Wrestling's Last Hope

The Indy Corner (11/02/12) Featuring An Awesome Eddie Kingston Interview

2012-02-11T11:06:00.000-08:00

Here is this weeks episode of The Indy Corner that was part of the Marks For Xcellence podcast and if you want to hear Sir Ian & Duckman talk all things WWE & TNA then go to http://mfxpodcast.com - Anyway, on this weeks edition of The Indy Corner Duckman & I talked Dragon Gate USA and the announcement of Low-Ki vs. PAC for the first time ever in Miami, we talk Kevin Steen's official debut to ROH TV on SBG, also I do my best to do a review of last weeks New Scene Wrestling Xtreme Limits show and to top it off, we have a GREAT interview with the first ever CHIKARA Grand Champion Eddie Kingston. I hope you all enjoy the show.

The History of The PWG Tag Titles Vol. 2 (Review By Shaun Nichols)

2012-02-10T13:26:00.000-08:00

History of the PWG Tag Titles – Disc 2

X-Foundation vs Super Dragon & Excalibur

The challengers aren’t messing around here and want to regain the titles, they hit stereo dives on Excalibur & Super Dragon before they can even get in the ring. A double legsweep and a moonsault from Scott Lost gets them a couple of quick two counts before the champions can settle into the match. Lost misses his superman spear on Excalibur to change the tide, and Super Dragon is quick to take advantage by hitting a psycho driver even though he’s not the legal man. The champs have control on Scott Lost and regularly attack Joey Ryan in the corner which stops Lost being able to tag out on a number of occasions. There is a pretty strange sight in the background where you can see an old lady leading an even older lady past ringside. Did they stumble into the school hall by mistake? I need to know.
Back to the match and Lost is still trying to survive and make the tag, Dragon hits a double stomp from the top for a close two count. Lost rebounds by finally hitting his superman spear and hitting a superkick on Dragon and now he can make the long awaited tag to Ryan. Ryan goes wild with a couple of suplexes for two counts, and we get the start of the big moves as the match moves into the final minutes. Among the highlights being the champs get pinfall attempts with a curb stomp and a brainbuster, while Lost hits an ace crusher before tagging out. Ryan gets double teamed and looks to be in serious trouble though mis-communication allows him the opportunity to tag out, Scott Lost isn’t interested and walks away. Somehow Ryan manages to roll up Excalibur for the win while Dragon got himself distracted. Fun match. ***1/2

Joey Ryan vs Scott Lost (Winner gets the PWG Tag Titles)

After winning the titles, Ryan had offered a belt to Lost but this kind gesture was not accepted. Here they would face off in a Ladder match and the winner gets to take the titles and choose a new partner. Lost as the heel tries to attack Ryan before the bell but gets thwarted. Ryan brings a ladder into play and then goes off to get a second ladder. Excalibur on commentary noted that Joey isn’t very bright because there was no reason not to use the ladder in the ring. Very true. This allows Lost to take the advantage, and among the offence Lost suplexes the ladder from the top rope onto the prone Ryan. Ryan also gets busted open pretty early on. More ladder fun is not good news for Joey, but eventually Scott thinks that he’s weakened Ryan enough to climb the ladder. He’s wrong and he’s cut off, Ryan hits a spinebuster onto a ladder but it doesn’t lead to an extended period of offence. They are trading big moves now, Lost goes for a spin kick but gets caught with a german suplex onto a ladder in a nice spot. More failed climbing attempts, Lost accidently hits referee Rick Knox with the superman spear, he then hits Ryan with the same move. He goes to climb but Joey again stops him and as they battling on the top of the ladders, Ryan hits a DDT to knock out Lost. Ryan then claims the titles but the ref is still out. The First Family (Frankie Kazarian & Babi Slymm) attack Ryan. The belts are left with Lost and he’s declared the winner. After the show he cuts the classic heel promo saying he won the match on his own and he’s moving past Joey Ryan. This isn’t a particularly flashy Ladder match with the ridiculous highspots, but I found it to be a good match with a decent story to tell. ***3/4

Scott Lost chooses his new Tag Team Partner

The First Family are expecting Lost to choose Babi Slymm but Scott goes for Chris Bosh. Kazarian wants to know if Bosh as ever wrestled in PWG before. This is funny as Bosh is a regular, Kazaraian also wants to know if he’s got a good win record. Bosh claims it’s decent and although Kazarian & Slymm aren’t happy they accept Lost’s choice. Let’s hope for Chris Bosh, that they win their first match.

Scott Lost & Chris Bosh vs Super Dragon & B-Boy

B-Boy actually chose Super Dragon for this match at the last minute based on the fact they had teamed on a couple of occasions before including a win over the Briscoes. Dragon dominates Bosh early but when he goes for a rolling kick, Bosh comes out of it with a single leg crab in a very nice spot. The challengers do dominate the early exchanges, especially with Dragon hitting his stiff strikes and kicks to the back. After a few minutes the champs finally get to enjoy a bit of control over B-Boy that enable them to secure a couple of two counts. Dragon hits a big dive onto Bosh on the floor as B-Boy hits a shining wizard on Lost. Fans are now starting to get expectant of yet another title switch. Lost tries to turn things round with a dive from the top rope onto Dragon on the floor, but neither team can really control things. A curb stomp from Dragon get’s blocked and soon he’s receiving his own double stomp from both Lost & Bosh for a close two count. B-Boy hits a shining wizard and a brainbuster for yet another two count. B-Boy & Dragon hit a double stomp on Bosh and then Super Dragon goes for the pyscho driver. Joey Ryan makes an appearance to break things up. Wasn’t he feuding with Lost? Lost hits Dragon with an ace crusher and a superkick for a two count and then gets the win when he makes Dragon tap to the sharpshooter as Bosh stopped B-Boy making the save. ***1/2

Afterwards Joey Ryan explains his actions saying that Super Dragon is the most selfish man in PWG and that he was getting his own back on Dragon for costing Ryan a match against Samoa Joe. He then challenged him to a 60 minute match on the next show., fans approved that one.

For the record he went onto lose 4-3 in overtime.

I Need A ROH Show - February 7th 2012

2012-02-08T02:08:00.000-08:00

Kyle Patin and Zach Grigg of iNeedWrestling.com discuss the latest episode of Ring of Honor TV, the upcoming iPPVs, Tommaso Ciampa, tag team wrestling, and much more.

India - Who Knew? By Jimi James

2012-02-07T20:30:00.000-08:00

Above: Ring Ka King wrestlers, Scott Steiner, Magnus, Abyss & Sonjay Dutt

The Great Khali is back in WWE. He made his comeback at the Royal Rumble and has a spot in the Elimination Chamber. No, he's not back because of fans petitioning for him to come back. He isn't back because WWE is lacking without his mic skills and in ring ability. He's back because WWE might be a little worried.

Ring Ka King debuted in India and I think it may have turned heads in WWE just a bit. Just a short time ago, WWE had interest in India. India was an untapped market for wrestling that the native people have been begging for. But the WWE never did anything with India and chose to remove interest from establishing a market there. Shortly after they let Khali go without renewing his contract.

Interesting that the week Ring Ka King debuts, Khali returns at the Royal Rumble. Now this is all speculation on my part. I've read statements from some who believe Khali is back in WWE because of Ring Ka King, but nothing confirmed. I should say this for those that don't know, Ring Ka King is a TNA project.

As I write this, Ring Ka King has aired four episodes, crowning a new Heavyweight champion in Matt Morgan. I have watched all four episodes, and I cannot endorse the product enough. It is refreshing to watch. I say it's refreshing because it's not often one gets to watch a new wrestling company start fresh on a grand scale.

Now, being that this is an Indian wrestling company, part of the show is in the native tongue of the country. But, this is not an issue. The commentary is primarily Indian, but the passion of the announcers, particularly Joe Baath, makes the language of wrestling universal. I stated while watching that I like the announcers for Ring Ka King better than any other announce team going today, even though I don't understand a word.

Ring Ka King also does a great job of using big name veterans to grab prospective viewers attention. But, the best part of Ring Ka King is the use of native talent and giving a shine to talent that wasn't allowed to get over elsewhere. Names like Isaiah Cash, Hollywood, American Adonis, Zema Ion, Dr. Nick Dinsmore, Bulldog Hart, the Sheiks, and others have a chance to be stars like they should be. What, you don't recognize those names? I guarantee you know who they are.

The best part of the episodes is the audience. Again I say refreshing. The crowd is passionate about wrestling just like we are. Americans cut promos in the ring and the fans are trying to understand. But, Indian fans know, it's not what you talk about, it's what you do in the ring. For example, Chavo cut an in ring promo to which the crowd was indifferent. When the Sheiks interrupted and attacked Chavo, the crowd went nuts as Chavo fought them off. Also, in India, Scott Steiner can put his hands on a heckler in the crowd. Now who doesn't want to see that. In wrestling, the crowd makes the show, and India gets it.

I didn't detail the episodes on purpose. I want those that read this to go and check out Ring Ka King for yourselves. Watch the episodes and think to yourself as I did, Man, WWE blew I huge opportunity here. Sorry WWE, Khali is great, but not great enough to stop this momentum. TNA is cornering the market in India, and WWE let it happen.

UFC 143 - Duckman Gives Us His Thoughts

2012-02-07T12:21:00.000-08:00

I know you usually visit WLH to read my ramblings on pro wrestling. Not today. Today I’m rambling about my other favourite pastime/hobby/sport. Mixed Martial Arts. So if you’re not a MMA fan or you don’t want to read my opinion Saturday’s UFC 143, and in particular the fallout from the fight for the interim Welterweight Title between Carlos Condit and Nick Diaz, then the following ramble probably isn’t going to interest you. Fear not loyal WLH readers, normal service will be resumed next week. For the rest of you still with me, let’s do this!

For those of you who only know me through my writing here or the Marks for Xcellence Wrestling Podcast (www.mfxpodcast.com) allow me to give you some background. I’ve been a fan of MMA since around 2005/6. I, like millions of others, became aware of the UFC thanks to the first few seasons of the Ultimate Fighter TV show. I had obviously known of the promotion before this but I didn’t really understand what MMA was. It wasn’t until TUF opened my eyes to the sport and I discovered it wasn’t actually the barely legal human cockfight that the media portrayed it to be.

I followed UFC but I wasn’t really much more than a fan of the big name guys and the guys from TUF. I was a casual fans. I was still predominantly a wrestling fan. My interest in the sport really picked up when Brock Lesnar joined the ranks of the UFC. I guess that’s not an usual story. UFC has claimed a large chunk of the wrestling fan base who are aged between 18-35 and are no longer interested by the product that WWE or TNA produce. No matter what Vince tells you, they’re in competition and the UFC are winning.

So, due to my borderline obsessive/compulsive mindset, just like with wrestling or any other sport I follow, as soon as I became a full time fan of MMA I had to find out as much as I could about the sport. I studied hours of old fights. I bought as many DVDs of PRIDE, UFC and other less well known promotions as I could. I devoured articles, books, podcasts and any other MMA media I could get my hands on. I haven’t missed a UFC show in years. I educated myself on what MMA was, who was important to the sport and also learned as much as I could about different styles of fighting.

Over time I was able to get a grasp on the finer points of the sport and in turn my enjoyment of what was going on in the cage increased tenfold. I don’t class myself as an expert by any means but I wouldn’t call myself a casual fan either. I feel confident enough to speak on the subject in a public forum but just don’t expect me to step into the octagon any time soon! So, hopefully that little explanation buys me enough goodwill from those of you still reading to comment on Condit vs. Diaz and to look at the reaction of MMA fans to the outcome of this closely contested fight.

At UFC 143 Carlos Condit defeated Nick Diaz by a unanimous points decision(48-47, 49-46 and 49-46) to become the interim Welterweight Champion and put himself in line for a PPV main event fight against current long time Welterweight Champion and all around UFC superstar – Georges St-Pierre. GSP is currently out with a knee injury and therefore the UFC moved this top contenders fight to an interim Title fight. The thinking behind this fight was simple from a marketing point of view – the fans want to see Nick Diaz against GSP for the Title. This was the fight the enigmatic Diaz would need to win to get his original fight with GSP back on the cards. He famously screwed up the first one by failing to appear for contracted media appearances and was pulled from the fight by Dana White.

While a lot of people inside MMA believed Condit had all the skills necessary to beat Diaz, the majority of those fans who idolise Diaz (and believe me, they really love the guy), saw this as a fight Diaz would dominate and win just as he had against BJ Penn in his last UFC fight. I had my doubts given the difference in age and size between Penn and Condit. BJ is still a tremendous fighter but he’s not in his prime and he’s nowhere near as big as Diaz/Condit. Plus Condit has a whole different style to BJ and he’s coached by Greg Jackson, one of the best in the business.

Still, most pundits and fans predicted a Diaz win and the match they all wanted against GSP later in the year. I predicted the same. That didn’t happen. Diaz was on the end of a defeat that many of his fans (and he personally) felt was unfair. I’ve now watched the fight three times and I feel those who are claiming Diaz was ‘robbed’ or that Condit spent the fight ‘on the run’ aren’t being objective or looking at this fight from the perspective of anyone else apart from Nick Diaz. Which is understandable, they are his fans after all. Still, it feels like no one out there is putting across an alternative point of view. That’s what I’m going to do.

I understand the appeal of Nick Diaz. He looks like a real street fighter. He talks like one. He doesn’t play the political or promotional game. He pisses Dana White off all the time. You have to respect him because he goes into the cage, he smashes people and he gets the hell out. There’s a lot to admire about Nick Diaz. He’s extremely talented, extremely marketable but he’s also extremely unpredictable and volatile. A promoters worst nightmare and dream come true, all wrapped up in one enigmatic dude from the mean streets of Stockton, California.

If there’s anyone the hardcore UFC fan base would love to see kick the hell out of the pretty boy, corporate good guy GSP, then it would be Nick Diaz. Many people see Diaz as a true fighter and a guy like GSP as an athlete turned fighter. A guy who has great skills and athletic ability but not a true warrior like Diaz. I can see why some people feel that way. There’s just something about Diaz that makes you want to watch. He’s an entertainer even when he doesn’t try. A true one of a kind.

Which seems to be the reason why so many fans are crying foul of the decision and calling for Carlos Condit to be kicked out of MMA for being a coward who wouldn’t stand and trade with a street fighting brawler. This is where my annoyance with the whole reaction to the fight comes to a head. I just don’t understand the pig headed and utterly ridiculous comments that Condit ‘ran’ for the entire fight and that he should have fought the kind of Diaz likes and wanted. THAT is what people are saying. They’ve been saying it for days. I’ll just let that logic fart linger under your nose for a moment or two. Give you time to truly appreciate the scent.

Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t agree with the scoring of the fight. I had Condit winning 3-2 (for anyone interested I thought Diaz took rounds 1 and 5 and Condit the rest) and the two people I watched the fight with also had Condit winning – one of them had him winning 4-1 which is how two of the judges in Las Vegas scored it. Then again I’ve spoken to friends and acquaintances online who had Diaz winning the fight by the same kind of margins. It was that kind of fight – a close, close decision between two high level fighters.

That’s why the claim Diaz was ‘robbed’ doesn’t sit well with me. I could understand if Diaz had entered a dominant performance. If he’d scored take downs, landed combinations of strikes, maybe a few submissions attempts throughout. If he had Condit in trouble during the fight then perhaps, perhaps you could claim Diaz was robbed. He didn’t do much of any of that on Saturday. He didn’t do much of anything.

In fact Diaz spent more time yelling at Condit to stand still so he could hit him than he did implementing any other kind of attack other than his bog standard march forward and swing a lot of punches. When that plan failed Diaz had nothing else to bring to the fight. Something his fans have failed to acknowledge in any way. To them it’s all Condit’s fault, or Greg Jackson’s fault, or even Dana White’s fault. If they could find a way to blame GSP I’m sure they would. Anyone but Nick Diaz. A similar reaction from Diaz himself was evident when he ‘retired’ from MMA after the decision. One of the most high profile examples of toys being thrown from a pram that I’ve seen in the UFC.

As for Condit? The man has been labelled a coward, a fake, someone who ran away during a fight. All complete and utter bullshit. Condit came into the biggest fight of his career to win. He didn’t come to put on an entertaining show for Diaz and his fans. To coin a wrestling phrase, he wasn’t there to put Diaz over. This is a sport. You win first. Which is exactly what he did. Condit and his team did things their way. He didn’t get dragged into the kind of fight Diaz wanted – he was smarter than that. Condit implemented the kind of game plan that has received praise when used by the likes of Frankie Edgar or Dominic Cruz – namely great footwork, combinations of strikes, constant movement, never backing straight up and always keeping his back off the cage.

Most importantly of all, and the stats from the fight back this up - bar one round, Condit landed more significant strikes than Diaz. Think about that for a moment. The guy who ‘ran’ hit the guy he was ‘running’ from more often over 25 minutes. In a sport like MMA the stats don’t always tell the true story but in this case they do more than support Condit’s win. They reinforce my belief that over the course of the fight his striking was more effective and he controlled the octagon far more than Diaz was able to. It’s important to remember that aggression and take downs aren’t the only criteria by which a MMA fight is judged.

I know fans get emotional but the reaction to Diaz losing has been nothing short of staggering. So many people complaining that they didn’t get the stand up war Diaz wanted. So many people labelling Condit as something he’s not, simply because he fought a much smarter fight than anyone else who has fought Diaz before. If this fury was directed at the judges and their scoring then maybe they would have a point. While I feel Condit winning was the right decision, I’m not convinced by how the judges got to that verdict. It was a razor close fight and unfortunately the scoring of the judges did not reflect that.

This was a close fight. A really close fight. To say anyone was ‘robbed’ is to fail to understand any of the finer points of fighting and especially a failure to understand just what a close fight this was. Just because one guy walks forward swinging punches doesn’t mean he wins the fight. Conversely just because one guy circles away and sticks and moves doesn’t mean he loses the fight.

But let’s just all take a breath and think for a moment. Why on earth should Carlos Condit fight in a style that is suited to his opponent? I don’t remember anyone who follows football complaining that a team man marked their best players. Or a cricket fan complaining that the other team used spinners on a pitch that took spin. If a full back in Rugby is weak under the high ball then you can damn well expect a barrage of high balls to be coming his way from the start. This is how sport works. This is how you win.

Call them game plans, tactics, whatever you want. The fact remains that in professional sport it’s not about who is the coolest, or the toughest, or the most exciting. It all comes down to winning. Nothing else matters. When the stakes are as high as they are at the elite level (and Diaz and Condit are certainly the elite) you need to accept that the entertainment factor and what the fans want is going to go out the window. Carlos Condit came to win at UFC 143 and win he did. He might not have made any new friends but he showed that a good game plan, a focused mind and a high level of skill can beat anyone on any given day.

I just hope some of the fans who are calling this the end of the UFC as they know it will have taken the last few days to get things in to perspective. This is not about entertaining us. If you truly believe all the crap fighters talk before a fight about ‘standing and banging’ or any other empty bravado then you’re being worked better than all the John Cena fans who are worried he might ‘embrace the hate.’ Promos are for promotion, they don’t mean that’s how the fight is going to play out.

At the end of the day I can see arguments for either man winning the fight. I still believe Condit won a very close decision. I just can’t get behind the idea that fighting smart is somehow wrong and an insult to everyone associated with the sport. Nick Diaz is an awesome fighter, a legend of the sport and one hell of a cool guy but just because he’s exciting and charismatic doesn’t mean he automatically wins every fight he’s in. Just because he moves forward doesn’t mean he’s controlling the octagon.

Still, that’s the great thing about sport – there’s always something to discuss, dissect or dismiss on Monday morning! Personally I’d love to see a rematch between them before GSP is back in November. There’s a readymade story there for Diaz and his fans. Plus it might just finally put all this anti-Condit sentiment to bed once and for all. I hope so because a talented fighter like Carlos Condit deserves much more respect than he’s currently getting. I’m sure even Nick Diaz and his loyal fans would agree with that…maybe!

Thanks for reading. Remember you can follow me on Twitter @WLHDuckman

Until next time…

Peace

Duckman

PWG History of the Tag Titles Vol. 1 (DVD Review By Shaun Nichols)

2012-02-06T21:25:00.000-08:00

This DVD review was taken from http://wlhdvdreviews.wordpress.com

PWG History of the Tag Titles Vol. 1 (January – April 2004)

In the next few weeks I’ll be reviewing all 8 volumes which cover every tag title in PWG’s history from the crowning of the first tag team champions to the most recent title change which happened in December 2011. I am a big fan of PWG especially over the last couple of years but I haven’t seen much beyond that so I’ll be interested to see what the first few discs bring. And with that in mind off we go……….

Homicide & B-Boy vs American Dragon & Super Dragon

This is the final of the tag team tournament known as the ‘Tango & Cash Invitational’ to crown the inaugaral tag team champions. The fans were surprisingly quiet going into this which surprised me. The match started with Super Dragon trading reversals with both Homicide & B-Boy as Danielson stood watching. Danielson teaming with SD seems quite the strange team, when he finally tags in he fakes a lock up a couple of times and then tags Super Dragon back in, he’s in fully comedy mode here. Moments later he does start to take this a bit more seriously when he outwrestles and starts to stretch B-Boy but the fans still aren’t reacting to this. Match does start to pick up when Super Dragon throws Homicide into several rows of chairs, fortunately nobody was sitting there and then a number of fans started to pick them back up ignoring what was happening in the ring. B-Boy does a get a hot tag but it doesn’t last long enough and it’s a case hits one big move and then it’s over to the other team. Danielson hits a big dive onto B-Boy on the floor but gets hit by a shining wizard seconds later by B-Boy and that’s the last we see of Danielson. Back in the ring Super Dragon gets nailed by a Copkilla by Homicide for the three count. Strongstyle Thugs are your first PWG tag champs, sadly no-one particularly cared **3/4

X-Foundation (Joey Ryan & Scott Last) vs Homicide & B-Boy

Joey & Scott are the babyfaces and are managed by So Cal Val, it’s very interesting to see the character of Ryan back in 2004 compared to his ‘sleazy’ character in the last three years or so. This is the first title defence for Homicide & B-Boy, first half of the match is frankly not that great. The champs do get to enjoy a fair bit of control, using lots of submissions and quick tags to get the heat on Joey Ryan. This works quite well because Scott Lost has a flashier offence which works best when he gets the hot tag. Homicide takes over and hooks on a STF on Lost but fortunately for the challengers he makes the ropes. B-Boy gets hit with the Extinction Agenda which makes some fans think were getting a 3 count, well not yet. Homicide somehow dragon legsrews Lost over the top rope, the champs hit Ryan with the Steiner Bulldog but Lost breaks up the pinfall attempt. He also blocks an attempted Copkilla, B-Boy charges Joey Ryan but gets caught with a very nice small package for the title switch. Last few minutes were very good but it did take a long time to get there. ***1/4

Christopher Bosh & Quiksilver vs X-Foundation

Can the new champs make it past their first title defence? The challengers attack before the bell and use a spinebuster and the Hart Attack clothesline to get a quick couple of 2 counts, the challengers dominate Ryan for the first few minutes but he finally hits a jawbreaker to give him the chance to tag out. Scott Lost has unfortunately been knocked off the apron so Ryan’s forced to stay in. Ryan hits a pretty sweet superkick to finally make the tag, and Lost hits Bosh with a clothesline and a huracanrana for a couple of 2 counts. Bosh responds with a low blow and a single crab but Ryan makes the save. Champs seem in total control, but Lost misses a superman spear and then seconds later accidently superkicks Ryan which leads to a Bosh pinfall. This was a much quicker paced match than the first two but only lasted 8 minutes, the bigger story was Ryan walking out on his partner afterwards. **1/2

Super Dragon & Excalibur vs Christopher Bosh & Quiksilver

The early exchanges are between Dragon and Quiiksilver, Dragon dominates these but Quiksilver manages to avoid the major offensive moves included the dreaded curb stomp. They tag in their respective partners but the challengers still manage to control the vast majority of the early stages including Dragon finally hitting a double stomp on the unlucky Quiksilver. Quiksilver is forced to take a number of stiff kicks, submission attempts but hits an Ace Crusher to make the tag to Bosh. Champs decide the best way forward is to cheat through distractions and this allows Quiksilver to hit his own double stomp on Excalibur. In the few minutes, both teams enjoy periods of control in which they earn two counts but can’t get the all important three count. The challengers hit a top rope elbow/senton combination but they still can’t put away the champions. As we approach the last couple of minutes it seems destined that we will see yet another change of the guard. Excalibur hits a Tiger Driver for a very close 2 count, before Quiksilver finally succumbs to a double stomp and a psycho driver from Dragon. ***3/4

Also on the matches apart from the first match, you have the option to either listen to the standard crowd audio or the alternative commentary track which I would recommend. Listening to Excalibur commentating on his own tag title victory is particularly entertaining.

PROGRESS Press Release

2012-02-06T14:27:00.000-08:00

FINAL LINEUP FOR DEBUT SHOW FROM
UPSTART LONDON PROMOTION

US INDIE STAR COLT CABANA JOINS LINEUP FOR “CHAPTER ONE”

"Do you remember when wrestling was awesome? So do we."
PROGRESS Wrestling is delighted to confirm the final lineup for their debut show,
“Chapter One: In The Beginning”, in March 2012.
The cream of the UK wrestling scene, plus internationally-renowned independent pro
wrestling superstar COLT CABANA, will compete in an 8-man tournament to crown the
first PROGRESS Champion.

In addition, PROGRESS has signed up to become the home of the new BWC Progress
Division. The British Wrestling Council (BWC) is the organisation that oversees pro
wrestling in the UK, and runs accredited training schools all over the country.
Although the current BWC Scarlo Champion XANDER COOPER defends his title at
student shows all over the country, PROGRESS will be the only promotion without an
affiliated training school to feature championship defences and at least one match
showcasing BWC students - the new stars of UK wrestling - on every card.

