF

Another fine year for Vince and co. A memorable Royal Rumble, a superb Wrestlemania and a scorching Summerslam.

Coming soon- Monday Night Raw debued on the USA Network, Marty Janetty returned to get revenge on Shawn Michaels, Lex Luger joined the WWF, Crush did some clowning around, and British Bulldog showed up in WCW. The year? 1993, of course.

Previously posted on Smashwrestling:

http://www.firetank.com/smashwrestling/

Best Of 1991: by Matthew Evans (25/10/2002)

2011-03-19T13:40:00.000-07:00

Wrestler Of The Year: Hulk Hogan

1991 was a memorable year for The Hulkster. He won the Royal Rumble in January, beat Sgt Slaughter for the WWF belt at Wrestlemania 7 (I agree that the Gulf War storyline was tasteless, but more on that later), and torwards the end of the year he began feuding with Ric Flair and dropped the belt to (and regained it from) The Undertaker.

Babyface Of The Year: Hulk Hogan

No-one knows how to work a crowd like Hogan, and 1991 was no exception. Fans couldn't believe their eyes when they saw The Undertaker take Hogan's WWF title from him at Survivor Series. But they knew he would get it back and blew another arena roof off when he did.

Heel Of The Year: Jake "The Snake" Roberts

In 1991, Roberts was "blinded" Rick Martel's arrogance spray and truly had the fans on his side. But he tricked The Ultimate Warrior into a trap, ruined Randy Savage's and Elizabeth's wedding and let his cobra loose on Savage in a dangerous and memorable angle on WWF tv. Always a great character, Jake was at his most despicable in 1991.

Gimmick Of The Year: The Undertaker

As Mean Mark Callous in WCW (part of The Skyscrapers tag-team), big things didn't seem to be on the cards for Mark Callaway. But when the WWE got hold of him, they turned him into one of the most compelling characters in wrestling history. Billed as The Undertaker, Callaway debued at the 1990 Survivor Series, but 1991 was a year of greater impact.

He had a decent showing in the Royal Rumble (where he was managed by Brother Love- Paul Bearer became his manager soon after), he destroyed Jimmy Snuka at Wrestlemania 7, he locked The Ultimate Warrior in an "air-tight" coffin, he aided Jake Roberts in destroying Randy and Liz's wedding, and he beat Hulk Hogan for the WWF title (only to lose it 2 week's later). His Survivor Series showdown with Hogan was a dull encounter, but it didn't really matter. The Undertaker more about the character more than anything else.

Tag-Team Of The Year: The Rockers

This exciting high-flying duo were the most entertaining duo of 1991 IMO. They had fine matches at Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania and also had a good showing at Survivor Series (despite this, they never had an official tag-title reign). Speaking of Survivor Series, this was the show where the seeds were planted for a huge split between Shawn Michaels and Marty Janetty. Michaels (the better performer of the two) left Janetty high and dry in the match after Janetty accidantally knocked Shawn in the mouth. The team officially split in January 92', and Janetty's career fell apart soon after.

Feud Of The Year: Randy Savage VS Jake Roberts

Shocking and compelling, this was the hottest feud of 1991. Randy was "retired" after his loss to The Ultimate Warrior at Wrestlemania 7, but was "re-instated" after The Snake made his life a living hell. Savage got revenge at This Tuesday In Texas, but it was the build-up rather than the pay-off that was most interesting.

Angle Of The Year: Savage Snake Attack! (November 1991)

The Savage/Roberts feud got WAY over with the fans when Jake actually let his snake loose on Savage on WWF tv! Fans gasped in horror as the snake (which was not poisonous) chomped on Savage's arm, making him draw blood. This shocking (and dangerous) angle was the perfect way to set up a revenge match between Savage and "The Snake" at Tuesday In Texas.

Most Offensive Storyline Of The Year: Hogan/Slaughter Gulf War Feud

The WWF went WAY over the line with this storyline in 1991 (it began in 1990). Fans were disgusted with Slaughter's pro-Iraqui speeches and his burning of the American flag when they knew very well that people were risking (and losing) their lives fighting in the Gulf War. This storyline was so dangerous that the venue of Wrestlemania 7 had to be changed (in case of attacks) and Slaughter and General Adnan had to wear bullet-proof vests in public. The war ended before WM 7, but the WWE shamelessly acted like it hadn't so they could keep the storyline going.

Card Of The Year: SummerSlam

A fine card of action, with the highligts including Bret Hart's IC title win over Mr Perfect and "The Snake"s" gate-crashing of the first ever wrestling wedding.

Worst Card Of The Year: Wrestlemania 7

A truly awful show, loaded with meaningless and short matches. The highlight of the show was The Ultimate Warrior's compelling Retirement Match with Randy Savage.

Promotion Of The Year: WWF/WWE

I haven't seen much WCW from 1991, but I've seen enough to know that the WWE knocked the proverbial trousers off it in that year. WWE was by far the greatest show in town.

Coming Soon: The year Undertaker turned face, Hulk Hogan took a break, and Bret Hart became Vince's no 1 guy. Yes, we're talking 1992, one of the greatest years in wrestling history.

Previously posted on Smash Wrestling:

http://www.firetank.com/smashwrestling/

(Late) TNA Hardcore Justice Review: By Matthew Evans (19/09/10)

2011-03-19T13:31:00.000-07:00

*First of all, apologies for the lateness of this review. It should have been done weeks ago but was put back due to issues of time and other priorities. Also, following the sudden and tragic deaths of Lance Cade and Luna Vachon, I thought it was more appropriate to dedicate column space to them first and pay tribute to their respective careers.

ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling) is a promotion or company that will never be forgotten. It’s legacy is so strong that to this day, people are still talking about it and recalling their fond memories of the “little promotion that could” nearly a decade after its demise.

I’m not writing this to give you all an ECW history lesson. It’s common knowledge amongst even the most casual of wrestling fans that Paul Heyman’s Extreme Championship Wrestling revolutionised the business, mostly for the better (I say “mostly” because as useful as ECW was in giving the business the proverbial “kick up the backside”, it also gave the impression to fans that wrestlers were seemingly “invincible”; apparently being able to fully recover from brain-rattling chair shots, excessive blood loss, crazy stunts and insane “crash and burn” plunges through hard wooden tables. This was the direction the business would later go in, but ultimately, the “vicious cycle” led to injuries and in some cases, personal problems as the performers’ bodies eventually began to break down. (In the wake of the study linking hard shots to the head with dangerous concussion problems and following the infamous Benoit tragedy, WWE has wisely eliminated chair shots that may cause head trauma and has also issued a company-wide ban on “blading” (a wrestler cutting themselves or an opponent with a razor-blade to draw real blood and add drama to a match. While this has admittedly led to a safer WWE, in the eyes of many fans and critics, it its now a more “boring” WWE (however how much of this is down to the lack of blood and “anarchy” is open to debate, as the company coped very well without blood, strong violence and all the other “PG 13” trimmings during the late 1980’s and early 1990’s period; the main problem WWE has is developing new characters and telling good stories, two simple premises that wrestling has always been built on, regardless of the era).

We all know the ECW story: It was Paul Heyman (who wanted to buck tradition and stick it to the “high and mighty” politically-correct “suits” at his old employer WCW (World Championship Wrestling) by doing everything they didn’t allow him to do while he was under their umbrella) who was the brains behind the operation (although Tod Gordan [who was there in the early days and collaborated with Heyman] deserves credit as well). He had his concepts stolen and his talents “raided” by the “big two”, but he soldiered on; creating new stars along the way and continuing to keep the dream alive.

In 2001, the dream died. Heyman went to work for the WWF as an announcer, while many of the old ECW favourites hit the independent scene, perhaps knowing inside that as far as their wrestling career was concerned, ECW would always be the “zenith.”

Fast-forward to 2010: TNA and Dixie Carter were eager to pay respect to the fallen “Hardcore” outfit after their legacy had been sullied by WWE (who bought the rights to the ECW name and video library in 2003) following a woeful “revival” in 2006 (it was made further depressing by the fact that the first tribute shows [the first of which was only supposed to have been a one-off]; ECW: One Night Stand # 1 (2005) and ECW: One Night Stand # 2 (2006) had both been tremendous; a true way of paying respect to ECW whilst leaving the legacy on a high).

To give the show authenticity, Dixie had given full creative control to Tommy Dreamer (who had become so disillusioned with WWE’s watered-down, inferior version of ECW that he quit the company in 2009), who set about “gathering the troops” for a reunion show on August 8, 2010.
Of course, we all know that TNA had been hoping for Paul Heyman himself to join the company; using the “ECW” gig as bait (in a manner of speaking) to lure him in and reportedly place him on the creative team. But Heyman didn’t bite and to date, still hasn’t.

Admittedly, it was hard to remain optimistic about an ECW reunion show that didn’t have Heyman on the bill. Not just that, but there were further problems: The “voice” of ECW Joey Styles also wouldn’t be there (he now works for WWE.Com) and the actual “ECW” initials would also be absent. TNA would also have to be careful when it came to talking about the company’s history, describing favourite feuds and even calling matches (overall, it would be a legal minefield).

On the other hand, you had to respect TNA for attempting to make use of a company (and a fan base) that WWE had merely discarded and dismissed as being a “cult following” in a bingo hall. Sure, the critics were quick to piss on this attempt to respect the past and possibly build an new audience for their own product, but why didn’t they save their tongues and actually watch the show first before passing judgement?

Despite being held in the “IMPACT Zone” in Orlando, Florida, TNA Hardcore Justice certainly stood out as a different show from the get-go. In the ring was veteran ECW ring announcer Steven D’Angelo, who kicked things off by introducing the “Human-Suplex Machine” Taz.

Taz got a little irate with some of the fans who talked over him and basically told all the doubters and critics who “never got it” and “never will get it” to “Kiss My Ass!” Oh well, that sure told them (were you listening, Vince?).

The opening match was a 6-man tag pitting the FBI against Simon Diamond, Johnny Swinger & Kid Kash. The FBI consisted of Tracey Smothers, Little Maritano (WWE owns the “Little Guido” and “Nunzio” monikers), Tony Luke (again, another court-case-avoiding name change) and Big Sal (who had dropped a lot of a weight, pity some of it seemed to have transferred to Diamond and Smothers).

This was okay for an opening match. It was mostly played for laughs (there was a “dance off” in the middle, although it didn’t have nowhere near the same impact it would have had in ECW back in the day). Kid Kash sped things up with an awesome suicide-dive splash to the floor, while Tony Luke took a quite frankly reckless power-bomb into the bottom turnbuckle.

In the end, The FBI got the win after Maritano hit the “Unprettier” on Diamond. Unfortunately, what stood out most for me here was how old and out of shape Smothers and Diamond looked (I mean no disrespect and I understand that they both didn’t have much ring-time before the show as they haven’t wrestled full-time in years). However, the match still worked, but more for nostalgic purposes and the “feel-good” factor (I.e. the comedy) rather than the actual quality of the wrestling.

Also looking older and less nimble in the ring was Too Cold Scorpio (his opponent for the night, CW Anderson, also looked a little rusty, again that’s down to not having much time to prepare and being a part-time performer). However, despite a few slip-ups, Scorpio DID manage to hit the “Tumbleweed” on Anderson for the win and generally didn’t really do himself or his fans a great disservice here. (Unfortunately, the two men had little chemistry and the action [for all their efforts] was fair at best).

Stevie Richards then beat PJ Polaco (Justin Credible) in a short, throw-away match. The fans chanted “Justin Credible” despite the law-abiding name change. Richards’ “BWO” team mates Nova and “Blue Tillie” (a fake “Blue Meanie”; the original had prior commitments but did appear in a pre-taped video) interfered on his behalf and the former “Dr” soon got the win with a “Stevie Kick”.

In the post-match, Polaco attacked Richards with a Singapore Cane. Then the lights went out. When they came back on, The Sandman was standing behind Polaco with a Singapore Cane of his own. After a cane-assisted Russian Leg-Sweep and a brutal cane shot of his own, Sandman’s work for the night was done.

Up next was a Three-Way Dance (fought under elimination rules) pitting Rhino against Little Runt (Spike Dudley) and Al Snow (with Head). This was the best match on the show thus far, but it was hampered by a short match time and some misplaced comedy (the old “Eddie Guerrero” chair routine, which is always funny, but here felt inappropriate was many fans were no doubt expecting a no-nonsense war).

At one point, Rhino hinted at throwing Runt into the crowd for a “surf”, but thankfully simply power-slammed the under-dog onto the stage instead (that’s one spot that would only work with the original ECW crowd). Little Runt eliminated Snow with the “Dudley Dog” (although it wasn’t called that by Mike Tenay and Taz, for the aforementioned legal reasons) but then got “Gored” to hell by Rhino straight after. Your winner: Rhino.

Following an “old-school” (and typically smutty) pre-match introduction from Joel Gertner, it was time for another throw-back to the old ECW “bingo hall” days; the arena -wide brawl.

The participants were Team 3D (Brother Ray & Brother Devon) and the “Chair-Swinging Freaks” Axl Rotten & Kahoneys (Balls Mahoney; another victim of WWE purchasing all the legal rights to the ECW brand and character names). TNA wisely gave the viewers at home a split-screen so they could follow the action, but even with this added option, the match felt disjointed and mediocre.

It was certainly violent and bloody but there was little psychology to it and the only guy who seemed like he could “keep up” was Axl. On the plus side, I did enjoy the hockey “light-sabre” moment, although like the three-way dance earlier on, the comedy felt misplaced here.

Of course, the finish saw Kahoneys get power-bombed through a flaming table; an unnecessary risky and dangerous spot that I’ve never been a fan of (not even back in the days of the original ECW).

As 3D celebrated, out came The Gangstas (New Jack and Mustafa). They did the old “weapons” routine with 3D, before calling a “truce” and raising each other’s arms; also being joined by Kahoneys and Axl. Again, this moment felt misplaced, although the fans in the arena seemed to appreciate it.

It was now up to Raven and Tommy Dreamer to pick things up again, but unfortunately, they weren’t up to the task. In fairness, they tried hard out there but overall they’re “final showdown” felt desperate and lacked crowd heat .

For me, there was little psychology between the anarchy and so I couldn’t indulge myself into the story. Both men bled buckets but the plasma loss added little drama to proceedings; it just made the whole thing look desperate.

What’s more, Mick Foley (serving as the Special Referee) was left looking like a spare part for most of the match, only getting involved later on, mainly to apply a barbed-wire-assisted “Socko Claw” to Raven’s former lackey from the early ECW days whom no-one can remember.

In what has caused great debate and controversy among fans, Dreamer also sat his wife (Teresa, who had to be referred to by her real name as WWE also owns her “Beulah McGillicutty” character) and his two young daughters at ringside to play a part in his “underdog” quest against Raven. It reminded me of “Beyond The Mat”, where we see Mick Foley take a vicious series of chair-shots from The Rock at Royal Rumble 99’, much to the distress of his wife and children at ringside.

Now granted, Dreamer’s kids were quickly moved away from the blood-shed (and weren‘t bawling their eyes out like Foley‘s kids were), however I’m shocked that Dreamer would even fathom involving children so young in such a brutal and bloody match like this (I’m also shocked that TNA President Dixie Carter would sit there ringside next to Tommy’s family and allow it).

For me, this was disturbing to watch, as was Dreamer’s brain-rattling chair shots (whilst hand-cuffed, no less) courtesy of Raven.

In the end, Raven won after giving Tommy an “Even-Flow” DDT on a steel chair, after Teresa pleaded for Raven to have mercy on her husband.

The final match of the night saw Rob Van Dam battle his former tag-team partner/ opponent Sabu (who was filling in for an injured Jerry Lynn). This was the best match of the night, although it wasn’t the best match in the RVD/ Sabu series and at times, felt like a collection of signature hardcore spots with little flow. (On the plus side, both men were in great shape, even Sabu who’d been out of the ring a while and definitely looked older in the face, but moved around the place with relative ease, looking like he hadn’t really missed a step since his original ECW career).

There were the classic ringside thrills and spills, the chair and table-assisted offence and athleticism and workmanship that we’ve come to expect from RVD and Sabu over the years.

But in the end, only one could prevail: It was Van Dam, courtesy of a “Five-Star Frog Splash.”

At the end of the show, the ECW wrestlers (and TNA-contracted ECW wrestlers) celebrated in the ring with TNA President Dixie Carter. This was a nice touch, but sadly, for me, the show has been a mixed bag at best and was nothing like an original ECW show from back in the day or even the “one-off” specials promoted by WWE in 2005 and 2006, respectively.

For the most part, the non-TNA-contracted wrestlers looked out of shape and out of their depth plus the product overall looked out-dated. For all the crowing from Taz and Mike Tenay, saying that ECW was more than just “blood and tables”, with “hardcore” meaning working hard and delivering in the ring, there was little here to suggest otherwise to the naysayer or the “non-fan.” There was no lucha-libre or truly great “straight” wrestling to counteract the generally average action that was served up. What’s more, after TNA had finished making all the law-abiding name changes (and talked about guys who had no interest in taking part in the show or were contractually unable to), the whole thing seemed second-rate.

Please bear in mind that I’m not here bashing the show for the sake of it. I respect what Tommy Dreamer, Dixie Carter and everyone else involved tried to do. I also enjoyed some of the matches and moments for nostalgic purposes and feel that it was something that was worth taking a chance on. However, it came up short as far as being a “true” show and also proved that ECW and the style of wrestling it pioneered has had its day.

For me, one of the best moments was hearing from the original ECW guys like Blue Meanie, Tod Gordan and “Queen Of Extreme” Francine. It was particularly heart-warming to see Francine and her cute baby daughter Molly on camera, Francine the proud mom talking about her ECW past but adding that it’s no longer a part of her life. It seems that while Francine loved her time there, she has since moved on. It’s high time everyone else did the same.

*TNA’s “Whole F’N Show” (the follow up to “Hardcore Justice”, although it was heavy with TNA-talent and featured matches that were originally intended for “Hardcore Justice”), was a lot better (which begs the question; “Why Didn’t They Scrap The ECW And Book This On PPV Instead?” [they could even have mixed the ECW guys in with TNA guys like Abyss, something which I was hoping for initially anyway]).

Kurt Angle beat AJ Styles in a great opener, Angelina Love regained her TNA Knockouts Championship from Madison Rayne in a fine effort, Matt Morgan bested The Pope and Mr Anderson in a short but effective three-way match, Jeff Hardy beat Shannon Moore in an “Open Challenge” Match that made Moore look like big deal (why hasn’t TNA capitalised on this?), The Motor City Machine Guns finally became TNA World Tag-Team Champions in the final bout against Beer Money and TNA World Heavyweight Champion Rob Van Dam beat Abyss in a memorable “Stairway To Janice” Ladder Match (although the use of barbed-wire, particularly the “Van Terminator” into a barbed-wire board-into-Abyss-face was a step too far in the “risk-taking” stakes).