Final card for PROGRESS Chapter One: In The Beginning
Colt Cabana vs "Bollywood Dream" RJ Singh
Zack Sabre Jr vs “Party” Marty Scurll (as seen in the tabloid “Take Me Out” scandal!)
"UK Luchador" El Ligero vs Noam Dar
"Showstealer" Nathan Cruz vs Colossus
BWC Scarlo Championship match:
Xander Cooper (champ) vs "Dazzling" Darrell Allen vs Zack "Diamond" Gibson
PLUS
Huge main event for the inaugural PROGRESS Championship!
-----
continues...
PROGRESS Wrestling is the brainchild of award-winning stand-up comedian and
presenter Jim Smallman, and talent manager Jon Briley. Both are long-time wrestling fans,
and have always talked about putting on a show featuring the best wrestlers around; in the of Summer 2011 they stopped talking about it, and put the wheels in motion to actually make it happen.

The agenda is simple:
- to showcase the amazing talent working in the UK
- to move the public perception of wrestling on from Big Daddy, Giant Haystacks et al from
the 1970s and 80s 'World Of Sport' era
- no gimmicks
- no foam fingers
- no kids!
- no PG-rated, sponsor-approved 'comedy'
- affordable tickets
- to put on great wrestling for fans, by fans, in front of a loud and insane crowd.
-----
DETAILS AT-A-GLANCE
Sunday March 25th 2012
PROGRESS Chapter One: In The Beginning
The Garage, 20 Highbury Corner, London N5 1RD.
Doors 3pm. Bell time 4pm.
Tickets from £7-£15, Front Row tickets include a free Ltd Edition t-shirt.
Tickets available from:
www.progresswrestling.com
www.ticketweb.co.uk (tel 0844 847 1678)
www.hmvtickets.com (te 0843 221 0100)
Web: www.progresswrestling.com
Twitter: @ThisIs_Progress and #thisisprogress
Facebook: Progress Wrestling
YouTube: ProgressWrestling
-----
Colt Cabana will also be recording a live edition of his incredibly popular podcast “The Art
Of Wrestling” on the evening of Saturday 24th March. The podcast has hundreds of
thousands of subscribers and is the most popular wrestling podcast on iTunes.
Venue and time TBC, please follow @ThisIs_Progress on Twitter for updates!
-----

The Indy Corner (02/02/11) Featuring An Interview with Lionheart

2012-02-04T14:21:00.000-08:00

This week on The Indy Corner Stu Rodgers & Duckman return with all good things independent wrestling. We talk WrestleReunion from the past weekend. Stu does a report from FightClub: Pro's first show of 2012 'Resolution' from January 27th and then the guys discuss the match announced by ROH for the Tenth Anniversary Show - ROH Tag Team Champions The Briscoes vs. The Young Bucks. To end The Indy Corner Duckman conducts an awesome interview with top Scottish wrestler Lionheart Adrian McCallum who has wrestled for both TNA & the WWE amongst many British promotions. Check out The Indy Corner in full below.

Check out this great career highlight video of Lionheart

Ring Ka King - Wrestlings New Horizon By Alex Kirkham

2012-02-03T04:20:00.000-08:00

As wrestling goes, India has always been the nut that hasn’t been cracked as regards a promotion. WWE and TNA have both had tours of some kind to the country, but that never quenched the thirst for wrestling by the Indian public. This was a problem, that Jeff Jarrett, and his shrewd wrestling mind would soon come to deal with.

In the latter half of 2011, Jarrett along with backing from TNA, and input from names like Dave Lagana & Dutch Mantell, pitched an idea, for a weekly television wrestling show, filmed and shown in India to help plug the gap the country had as regards wrestling for their country. With the idea approved, and picked up by world renowned TV company Endemol, all that was left now was to put together a multi-cultural roster fusing together the best international talents with India’s very own breed of stars.

As the December 2011 taping dates drew nearer, Jarrett along with Lagana and Mantell, began to form a roster of talent, reaching from former TNA talent, WWE “Future Endeavours” and Indy stars looking to make a bigger name for themselves on a more global stage. Amongst the most high profile names were 3rd Generation star Chavo Guerrero, Former WWE tag champion and Hart family member Harry Smith, prominent Indy stars Joey Ryan and Jimmy Rave & former WCW Heavyweight Champion Scott Steiner. With a plethora of talent, the company was definitely well equipped to put on some high quality matches for their new audience.

Endemol were 100% behind the project of Ring Ka King, and in conjuncture with TNA, they went about promoting the companies inception and upcoming debut as an unmissable event. Amongst their plans, were to erect around 50 advertising boards around the city and country, to get India behind this new company, and make the country excited, because Pro Wrestling was finally India bound.

December soon rolled around, and Ring Ka King went into production for the 1st time. Based in the city of Pune, India, the company worked off a similar basis as its parent company TNA. A smaller arena, where by capturing the atmosphere and intensity and making it widely visible to the viewing television audience. To add that extra hype to the show, the extra dazzle it would need, they enlisted Indian cricket legend Harbhajan Singh to host the show. Singh, who is regarded as a modern day sports god in his country, obliged and became the shows host, a decision which would inevitably benefit the company.

Come the debut show, the atmosphere was electric, frenzied, and described by one person as “near to riot”. The fans were onboard, the roster was packed, and the booking had been done. Only thing left to do, was kick off this new promotion. As the show kicked off, Ring Ka King showed why it was different from other promotions. We opened with Bollywood dancers, filled the ring, bright colours, loud music and an excited buzz in the air. They were showing that they weren’t just another company, but one who respected the country they were in and were giving their fans what they wanted to see.

The 1st thing that this fledgling company need to do, was to announce a tournament for the newly created Ring Ka King Heavyweight Title. Involved were star names like Matt Morgan, Nick “Eugene” Dinsmore, Scott Steiner and Magnus. They competed over a number of weeks, to crown the inaugural champion, in matches which would put India’s finest against the aforementioned superstars. In a tournament that is currently on-going in the Ring Ka King episodes, I can guarantee you some exciting, high paced matches between some of your favourite stars, and a few surprises along the way.
Aside from the WHC title, we saw the debut of an Indian star in the making. Mahabali Veera was in action against the experienced head of Nick Dinsmore in the 1st round of the Tournament. As soon as his music hit, he was instantly over with the crowd. I will go out on a limb, and say that it was the best pop of the night. They were behind every punch, every suplex and every moment of this young mans TV wrestling debut. He seemed to be very ring aware, and showed no fear about a more experienced opponent in Dinsmore. He handled himself well, did each move to perfection and won via Thrust Spinebuster. This guy is definitely one to watch in Ring Ka King, and I definitely tip him for bigger things both within this company and elsewhere in the world.

Now to the important part for me. Ive been a wrestling fan all my life, grew up with it as a passion, not just entertainment or a sport I watch. Ive seen many changes within the industry, various era’s and companies come and go on various occasions. But with Ring Ka King, I get a really good feeling that its breaking boundaries, both culturally and visually. Its showing that Indian wrestling fans, are passionate and devoted like any other around the world. It bring an immense sense of happiness for me, to see TNA and Endemol, breakthrough with this company and provide India with the building blocks for their very own wrestling dynasty. Not just to send their wrestlers abroad to the classically larger companies, but to build them up, and use them in their own organisations.

All I can say, is long may Ring Ka King continue.

Any comments, post them below or hit me up on twitter @WholeKirknShow

A Disappointed Duckman - A Royal Rumble Rant

2012-02-01T11:32:00.000-08:00

I don’t like to be negative or rant about wrestling, but today? Today, you’re going to have to afford me the time to do both...

As a 30 year old wrestling fan I’ve grown accustomed to being disappointed by WWE over the past decade. I don’t mean just on the big angles or matches. I mean a general sense of malaise with everything WWE do. I can’t shake the feeling that they aren’t really taking this seriously anymore. That their long term planning and star building ability has been kicked to the curb in favour of week to week booking and the constant rehashing of tired characters and over used angles.

Then there’s the worst trait they’ve picked up recently - ruthlessly pointing out the flaws in their own performers and then repeating them ad nauseum. They do it so often that it isn’t long until the only thing you can remember about the guys that they want you to spend money on watching, is how much they suck according to WWE.

This isn’t what I signed up for. It isn’t what I grew up watching as a kid in the early 90s and then in adulthood grew to study closely. I find endless hours of fascination in the whole spectrum of pro wrestling, from today, to the past, wrestling in other countries and all the amazing things in between. I watch WWE today and I just don’t get it. It’s as if WWE’s (Vince McMahon’s) view of what wrestling is has become so warped and so confused that when I watch, I just don’t see wrestling any more. At least a version of wrestling that appeals to me. I understand and appreciate that a lot of people love WWE and will think I’m talking shit. That’s cool for you guys. But not for me.

Over the last ten or so years I’ve felt increasingly isolated from the WWE Universe (that term alone makes me want to vomit because it’s so damn corporate and fake). I’ve stuck with it because it’s what I know and what I love. But there is just so much about WWE that annoys and frustrates me. If it’s not their child orientated programming, then it’s their intelligence insulting booking that drives me nuts. If I do everything I can to ignore those issues then their terrible announce team usually fills the annoyance gap right to the brim.

The frustrating and damaging stop/start pushes of so many talented young wrestlers just adds another layer to my ever growing sense of disconnection with WWE. There are about 3 wrestlers I actually give a fuck about in WWE these days and that is not down to a lack of talent on the wrestler’s part. WWE has some exceptionally talented people on its roster. The problem is how WWE book, present and basically fuck with a huge chunk of their roster for reasons that I struggle to understand. That and the fact they just don’t give a fuck about the fans anymore. They really, truly don’t.

Now, before you all stop reading and write this article off as the ranting of a IWC mark, you should know I’m not just here to bitch and moan for the sake of it. I’m not trying to ‘put myself over’ or project a sense of my own insider knowledge about the inner workings of WWE. There are thousands of other websites where you can read that shit. That’s not me.

Who am I? I’m just a life long fan of professional wrestling who, with each passing year, is rapidly approaching end game – that fateful day when I finally walk away from WWE for good. I’m not talking about casually watching Raw now and again or following the results online with the intention of coming back to watching full time. I’m talking full amputation from WWE and their programming. Cold turkey. Sever all ties and don’t come back.

I just don’t enjoy this fucking show anymore. I really want to. I want to care. I want to see the spectacle, the characters, the compelling stories and all the things that I’ve loved about wrestling for over 20 years. But when WWE produce a show as boring, lacklustre and completely run of the mill as the Royal Rumble 2012 was, I’ve got to question why I’m giving up my time and more importantly my money to this company.

Overly dramatic? Probably. But man, it’s tough to sit back and watch something you love so much being done so fucking badly. It’s tough to watch something you know could be so good, be mishandled to such a degree. Maybe I’m just getting too old for this shit, I don’t know. All I know is after watching the first WWE PPV of the year and the official start on the Road to Wrestlemania – I now care less about everything they do than I did before the show. Not a good sign.

As a show the 2012 Royal Rumble was more like an extended infomercial for Wrestlemania (well Cena vs. Rock) interspersed with the occasional wrestling match, as opposed to what it should be - the 2nd biggest PPV show of the year with one of the most exciting matches in WWE history at its centre! To steal a phrase from the music business, “it was all filler and very little killer.” The matches on the show were entertaining but they struggled due to injuries, strange booking and a focus in the WWE Title match on an angle that was happening with HHH the following night! I thought only TNA used PPV to hype their TV show? Guess it’s different rules when HHH is involved.

The most worrying part of all was the Rumble match itself, which laid bare for the whole world to see, the ridiculously small amount of stars WWE has on their roster in 2012. Oh sure, everyone who works for WWE is a SUPERSTAR (apart from CM Punk who is allowed to call himself a wrestler) but if the tepid, near silent and frankly bored reaction of the crowd to nearly three quarters of the guys in the Rumble is the reaction a superstar gets - I’m calling myself a fucking superstar from this day forward. I’m pretty sure I would have got a bigger reaction than Alex Riley did coming out at number 2 in the Rumble this year.

Now I accept and actually enjoy the fact that some lower card guys are going to be in the Rumble match. It’s simple maths that causes that. It’s actually always one of the interesting parts of the Rumble – will someone have a stand out moment in the Rumble that moves them up in the eyes of fans and WWE management? This year though? I swear to God I thought I was watching an extended version of Wrestling Challenge from my childhood. It was an endless parade of jobbers. Not one of them over. Not one of them put over by the announcers. One after the other, walking out to a chorus of yawns and questions like, “who is he again?” The Rumble match really shone a spotlight on how badly WWE have dropped the ball in recent years when it comes to making people care about their wrestlers.

Most tellingly of all was the fact that Mick Foley, ‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan, Road Dogg, Jerry Lawler and Booker T got the biggest reactions to anyone else in the Rumble match other than home town hero Randy Orton. I know the nostalgic pop is usually one of the loudest and I did enjoy all these guys in their roles in the Rumble match (although Foley’s talents were wasted). I just can’t help feel that those fans were cheering out of sheer relief to actually see guys who were presented as stars during their careers.

I’m left searching for reasons why Duggan can come back and have a crowd going bat shit crazy and yet The Miz (who headlined WM last year) and was booked as the ‘work horse’ of the match alongside Cody Rhodes was greeted with mild indifference and eliminated as an absolute afterthought by someone I can’t even remember right now!

Here’s the deal – I was really pleased and surprised to see Sheamus win the Rumble this year. I think WWE made the right move in using the Rumble win as a way to sky rocket a career. Plus the man is going to be in one of the main events of Wrestlemania. That’s the top of the wrestling world. It’s thoroughly deserved as well. Sheamus has been the most over babyface in WWE outside of CM Punk and Randy Orton for months. He has a great look that stands out, he’s entertaining on the mic and his in-ring work is really starting to shine through. A big moment in the career of a guy who WWE could build around for the next half a decade.

Yet there I was as I read report after report of Sheamus ‘breaking through’ or having ‘finally made it’ and I found myself thinking, “break through? Finally made it? The guy is a TWO TIME WWE CHAMPION” and therein lies the problem. Nothing is important anymore...not even the Royal Rumble.

Wins, losses, Titles, stipulations. They’ve all been abused and run in to the ground by WWE and their inept booking for so long that, just like their ‘superstars,’ no one takes any of it seriously. No one really cares. That’s why over the last ten years their PPV buy rates have all trended downward.
As I watched the Rumble unfold all I could think of was, “this is so camp. This is all about silly moments and comedy characters. Where’s the stars? Where’s the fucking heat? Why did I pay £15 to watch Foley/Santino in a sock off?” That’s not a knock on Foley or Santino but seriously, they’ve got a real living legend and one of the most popular guys ever in WWE with Mick Foley and they do THAT with him? I just don’t see the point. Then again, maybe I’m not supposed to.

I’m not saying this was the worst PPV of all time. Far from it. The Rumble show had some highlights. The ten minutes CM Punk and Dolph Ziggler got to work where the focus wasn’t either on John Laurinaitis, or the commentators talking about John Laurinaitis, or the commentators talking about John Laurinaitis and his impending angle with the mighty and much more important than the WWE Title (judging by this show) HHH.

I thought Daniel Bryan put on a tremendous performance and has been doing so for weeks now since becoming World Champion. I thought it was fantastic to see Kharma back in a WWE ring. I literally laughed out loud at everything Ricardo Rodriguez did. The final few minutes between Jericho and Sheamus were brilliant, up there with Taker/HBK in 2007 in terms of working the ending of the Rumble match to mean something really special.

Yet today, when I look back at the Rumble, I don’t feel anything. I don’t feel excited for Sheamus – which I should but I just don’t trust WWE to do what’s right with him. I already feel like I’ve seen enough promos and interviews with Cena and The Rock to last me a lifetime and that match is still 2 months away! I know HHH coming back to Raw is more important than Dolph Ziggler. That was made abundantly clear last night. I know that I got my hopes up that this Royal Rumble would be something special and in the end it was decidedly average.

One thing I don’t know? How much longer I’m going to keep watching this company. Jaded, over analysing, full of my own self importance, taking things to seriously? Sure, I’m probably all of those things and more. But whatever it is I know one thing for sure - if WWE produces a Wrestlemania that is anything like the show I watched this weekend, I’ll be hitting the kerb quicker than Evan Bourne after a wellness test. 20 years is a long time to break off a relationship but shit, WWE and Vince McMahon really aren’t giving me much of an option.

I hate to write pieces like this but sometimes you just gotta vent. I hope you don’t all feel like someone just crapped in your cornflakes after reading this. In an effort to cheer you up, don’t forget to check out the Marks for Xcellence Wrestling podcast where you can hear me being much more fun and positive about all things professional wrestling every single week!

The show is also the home to Stu and his AWESOME Indy Corner. We’ve got some big things planned for 2012 with MFX and The Indy Corner, so don’t be left behind, check everything out at http://www.mfxpodcast.com. Remember you can follow me on Twitter @WLHDuckman.

Thanks for reading and until next time...

Peace

Duckman

iNeed a ROH Show - January 31, 2012

2012-02-01T11:27:00.000-08:00

Kyle Patin and Zach Grigg of iNeedWrestling.com Kyle Patin and Zach Grigg discuss the latest episode of Ring of Honor TV, the iPPVs in March and much more.

Sheamus Wins The 2012 Royal Rumble

2012-01-29T19:53:00.001-08:00

So I watched the Royal Rumble match from about number 5 onwards, I was excited to an extent to see who would show up in the match, didn't think a surprise entrant would win but just wanted to see who turned up. The guys not on the WWE roster who appeared were Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Road Dog Jesse James, not really the impact of Kevin Nash & Booker T from last year but it's WWE and more often than not, they disappoint.

As for returns, we had The Great Khali, Randy Orton which wasn't so surprising but what was..the return of KHARMA. Not seen for a while as she announced live on RAW some time ago she was pregnant. Kharma eliminated Michael Cole at 31:25 and Hunico at 31:55, but Dolph Ziggler eliminated Kharma from behind at 32:02.

So, The Miz & Cody Rhodes spent the most time in the match, and on the downside, all 3 commentators took part in the Rumble, yes, Lawler, Booker T and even Michael Cole. It was funny if nothing else seeing Cole in there.

The business side of things, the final 7 in the ring were Miz, Rhodes, Ziggler, Big Show, Orton, Jericho & Sheamus. And the following is the order of elimination for those 7 Miz at 45:40 (Show), Rhodes at 45:40 (Show), Ziggler at 45:55 (Show), Show at 47:11 (Orton), Orton at 47:16 (Jericho) Jericho at 54:54 (Sheamus).

I would think Sheamus will go on to challenge Daniel Bryan for the WWE title at Wrestle Mania, but you never know I guess. So the road to Wrestle Mania really starts now, there is the Elimination Chamber PPV on the way so we will all be wondering, predicting what the WM card will be - For me, who will CM Punk face is the top of my list, I'm hoping for Stone Cold Steve Austin but it's probably going to be Chris Jericho.

Hit me up on twitter @WLHSTU

TNA LIVE in Manchester, UK - James Shaw Reports For WLH

2012-01-29T06:19:00.000-08:00

All Pictures provided by Martyn Nolan @BeansOnToastUK on twitter

This show was the first TNA event I've been to a pretty good was it was!
Jeremy Borash started the show along with Christy Hemme, they talked about who
ever is the loudest gets free backstage passes, didn't see him give a single one
out at any time of the night but still...

1. Austin Aries beat Alex Shelly and Mark Haskins to retain the X Division
title.

Great opener, they announced Haskins as 'Manchester's own' which was quite funny when he was announced as Nottingham's own on Thursday and he's actually from
Oxford! Anyway great opener, didn't think much of Haskins, AA is a great worker
and a great heel

2. Crimson beat Douglas Williams

Douglas got a big pop, didn't think much of this match, the crowd were hot but it was kind of obvious that the home town guy was gonna loose when he was up against Crimson. It was like squash match in a way because every move Doug tried to do, Crimson countered it, think this was possibly the worst match on the show. But got to see Doug so its not all bad.

Above: Douglas Williams before his match

3. AJ Styles beat Gunner

AJ got a great reaction, he was one of the guys who I wanted to see most so it was great to see him in a pretty good match, gunner plays the heel pretty well, AJ tried to do the styles clash several times but it was countered by Gunner every time, AJ won with paylay kick.

4. Mickie James and Tara beat Gail Kim and Madison Reign in a non title
Match.

This was my chance to have a look around the arena, there was a lot of people there, apparently there best Manchester attended show on record! I noticed that Dixie carter sits by the sound desk next to the ramp and watches the whole show! Also she meets and greets with the fans from when the doors open until the show begins, that's what you call fan appreciation! I tweeted her during this match and I got sent a direct message which was pretty cool I thought!

INTERMISSION

5. Bobby Roode beat Samoa Joe in a TNA World Heavyweight Championship Match.

This was from when Joe won that Xplosion Tournament, this was being taped for Xplosion a week on Wednesday in the UK Borash said. This was a solid match, Joe is incredibly over in the UK, if he was this over in Orlando, he would still be main eventing every week instead of tagging with Magnus. This was possibly my favourite match of the night.

Before the main event Dixie Carter came out to thank the fans.

Above: Kurt Angle choking out James Storm in the main event

6. James Storm, Sting and Hulk Hogan beat Kurt Angle, Bully Ray and Bobby Roode.

The build of the match was exactly like the Nottingham show was where Roode comes out saying its a handicap match then Hogan comes out to the biggest pop I have ever heard! Bully Ray came out first to cut an awesome promo, he looked very tanned, I think he spent to long on the tanning beds. he was talking about how shit England was and especially how shit Manchester was and he ranted of the Manchester United fans and also the Manchester City fans, he then said there is only one true great team in this country, he then revealed a Liverpool top, and said 'God bless Steven Gerrard and God Bless Liverpool' great promo! Kurt Angle then came out to a pop, he was meant to be a heel but he was pandering to the crowd like a face. Storm, Sting and Hogan got massive pops. The Match wasn't a give star classic but it was a very good match that used Hogan and sting quite a bit in it! After the match the 3 faces stayed in the ring for about 5 mins while hogan posses for each side of the crowd.
On the whole a great match and would recommend anyone to go and see a TNA house
show.

Above: Sting, Hogan & Storm celebrate after the match

Biggest Pop
1. Hogan
2. Samoa Joe
3. Sting or Storm or AJ Styles

Biggest Heat
1. Bully Ray
2. Bobby Roode
3. Gunner

Thanks,
James Shaw :)

"If I could be serious for a minute..." by KiD

2012-01-25T12:35:00.000-08:00

Professional Wrestling has always been a predominantly Caucasian athlete's sport. That may be a bit blunt, but it's true. It's been a lot of Black Professional Wrestlers throughout history, but how many have actually succeeded? An okay amount, but not enough.

I'll start by showing what the usual Black Wrestler is given to work with. Followed by the few who broke the status quo, and were able to blaze trails and put a positive light on our race in this amazing sport.

There's Happy Dancing Black, Angry Black, Rapper Black, Gangster Black, Ignorant Black, Conspiracy Theorist Black, and All Around Stereotypical Black: (early) Kofi Kingston. (early) Viscera. R-Truth. MVP. Marcus Cor Von. (early/2002) D-Lo Brown. Ernest "The Cat" Miller. The Godfather. JTG/Shad Cryme Tyme. Mark Henry. Virgil. New Jack. Saba Simba.

In no way am I discrediting these guys. I'm well aware most of them are some of the most talented wrestlers of all time, and were never given a major title run to show for it. While some of them are/got over and took themselves a step forward, they took the rest of us back 2 steps. The only name that actually made it to World Champion status on that list is Mark Henry, and it took him 15 years.

Now Here is a list to be proud of: Bobby Lashley. Booker T. Brother Devon. Bad News Brown. Elijah Burke. Elix Skipper. Ernie Ladd. Ron Simmons. Jazz. Amazing Kong. Jacqueline. (current) Mark Henry. Rocky Johnson. The Rock. Ron Killings. Tony Atlas. Shelton Benjamin

It seems like nowadays, if you want to see great Black Professional Wrestlers, mainstream is not the place anymore.

Here is a list of American Indy guys that are pushing us forward: AR Fox. Xavier Woods. Jay Lethal. Navy Blue. Uhaa Nation. Sugar Dunkerton. Willie Mack. Kenny King. Scorpio Sky And last but not least, the FUTURE of our business! Freight Train!

Any comments, hit me up on twitter @TheyCallHimKid

Royal Rumble Memories With Duckman

2012-01-25T10:28:00.000-08:00

Above: Ric Flair after winning the WWF world title following his win in the 30 man Royal Rumble in 1992

You can always tell it’s a new year when two things happen. The first is the desperate attempts by friends and colleagues to get fit, stop smoking or stick to some other life improving resolution they know they will drop by mid February. The second is the reason you’re all here reading this - the Royal Rumble is looming large on the horizon. The Rumble is my personal favourite WWE PPV show of the year and the official start of the road to Wrestlemania!

Everyone loves the Royal Rumble. If you don’t then I’m afraid you’re a moron. Reasons to be excited? Well, it’s the first WWE PPV of the year. It’s one of the few remaining money drawing gimmick matches in wrestling today. There’s always a surprise or two in the match itself. But most importantly, for me at least, the Rumble signifies the start of the three months of the year where Vince McMahon gets his eye on the ball and starts booking WWE with a view to drawing his only big PPV number of the year at Wrestlemania.

This year is the 25th anniversary of the Royal Rumble. Or the 24th if you work in the WWE Nostalgia/Propaganda Department and your job is to remove the 2004 Rumble from history because…well…a guy won that year that we’re not allowed to talk about. Let’s just call him Canadian Wrestler X and move along. No need to bring the mood down. Let’s get excited people! IT’S ROYAL RUMBLE TIME!!