For the time being, it appears that TNA are continuing to run with the “Fortune” (Ric Flair’s heel stable) VS “EV2.0” (Tommy Dreamer and his band of “hardcore misfits”) angle, which so far has been pretty entertaining. Long-term, however, TNA needs to do something bigger and “10.10.10” could very well be the night for them to drop their next bombshell.

Previously posted on Smash Wrestling:

http://www.firetank.com/smashwrestling/

Luna Vachon: 1962:2010: By Matthew Evans (30/08/10)

2011-03-05T09:26:00.000-08:00

Tragedy blighted the wrestling business once again this past week, with the passing of former WWE manager and female performer Luna Vachon.

Vachon was found dead in her mother’s home on Friday morning (August 27, 2010). She was just 48 years old and is survived by her two sons and one granddaughter. On behalf of everyone here on Smash Wrestling, I stress that our thoughts and prayers are with Luna’s family and friends during this very difficult time.

Luna Vachon (real name Gertrude Vachon) was born into professional wrestling. The daughter of Paul “Butcher” Vachon and the niece of Maurice “Mad Dog Vachon” (two wild on-screen characters in their own right), it was highly likely that she would follow the “family tradition” and keep the “Vachon” name alive (even her Aunt Vivian was a female wrestler and was considered to be the very best in the 1970’s).

Luna got her break with Florida Championship Wrestling in 1985, working with the ludicrously sinister Kevin Sullivan in his “Army Of Darkness” faction (it was actually her association with Sullivan that led to Vachon adopting the infamous “Luna look”; with one half of her head shaven and some scary-looking “vein” artwork covering her face). In one of her earliest feuds she fought Madusa Miceli, an accomplished female worker whom Luna would battle many times over the next decade.

Vachon also worked for Stu Hart’s Stampede Wrestling and Herb Adams’ UWF (Universal Wrestling Federation). It was during her time with the UWF that Luna feuded with another future WWF female star, Jacqueline “Miss Texas” Moore. Vachon was also involved in angles and matches with the likes of Jeff Jarrett and David “Gangrel” Heath, both of whom later found their way to the WWF (Luna and Heath also became husband and wife and got married on Halloween).

In 1993, Luna arrived in the WWF, initially as the “surprise manager” for Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania IX. (At the time, Michaels had gone through a bitter story line split with his manager, the late Sensational Sherri, who had shown up at WM, but had chosen to be in the corner of Shawn’s opponent, Tatanka).

Vachon elected to stay out of Michaels’ Intercontinental Title defence against “The Native American” (Luna was tempted to interfere, but the intimidating “Sensational One” stood her ground and nullified the “Luna factor). However, the wild woman chose to strike after the match, pulling Sherri down from the ring apron and attacking her on the floor.

Luna (who was unlike any female character WWF fans had seen up to this point) continued the assault backstage, in a “Coliseum Video Exclusive”. While Sherri was receiving medical attention, Vachon burst into the first aid room and battered poor Sherri; hurling first aid boxes at her and throwing her into the wall (this attack had more impact in 1993 as it’s unorthodox and “off-the-rails” nature was unlike the usual WWF fare, especially when it came to two female performers).
Luna and Sherri went on to a have a brief rivalry, which led to an infamous “cat fight” on Raw, where both women tore each other’s clothes. Unfortunately, Luna got injured and Sherri left the company (she later reappeared in ECW and WCW) before the feud could officially conclude.

Luna returned to her valet role soon after, and set the ball rolling at King Of The Ring 1993 by interfering in the KOTR final match between Bret “Hitman” Hart and the late Bam Bam Bigelow.
Although Bigelow (who had received a “bye” to the final by virtue of the time-limit draw between Lex Luger and Tatanka in the quarter-finals) lost to Hart, Luna’s chair-wielding interference (which went undetected by the referee) almost resulted in “The Hitman” getting counted out, and the act in itself suggested to Bam Bam that Luna might be worth having around as his manager as well as his “squeeze.”

The Bam Bam/ Luna partnership was truly memorable. Both were unorthodox and intimidating and therefore they complemented each other well (Bigelow was a real old-school “monster” heel and was completely believable in the role).

In the run-up to the 1993 Survivor Series, Bam Bam and Luna were the recipients of some contrived but amusing practical jokes from Doink The Clown (who for targeting two hated figures like Bigelow and Vachon was embraced as fan favourite by the WWF audiences).

The Clown (who had broken into the WWF around a year earlier as a sinister “evil” clown who revelled in playing cruel tricks on children and had actually brutally attacked the late Crush with a false arm) was now playing strictly for laughs and on an edition of WWF Superstars, he came into contact with Bigelow and his “squeeze” (Bam Bam was leaving the ring after winning his match, Doink was making his entrance for his).

Never one to pass up the chance for some circus shenanigans, Doink came armed with a bucket (of glitter), which he dumped over the tattooed head of “The Beast From The East.” Luna, meanwhile, received a bucket-full of water over her noggin’, much to the delight of WWF fans.

There was further humiliation for Bigelow and Vachon at the Survivor Series itself when Doink enlisted 4 “other Doinks” (The Bushwhackers and Men On A Mission) to do his bidding in a farcical comedy match against Bigelow, The Headshrinkers and Bastion Booger. It was buckets and banana skins all round as Bigelow and company took what seemed like an endless supply of pratfalls and “arse over tip” moments.

However, it was Bam Bam and Luna who ultimately had the last laugh. The duo defeated Doink (who was now much taller than before; which stood to reason as the character was now being played by Ray Apollo, as opposed to the original Doink, Matt “Big Josh” Borne) and his midget side-kick Dink in an entertaining mixed tag-team match at WrestleMania X in March 1994.

A few months later, Luna “sold” Bigelow’s contract to The Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase (who was building his own “Corporation” of wrestlers, which later included names like IRS, Tatanka, Kama “The Supreme Fighting Machine” and King Kong Bundy).

Luna concentrated on winning the WWF Women’s Championship from her old rival Madusa (now going by the name “Alundra Blaze”), but when her efforts proved fruitless, she enlisted the help of Japanese female sensation Bull Nakano and became her manager.

Luna eventually led Nakano to her first WWF Women’s Title, but left the company soon after her charge’s victory.

Luna later made waves in renegade group ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling), where she debuted as Tommy Dreamer’s “surprise partner” in a tag-team Steel Cage Match in which she was the only female participant. Throughout her brief tenure with ECW, Luna participated in matches and angles with the likes of Dreamer, Raven, Stevie Richards and even her husband, the “Vampire Warrior” (Gangrel).

Following a brief stop-off at WCW (World Championship Wrestling) in 1997 (where she again revived her feud with Madusa, who was now holding WCW’s Women’s Championship), Luna returned to the WWF as the odd-ball “other half” of Goldust (who was now going through a more-unusual-than-ever phase as “The Artist Formerly Known As Goldust which saw him dress up as characters as diverse as a giant baby (complete with diaper), Sable (the WWF’s top blonde bombshell at the time) and Marilyn Manson).

Her association with Goldust led to a memorable feud with Marc Mero and his wife at the time, Rena “Sable” Mero. Sable was fast becoming one of the hottest and most popular stars in the company (male or female) and in the story line, Luna was jealous of all the attention she was getting for posing in swimsuits in Raw Magazine and baring some skin in the ring as well.

Of course, as is so often the case with pro wrestling, the on-screen animosity spilled over into real life, with Luna losing her cool and getting legitimately upset when Sable reportedly got all the credit and the praise in their matches and angles and Luna’s contributions were allegedly dismissed by most.

Certainly, the highlight of the Sable/Luna rivalry was the entertaining mixed tag match at WrestleMania XIV in March 1998, where Sable and Mero defeated Luna and Goldust (it should be pointed out that Sable [who hadn’t officially competed in a match up until this point] held her own here and entered a career performance and certainly wasn’t completely “carried” by Luna).
A “T&A”-themed “Evening Gown Match” at Unforgiven the following month obviously went down well with the gaggle of teenage boys who’d just discovered wrestling, but it will hardly be remembered in the same vein as the Sable/ Luna ‘Mania showdown and was further hampered by the fact that Sable (much to Luna’s chagrin) reportedly refused to take bumps due to her hefty silicone implants (Sable lost the “match”, but ensured that Luna was stripped of her clothes as well).

In August of that year, Luna joined the fan-favourite “fun-loving outcast jobber” faction “The Oddities.” With all due respect to Luna (and the late John “Earthquake” Tenta, who was also in the group as the goofy “South-Park loving” mask-wearing “Golga”), this was not a high-point in her career. It was as if the WWF creative team had just thrown a bunch of people together and turned them into a comedy act whilst hoping for the best (it was annoying for long-time fans of Luna and Earthquake as these two still had potential while the useless Kurrgan and Giant Silva had none).

Thankfully, Luna’s stint as an “Oddity” didn’t last long and she was back to her vicious and aggressive best by early 1999, reviving her feud with Sable and competing for the WWF Women’s Championship.

Unfortunately, Luna didn’t win the belt but remained a prominent figure in the WWF’s female division throughout 1999. She also formed an on-screen alliance with her real-life husband Gangrel and competed with him in several mixed tag-team matches.

In 2000, Luna was let go by the WWF but she returned to the limelight in 2001 when she appeared on the WWA (World Wrestling All-Stars) tour of Europe. Throughout the events, she and Gangrel regularly competed in some entertaining and bizarre “Black Wedding” Hardcore matches (I witnessed one live in Cardiff Wales and it was good fun and unlike anything I’d seen live before).

In June 2007, Luna defeated former TNA Knockout Traci Brooks to become the first Great Lake’s Championship Wrestling Ladies’ Champion, before retiring as champion in December.
At the 44th Annual Cauliflower Alley Club reunion, Luna Vachon was honoured and awarded with the “Ladies Wrestling Award.”

Away from the ring, Luna suffered from bipolar disorder, which she referenced in a “Where Are They Now?” interview with WWE.Com. Since 2004, she had been a born-again Christian and since leaving the wrestling business had worked as a tow-truck operator in Florida.

In August of this year, Luna was dealt a cruel blow when her house burnt down, causing her to loss all her possessions (which included her wrestling-related items). Shortly after, she appealed to fans to support her and pass on any Luna Vachon wrestling memorabilia they may wish to donate. Prior to her death, she’d been living at her mother’s house.

Overall, Luna Vachon was a unique, hard-working and truly unforgettable woman. Her character was believable (and dare I say frightening at times), however it was fun and entertaining.

Luna was truly a force to be reckoned with and was one of the toughest people around the business (regardless of gender) but away from the ring many of her fellow wrestlers and those who worked with her over the years have paid tribute to her kindness, generosity and her true dedication to professional wrestling.

Luna Vachon truly broke the mould of female characters in wrestling. There were similarities between her and Sensational Sherri, who whilst a different character to Luna (I.e perhaps not as “wild”) had that “it” factor that made you believe she meant business.

Sadly, like Sherri, Luna passed on way before her time and along with a host of other former stars has become yet another wrestling tragedy.

Previously posted on Smash Wrestling:

http://www.firetank.com/smashwrestling/

Lance Cade: 1981:2010: By Matthew Evans (15/08/10)

2011-03-05T09:21:00.000-08:00

The wrestling world was dealt another tragic blow this past week, with the untimely passing of Lance Cade (Lance McNaught). Cade passed away of heart failure this past Friday (August 13, 2010) aged just 29. Our thoughts and prayers are with his friends and family during this very difficult time.

Cade began his wrestling dream in 1999, training under the very best (Shawn Michaels, at his Wrestling Academy in San Antonio, Texas).

Success in Japan led to Cade being signed to a WWE developmental deal in 2001, with the HWA (Heartland Wrestling Association).

In 2003, WWE ceased their relationship with the group, but retained Cade and moved him to OVW (Ohio Valley Wrestling). A good run there led to Cade being called up to the main WWE roster soon after, with him making his debut appearance on the Raw brand in June.

He was known as “Garrison” Cade (apparently to avoid any confusion with Lance Storm, who was on the WWE roster at the time) and after a few appearances on weekend show Sunday Night Heat, he started to make regular appearances on Raw, forming a tag-team with former WCW star Mark Jindrak.

Unfortunately, the two were cursed with the old “generic baby face” label and came across as little more than two young guys who’d been thrown together to fill out the depleting tag division on Raw. (That said, they were featured quite prominently on WWE TV; battling the likes of The Dudley Boyz and La Resistance and appearing on their first WM at WrestleMania XX in 2004, however there was little room for long-term growth as fans had been given little reason to invest in them emotionally).

The team got separated when Jindrak got sent over to SmackDown in the WWE draft. Cade remained on Raw and turned heel, briefly aligning himself with heel announcer and part-time in-ring performer Jonathan Coachman (who actually made a damn impressive heel) during “The Coach’s” fun little feud with Tajiri.

In 2005, Cade was relegated back to OVW (it’s common practice for WWE to send acts that failed to get over or made little impact first time round back to the “minor leagues”, in order for them to hone their skills so that they can be “repackaged” when they get called up to the “big time” again [in the case of established stars like The Big Show and Mark Henry (who both spent considerable time there in 2000 and 2001), a “demotion” back to the developmental company can also be a form of punishment for established talent falling out of favour with management (in Big Show’s case, it was reportedly so he could lose some weight, in Henry’s case, the bookers had hit a proverbial brick wall in regards to what they could do with him following his embarrassing “Sexual Chocolate” run, but knew that he was just a few years into a multi-year deal)].

Later that year, Cade returned to WWE programming with a new tag partner and a serious of vignettes and video packages explaining his background. “Garrison” was not referenced here at all. This was “Lance” Cade, the well-spoken Texas cowboy, with his buddy Trevor Murdoch, the stereotypical “Southern Red-Neck”.

Despite the “odd-couple” pairing and the contrived nature of their gimmick, Cade & Murdoch were a successful duo and for the most part were fairly entertaining. Although they got separated, they later reformed, had an enjoyable series of matches with The Hardy Boyz and in total, enjoyed three reigns as WWE World Tag-Team Champions.

There was no denying that the partnership with Murdoch brought out a different side in Lance Cade. He showed more personality and seemed most comfortable in the role of the “straight man” to Murdoch’s tobacco-chewing ruffian.

Eventually, the team split for good, with Cade coming out on top during their brief singles feud.

Following a short association with Chris Jericho, Cade suddenly got released from his contract after suffering a seizure on a plane (WWE acted quickly but rehired Cade in 2009 once they were happy his personal problems had been sorted out).

Cade was released again in April 2010, this time he didn’t even get “the call” back up to the main roster. This past year, Cade went into rehab and completed the 30-day program in February.

Overall, Lance Cade had a pretty successful career, particularly during his partnership with Trevor Murdoch. Without disrespecting him, he did not possess that all-important “It” factor to be a great all-rounder and potential main event star, but he played his role of mid-card tandem wrestler and “star maker” well and certainly had the fundamentals there to perhaps one day make a good run as a U.S or IC Champion and be a star in his own right.

Previously posted on Smash Wrestling:

http://www.firetank.com/smashwrestling/

TNA Victory Road 2010 Review: By Matthew Evans (01/08/10)

2011-03-05T09:15:00.000-08:00

In my previous “Slammiversary” review column, I said that TNA was very much a company about “change” and that Dixie Carter and her staff would continue to make business and creative changes until the right balance was struck for true lasting success.

Heading into TNA’s most recent PPV “Victory Road” (held on Sunday, July 11, 2010), more changes were afoot. The man-monster Abyss had officially turned heel by driving Mr Anderson back-first into shards of broken glass (yes, the glass was real, folks), choke-slamming Jeff Hardy off the ramp and through the staging area and attempting to force-feed Hulk Hogan his very own “Hall Of Fame” ring (seriously!).

Amidst all the anarchy and chaos, the masked lunatic talked of “they” (I.e. “they” had instructed him to do these awful deeds and also apparently ordered him to make his own hardcore “weapon of nails”). Who was the “they” he was talking about? When would “they” show their faces and officially arrive in TNA to conclude their fiendish plan?

TNA implied that the “they” in question were the “Hardcore Originals” (Tommy Dreamer, Raven, Rhino & Stevie Richards) in a creepy “Freddy Krueger”-esque opening video package at the start of “Victory Road” (Abyss was shown being his infamous violent and destructive self, while children skipped and played in a playground, to some eerie music accompanied by children chanting). Either TNA had just blown their own cover WAY too early, or they had merely teased the viewer in to sticking around TNA programming a bit longer to see who “they” are. (It should be noted that now we know the reason for the “invasion” on IMPACT!, TNA have thus far not thrown any “red herrings” out there and hinted of there being a link between Dreamer and friends and Abyss).

“Victory Road” officially opened with an enjoyable-enough “Ultimate X”/ Submission” Match between TNA X-Division Champion Douglas “The Anarchist” Williams and Brian “Spanky” Kendrick.

However, despite the fine efforts from both men, one couldn’t help but feel that the “X” stipulation (I.e. climb the structure around the ring, drag yourself across the cables and retrieve the “X”) was a little pointless when you consider that 95% of the match was contested over submission moves.

And in the end, it was a submission that led to victory, albeit one that followed a nasty double-fall from the top of the “Ultimate X” cables. Kendrick pulled Williams down but came up worse on the descent. Doug then applied a reverse choke as the referee called for the bell.

The “overbooking” of the X-Division Match may have been silly (either have one or the other, don’t do 2 gimmicks in one match), but that was nothing compared to the head-shakingly ridiculous outing between Brother “Big Bully” Ray, Brother “I’m Just Trying To Keep The Peace” Devon and Jesse “I’m Just Doing What I Was Taught” Neal. You may recall that Ray and Neal had a disappointing, somewhat farcical match (through no fault of their own, the booking was to blame) at “Slammiversary”. This bout continued in a similar vein, even though Devon was supposed to be the “wild card”, the “third man.”

However, Devon couldn’t make it to the ring because Ray had “trapped him in the locker-room”. We knew this because there was a camera-man backstage filming Devon as he shouted for Ray to “open the door” (hilariously, the camera-man chose not to help the Team 3D star, perhaps he thought filming a wrestler from the other side of the door made for great TV, who knows?).

With Devon now grappling with the locker-room door (as opposed to his scheduled opponents), it was left to Brother Ray and Jesse Neal to fight it out in a one-on-one situation (that’s right: EXACTLY what we saw at “Slammiversary” last month).