I’ve always loved the Royal Rumble and in recent years it’s become one of the few highlights of the year in WWE for me.. It’s one of the few PPVs that they haven’t diluted or messed with too much down the years. In recent years Summerslam has lost a lot of its shine as a special event. The Survivor Series is just another WWE PPV with an elimination tag match somewhere on the card to pay lip service to the name. Aside from Wrestlemania, all that remains as a reminder of the glory days of the ‘big four’ PPVs is the Rumble. Ah the days of the ‘big four PPV.’ The days before we got a PPV every month with ever diminishing returns both financially and creatively. How I miss thee.

For me personally the Royal Rumble ticks all the boxes for what I like about a professional wrestling show; excitement, unpredictability, surprises, good stories, star making performances and the chance to countdown along with a big clock! Plus, when it’s all done and dusted, there’s the added bonus of the winner of the Rumble picking which World Champion he will face at Wrestlemania.

With something like that at stake everyone watching the Rumble match can emotionally invest because their favourite wrestler might just win it and get that big Title shot at the biggest show of the year. Of course, we all know deep down inside there’s really only 3-4 guys that have a realistic shot at winning and the rest will just be over the top rope fodder. Still, it doesn’t spoil our enjoyment of the match itself. That is testament to the power of the Royal Rumble.

If you don’t believe how important the Royal Rumble is check out some of these past winners:

Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Shawn Michaels, Brock Lesnar, The Undertaker, HHH, Batista, John Cena, Rey Mysterio, Edge, Randy Orton. Just some of the stars that have won the Rumble in the past or used that win to rocket themselves to even greater stardom in WWE.

Granted, winning the Royal Rumble doesn’t automatically mean you will be a main event star. See : “Del Rio, A – 2011,” for further evidence that while winning the Rumble is a big deal, the push and execution of the Title run after it is probably more important in the long run.

I’m going to look back at some of the best moments in Royal Rumble history. Jim Duggan’s win in the first event in 1988 and Big John Studd’s win in 1989 are now seen as historically important, but at the time there wasn’t the same importance or interest in the Rumble match as there is today. WWE certainly hadn’t come up with the idea to link the winner to getting a Title shot at Wrestlemania (this wasn’t introduced until 1993). The Rumble was a special attraction match but it was really in the following years that the Rumble became a significant event on the WWE PPV calendar and the official start of the road to Wrestlemania.

As with anything in WWE in the late 80s to early 90s if Hulk Hogan wasn’t involved it might as well have not happened. This was true of the Rumble which kicked into life with Hogan’s wins in 1990 and 1991. In terms of match quality these Rumble matches don’t really stand the test the time. Although Ted Dibiase and his then record 44 minute run was a real highlight of the ‘91 Rumble and a shining example of just how damn good a worker Dibiase was. These Rumbles were a sign of things to come with the Rumble being used to reinforce Hogan’s star status but it would be the following year where the Rumble win created a whole new star for the WWE audience.

Many long time fans call the 1992 Rumble the greatest Royal Rumble match of all time. I’m one of them. ‘92’s Rumble was different from previous years as the winner would become the WWE Champion. What made ’92 so special? One man. THE man. ‘The Nature Boy’ Ric Flair.

If you want to see one of the most amazing displays of cardio, selling and workrate by Flair look no further than the ’92 Rumble. You should all know the story – Flair entered the Rumble at number 3 and after nearly an hour of getting his ass handed to him by the roided up freaks of early 90s WWE, he was able to outlast everyone, including Hogan and became the WWE Champion for the first time.

The execution of this match is Rumble match booking perfection and if you haven’t seen it yet (a crime in itself) then you need to go and hunt it down. This was the first time the Rumble was used as a star making vehicle (something WWE would repeat in the following years to varying degrees of success). It’s true Flair was a star elsewhere (and had been for decades by this point) but in WWE terms winning the Rumble and the WWE Title made Flair a true WWE star.

The Rumble win for Flair was capped off with one of the best ‘bug eyed’ promos I think I’ve seen from Naitch. ‘With a tear in my eye…’ The passion and intensity just pours off the screen as Flair celebrates big time and as he is joined by Mr Perfect and Bobby Heenan a true classic Royal Rumble moment was created.

1993 and 1994 saw the match quality of the Rumble dip again. Yokozuna’s win in 1993 and the double winners of Bret Hart and Lex Lugar in 1994 were headline grabbing moments but if you’re looking at the Rumble match and WWE in general in the mid 90s there’s one man who stole the spotlight with his leather ass-less chaps and more sequins than an entire season of Dancing with the Stars – the show stopper, the icon, the main event – ‘HBK’ Shawn Michaels.

It was becoming more obvious in the mid 90s that the Rumble could be used to really sky rocket someone in terms of their push and the man with the afterburners on in ’95 was Michaels. He made Rumble history in ‘95 by entering at number 1 and winning the whole thing. The finish to this Rumble match was tremendous with Davey Boy Smith throwing Michael’s over the top rope and celebrating a win – his music even played.

But Michaels (in a display of athleticism that was truly ground breaking in WWE at the time) held on to the top rope, had one foot touch the floor, skinned the cat and returned to the match to shove Davey Boy off the middle rope where he was celebrating and claim the win. A fantastic moment and one of the most memorable Royal Rumble finishes in history.

Michael’s won again in 1996 to equal Hogan’s back to back wins at the start of the decade but it was 1995 that really announced the arrival of HBK as a main event superstar in WWE. Even all these years later a part of me always wishes Davey Boy had won that damn match because as a huge British Bulldog fan at the time, it would have made my life complete!

Michaels was ‘the man’ when it came to Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania matches in the mid 90s but there was another extremely talented Texan who was waiting in the wings to become the biggest star the WWE has ever seen. The man who would break records every time he stepped into a Royal Rumble match – ‘The Texas Rattlesnake’ Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Everyone now looks back at the ’96 KOTR win and promo as the night Austin was made a star but winning the 1997 Rumble and the way he won it was, in my mind, the night that Stone Cold truly arrived as the next big main event player in WWE. ‘97 saw Austin tear through the competition, scoring ten eliminations during the match (a record at the time) and is famous for the expertly booked finish where Austin was eliminated but was able to sneak back into the ring and eliminate Bret Hart.

Austin matched HBK and Hogan by becoming the third man to win back to back Rumbles in 1998. This Rumble was basically booked around Austin with every wrestler in the company trying to take him out before the match under the orders of Vince McMahon. While Austin’s win was huge, it was Mick Foley who made Rumble history as being the only man (and I doubt anyone else will do this again) to appear in the Rumble match as three different characters.

Austin would go on to beat Hogan and HBK’s record by winning the Rumble in 2001. This Rumble is a personal favourite of mine simply because the WWE’s talent roster at this point was so deep and the company was riding high both creatively and performance wise in the ring. Plus Austin wasn’t the only one breaking records in 2001 as Kane eliminated 11 wrestlers to claim a record that still stands today. The 2001 Rumble also had one of the best celebrity involvements ever in WWE with Drew Carey entering the Rumble and then eliminating himself when confronted by the monster Kane!

In the years since 2001 we’ve had some truly memorable Royal Rumble moments. From HHH’s return from serious quad injury to win in 2002 to Brock Lesnar beginning his ascent to the top of the WWE in 2003 with his win. Through to Rey Mysterio setting the record for the longest time spent in the Rumble at 60 plus minutes and winning against all the odds in 2006.

Over the last few years the Rumble has become know as the ‘night of the surprise return,’ well, that’s what we call it in my house. In recent years we’ve seen John Cena and Edge both make shock returns from injury and win the Rumble match. Cena’s return in 2008 was one of the best kept secrets in wrestling in recent years and the reaction of the crowd to his return was phenomenal.

I’m not even scratching the surface of awesome Royal Rumble moments here. How about the unbelievably brutal elimination of the Big Boss Man in ’92? The dude was somehow able to hang himself on both the top rope and the bottom rope, while nearly snapping his spine in half on the ring apron! How he walked away from that bump I will never know!

Or how about some of the quickest eliminations in Rumble history? Guys like Bushwhacker Luke, Warlord or more recently The Miz and Santino can all claim to have spent more time getting to the ring than they did in the Rumble match itself!

Or what about 2005? Cena and Batista royally screwed up the finish when instead of Batista throwing Cena out for the win, they both tumbled over the top and to the floor. Cue hilarious scenes of an absolutely furious Vince McMahon charging to ringside to berate both men, only for him to tear his quad while climbing into the ring. The image of Vince sitting on the mat, red faced and bug eyed, yelling and pointing at both guys before rolling out the ring and hobbling to the back is one that will stick with me for years.

So what about this year? What can we expect from the 25th Royal Rumble match? Surprise returns? Superstar making performances? Excitement? Suspense? The chance to countdown along with a big clock? Folks, you can expect all that and so much more!

It’s the Royal Rumble! No matter how shitty the booking, no matter how thin the roster, no matter how cynical the audience are, when it’s Royal Rumble time - all that goes out the window and we are once again captivated by an event unlike any other in wrestling and one that can make and break careers in a single hour! It’s the start of the road to Wrestlemania. If all that isn’t enough to get you excited, you probably shouldn’t be watching WWE anymore!

No doubt you guys have your own favourite Rumble moments. Plus there’s so many questions - who are you picking to win this year? Who is making the deep run to establish themselves as a superstar? Will we get a surprise return or two? If you’ve got answers to those questions I’d love to hear them, either here or on Twitter.

Thanks for reading again guys and I hope you all enjoy the Royal Rumble when it rolls around at the end of the month. Remember, if you enjoy these rambling posts on WLH you can actually listen to me ramble on a kick ass podcast!

That’s right, The Marks for Xcellence wrestling podcast is going from strength to strength and with The Indy Corner and Stu now an official part of the show things are only going to get better! Be sure to check out the show over at www.mfxpodcast.com and you can also follow me on Twitter @WLHDuckman.

Until next time…

Peace

Duckman

iNeed a ROH Show - January 24, 2012

2012-01-25T09:39:00.001-08:00

Kyle Patin and Zach Grigg of iNeedWrestling.com Kyle Patin and Zach Grigg discuss the latest episode of Ring of Honor TV, the CHIKARA invasion angle, last weekend's house shows, and much more.

MFX Podcast Episode 5 Including An Interview with MK McKinnan

2012-01-24T11:25:00.001-08:00

Above: MK taking it to Adam Cole at FightClub: Pro's Project Mayhem Night 3 (Picture credit goes to Jamie Simpson)

Here, in case you haven't heard it yet is episode 5 of the Marks For Xcellence podcast with Duckman & Sir Ian which also includes The Indy Corner with Stu Rodgers who along with Duckman interviews the awesome MK McKinnan, the rising star of British pro wrestling.

My Top 6 Royal Rumbles By Azan Saigol

2012-01-22T08:51:00.001-08:00

The Royal Rumble is less than 7 days away and I thought what better way than to share my favorite Rumble moments/ Matches. This indeed is my favorite pay per view and every year I look forward to it. Now let’s get right into it.

Number 6:

The “Perfect” Royal Rumble:

The 2002 Royal Rumble couldn’t have been more “Perfect” the Rumble was hyped around the Undisputed title being defended for the very first time on Pay Per View and the return of the King himself Triple H. The 2002 Rumble had a great start to finish, after having Goldust and Rikishi entering as number 1 and number 2 respectively they battled it out until the finally a few superstars had come and gone glass shattered and out came Stone Cold Steve Austin. After Austin opened a can of whoop ASS then came Triple H, Undertaker, Kurt Angle and the late great Curt Henning “Mr Perfect”. This rumble was great to see Austin and the game beat the hell out of each other and Maven get his spotlight after Dropkicking Undertaker then getting his ass kicked all over Atlanta.

Number 5:

The Three Faces of Foley:

The 1998 Royal Rumble was simply one of my favorite Rumble’s because of watching Foley appear In the rumble three times. I thought it was perfect as he first started the match with Chainsaw Charlie (Terry Funk) who swung chairs on Foley like crazy. Other than that I thought this match was great because of the fact that Stone Cold Steve Austin he wasn’t at the main event level yet, but the outcome of this Rumble was probably the most obvious of any Rumble in the history of the event. There was nobody else. Even though he suffered a brutal neck injury at SummerSlam 1997, he returned to the ring three months later at Survivor Series 1997 and by the time we got to the Rumble he was looking close to 100% again. Besides the Rumble there was of course the Casket Match its self, at the time “Burning” a casket was unheard off. To see the casket go up in flames was absolutely crazy and everyone loved it.

Number 4:

The Kai-En Tai Run In:

The 2000 Rumble was the PPV that set the stage for the Rocky HHH Feud. It was held at Madison Square Garden and this match was notable for Taka Michinoku and Funaki coming out several times in the match and interfering, as they were angry they were not included. Taka took a nasty elimination at one point, receiving a concussion after his head smacked off the floor. The other main event was Cactus Jack taking on Triple H in a street fight. one of the greatest matches in my opinion.

Number 3:

The Heart Break Entry:

The 1995 Royal Rumble was the year of Shawn Michaels. It was un heard of to win the Rumble at the number one spot but Shawn Michaels did it. This is the year “The Showstoppa” entered at number 1 and outlasted 29 other men. The final saw British Bulldog throw HBK over the top and celebrate as though he won. But, wait a minute. Only one of Shawn’s feet hit the floor. He got back in the ring and eliminated the Bulldog.

Number 2:

The Crippler repeats History:

The 2004 Royal Rumble. A year that is obviously avoided by WWE for reasons. This year’s rumble was one of the greatest. The whole story was built on Chris Benoit against all odds. The match was pretty intense in which Benoit lasted over an hour and two minutes. The other main event was another great last man standing match between Triple H and Shawn Michaels which went to a no contest After Shawn moon saulted of the ropes onto the announce table.

Number 1:

A Hardcore Royal Rumble:

The 2001 Royal Rumble was my favorite Rumble from the “Attitude Era” Simply because it started of as a normal match and once Al Snow entered all hell broke loses. Some notable things from this Rumble was the return of the Big Show, Drew Carry making a guest appearance and who can forget Kane’s record of 11 Eliminations. If you have not seen this rumble GO WATCH IT.

As always, if you have any comments, suggestions, or any wrestling discussions hit me up on twitter: @azansaigol and tell me your favorite rumbles!, come discuss wrestling!

Ryder or Revolting By Captain Obvious

2012-01-19T13:00:00.000-08:00

So, we have come to that point in every wrestlers career where it is clear something has to change. Zack Ryder has come to that point. he has risen from obscure mid-card wrestler to internet sensation to US Champion to being John Cena's sidekick in the WWE's version of Bro-Back Mountain. Zach has quickly become the laughing stock of the business with the WWE's creative team's direction for him. He is at a turning point where he needs to change or quickly become the newest incarnation of Santino Marella.

Now don't get me wrong here, I am a fan of Santino and have said for years he is an under appreciated talent. With that being said, he is too far into this comical character to ever be taken seriously by WWE fans. Zack is in line with this storyline to be completely buried. In Creative doesn't give a good pay off to the fans, Zack's push will be over before it even really started.

What can they do to rectify this? One option is to have Cena turn heel on Ryder and brutally assault him. By doing this, it erases most memories of how much Cena has pushed to get Ryder over. Can you think of any top level star who has repeatedly tried to get some one over with the fans as much has Cena has done for Ryder. How many times has Cena tried to get people to follow Ryder on Twitter, either on his own Twitter account or even on live television broadcasts. I don't recall Austin trying to get people to go buy Val Venis merchandise back in the 90's. I prefer option two which is my Black Scorpion option.

Fast forward a few days to the Royal Rumble. Ryder has lost his rematch to Jack Swaggar due to his injuries sustained from the attack by Kane. Cena defeats The Big Red Monster Kane by "hulking Up" and hitting the Five Moves of Doom for the win. After the match, a mysterious person attacks Cena from behind with a pipe laying him out and puts Cena's Rumble appearance into doubt. Then as the Rumble progresses, we have Kane, Cena and Ryder all in the ring at one time. Kane has Cena in trouble against the ropes and Ryder rushes over to help him. In doing so, his youthful exuberance causes both Kane and Cena to go over the top rope and crash to the floor below. Ryder looks severely shaken at what he has caused and gets eliminated also in the process. We see Zack talking to John as they head up the ramp as Zach professes his sorrowfulness for what happened in the ring, costing Cena another shot at the WWE Championship.

Over the next few weeks we see Ryder constantly trying to help Cena, only to have Cena be short and rebuff him. Even Eve comes to Zach's defense and tells John how much Zach appreciates and even idolizes Cena. Cena keeps pushing Zach to the background as he focuses on his Wrestlemania match with The Rock and has to fend off the challenge of Swaggar and Dolph Ziggler as they have been a thorn in his side since Wrestlemania. Two weeks before Wrestlemania, we see Cena once again attacked by the mysterious man in black during a handicap match between Cena and Jack-Dolph. The mysterious man in black runs off as The Rock's music hits and he comes to save Cena from the attack. This leads to Rock-Cena vs Jack-Dolph as the main event the week before Wrestlemania.

At Wrestlemania, Cena and Ryder have a heart felt talk as both men express their respect and admiration for each other. Cena asks Ryder to keep an eye out for the man in black and to make sure Jack-Dolph doesn't interfere in what should be a classic match. The match comes off as a 30 minute match and shows just how good both men still are with Cena emerging victorious and Rock passes the torch and even puts over Cena after the match.

The night after Wrestlemania gives us a Cena-Ryder vs. Jack-Dolph tag match. Cena gets the pin after Ryder hits his finisher on Swaggar, tags Cena, and Cena locks on the STF. As the duo celebrates, Kane attacks both men and puts Cena through the announce table. Ryder escapes as we see the man in black on the screen laughing and telling Cena that he has been behind the Kane-Jack-Dolph attacks on Cena as a way of showing how in control of his hate he is and how out of touch Cena is with his. Cena has had this coming for many years for always showing up everyone in the WWE and never letting anyone else rise to his level.

For the next few weeks Cena battles the triumvirate of Jack-Dolph-Kane in various matches. The man in black makes random appearnaces but no more attacks. Ryder is selling the injuries from this attack on Kane and tries to help Cena when possible. Eve asks Ryder is it worth it to keep sacrifcing his own career to help Cena and Ryder says yes. That Cena was there for him when he needed help and come hell or high water, he will be there for him.

Finally, at Extreme Rules it all comes to a head. Cena defeats Ziggler in an extreme rules match after hitting the Attitude Adjustment onto a table and the giving Kane the Attitude Adjustment onto Ziggler. The man in black comes out with a chair to Cena's back and takes him out and then grabs the mic as he stands over Cena's body. He grabs the mic and takes off the mask to reveal it was Ryder. Ryder then tells Cena, " I hate you John. For years I have been a follower in this company and look where it has gotten me. Stupid headbands, corny glasses, and the same amount of respect as if I was The Red Rooster. I'm sick of the treatment and I am sick of how this company bows down to your every desire and forces the rest of us to just take it. It's time we take this company away from you John and show the WWE Universe just how truley great we can be without you holding us down. Rise above hate, John? We just need to rise above you. Welcome to the Ryder Revolution,John.

By turning Ryder heel against Cena, the WWE can keep their cash cow working and give him a new challenge to face. It also allows Ryder to cement his spot in the WWE as a serious competitor by dropping the Jersey Shore gimmick and allow his athleticism and his natural charisma and mic skills to come through. This can lead to a nice 4 or 5 month heel run until the rest of his outfit turns on him and he has to go at it alone. He can once again become the underdog without the cheesey gimmick and become a top level face in the company. But this is just my fantasy booking and weather or not is happens this way, we will have to wait and see. I hope they don't wind up burying Zack because the guy has the ability to be a top draw.

Dont forget to follow me on twitter below

@CaptainOMG

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And be sure to look for my newest show coming out in Feb. '12.... Vicious Circle Wrestling

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Captain Obvious

Thoughts on EVOLVE 10 By Ken Drabek

2012-01-18T06:05:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday, EVOLVE put on the final wrestling show at the famed ECW Arena in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Over the years, the Arena has become arguably the most beloved building in all of wrestling, at least in the United States. The legend surrounding the former bingo hall has grown into a part of independent wrestling lore, even long after the demise of the promotion that put it on the map.

Ring of Honor, Combat Zone Wrestling, CHIKARA and Dragon Gate USA have all done their part towards making sure the legend of that building on the corner of Swanson and Ritner did not go away when ECW closed down in 2001.

Strangely enough, the tenth EVOLVE show marked the promotion’s first time in the Arena, though the promotion’s co-founder Gabe Sapolsky has certainly made quite a notable mark between the walls of the Asylum Arena, as it has been known in recent years.

It seemed very fitting that the final shows in the Arena would be a double header featuring a matinee from CZW, who have run more shows than any other promotion in that building, and Sapolsky’s EVOLVE.

EVOLVE 10 proved to be an enjoyable send off for the venue. The final segment did turn out to be rather controversial though, but we’ll get to that later.

The show kicked off with a huge surprise, Low Ki made his debut for EVOLVE and absolutely wrecked Larry Dallas’ big man, Ahtu, with one of the nastiest rolling kicks to the head I’ve seen in a wrestling ring. Ahtu looked to be legit knocked out but Low Ki hit him with another kick for good measure before finishing him off with his Warrior’s Way double stomp from the top rope.

After the match, Low Ki informed everyone that he was in EVOLVE and Dragon Gate USA full time and he wanted his profession back. He referenced Taz by saying “Beat me if you can, survive if I let you.” The addition of Low Ki to the roster of EVOLVE and DGUSA is huge and the potential match ups leave my mouth watering.

There was some really solid in-ring action on the show. Cheech and Cloudy, formerly the tag team Up In Smoke, had a really entertaining back and forth battle which stemmed from their split at the previous EVOLVE show.

Jigsaw and A.R. Fox nearly stole the show with an awesome match. Both men looked very impressive, showcasing just how athletic the EVOLVE roster can be. Jigsaw picking up the win over the red hot Fox came as a shock and hopefully it leads to bigger things for Jigsaw as a singles competitor.

Above: AR Fox launches onto Jigsaw

Throughout the night, the ongoing feud between Fox and Sami Callihan intensified. After losing to Jigsaw, Fox was subjected to some taunting from Callihan.
Fox returned the favor when Callihan wrestled Bobby Fish in the semi-main event later in the evening.

Fox stayed in Fish’s corner for the match and wound up playing a pretty big role in the finish, distracting Callihan long enough for Fish to lock in his Fish Hook submission. Callihan tapped and Fish earned his second win in EVOLVE.

After the match, Fox got in Callihan’s face and handcuffed his own hands behind his back, attempting to goad “The Death Machine” into attacking him while defenseless, which would surely lead to a suspension under the promotion’s rules.
Callihan could only walk away frustrated, though later in the night he would appear to get the last laugh.

EVOLVE 10 also feature two really entertaining tag team matches. In fact, the Super Smash Brothers vs. the Ronin duo of Chuck Taylor and Rich Swann might have been my personal favorite match of the night. It was just a highly competitive, back and forth, entertaining tag team match. Plus, for a second there, I thought Chuck Taylor legit killed Player Dos with the Awful Waffle.

The Scene, Caleb Konley and Scott Reed, picked up a victory early on in the show, defeating the team of Alex Reynolds and John Silver in a very solid match. I’m not very familiar with Reynolds or Silver and I haven’t been a huge fan of The Scene thus far, so this one was pleasantly surprising.

It seems as though Konley and Reed are starting to gel together as a time and suddenly I’m a lot more interested in seeing what comes next from them.
Jon Davis also squashed Kyle Matthews and then called out Fit Finlay for disrespecting him at the last EVOLVE show. This whole segment just served to make Davis look like more of a bad ass than he already does and sets up a fight with Finlay and that is perfectly ok. When that match does happen, it’ll be a real slugfest.

Johnny Gargano made his first defense of the Open The Freedom Gate Championship by defeating Ricochet in the main event of the EVOLVE portion of the show.

A few days have passed since the iPPV and it has been revealed that Gargano went into the match with a back/pelvis injury that he sustained earlier this month. It goes to show just how much heart Gargano has.

Above: Johnny Gargano has Ricochet all tied up

This match against Ricochet at the final wrestling show in the history of the ECW Arena was so important to him that he fought through the pain, admittedly probably not the best decision, and still put on a very good match.

There were a few botches and mistakes that seemed out of place for someone who is usually as crisp in the ring as Gargano, so I had a feeling something wasn’t right with the champ. After the match, which was a highly competitive nearly 25 minute long encounter, Gargano could not get up off the mat.

He had to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance after the show and as of this writing, no updates have been given as to what exactly the injury is or how it may affect Gargano. Here’s hoping it’s not anything too serious and that the champ makes a speedy recovery.

The final segment of the show was a tribute to the Arena, featuring the likes of Joey Styles, Tod Gordon, J.T. Smith and Gary “Pitbull #1” Wolfe. The happy reunion was interrupted by DJ Hyde and a gang of CZW wrestlers.

As soon as they came out, I could already hear “Natural Born Killaz” playing in my head. Balls Mahoney hit the ring first and tried to take the CZW guys down by himself, but the numbers game soon became too much for him. Then, finally, the Ice Cube/Dr.Dre classic began blaring over the sound system and New Jack and his garbage can full of weapons made their way to the ring.

It was 1998 all over again in South Philadelphia. New Jack and Balls cleared house and the crowd was eating it up. Out of nowhere, Justin Credible hit the ring and attacked New Jack for some reason. This brought out Sabu from the back and all of the sudden we had ourselves a match.

Gargano vs. Ricochet might have been the last advertised match in the Arena, but it was only fitting that the final match wound up being Sabu picking up a victory over one of the original ECW’s most despised heels, Justin Credible, with a top rope Arabian Facebuster through a table.

Sabu took the microphone and appeared to be ready to cut a promo, then Sami Callihan hit the ring and things got a lot more controversial than folks were expecting. Callihan laid out Sabu with a beer bottle and launched into a scathing promo, downplaying the significance of the Arena. Fans threw garbage into the ring at him. The mood of the building totally shifted. The lights went out and the show was over, so much for the happy ending.

Judging by the reaction on Twitter, the decision to give Callihan the very last segment in the ECW Arena did not sit well with many fans. I wouldn’t count myself among them though.

It seems as though the fans that are so upset about the way the show ended basically feel that way because they wanted a happy ending. They don’t see why Sapolsky would put all that pressure onto Callihan’s shoulders. They feel like it was a disrespectful way to end the Arena.

Sure, we all would’ve loved to see some more old faces from years past. I would’ve been so excited if guys like Raven, Tommy Dreamer, The Sandman and Shane Douglas could’ve been there for the sendoff, but how many times have we seen them all do the reunion thing already?

Instead of going down that beaten path once again, Sapolsky did something a bit daring, he put a ton of stock into one of his top rising stars. It’ll be interesting to see how the story of Sami Callihan progresses from here.

All in all, EVOLVE 10 was one of the more entertaining events in the promotion’s short history. It certainly did more to progress storylines than just about any other show the promotion has given us to date.

With the debut of Low Ki, the beginnings of the Swann/Taylor tag team championship quest, the set up for a return for Finlay and the emergence of Sami Callihan as a top heel, there is a lot of look forward to coming out of EVOLVE 10.

Full credit to Snap Mare for the pictures of Fox vs. Jigsaw & Gargano vs. Ricochet

iNeed a ROH Show - January 17, 2012

2012-01-18T01:06:00.000-08:00

Kyle Patin and Zach Grigg of iNeedWrestling.com discuss the latest Ring of Honor TV episode and much more.

Remembering a Forgotten Classic (Reflecting on AJW) By Shaun Nichols

2012-01-15T08:11:00.000-08:00

Left: Legendary female Japanese wrestler Aja Kong

Long time readers of this site and perhaps those who read when WLH was around in a sheet format will probably remember that I've always been a big fan of Japanese women's wrestling in the heyday of the early to mid 1990's. Most fans are aware of legendary shows like Dreamslam I and II, Big Egg Wrestling Universe and others may have actually seen shows like Dream Rush, St Battle or took the time to seek out legitimate classics like Manami Toyota vs Toshiyo Yamada (Hair vs Hair, and we are not talking about the loser getting a little trim).

The year of the two Dreamslam shows of 1993 were a fantastic example of several promotions working together to put on superb events which saw fans witness ***** star calibre matches, the first saw AJW's Akira Hokuto take a terrible beating against Shinobu Kandori before eventually being victorious. A week later AJW's representatives of Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada lost the tag titles to the JWP team of Dynamite Kansai and Mayumi Ozaki in what was their second of their awesome trilogy of matches.

AJW were the only promotion to host these major events and on 31/7/1993 the JWP promotion hosted an event called Thunder Queen Battle which simply put is one of the greatest matches of all time. It pitted JWP vs AJW, two teams of four wrestlers in a 60 minute match. The first 20 minutes would be split into four individual singles matches and would then culminate in a 40 minute featuring all eight wrestlers. Pinfalls could happen at any time, there would be no eliminations and it was simply a case of the team with the most decisions at the end won. What as surprised me is that this match format as never been copied elsewhere which is pretty disappointing as it worked so well here, maybe it's a combination of promotions not having the quality of worker to make it work or when you've seen the match done to perfection it might make sense to avoid the temptation to try and emulate it.

Anyway let me introduce the teams, representing AJW were Aja Kong, Kyoko Inoue, Takako Inoue and Sakie Hasegawa going against Team JWP who consisted of Dynamite Kansai, Mayumi Ozaki, Cuty Suzuki and Hikari Fukouka. The fans were going crazy before the match even started and it was very clear that the two big hitters (Kong and Kansai) were looking especially focused.

The initial pairings worked really well and told a very simple and thoughtful story. The fans were desperate to see Dynamite Kansai go against Aja Kong so they were saved until last not to overshadow anyone else in the match. The match started with Hasegawa facing Fukouka, this made sense on two levels. Firstly they the least experienced out of the wrestlers but they also had an immediate story to tell. Hasegawa had defeated Fukouka at Dreamslam II, now was the time for revenge. Fans immediately started a 'Hikari, Hikari' chant but it was Hasegawa that dominated until she got caught in a roll up after going for a spinning toe hold and all of a sudden the much favoured AJW team were losing 1-0.

The surprise pinfall so early, ensured the fans were not going to switch off. Next was Kyoko Inoue vs Mayumi Ozaki and Ozaki took no time in nailing Kyoko with 2 DDT's in an effort to increase the lead. Kyoko responded by going for long term damage including her famous giant swing spot which seemed a curious choice considering Mayumi would have at least 10 minutes to recover.

We then had the glamour element as Takako and Cuty went at it but still the AJW still trailed 1-0 even after Takako had dominated most of her period. At the start of the final 5 minute period Kansai charged at Aja only to met by a perfectly nailed spinning backfist which knocked out Kansai. Aja tried to pick up the limp body of her opponent but couldn't do so. So she simply instructed the referee to count Kansai out, while staring at the smaller members of the JWP team which gave a clear message of 'I've knocked her out, what do you think I'm going to do to you?'. Scores were tied at 1-1 and while Aja was never in any trouble during the rest of the period, Kansai did start to get some offence in to give the JWP team some hope.

The dominance of Aja Kong was even more solidified only 3 minutes into the final 4 vs 4 finale. In a melee she nailed poor Cuty with a crushing elbow drop and the AJW team had now completely bounced back from their earlier setback and were now leading 2-1. The match began to settle down with frequent quick tags from both teams. Kansai was determined to restore her credibility after the early loss, Ozaki and Kyoko were both simply fantastic as the two major workhorses in the match. Aja cut a threatening figure anytime she was in the fring and the AJW team decided at the 30 minute mark that they would settle on a new strategy.

Anytime of the AJW girls got in trouble, Takako Inoue would make the save. This did wonders to upset the crowd and the way she would give them smirk as she made her way back outside was excellent. During the match there was a clash between Kyoko and Ozaki which left Kyoko with a bad cut and Ozaki had a left eye that nearly swelled shut during the rest of the match. Not that either of them allowed that to stop them putting in career defining performances.

It was about at the 45 minute point that the JWP team really started to go all out to get a pinfall that would even the score, it had been over 20 minutes since Aja had pinned Cuty and now the fans wondered if their team could even the odds. Hikari Fukouka was the main star at this point using victory rolls, moonsaults to gain a number of close 2 counts but it was never quite enough. Finally at the 50 minute mark Kansai got her redemption and used her splash mountain (think Razor's Edge) on Kyoko to even things up at 2-2.

It was pretty clear at this point that the match may end with this score but it seemed unlikely that we would see anymore than one pinfall that would give victory to that team. Aja entered the fray once again to try and give her team the all important win and it was Mayumi Ozaki who took the brunt of her anger. The normally elegant Ozaki looked like anything but. With her left eye nearly shut and Aja beating the hell out of here, she really looked like the ultimate babyface in peril. Although she eventually made the tag to Kansai, Kansai wasn't able to run wild and quickly found herself on the defensive.

With only 3 minutes or so the match completely broke down into a number of hot falls, desperate kick outs and finishers being hit all over the place. The fans were all standing up cheering their team on but each time it looked like we would see the winning pinfall it was broken up. In the final minute Takako tried to lock Ozaki in her cross arm special but she escaped only to catch Takako with her tequila surprise suplex in a last minute attempt to snatch the win. The referee slowly made his count and Takako who had taunted the fans for so long could not escape. Against all odds JWP had defeated AJW 3-2, the fans are screaming 'JWP, JWP' in their happiness.

They had witnessed one of their greatest matches ever seen. I urge any wrestling fan who has not seen this match to do so, you really won't regret it.

Rating: *****

Let Me Speak On This - WWE & TNA Talk (13/01/12)

2012-01-13T03:30:00.000-08:00

Please visit WLH sponsor The Marks For Xcellence Podcast right here http://mfxpodcast.com

Well, here we are 2012 and pro wrestling is in full swing. Everyone knows I am all about Indy wrestling but I do keep up to date with some WWE & TNA stuff so I’ll just scribble a few of my thoughts here.

Now, after all the It Begins hype we finally got the return of one Chris Jericho, I’d gone on record on twitter etc. Beforehand saying that if it were to be Jericho who returned I’d find it boring and even before RAW aired it was all but confirmed it was Jericho booked to return as he was spotted in the airport where RAW was being filmed so that was enough as far as I was concerned. But, I did think, this is pro-wrestling, could this be a swerve was the sighting of Jericho a planned thing by the WWE because they wouldn’t be that slack would they given the big build up to the return? To answer that, yes of course. I got up early on the Monday morning here in the UK to catch the end of RAW so I could see the return which of course was Jericho and all the fallout from it was a hot topic by the internet wrestling community.
Like many, I thought at the time it was poorly done, Jericho in his bright, sparkly jacket with flashing lights on and then he came down all smiles, really corny, hand slapping all the fans at ringside but then when he got in the ring, he just didn’t speak and ended up leaving the ringside area, went up the ramp and just went backstage. As I said, I ,like many thought other than I was already bored as it was Jericho returning it got worse when he did what he did with the not talking etc. I thought it was very poor. Not everyone however on the internet thought the same, they thought it was done very well because, they knew, no matter what Jericho’s past character was in the WWE, he was going to get a big pop and cheered by the fans. So the WWE could of gone down the obvious route, let him cut a promo in the ring saying how he hates all the fans and that type of stuff where he would of got his heel heat but no, what they decided to do was the total opposite, he just didn’t say a word which did just as good of a job of annoying the fans.

After a few days of the RAW show taking place, in retrospect I looked back put my disappointment of it being Jericho who returned behind me and realized that this angle was indeed done very well so I wants to pay kudos to the WWE for that for doing something different.
What took place on this past Monday’s RAW with Jericho coming out and once again not talking but crying in the ring was something totally different and I really don’t know what to make of it.

Another return to the WWE was on Brodus Clay who finally re-debuted on RAW under the tag line of Funkasaurus which for me and many others came across as a mix between Flash Funk (a character played by Too Scorpio in the WWF back in the mid 90’s) ,The Godfather who was one of the many characters played by Charles Wright in the WWF (some of the others were Papa Shango & KAMA) and Rikishi. I have told people who will listen; I think WWE have done this as a big F YOU to the internet fans. For weeks, months even fans have been moaning about him not making his comeback so WWE thought, tell you what, have this. Some say it’s a case of WWE not knowing what to do with him, I mean, we thought he may have been a bulldozer type gimmick like the late Umaga but we got the total opposite and it was well strange to say the least. It seems to be liked by many and if for whatever reason you missed it, the video is below.

Also on this week’s past RAW Edge was announced as the first official inductee to the class of 2012 Hall of Fame. I personally never liked Edge as a wrestler or a character but I cannot take away from him what he achieved in his WWE career before it was cut short after last year’s Wrestle Mania.

Also announced for the Hall of Fame were The Four Horsemen consisting of Barry Windham, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, JJ Dillon and yes that man Ric Flair. Even though Flair is already in the HOF he is going in once again and the Horsemen without Flair just doesn’t work so it should be a night to remember. Of course, Flair is under contract with TNA so can he appear at the HOF? Well take a look at the video below from a fan who spoke to Flair at a recent signing.

A little on TNA now, they have announced that when they do their UK tour at the end of the month here in the UK the London show will be filmed for episodes of IMPACT Wrestling. It’s good in one way that the fans are getting to be a part of the TV show but on the downside, it’s TV so there may be a bit of hanging around, the matches won’t be as long, there may be a lot of in-ring talking because one thing TNA is good for despite all the bad press they get, the house shows are usually very good and I have been to a TNA house show myself and it was very good indeed, a good 90% better than the WWE Smack Down house show I went to a couple of months ago.

Anyway, that’s it for now, any comments, drop me a line on twitter @WLHSTU or email me wlhstu@aol.co.uk

Just A Note From Stu Rodgers

2012-01-13T02:11:00.000-08:00

As some of you may know, The Indy Corner, my weekly audio show on all things independent wrestling has a new home and that is the MFX podcast (http://mfxpodcast.com) many are asking why I left TWS and to be honest, I'm not going to rant on them but I'll just say a little bit, people who followed The Indy Corner will know it wasn't on every week, sometimes due to myself and sometimes due to them. Various things happened behind the scenes shall we say, that just made the partnership between TWS and I just untenable I do however want to publicly thank my former Indy Corner co-host Steve Grieve, I never had a problem with Steve it's just one of those things. I know TWS are carrying on with an Indy wrestling based show but I hope anyone who use to enjoy my coverage of Indy wrestling will continue to support me on the MFX podcast.

Now, I want to thank Duckman & Sir Ian for giving The Indy Corner a spot on MFX, Duckman will be doing the show with me (our first was on episode 4 which is on the site now and iTunes) and he knows his stuff and is a BIG fan of the independent wrestling scene as well as wrestling in general.

So the site is above but if you can also LIKE the shows page on facebook, just search for Marks For Xcellence and while doing that please also LIKE The Indy Corner on there too.

Thanks again for those who have supported me, I hope you listen to us in 2012 and enjoy what you here.

Support Indy Wrestling

iNeed a ROH Show - January 10, 2012

2012-01-11T09:06:00.000-08:00

Kyle Patin and Zach Grigg of iNeedWrestling.com discuss the latest Ring of Honor TV episode and much more.

iNeed a ROH Show - January 3, 2012

2012-01-04T03:56:00.000-08:00

Kyle Patin and Zach Grigg iNeedWrestling.com discuss the latest Ring of Honor TV episode and much more.

2011 End of Year Awards By AH Walker

2012-01-02T14:52:00.000-08:00

Above: Mr Walker's wrestler of the year: Kevin Steen

1st off, my apologies for not contributing to this site as much as I should have in the year of 2011, my new year’s resolution is to write more here more. 2nd, I can imagine some of you won’t like what I have to say. Now let’s get to it.
Actual Intro

2011 has been in all accounts a great year for wrestling for the smarks. It has been full of great talking points stemming from various good and bad angles, matches, storylines and promos and it is here that I will show to you, the loyal readers of wrestling’s last hope. En-fucking-joy

Wrestler of the Year

So many people deserve this award. The WWE have guys like CM Punk, R-Truth, Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes, Dolph Ziggler, Daniel Bryan and Alberto Del Rio. TNA have, Bobby Roode, James Storm and Crimson. The Independent Scene saw guys like El Generico, Eddie Edwards, Davey Richards, Chris Hero amongst a lot of others, but there is only one man that I can say has had the best year in the world of wrestling and it is Kevin Steen. Since the beginning of 2011 he has upped his in ring work, lost weight and has been in the biggest storyline in all of indy wrestling, without being in the actual promotion in 6 months and only wrestling one match in the company all year and that was a few weeks ago. He had carried this storyline in various promotions all across the US all year and now he has the most momentum in all of wrestling, going into 2012. All eyes on him. Honourable mention goes to Akira Tozawa, Mark Henry and Bully Ray.

Tag Team of the Year

Unfortunately, the WWE has neglected the tag team division in recent months and they have only just started to revitalise it, meaning that I am not taking that into account here. Sorry Air Boom. TNA’s best tag team have wrestled about under 5 times all year due to injury and the other decent tag team were split up to get singles pushes. So this is mainly down to independent tag teams. This year 3 tag teams have risen above the rest. Sorry Young Bucks and Bad Intentions, The Briscoes doing two double turns, cutting amazing promos and capturing more tag team gold have solidified them as my favourite tag team of the year

Show of the Year

Without a shadow of a doubt Steen Wolf presented by PWG was by far the show of the year. Every match was great, the last 3 were phenomenal. The crowd loved it from start to finish. And the return of Super Dragon was one of the best moments of wrestling PERIOD. The fact that a near 4 hour show had my attention from start to finish is a feat in itself.

PPV of the Year

Money in the Bank presented by the WWE. Great matches. Great commentary. Great moments that most people (I know I will) watching will remember. Fantastic PPV. Special mention goes to High Noon for pretty much the same reason.

Mark Out Moment of the Year

This does not go to the return of Super Dragon to PWG. This does not go to the return of The Rock to the WWE. This goes to Christian winning the World Heavyweight Title. This is because it gave off the feeling of a Lifetime achievement award. And whilst watching this I was transported 10 years prior to when I first saw Christian in the WWE. He was looked at as not to succeed and he did and it was a great sight to see.

Facepalm moment of the year

I really wanted to give this ‘award’ to Jeff Hardy’s ‘performance’ at Victory Road. But it has to CM Punk’s return from leaving the company. I mean come the fuck on. The moment they created at Money in the Bank was truly a once in a lifetime moment and the WWE went and took a big dump on it because they are about the almighty dollar. Also the utter burial of the WWE Championship in the following month as they had 4 champions in 4 weeks. Well done WWE. Well done.

Match of the Year

I wanted to give this to Steen vs Generico in a ladder match from Steen Wolf but I am giving it to John Cena vs CM Punk from Money in the Bank. Why? I am glad you asked. This match had perfect psychology, it was thoroughly entertaining and it had a perfect moment at the end. The crowd was into it the entire time and you can’t get that all the time with some matches that go that long which are not the Royal Rumble or a ladder match. Also the sheer unpredictability and the mark out moments were fantastic. 5 out of 5.

Commentator of the Year

I have two choices for this. The first of which was Excalibur. This man has the ‘don’t give a fuck’ mentality as he says whatever the fuck he wants to and will make his feelings known. His views then become your own as you love what he says. The second choice? Michael Cole. I don’t care what anybody says. When he buries people he is putting them over. Case in point Daniel Bryan. Half of his push was down to Michael Cole and he is a bigger star because of it. Same goes with The Miz. Sure some of the time he completely negates the matches going on but is that his fault. Let’s not forget who there is someone that is barking him orders through his headset. Honourable mention goes to Nigel McGuiness because he is a genius.

Heel Turn of the Year

Mark Henry. He made the turn from high 5’ing happy go lucky pussy giant to believable badass World Champion. He may not be the best worker but he was a believable World Champion. It is a shame he got injured as I felt he needed to walk into Mania as the World Champion.

Face Turn of the Year

Sheamus. He started this year as King Sheamus and I thought he was doomed. Eventually he returned to badass Celtic warrior and when he arrived in Smackdown he was caught up with a feud with Mark Henry and since then he is super over with the crowd. He is possibly 4th biggest face in the company and I see more world championships in this guy’s future.

So that was 2011 in my eyes. If you want to debate @AH_Walker is my Twitter. Also check out my podcast the PK and AH show, which can be found here. Peace NERDS. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/trendingtopics

2011 End Of Year Awards By Alex Kirkham

2011-12-31T13:32:00.000-08:00

Above: Alex's wrestler of 2011 - Eddie Edwards

OK so here are my choices for the 2011 end of year awards in wrestling. As always these are my views and are simply here to give my opinion on the year in wrestling.

So we kick off with Wrestler of the year, which is as always a hotly debatable topic with many men and women throwing their hat into the ring. As regards an overall choice, taking into account the entire year, I will give this accolade to Eddie Edwards. I would say Eddie deserves this, because over the 12 months, he has consistently put on mind blowing, jaw dropping matches, where by he has improved his skills and helped ROH rise as a company. His matches against Davey Richards have become that of legend and because of that I award this prestigious honour to him.

Tag Team of the year is another hotly debatable topic. Around the world, there have been many teams vying for the spotlight, and putting on high octane jaw dropping matches. While many could win this category, I will award it to the team who for me, have done the most inside and outside the ring this year. And that is Jay & Mark, The Briscoe Brothers. Whether its in the ROH ring, or on Youtube, running their mouths about topics, they have had one hell of a year. Showing the grit and determination they have used throughout their careers, the Briscoes have made 2011 their own with 5 star matches and stand out displays. For me, they are untouchable in this category.

Now onto Match Of The Year. As far as match quality goes, this match wasn’t an absolute classic, but at Money In The Bank 2011, John Cena & CM Punk had a match which was built on weeks of solid work by the WWE team, making it into one of the most talked about matches of 2011, and therefore it is more than deserving of this award.

Commentator of the year, is a category which is populated by some of the most entertaining personalities within professional wrestling, and well sadly Michael cole too. But as commentators go, I would love to say that Nigel McGuiness within ROH has been my favourite of this year. Although he may not have made hundreds of appearances, he has made a solid and entertaining start to his commentary career, and made the new style of ROH into his own. I cant wait for more Nigel in 2012.

Mark Out Moment, lets be honest, there can only really be 2 moments in the running here. 1 was the return of the legend that is Super Dragon, coming home to PWG to help Kevin Steen fight The Young Bucks, in what was a simply phenomenal return. The other, was a jaw dropper. The Rock returned to the WWE to what for me was the single greatest crowd reaction for one superstar, possibly of all time. He returned to feud with John Cena, the alpha male of the WWE, which will culminate as the main event of Wrestlemania 28 in Miami come 2012. For me, The Rock returning made me once again discover the true wrestling fan within me, and that’s why its my mark out moment of 2011.

Show Of The Year for me is really a 2 horse race, between the PWG show DDT4 2011, and TNA Wrestling’s Destination X. For TNA, 2011 wasn’t the best year, but in a forgettable year, Destination X made us all realise why we first fell in love with the brand of wrestling TNA was putting out. The showcase of the X division, with stars like Low Ki, Jack Evans, Zema Ion & Austin Aries helping the PPV go off with a bang. With stellar matches, it was without doubt one of my most enjoyable PPV's of the year. PWG DDT4 was without doubt the clear winner for 2011 though. It was easily the best card of the year, with some of the highest class matches you will ever see. For a wrestling show, not backed by a major financial backer, it was simply stunning entertainment, with a plethora of Independent stars putting on the best show they could. Names like the Kings Of Wrestling, American Wolves, Nightmare Violence Connection & and my tag team of the year Mark & Jay Briscoe meant it was without doubt the best show of the year. Watch it, Love It, and Live It. Experience PWG with all its glory as soon as possible.

2011 - Final Review - Was 2011 a year for wrestling, you're damn right it was. Maybe the larger promotions, your WWE’s and TNA’s didn’t make the most of the year, but by god, the Independent and upcoming companies like PWG & ROH, put on some of the best matches you will possibly witness in your lifetime. I gladly welcome 2012, as a year which will see more high quality matches, the WM28 match of Cena & The Rock, TNA might actually make an “IMPACT!” and ROH might finally gain the acclaim it so richly deserves.

But its been a good year people, good luck to you all in 2012

Any comments, hit me up on twitter @WholeKirknShow

2012 - Year of the Metro By Oliver Newman

2011-12-30T22:22:00.000-08:00

After tweeting back and forth via my @brummieol Twitter with Stu Rodgers of Wrestling's Last Hope @WLHSTU I am thrilled to say I’m back writing about one of my biggest passions, Pro Wrestling! So here I am for my third of hopefully many articles on the superb http://www.wrestlingslasthope.com website.

I have decided to write an article about one of the most sincere, kind and caring guys I know, I am talking about Dan Barnes, better know to fans of Pro Wrestling as ‘The Metro-Sexual’ Danny Devine, a man I‘m truly honoured to say is a friend of mine.

In September 2007 at an @AWW wrestling show, Danny and I met for the 1st time as I congratulated him on a superb match that he contested with @MartinHaffner better known to fans of Pro Wrestling as British Born Steele, which you can watch online:

Match 1 vs. BBS :
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3359749290117159009&hl=en

I admired his modesty and shyness, we had a nice, long conversation, exchange contact details and went on with our lives, we would be constantly intertwined though as this was the day I decided to devote my time and effort to promoting, writing and publicizing the British Wrestling scene.

In an interview I conducted a few years ago, I was able to converse with Danny via the medium of social media and ask him questions about his Wrestling career thus far, it was within this that I found out where his love for Pro Wrestling began:

“The first time I saw Bret Hart, I thought he was so cool and I wanted to be like him, but the match that did it for me was The Intercontinental Championship match at Summerslam '91 Bret Hart vs. Mr Perfect. It blew my mind and that was when I thought that's what I want to do”

The path to becoming and maintaining his status as a Professional Wrestler has not come easy for ‘The Metro-Sexual’ as injuries have curtailed a budding career on a number of occasions most notably causing Devine to quit in 2001 and 2005 (just after he was trained by Pro Wrestling superstar Lance Storm), on the 2nd occasion it looked like for good but thankfully Devine returned to the squared circle for a 3rd time in 2007.

The feud with British Born Steele was superb and really showed that Devine had a lot of the qualities needed to be a Wrestler, the two had a superb catch-as-can Wrestling match (shown in the video at the top of the article) and in the 2nd video:

Match 2 vs. BBS:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-34745194370412784&hl=en

The two produced a great fight, which was far different from the 1st match but just as good. As you can see from the excerpt from my interview BBS and Devine had a great deal of mutual respect for each other:

“Me and BBS go way back, it was a pleasure to have had the series of matches that we had together. I think if we were given another chance down the line to be involved in a program we would not disappoint“

That helped the matches a great deal because Pro Wrestling has a lot to do with respect and trust, if either or both are missing this can cause calamities in the ring. From this match Devine would get lost in shuffle until he climbed in the ring with Marcus Kool and if the chemistry with BBS was good then the chemistry between Kool and Devine was off the charts!

A series of top-notch matches transpired between Devine and Kool culminating in AWW’s show of the Year at Aston University where the two battled it out in a well received 2 out 3 falls match, which Devine says is the best match of his career thus far, he also had kind words for Kool:

“Marcus and I go way back as trainees together at KSW we became really good friends and had some great matches together in 2005. With our feud in AWW we took it to the next level and had some classic matches (the finest being the 2 out of 3 falls match at Aston University) that ended the feud. I put it as the best match I have ever had and a lot of is due to the great chemistry we have together, Marcus is one of the best talents in the UK and always a pleasure to work with”

With his career dwindling a little, Devine decided to team up with the popular Dan Ryder and Miss Ryder duo to form the obnoxious and egotistical 3-Some, but in hindsight it was a masterstroke that UK Promoters never capitalised on, as the Ryder’s and Devine made a superb trio that caused a reaction wherever they went and that would have been money. Devine shared his thoughts on the trio:

“What started off as me and Dan just joking around throwing ideas back and forth, has become a monster! It worked and it became popular everywhere we did it. It was basically me, Dan and Miss Ryder just having a laugh being ourselves and enjoying what we were doing. But mark my words 3-SOME have not gone away for good they will return”

3-Some to return in 2012!? I hope so!