Tommy Dreamer even appeared in the crowd again and distracted Ray (although this time, he was accompanied by Raven, Rhino & Richards). On this occasion, however, Neal only got a “2” count on his spear attempt and the match continued.

Shannon Moore (Jesse’s tag-team partner) also tried to “do the right thing” and put a stop to Ray’s rule-breaking, but all he succeeded in doing was inadvertently distracting the referee.
In the end, Devon finally made it to the ring but soon got accidentally speared by Neal. Brother Ray than hit the “Bubba Bomb” on Jesse to get the win.

Up next was Madison “Career-Killer” Rayne putting her TNA Knockout’s Championship on the line against Angelina “Woman Scorned” Love. The stipulations for this match were that if Rayne won, Love’s TNA career was history (ala Tara and Roxxi), but if either member of The Beautiful People faction (be it Velvet Sky or Lacey Von Erich) interfered on behalf of Madison, then Angelina would be awarded the NA Knockout’s Championship via DQ.

While it lasted, this was a good little match. The action went back and forth and Angelina Love hit Madison with some great-looking, high-impact flying clotheslines. But it must be said that the finish was cheap.

After Rayne had taken a steel chair to the face (the referee allowed it because it was Rayne who had brought the weapon into play, and Angelina’s move [a boot into the chair as Madison came charging towards her] was a defensive one), a mysterious biker woman showed up and began to attack Angelina.

As she was wearing a helmet, the referee struggled to identify her. He had a feeling it must have been either “Vel Vel” or “Lace-Face” but couldn’t be sure as the mystery female refused to remove the helmet. So the official just went with his instinct and disqualified Madison Rayne for outside interference from a member of the “BP.”

Just like that, Angelina Love was now a 4-time TNA Knockout’s Champion. Granted, it wasn’t the most honourable way to win a belt, but heck, at least she still had her career.

Meanwhile, Madison looked mighty pissed and left with the unknown “biker chick.” Who is this mystery woman? I’ve heard that it may be a certain ex-Knockout but like all of you, I’d prefer to wait and be genuinely surprised when she officially reveals her identity.

AJ Styles and Kazarian certainly had a tough task ahead of them in their tag-team encounter against two “mystery opponents” hand-picked by the “Nature Boy Ric Flair.” The pressure was on, as if AJ and Kaz won, they both would earn a place in Flair’s recently launched “Horsemen knock-off” group “Fortune”, while if they lost, they could forget about being associated with Flair’s “elite group.”

Styles’ and Kazarian’s foes were none-other than Samoa “Submission Machine” Joe and Rob “The Freak” Terry, so it was far from a “night off” for the TNA high-fliers. Joe and Rob certainly tested them in the early going, but some “blind tagging” and illegal tactics from the heels swung things in their favour.

An entertaining tag-team bout concluded with some interference from “Fortune reject” Desmond Wolfe, who’s presence allowed Kaz and AJ to double-team Rob and ultimately finish off the Welshman (Styles got the pin with an incredible 450 spring-board splash from the top rope).
In the post-match, Samoa Joe destroyed Wolfe with the “Muscle Buster”, while AJ and Kazarian celebrated their entry into “Fortune.”

The Steel Cage grudge match between former tag-team championship partners Matt “The Blueprint” Morgan and Shawn “Super Mex” Hernandez certainly had some good build up and genuine fan interest, but the result on the night was a bloated, lacklustre contest.

For the most part, Hernandez was on the receiving end and got busted open not too long into the match. He also took a senseless head-first dive from the top of the cage onto the canvas (senseless is a very apt word, as the move probably rendered him as such) and ended the match by ridiculously diving head-first (again) across the ring and into and through the cage door.
Hernandez must have had one hell of a headache (and possibly a concussion) after this one.

At this point, the show was beginning to falter and with Ric Flair VS Jay Lethal up next, things didn’t look set to improve.

Surprisingly enough, things actually picked up with this 1980’s-style comedy bout that was both sad and entertaining at the same time (sad because Flair REALLY looked his age here and was out of breath on many occasions, but entertaining because most of the signature Flair spots worked as well as could be expected and generally gave some light relief to what easily could have been a complete disaster of a match).

Of course, Flair was cheered by most of the fans, but at the same time, these same fans eventually got behind Lethal as they could see they were in the process of witnessing a “passing of the torch”. And credit to Flair, he DID truly pass the torch to Jay, losing cleanly via submission with his very-own “Figure-Four Leg-Lock”. Lethal certainly came out of this match looking stronger than ever, but I think speak for a lot of people when I say that Ric Flair should now just retire (for good) as an in-ring performer (there’s nothing left to prove and he’s risking tarnishing his superb legacy from the 1980’s and early 1990’s).

The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) also looked like “top dogs” in their superb TNA World Tag-Team Championship Match against Beer Money (James Storm & Robert Roode).

The action was fast and furious, with The Guns hitting a variety of hard-hitting, high-flying double-team combination moves. The fans were with them all the way and were eager to see them finally reach the pinnacle of TNA’s doubles division.

Even the re-start didn’t knock The Guns off their game (Storm went to spit beer at The Guns but inadvertently caught the referee Brian Hebner; Brian’s dad [and senior official] Earl then came out and we found ourselves with a “double pin” scenario, which obviously wasn’t the way to determine the new holders of the vacant tag titles). Indeed, as soon as the bell was rung again, Shelley and Sabin seized the moment and put away Beer Money to win their first TNA World Tag-Team Championship.

Kurt Angle’s quest to “prove” himself to his fans and peers continued next, with his match against #8 ranked contender The Pope.

This was a great match, however, the only problem I had with it (and with the “Angle Quest” in general) was that when Kurt said he might as well “quit” if he came up short, you just knew that Pope didn’t have a chance of winning.

That criticism aside, Angle and Pope worked hard and had some good chemistry together in the ring. They took each other to the limit (with Pope kicking out of the “Angle Slam” and also absorbing a brutal belly-to-belly throw from the top rope), but in the end Angle triumphed via submission with an extra-powerful “Ankle-Lock.”

Finally, it was main event time. TNA World Heavyweight Champion Rob Van Dam defended his title against Abyss, Jeff Hardy and Mr Anderson in a Four-Way Match. The odds were certainly stacked against RVD here.

Despite the big-names involved, this headline but felt somewhat mediocre and rushed. Abyss was not the powerhouse that he should have been here, especially after all that build up he received on TV.

The three favourites worked together to break down “The Monster” and eliminate him from the fray. Anderson proved that he was not to be trusted in this environment (quickly turning against Jeff Hardy), while Van Dam did his best to leave Orlando with the belt intact.

Eventually, he succeeded, with a high-impact “Five Star Frog Splash” on Abyss (who had Hardy and Anderson underneath him). So RVD lived to fight another day as champion, while Abyss presumably had some explaining to do to those he refers to as “They.”

Overall, Victory Road was a fairly impressive PPV, all things considered. There was some silly booking and the odd disappointing match on display, but there was also a lot to be positive about.

Since then, TNA has announced their plans to have an ECW-themed PPV called “Hardcore Justice” (previously known as “Hard Justice”) on August 8. Tommy Dreamer has arrived in TNA and will be the creative mind behind the “one-night only” tribute show that will feature several former ECW stars but will have to work hard not to mention the letters “E-C-W” (WWE still owns the “ECW” logo and video library, even though it’s use will now be solely reserved for their 24/ 7 service).

The move is a smart one, IMO. Despite WWE essentially “killing it off”, ECW remains a respected and highly popular brand of wrestling. Why not embrace it for one night and in the process possibly get those original ECW fans (who perhaps gave up on the “dream” when WWE re-launched the company in 2006) to cross-over to TNA full-time once all the respects have been paid? (I should also point out, I loved the original ECW and I know I said in my last column that TNA needs to move away from this style of wrestling [or rather, Abyss needs to], well I admit that I have no problem with it for a “one-off”, although I don’t really want to see anyone get “set on fire” at the PPV [as Brother Ray said this past week on “IMPACT!”) or get impaled on a barbed-wire board; I think you can honour hardcore wrestling without going too far and completely risking the lives and well-being of the talent).

However, I don’t think this “ECW revival” should expand further than the odd “nostalgia” show. I don’t think TNA should integrate the ex-ECW talent into their shows on a full time basis and at the expense of their own younger stars.

That’s not to say there isn’t a place for Dreamer and friends in TNA, because there is. But after “Hardcore Justice”, they should be treated as the supporting players, as opposed to the “Whole F’N Show”.

Previously posted on Smash Wrestling:

http://www.firetank.com/smashwrestling/

TNA Slammiversary VIII Reviewed: By Matthew Evans (13/07/10)

2011-03-05T09:10:00.000-08:00

*The following column was written prior to Victory Road.

Last month, TNA celebrated 8 years of their existence with “Slammiversary VIII”.

As we all know, many people have written off and criticised TNA since their inception in 2002, but throughout it all, the company has soldiered on and defied the odds. The question heading into “Slammiversary” was would TNA showcase what they are truly capable of on the night? Also, would this hold them in good stead for the future?

The event started off with a superb wrestling showcase from Kurt Angle and Kazarian. Angle was looking to “earn his spot again” in TNA after making himself the #10 ranked contender to the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, while Kaz was eager to prove to his new mentor Ric Flair (as well as his peers) that he could “hang” with a top guy in a high-pressure, big match environment.

Kurt did everything to make Kazarian look like a star here, while the former “Suicide” more than earned his stripes by keeping up with "The Olympic Gold Medallist.”

There were near-falls aplenty, with Kaz kicking out of the “Angle Slam” and Kurt somehow raising his shoulders from the mat following Kazarian’s brutal reverse pile-driver finisher.

In the end, Kaz was forced to tap out to the “Ankle-Lock”, but generally speaking, he was no loser. This was a great showing from the youngster and here’s hoping TNA continue to capitalise on his momentum.

Another interesting bout was the “clash of styles” outing between X-Division star Brian Kendrick and “anti-X-Division” antagonist Douglas Williams.

While this wasn’t your typical X-Division match, Williams’ more grounded, technical approach worked well, with Kendrick getting in the odd bit of high-flying offence.

In the end, Doug surprised everyone by breaking out a swinging tornado DDT from the top-rope to put Kendrick away and retain his TNA X-Division Championship.

Speaking of surprises, poor Roxxi must have had the shock of her life when TNA management apparently informed her on her arrival to the building that she was being let go (again) following her TNA Knockout’s Championship Match against Madison Rayne. Indeed, Roxxi had become another victim of TNA’s cost-cutting drive, which they will continue to implement as long as they continue to lose money.

Prior to the match, Madison grabbed the microphone and goaded Roxxi into putting her career on the line (just like Tara did at Sacrifice). Roxxi accepted the challenge and then received a vicious microphone shot to the head (she was hit so hard that she actually got busted open).

Poor Roxxi was definitely “juicing a gusher” as they say, but she continued the match (the accidental blood loss actually added drama to the bout, although I can’t say it made for comfortable viewing).

Roxxi battled on and even hit Rayne with the dreaded “Voodoo Drop” (Madison, however, kicked out). Eventually, The “BP” member stunned “The Hardcore Knockout” with her rather awkward-looking leg-drop variant finisher to retain her TNA Knockouts Championship and send Roxxi into exile (again).

I thought it was such a shame when I found out later that Roxxi had left TNA for real. That last performance was truly gutsy and it’s a pity that TNA apparently didn’t have the class and good grace to tell her of her departure ahead of time (instead of on the night, how insensitive was that?).

Brother Ray VS Jesse Neal marked the first point in the PPV where things started to sag. I was actually looking forward to this “teacher VS student” match, but thanks to all the pre-match stalling (with Ray “apologising” and then tricking Brother Devon [again]); it resembled more of a drawn-out angle from “IMPACT!”

When the action finally got going, it was just Neal being the whipping boy to Ray, getting in little offence and generally getting manhandled around the ring.

The finish came suddenly when Tommy Dreamer appeared in the crowd and distracted Brother Ray. Neal then took advantage with a “Spear” for the upset win (so Dreamer was the “big surprise?” With all respect to Tommy, I doubt his name was bandied about the fan forums and rumour sites when people learned Dixie Carter had “something big” planned for “Slammiversary”).

The “IMPACT!”-style booking continued next with Matt Morgan VS Hernandez. Considering the back story (i.e. Morgan “broke Hernandez’s neck”), TNA could have allowed these two to have a super-heated and exciting grudge match, but instead they had Morgan come out in a neck-brace and waste more precious PPV time by reading out a “doctor’s note” and trying to get out of his advertised match with “Super Mex.”

The bout did go ahead, but not for long and was hampered by Morgan’s “feigning injury” actions. Amazingly, TNA had the cheek to then book a DQ finish when Hernadez shoved the referee (Brian Hebner). They then did ANOTHER “IMPACT!”-style angle when Hernandez accidentally booted the official in the face, knocking him into the guardrail.

Other referees then ran down to the area (along with Brian’s father, Senior Official Earl Hebner) to see to Hebner. Then they cut backstage to interviewer Christy Hemme (who was smiling, really you can’t make this stuff up!).

Things continued to go south with the not-too-eagerly-awaited “Monsters Ball” Match between Abyss and Desmond Wolfe (with the lovely Chelsea, who was the best part of this match). This bout featured the usual hardcore staples (well, apart from a staple-gun, ahem!), which meant it was left to Abyss to do his crazy self-harming lunatic routine in the name of entertainment.

Indeed, the masked monster received a top-rope sunset-flip power-bomb from Wolfe, which drove him back first into a barbed-wire board. Just for the record, folks, this was REAL barbed wire, as evident by the ghastly cuts and scratches on Abyss’ arms post-impact (that’s the move, not the show).

But Abyss wasn’t through yet. Soon after he took a nasty kendo-stick shot to the head and then deliberately fell FACE-FIRST into broken glass (we’ve seen some insanity in wrestling over the years, but this really took the cake).

Despite going through the proverbial wringer, Abyss managed to win the bout after Chelsea “inadvertently” tossed some brass knuckles to “The Monster” instead of Wolfe. (Well, at least Wolfe didn’t have to do a “human pin cushion” routine with thumbtacks).

I must say that Abyss’ willingness (or insistence) to put himself in some very dangerous situations and maim and mutilate his body in the name of wrestling is quite frankly, disturbing. I’m all for dedication and I think that Mick Foley was ground-breaking with what he did back in the day, but with Abyss there doesn’t appear to be much psychology to it; it’s brutality for the sake of it and in my opinion, if TNA wants to make any serious headway in the mainstream and getting anywhere close to where WWE is in “brand awareness” terms, then acts like Abyss need to go, or at least be toned down to a level that’s not off-putting to the majority of viewers (I’m not saying TNA should have a “no blood” policy like WWE. However, I think that thumbtacks, broken glass and barbed wire should be stamped out in TNA; it’s no longer shocking or entertaining (if it ever was truly fully entertaining in the first place); these gimmicks have had their day, now it’s time to move past the “Hardcore Wrestling” phase once and for all).

Thankfully, we then got back to wrestling with a fine match between AJ Styles and Jay Lethal. Lethal looked great here and seems to be poised for true stardom now that he’d dropped the always-limited Randy Savage tribute act. It was truly something to see him apply the “Figure-Four” on Styles with Ric Flair himself stood at ringside!

Lethal got the upset win after Styles fell from the top rope and got pinned with a northern lights suplex from the former “Black Machismo”.

Unfortunately, Lethal has since been booked to face Ric Flair at Victory Road. As much as Jay may love being in the ring with his boyhood idol, from a fan’s viewing perspective, the results could be hideous. Flair should not be competing in the ring at his age, he’s long past his prime.

The quality of this PPV had now picked up considerably and the good run continued with an enjoyable tag-team match pitting Jeff Hardy & Mr Anderson against Beer Money.

Hardy & Anderson proved to be a cohesive unit and had some great exchanges with Storm & Roode. Anderson had trouble getting into the match and was often read the riot act by referee Mark Johnson but in the end he and Hardy prevailed when Anderson hit the “Mic Check” on Robert Roode (somewhere in the sequence, Anderson got busted open hard-way).

Finally, Rob Van Dam defended his TNA World Heavyweight Championship against Sting in a somewhat disappointing brawling-based main event that spent little time in the ring (perhaps Sting was still recovering from injury, hence the short-cuts).

Again, the arena-wide nature of the brawling made this main event seem like a (you guessed it) “IMPACT!” main event. There was also a ref bump (which often never helps) and some bat-wielding interference from Jeff Jarrett.

The action concluded when Sting missed a “Stinger Splash” in the corner and RVD hit the “Five Star Frog Splash” for the pin fall. Sting looked like he might have had the power to kick out, but to no avail.

As the show went off the air, Mike Tenay thanked the fans for their support over the past 8 years. Overall, “Slammiversary” had been another “mixed bag” from TNA; some of the wrestling was great, some of the booking was ridiculous.

On the plus side, TNA has the time and the talent to rectify the problems they currently have. We all know that this company has been about “change” in 2010, following the acquisitions of Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff and for the foreseeable future, “change” will be the order of the day as Dixie Carter and co continue to find the right formula for true lasting success.

Previously posted on Smash Wrestling:

http://www.firetank.com/smashwrestling/

TNA Sacrifice 2010 Thoughts: By Matthew Evans (06/06/10)

2011-03-05T09:03:00.000-08:00

“Change” is what Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff promised when they took over the reigns of TNA in January of this year. Big money was spent to lure back veterans like Sting and entice ex-WWE talent such as Rob Van Dam and Jeff Hardy. A conscious effort was made to offer wrestling audiences an alternative to WWE (using a lot of recycled WCW ideas, but an alternative, nonetheless) and TNA regularly crowed about kick-starting another “Monday Night War” with WWE.

Unfortunately, the ratings for the new-look, live “IMPACT!” show on Spike TV were so disappointingly low that Spike and TNA agreed to move the programme back to it’s regular, pre-taped slot on a Thursday night.

Sacrifice was the company’s first PPV since they sheepishly limped out of the “Monday Night War” battle (if you could call it a “battle”, it was more akin to a one-sided pasting) on May 13. And much like TNA in general at the best of times, the event was a “mixed bag” overall.

The opening contest was an enjoyable three-way tag-team match to determine the new no 1 contenders to the TNA World Tag-Team Titles (currently held by The Band). The participants were The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin), Beer Money (Robert Roode & James Storm) and Team 3D (Brother Ray & Brother Devon).

Despite this being a three-way encounter, 3D hardly got any ring time, and instead it was down to The Guns and Beer Money to provide the action (but what great action it was).

That said, Team 3D were involved in some of the pin fall interruptions and got into it with the other 2 teams in the closing moments. Also, it’s worth pointing out that it was Brother Ray who had his shoulders pinned to the mat, after absorbing the always-awesome-looking cross-body-splash/ neck-breaker combo from Shelley and Sabin.

Overall, a nice curtain raiser and worthy victors in the form of The Motor City Machine Guns.

Up next was Wales’ own Rob “The Freak” Terry defending his TNA Global Championship against the controversial Orlando Jordan. Few people were looking forward to this match, although if it had been kept short and resembled a squash match to put over the power and the dominance of “Big Rob”; it would have at least been decent fare.

Sadly, it was an interminable waste of time, with Jordan working on the leg of “Big Rob”, after catching “The Freak” unawares following a strong start from the Welshman.

Despite working on essentially one leg, Terry powered back and finished off Jordan with a weaker-than-usual “Freak-Buster” (choke-slam/ spine-buster variation). At least the right guy won the match (pity it took 8 boring minutes to get there).

Post-match, Orlando jumped Terry from behind and whacked his injured knee with the Global Championship. This after-match assault was over-kill from TNA (fans were already sick of seeing these two after watching their match, why drag the pain out even further?).

A much-better bout was the TNA X-Division Championship Match between Douglas Williams (the man who was unfairly stripped of the title when he got stranded in the UK due to the volcanic ash cloud) and Kazarian (the man who “sneaked in” the proverbial “back door” and nabbed the X-Division Title on the night that poor Doug was left grounded), although it didn’t play out like your average TNA X-Division contest.

Kaz provided the high-risk offence, while Williams kept things a little more technical and “on the mat”. However, Williams himself hit the former “Suicide” with some brutal moves, particularly the sick-looking power-bomb into the bottom turn-buckle towards the end of the match, before finishing off the Antonio Banderas-look-alike with the rolling “Chaos Theory” German Suplex for the win (and the X-Division Title).

Even before Tara had issued the challenge to Madison Rayne for a “Career VS Title” match at Sacrifice, word had got out (from Tara herself, posting it on her official MySpace page) that the former TNA Knockout’s Champion (and former WWE Women’s Champion) would be parting ways with TNA shortly. Which meant the end result of this match was a no-brainer.

Despite the emotion involved and the very real back-story (i.e. this was more than just another “wrestling story line”, Tara was genuinely leaving TNA), this was a somewhat subdued affair. It was solid work from both ladies, but it came across as an average bout, nothing out of the ordinary and nothing that will be all that memorable in years to come.

On the plus side, Tara did break out her top-rope moon-sault (twice) and also hit her dreaded “Widow’s Peak” finisher (but was too close to the ropes and upon impact, Madison rolled out of the ring and to the floor).

The finish came after Tara missed her 2nd moon-sault and Rayne capitalised with a somewhat awkward-looking leg-drop/ neck-breaker combination.

Post-match, Madison teased Tara and laughed as she disingenuously waved good-bye to her on her way up the ramp. Back in the ring, Tara got a warm send-off from the crowd and was then escorted out of the ring by TNA security (I thought this was humiliating, even doing it as angle. They could have at least allowed her character “walk herself” out and perhaps even have a little “microphone time” with the crowd).

I’ve always been a huge fan of Tara, but wrestling-wise it’s hard to see where she goes from here. I know WWE is always an option, but if she was to go back there (which is where she played the clown for the latter part of her career), they’ll no doubt humiliate and embarrass her (and book her into oblivion) just for daring to leaving in the first place. As for MMA? Well, it doesn’t take an expert to see that she’s up against it from the start, what with her being inexperienced in this field, being nearly 40 years old and having a “bum knee”, which has given her grief for years. For these reasons, MMA is a bad idea; WWE would be the safer option if she had to pick one career over the other.

After The Band (Kevin Nash & Scott Hall, with Eric Young in their corner) retained the TNA World Tag-Team Titles in a nothing match against Jesse Neal & Shannon Moore (which ended when Brother Ray stuck his jealous nose in “Ink Inc” business yet again and “KO’d” Jesse with a kendo-stick, allowing Nash to get the pin), it was time for Desmond Wolfe to put his beloved valet Chelsea on the line against Abyss in a match where “The Monster” put his own “Hall Of Fame Ring” up for grabs (if Wolfe won, Chelsea got the ring, if Abyss won, he got Chelsea as his manager).

Wolfe jumped Abyss before the bell, but despite the entertaining start, the bout soon degenerated into an “IMPACT! -style” encounter, with the fans hilariously turning on Abyss and cheering Desmond (the heel) instead.

The finish came when Wolfe used some brass-knuckles (now the most over-used weapon in TNA) on Abyss, only for “The Monster” to kick-out, “Hulk Up” and “Run Wild” on the British bad boy. Abyss then hit the “Black-Hole Slam” for the win.

Post-match, Abyss told Chelsea her would see her “on Thursday” for the 30-day management deal to begin. I tell you, if this angle doesn’t lead to Chelsea becoming Abyss’ manager full-time, then it would have been a completely pointless exercise.

After Mr Anderson branded his fans “A**-holes” (amazingly enough, some TNA fans began referring to themselves in this manner), the microphone maestro went to war with Jeff Hardy in what up until this point in the card, was the best and most thoroughly entertaining match I’d seen all night.

That said, it wasn’t without it’s “near misses” (for example, Anderson nearly landed on his head when he took a reckless backdrop from the ring to the entrance ramp). However, there was no denying the chemistry and the “showmanship” that both Hardy and Anderson displayed here (once again, Anderson proved why in hindsight, WWE might have dropped the ball by releasing him so swiftly).

It was Jeff Hardy who got the win for his “Creatures Of The Night” (I assume WWE didn’t trademark this term for The Undertaker all those years ago) with a Swanton Bomb on Anderson, who offered a “truce” with Hardy in the post-match, in a hint of what he has since become (i.e. a fan favourite, although I think he works much better as a smart-ass, antagonistic heel).

An apparent injury to Sting explained why his match with Jeff Jarrett resembled a TV-style “backstage assault” angle, with “Double J” getting beaten to a bloody pulp by “The Icon” and his ever-present baseball bat.

Despite my initial disappointment (i.e. realising that this would not be a proper “match” per se), I must say that Sting was completely convincing here as a man bent on proving his point (in his mind, he has a point) and making an example out of Jarrett.

Even when a bloody Jeff Jarrett was taken away on a stretcher, Sting pushed the “TNA Founder” off the apparatus and defiantly left to a chorus of boos. Like I said earlier, this was a damn convincing performance from Sting, who proved here just how strong her can be as a character and a performer and not just an in-ring worker.

The last match on the show (the TNA World Heavyweight Championship Match between Rob Van Dam and AJ Styles) was fittingly, the best. RVD and Styles did their talking in the ring and the result was an incredible blend of high-flying action, near-falls and all-round great wrestling that epitomised what at its heart, is what TNA is all about.

Ric Flair was disposed of early on by the referee, allowing Van Dam and AJ to do their thing. “The Whole F’N Show” managed to reverse an early “Styles Clash” attempt into a sunset-flip variation and later averted a springboard DDT from the former champion.

Flair returned later on but got cut off by Jay Lethal, who trapped “The Nature Boy” in his very own submission move, the “Figure Four Leg-Lock!”

Back in the ring, RVD dropped Styles throat-first onto the top rope and polished him off with the “Five Star Frog Splash” to retain the gold.

TNA’s next PPV “Slammiversary” already looks like a strong card (despite the absence of the “King Of The Mountain” Match), with Rob Van Dam defending the gold against Sting and Kurt Angle facing the #10 contender in the new TNA ranking system, Kazarian (who also now has the backing of Ric Flair, much to the chagrin of AJ Styles) and despite the aforementioned issues with “Sacrifice” as a whole (and TNA’s embarrassing “relegation” back to Thursday nights), I still say that the future looks bright for TNA.

I know they may have had aspirations to compete with and even beat WWE “at their own game”, but for the time being, TNA are going to have to settle for second place and concentrate on growing their company slowly but surely. I truly believe the fundamentals are there for long-term success.

Previously posted on Smash Wrestling:

http://www.firetank.com/smashwrestling/

Chris Kanyon: A Tribute: By Matthew Evans (04/04/10)

2010-11-14T06:33:00.000-08:00

The pro-wrestling world suffered another tragic loss this past week with the passing of Christopher Klucsaritis (Chris Kanyon). It is believed that the 40-year old former WWE and WCW star (who also wrestled one match for TNA in 2005) took his own life. His body was discovered in his New York apartment on Friday, April 2, 2010.

Kanyon began his career on the independent circuit and briefly appeared as a “jobber” (i.e. “enhancement talent”; guys who are brought in to lose to the bigger stars on TV) for the WWF (WWE) in 1994.

In 1996, Kanyon headed to WCW (World Championship Wrestling) and after several months of “jobbing” to WCW Superstars, was placed in the short-lived tag-team known as “Men At Work.”
With Mark Starr, Chris made up a team of construction workers; a gimmick that was as comically bad as WCW’s “Special Forces” (Firebreaker Chip & Todd Champion) in the early 90’s. Suffice to say the teams (and their hard-hats) were given the boot, after sinking like a brick in water.

Kanyon managed to shake off the “jobber” stigma (“Men At Work” rarely won any matches) when he was repackaged as the video-game-esque masked character “Mortis” in 1997. However, although the look of the gimmick (which was a cross between the “Mortal Kombat” fighters “Reptile” and “Scorpion”) was impressive, Kanyon’s new win-loss record wasn’t. (This coupled with the fact that he was feuding with another computer-game-inspired wrestler called “Glacier” made the whole thing seem very silly, even by barmy pro-wrestling standards).

After forming a brief partnership with Wrath (Bryan “Adam Bomb” Clark), Kanyon tried to join Raven’s “Flock” in 1998. He was unsuccessful (he failed to defeat Diamond Dallas Page in a match to earn a place in the faction) and soon dropped the “Mortis” gimmick to feud with Raven. Together, they had a positively brutal, weapons-filled Cage Match at WCW Uncensored that year.

In 1999, Kanyon (as he was now known) formed the “Jersey Triad” with Diamond Dallas Page and the late Bam Bam Bigelow. The entertaining heel trio were one of the few highlights of the summer months for WCW fans and together, they enjoyed a reign as WCW World Tag-Team Champions (they were also allowed to defend their titles as a 3-man outfit, and were allowed to “chop and change” tag partners ([ike Demolition did in the WWF back in 1990]).

Towards the end of the year, Kanyon went by the name Chris “Champagne” Kanyon (when he made his “debut”, he was decked out like the WWF’s Godfather, which obviously wasn’t by accident, considering that former WWE writer Vince Russo was now on the creative team) and was managed by Luther Biggs (Clarence Mason from the WWF). He also had two beautiful “Nitro Girls” on his arm (Baby and Chameleon).

During this time, Kanyon had a brief run against his former “Triad” pal Bigelow and in one particular match, actually knocked him out with a [gimmicked] champagne bottle.

At Slamboree 2000, Kanyon had a stellar match with the late Mike Awesome, who was making his WCW PPV debut that night. Although Kanyon lost the bout, he certainly held his own with Awesome and gave fans possibly his best singles match of his career.

Kanyon returned later that night to get thrown off the top of the triple-tier “Ready To Rumble” cage by Awesome, in a scary stunt that was made disturbing by the fact that it took place in the same arena (the Kemper Arena in Kansas, Missouri) where Owen Hart had died one year earlier after his Blue Blazer “flying” ring entrance from the scaffold above the ring had gone tragically wrong.

After selling the “injuries” he suffered at the hands of Awesome at Slamboree, Kanyon shockingly turned on best friend DDP and joined the “New Blood” (led by Vince Russo and Eric Bischoff). Ridiculously, it turned out to be a “set-up all along” (Kanyon wasn’t really injured and had apparently “asked” Awesome to throw him off the three-tier page to “trick” Page into feeling sorry for him and trusting him as his “best friend”).

Idiocy aside (why didn’t they just say Kanyon had a “change of heart” or that Page “failed to visit” when he was in hospital?), the angle did give Kanyon a hilarious new character, “Positively Kanyon”, a spoof on DDP and his “positive” attitude (Page released an autobiography in 1999 called “Positively Page”).

Unfortunately, once the DDP feud was done, Kanyon found himself losing to Buff Bagwell at New Blood Rising in a “Judy Bagwell On A Forklift” match (yes, they actually involved Bagwell’s mother in a match, and not for the first time, either).

In 2001, Kanyon revived his rivalry with Page before getting his contract picked up by the WWF following their purchase of WCW in March.

As a member of the WCW/ ECW “Alliance” (led by Shane McMahon, Stephanie McMahon and Paul Heyman), Kanyon was more of a “bit player” in the grand scheme of things, although he did have a reign as U.S. Champion (admittedly after being handed the title by Stephanie) and also had a WCW World Tag-Team Championship reign with Page (although the pair lost the belts and were completed slaughtered in a one-sided pasting at the hands of The Undertaker & Kane in a Steel Cage Match at SummerSlam).

It should also be noted that Kanyon brought some light-relief to WWF broadcasts when he began referring to himself as the “MVP” of “The Alliance” (plus WWE really got behind his “Who Beta Than Kanyon” catchphrase, much more than WCW ever did).

Unfortunately, like many of the “Alliance” members, Kanyon ultimately took a back seat to “leader” Stone Cold Steve Austin and “co-owners” Shane and Stephanie. At times, it appeared that he was there to “make up the numbers”. The situation got worse when he hit the bench with a serious injury, and by the time he returned in 2003, he had really “been through the mill” health-wise and was soon relegated back to playing the “jobber” role on the short-lived week-end wrap-up show “Velocity”. Then in early 2004, he was released from his contract.

After working a few independent dates and a one-shot deal for TNA (losing to Raven at Turning Point in 2005), Kanyon retired from the ring. He later “came out of the closet” as a homosexual, after initially saying that his admittance was a “publicity stunt.”

Overall, Chris Kanyon will be remembered for being a dependable, reliable and always entertaining mid card act throughout WCW and WWE. Although in many ways his success was fleeting, what he did do had impact and will forever be remembered by the many fans that followed him and his career over the years. He will not be forgotten.

Previously posted on Smash Wrestling:

http://www.firetank.com/smashwrestling/

The Late Late WrestleMania XXVI Review: By Matthew Evans (01/05/10)

2010-11-07T12:48:00.000-08:00

*Apologies for the lateness of this review. I had planned to write this column sooner but following the tragic death of Chris Kanyon, I thought it would be more appropriate to pay tribute to him first, and once that column was done, I struggled to find the time to do a WM review between doing the “Predictions” with the team, helping to run the site whilst trying to balance it all with work and life in general outside of Smash Wrestling.

WWE WrestleMania XXVI took place on Sunday, March 28, 2010 before 72, 219 fans at the University Of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale Arizona.

Although the show boasted a number of title and “speciality” matches (including the in-ring return of Bret “Hitman” Hart in a “No Holds Barred” Match against Vince McMahon), the star attraction for many people was Undertaker VS Shawn Michaels; a “WrestleMania Rematch” where it was “Career VS The Streak”. Last year at WrestleMania XXV, these two men stole the show (and in the eyes of most, saved it from the proverbial PPV scrap heap). Would they do the same this year?

After Yoshi Tatsu won a non-televised 26-man Battle Royal and “American Idol” star Fantasia gave her rendition of “America The Beautiful” (which wasn’t all the impressive in my opinion; I still say that WWE should just ask Lillian Garcia to do the honours every year), it was time for the first official match at WM XXVI.

WWE Unified Tag-Team Champions The Miz & The Big Show defended their straps against John Morrison & R-Truth. This one had the potential to be an exciting and memorable affair and it certainly got off to a bright start, with the Morrison and Truth stunning “Team Show-Miz” with their high-flying offence.

However, things went south for the challengers when Show saved Miz from Morrison’s “Star-Ship Pain” from the ropes and drove R-Truth back-first into the steel post.

The finish came out of nowhere and the match was far too short to mean anything. (The finish itself was also piss-poor: Big Show hit Morrison with his weak-looking “knockout punch” as John bounced off the ropes in an attempt at a high-risk move). This had to be the most disappointing opening match I can recall at a WM in quite a while.

The 2nd bout of the night (a triple threat match between Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes and Ted Dibiase) was marginally better than I expected it to be, although for the most part, it was a glorified handicap match, which we've already seen way too many times on Raw. Plus the confusion surrounding who was face and heel was annoying and took away from the match.

The end result was never in doubt, but there were some interesting exchanges between Dibiase and Rhodes, before Orton planted them both with a double-DDT from the top-rope. The finish came when Randy gave Cody the “Punt Of Doom” (hardly very babyface like) and hit Dibiase with the “RKO” for the pin fall.

It was now time for the annual “spot-fest” known as “Money In The Bank”. The participants were Shelton Benjamin, Kofi Kingston, Jack Swagger, MVP, Evan Bourne, Matt Hardy, Dolph Ziggler, Drew McIntyre, Kane and Christian) and generally speaking, this somewhat overcrowded ladder match was pretty good.

However, it’s worth pointing out that some of the stunts (i.e. Kofi landing on his head on the ladder, Matt Hardy landing back first on another ladder, falling from the 1st ladder) were reckless and it was really just a series of crazy stunts that will ultimately take years off the careers of those who performed them. I also think that the whole idea is getting tired and I'm getting a little sick of watching these matches and seeing people get dangerously close to breaking their neck, or worse. On the plus side, at least Jack Swagger winning was a real surprise, even if he took too long to unfasten the case!

Sheamus could have done with a “WM Moment” of his own in his match against HHH, but despite a valiant effort, the “Celtic Warrior” came up short.

Still, he DID get a few near falls on “The Game” and weakened him with his usual power-based moves. He also avoided “The Pedigree” early on, but succumbed to it in the end.

Overall, I thought HHH VS Sheamus was good, but not great. I think there's potential for Sheamus, but for me, this felt like a TV match as opposed to a PPV bout.

Unfortunately, there’s not a lot to say about Rey Mysterio VS CM Punk as like the opening tag-title match, it was criminally cut short.

Mysterio came out dressed like one of the “Avator” characters and fortunately did not suffer the usual “WM mask problems” that he usually gets when he pays tribute to the latest movie at the “Granddaddy Of Them All”.

However, he DID have to put up with some outside interference from Punk’s “Straight Edge Society” (Luke Gallows & Sarina). It was Sarina who blocked an early “619” attempt, but later on Punk collided with Gallows, allowing Rey to hit the “619” properly and finish off the former WWE World Champion with a top-rope splash.