Ryder and Devine have had quite the storied past both as opponents and partners, one of the most impressive matches (as opponents) happen on a cold, Halloween night in Wolverhampton for the (now defunct) LWL Promotion, where the two men were apart of a tag team match that would have gone down in British Wrestling history, had someone filmed it, doh!

“Now that was a night when everything clicked into place. Tracey Smothers pulled in the punters that night but we stole the show. Unfortunately no one recorded it so that one is lost forever”

Devine much like myself decided in 2009 that he was taking a step back and possibly walking away from the Wrestling business, in one of his last matches he faced sometimes partner, mostly opponent Dan Ryder, (the match is linked below), Devine had very kind words for Ryder:

“Dan Ryder is awesome. We have become real good friends and he is one of the best I have been in the ring with, a lot of people only see one side to him though which is a shame. They see the no fear death defying high-flyer but there is so much more to his game, his technical wrestling has improved 100% but he rarely shows this side of his skills due to Dan always giving the fans what they paid to see. Whether he is in my corner and has my back or we are in there face to face we always have fun and can put on a show”

Match vs. Dan Ryder:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3384466793021563550&hl=en

When I asked him what would you like to achieve in his career he stated:

“I think like everyone who starts out in this business they want to be at the top in the US making the big dollar with the WWE or TNA. That's where every wrestler dreams of being but you have to look at it realistically I'm not as big as the guys they have on there roster and probably will never be, also the fact that its thousands of miles away in another country also makes it harder to get to the top. My goal is basically to go as far as I can go but enjoy all the moments, I really am enjoying it and I feel more confident so only time will tell where I end up I would like to get some kind of work in the US and maybe Japan before I finally hang up the boots, then I would be satisfied”

10 Years after he started out and despite the low points (Injuries et al) I’m happy to say one of the best Wrestlers in the UK ‘The Metro-Sexual’ Danny Devine is once again back in the squared circle and with his skills and experience, I truly think the sky is the limit for him and that’s why I’m stating that 2012 is the Year of The Metro!
Credit for the above picture: Benjamin Fones

Thanks for reading, if you would like to contact me, I’m available on the links below:

Twitter: @brummieol
Facebook: Facebook.com/806th
Myspace: Myspace.com/brummieol
Facebook Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/brummieol

Duckman Gives Us His Year End Awards

2011-12-30T12:18:00.000-08:00

Above: One Half of Duckman's Feud of The Year - The Briscoe Brothers

Happy Nearly New Year everyone! The end of 2011 is in sight and that means only one thing – lists. Who doesn’t love a good list? Either reading or writing one. Lists are awesome. You can’t go through the day without making some kind of list, from the humble shopping list all the way to the complex and well planned assassination hit list. It’s lists, lists and more damn lists!!

As a species we aren’t able to end a year without organising and highlighting the best and worst of the previous year. We then must present said best and worst in list format for other humans to consider. Don’t believe me? Look around you. The TV is full of the best of the year ‘talking heads’ shows, radio is just the same and of course every website you frequent is bursting at the seams with hot list action.

I know in the past I’ve claimed to be the wrestling writer who will buck the trend and not follow the crowd but cut me some slack guys, I love making lists of stuff just as much as the rest of you! It’s an inbuilt human character trait that you just can’t reverse, no matter how much you protest. I can’t fight human nature guys. So we go with Duckman’s best and worst of pro wrestling in 2011!

Wrestler of the Year:

This was actually a much tougher decision than I originally thought. When you talk about a ‘wrestler of the year,’ I automatically think of the guy who has had the best in-ring performances this year. But there’s also the question of their promo skills, money drawing ability and other indefinable factors to consider (star power, importance to the promotion etc). So after a lot of thought I’ve decided that the best overall wrestler this year has been Randy Orton – controversial I know, let me explain.

I only decided on Orton after realising just how much he’s done in WWE this year and how important he’s been from an in-ring point of view. His series of matches with Christian were awesome. He worked hard to put over younger talent like Cody Rhodes and Dolph Ziggler and he also got some great matches out of Mark Henry while putting him over at the same time. Look at how much Orton has done to help up and coming talent compared to Cena. Add in his intense promo style and the superstar reaction he gets for everything he does and I think, as a complete wrestler, Randy Orton has been the best in the world this year.

Honourable mentions: CM Punk, Davey Richards, Akira Tozawa, Prince Devitt, Eddie Edwards, El Generico, Kevin Steen, Hiroshi Tanahashi

Tag Team of the Year:

This is one of the awards where you can simply ignore WWE and TNA. You need to have a ‘division’ of tag teams, not just a few guys thrown together because you’ve got nothing for them to do. So stick your Air Boom and Mexican America (or whatever that horrendous gimmick is called) up your arse. This is the award for real tag teams and folks, they do exist. You just need to know where to look and I’ve been looking at PWG and there I found the Tag Team of the year. The team known in TNA as Generation Me but more well known on the indy scene as The Young Bucks.

The Bucks get my vote for simply being the best heel tag team in wrestling this year. Honestly, I’ve never truly wanted to punch a heel in the face as much as I want to hit Matt Jackson while he’s cutting one of his smirking, gum chewing, we’re better than you because we’re TV stars promos. That’s without factoring their incredible matches in PWG while defending the ‘ugliest championship belts in the world’ against an array of different teams. Plus they won the DDT4 tag tournament and also were involved in one of the best moments of the year – the return of Super Dragon to PWG.

EVERY Young Bucks match I’ve seen this year in PWG has had me jumping out my seat, marking out like an idiot and just shaking my head in disbelief that a team that talented and that entertaining were let go by TNA. Perfect timing, innovative double team moves, play the heels to perfection and always leave the crowd wanting more. Tag Team of the Year without a shadow of a doubt.

Honourable mentions: The Kings of Wrestling, The Briscoes, Steen/Tozawa, Bad Intentions, RockNess Monsters.

Match of the Year:

This was a straight shootout between two matches. Both had incredible crowd reactions, brilliant spots, convincing near falls, drama, intensity, passion and made the guys involved look the best damn wrestlers in the world. It was either a WWE Title match that had more people talking than any WWE Title match in a decade. Or a ROH World Title match that really put the two combatants on the map and showcased a style of wrestling that gave us all a glimpse into the future of professional wrestling.

In the end I’ve gone with the match that came together in a perfect storm of build up, crowd reaction and execution of the match itself – CM Punk vs. John Cena, WWE Title Match, Money in the Bank PPV.

Honourable mention: Davey Richards vs. Eddie Edwards (ROH Best in the World 2011), El Generico vs. Kevin Steen (Ladder Match – PWG Steen Wolf), The Young Bucks vs. Steen/Tozawa (PWG DDT4 Final), Kings of Wrestling vs. Steen/Tozawa (PWG DDT4)

PPV of the Year:

2011 has seen WWE PPV buy rates plummet to earth quicker than a sky diver using an anvil for a parachute and it’s no wonder. Just think about how few good PPVs they have actually put on. Wrestlemania had the spectacle but was really fucked in terms of booking and match placement. Summerslam was ok but the start of fucking up the CM Punk angle. Survivor Series was a one man show and even then The Rock could only increase PPV buys by 10,000 from last year!

They did a lot of the B Shows I can’t even remember the names of, let alone who had a match with who. MITB was probably the best PPV show WWE put on this year, but it wasn’t my favourite.

TNA…well…yeah TNA PPV is used as a vehicle to hype the follow week’s TV. Don’t ask me how that business model even makes any sense. People are going to pay $50 for what is essential a commercial for a free TV show? Yeah, ok.

In the US I think it’s been a great year for ROH on IPPV with one show in particular standing out above all others. So my PPV of the Year was ROH Best in the World 2011.

Honourable mentions: WWE Money in the Bank, WWE TLC, ROH Final Battle 2011, NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 5.

Non- PPV Show of the Year:

Or as I should call it – the best PWG show of the year award! In fairness ROH, Chikara, NJPW and Dragon Gate have all produced great non PPV shows this year. But for me it’s PWG who have stood head and shoulders above all other promotions with their non PPV releases. The names of the shows alone should be enough to win the award. “The Perils of Rock and Roll Decadence,” is possibly the greatest name for a show EVER in the history of pro wrestling! It wasn’t that show that took the prize this year though. My vote for best non-PPV show of the year goes to PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles 2011 tournament.

The best one night tournament show I’ve seen for years. Incredible matches all over the card and one of the best main event matches this year with Kevin Steen and El Generico clashing in the final. Plus in my ultimate ‘feel good wrestling moment of the year,’ a young kid at ringside wearing an El Generico mask became the star of the whole show during the main event. It’s must see viewing guys, trust me on that!

Honourable mentions: ROH Supercard of Honor 5, ROH Death before Dishonor 9, ROH Manhattan Mayhem 5, PWG DDT4, PWG Eight, PWG Steen Wolf, Chikara King of the Trios Tournament.

Promotion of the Year:

I thought this would be a really easy choice but PWG have entertained me so much in the last 6 months that they nearly got the vote. If I didn’t vote for ROH I couldn’t look myself in the mirror. Plus they’ve got on TV, put on some great feuds and matches and brought back Kevin Steen. My promotion of the year – ROH.

Honourable mentions: PWG, NJPW.

Feud of the Year:

It’s tough to consider any WWE feuds for this award. Simply because they burn through months worth of angles in weeks and the storylines they do try to tell tend to meander all over the place with little to no consistency or continuity. TNA have actually done a better job this year with their feuds. Sting vs. Hogan was what it was but at least they told a story that made a bit of sense and had a pay off. Jeff Jarrett and Kurt Angle would have got the nod if they didn’t do the angle involving the kids. So once again I’m looking to the independent scene, in particular ROH and a tag team feud that really caught my eye this year. My feud of the year for 2011 is The Briscoes vs. The All Night Express.

I’ve always believed that a good feud should end with both participants being more over than they were before they started. In this case the feud made the ANX into legitimate Tag Title contenders and further cemented the legacy of The Briscoes as the baddest tag team on the planet. This feud had a great double switch with The Briscoes going heel and ANX turning babyface. The matches were always great, the early matches being straight up tag matches about athletic competition which eventually evolved into more and more violent fights until the feud ended after six months with a crazily violent Ladder War 3 match. All four guys worked incredibly hard to make this feud memorable and the booking was pitch perfect. Plus I’ve never seen more convincing blade jobs than the ones Rhett Titus and Jay Briscoe did during the more violent matches at the end of the series. Awesome stuff.

Honourable mentions: Prince Devitt vs. Kota Ibushi, Davey Richards vs. Eddie Edwards, Steve Corino vs. Kevin Steen, CM Punk vs. John Cena, Kevin Steen vs. The Young Bucks.

Biggest Shock of the Year:

It’s been a year of shocks in professional wrestling – the death of Randy Savage, CM Punk’s pipe bomb promo, Kevin Nash having a half decent ladder match and NOT rupturing most of the major muscles and ligaments in his body. It does always seem that any big shock of the year in wrestling has a tragic element to it and this year was no exception. The biggest shock of the year for me in 2011 was the retirement of Edge.

I’ve never been a fully fledged Edge-head but the man was a damn talented wrestler who had forged a hall of fame career over the past 10 plus years. It would be ridiculous in the extreme to ignore the huge hole that was left in the WWE’s main event scene when Edge retired. I think it was the suddenness of the announcement and the promos by Edge that really drove home how shocking this was. One of the top guys in WWE was done, like that, no big send off, no ‘one more match.’

It was proof once again of how fragile life and the human body is and how much I take for granted the risks all wrestlers take when they step into the ring. It reminded me that while all those crazy ladder matches and TLC battles entertain the hell out of me, they shorten the careers of the guys involved. More than that it was just a damn shame to see a talented and entertaining guy forced to leave the profession he’d given his whole life too and risked his health for.

Biggest Let Down of the Year:

Unfortunately, just like tragedy, disappointment does tend to follow wrestling around on an all too regular basis. I’m not talking people dying or having to retire – I’d be a real dick if I complained I’d been let down by Randy Savage dying! The biggest let down for me this year was something that started with so much promise, made me care about WWE again and looked like it might create a new money drawing established main event star. My biggest let down this year was the booking of CM Punk post MITB.

It started so promisingly but in the end, thanks to over booking on a scale that would make Vince Russo blush, all we got was a mess of Vince McMahon being fired, Kevin Nash, text messages, HHH, more texts, John Laryngitis, more texts, a new WWE Title being created, more texts, numerous Title switches, more texts, the Miz, R-Truth, more texts, walk out, texts, stipulation matches that no one believed or care about, more texts and at the end of it all SOMEHOW CM Punk remained over! How the hell he did that is beyond me. Also, WHO THE FUCK WAS EVERYONE TEXTING? No one has explained that to me yet. Maybe next year.

WWE had the hottest angle in YEARS on their hands and in the course of three months fucked it in the ass to such a scale that even Chyna would complain about it being uncomfortable! Seriously, I truly believe if HHH and the rest had stayed the fuck out of the whole angle and they just let the thing run for 3 months with Punk as the renegade WWE Champion they could have seen a big turn around in their business. Instead the cut the legs out from under it and then when a low TV rating is returned involving Punk they can say he can’t draw. Yeah, no fucking shit guys, cause you BOOK HIM NOT TO! Such a missed opportunity to do something fresh, new, groundbreaking and possibly bring back a lost generation of wrestling fans…still, at least HHH and Nash got to have a PPV match…

Most Improved Wrestler of the Year:

Let’s brighten the mood here. Enough talk of disappointment. There’s been a lot of wrestlers who have improved this year. Be it Davey Richards on promos or Cody Rhodes finally buying some fucking knee pads! Mark Henry was a revelation in his 5 yearly push and I almost gave him the nod but for me the most improved wrestler in 2011 is Akira Tozawa. I watched Tozawa grow from a nervous looking, non-descript lower card dude on DGUSA to become one of the most fun, entertaining, exciting and down right awesome wrestlers in the world. His matches in PWG were a revelation and his team with Kevin Steen never failed to entertain me. Tozawa is a guy I’ll be following closely from now on to see if he can go from indy darling in the States to a legit top draw in Dragon Gate now he’s back in his home promotion.

Least Improved Wrestler of the Year:

Sorry TNA fans but I’m going with Mr Anderson as the least improved wrestler of 2011. Granted, the blame for most of that can be laid at the feet of TNA who turned Anderson so many times and over such a short period of time it felt like he started a show as a heel, turned face halfway through and then went heel again to end the show…every week…for three months. With each turn people cared less and it appeared Anderson did too.

In the ring he’s still just the right mix of boring and sloppy to render most of his matches pointless. When he’s in there with a Kurt Angle or another top worker he doesn’t look too bad. Left to his own devises on Impact and it’s a different story. The guy just doesn’t seem to have the co-ordination required to be a wrestler. Anderson was a hot prospect for TNA but now he’s just another ex-WWE guy treading water and going nowhere.

Future Star Award:

This is the easiest call of the year. Future star in 2012? Dolph Ziggler. The man has everything needed to be a main event star, great look, excellent mic skills and one of the best workers of his generation. He survived The Spirit Squad, he can survive anything WWE’s creative team throw at him in 2012. I see money in Ziggler and I hope WWE does too. If Ziggler isn’t either WWE or World Heavyweight Champion in WWE by this time next year I will eat my own head.

So there you have it guys. The list to end all end of year lists I’m sure you’ll agree! You should try making your own end of year list, it’s a lot of fun!

If you’re interested in some more of my wrestling opinion and comment (let’s be honest, who the fuck isn’t) then be sure to check out our Marks for Xcellence podcast over at www.mfxpodcast.com – it’s one of these articles only I’m reading it out loud and there’s another dude there to make it less boring! We’ve also got a new Facebook page you can ‘like’ and of course you can follow me and the MFX show through Twitter @WLHDuckman

Anyway, enough blatant self promotion from me! I hope you guys have a fantastic New Year’s Eve and get heroically drunk. Me? I’m off the booze and will instead be seeing the New Year like a normal person – going to be at 11pm and ignoring the whole thing!

Thanks for reading, keep supporting Wrestling’s Last Hope (twitter, here, like the Facebook page) and I’ll see you all in 2012 for more of the same wrestling opinion, discussion and general bullshit you’ve come to know and tolerate from me this year!

Until next time...

Peace

Duckman

Wrestling Awards 2011: Shaun Nichols gives us his choices

2011-12-29T23:56:00.000-08:00

Above: Shaun's Tag Team of The Year - The Young Bucks

These choices are those solely of myself and are not necessarily the same as those of anyone else who contributes to this site. Now we have that cleared up let's got on with awards themselves.

Wrestler of the Year: Maasaki Mochizuki (Dragon Gate), putting it simply Mochizuki has had a hell of year. At the start of the year he was one half of the tag champions with Don Fujii but lost the titles in an absolute classic to Ryo Saito & Genki Horiguchi. This only led to a tremendous run as the top singles performer. He won the Dream Gate title in April against Masato Yoshino and then enjoyed highly entertaining title defences against YAMATO, BxB Hulk, Yasushi Kanda, Akira Tozawa & Ryo Saito all of which are worth tracking down. He finally lost the title to CIMA on Christmas Day but by then he proved beyond all doubt that he was of the finest wrestlers in 2011.

Tag Team of the Year: Young Bucks (Various), the main reason why the Bucks get my vote as to be because of their great performances in PWG. I know people go crazy for the Nightmare Violence Connection (Steen & Tozawa) but watching the Bucks operate is truly a joy to behold. Although they were greatly limited in their TNA opportunities they seem to deliver the goods whenever they have been given the chance and they seem a long way from being a stale act which I sometimes get the feeling with the Briscoe Brothers.

Match of the Year: CM Punk vs John Cena (WWE Money in The Bank), was it the best in-ring match of 2011? Probably not. What it did have was a strong story going into it, a very partisan crowd that made the match even better and two wrestlers who had a very good night. Simply put a classic.

Card of the Year: DDT 4 (PWG), if you are a fan of tag team wrestling than this is a dream card for you. Featuring the Young Bucks, Kings of Wrestling, American Wolves, Nightmare Violence Connection and the Briscoe Brothers among the competing teams this is as good as tag team tournament can get. Not only that you can also enjoy Joey Ryan beating up Candice LaRae.

Wrestling PPV of the Year: Money in the Bank (WWE) , give credit where credit is due this show was very entertaining. On top of the Punk vs Cena, we had Christian winning the World title against Randy Orton plus two very good MITB matches with a surprise winner in the Smackdown match in Daniel Bryan.

Pleasant Surprise of the Year: Mark Henry (WWE), most fans have complained that the WWE have been in desperate need to freshen up their main event scene which is fair. What the WWE finally realised is that if you push someone in a way that only emphasises their strength that it can work. Henry portrayed as a mean, strong ass kicker works because people can believe it. His interviews have also been very good and most importantly of all when it mattered most he got the big clean victories.

Why Bother Award: Kevin Nash (WWE), I'm not quite sure why the WWE decided that they needed to make Kevin Nash an imporatnt figure on WWE television. He was made to look distinctly average in his promos by CM Punk, was met by apathy by live crowds and signed off with a tedious 18 minute affair against his mate Triple H.

WTF Award: Booking of CM Punk (WWE), you would think after the positive response to Punk coming after the Money in The Bank PPV that the WWE would try and build on that success. Instead they did everything possible to take away from Punk what had worked, they booked him to lose on 5 straight PPV events and at one stage he started acting like he was Triple H's geeky friend. A disaster.

Wrestling TV Show of the Year: Infinity (Dragon Gate), imagine a wrestling television show which spends the majority of its time actually showing wrestling in front of appreciative fans. Infinity is that show, the promotion is very well booked which is just as well as I can't understand Japanese but can follow their PPV build and storylines. Same WWE and TNA haven't worked out this strategy yet.

Commentator of the Year: Excalibur (PWG), if you've never seen PWG your missing but if you have then you'll be fully aware of just how great Excalibur is. Generally very funny but never forgets that it's his job to put over the wrestlers and the matches. A simple technique that's very effective.

Worst Commentator of the Year: Michael Cole (WWE), surely this doesn't need further comment.

Gimmick of the Year: Doi Darts (Dragon Gate), this is the greatest thing. Basically Naruki Doi creates a dart board which is then used to determine the next challengers to the Triangle Gate champions or if a match will be for the belts. We've seen 3 different boards this year and it's made even better when they bring children to the ring to throw the darts. Highlights include Gamma smashing the board, and poor Doi cradling the broken pieces while crying and vowing revenge. Fantastic stuff.

Best Backstage Angle of the Year: Sting fires the Jarretts (TNA), this was fantastic television and ran for four segments. The first saw the Jarretts trying to re-assure one another that they would ask Sting to fire them and save the other. We next saw Karen telling Sting he should fire Jeff, Jeff then told Sting that Karen wanted to stay at home with the kids and therefore she wanted to be let go. We finally had Sting reveal to the Jarretts what they each said about each over and decided that TNA should not have just one of the Jarretts they shouldn't have any Jarretts. It was clear what was going to happen but Jeff and Karen were especially awesome all the way through. And just think it was Vince Russo who was mainly responsible.

iNeed a ROH Show - December 27, 2011

2011-12-28T09:05:00.000-08:00

Kyle Patin and Zach Grigg review the Ring of Honor Final Battle 2011 iPPV, and much more.

ROH Final Battle 2011: Duckman Provides An Extensive Review

2011-12-24T09:35:00.000-08:00

*cue best Arnold Schwarzenegger in the movie Commando impression*

“Hey fans of Wrestling’s Last Hope, remember when I said I wouldn’t write another article here until 2012? I lied.”

That’s right folks, it’s Christmas Eve and I’m still slightly drunk from last night. I know I should be wrapping presents or stuffing something into the cavity of something else. But I just couldn’t leave you guys for the year without a look at the wrestling show I’ve been eagerly anticipating for the last six months – Ring of Honor’s Final Battle 2011 IPPV.

The show took place last night, 23rd December, from the Hammerstein Ballroom at the Manhattan Centre in New York. The first ROH IPPV under the ownership of the Sinclair Broadcast Group and the first ROH IPPV show to benefit from 3 months of really good weekly TV build. The final show of what has been the biggest year in ROH history.

If you’re reading this then you already know the two main selling points of the show, namely the main event ROH World Title match between Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards and the match between Steve Corino and Kevin Steen where a victory for the insane Steen would see him return to ROH after a year in exile.

To say I was hyped for this show would be an understatement. It’d be like saying ROH wrestlers only occasionally slam each other off the ring apron. I was ready and hyped plus I was amped and while most of my heroes don’t appear on no stamps - I had a couple of packs of Peroni lager to keep me company and no work the next day! So I, along with thousands of other ROH fans, sat down in front of my computer and knew that the next four hours of wrestling action was going to be the perfect sign off for the year in ROH.

But if life has taught us anything, it’s that nothing is perfect. You guys should know - I’m a self confessed ROH addict but I’m also not just here to write fluff pieces about them. Despite my hilarious demeanour and fun loving attitude to all things pro wrestling, I know what I like and there were some aspects of the show last night that, in the cold light of day, I just didn’t like.

That’s not to say I hated anything or didn’t enjoy the show – far from it. It was still an awesome wrestling show with some incredible moments and the kind of state of the art in-ring action we’ve come to know and love from ROH. I just felt that they missed some steps with the booking of a few matches and the crowd seemed to burn out early. Plus, and this is the major down side for me, there was FAR TOO MANY unprotected chair shots to the head throughout the show.

Then again, how can you complain about a show with KEVIN STEEN on it? He grabbed ROH by the throat last night and confirmed he is THE man to watch in the promotion in 2012. If ever a show served as an absolute star making vehicle for one wrestler, then it was Final Battle 2011 and Kevin Steen. But more on that later.

So after less than 5 hours sleep (the show didn’t finish for us hardcore UK ROH fans until 5am) and with the smell of Christmas dinner being prepared floating through the house, it’s time for Duckman to take a look at ROH’s Final Battle 2011 IPPV!

First things first, I’m not going to use this review to bitch about audio glitches or other technical issues, although the early abortive attempts to get replays of the action to work were painful to watch and pretty bush league from a production point of view. That aside the picture and audio quality were perfectly fine for watching the show on a laptop. Although I don’t think it would have transferred as well to a bigger screen – at least not with my prehistoric Scottish broadband connection. There’s no way the haggis that runs around in the big wheel to power the connection would have gone fast enough for HD! As is the case with IPPV the stream did need restarted a couple of times but nothing that would force me to give up watching the show and go cry in the corner.

The Hammerstein always looks great. It’s such an interesting venue to hold wrestling in and you always get a big event feel when ROH runs that part of the Manhattan Centre. They could have done a better job miking the crowd but then again so could UFC – it’s not an easy thing to capture that amazing live atmosphere you get at events like this. Then again the NYC crowd don’t usually need amplification to get their point across and they proved that again at during the show!

The show opening with Kevin Kelly, Nigel McGuiness, Cary Silkin, Jim Cornette and Joe Koff in the ring was well done. The announcement of the record breaking gate and possible biggest IPPV audience in ROH history was the perfect way to kick off the show. The benefit of having TV to promote this show should pay off when the official numbers are released. I don’t expect triple of double the buys of previous IPPVs but a definite bump in the buy rate would be the best Christmas gift for ROH and Sinclair.

Speaking of Sinclair, holy crap can Joe Koff cut a promo or what!? That was the perfect way for the new boss of ROH to connect with the fans. You could tell he was hyped to be there and he cut a babyface promo that was better than 99% of what you see in WWE these days! Well done Joe, I’m officially welcoming you into the ROH fan association. Here’s your pack of streamers, your phrase book of comedy chants and your signed certification that you knew CM Punk was the best in the world before everyone else. Welcome to the club.