Post-match, there was no sneak-attack from the SES and no celebration in the ring with Rey and his family (which was odd, considering the whole feud had been initially been built around Punk insulting Mysterio in front of his wife and children and “ruining” Rey’s daughter’s birthday).

Once match that should have been cut short (or scrapped altogether) was the “No Holds Barred” Match between Bret Hart (making his first WM appearance since WM 13) and Vince McMahon. Even with the knowledge that Bret was limited due his career-ending concussion in 1999 and his pay-out from Lloyds Of London for said injury, this “worked shoot” grudge match was shockingly bad.

To disguise the limitations, they could have used some creative short-cuts, but instead they brought out members of the Hart Family (some of whom were trying desperately to “get themselves over” on camera) to aid Bret (they had apparently “set up” McMahon by agreeing to be his “lumberjacks” and then siding with Bret) in a one-sided pasting that resembled an angle more than a match and went on WAY too long.

The highlight was The Hart Dynasty (DH Smith & Tyson Kidd with Bret’s niece Natalya Neidhart) drilling Vince with the “Hart Attack” on the floor. The rest of the bout was tiresome and somewhat disturbing. There was no drama or suspense, because it was just Vince taking a pasting, over and over again. The idea was that he was "paying" for Montreal, but was I the only one (in story line parlance) feeling sorry for him as he took a one-sided pasting from Bret and his family?

I was also disappointed that there wasn't a run-in from someone who's had dealings with both Bret and Vince (for example Goldberg: I know he couldn’t have done anything physical to Bret, but imagine if he had teased attacking Bret and ended up “Spearing” Vince?), as it would have added a bit of intrigue to a match that for me, had none whatsoever (to be honest, it was sad to see Bret and Vince reduced to this).

After Bret battered Vince’s arms, legs and back with a series of brutal chair shots, “The Hitman” gave everyone what they had been waiting to see: McMahon in the “Sharp-Shooter”, submitting to the pain. Due to the crowd being deflated by the repetitive and uninteresting action that had preceded the move, the response to this was nowhere near as great as it would have been had they have just booked an angle where Vince “called out” Bret at a WM and got knocked out and put in the submission move.

Fortunately, Edge and Chris Jericho brought things back up to standard with a solid WWE World Heavyweight Title Match that started a little slow, but did become just a bit special with a series of near-falls and finishing move exchanges towards the end.

Jericho applied “The Walls Of Jericho” but Edge escaped. Edge also kicked out of a “Code-Breaker” but after getting decked with the title belt and hit with another “Code-Breaker”, could not avoid getting pinned.

Post-match, Jericho attacked Edge but came to regret it when Edge “Speared” him from the desk and into the ringside barricade. This looked brutal and I think Edge was too “heelish” here for fans to truly get behind him.

A late addition to the WM card was a Divas tag match pitting Michelle McCool, Layla, Vickie Guerrero, Maryse & Alicia Fox against Beth Phoenix, Mickie James, Eve Torres, Kelly Kelly and Gail Kim. However, at less than 5 minutes long, it makes you wonder why WWE added it at all.
All the Divas hit their finishing moves (some better than others) as everyone rushed about trying to get noticed. This could have been done on TV, had they done this they could have added more time onto Mysterio/ Punk or the tag-title match.

The finish also looked terrible, plus who thought it was a good idea for non-worker Vickie Guerrero to perform a top-rope splash on poor Kelly Kelly? (Vickie got the win for her team, although the referee had to tell her to “re-pin” Kelly as she wasn’t covering her properly).
(On a side-note, I must admit it was sweet seeing Vickie pay tribute to her late husband Eddie Guerrero. However, the “feel-good moment” of Vickie doing Eddie’s infamous wiggle was spoiled by Michael Cole (likely on order) calling the finishing move a “Hog Splash”).

Batista defended his WWE Championship against John Cena next in an entertaining bout that like Edge/ Jericho earlier on, didn’t really get going until the big moves and near-finishes kicked in later.

“The Animal” escaped an STF and drilled Cena with a nasty-looking DDT variation that came perilously close to breaking John’s neck for good. Fortunately, Cena recovered, although he was understandably a little woozy for a few moments thereafter.

The finish came when Cena escaped a “Batista Bomb” attempt and rolled through to apply another STF. Cena got the win, while most of the fans booed (Batista was the crowd favourite here, even though that’s not they way WWE had booked the story).

Post-match, Cena celebrated his win, surrounded by a bunch of “Cena-Haters” wearing their own “I Hate Cena” shirts. One guy in particular clearly gave the “thumbs down” to Cena, but to his credit “The Champ” didn’t seem to care. That’s one of the qualities I truly admire about John Cena: For all the verbal abuse and stick he gets, he treats it like water off a duck’s back.

Finally, it was time for the REAL main event: Undertaker VS Shawn Michaels. Would Undertaker end Shawn’s career or would Michaels be the man to end ‘Taker’s undefeated WM streak?

First of all, I will freely admit that this was easily the best match on the show. However, in my opinion, I don’t believe it topped last year’s effort, although admittedly, that was always going to be difficult to do.

Michaels wisely tried to ground the “Dead Man” and weakened his knee with a “Figure-Four Leg-Lock.” Undertaker came back and hit Shawn with a “Choke-Slam” and a “Tombstone” but could not put the “Show-Stopper” away.

‘Taker gave “HBK” something to think about when he avoided defeat from a super-kick, while Shawn truly displayed he was “playing for keeps” when he hit an awesome moon-sault from the ring onto Undertaker, driving him through the Spanish announcers’ table (the impact was sick, I truly believed that Undertaker suffered a broken leg).

Towards the end, it was as if Undertaker was showing “weakness” and didn’t want to wipe out Michaels and his career. But Shawn wouldn’t quit, so ‘Taker hit him with an extra-powerful jumping “Tombstone” to end a superb match and an incredible career.

After the match, Undertaker and Michaels shook hands and hugged. Shawn left the ring as Jerry Lawler bid him “farewell” on commentary. Michaels would get his official send-off the following night on Raw in a somewhat “low-key” (only Undertaker and HHH appeared on camera during Shawn’s speech) but nonetheless emotional and heart-felt “good-bye” from one of the greatest in-ring performers and all-round “showmen” of his or any generation.

Overall, WWE WM XXVI, was a “middle of the road” event for me. It had its moments, but only Undertaker/ Michaels truly stood out, while other bouts suffered from time constraints or general “pacing” issues (i.e slow starters).

It was marginally better than WM XXV last year, but still didn’t feel like a true “Mania” as it lacked the sparkle and the edge-of-your-seat excitement that we have come to expect every year on the “Grandest Stage Of Them All.”

Regarding Shawn Michaels and his career, I wouldn’t want to “count my chickens yet”. Yes, he’s had a superb career and yes, he’s saved his money and has a comfortable family-oriented life outside of wrestling. But history has taught has that wrestlers find it difficult to stick to their “retirements” (whether it be due to pressure from promotions, wrestlers, fans or the burning desire of the individual to continue performing). I’ll talk about Shawn Michaels and his career in further detail in an upcoming column, but for now I’d say “wait and see.”

Previously posted on Smashwrestling:

http://www.firetank.com/smashwrestling/

Has The Show Truly Stopped For Shawn Michaels (Part 3)?: By Matthew Evans (15/05/10)

2010-11-07T12:41:00.000-08:00

Shawn Michaels was now the WWF Champion, but as was so often the case with his career, controversy wouldn’t be far behind.

In May 1996, Kevin “Diesel” Nash and Scott “Razor Ramon” Hall were set leave the company for WCW. They were best buddies with Michaels and along with him and Sean “1-2-3 Kid” Waltman were part of the infamous “Kiliq”, a powerful group that with “HBK” at the forefront, supposedly prevented the upward mobility of other WWF wrestlers and had the “stroke” with boss Vince McMahon (Hunter Hearst Helmsley, who would later find much greater fame in DX and as a main event star in his own right, worked his way into favour with the “Kliq” by apparently laughing at Shawn’s jokes and carrying the bags for him and Nash). On their last night with the company, the much-talked-about “Curtain Call” incident occurred at a house show in Madison Square Garden.

After Michaels beat Nash in a Steel Cage Match, Hall and Helmsley joined them both in the ring and in acknowledgement of Nash and Hall’s departure, all 4 men broke character and embraced in the middle of the ring.

This incident was controversial at the time, as the Internet was still in its infancy and “behind-the-camera” acknowledgements such as this were seen as “exposing” the business.

For the fans in attendance, it was a nice send-off, and something that you definitely wouldn’t have seen on TV (Michaels and Hall were fan-favourites, while Nash and Helmsley were heels, the WWF at the time didn’t want to give fans the impression that the guys who “hated” each other on TV were really best buddies and were working together to put on a “show” or “performance” for the audience). I’m sure that it was genuine heart-felt gesture from Michaels and friends and not a senseless act of defiance to management. Unfortunately, Vince McMahon and WWF higher-ups didn’t take too kindly to the move and to prove a point decided that someone had to be punished. But who would it be?

Michaels was virtually untouchable as he was the WWF Champion (and there was no way Vince would risk losing him to WCW as well). Nash and Hall were already on their way to pastures new. Which just left the upstart Helmsley.

Hunter was the “sacrificial lamb” and got booked into oblivion for the better half of a year. After partaking in the “Curtain Call”, he became a “Curtain Jerker” (opening match act) and regularly lost his bouts. The WWF also dropped plans for him to win the 1996 King Of The Ring (the gig went to Stone Cold Steve Austin, who after winning the tournament, cut his infamous “Austin 3:16” speech).

Meanwhile, Michaels was the reigning and defending WWF Champion. He was still a babyface (and the face of the company) but unfortunately, he didn’t have the same impact as Hulk Hogan (who McMahon had tried replacing with Bret Hart and Diesel, but alas neither man had the “Hogan factor” at the box office).

That said, it would be unfair to label Michaels an unsuccessful WWF Champion. The company faced turbulent times in 1996 (and 1997) as they were put on the brink of collapse by WCW (who as mentioned previously, had acquired most of their “star attractions” from the 1990’s). Shawn Michaels was the best man for the job at that time and was a reliable worker, who continued to have some superb matches with a variety of opponents (hell, he even got some good bouts out of Sycho Sid, who beat Michaels for the WWF Title at Survivor Series, only for Shawn to regain it on his home turf in San Antonio at the Royal Rumble in January 1997).

With WrestleMania just around the corner, it’s believed that the WWF had planned to have a Michaels/ Hart rematch (likely with Bret Hart going over, being as Shawn had beaten him the previous year), but in February 1997 on a special edition of Raw, Michaels vacated the WWF Championship on live TV, citing a knee injury and that he had “lost his smile.”

Throughout the segment, Michaels was teary-eyed and gave the impression that he was retiring. At the time, Michaels’ “farewell speech” caused a stir as critics (including Bret Hart) apparently believed that Shawn simply didn’t want to drop the belt at ‘Mania and was using the whole “injury/ retirement” thing as a “smoke-screen” to the truth.

Whatever the case, Michaels left the ring and had knee surgery (and appeared as a guest commentator at WrestleMania 13, where in the replacement match, The Undertaker beat Sid to become the new WWF Champion). He returned a few months later but got injured again in a short match with Stone Cold Steve Austin at King Of The Ring.

At SummerSlam, Michaels was the “Guest Referee” for a WWF Championship match between Undertaker and Bret Hart. The WWF had built Shawn’s involvement on the premise that he couldn’t possibly “co-exist” with Hart in the ring and bring himself to count the fall and possibly award him the title. However, when Michaels swung a chair at Hart (after Bret spat in his face) and inadvertently decked Undertaker instead, “HBK” found himself doing exactly that: Counting the fall and awarding his enemy the WWF Title.

This incident led to a Michaels/ Undertaker feud, which officially kicked off shortly before Shawn beat The British Bulldog in his home country at “One Night Only” (UK PPV) in September, becoming the new WWF European Champion and nearly starting a riot at the Birmingham NEC in England (fans were convinced that The Bulldog would win, as he had previously never lost a WWF match on UK soil before).

During his feud with ‘Taker, Michaels officially returned to the “dark side”, playing up to the fact that despite his popularity with young kids and females of all ages, he was generally hated by most of the men in the audience.

After going to an official wasting “non-finish” at In Your House: Ground Zero, Michaels was put in a new match concept with Undertaker at In Your House: Badd Blood in October.

The “Hell In A Cell” Match was a variation on the long-established and popular “Steel Cage Match”. However, this one had a roof and was surrounded by real mesh fencing (as opposed to black or blue steel bars). It was bigger, more intimidating and far more dangerous than your standard cage match.

The idea was that Shawn had been running from Undertaker, executing sneak attacks on Raw and generally escaping like a thief in the night. However, in “Hell In A Cell”, there was no escape. Michaels couldn’t climb over the cage due to the roof and he couldn’t escape through the door, as it was padlocked shut. There was truly “no way out” for “The Heart-Break Kid” (plus his new “D-Generation X” associates “Ravishing” Rick Rude, Hunter Hearst Helmsley & Chyna wouldn’t be of much use either, as they would be “shut out” of the match due to the “Cell”).

Much has been written about this first “Cell” match between Shawn Michaels and Undertaker (I myself have referenced it many times in previous columns). To this day, it stands alone as the greatest “Hell In A Cell” Match of all time and not just for “nostalgic” value.

The performances from both men were spot-on and the emotional involvement this encounter gave the viewers at home and the live audience in attendance that night was incredible. Michaels bumped in and around the “Cell” like a stunt man and took that infamous fall from the roof of the structure through the announce table below (as commentator Jerry “The King” Lawler cried “Incoming!”). Michaels also got catapulted face-first into the side of the structure and bled buckets to demonstrate the brutality of the “Cell” and the unrelenting attitude of The Undertaker.

But let’s not forget about the contributions of The Undertaker himself. In takes “two to tango” as they say, and “The Phenom” entered a career showing here.

The finish was surrounded by controversy, but at least it gave us a stunning debut of a new character (Undertaker’s “brother” Kane), plus after the beating her took in the “Cell” match, I don’t think many people would have found it plausible if Michaels had beaten Undertaker cleanly.

After surviving his first-ever “Hell In A Cell” Match, Michaels then moved on to his next rivalry. Shawn would be challenging for the WWF Championship again and his opponent would be none other than Bret “Hitman” Hart.

As previously noted, plans for a Michaels/ Hart rematch at WrestleMania 13 had been dropped when Shawn “lost his smile” in February 1997. Bret believed that Michaels had pulled out of the match due to not wanting to drop the title back to him (“returning the favour” from WM 12 when Shawn won the “Iron Man” Match).

The on-screen feud between Hart and Michaels had also expanded into real-life and throughout 1997, their battles and promos on-screen had been a mixture of real animosity and scripted actions. (That year, Michaels went out to the ring on Raw and implied that Bret had been having an affair with Tammy “Sunny” Sytch, WWF’s top female star at the time. Things really got out of hand when Bret attacked Shawn backstage and reportedly tore a clump of hair from his head. In response, Shawn allegedly stormed out of the arena (apparently citing an “unsafe working environment”) and threatened to leave for WCW).

Heading into their rematch at the 1997 Survivor Series (held in Montreal, Canada), fans and insiders who were privy to the behind-the-scenes heat between the two debated just what would happen when Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels had their 2nd biggest match together on PPV. Would this thing turn into a shoot (i.e. real fight)? Would Bret Hart even the score in his home country? Would Bret leave the WWF with his head held high? (Word had now got out that Hart was leaving for WCW and that Survivor Series would be his last “hurrah” on the grand stage).

The infamous “Montreal Double-Cross” has been discussed at length elsewhere and for that reason, will not be revisited in any great detail here. Simply put, Bret and Shawn had a decent, heat-filled match in Canada which according to a pre-match agreement from Hart and Vince McMahon (the conversation was picked up on Bret’s “Wrestling With Shadows” documentary, released in 1998) was set to go to a DQ finish with both DX and The Hart Foundation (Owen Hart, British Bulldog & Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart) running interference. This would result in Bret retaining his WWF Championship in Canada (he would have then presumably have dropped the belt to Michaels [or someone else] on Raw the next night, or even at a non-televised house show event).

As we are all now aware, McMahon changed the plan without telling Bret and along with Shawn Michaels and Senior Referee Earl Hebner (who were both in on the ruse), double-crossed “The Hitman” in his “back yard” in front of a sold-out crowd. When Hart reached to grab Michaels’ leg to reverse the “Sharp-Shooter”, Vince called for the bell and Shawn won the match, as a stunned audience looked on.

Post-match, Bret spat in Vince’s face and trashed a couple of ringside monitors. (He later punched out Vince backstage, leaving him with a concussion and a bruise around his eye). Michaels was escorted to the back by HHH and WWF officials and up until a few years later, denied any involvement in the “Double-Cross.”

With Bret Hart now gone, Vince McMahon officially began a new era in the WWF. In what would become known as “WWF Attitude” in 1998, McMahon started heavily building his product around profanity, sex, violence and characters that were “shades of grey” (i.e. not clear-cut faces or heels). At the forefront of this was the aforementioned “D-Generation X”, the Michaels-led group of “degenerates”, who Bret had taken issue with prior to the Survivor Series.

DX was essentially an offshoot of WCW’s NWO (which included Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and Sean “Syxx” Waltman, all of whom had remained friends with Michaels & HHH since leaving the WWF). However, they were cruder and ruder than their WCW counterparts and regularly pushed the boundaries of “acceptable TV” on Raw.

DX’s catch-phrase was “Suck It!”, a statement that was accompanied by a crotch-chopping action. Michaels and HHH basically went out to the ring and made the sort of “high school senior” jokes that previously would only have been heard within the walls of the WWF locker-room. However, by this point, McMahon was so desperate to stop Turner’s WCW breathing down his neck that he was willing to take a gamble and risk potentially pissing off long-term fans (and causing them to switch off entirely) in order to gain millions of new ones with a “hip” and more “realistic” style of programming (this would happen in 1998 with the birth of “WWF Attitude”, on the back of characters such as Stone Cold Steve Austin, DX, The Rock and others).

In the ring, Michaels continued to be the defending WWF Champion. At the Royal Rumble in January 98’, he defended the strap against his old nemesis The Undertaker in a Casket Match (first man to lock his opponent in the “air-tight” casket and close the lid wins). This was another entertaining scrap from two wrestlers who always seemed to bring out the very best in each other. Unfortunately for Shawn, this bout marked the beginning of the end for his career (at least initially).

At one point in the match, Michaels took a backdrop over the ropes and onto the casket. His lower back hit the edge of the wooden pine box, causing him to herniate two discs in his backand crush another one entirely.

Michaels won the match (again, due to interference from Kane, who turned on Undertaker [the “brothers” had apparently formed a “pact” prior to the Rumble] and choke-slammed him into the Casket, before pushing it up the aisle, hacking at it with an axe and setting it on fire), but that wasn’t the real story here. He had suffered some serious back injuries and looked set to be hitting the bench for quite some time (if not forever).

Obviously, this posed a big problem for the WWF, as they had planned on having Michaels headline WrestleMania 14 with their newest fan favourite (and the biggest break-out star to hit the company since Hulk Hogan) Stone Cold Steve Austin. They had hoped that Michaels would “pass the torch” to Austin at the biggest PPV of the year, ushering in a new era in WWF history (the Michaels injury was a further blow as Austin himself was only working big PPV matches and was being placed in relatively safe situations every week on Raw, after suffering a broken neck in a match with Owen Hart at SummerSlam 97’).

When it became clear that Michaels only had one match left in him (and even that was debatable due to his condition), the WWF pulled him from all active competition; replacing him in the huge “Unsanctioned” 8-Man Tag-Team Main Event At In Your House: No Way Out (the match featured Austin, Owen Hart, Cactus Jack and Terry “Chainsaw Charlie” against HHH, The New Age Outlaws and Savio Vega; replacing Michaels) and only using him for interviews, promos and “sneak attacks” on Raw.

Even with all this “protection”, it was still hard to watch the Austin/ Michaels match at WM, knowing the pain that Shawn was in at the time. To his credit, he bumped all over the place and put Stone Cold over the right way (that’s not taking anything away from Austin, who had a different ring style to Michaels but developed into a bona-fide main event talent in 1998).

The finish came when Michaels fell prone to a “Stone Cold Stunner” and got “counted out” by Special Enforcer Mike Tyson (who had formed an alliance with DX in the run-up to ‘Mania).

Post-match, Shawn questioned why Tyson would count the fall on him when he was part of the “DX” fold (Tyson was even wearing a “DX” shirt for the match). Michaels got in Tyson’s face and the “Baddest Man On The Planet” responded by laying out Michaels with a [worked] knockout punch! Tyson then celebrated with Stone Cold after draping an “Austin 3:16” T-Shirt over an unconscious HBK.

Michaels returned to the WWF later that year to do some colour commentary on Raw and in November, became the story line “Commissioner” (taking over the role from Sgt Slaughter).
Throughout the remainder of 1998 and the early part of 1999, Shawn worked as both a heel and babyface “authority figure” and in the run-up to SummerSlam 1999, served as a “Special Guest Referee” (along with Shane McMahon who was also an official) in a number 1 contender’s match that saw both HHH (who was now breaking into the main event scene and was officially free of “DX”) and Mankind get declared the winners with a double-pin, which meant that they both got a WWF Championship shot against Steve Austin at the PPV.

Michaels continued to make sporadic appearances for the WWF over the next year or so, before opening his own training school in Texas (Michaels also came out of retirement [after having back surgery in 1999] for a “Bunkhouse Brawl” match with one of his trainees).

In 2002, Michaels returned to the WWF (now the “WWE”) as a member of the NWO (New World Order). The group’s stint was brief, and was memorable only for the sight of Shawn “super-kicking” fellow member Booker T on Raw and officially throwing him out of the faction.

Soon after, HHH (who in Michaels’ absence from WWE, had taken over DX and made it bigger and better, before going it “alone” and “breaking the glass ceiling” as a true headline star) teased a DX reunion with Michaels, but turned heel on his friend and also brutally assaulted him in the parking lot, driving his head through the passenger window of a car, leaving him bloodied and beaten.

HHH initially denied the assault, but later admitted to the deed after Michaels found “video evidence” to support his claim. The stage was now set for a showdown at SummerSlam, in a “Street Fight” that would mark Shawn’s first WWE match in over 4 years.

Obviously, many fans, insiders (and dare I say, fellow wrestlers) questioned whether Shawn Michaels (who was now a family man, with a lovely wife who also happened to be a former WCW Nitro Girl, and a young son) could perform like the “Showstopper” of old, even in a “gimmick” match that relied on “short-cuts” such as weapons and blood. Shawn Michaels had always been about the performance, but what if he couldn’t perform at the “Shawn Michaels level” at SummerSlam?

Fortunately, Michaels didn’t just perform at that level; he surpassed all expectations and in the process gave HHH his greatest match that year (“The Game” had returned to WWE in January following a devastating quadriceps injury in 2001. However, HHH was rusty in the ring and prior to his match with Shawn at SS had been in some mediocre bouts, which could be attributed to the fact that he came back with too much additional weight after training like a man possessed to get back in the squared circle in less than a year). This was a bloody and spectacular “Street Fight” that saw Michaels triumph “against all the odds” and beat his former friend, only to get smashed in his injured back by HHH’s trusty sledgehammer during the post-match celebration.

The attack strongly suggested that this wasn’t just a “one match” deal for Shawn (after all, he would have to return to get revenge on HHH, right?). As suspected, Michaels came back and actually became the WWE World Heavyweight Champion in the first-ever Elimination Chamber Match at the Survivor Series in November (beating “The Game” to win the gold).

HHH regained the title in a disappointing and long-winded “Three Stages Of Hell” Match at Armageddon, before Michaels moved onto to a new story line feud with the arrogant Chris Jericho.

Michaels and Jericho had a superb and heated rivalry that was built around the premise that “Y2J” had grown up idolising Shawn but had lost interest when he realised that he had “surpassed” him with his own career.

Together, HBK and Jericho had a brilliant bout at WrestleMania 19, which from a pure technical wrestling perspective, was the best match on the show (for pure entertainment value, however, the “show-stealer” for me was the Hogan/ McMahon “Street Fight”). The feud was kept going in the post-match when Michaels offered to shake Jericho’s hand as a sign of sportsmanship and respect, only for “The King Of The World” to embrace Shawn and then callously turn on him by kicking him in the balls.

Later that year Michaels entered a valiant effort as the last remaining member of “Team Austin” at Survivor Series, losing to Randy Orton thanks to interference from Evolution “Animal” Batista (the loss meant that Austin [who was now an on-screen “authority figure” after retiring following his 3rd WrestleMania match with The Rock earlier that year) would have to leave WWE “forever”; predictably so, “forever” was just a couple of weeks). Michaels then put Batista over strong by losing to him in a singles match at Armageddon in December.

In 2004, Michaels revived his feud with HHH, having a brutal “Hell In A Cell” Match with “The Game” at Bad Blood, whilst at Taboo Tuesday in October, he was voted into a WWE World Heavyweight Title Match with the “Cerebral Assassin”. The latter was truly a gutsy performance from Michaels: His knee was shot and he could barely walk (let alone wrestle), but he nonetheless went through with the bout and worked a very different, and emotionally involving wrestling match with HHH.

At WrestleMania 21 the following year, Michaels had a wrestling master-class against Kurt Angle, who prior to the PPV had attacked Shawn’s former tag-team partner Marty Jannetty and former manager Sensational Sherri with the dreaded “Ankle-Lock.” In a surprising finish, Michaels himself tapped out to Angle’s submission hold, giving “The Olympic Hero” the first win in their entertaining series of matches.

A SummerSlam, HBK fought Hulk Hogan in a “dream match”, which came about when Michaels suddenly turned on Hogan during a tag-team encounter. Michaels built this story line up strong, turning heel and hilariously donning a wig, shades, fake moustache and yellow and red feather boas to mock Hogan’s appearance on Larry King. Unfortunately, when it came to bell-time, Hogan was unwilling to lose to Michaels and “put him over” the right way.

The result was Michaels bouncing and bumping around the ring for Hogan’s now-weak-looking offence (by this point Hogan had truly become slow and stale in the ring). It was embarrassing to watch Shawn sell those Hogan punches and big boots in a way that looked so completely over the top. After the match, Michaels became a fan-favourite again when he shook Hogan’s hand and then left the ring to allow Hogan to take the limelight once again.

2006 saw Michaels battle his boss Mr McMahon in a dispute that started off interestingly enough with a stellar “No Holds Barred” Match at WrestleMania 22 (which saw Michaels execute a flying elbow-drop from the top of a ladder, through a table, which had Vince laid out on it with a trash can on his head), which was won by Shawn, but soon lost its lustre when McMahon booked himself and his son Shane in a tag-team match against Michaels and “God” at Backlash (that’s right: McMahon booked “God” in a match. He also mocked religion further by creating his own following, “McMahonism”). The McMahon’s won this bout (which was entertaining, if you took away the sacrilegious nature of it) thanks to interference from the male cheerleaders known as “The Spirit Squad.”

Later that year, Michaels reformed DX with HHH (fans who could recall the heyday of the group groaned as HBK and Helmsley rolled out the same jokes and routines as before, only this time, they weren’t brash or “angry young men”, it was more like your uncool dad or uncle showing up at your mate’s birthday party making tired jokes and trying to be “hip”) and the partnership continued until “The Game” tore his other quad at the “New Year’s Revolution” PPV in January 2007.

At WrestleMania 23, Michaels got to headline the show in a gripping WWE Championship Match against John Cena (Cena retained) and feuded with Randy Orton for the remainder of the year.
In 2008, Michaels famously “retired” Ric Flair in an emotional bout at WrestleMania 24 and later had one of the best feuds of that year with Chris Jericho.

The rivalry saw Jericho brand Michaels a “hypocrite” and a “liar” and even go as far as punching Shawn’s wife Rebecca in the face (accidentally) at SummerSlam.

WWE faced a dilemma when Michaels tore his left triceps prior to his “Unsanctioned” Match with Jericho at Unforgiven, but against all the odds, Shawn went through with the bout and gave everyone the best match possible under the circumstances.

At No Mercy the following month, Jericho retained his newly won WWE World Heavyweight Title in a memorable (but somewhat messy) Ladder Match against Michaels.

Soon after, Michaels entered into an odd story line with John “Bradshaw” Layfield, which saw HBK “working” for “self-made millionaire” Layfield after apparently blowing his earnings and life savings.

Thankfully, this implausible tale didn’t last long, and at WrestleMania 25 that year, Michaels got back on track with a very entertaining match against The Undertaker (which saw Shawn miss a moon-sault from the top rope and hit the floor with a sickening thud, while ‘Taker nearly broke his neck with his patented top-rope clothesline to the outside, which he thankfully, hasn’t used since).

Michaels wanted to be the guy to end ‘Taker’s WM “streak”, but after having his moon-sault attempt converted into a “Tombstone” pile driver, he lost the match (but gained respect from Undertaker in the process).

After taking an hiatus from the ring, Michaels returned in time for SummerSlam, for another DX reunion with HHH (in an angle that ran on Raw, HHH discovered Michaels working as a chef and convinced him to return to the ring. The angle was played for comedy, with some aspects working better than others). At the PPV, DX beat The Legacy (Cody Rhodes & Ted Dibiase), but would lose to the young upstarts in a “Submissions Count Anywhere” tag-team match at Breaking Point in September, before winning the feud-ending bout (a “Hell In A Cell” Match) at “Hell In A Cell” in October.

At “TLC” in December, DX defeated Jericho and Big Show in a “Tables, Ladders & Chairs” Match to become the new WWE Unified Tag-Team Champions. However, Michaels’ obsession with ending Undertaker’s undefeated WM streak in a rematch at “The Granddaddy Of Them All” cost him and his partner the gold and caused the partnership to take a back seat to both men’s singles aspirations.

At Elimination Chamber in February 2010, Michaels actually cost Undertaker his WWE World Title in the SmackDown! Elimination Chamber Match. This was so ‘Taker would be “forced” into accepting a rematch with Shawn at WM. And the rest, as they say is history....

Obviously, Shawn Michaels has had a tremendous career. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this three-part special on what I believe were the main talking points of his incredible WWE career. Of course, everyone has their own opinion on whether Shawn Michaels will stick to his retirement vow. I’m not sure and would say “wait and see”, but at the same time, part of me thinks that he will.

Let’s face it: Shawn Michaels always been about the performance, giving 100% and giving everyone value for money. At the age of 44, he has made his money, has a comfortable life with his family and has hobbies and interests outside the ring such as his Church group. He wouldn’t want to come back and do it “half assed” (as he said when he “lost his smile” in Feb 97’) or be a shell of his former self. So why risk it?

Shawn Michaels overcame the odds when he returned in 2002 form that devastating back injury. He battled the odds throughout his career but always remained the true “Show-Stopper” in the eyes of many people. After making peace with his former enemy Bret Hart, admitting to his faults in his “past life” and truly being WWE’s “MVP” through the good times and the bad, it’s time for Shawn Michaels to say “no more” and go home. And after all he’s done for the wrestling business, how can anyone possibly deny him this?

Previously posted on Smash Wrestling:

http://www.firetank.com/smashwrestling/

Has The Show Truly Stopped For Shawn Michaels (Part 2)?: By Matthew Evans (09/05/10)

2010-11-07T12:36:00.000-08:00

With The Rockers now history, Shawn Michaels concentrated on a solo career and had a successful singles run in 1992. At WrestleMania 8, Michaels defeated legend Tito “El Matador” Santana in a good opening match and at the “European Rampage” show in Sheffield, England, he took WWF Champion Randy “Macho Man” Savage to the limit in a rarely-acknowledged “forgotten gem” of a bout. (The match went to a cheap DQ finish, but it was a great effort nonetheless).

At SummerSlam 92’ at Wembley Stadium in London, England, Michaels took on Rick “The Model” Martel in a rare “heel VS heel” match where both men fought for the affections of Sensational Sherri (who was still associated with Shawn, but apparently had eyes for The Model as well). Hilariously, Sherri insisted that neither man hit the other “in the face” (of course, it didn’t take long for this little “proviso” to be thrown out of the window).

Like the “Rampage” match with Savage, there was a cheap finish (both men got counted out when Sherri “fainted” and caused them to squabble over her outside the ring), but the sold-out crowd at Wembley Stadium was sent home happy when Martel gave them some added comedy when he threw a bucket of water over Sherri to “revive” her (Michaels also got a soaking).

After being humiliated at SummerSlam, Michaels made a serious statement in October when he beat The British Bulldog to become the new WWF Intercontinental Champion (apparently, Shawn had been slated to win that very title from Bret Hart at SummerSlam, until the WWF decided to move it to the UK and have Bulldog promoted as the “star attraction”, putting him in Michaels’ place and having him beat his brother-in-law “The Hitman” for the gold).

The following month at the 6th Annual Survivor Series, Michaels received top billing, as one half of the main event with Bret Hart (who was the new WWF Champion after beating Ric Flair at a house show event. [Flair saw his main event spot slipping away and left the WWF in January 1993 to go back to WCW]). Although Shawn lost the match, both he and “The Hitman” proved that they were capable of justifying being the headline guys, especially following the sudden departure of The Ultimate Warrior (who probably would have been given another WWF Title run had he not parted ways with the company prior to Survivor Series).

In January 1993, Marty Jannetty returned to the WWF to naturally get revenge on his former tag partner. Unfortunately, Sensational Sherri (still managing Michaels and serving as his on-screen “squeeze”) got caught in the cross-fire and had Shawn’s famous long mirror smashed over her head by Jannetty (Marty had been aiming for Shawn and did not intend to “KO” Sherri). Leading in to the Michaels/ Jannetty showdown at Royal Rumble, the WWF commentators debated on-screen as to what Sherri’s agenda would be at the PPV.

Sherri decided on a “neutral” corner while The Rockers fought it out in an exciting match for the WWF Intercontinental Title. Of course, there was controversy with the finish of the bout. Sherri accidentally decked Jannetty with her shoe and Shawn ended up retaining his title.

With the Shawn/ Sherri relationship now officially history, Michaels had a new valet for his match with undefeated “Native American” Tatanka at WrestleMania IX. She was called Luna Vachon and she was wild and unorthodox. It was inevitable that she and Sherri would not be able to co-exist at ringside (Sherri was there to support Tatanka).

Even though Tatanka had got the better of Michaels in a non-title singles match and a 6-man tag, he could not wrestle the IC gold away from “The Heart-Break Kid” at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. Michaels retained the gold (he lost via count-out, but as we all know, WWE championships can only change hands via pin fall or submission) following a great curtain-raiser, which saw Luna jump Sherri after the match and later assault her in the backstage area.

By hook or by crook, Michaels continued to hold on to his Intercontinental Title. Although he briefly lost it to Marty Jannetty (back again for another short-lived run), he won it back soon after.

At King Of The Ring in June, he retained his strap in a good bout against Crush and at that same PPV, he officially unveiled his new associate, a bodyguard called Diesel (Kevin Nash, following a humiliating run in WCW as “Oz” and “Vinnie Vegas”).

Diesel was there for the “muscle”; he was Shawn’s “insurance policy” of sorts. He was instrumental in Michaels retaining the gold over the next few months, particularly at SummerSlam when his interference caused Mr Perfect to get counted out in his IC Title Match against Shawn.

At the Survivor Series in November, Shawn Michaels was the late substitution for Jerry “The King” Lawler in the 8-man tag-team elimination match that pitted Shawn and his “Knights” against Bret Hart and his brothers (Bruce, Keith & Owen). This match had been built around the rivalry between Lawler and Hart (they had fought in a match together at SummerSlam, where Lawler used Doink The Clown to weaken Bret in an “impromptu” match), which meant that Michaels’ association with the “Knights” made no sense (Michaels ended up being the last guy left on the team, and deliberately got himself counted out when he was left in a 3-On-1 situation with the Hart brothers).

Prior to Survivor Series, Michaels had taken a hiatus from the WWF, during which time he was stripped of the WWF IC belt for in story line parlance “not defending it enough” (some people have suggested over the years that Shawn had refused to drop the title, hence the reason for being stripped, although this has never been confirmed and is merely speculation).

In his absence, Razor Ramon (Scott Hall, who joined the WWF in 1992 after working for WCW as the “Diamond Studd”), won a Battle Royal to earn a place in a singles match to decide the new IC Champion. Ramon then defeated Rick Martel in said match to win the vacated strap.

Regardless of how it had come about initially, this situation gave the WWF a ready-made story line when Michaels returned. Wisely, they ran with the idea that Shawn still considered himself to be the “real” WWF Intercontinental Champion, carrying around a duplicate belt on TV.

Meanwhile, Razor was considered the “official” champion, but when things showed no sign of settling down, it was decided that the only way to determine the “undisputed” Intercontinental Champion was to stage a Ladder Match at WrestleMania X, with both IC belts suspended above the ring.