One of the highlights of the show from the off was the excellent commentary team of Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuiness. Some people weren’t sold on Nigel as a commentator on the early TV shows but last night the former ROH World Champion knocked it out the park. Kelly was great on play by play, putting over the angles and getting you drawn into the story of the match. But it was Nigel’s insight, his quick wit, funny as hell one liners and use of cockney rhyming slang throughout that made the show even more entertaining. You see that WWE? That’s what a fucking COLOUR commentator does. He adds COLOUR to the broadcast and doesn’t just talk shit (Booker T) or put himself over (Michael Cole) or crack jokes older than his latest girlfriend (Jerry Lawler). Sure you’ll agree that’s a discussion best left for another day...back to the show!

Unbreakable’ Michael Elgin w/ Truth Martini def. T.J Perkins.

A great opening match that was paced perfectly and did the job of getting the crowd up for the rest of the show without over shadowing anything else to come. Elgin is the monster heel that ROH are building really effectively and his impressive power display in this match only reinforced the good work that he’s done throughout the year. Perkins was one of the best guys on the roster to work this match with Elgin. He worked hard, bumping big and also using his size to allow Elgin to show off his power. Plus he had a great near fall towards the end of a reverse hurricanrana that popped the crowd and had me fooled that it was the finish. In the end Elgin took the win with a powerbomb into the turnbuckles and then a spinning powerbomb for the three count. Expect to see a lot more of Michael Elgin in prominent matches and angles in 2012. Perkins is a real talent too and should be pushed by ROH in 2012. Great start to the show.

Tommaso Ciampa w/The Embassy def. Jimmy Rave

Snore fest for me here I’m afraid. I’ve never liked Jimmy Rave apart from his hot run as a heel five years ago. He’s just not that interesting in the ring or on the mic anymore. Plus I couldn’t give two craps about the Embassy. Prince Nana is boring but at least RD Evans cut an entertaining promo before the match. There’s much more potential in that guy leading the Embassy than the tired Nana character. Ciampa is green and he’s got a lot of potential but there’s no connection yet with the ROH fan base. The crowd were pretty dead for this although they did react for Rave going for his old heel hook submission finisher – so people do remember him. The outcome of this match was never in doubt and Ciampa finished Rave off with the Project Ciampa (powerbomb/lung blower combo) which I still think is one of the sickest looking finishers in ROH today. ROH needs to get Ciampa into a real feud and quick because right now people just don’t have enough of a reason to care about the guy and boo him. I hope Rave is one and done but I could see them bringing him back to put younger talent over as he did here.

ROH World TV Championship – elimination match
Jay Lethal def. El Generico and “The Prodigy” Mike Bennett w/ Brutal Bob & Maria Kanellis

Ok, now this was more like it. A great match with some excellent moments and the crowd were brought back to life by their undying hatred of all things Mike Bennett. Adding such a hot piece of ass like Maria (Bennett’s real life girlfriend) to the act is a brilliant move by ROH. They need a few more females in the company and Maria is one of the hottest and highest profile female performers in wrestling over the last 5 years. She adds SO much to Bennett’s act. All they need to do now is get rid of that pointless Brutal Bob character – talk about a weight pulling a good heel act down! Dude is such a cartoon and doesn’t fit AT ALL with Bennett the Sports Entertainer and his hot Playboy cover girl arm candy.

I did cringe a lot as the classy NYC fans let Bennett and Maria have it with chants of ‘CM Punk’ (Maria’s famous ex) and ‘sloppy seconds’ after Bennett kissed her to try and shut the crowd up. To his credit Bennett owned his promo and the fans were ready to see him get his ass kicked. They hate Bennett and they’re proud of it. Just imagine if Bennett had Vickie Guerrero as his manager! They’d generate enough heat to power NYC for a year.

El Generico was on top form here tonight, hitting all his big signature offense including that crazy dive through the turnbuckles on the outside into a tornado DDT! Lethal still seems to be regaining his confidence in ROH after serving his sentence in wrestling purgatory...or Impact Wrestling as the kids call it. He’s good, but he’s not as over as you’d expect for the TV Champion. Bennett played the heel role really well here and his elimination of El Generico with the roll up and handful of tights was great. The crowd were furious! Then Lethal hit a sweet looking hand spring ace cutter (RKO) for the win right after Generico was eliminated. A really fun match with Nigel McGuiness bringing some proper laughs with his comments about Maria. I expect Bennett to take the TV title in 2012 and really establish himself as a top line heel that people will boo (as opposed to some of the other ‘heels’ in ROH that get major cheers – Steen, Briscoes etc).

Kevin Steen def Steve Corino – Steen reinstated to ROH

This match was THE major selling point of this show for me. A story that began at Final Battle 2009 (when Steen and Generico split) ran through to Final Battle 2010 (where Steen lost to Generico and was exiled from ROH) and now came to a brutal conclusion at Final Battle 2011. The art of the long term story in professional wrestling is alive and well in ROH and we should all be thankful for that!

Nigel McGuiness said it best, as soon as Jimmy Jacobs (special ref) and Cornette came out the crowd all stood and the buzz in the arena was overwhelming. The people were fired up to see this and to see Kevin Steen back in ROH. Surprisingly Corino got a really positive reaction. I did fear the NYC fans would turn on him completely. That’s just evidence of how good Corino is, even up against the guy who is basically ROH’s version of Stone Cold Steve Austin, he remained a babyface. When Steen came out through the crowd the roof came off the place and for good reason. Steen has been the most interesting story in all of pro wrestling this year and this match was make or break for him.

As for the match? Sick. Just utterly sick. Both guys took insane risks with big bumps onto chairs, guard rails and through tables. I just couldn’t stand seeing so many unprotected chair shots to the head. I know ROH will use the ‘both men have been fined’ line to cover this but in 2011 there’s no place for unprotected chair shots to the head. No matter how big the feud or heated the match.

Those unnecessary risks aside, one of the true highlights was the interaction between Steen and Cornette throughout the match. Those two guys are fantastic in their roles and they play them to perfection. Steen is just the kind of guy you know Cornette can’t stand and visa versa. Cornette is awesome when it comes to full on freak outs and he was in hyper freak out mode the second Steen flipped him off in the early going.

This match was intense, violent, well paced and the crowd were with it. The finish with Steen hitting his package piledriver through four chairs for the win was just nasty but a fitting way to end the fight given how much punishment each guy had done to the other in the match.

Steen’s post match promo and then attack on Jacobs (package piledriver) got the crowd going but when he looked like he would give Cornette the package piledriver, only to be stopped by his ultimate nemesis EL Generico, I thought Samoa Joe, CM Punk, Bryan Danielson and Low-Ki had all just walked into the arena and resigned for life with ROH! WHAT A POP! Steen got the last laugh though, hitting the package piledriver on Generico from the ring apron through the time keeper’s table. In the words of one of the most important people in ROH history – “DANGEROUS!!!!!”

And that was intermission time as Generico did the full stretcher job and Steen left a trail of chaos in his wake. Thank GOD we got a break! I felt as exhausted as Steen and Corino must have been and I was just watching the damn show! It was time for another beer and some more frantic tweets about Steen before the 2nd half of the show got underway.

The Young Bucks def The All Night Express, Future Shock, The Bravado Brothers & Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander – tag team gauntlet match for future ROH Tag Title shot

It’s weird. I was all fired up for this match but it just didn’t seem to click for me. I thought Coleman and Alexander looked great in the early going. The Bravado Brothers are the perfect team for ROH because they bring some campy comedy and good heel heat that no one else in the division does. Future Shock are the kind of team ROH fans love. They’ve got a great look, excellent double team moves and their offense is hard hitting while still being flashy. Expect a run at the Tag Titles for them in 2012. When they were in there with the Bucks the match really kicked into a higher gear.

Still, this match was lacking something. It came down to ANX and The Bucks and the deal was Rhett Titus had a knee injury (legit) thanks to an attack by the Bucks earlier in the month. Titus was really hurt here and could hardly walk, let alone do any of his usual offence. This killed the match because while the story was good, this match should’ve been about crazy tag team action – that’s what people paid to see. Titus hopping around with a bad wheel and then the Bucks winning thanks to that didn’t seem to hit with the crowd which brought the match down a level.

Credit to Titus for going out there but it really dragged the match down and the finish didn’t feel very exciting. Maybe an attack by the Bucks early in the show and then change it to an elimination tag would’ve worked better and given the fans the match and hot finish they expected going in. It was still better than most tag matches you’ll see anywhere else, but it wasn’t as good as everyone expected. The Bucks winning is great because those little heelish bastards with the Tag Titles would make for great TV. Just watch The Bucks in PWG – they’re heel perfection and they need to bring that to ROH at the top of the cards. A slightly disappointing start to the second half of the show.

Roderick Strong w/Truth Martini def Chris Hero

The first major shock of the night saw Chris Hero return to ROH and answer Roderick Strong’s open challenge. The crowd went nuts and rightfully so as the Kings of Wrestling carried ROH a lot during their Tag Title reign. Hero is one of those guys that’s getting to the stage of his career, like The Briscoes, were people refuse to boo him because he’s so respected. Hero returning was a great moment and as I’d avoided any spoilers, I popped big when Hero’s music hit and he came out. I don’t know what’s happening with him and WWE but if he’s back in ROH even in the short term that’s great for him and the company.

The match was solid but not spectacular. The crowd were hyped for Hero and Strong is just tremendous in his role but this was the match where the energy of the crowd started to dip quite a bit. They really came back into it when Hero brought out the crazy spinning elbow strikes and big kicks. Strong got the win with Martini providing distraction and then a brutal ‘sick kick’ to the face of Hero. As a one off moment seeing Hero come back so unexpectedly was great but the match wasn’t the best from either guy. Good but not great.

ROH World Tag Team Title Match
The Briscoes def Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Hass/Shelton Benjamin)

I’m just going to come out and say it. This match sucked a cock. It was a complete mess. From the shitty booking of the opening ‘brawl’ before the official start. To the NYC crowd once again doing a complete 180 in their attitude to The Briscoes. To WGTT getting booed out the building and looking really butt hurt about it. To the fucking ridiculous amount of unprotected shots to the head The Briscoes took. It was just not what anyone wanted to see or expected out of the semi main event match.

First off, NYC, make up your fucking minds will you? Jesus, ROH turned The Briscoes cause you booed them, then the first major match back and you’re all jumping around for them like 12 year olds girls who just had their first ‘funny feeling’ at a Bieber concert and booing the hell out of WGTT who you loved last time out! I just don’t get it. I don’t think the fans even get it. ROH certainly don’t as the booking of this match showed.

The chair shots and the wooden board shots to the heads that The Briscoes took were completely fucking ridiculous and Nigel McGuiness shouting, “get your bloody hands up,” sounded more like a concerned colleague who has had a history of concussions, than a colour commentator trying to get something over. Sick, pointless, scary and given all the brutality in the Steen/Corino match earlier in the night it just sucked the life out of the crowd. They just didn’t want to see this kind of match between these two teams. No one wants to stand there watching a dude get smashed in the head for no reason. No sane person anyway.

So the Briscoes won the Tag Titles for the 7th time and the finish was well done (Benjamin with bad ribs taken to the back, Hass left alone, Benjamin came back, they tried to use the Briscoes own finish but it was blocked and Briscoes hit it to win)but to be honest it was such a flat win and the match was so horribly booked up to this point that the crowd seemed more confused about what they’d seen than happy for the Briscoes.

I hope the Briscoes move on to a lengthy feud with the Young Bucks because those four will tear the house down. Where Hass and Benjamin go from here I’m not sure. A heel turn I think is a must because they did not look happy getting booed when they should have been cheered. It was a bad night for WGTT although I thought Charlie Hass was brilliant in giving the crowd back as much abuse as he was getting. Still, for the 3rd biggest match on the card, this was over booked in TNA like fashion and I never expect to see that in ROH. A real pre Christmas let down.

ROH World Title Match
ROH World Champion Davey Richards w/Team Richards defeated Eddie Edwards w/Dan “The Beast” Severn

I think the Tag Title fall out was still being felt because after the introductions the big fight atmosphere for this match died away. The crowd didn’t seem into the match at all for the first twenty minutes. I could sympathise. By this point it was well past 4am, I was wearing sunglasses and chatting to my sleeping dog about the match, just to stay sane and awake. Thankfully though Richards and Edwards were building to something and after the first 20 minutes the match kicked into life.

They couldn’t hit the heights of their first World Title match in June but they really worked hard and tried to get there. The crowd wasn’t as hot as back in June either which probably took away some of the feel for the match. There were some really hard strikes in this one, big suplexes and a lot of forearms, chops and elbows. It reminded me of the big matches from All Japan in the early to mid 90s when guys like Misawa, Kawada and Kobashi were in their primes and blowing people’s minds with their stiff and intense style of wrestling. I’m not sure it worked here as the ‘no sell fighting spirit’ spots after big head drops were greeted with mild indifference, instead of the crazy pop you’d hope for.

The crowd actually came back into it when things got more sports entertainment. The House of Truth and Roderick Strong came out to interfere but Dan Severn (still sporting that wicked Magnum PI ‘tache) ran them off. Edwards showed great heart in continuing to kick out of big moves and also survive an ankle lock submission. In the end Richards got the win thanks to a half nelson suplex off the top, one on the apron and then some hard kicks to the head.

Personally I don’t like the finishes that Richards is working these days. The psychology of the knock out kicks is weird. They don’t get much of a reaction and so his matches do end a bit flat when he does them. People seem much more into his submission stuff and the big suplexes than a KO kick. Probably because they’ve seen so many kick outs of big moves and kicks in the match that the final kick doesn’t really seem that devastating.

It was a great match though and both guys really did leave it all in the ring. Edwards looked strong in defeat and Richards solidified his place at the top of the food chain. I rolled my eyes when Richards got on the mic to do his ‘Edwards is such a tough s.o.b’ promo because we’ve heard it all before. Thankfully Kevin Steen then decided to make his presence known much to the delight of the crowd. He cut a blistering promo on Richards and declared he was coming for the ROH World Title in 2012 and then he’d have the whole of ROH held hostage. He finished off declaring himself the Anti-Christ of professional wrestling and left Richards fuming in the ring being held back by his training partners.

So that set the scene for 2012. It’s got to be all about Kevin Steen’s pursuit of Richards and the World Title. I’d imagine he’ll have to go through Jimmy Jacobs and El Generico before that match and Richards looks like he might be caught up with Roderick Strong for a while. I think every ROH fan will agree that Richards vs. Steen for the ROH World Title, either on the 10th anniversary show or Final Battle 2012 would be huge and the perfect time for Steen to make his final steps to the very top of ROH.

Final Battle 2011. I thought the show overall was great. Not perfect by a long shot but not terrible either. That needs to be the last show with that many unprotected chair shots though, seriously ROH, you’re better than that. I thought apart from the Tag Title match all the matches delivered and were the usually high standard you’d expect from the ROH roster. Steen and Corino was my personal highlight just because of the story building to it and then the sheer scary brutality that both men went through. It’s not something I want to see in ROH every month but as the final match in a heated feud it was pitch perfect. The World Title match would be a close second and I really loved Elgin vs. Perkins in the opener.

The show is certainly value for money and some small production snafus aside it’s a great watch, especially for Kelly and McGuiness on commentary who are so far ahead of all other wrestling commentary teams they’re going to lap them for the 3rd time. This was ROH signing off on the year in style but also showing that they are not the perfect company or finished article. That’s one of the reasons I love ROH so much – they always look to improve and grow and I hope they’ll learn a lesson about unprotected shots and match length. Cut them both down guys.

So that’s my look at ROH’s Final Battle 2011 on IPPV. I hope you guys enjoyed the show and that you will continue to support ROH into 2012. It’s an exciting time and with the TV show now really into full swing and Kevin Steen chasing the World Title, I’m looking forward to the new year in ROH!

Thanks for reading and continuing to support Wrestling’s Last Hope. Remember you can find and like the page on Facebook, it’ll make Stu a happy man and you should all want to make someone happy at Christmas! You can also follow me on Twitter @WLHDuckman and hear all my thoughts on wrestling every week over at the Marks for Xcellence podcast (mfxpodcast.com).

I’m now off to get some sleep and then set about watching the two new PWG DVD’s that arrived today from the States. Main event of the first show I’m watching? Steen vs. Richards for the PWG World Title – a sign of great things to come no doubt!

Again, thanks for reading and I hope you all have a very merry Christmas and a kick ass New Year!

Until next time...

Peace

Duckman

A Fans Perspective: A week in Pro Wrestling, what I watched. Monday-Wednesday

2011-12-23T14:26:00.000-08:00

Monday: WWE Raw

The Opening: I loved the opening to Raw, with CM Punk introducing himself, the NEW WWE US Champion Zack Ryder and the NEW World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan, this helped legitimize Ryder and Bryan due to Punk’s popularity. I loved the passion shown by Bryan in his promo, the interruption also worked and a 6 Man Tag was a great idea, so I was fully on board with that.

CM Punk, Zack Ryder and Daniel Bryan vs. Alberto Del Rio, The Miz and Dolph Ziggler - I loved the entrances through the crowd, it showed that Bryan, Ryder and Punk are the fan favourites. This was a good back and forth match and I like the way Bryan made Del Rio tap via the Lebell Lock, as that helps those who believe his World Championship win was a fluke, that he is the real deal, due to him making a former WWE Champion tap out to the feared submission move.

With regards to the rest of the show, the more things change, the more they stay the same, is the phrase comes to mind!

ROH World Title
Davey Richards vs. Eddie Edwards © - I have had the opportunity to watch via rohwrestling.com but I can't, I guess I've been desensitized to long matches due to my TV Wrestling viewing, although I am looking forward to the rubber match tonight at ROH Final Battle 2011 live available on (GFL.tv) from New York City.

Tuesday/Wednesday: WWE NXT

The first thought that comes to mind is when will this season of NXT end!? Two choices make it WWECW like show or start a new season of NXT Rookies as soon as possible! I tend to read the results/reports before I watch TV Wrestling nowadays, so I had a read of (411Mania’s Tony Acero’s NXT Report) it looked like a shippable show until Tyson Kidd’s name appeared in a match.

I could watch Tyson Kidd wrestle all day, some will say I'm biased due to Interviewing Kidd before he joined WWE in 2006, but this isn't the case. Kidd is a tremendous all-round wrestler, some will say he's not that good on the microphone, two things come to mind about that, 1. He hasn't been given much of a chance and 2. If he isn't why not give him a manager ala Vickie Guerrero, he would make a superb addition to her stable.

Tyson Kidd vs. ‘Showtime’ Percy Watson - I have a lot of time for Watson, he has a great personality and good athletic ability and he was the perfect foil for Kidd in this match, both brought their ‘A’ game to the table and this was an enjoyable match, with the right result (Kidd winning) to end.

Thanks for reading, as always feedback is appreciated. If you would like to contact me, I'm available on the links below:

Twitter: @brummieol
Facebook: Oliver Newman
Myspace: Myspace.com/brummieol
Facebook Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/brummieol

I Need A ROH Show (December 20th 2011)

2011-12-22T14:48:00.001-08:00

Kyle Patin and Zach Grigg review the latest episode of Ring of Honor TV, preview Friday's Final Battle 2011 iPPV, and more.

El Generico - Quite The Year By Ken Drabek

2011-12-22T08:56:00.000-08:00

As 2011 comes to a close, the inevitable year-end review and/or “best of” articles begin to flood wrestling blogs and web sites, Wrestling’s Last Hope being one of them.

Instead of taking the standard approach of counting down the best moments, matches or wrestlers of the past year, I am instead going to take this opportunity to look back at what was unquestionably a banner year for one wrestler in particular, “The Generic Luchador” El Generico.

Generico spent much of 2010 in a rather dark place in Ring of Honor, embroiled in a bitter feud with his former tag team partner, Kevin Steen and his mentor, Steve Corino.

This feud brought out a darker side of Generico than we’re used to seeing, but the fun loving, lighthearted luchador would return after vanquishing Steen to end the year at Final Battle.

2011 began with El Generico and Paul London reigning atop the tag team scene in PWG but “The Generic Luchador” also found himself in contention for both the ROH and PWG World Heavyweight titles.

As January came to a close, Generico would challenge ROH Champion Roderick Strong at “SoCal Showdown II” and PWG Champion Claudio Castagnoli at “Kurt Russellreunion II,” both main event matches for the promotions’ respective WrestleReunion weekend shows.

Though Generico would be unsuccessful in his championship attempts, both matches were highly entertaining and went a long way towards paving the road for the success that would come his way as 2011 rolled on.

In April, El Generico's partner Paul London could not make the team's scheduled title defense against the Young Bucks. Generico selected Ricochet to fill-in but the duo lost the belts to the brothers Jackson at what became known as "Card Subject to Change III."

At the end of April, Generico found himself teaming with Scott Parker and Shane Matthews in CHIKARA’s annual King of Trios tournament as Team ¡3.0le!

They were knocked out in the first round by the Osirian Portal, which allowed Generico to enter the 2011 Rey de Voladores tournament the following day.
He went on to defeat Zack Sabre Jr., Marshe Rockett and Pinkie Sanchez in the first round 4-way elimination match and went one-on-one with the 1-2-3 Kid in the finals match.

Yeah, you read that right, El Generico wrestled, and defeated, the 1-2-3 Kid in 2011.

Generico claimed the “Rey de Voladores” prize and had one of the most entertaining and surprisingly emotional matches of the entire year with the often controversial Sean Waltman, in what he claims is the final time he will wrestle under the 1-2-3 Kid persona.

In June, Generico captured championship glory in ROH by defeating “The Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels for the TV Title in a solid match at the Best in the World iPPV. Generico was heading into the new ROH era on broadcast television as the TV Champion.

He wrapped up a long running rivalry with Roderick Strong and the House of Truth when he faced Strong inside of a steel cage at the “No Escape” show in Charlotte. It’s not one of the most talked about matches of the year, but it quietly became one of my favorites.

Unfortunately, the championship glory would be short lived for “The Generic Luchador”. On August 13, Generico would drop the title at the debut tapings for the Sinclair Broadcast Group, losing to Jay Lethal after reaching the fifteen minute time limit and battling into overtime.

While Generico may officially be the first TV Champion of the Sinclair era of ROH, the title loss was one of his few lowlights of 2011.

He would end August on a much happier note, defeating Claudio Castagnoli, Willie Mack and his arch-rival Kevin Steen on the same night to win PWG’s 2011 Battle of Los Angeles tournament. He earned a shot at Steen’s PWG World Title in the process and also became the first man to ever win every title and tournament in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla.

At “Steen Wolf”, Generico cashed his BoLA championship opportunity in and defeated Kevin Steen in a ladder match to regain the PWG World Title.

Though the end of Steen’s reign came mostly at the hands of the Young Bucks interference, Generico and Steen once again had a hell of a war and reminded everyone why they had the most talked about rivalry in 2010.

Generico closed out 2011 in PWG by defeating the legendary Dick Togo at “Fear” in what is very likely Togo’s final match in the States. Not a bad notch for Generico’s belt.

“The Generic Luchador” enters 2012 as the World Champion in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. He still has one opportunity to regain the ROH TV Title at Final Battle 2011 when he faces Mike Bennett and Jay Lethal in a triple threat match.

Whether Generico regains the TV Title at Final Battle or not, he still ends the year as a champion and has had one outstanding 365 days. Congratulations to “The Generic Luchador” El Generico for his numerous accomplishments in 2011.

Wishing all of the best for 2012. Ole!

A Fans Perspective: A week in Pro Wrestling, what I watched

2011-12-22T08:42:00.000-08:00

Hi I'm Oliver Newman and for those who know me I have been writing about the Sport that is Pro Wrestling since May 2004, for those who don't know me welcome to my debut piece on Wrestling's Last Hope, I hope you enjoy reading and as always feedback is appreciated.

Day 1: Sunday: WWE TLC

WWE US Title
Zack Ryder vs. Dolph Ziggler © This was a good solid match, fans were thoroughly behind the Woo Woo kid Ryder, as he pulled out all the stops to win the U.S. Title including a He-lo and a hurricanrana. Ryder was finally able to win the Title hes been chasing for so long, thanks to the Rough Ryder and you could see how much it meant him and the fans during his celebration afterwards.

WWE Tag Team Titles
Epico and Primo w/Rosa Mendes vs. Air Boom (Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston) © - I haven't been watching WWE TV lately so this match seemed thrown together to me, but what transpired was another good solid tag team match, nice to see highlighting of a previously dead tag team division, here's hoping this is just the start and more tag teams will be added to make the division better.

Sheamus vs. Jack Swagger
- Enjoyable match with the wrong result for me (Sheamus didn't need the win) but Swagger did as he is getting lost in the shuffle and his tremendous wrestling ability deserves better than that.

Daniel Bryan Cashes in his MITB Contract - This was a shocking but superb moment! Watching Bryan achieve his goal after his long journey from the Indies to WWE was very similar to when the late great Eddie Guerrero won the WWE Title from the UFC’s Brock Lesnar at WWE No Way Out 2004.

WWE Title TLC Match
The Miz vs. Alberto Del Rio vs. CM Punk © - This was a fitting main event, all 3 wrestlers went all out and produced an entertaining match, some spectacular moments including Rodriguez falling from the ladder through the table on the outside and CM Punk was able to retain and that was the right decision that I fully endorse.

CM Punk and Daniel Bryan on top of the Wrestling world, this moment was very reminiscent of WrestleMania 20 when Chris Benoit won the World Heavyweight Title and Eddie Guerrero retained his WWE Title, a truly great moment, probably my favourite in my 20 years as a fan of Pro Wrestling.

If you would like to contact me, I'm available on the links below:

Twitter: @brummieol
Facebook: Oliver Newman
Myspace: Myspace.com/brummieol
Facebook Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/brummieol

OK, so I watched Some of WWE TLC 2011

2011-12-18T20:01:00.000-08:00

Above: This is a picture CM Punk tweeted following the PPV - Indy/ROH guys done good.

Yeah, I got up just before the World title match, first thing I heard was Zack Ryder beat Dolph Ziggler for the US title, which I must say I'm not overly happily about. Also, I missed Triple H vs. Nash, not sure what the match was like but I can't imagine it was too amazing.

So, the first match I got to see was World Champion Mark Henry vs. The Big Show for the millionth time. This was billed as a 'chairs' match. No matter what stip they brought in, this match was going to be as boring as ever. And to end, Show won with a 'knock-out' punch. As he was celebrating, Henry attacked him with a chair, then DDT'd him onto a chair and this led to Daniel Bryan coming out with a referee, he cashed in his MITB briefcase and 3 seconds later we had a NEW WORLD champion and that is Daniel Bryan.

I really have no idea where they will go with this, I would like to hope Daniel would be champion going into Wrestle Mania but it's doubtful, the WWE have given the IWC (internet wrestling community) what they want so I'm sure they will just take it away soon enough. I hope we don't get a series of rematches with Daniel Bryan against Big Show or Mark Henry but I suppose we will.

The second match I got to see was Intercontinental champion Cody Rhodes against Booker T. Beforehand they showed Cody attacking Booker backstage earlier and then when onto the ring he attacked him again. So eventually we had the match and once again, Rhodes attacked Booker but this time in the ring, it was a half-decent match, I actually put on twitter at the time the fact Rhodes had attacked him twice we would get a title switch, this didn't happen and Rhodes pinned Booker following a sweet finisher.

Next up was the main event, WWE champion CM Punk vs. The Miz vs. Alberto del Rio in a Tables, Ladder & Chairs match. It's no secret, I'm not a fan of The Miz, I have NEVER thought he should be in the main event picture but always thought del Rio should. Of course, as a long time fan of the independent wrestling scene and fan of ROH since day one, like with Daniel Bryan, I am always happy when Punk does well in the WWE.

I really liked this match I must say, there was some sick spots using all 3 of the gimmicks. Ricardo Rodriguez took a right nasty bump off a ladder and through a table at ringside. Before this, he had handcuffed Punk to one of the ladders, there and then I thought Punk was losing the strap. However, the Chicago native got the cuffs off the ladder and his quest to retain continued. The match carried on with various ladder spots and at one point, The Miz cuffed Punk to one of the decals and once again, I thought Punk would lose his title. But no, Punk unscrewed the decal and then went over to stop both del Rio & Miz who were battling each other on separate ladders trying to get the title. Punk went on to knock del Rio off, then while Punk & Miz were off the ladders, Punk hit The Miz with the GTS and he went up and grabbed the title so STILL WWE champion CM Punk.

I liked the match, I said on twitter, I don't watch much WWE but was there a better match in the WWE this year, I know people may say Punk vs. Cena at Money in The Bank or Triple H vs. Undertaker at Wrestle Mania but I really liked this one over those two.

Of course I also like the fact Daniel Bryan is the World champion, I just hope they don't f**k it up.

Hit me up on twitter @WLHSTU

WLH PPV Prediction League Phase 2: The FINAL Show

2011-12-18T08:09:00.000-08:00

Here we are, the final PPV of the year, WWE TLC 2011 goes down tonight. As explained last week, as I didn't have 20 people playing which I DID state at the start of the prediction league, the prize now would be a choice of DVD from the vast amount over at http://wlhdvdsales.webs.com - Anyway, here are the matches:

Chairs Match for the World Title: Champion Mark Henry vs. The Big Show
Triple Threat Tables, Ladders & Chairs Match For the WWE Title: Champion CM Punk vs. Alberto Del Rio vs. The Miz
Sledgehammer Ladder Match: Triple H vs. Kevin Nash
Tables Match: Randy Orton vs. Wade Barrett
For the United States Title: Champion Dolph Ziggler vs. Zack Ryder
For the Intercontinental Title: Champion Cody Rhodes vs. Booker T

2011 Was The Future By Jimi James

2011-12-18T07:29:00.000-08:00

Something stood out in 2011. Something grabbed this wrestling fan's attention. That something gives me hope that WWE will have a bright future. I'm not talking about Rock vs. Cena. I'm not talking about the WWE Network. Yes, I'm curious of the spectacle that will be Rock vs. Cena. I, like you, will probably lose my social life to the WWE Network. But, these two things don't really appeal to the wrestling fan in me.

Sure, the WWE Network will have wrestling, but I think it will have just that more "entertainment". Rock vs. Cena, like I said, more "entertainment", less wrestling.

See, what I saw in 2011, gave me hope that in-ring competition will be just fine in the future, not just 2012, in WWE. Florida Championship Wrestling easily had the best year in their history of being the developmental territory for WWE. Since 2007, FCW has been the breeding ground for future WWE talent. Up till now, not many have kept a spot of significance on the WWE roster.

The roster of 2011, will change that. Names like Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Ritchie Steamboat, Percy Watson, Antonio Cesare, Bo Rotundo and brother Husky Harris all have made FCW entertaining for wrestling fans to watch. I missed names of some good talent and some of the names I mentioned you may not recognize, but I guarantee that if you are a fan, you know them all to well.

The talent of FCW are as solid as they come in the ring. Epic matches from all talent occurred every week on their television. At the start of 2011 FCW introduced the FCW 15 championship. The title was decided in the Jack Brisco Classic Tournament. The matches in this tournament were 15 minute ironman matches to name a champion. Fifteen minute ironman matches would be the match that the 15 title would be defended. Guaranteeing good wrestling matches with every defense of the title.

Seth Rollins won the Jack Brisco Classic on January 13, 2011 by defeating Hunico (currently on the WWE roster). By winning the 15 championship Rollins entered into a feud with someone who quickly got noticed, Dean Ambrose. I'm not going to go on again about the magic these two created. You can read my other article about that. I will say that Dean Ambrose got the attention of William Regal and CM Punk, both of who went to FCW to wrestle him. So if that doesn't say something to you about him, then why are you reading this?

As I praise the talent of FCW for their in ring abilities, I will caution that the promos can be a little rough. But, I can see that this roster has talent enough to take what WWE creative gives them and run with it. That is a far cry from the last couple of years when the call ups were the model types that where biding their time for Hollywood or whatever. Bottom line, this roster doesn't need NXT, just plug them in the right scenario and let them go.

I'm not saying that every one of the talent in FCW will be headlining Wrestlemania in their career. I'm not saying that a single member of FCW's 2011 roster will even be on the card at this years Wrestlemania. But, I will say this, there is hope for good wrestling not just "entertainment" at the WWE level for the new year and beyond.

WWE Tables, Ladders & Chairs PPV Preview By Azan Saigol

2011-12-17T08:37:00.000-08:00

Tables Ladders and … Controversy

Well its time again for another PPV. Time for some speculation, excitement and another potential plead for Mr. Cena to turn HEEL. Yeah, that’s not happening. But what is happening is .. KANE COMING BACK WITH A MASK OMGGGGGGGG.

Yes, that was the twelve year old me shitting my pants when I saw kane on raw with a mask, a glove and his attire that actually covers his man boobs. Anyways so lets start of this preview. First match we have is TLC Match for the WWE Championship: Champion CM Punk vs. Alberto Del Rio vs. The Miz
The WWE Championship will be hanging from the ceiling. The first man to climb the ladder and gain possession of the title will walk out of this match as the WWE Champion. So really for me this PPV is a test by WWE to see if Punk can actually draw a crowd. To start off were going to see Del Rio and Miz team on Punk until they both realize they want the belt. I’m hoping there’s going to be some crazy high spots. Overall I think the ending will be Miz and Del Rio getting thrown of a ladder and crashing on two tables.

Winner: Cm Punk.

Chairs Match for the World Heavyweight Championship: Champion Mark Henry vs. Big Show. So this is the second main event, quite frankly I’m getting tired of watching Big show and Mark Henry. All I’m hoping for in this match is for Big Show to take the world championship. OH and KANE!... If Kane is to make an appearance it should be here. Now if Henry retains the title then probably it’s going to end up as a double disqualification with Kane interfering and destroying both Henry and Kane showing how powerful he truly is.

Winner: Big Show/ double DQ.

Sledgehammer Ladder Match: Triple H vs. Kevin Nash. In the '90s, both men were part of the Cliq, a very powerful backstage faction in the WWE. When Kevin Nash returned earlier this year, Triple H was the COO of the company. Kevin thought that his friend would give him opportunities but was angry when he HHH only signed him to a legends contract, so he took him out. Well honestly I don’t think Nash can keep up with HHH in the ring. Watching Kevin Nash's first official match against Santino was entertaining until Kevin tried his signature move. It was painful to watch because Nash is not the wrestler he once was and his finisher was not as strong as it used to be. I think Triple H will take this one clean. However if they want to prolong this, then there could be a swerve here. I’m wondering what it is though. Nonetheless, I’m happy for Kevin Nash (yes, I’m a big mark).

Winner: Triple H

US Championship: Champion Dolph Ziggler vs. Zack Ryder. This match has been talked about for over a month now. Ryder vs Ziggler I cant wait BRO! After reading some dirt sheets it’s reported that Cena will be guest Referee, well if that is the case here’s how I think it’s going to go down. Since Cena really has no match, he's probably going to be the referee. Zack will probably lose to Ziggler due to a roll up pin or argument between Cena and Dolph. Next thing you see Ryder getting all pissed that Cena cost him the match and BAM attitude adjustment on Ryder. Cena gets all the heat. This is the Perfect way to start the “Cena vs The Fans” Feud.

Tables Match: Randy Orton vs. Wade Barrett. This feud has been going on for a while on both Raw and Smack down. I think its given enough “Air” time, and I personally feel as if the ending to this fued should take place in a table’s match. You’re going to get your typical finish with Orton ending up with an RKO to Barret on the table. Nothing Special.

Winner: Orton

Intercontinental Championship: Champion Cody Rhodes vs. Booker T. Did you know the last time that the Intercontinental title was defended was on October 2nd? During the Hell in a Cell PPV. Finally SUCKAS we get to see the title being defended. I think this will be a great match seeing that the Book man is in action. Also since Booker wont be on the announcers table.. I’m hoping JR fills in for him. I hope they open the show with this match, as it seems great. If Booker captures the title we can see him regularly performing.

Winner: Booker T.

Conclusion: Well this Sunday in Baltimore! Its going down. I think this is the great “go home” PPV before the Road to WrestleMania begins. Also I would just like to add, PPV buy rates went up thanks to Kane’s return on Raw this past week. Oh and my good friend Mike Cornblatt (@dirtsheetmafia) will be in attendance! So follow him on Twitter to get all the off air notes!!

Once again, if you have any comments, suggestions, or any wrestling discussions hit me up on Twitter: @azansaigol

Duckman Books The WWE Network

2011-12-16T02:53:00.000-08:00

If there’s one thing that is guaranteed to leave long time wrestling fans with a sense of impending doom, it’s an announcement by WWE of a new project that doesn’t involve their main business of promoting live wrestling events. You’re a moron of biblical proportions if you ignore the fact that NO ONE has promoted professional wrestling more successfully than Vince McMahon and WWE. However, as the past has shown, whenever they venture outside that core business the proverbial inevitably hits the fan and Vince McMahon is left with a ‘tens of millions of dollars’ sized hole in his wallet.

It seems to me that these days McMahon is fuelled by a need to prove he can successfully promote something other than professional wrestling. Personally I don’t understand the need to prove yourself in a different area of work when you’re already head and shoulders above all your contemporaries in your chosen field. I’d sit back and bask in the glory of what I’d achieved, not chase my tail trying to prove I’m something other than what I’m known for.

I doubt many top brain surgeons decide at the age of 60 to become a lawyer, just to prove to those other lawyers that brain surgeons are just as smart as them. Then again perhaps that lack of ambition to do something exceptional outside of my chosen field of work is why I am where I am in life! Who knows, but it’s fun to speculate.

The history of failure every time WWE tries to branch out beyond the squared circle makes pretty impressive reading. If you’re a fan of lists of failed business ventures it’s even more exciting, check this lot out; WBF, XFL, WWE New York, WWE Music, WWE Films, Linda McMahon’s run for Senate - all launched with huge fanfare and millions of dollars of money WWE earned through promoting professional wrestling and all dead within a couple of years (I doubt WWE Films in its current incarnation will survive much longer given the losses it makes).

Plus it’s time to admit Linda McMahon will never be a politician, or everyone’s worst nightmare - President. I hope. Please, for the love of God America, even you wouldn’t vote her in, right? Can you imagine Vince as the first husband of the USA? Actually that sounds pretty awesome! The press conferences alone would be a million buys!

With the WWE network believed to be going live on 1st April 2012 I’m sure I’m not alone in wondering if this new and exciting project is going to go the way of the XFL. Or perhaps because it’s so closely linked to WWE’s main area of expertise that it could be one of the greatest things to ever happen to a wrestling fan. I don’t know about you but a 24 hour wrestling network sounds like the kind of thing I’d ask for with my 1st wish of 3 when I find that magic lamp and the camp Genie inside voiced by Robin Williams.

The first question I asked after hearing about his project a few years back was a simple one – what the hell are they going to do to fill all that air time? They can’t just show re-runs of old shows (although that will no doubt make up over 50% of the content) because that’s just WWE Classics on Demand. They already do that.

Of course I want to see classic shows from wrestling’s past that WWE owns. It’d be great to have a regular weekly dose of the best of Crockett or ECW. Getting to relive the shows from the golden ages in St Louis, Memphis or Texas would be fantastic. There’s so much rich history at WWE’s finger tips that they don’t have to worry about the WRESTLING they’ll show on the network. But if the WWE Network is going to compete with already established huge TV networks, there’s one thing WWE need to do and that’s create original programming.

So, Tough Enough 24/7 sound good to everyone? I didn’t think so. They need something much more than that. Plus the network is launching in about 5 months! Do you have any idea how much pressure the WWE staff who are dealing with the launch of the network are under? Their daily life must be more distressing than a visit to an anal trauma ward with a magnifying glass (credit to the excellent writer Charlie Brooker for that horribly hilarious image).

So I’ve decided to do some of the leg work for them. Call it my personal Christmas present to WWE. It’s the season of goodwill and there’s too many stressed out people there these days, we should all try to help out sometimes. So here are my suggestions for new, original and ratings grabbing original programming on the WWE network:

Tuesday 9pm – ‘Good Old JR’ Jim Ross Hosts: Hunt and Kill Michael Cole.

This show is inspired by the late, great, iconic and legendary comedian Bill Hicks and is an update on his original idea from in the early 90s, “Hunt and Kill Billy Ray Cyrus.” In this version JR leads a group of five WWE fans, sick to death of listening to that little shitbag Cole ruin their shows, on a safari where the only prey is the most lame and annoying of all – Michael Cole.

The show format is simple – the first person to shoot and kill Michael Cole wins. Although tracking down Cole won’t be easy as Vince McMahon, in an attempt to protect his favourite pet, will be dropping in fan favourite WWE personalities disguised as Michael Cole throughout the show. Take the wrong shot and you might blow Zak Ryder’s head off and then what would everyone do with YouTube?

There’s huge guns, lots of tension and we can all be safe in the knowledge that Michael Cole won’t be back on WWE TV after the season ends. Expect constant Twitter updates throughout.

Plus, coming soon...Season 2, “Hunt and Kill John Laurinaitis” presented by Stephanie McMahon.

Monday 2am – WWE Legends Drunken Promo Roundtable.

If there’s one thing WWE is sorely lacking these days, it’s great promos. I’m talking the kind of unscripted, intense and believable promos that the past masters used to cut. This show does away with scripted promos and instead is a 30 minute ad-libbed verbal battle between two former WWE stars on a subject chosen at random via Twitter.

The debate is chaired by Roddy Piper who decides which WWE star has cut the most entertaining promo after cutting 12 of his own on various random subjects that landed in his brain during the course of the show. The snorting of cocaine and drinking of alcohol is mandatory. The first two WWE Legends to take part have been confirmed as The Iron Sheik and The Ultimate Warrior. Yes, we have the lawyers on speed dial.

Sunday 8am – WWE’s Educate the Nation with Dusty Rhodes.

Instead of the usual Sunday morning cartoons the WWE network brings to you three hours of Dusty Rhodes teaching children nursery rhythms and other educational songs and stories. It’s a kind of one man Sesame Street only with less focus on education and more on explaining the finer points of Dusty’s amazing vocabulary. The objective of the show is to encourage all children in America to talk like Dusty Rhodes. Why? Cause it’s frigging hilarious that’s why!

Thursday 9am - Aerobics HHH Style.

You’ve all seen Aerobics Oz Style, right? The show where hot Australian women in tiny swim suits do aerobics for an hour on TV. If you haven’t, then you really are missing out on one of the true TV wonders of our time. The WWE network presents it’s own version of this show where HHH shouts at FCW students for an hour about how important going to the gym is. He then leads them in a brutal work out where many students are left broken and injured, lying in pools of their own vomit and shattered dreams while HHH screams in their faces about their lack of commitment to the business.

Each week a student is eliminated by sledgehammer shot to the groin. The last man standing gets the honour of being named HHH’s official bag carrier and work out partner. As an added bonus they will also receive a short run as WWE Champion which no one in WWE really gets behind and in the end sets their career back around 18 months. First season winner Sheamus will provide guest commentary.

Thursday 3pm – Toilets of the World with Vince McMahon.

If there’s one thing Vince McMahon knows and loves it’s toilets. Vince has always been unable to walk past a toilet without laughing uproariously. This show follows Vince as he visits some of the most famous toilets in the world, including; the toilet Elvis died on, Hitler’s official toilet, Glasgow, Scotland and Dixie Carter’s TNA office.

Of course no trip would be complete without Vince dropping a turd and laughing about it, making his assistant on this life changing journey, Kevin Dunn, as uncomfortable as possible. Vince is only satisfied his work is complete when Dunn is sobbing uncontrollably like Jim Cornette just made fun of his buck teeth. If you’re a fan of an old aged pensioner laughing uncontrollable as he craps on Dixie Carter’s desk, then this show is for you. Adult themes throughout.

Sunday 8pm - Who Wants To Marry A Ric Flair?

A question I’m sure we’ve all asked ourselves once in our lives, now the WWE network brings you the answer. Turns out it’s just about any woman on the planet, hence the less than stellar line up of “female” contestants including Cher’s daughter/son, Perez Hilton and Lindsay Lohan’s mum.

Each week the contestants try to convince Ric to marry them by performing the famous “woooo” mating call, reciting Flair’s most famous promos and perfecting their Flair flop onto his face. The first contestant that can convince Ric to marry them without signing any kind of prenuptial agreement wins the season. She then joins the ranks of woman across American currently living the high life off the back of poor Ric and his terrible decision making. We promise even Ric Flair can’t find an excuse to blade during this.

Sunday 10:30pm – WWE Writer Roulette.

Just like Russian roulette this is a game not for the feint hearted and one that you probably only want to play once in your life. It’s the night before Raw and six WWE writers nervously wait for Vince McMahon’s opinion on the show they have written. They are then called into Vince’s office where each writer has to explain why he or she is so damn stupid and can’t book the wrestling Vince likes.

The writer who doesn’t immediately blame everything on ‘the marks’ or ‘the internet’ is fired by Vince…literally - from a huge cannon in his office which is aimed out the window, directly onto the giant billboard of ‘Wrestling Matters’ that TNA installed in Stamford when they still cared about that gimmick. Yes, it’s basically The Apprentice starring Vince McMahon and ending with someone being fired from a cannon. You’re welcome America.

Saturday 9pm - Police, Cameras, Hardys!

What better vehicle (get it) for the return of the Hardy Boys to WWE TV than this thrilling new show? Matt, Jeff and their pet monkey Archibald awake after another huge week long bender in Las Vegas. They are miles from home and have to race against time to get back to North Carolina to attend their next Court hearing. A hybrid of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and those never ending Police car chase shows. The entire show is filmed on Matt and Jeff’s phones. Cringe inducing cut scenes available on You Tube. Pills not included.

Saturday 11pm - The Cranky Vince hour.

In acknowledgement of the greatest Twitter account in existence today - @CrankyVince the WWE network brings to you an hour of all the best tweets from one of the most hilarious things linked to WWE since the last time John Cena threw a punch. For those of you not following @CrankyVince you know the drill by now – stop reading, go follow him, thank me later.

Tuesday 8:00pm - John Laurinaitis stars in Future Endeavours.

Everyone’s favourite charisma black hole stars in this thrilling rip off of classic 80s TV show Quantum Leap. John leaps back and forth in time into the bodies of wrestlers previously fired by WWE for reasons no one can understand. Each week The Dynamic Douche must do everything in his power to avoid being fired by WWE to save another’s career and get his next leap..and hope that his next leap…will be his leap home. Co-starring Shane Douglas as Al and the Anonymous Raw General Manager as Ziggy. Scenes of a skateboarding nature from the outset.

So there you have it. Just a few examples of the kind of quality original programming we can expect from the WWE Network next year. If they read this and steal my ideas that is. Remember, you heard it here first people!

In all seriousness I hope the WWE Network is a huge success. I hope they use it as a platform to showcase the rich history of professional wrestling to a whole new generation of fans. There’s a chance for WWE to get on board with different producers, writers, people who know how to produce good television and really revamp their standing as a media force – something Vince is no doubt desperate to achieve.

It could be the dawn of a whole new way wrestling is present on TV. Could they hook up with indy feds to help them to allow the stars of tomorrow to hone their craft before coming to WWE? The power of the WWE Network could have a huge effect on all of wrestling. Plus with the added media spotlight on them maybe now is the time that WWE look at that whole independent contractor bullshit.

Then again, history isn’t kind to WWE and Vince McMahon when it comes to big new projects. This one though, this one feels different because it’s so closely rooted in what WWE does better than anyone else. It’s actually a damn exciting time, a bit like in the summer when Punk dropped that first pipe bomb on Raw. Let’s just hope WWE strike while the iron is hot and really come out with a new network that redefines what they do and sets the foundations for a great future for professional wrestling.

Plus there’s the whole question of what the WWE Network means for the future of wrestling on PPV and indeed if it could have a negative effect on the wrestling industry as a whole. If you want to read more about that subject, check out a much better blog than this by ROH’s lead announcer Kevin Kelly here: http://www.wrestlezone.com/editorials/246481-wwe-network-the-death-of-pay-per-view So many possibilities and so much to look forward to as the WWE Network takes shape next year.

Well folks this is my final post before Christmas seeing as I’ll be busy as hell all next week enduring the nightmare that is Christmas in the 21st century. I hope you guys have enjoyed my posts here at Wrestling’s Last Hope over the last few months, it’s been a lot of fun. I want to give a huge note of thanks to Stu for giving me the chance to write here and begin what I hope will be a fun journey to one day getting paid for this shit!

I wish you guys a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, keep supporting indy wrestling and search for The Indy Corner on facebook and please LIKE the page and don’t forget you can follow me on twitter @WLHDuckman. Thanks for reading!

Until next time...

Peace

Duckman

I Need An ROH Show (December 13th 2011)

2011-12-16T00:49:00.000-08:00

The I Need Wrestling Podcast Network each week bring wrestling fans all over the world great wrestling audio, as a big fan of independent wrestling and more so ROH, each week right here on Wrestling's Last Hope I'll be posting their I Need An ROH Show where head INW guy Kyle Patin & Zach Grigg of Shotgun Wrestling Radio discuss each episode of ROH on the SBG and any other ROH related news.

December 13, 2011 - Great Tag Team wrestling, iPPV build, and more.

For more I Need An ROH Shows got to http://ineedwrestling.com

Akira Tozawa's Return to Dragon Gate By Shaun Nichols

2011-12-15T11:00:00.000-08:00

Akira Tozawa left Dragon Gate after the May 2010 PPV event titled 'Dead or Alive' after losing a 'Loser Returns to the Dark Matches' match against Cyber Kong in a battle between two members of the Kamikaze stable. And to be honest Tozawa's departure wasn't a major loss for the group, he was certainly not a leading light in the promotion and was very much a midcarder. Infact despite the fact that he had been a part of Dragon Gate for a while he had never held any title.

He of course wasn't stuck working dark matches but went on working tour to the USA where he made quite the impression with two promotions in particular, these were DGUSA and even more spectacularly with PWG where he had a number of outstanding performances during his 11 month run with the company. His specific highlights were a breathtaking effort against Chris Hero at BOLA 2010 and arguably an even better performance spread over 3 different matches teaming with Kevin Steen at DDT4 event in March 2011 which was one of the best pro-wrestling shows of the year.

Tozawa was one of the most talked about wrestlers in the US independent scene during that period and was seen pretty much as a God to the good folks of Resada, California that witnessed PWG's latest shows. He had made a tremendous impression but it was time to head back home to Dragon Gate promotion. The Dragon Gate fans however more than likely didn't pay a great deal of notice to what was happening in DGUSA never mind what 400 PWG fans were raving about. When Tozawa made his return, he would need to convince the fans as to his talents that US fans had enjoyed in the last 12 months.

Tozawa made his return to Dragon Gate on the 8/6 show as a surprise addition to the heel Blood Warriors faction. He slated Shingo and YAMATO for their treatment of him during their days in Kamikaze and said that Maasaki Mochizuki was a 'laughable champion'. More to the point on a night when BxB Hulk also joined Blood Warriors the evening ended with a big 10 man tag which ended when Tozawa pinned Gamma with his package german suplex hold. He also found himself being challenged by YAMATO, it was quite the return. What the fans thought of this was still to be determined but it was clear to Tozawa was getting a major push and was going to be a big factor in the Blood Warriors faction.