Shawn Michaels had previously competed in a Ladder Match with Bret Hart in 1992, however this wasn’t broadcast on TV and was only witnessed by the live audience and home video viewers. (It should also be noted Stampede Wrestling in Canada had held Ladder Matches prior to the aforementioned WWF one in 1992. However, as far as mainstream viewing goes, Michaels VS Ramon at WM X was the first time the majority of fans had seen a Ladder Match).

With both title belts hanging above the ring, Michaels and Ramon put on a display unlike anything seen in a WWF ring (or any wrestling ring, for that matter) before. Despite the involvement of a real, sturdy aluminium ladder, this was by no means a violent outing. It was more spectacle-based than anything, as Michaels’ combined his superb athleticism with the use of a gimmick that has since gone on to be associated with some of the greatest matches in wrestling history.

That’s not to take anything away from Razor Ramon. He took real risks in there as well and helped make the whole thing work. But despite coming out on the losing end, it was Michaels who emerged as the real star of the match (it was him who took the biggest and most spectacular bumps). As far as Ladder matches go, this was considered to be the “original” and the “standard bearer” (and in the eyes of many, it’s never been topped).

Having officially lost his IC belt to Ramon, Michaels later rebounded when he and Diesel defeated The Headshrinkers (Samu & Fatu) for the WWF Tag-Team Championship, just 24-hours before SummerSlam 1994. Unfortunately, Michaels slipped up at the PPV when he accidentally cost Diesel the IC Title in a match against “The Bad Guy.”

The loss put the wheels in motion for the inevitable Shawn/ Diesel split, which transpired later that year when “Big Daddy Cool” became a fan-favourite and beat Bob Backlund for the WWF Title at a house show.

After winning the 1995 Royal Rumble (albeit under controversial circumstances; Michaels had apparently been eliminated by The British Bulldog, but it later emerged that only one of his feet had actually touched the floor. Michaels then knocked Bulldog off the turnbuckle while he was celebrating and officially won the Rumble), Shawn went on to face Diesel in a somewhat disappointing WWF Title Match at WrestleMania 11. Despite having the returning “Sycho” Sid in his corner, Michaels lost the match following Diesel’s devastating “Jack-Knife” power-bomb finisher.

After being double-crossed by Sid on Raw the following night, Michaels officially became a fan-favourite and had another (somewhat different, but nonetheless exciting) Ladder Match with Razor Ramon at SummerSlam. This time, Shawn came out on top and retained the IC belt (he had defeated Jeff Jarrett for the gold at “In Your House” the previous month).

Two months later, Michaels was legitimately beaten up outside a bar in New York. The WWF acknowledged the incident on television and had Shawn vacate his IC Title. They also (controversially) ran an angle where Shawn “lost consciousness” during a match with Owen Hart and had to be placed on a stretcher and taken out of the arena.

The theme of the story line was that Shawn’s career could be over, but “against the odds” he returned and won the 1996 Royal Rumble to once again earn a place in the main event at WrestleMania.

His opponent at WM was Bret “Hitman” Hart. Bret was now into his third reign as WWF Champion, after defeating Diesel for the title at Survivor Series in November 95’. Hart and Michaels were considered to be the very best the WWF had to offer in 1996 (to this day, they’re still considered by many to be two of the greatest of all time) and were the faces of the WWF’s “New Generation” campaign (The Federation had lost many of their big name stars to WCW by this point and were eager for people to identify them with “real wrestling” and “real athletes”, as opposed to WCW, whose stars they dismissed as being “over the hill” in a series of unfunny “Billionaire Ted” skits). They would be competing in a 60-Minute Iron Man Match, something that had never been seen on WWF PPV (and like the Ladder Match, was again something that the majority of the audience was not familiar with).

The rules of the match stated that whoever had the most decisions when the hour was up, would be crowned the WWF Champion. Michaels (with his trainer Jose Lothario in his corner) and Hart worked superbly together and did innovative exciting things in the ring. However, the match was severely hampered by the fact that for 60-minutes, neither man got a decision, plus the majority of the match was fought on the mat (which caused the live audience to lose interest).

When the match was declared a “draw”, President Gorilla Monsoon declared that the bout should continue until there was a decisive winner. In “sudden-death overtime” it didn’t take Shawn Michaels long to capitalise on a weakened Bret Hart and super-kick his way into the WWF history books by becoming the “Iron Man” and winning his first WWF World Championship.

Indeed, “The Heart-Break Kid” was living his dream and was on top of the world. He could arguably now be called the “greatest” but his road to true “immortality” would be filled with more “road blocks” and controversy than anyone could imagine.

To be continued....

Previously posted on Smash Wrestling:

http://www.firetank.com/smashwrestling/

Has The Show Truly Stopped For Shawn Michaels (Part 1)?: By Matthew Evans (08/05/10)

2010-11-07T12:31:00.000-08:00

On March 28, 2010 at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Phoenix, Arizona, Shawn Michaels (considered by many to be the greatest in-ring performer of his or any generation) competed in what could very-well have been his last match.

Losing an entertaining headline bout to The Undertaker via an extra-powerful jumping “Tombstone” pile-driver, Michaels bowed out gracefully following an incredible 25-year career that had been filled with controversy, incredible highs, heart-breaking lows and some truly tremendous matches and moments for wrestling fans of all generations to remember him by.

Shawn’s last hurrah on that night was relatively low-key. However, the following night on Raw, he was given the time and the creative freedom to speak from the heart, admit to his headline-grabbing backstage dealings with WWE Chairman Vince McMahon and long-time rival (on-screen and off, although they famously “made peace” with each other earlier this year) Bret Hart and thank the fans and all who worked within WWE for their support over the years.

This moving segment also featured The Undertaker, who came out and tipped his hat to Shawn in a show of respect. HHH (Shawn’s long-time friend and “DX” associate) was also there and hugged Michaels on the stage.

Throughout his “farewell”, Michaels insisted that this really was “it” for his career. However, we’ve heard statements like this so many times from wrestlers and wrestling promoters that the term “retirement” is practically now seen as a running joke in the business.

For example, in the pre-Internet era (and before the lid was fully blown off wrestling), I’m sure many people (especially the young fans, who were the main target audience for the WWF at the time) believed that when Randy Savage lost a “Career Match” to The Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania 7, “The Macho One” would never set foot in a WWF ring again. (After all, that was the stipulation and Savage had indeed lost).

However, Macho Man reunited with Elizabeth, married her at SummerSlam 91’ and settled into his new role of colour commentator on WWF Superstars (he also competed in ANOTHER “last match” against Rick “The Model” Martel in a Coliseum Video “exclusive” bout after he had turned face at WM). This was fair enough (not many people would have been aware of the aforementioned Martel match anyway), but then Savage was later allowed to return to action as a competitor to get revenge on Jake “The Snake” Roberts, who had gate-crashed the “Macho Wedding” with a king cobra and a few months later had allowed said-snake to sink its (non-venomous) fangs into Macho’s arm in a shocking angle on WWF TV. Surely if the WWF was doing this “by the book” and honouring its own stipulations, then Roberts would have been suspended and Savage would not have been allowed to become an active competitor again under any circumstances.

The Macho Man situation is the earliest example of “phoney retirements” I can recall and as you probably know, there have been many others over the years (for example, veteran Terry Funk has “retired” so many times that even he has lost track of it all!), including Ric Flair’s “last match” at WrestleMania XXV (ironically against Shawn Michaels). Of course, Flair himself has gone through his share of “last matches”, although most of them have deliberately been done as story lines and nothing more (it became so common that fans eventually decided that Flair would never retire).

The question is, if Shawn Michaels is serious about his retirement, can he stick to it? Remember that “The Heart-Break Kid” also hanged up his boots in 1998 following a serious back injury. This appeared to be the end of the road for him then, but against the odds, he battled back and returned to the ring in 2002 because he still felt he had a lot to offer in the ring (and he was right). There was also the infamous “I’ve Lost My Smile” moment on Raw February 1997 (which will be discussed further later on part 2 of this 3-part column), which led to the WWF playing the “Tell Me A Lie” music video paying tribute to Michaels and his career. So after all this, can we really take his word for it?

I still say that we should have a “wait and see” attitude. I will go into this more later on, but for now let’s look back on Shawn Michaels’ amazing WWE career.

Shawn Michaels made his WWF in 1987 after an impressive run in the AWA (American Wrestling Association, run by Verne Gagne). He was part of the “Midnight Rockers” tag-team with Marty Jannetty and together, they held the AWA World Tag-Team Championship.

Re-dubbed “The Rockers”, Michaels and Jannetty’s run didn’t last long (they were fired after just two weeks, following an incident with other wrestlers at a bar. Michaels later put it down to a misunderstanding and from his account, it appears that some older veterans in the lock-room had it “out” for him and Jannetty and were determined to “test” them). However, they returned in 1988 and soon became one of the top tag-teams in the company.

The Rockers were called “tag-team specialists” by the late commentator Gorilla Monsoon. They were a high-flying, exciting tandem that did things that had never been seen in mainstream wrestling before. Incredibly, they never became WWF Tag-Team Champions (they actually beat The Hart Foundation for the gold at a house show, but because the ring broke, the match was never broadcast on television and their victory was stricken from the record books), but they were always prominent figures on TV and PPV due to their popularity with the fans and their reliability in the ring.

Of course, as with most tag-teams, the time eventually came for The Rockers to go their separate ways. Michaels had always been seen as the more charismatic member of the outfit and was seen as being the better candidate for a run as a mid-card heel. However, credit to WWE, they didn’t rush into things in regards to the split. In fact, they showed patience and let it build slowly over a few months.

There had been “rumours” in the WWF Magazine (which at the time never gave fans an “behind the scenes” info as we were still in a kayfabe era, it was merely a way of the company “stirring the pot” for a future story line, but without actually going through with it yet) that Michaels and Jannetty hadn’t quite been seeing eye-to-eye and this was partly demonstrated at the 5th Annual Survivor Series in November 1991 when Michaels berated Jannetty following a miscommunication in their traditional “Survivor Series” 4-On-4 Elimination Match which led to Shawn getting eliminated. Their relationship also seemed to be on shaky ground when Jannetty showed up for Michaels’ singles match against “The Real World’s Champion” Ric Flair (Flair had recently left WCW for the WWF, and had taken the WCW belt with him) and helped his partner back into the ring after he got knocked out on the floor (Jannetty’s intentions were sound, but by rolling Shawn back into the ring, he actually allowed Flair to get the pin and win the match).

With all this on the back-burner, The Rockers made an appearance on Brutus Beefcake’s “Barber Shop” (interview segment) in January 1992 to “bury the hatchet.” Marty Jannetty admitted fault and said it was time for them to now work together and be the best that they could be. He turned his back on his partner and gave him the opportunity to join him or “walk away.” Michaels chose to join (or at least, he did initially).

Just when it appeared that The Rockers were officially reunited, Shawn turned Jannetty around and super-kicked him in the face. As a stunned crowd looked on, Michaels then grabbed his tag partner and threw him head-first through the “Barber Shop” window (the glass was real, which was why Jannetty got busted open on impact).

As the crowd booed and jeered loudly, Michaels stood defiant and tore up a WWE Magazine article on the team, saying sarcastically, “Is There A Problem With The Rockers? I Don’t Think So!”

From that moment, Shawn Michaels changed his attitude, his look and his style. He was dubbed “The Boy Toy” and took on Sensational Sherri as his manager. He was pompous, arrogant and obnoxious, the sort of wrestler everyone loves to hate. But he was damn good at it, and while he ascended as a star in his own right, poor Jannetty descended into obscurity, save for a few fleeting appearances over the years to start and revive a rivalry with his former tag-team partner.

To be continued....

Previously posted on Smash Wrestling:

http://www.firetank.com/smashwrestling/

2007 Awards: By Matthew Evans (05/01/2008)

2010-07-16T08:07:00.000-07:00

With the year 2007 now in the history books, I thought I’d kick off 2008 with a look back at the last 12 months in professional wrestling.

Indeed, 2007 was a difficult year to be a wrestling fan. While there were many high points, there were a lot of low points as well. WWE in particular really struggled, with the “injury curse” seemingly striking as soon as HHH tore his quad at the now-cancelled “New Year’s Revolution” PPV in January (by the spring, the “curse” was in full effect, with the “E” losing big name talent like Undertaker, Lashley, Mr Kennedy [albeit for a brief period, although he would later get suspended for apparently violating the company's Wellness Policy] and Edge).

2007 was also a tragic year for WWE (and wrestling in general), with many names from the past passing away well before their time. Among them were Bam Bam Bigelow (45), Bad News Brown (63), Mike Awesome (commited suicide, aged 42), Sensational Sherri (49), Crush (44) and The Fabulous Moolah (who at the age of 84, was the only exception to the rule of “early wrestling deaths).

Speaking of tragedy, none was more shocking or saddening than the double-murder-suicide involving Chris Benoit, his wife Nancy (former WCW/ECW valet “Woman”) and their 7-year old son Daniel. In the wake of this despicable and disturbing act, WWE and wrestling came under media scrutiny like never before (as well as government investigation), while Benoit’s fans, friends and co-workers were left reeling at the thought that the normally quiet, respectful and all-round family man could do such awful deeds.

Attempting to pick up the pieces following the Benoit tragedy, WWE tried hard to erase him from the history books, banned his DVD and generally did whatever they could to distance themselves from him and his career accomplishments (and rightly so). The company also strengthened their Wellness Policy and suspended many big name performers (most of whom had prominent roles on TV) as the media hatchet job continued.

The “injury curse” struck again in October, when WWE Champion John Cena tore his pectoral just one week before a major PPV (No Mercy). WWE had no choice but to strip Cena of the title and write him out of angles and story lines immediately (at press time, Cena was still set to miss this year’s WrestleMania).

HHH made his big return at SummerSlam (as did Rey Mysterio), but apparently gaining back “The Game” meant losing Booker T (“The King” reportedly wasn’t too pleased with his move from SD! to Raw or his job loss to Hunter at SS, although it must be stressed that this was just TWO of the reasons why he felt it necessary to leave the company in October and join TNA).

ECW (or at least WWE’s version of it) continued to spiral downwards, with brand names like Sabu and The Sandman receiving their pink slips and Rob Van Dam calling it quits in June. By the end of the year, the whole “brand” had degenerated into a “talent trade” farce with SD!

Chris Jericho’s highly hyped (and highly anticipated) return in November was one of the biggest letdowns of the year. Jericho’s clichés and catch phrases now looked tired and were met with apathy by many in the audience. Plus his performance in his match against Randy Orton at Armageddon proved that it was a mistake to give him a main event spot so soon after returning.

On the plus side, Undertaker and Shawn Michaels stole the show with their exciting scrap during the closing moments of the Royal Rumble (although the rest of the Rumble match and the PPV was mediocre), WrestleMania 23 and Backlash were both top-notch shows, WWE’s UK Tour in April was good fun, CM Punk gave ECW fans their first (and only) “feel-good moment” for the brand when he became ECW World Champion, WWE’s return to the UK in October was another resounding success, the Raw 15th Anniversary Show was a great nostalgic trip down memory lane and the “Tribute To The Troops” was as always, very moving and unique to watch (WWE and Vince McMahon deserve a big hand for that).

2007 was also somewhat of a “mixed bag” for TNA Wrestling. While they finally acquired their 2-hour prime time slot on Spike TV, brought Booker T on board (their biggest acquisition since Kurt Angle and Christian Cage) and developed a highly competitive and exciting Women’s Division of their own, they also wasted time and money on the washed-up likes of Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, The Steiner Bros (although to be fair, they did prove to be quite useful on occasion) and Dustin “Black Reign” Rhodes and paid NFL star Adam “Pacman” Jones a packet to do nothing.

They also adopted a crazy and confusing booking style that deterred even the strongest of TNA supporters. With “monsters” like Abyss and Judas Messiahs, they went into “gimmick overload”, turning almost every match into a thumbtack ridden blood-bath. They booked multiple turns and double crosses and eventually, didn’t even explain to the audience who was the face and who was the heel. They made good use of a veteran like Sting, but turned a REAL star (i.e one who could carry the company when the legends retire) like AJ Styles into a comedy character. They also dropped the ball with Samoa Joe, booking him in a part-worked, part-reality “anti-TNA” angle at the end of the year that will probably only succeed in confusing and angering the fan base even more.

The upside is that TNA did make some real progress in 2007 (for example, the rise of Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, Jay Lethal and others). They did have some great ideas, and they did book some great matches and angles. But if they’re to have a more successful run in 2008, then they need to use restraint, they need to stop giving everything a gimmick and they need to truly understand their audience.

But enough pondering about “What Might Have Been” or “What Could Be”. Let’s get onto the awards!

Wrestler Of The Year: John Cena

Cena-haters everywhere (and there are many) will no doubt groan at this decision, but it’s a decision that I stand by with pride. John Cena was “the man” in 2007, at least in my opinion.
For starters, “The Champ” aided Umaga to the “Samoan Bulldozer’s” greatest match at Royal Rumble. Then he had an enjoyable feud with Shawn Michaels and a strong bout with “HBK” at WrestleMania 23. And how could you deny Cena’s hard work in the incredible Fatal Four-Way Match against Michaels, Orton and Edge at Backlash?

If that’s not enough, then how about Cena getting decent scraps out of lugs like The Great Khali and Lashley? Plus the guy continued to deliver strong and convincing promos (the serious ones more so than the comical ones) and consistently take all the hostile crowd could dish out whilst using it all to his advantage.

It’s a shame that Cena got injured before the year was out, as I feel that he would probably still be WWE Champion now as we speak.

I’ll grant you that Cena didn’t have many “5 star” matches in 2007, but in a year riddled with so many injuries, suspensions and the like, how could you say that about anyone? In 2007, John Cena may not have been the best “wrestler” per se, but he was definitely the hardest worker.

Tag-Team Of The Year: The Motor City Machine Guns

The name may be a bit daft, but Sabin and Shelley are the “real deal” as the say. They were put together almost by accident and their push has largely been dictated by the TNA fans, but there’s still no denying the star power that both men have shown in 2007, simply because they were allowed to “be themselves”.

Seeing the two “young guns” (no pun intended) stand up to the bullies known as “Team 3D” (who were later joined by traitor Johnny Devine) and defend the honour of the X-Division was a highlight, as was their matches against former ECW thugs.

As long as TNA don’t screw it up, “The Guns” should have an even bigger and brighter 2008.

Worst Wrestler Of The Year: The Great Khali

For the 2nd year running, “The Punjabi Nightmare” (boy, is that nickname apt) gets the “honours”, simply because no-one was worse than him in 2007 (no, not even Kelly Kelly).

WWE really fouled up, as not only did they move the lummox back to SD! but they also made him the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion!

The dire results were not surprising to anyone who’d had the misfortune of watching a Khali match in 2006. He was so bad that it was actually a relief to see Batista relieve him of the title!

Thankfully, Khali has since moved away from the main event picture and been put in a mis-matched feud with Hornswoggle. Hopefully, WWE will concur with the fans that Khali is useless and should not be used in 2008.

Babyface Of The Year: Sting

In possibly his final year with TNA, Sting came back, became World Champion and generally helped the product by bringing his knowledge and experience to the table whilst also adapting to the changes of the business (did you ever think you’d see “The Stinger” get driven through a sea of tacks?).

The fans were with him all the way, even when he and Abyss were taking silly gimmick matches to a whole new ridiculous level. Indeed, Sting has that special connection with the fans, which his why he gets this award.

Heel Of The Year: Edge

For the 2nd year running, “The Rated R Superstar” steals this award, simply because he was the guy everyone loved to hate throughout 2007.

Although he didn’t get that highly anticipated feud with Randy Orton, he DID become a WWE World Heavyweight Champion (twice) and even with missing a few months of action to injury, he pretty much carried the SD! brand on his shoulders with his intense promos and good quality matches.

Edge ended the year by becoming the “love interest” of SD! GM Vicky Guerrero and regaining “his” World Title at Armageddon. For “The Edgester” 2007 was a great year to be a bad guy.

Character Of The Year: Jillian Hall

The former “MNM” image consultant and “JBL” valet finally found her niche as a bubble gum pop princess comedy act in 2007 and was an absolute riot.

At first, it was clear that the “failed singer” gimmick had been created to take shots at Hulk Hogan (i.e. his daughter Brooke has tried and failed for the past few years to make a serious impact as the “next Britney Spears”). And true enough, Jillian had her eyes, hair and her overall image altered to look just like the apple of Hogan’s eye.

But WWE realised that every gimmick has a shelf life, and so they extended the spoof act by having Jillian take shots at Britney herself and (and this was the masterstroke) releasing her own Christmas single on iTunes (“A Jingle With Jillian”). Factor in Jillian’s mini-feud with WWE’s real singer Lilian Garcia, along with Ms Hall’s insistence that the fans “love” her singing and you had one of wrestling’s most rip-roaringly funny comedy characters of the year (along with Santino Marella, of course).

Jillian can also do the business in the ring and perhaps 2008 will be the year that her character officially reaches its sell-by date. When this happens, it would be wise of WWE to focus on her in-ring ability and make her a serious contender to the Women’s Championship. But until then, there’s still a lot of fun to be had with Jillian’s failed pop act.

Female Performer Of The Year: Beth Phoenix

While Jillian was on our screens for light relief, “The Glamazon” Beth Phoenix was there to send a message. This message was that women can be tough, beautiful and downright intimidating.
After getting her first run with the company cut short by injury in 2006, Phoenix was determined to make her second big opportunity count.

From the start, she dominated the women’s division and soon wrestled the Women’s Championship away from the improved (but still a little ropey) Candice Michelle. She showed power similar to that of Chyna and the 2002-2003 version of Victoria. At time of writing, she’s still the WWE Women’s Champion.

I’ll agree that Awesome Kong dominated TNA’s “Knockouts” Division as well, but “The Glamazon” was the all-round “total package”. 2007 was a great year for her. She came, she saw and she kicked ass.

Match Of The Year: John Cena VS Shawn Michaels VS Edge VS Randy Orton (WWE Backlash, April 2007)

Back in April 2007, this was my early pick for “Match Of The Year”, a honour that it managed to retain.

Fatal Four-Way matches have a tendency to degenerate into a confusing mess, but this one worked perfectly. Everyone was in the right place and carried out their end of the bargain (even Randy Orton, who really shouldn’t have been there following his shameful dismissal from the WWE’s UK Tour the week before the PPV).

The finish was controversial (Michaels gave Cena “Sweet Chin Music”, causing “The Champ” to fall onto Orton for the pin) and defied logic (both Cena’s and Orton’s shoulders were down), but that’s a minor fault in an otherwise outstanding match.

Worst Match Of The Year: Ashley VS Melina (“Lumberjill Match, WWE WrestleMania 23, April 2007)

While there were probably worse matches than this in 2007, this takes the award purely for being a complete waste of PPV time (and in the case of Melina, Victoria, Mickie James and a few select others, being a huge waste of wrestling talent).

Even with this bout being as short as it was, it was clear that poor Ashley hadn’t mastered even the basics after nearly 2 years with the company. The dreadful action looked that much worse with an abundance of WWE Divas standing around ringside like spare parts.

Deep down, WWE probably knew that Ashley was too inexperienced for the main stage. But she was the latest WWE Diva to grace Playboy and so needed to be pushed to the moon on the biggest event of the year. All while pros like Mickie James and Victoria (who actually said a few years back that she would like to do Playboy, a request which has apparently fallen on deaf ears) played second fiddle.

Feud Of The Year: Undertaker VS Batista

Ok, I’ll admit that Batista’s promos were weaker than cat’s pee and that the feud lost some of its heat after ‘Taker took a few months off to recover from injury, but on the basis of their strong matches at WM and Backlash (and the way WWE booked the whole “respect/ lack of respect” scenario), I have to pick this as my “Feud Of The Year”.

PPV Of The Year: WWE WrestleMania 23 (April 2007)

Not consistently strong like WM 22, WM 21 or many before it, but still an all-round entertaining 4 hours of action. To quote my review at the time, “the show featured an entertaining “Money In The Bank” bout, a fun “Battle of The Billionaires” and two strong World Title main event matches” and also “built well towards the future” (of course, how was I to know that the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion The Undertaker would soon be joining the injured list and that the winner of “Money In The Bank” Mr Kennedy would lose his title opportunity due to injury?)

I’ll also never forget the sight of Vince McMahon being shaved bald and having to face a sold-out crowd (as well as millions watching around the world on PPV) in Ford Field. Say what you will about Vince McMahon, but he truly “took one for the team” there.

Worst PPV Of The Year: WWE One Night Stand (June 2007)

While it wasn’t as rotten or depressing to watch as “December To Dismember”, WWE’s version of a “One Night Stand” was still uneventful, and for any serious old-school ECW fan, rather painful.

“Considering how it was built upon “Extreme Rules” and the like, I found it disappointing that there was no blood, hardly any weapons and nothing really unique about it. Plus the crowd was awful and only solidified the feeling that in many ways, the audience reaction/participation can make or break a show”, is what I said in my review. I stand by those comments today and urge WWE to stop the failed ECW experiment NOW.

With my awards column at an end, I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year. Here’s to 2008 being a great year for wrestling.

Previously seen on Smash Wrestling:

http://www.firetank.com/smashwrestling/

(Late) WWE Royal Rumble 2008 Thoughts: By Matthew Evans (10/02/2008)

2010-07-16T08:04:00.000-07:00

The Royal Rumble has been described as “The Most Exciting 60 Minutes In Sports Entertainment”, but previous “Rumble” offerings have proved otherwise.

Take last year’s for example. Up until the riveting exchanges between The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels during the closing moments, there was nothing else of note to come from the 30-man elimination bout.

With that in mind, it’s worth pointing out that the Royal Rumble is still a unique annual tradition, that unlike Survivor Series (which is essentially “just another PPV” these days), has remained unchanged since its inception in 1988.

Kicking off the under card of this year’s Rumble was a (cough! Ahem!) “Career Threatening Match” between Ric “I Will Never Retire” Flair and MVP.

For an opener, this was good, though it was the usual, predictable “Nature Boy” fare (I should also point out that if WWE insist on having “Slic Ric” cut a Flair promo where he talks about past matches that none of the current WWE audience are old enough to remember, then this “Quest To Retirement At WM” will wear very thin indeed).

The finish saw Flair reverse MVP’s “Play-Maker” into a Figure-Four Leg-Lock for the tap-out victory for “The Nature Boy”. So, Flair’s career lives for another day. Until No Way Out, anyway (oh, come on: Can you really envision Flair losing any of these matches? Can you really see him retiring at all?).

In my opinion, JBL did not look in “wrestling shape” for his grudge match against Chris Jericho (honestly, it’s like the man hopped out of the announce booth and without any training, climbed back into the ring after a near 2-year absence).

Bradshaw’s bout with “Y2J” wasn’t much of a match (it ended before it could really have got going), but the post-match drama was very effective (after getting disqualified for using a chair, a crimson-drenched Jericho ripped into JBL and used some ringside cable to hang JBL from the top rope). Overall, a mediocre match, but the aftermath got me interested in a possible gimmick bout between the two.

You have to be on your toes when it comes to a New York crowd. These guys like to “go against the grain” and be brutally honest when it comes to accepting wrestlers as “one of their own”. But while I could understand their rejection of former 2005 Diva Search Winner Ashley (who got booed even when she sucked up to NY), I couldn’t for the life of me fathom why they would turn on Rey Mysterio.

Perhaps they feel that Rey appeals too much to the younger WWE fans and is no match for the “cool” heel sensation Edge. Each to their own, I guess, but what I DO know is that the hostility they displayed towards poor Rey succeeded in taking away from Mysterio’s underdog plight, as he really needed to have the crowd behind him in order for the Vicky Guerrero “betrayal” to work later on.

It was an entertaining match, although Rey’s timing was a little off on occasion. Edge’s hangers on (Hawkins and Ryder, who have already become one-dimensional) got banished from ringside (how embarrassing is it though when 90 % of the live audience CHEERS two dastardly heels beating on a babyface?), but new SD! GM Vicky Guerrero stuck her neck on the line (literally) and got an (inadvertent) “619” for her trouble.

As Rey froze in horror at what he had accidentally done, Edge finished him off with a stunning mid-air Spear to retain his World Title.

After all the slick video packages and the praise that Raw announcers Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler had heaped upon Jeff Hardy in the weeks leading up to the Royal Rumble, you would have expected to see a true barn burner from Hardy and WWE Champion Randy Orton.

But all we got was a disappointing, typical “Legend Killer” match (you know, chin-locks, rest-holds etc). Hardy took some risks but it was clear from the glum look on his face BEFORE the match that this wouldn’t be his night.

The finish (where Orton hit an “RKO” from out of nowhere) looked great, but overall this was a huge letdown (and despite strong audience reactions for Hardy prior to the Rumble, the atmosphere just wasn’t there on the night). I believe that Jeff can bounce back from this, but I’m afraid that he’ll struggle to get a look in main-event wise after WrestleMania.

The 2008 Royal Rumble match lived up to the hype. It beat the trousers off of last year’s (and some prior to that) and the addition of Michael Buffer was appropriate (although he did screw up when he announced the #2 entrant Shawn Michaels as “The Heart Break Kid” and nothing else).

The action was pacey and exciting and the addition of HOF Legends Jimmy Snuka and Roddy Piper worked well (they weren’t in there long and the fans gave them a nice nostalgic reaction).

The masterstroke came with the #30 entrant. After WWE announced in October that John Cena was looking at 6-12 month layoff from in-ring action (and Cena himself said in an interview that he would NOT be at WM 24 in any capacity), the last man fans expected to see in the Rumble was the former “Champ”.

But that’s exactly what they got. NY’s hostile reaction proved that absence doesn’t necessarily make the heart grow fonder, but as always, Cena battled through the negativity before it came down to him and just HHH.

If it were up to the fans in MSG, then “The Game” would have been “WM-bound”. But the bookers had already worked their magic and Cena was “The Chosen One”. He eventually eliminated HHH with an FU as a stunned audience looked on.

So now it seems that the man who looked destined to miss this year’s Mania’ entirely will be (provided that he beats Randy Orton at No Way Out) headlining the damn thing on March 30. Now who could have predicted that?

Previously seen on Smash Wrestling:

http://www.firetank.com/smashwrestling/

WWE No Way Out 2008 Thoughts: By Matthew Evans (24/02/2008)

2010-07-16T08:01:00.000-07:00

No Way Out may have been built around 2 “Elimination Chamber” matches, but come Monday morning, the words on the lips of most (especially those in the media) would have been “Big Show” and “Floyd Mayweather”.

The returning giant and the Welterweight Boxing Champion had a very convincing “pull-apart” in the ring. Convincing emotionally charged and realistic wrestling angles are a rarity these days, but when they do happen, you as a wrestling fan feel prouder and more hyped up about the business than ever.

Mayweather was supposedly in attendance to cheer on “his boy” Rey Mysterio, but found himself getting a little closer to the action when Show cut a babyface-like promo regarding his return.

Then, without warning, the giant headed to the floor, grabbed the injured Mysterio and dragged him into the ring. Show goaded Mayweather into hopping the rail and “saving” his friend.

Mayweather soon complied, but his security team followed him in and tried to reason with their charge. It wasn’t long before Show gave his much smaller boxing rival an insulting shove. The “Pretty Boy” responded with a flurry of fists to Show’s head (which apparently busted his nose open for real).

As Mayweather and his entourage retreated into the crowd, The Big Show followed but was stopped by Shane McMahon (who had set up the angle after more than a year of negotiations), who tried to reason with Show.

The following night on Raw, Mayweather accepted Big Show’s challenge of a match. WWE later announced that this match will take place at WrestleMania 24 at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida on Sunday, March 30.

The question is will this be a “straight” wrestling match, a Boxing match or a Wrestler VS Boxer match? Long-time fans may recall the debacle that was Mr T VS Roddy Piper at WrestleMania 2 in a “Boxing” Match (where Piper got disqualified for body-slamming T) or more recently at WrestleMania 21 in 2005 when Big Show donned what looked like a giant nappy to face Akebono in a “Sumo Match”.

Simply put, WWE will have to be smart with the booking of this match. It’s possible that both boxer and wrestler could look like fools if they’re portrayed in the wrong way. (Then again, WWE’s careful planning and their execution of this angle thus far suggests that they know exactly how to approach this potentially huge money-making match come March 30).

But No Way Out wasn’t just about a big return and a huge celebrity angle. And it wasn’t just about the “Elimination Chamber” matches, either.

WWE had constructed a solid looking card from top to bottom. Kicking things off was a good ECW World Title Match between CM Punk and the new champion Chavo Guerrero.

The only problem with the match was that the finish felt anti-climatic (Punk got knocked from the top rope and then got drilled with the Frog Splash) and Punk lost favour and crowd support when he broke out the Eddie Guerrero suplexes (WWE should learn from this: Stop the Eddie exploitation NOW. Wrestlers may use his moves out of respect, but at the same time, it looks like a rather low way of getting a cheap pop from the audience).

The SD! Elimination Chamber match was better than I expected it to be. My main concern was that lugs like Daddy V and Khali would slow the pace down and send the audience to sleep.

However, WWE were smart enough to have the two biggest men in the match eliminated first.
Daddy V was sent packing with an impressive jumping DDT onto the Chamber “grid” from Undertaker. Khali was bombarded with embarrassing chants of “You Can’t Wrestle!” and was soon sent on his way after tapping out to ‘Taker’s new UFC-inspired submission hold (Khali’s interpreter, Ranjin Singh was also booted from the side of the Chamber by ‘Taker, and injured his knee in the process).

MVP’s spell in the match was a little disappointing. He got a few near falls, but he was rather swiftly eliminated by (you guessed it) Undertaker (that said, that reverse choke-slam from the top of the Chamber was impressive).

Finlay certainly looked like a favourite when he had a shillelagh (provided to him by Hornswoggle) in hand and was using it to obliterate his opponents. But then Undertaker (who was walking over everybody) put a stop to Finlay’s dominance by hitting him with a painful-looking choke-slam onto the steel grid surrounding the structure.

In the end, it came down to Undertaker and Batista, the two men who started the match and had a killer rivalry last year. Several near-falls later and ‘Taker polished off “The Animal” with a Tombstone that he had countered from a snake-eyes-into-the-cage attempt by Batista.

In another “Career Threatening Match”, Ric Flair toppled Mr Kennedy (by Figure-Four submission). It was predictable Flair fare, with Kennedy working on “Naitch’s” “injured” knee. At times, it was a little dull but at least it was kept short.

After WWE.Com broke the news that Rey Mysterio had injured his bicep in Chile, no one expected him and Edge to have a classic WWE World Title Match. However, under the circumstances (i.e. Rey being essentially a one-armed man), their match was a good effort. Mysterio even broke out some high-flying moves, before eventually falling victim to the always-great-looking mid-air Spear from Edge. Considering the hype it had received, John Cena’s WWE Championship Match with Randy Orton should have been much better. It did have its moments, but Cena’s timing was off on occasion and the finish (Orton slapped the referee and got disqualified just like that) was appalling (how many times have we seen wrestlers push the referee into the ropes to “crotch” their opponent, or drag them out of the ring to prevent a count? All of a sudden, one slap is deemed bad enough to warrant an immediate disqualification? Fair enough if WWE and wrestling in general wants to have clearly set-out rules; but they should at least stick to them and not amend them depending on the match or the booking of a certain wrestler [i.e. Orton’s cowardly heel character).

Closing out the show was the final Elimination Chamber match, this time for the Raw brand. This was superior to the SD! one earlier on, although both were great matches in their own right.

JBL (who still doesn’t look to be in “ring shape”) was the first to be eliminated, but he didn’t go quietly. Upon leaving the structure he dished out chair shots to all of the remaining participants (Umaga took the nastiest shot [I thought WWE were trying to cut down on chair shots to the head?]).

Umaga recovered from the blow and went on to smash Jericho through a chamber with his ample backside. Later on, everyone ganged up on the “Samoan Bulldozer” and Jeff Hardy eliminated him with an incredible “Swanton” from the top of the Chamber.

In the end, it came down to HHH and Jeff Hardy. Hardy had strong fan support, which suggests to me that he should have been included in the WWE Championship picture at WM (instead, he’s going backwards and being put in the “Money In The Bank” Ladder Match).

Although Jeff went down to “The Game”, he didn’t look like a loser. Hardy kicked out of the Pedigree (not an easy task) and hit HHH with a “Twist Of Fate” onto a chair.

In the end, though, HHH hit Hardy with a chair-assisted Pedigree and won the match. Now “The Game” is going to WrestleMania 24.

WrestleMania 24 now looks to be taking shape. It’s also worth pointing out that No Way Out was WWE’s strongest PPV in a long time. Rather than building up to the “next Raw” or the “next SD!”, NWO actually achieved its goal of building interest in WM. And after watching it and knowing some of the matches that will take place at “The Granddaddy Of Them All”, I personally can’t wait for March 30.

Previously seen on Smash Wrestling:

http://www.firetank.com/smashwrestling/