This was not going to be that easy, from the Dragon Gate fanbase's point of view the last time they saw him he was sent away after losing a midcard fight on PPV against Cyber Kong and now they were being asked to see him as a major threat and a wrestler who was a major challenge to the company's babyface group of Junction Three. Tozawa in fitting with his triumphant return enjoyed a successful start winning the majority of his matches and where he did lose it was usually in the main event. Dragon Gate were obviously impressed with Tozawa and they were clear that he was going to be a part of the main event mix.

That's not to say that he wouldn't lose any big matches, infact he lost to YAMATO in the singles match that he had been challenged to in his return. However the booking was smart, YAMATO was an established Dragon Gate main eventer so a loss here didn't take away any of his momentum. In the aftermath of his match he showed he could pin YAMATO with his finisher when fellow Blood Warrior Kzy counted the mock pinfall.

Tozawa was booked against Shingo at the big Kobe show on 17/7, this show is the biggest show on the Dragon Gate calendar and is basically their version of Wrestlemania. Their encounter was one of the key matches of the show and Tozawa was to score his biggest victory to date with the group. This was not his only major success of the summer, he teamed with BxB Hulk for the annual tag league tournament. Although the 2011 version of the event wouldn't reach the highlights of previous years in terms of quality and general fan excitement there is no way to escape the fact that this was another step in Tozawa's elevation.

The Tozawa & Hulk team were victorious beating Mochizuki and YAMATO in the final and watching the highlights of the tournament it seems fairly evident that Tozawa is booked as the star of the team. It also is clear that the fans do take a while to get involved in his matches, they do not see him as on the level of CIMA or Mochizuki but they know he's above the level of a Naoki Tanazaki, Ricochet, KAGETORA or even Dragon Kid at this stage.

And that's where Dragon Gate should be applauded they have identified a wrestler that they want to push. They acknowledge that they have to present the wrestler and in this case it's Tozawa in a particular way. He is given major wins, if he does lose and over the last six months or so the prmotion as decided that everyone should lose sometimes. However they don't subscribe to the view that if you lose then you have to look like a complete geek. Tozawa isn't the only wrestler to benefit from this tactic, Yasushi Kanda benefitted greatly from a 20+ minute title challenge against the Open the Dream Gate champion Mochizuk in June.

Winning the tag league wasn't the end of Tozawa's success, on 16/9 he got his win back against YAMATO in a No Rope match which is seen a match that YAMATO specialises in and upto this match he had been undefeated. This match probably more than any other shows Dragon Gate's faith in Tozawa by booking him to go over YAMATO in this type of match. He received his first ever shot at the Open the Dream Gate challenging Mochizuki on 13/10 and enjoyed another excellent showing before being pinned by the champion after 22 minutes (if you want to see this match it's on Infinity 238). And although he didn't win Dragon Gate gold on that occasion it wouldn't be long before he did.

On the first independent Blood Warriors show, he teamed again BxB Hulk to challenge the tag champs the Spiked Mohicans (CIMA & Ricochet) on 30/11 and again they left disappointed. However the champs decided to vacate the titles prefering to concentrate themselves on singles titles. Ricochet currently hold the Brave Gate title after recently defeating PAC while CIMA is the next challenger for the Dream gate title. The Hulk & Akira team had another chance the following evening going against the Junction Three team of Susumu Yokosuka & KAGETORA with the stiplulation that should the Junction Three team than they would be re-named Jimi (which means simple, a Japanese insult). This time Tozawa was victorious and got pinfall over Yokosuka. The tag champs will face the challenge of Shingo and regular foe YAMATO at the Final Battle PPV on Christmas Day.

Considering that elevating Tozawa into the main event mix when he first arrived back in Dragon Gate was far from guaranteed, you have to give great credit to the promotion but especially to Akira Tozawa himself. Whatever confidence he took back to Japan after his tour of the US he has certainly built on and as solidified himself as one of the most entertaining wrestlers anywhere in 2011.

The Indy Corner (Audio - 11/12/2011)

2011-12-13T14:05:00.000-08:00

Here is the Total Wrestling show from Sunday 11th December 2011. The last 32 minutes is a special edition of The Indy Corner that Steve Grieve & I recorded just about Ring of Honor's next iPPV Final Battle which you can order at http://gfl.tv

UFC To Risk Big at FOX Special By Shaun Nichols

2011-12-11T09:21:00.000-08:00

It was only last month that I wrote a blog concerning the upcoming UFC title fights which would see Chael Sonnen and Nick Diaz challenging, looking at their unique personalities and the potential big paydays they would earn the company.
A few weeks later and everything seems to have changed, one of those fights Nick Diaz facing Georges St Pierre in February as been cancelled due to GSP suffering a torn ACL in his right knee which will keep him out of action until September 2012 at the earliest. Injuries as UFC have found out to their cost this year is just one of those factors that go along with their fighters going through intense training and is something the company will have to live with. What this means though more immediately is that Diaz will have to find something else to do until GSP can return. UFC have chosen to book Diaz against Carlos Condit, who if you remember was supposed to have the title fight against GSP and then had to step aside when Dana realised the big money match was GSP-Diaz. Now Condit as a chance to throw the spanner into the works, if he can beat Diaz then he will be certain (injuries permitting) to get the next shot at GSP and knocking Diaz at least temporarily out of the title picture.
So we have seen that one of the biggest fights in 2012 as been put in jeopardy through injury. At the first FOX special in 2012, UFC will risk two of their other big PPV fights. As I talked about last month the one big fight that Anderson Silva as open to him was to face Chael Sonnen again, Sonnen challenging again will probably do at least 70% more than any other Silva title defence.
This begs the question why UFC feel the risk to put Chael Sonnen against Mark Munoz. If he wins what exactly as been gained, most casual fans would expect Sonnen to win anyway. We wouldn't get to see Sonnen ripping on Munoz as they are actually friends, so presumably Chael will spend his time having a go at Anderson Silva. The worst case scenario is that Munoz actually beats Sonnen, this would make him the number one contender and the next challenger to Anderson.
Although a Silva-Munoz fight could be good it is not a very marketable PPV fight again the casual viewer would not see Munoz as a serious threat, Munoz is also a friend of Silva's so UFC would probably struggle to sell that fight on the basis that we have two fighters who can't wait to kick the other guy's ass.
The FOX special will see another big potential PPV fight get put under jeopardy, in the last several months UFC have tried to put together a Jon Jones vs Rashad Evans title fight. On two occasions this fight as been scheduled but then we had claims of injuries that have got in the way. On December 10th Jones successfully defended his title against Lyoto Machida to set up his biggest match against Evans.
Again though UFC prefers to take a risk, Evans who is currently the top contender will face Phil Davis in a match that although he will start favourite it is also one that he could easily lose especially if the majority of it is fought on the mat where Davis would be able to out-wrestle him. A Jon Jones-Rashad Evans fight as a simple story attached to it and depending on your point of view it's a fight where fans will split solidly behind both guys. Jones was given the title opportunity after Evans was injured and the younger fighter took full advantage of it. They used to train at the same gym but now Rashad Evans as moved on, amid claims that Jones is disrespectful.
To a certain degree it tells a similar story of the American Wolves chasing Roderick Strong for the ROH World Ttile (Evans=Richards, Jones=Edwards). Where the senior guy through unfortunate circumstances fails to get the job done and his younger colleague steps in and becomes champion. Now ROH used this storyline to draw their highest iPPV buyrate at 'Best in the World' where Richards defeated Edwards to become the champion. UFC will be aware that it is Rashad Evans and not Phil Davis challenging Jon Jones that will be the best for business but for some reason they think that they can risk it.
The final match on the FOX special features the UK's Michael Bisping straight from his successful fight against Mayhem Miller on the Ultimate Fighter finale, fighting Damian Maia in a fight that could go a long way to positioning Bisping into a title fight against Anderson Silva, Chael Sonnen or even Mark Munoz depending on who wins which fights. It will only be approximately seven weeks between Bisping's victory against Miller and his fight against Maia. Bisping as been told that he's not allowed to train upto Christmas due to injuries he picked him in the fight on UF Finale. That doesn't give him a lot of time to prepare for the Maia fight, Bisping is on a winning roll and due to his personality could make a very marketable PPV calibre challenger. Damian Maia does not fit that category, he was badly outclassed in his title tilt against Anderson Silva and the idea that he could challenge again anytime soon is hopelessly optimistic.
UFC as a lot riding on the events of their first FOX event in 2012, if Sonnen, Evans and Bisping all win convincingly and look good doing so then the gamble will have paid off. If either Sonnen or Evans lose then UFC would have lost a major PPV event needlessly, and while Bisping's fight can't be said to be as important at least not in the short term you can bet that Dana will have his fingers crossed that 'The Count' will also be victorious as well as Evans and Sonnen.

ROH Year in Review By The Duckman

2011-12-07T13:42:00.000-08:00

The sleigh bells are jingling, the cash registers are ringing. TV is a constant rotation of toy, perfume and food advertisements. Stress levels are reaching critical mass and the only way to get through the day is with heroic doses of mescaline (at least for me). There’s tinsel in your hair and desperation in the air. It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

Weirdly it’s because all across the Western world kids are getting ready for a fat elderly man to creep into their bedrooms during the dead of night and empty his sack all over their bed. Now normally this would be considered a serious criminal offence but apparently because it’s Christmas it’s ok. Oh yeah, in case you didn’t work it out yet …IT’S CHRISTMAS!!!!

You know what that means, don’t you kids? That’s right, it’s every lazy writer’s favourite time of year – the end of year review! This isn’t going to be the usual list of all the things that I’ve liked or disliked this year in professional wrestling. I am lazy but I’m not that lazy. I can’t promise no list action but I will try to keep this as mildly entertaining as you’ve come to know and expect.

This end of year review is all about one company. I’m going to look at a company that this year had, without a doubt, the most significantly important year in its nine year existence. So you better all strap yourselves in, we’ve got a lot of ground to cover as we look back at 2011 in Ring of Honor Wrestling!! It’s dark and I’m wearing sunglasses…hit it!

Although before I do indeed hit ‘it,’ I need to say that I’m an unabashed supporter of Ring of Honor Wrestling. I have been since I first saw the promotion on the now defunct ‘Wrestling Channel’ here in the UK back in late 2004/early 2005. I’ve literally spent big on DVDs, IPPVs and other merchandise down the years. I push, promote, hype and generally annoy everyone I know with my tales of how much I enjoy Ring of Honor as a wrestling promotion. I’m sure some kind hearted people would refer to me as a ‘ROH-Bot,’ but you know what? Fuck them. I’m a huge ROH fan and proud of it.

I will do my best to keep things balanced and not veer off into just repeatedly typing, “this is awesome” (clap, clap, clap, clap, clap) and throwing streamers at the screen. However I can’t promise I’ll be able to keep my love and respect for everything ROH and their roster do completely in check. So this might get a bit sickly. But come on, it’s fucking Christmas, lighten up and mark out at something for a change! It’ll brighten up your day!

2011 has been a year of massive change in ROH. The biggest and most significant of these changes occurred on May 21st when ROH announced the sale of the promotion to the Sinclair Broadcast Group. This sent shock waves through the ROH fan base. Some casual fans simply saw the news as a case of a TV company buying a wrestling company. But let’s be honest here, to the long time ROH fans, this was as big a shift in the ROH landscape as you could have outside of bringing Vince Russo in as booker.

Now before anyone freaks out I’m not saying that Sinclair purchasing ROH would have the detrimental effect that bringing Russo in would (i.e. killing the company dead) but it definitely left many long time fans with a feeling that the ROH as they knew it had changed forever. The question of whether or not it’s a change for the better can’t be answered at the moment, but the signs are positive even at this early stage.

The ROH/Sinclair baby is still in its infancy. It’s not even out of diapers yet or annoying you about Christmas presents. It’s extremely early days in what is a long term business plan. It’s tough to keep reminding people that 6 months is not long term (unless you’re talking the length of my relationships) but every ROH fan needs to accept that we won’t see the full effect of the Sinclair purchase immediately.

In the few months since the purchase there have been a number of improvements and subtle changes and thankfully nothing to indicate the end of the world for ROH fans! Sinclair have cleaned up and added a few licks of paint to ROH but they haven’t replaced the whole engine. It’s been small cosmetic changes (new logo, new ring, new website, new store layout, much improved audio and visual production levels on DVD releases) that have helped to generally freshen ROH up. Sinclair bought ROH because it’s ROH, not because it’s a WWE imitation. It makes sense to spruce things up but also to keep all those key elements in place that makes ROH so special.

ROH fans can be content that while Sinclair deal with the business side of owning a wrestling company, the wrestling side of the business is still in the hands of extremely talented wrestling people. THIS is the most important factor in the whole deal. As we all saw with WCW when TV executives try to run wrestling you end up with the kind of mess you normally see in the bathroom at Taco Bell on turkey taco night. There’s a lovely Christmas image for you!

You can’t talk about ROH and Sinclair without mentioning the biggest news coming out of the sale of ROH to Sinclair – the new weekly ROH TV show broadcast on syndicated network television. It has been decades since wrestling aired on broadcast television and it’s somewhat of a forgotten and untapped market. This is what makes the move so interesting, if it does work will other promotions try to follow suit? If it doesn’t work can we finally say that a major wrestling company can’t survive without cable TV exposure?

It’s pretty obvious to anyone looking from the outside that ROH were not going to get on cable and certainly not receive big money from the rights to the show. Their brand is not known yet, their fan base still relatively small and frankly if WWE are on cable, there’s not much point in anyone else being on there. ROH isn’t competition to WWE, it’s an alternative. The decision to go the route they’ve chosen by selling the company to a TV network really is a major roll of the dice. It’s early days and the growth in ROH’s various revenue streams from being on TV won’t truly be able to be measured until this time next year.

This project is in its early stages and one of the most important things you need to do when beginning a long term project like this is build a grass roots fan base and start the long process of getting your brand out there to the wider public. ROH were in an advantageous position of having a readymade audience to watch the TV show (either on TV or online) which they have built up over the last nine years. The grass roots fan base is in place and now the TV show can be used to build on that fan base and get the brand of ROH Wrestling out there to the wider wrestling public.

What’s really interesting is ROH/Sinclair are using an old school business model with a new school product and if the early TV shows are anything to go by, ROH on Sinclair is going to provide the most logically booked angles and action packed matches you’ll see anywhere on a weekly wrestling TV show.

It’s a complete change of pace and style from the cartoonish world of WWE and for a lot of younger fans the lack of bright colours and pyro probably won’t appeal. However to the slightly older and slightly more jaded wrestling fan, the legitimate alternative to WWE that ROH offers could be just the tonic they’ve been looking for. Professional wrestling presented as a serious, athletic sport.

The TV show also allows greater promotion of the IPPVs that ROH have been pioneering for the last couple of years. A huge benefit of the TV show is it’s the perfect platform to do what ROH do better than anyone else – build new stars for their audience. I’ll talk about some of the emerging stars in ROH in 2011 a little later.

One of the main changes in ROH this year has been the much improved use and focus on social media to get the ROH name out there – although CM Punk name dropping them on Raw probably helped a little! Dave Lagana, former WWE writer and now part of the TNA creative team was the driving force behind the ROH social media focus. Thankfully that drive has been kept up since Lagana signed with TNA.

Lagana saw a gap in the market with his ‘I Want Wrestling’ online revolution and then in turn used this to promote ROH – at least indirectly. Ok, so it’s not exactly a over throw Gaddafi kind of revolution, but you know what I mean. The link between the internet and wrestling has always been strong, some say to the determent of the business, but with Dave Lagana on board ROH were able to use social medial effectively and ‘harness the power of the internet for good’ – which incidentally is the title of my next movie.

In 2011 ROH were at the forefront of using social media to promote their company. They were not as heavy handed as WWE with their ‘twitter trend addiction’ and thankfully they didn’t just come up with a snazzy marketing line like, ‘wrestling matters,’ and then have 20 minutes of wrestling on a 2 hour TV show like TNA. Instead ROH expertly used different aspects of the internet and social media to rally their fans.

Videos and other promos on YouTube are a regular tool used by ROH but they also got their name out there with their #findROH and #watchROH on Twitter along with a much more interactive Facebook page and a great looking new website. Couple all this with their willingness to interact with fans online and 2011 has been the year where ROH was the market leader in wrestling promotion on the internet with WWE and TNA frantically trying to catch up.

It’s amazing how few wrestling promotions have grasped the concept of how much free advertising and fan feedback and interaction you can get online. Granted you need a giant bullshit filter to find the good among the retarded, but I’m sure they’d all mine some gold eventually.

So on the business, IPPV, TV and social media side of things it’s been a big year for ROH and with Final Battle only a few weeks away I’m confident ROH will have another record setting IPPV buy rate for their annual end of the year spectacular. The strength of the Davey Richards vs. Eddie Edwards main event rematch for the ROH World Title alone should be enough to crack a very good IPPV number.

It’s not just in the board room or the production truck where ROH have had an important year. It’s also been a year of cutting edge in-ring action, new stars being primed for the future and one absolutely fantastic angle that has the entire indy wrestling scene talking. So now it’s time for some end of year review list action!

Duckman’s Top ROH Wrestlers for 2011:

Davey Richards:

The current ROH World Champion and one of the most in demand talents working in the world today. It’s been a huge year for Richards in ROH as he finally won the World Title, defeating Eddie Edwards in a Match of the Year candidate at the IPPV ‘Best in the World.’ I’ve written about that match and Davey’s post match promo before (http://wrestlingslasthope.blogspot.com/2011/08/what-happened-to-all-promos-duckman.html) but if you haven’t seen it yet, do yourself a favour, stop reading this, go find the match and WATCH IT NOW! You can thank me later.

Along with Davey’s tremendous feud with Eddie Edwards (which you just know is going to kick up a gear at Final Battle) he has also worked some tremendous matches in New Japan and Mexico. Fans have been calling Richards the best in the world since Bryan Danielson went to WWE and this year Davey truly cemented his place as the best in the world.

He hasn’t been able to defend the ROH World Title as often as previous champions (mainly due to being booked in New Japan) but to be honest it’s added an element of ‘must see’ to his World Title matches because they don’t happen as often but when they do…holy crap are they worth watching!

His in-ring mix of MMA and pro wrestling (or American Strong Style as it’s known) is just the kind of work that ROH need to showcase on their TV show to show people they are a true alternative to WWE but that they also offer something new from an in-ring stand point. Davey’s promos have improved leaps and bounds in recent years. I think his promo at last year’s Final Battle was a real marker of how far Richards has come with his promos. He doesn’t play a character, he’s a serious athlete who can cut a great promo.

Richards is the wrestler that ROH can build their promotion around as they move into 2012 – let’s just hope he doesn’t get snapped up before he’s had the chance to really show what he can do in ROH.

Eddie Edwards:

It’s been a huge year for Eddie Edwards, maybe even more so than Richards. A ROH World Title win. Great match after great match with a variety of opponents during his World Title reign. Then an all time classic match with Richards at Best in the World. Add to that how much Edwards has refined and improved his in-ring work this year and you can see why ‘Die Hard,’ is one of the most popular and respected wrestlers on the ROH roster. Plus there’s Final Battle on the horizon and I get the feeling that the Eddie Edwards/Davey Richards story has a few more twists and turns in store for us.

El Generico:

Another amazing year for the Generic Luchador who has to be one of the most popular indy wrestlers in the world today. A master of selling, Generico has charisma to burn and his in-ring work consistently ranges from amazing to spectacular. Generico has firmly placed himself at the top of the ROH card and I know a lot of fans are hoping that the former ROH TV Champion will continue his march to the top of the card in 2012 – OLE!!

Roderick Strong:

What a great year Roderick has had. He was World Champion in the early part of the year and continued to develop his in-ring style while working as a heel. Roddy is the kind of wrestler all promoters would sell their first born child to have on their roster. He can work with anyone in any number of styles. As a heel he can generate great heat and as a babyface he’ll always be extremely popular with the ROH fan base. Roderick Strong has had a lot to do with the great year Eddie Edwards has had and that should not be forgotten as the year draws to an end. One of the most important wrestler on the current ROH roster.

The Briscoe Brothers:

The baddest tag team on the planet. ‘Dem Boys’ never fail to deliver in the ring. 2011 has seen the rise of the awesome Briscoe promo and you know something? Thank fuck for that! If you haven’t seen a Briscoe Brothers promo then again, do yourself a favour, stop reading this, go find their recent promo about hunting young bucks and WATCH IT NOW! You can thank me later.

Inside the ring the Briscoes have really turned up the heat and aggression this year and it’s resulted in some brutal bloodbaths along with their usual great tag team matches. Their heel tactics and stiff, intense style has resulted in a lot of people cheering them when they’re supposed to be the bad guys.

That’s the problem the Briscoes are always going to have in ROH – they’re so beloved that the majority of fans will always cheer them. Oh and those NYC fans that boo the Briscoes? They’re the same dumb fucks who shout ‘Twinkie’ when Todd Sinclair is making a count out. Don’t book to the lowest common denominator, no matter how much fucking noise they make.

In 2011 you can’t think of the Briscoes without thinking of their incredibly physical feud with The All Night Express. That series was integral in establishing the All Night Express as one of the premier tag teams in a loaded tag team division. Speaking of which…

The Tag Team Division:

If I had the space and time I’d dedicate a whole lot more to looking at the ROH tag team division – without a doubt the strongest division of its kind anywhere in professional wrestling, even with the recent loss of the incredible Kings of Wrestling. Although with Hass and Benjamin as Tag Team Champions the division hasn’t been as badly hurt by the departure of the Kings as many feared it would. It’s been great to see Hass and Benjamin free from the shackles of being ‘sports entertainers’ and just going out there and kicking ass as professional wrestlers.

Plus with teams as diverse and entertaining as The All Night Express, Future Shock, The Young Bucks, The Bravado Brothers and others the tag division has been one of the major highlight of the year in ROH. If they could just get the Motor City Machine Gun signed up that’d be tag team perfection!

New Stars:

Michael Elgin, Mike Bennett, Tommaso Ciampa – 3 of the young and up and coming talents that ROH have invested a lot of time in establishing and getting over with their fans base. It wasn’t a coincidence that these three men were introduced during the first Sinclair/ROH press conference. These are the kind of guys that will be the foundation of ROH moving forward and they also really bring different and valuable elements to the ROH roster. This is important as in the past ROH have been accused by critics of having not having enough diverse styles on their roster.

Elgin is the man in the midst of the biggest push of his career thanks to his big win in the annual Survival of the Fittest Tournament. That tournament has established so many wrestlers in ROH down the years and was the kick start in 2010 for Eddie Edwards and his run to the ROH World Title. I’m not sure if Elgin is ready to be World Champion but he’s well on the way to being established as one of the top wrestlers in ROH. His look and his in-ring power really make him stand out from the pack. Expect big things out of Elgin in 2012.

Bennett is a guy the ROH fans love to hate but I don’t think it’s because of his heel behaviour. The guy almost seems to generate ‘go away’ heat which he really doesn’t deserve. It appears a lot ROH fans are just not willing to accept Bennett in any form because he looks like the a-typical WWE developmental guy – right down to the haircut.

The level of resistance for Bennett is ridiculous because the guy is a good worker. He’s different from others on the roster but again that’s a good thing. The only part I don’t get is ‘Brutal’ Bob Evans, his manager. It just doesn’t fit with Bennett’s gimmick.

Bennett looks like a WWE superstar. He needs to act like one and he should have a sleazy agent in the style of the late, great, Sweet and Sour Larry Sweeney. Or he should have a hot chick accompany him to the ring. He should be proud of his ‘sports entertainment’ look and style. He should rub it in the ROH fans faces every chance he gets. Instead he’s got a weird Rocky rip off style comedy manager who unfortunately looks so bush league he brings the whole ‘superstar’ gimmick of Bennett down a notch.

I’m hoping in 2012 that Evans is dropped in favour of really pushing the elements of Bennett’s character that the ROH fans hate. Either way the guy is heading to the top, they should generate as much heat as possible because people will pay to see him get his ass kicked!

Ciampa is actually the guy I’ve been most impressed with out of the new crop of wrestlers ROH have brought through this year. What he lacks in mic skills he makes up for with in-ring work and great facial expressions. I recently watched him in a tag match with Rhino teaming against Homicide and Jay Lethal and he was more than able to hold his own with three much more experienced wrestlers.

He’s on a solid footing with his undefeated gimmick which ROH should run with for a while longer. Ciampa is the only legitimate regular guy in the Embassy stable so it makes sense to protect and build him up as much as possible. He also gets my vote for the most sickening finishing move of 2011, that powerbomb into a lungblower is a hell of a lot more brutal than Bob Evans!

So, let’s see what’ve we covered? The Sinclair deal, the guys who have had great years in the ring, the tag division, the new up and coming stars. Yep, I think that just about covers it for ROH in 2011 and…oh hold on, I’ve just got a tweet:

@KILLSTEENKILL – write about me or I will eat your face, bitch.

Well when you put it like that!

Kevin Steen:

Everyone talked about the Summer of Punk but really all eyes should have been on the Winter of Discontent of Kevin Steen. Whereas WWE stumbled upon their hottest angle and act in years and then allowed it to fizzle out like a wet firework at New Year; ROH have taken a long term approach to the best angle I’ve seen on the indy scene since the build up and eventual debut in ROH of The Age of the Fall.

The situation with Steen began back at Final Battle 2010 where he lost in the final match of the absolutely fucking epic feud with former Tag Team Championship partner El Generico. As Steen lost he had to leave ROH forever. We all know in wrestling that ‘forever’ can mean anything from one show to one year and in Steen’s case it’s meant one year, which is about as close to ‘forever’ as you can get in wrestling in 2011!

Steen is an unbelievable talent. Both in the ring and on the mic there has not been a more consistent performer over the last couple of years in ROH. In his time away from ROH Steen has returned as a mainstay in PWG and his in-ring work is even better than at the end of his run in ROH. Given his level of talent it wasn’t going to be long before the cries of ‘bring back Steen’ would be heard in ROH. The man is too talented and too over to stay on the sidelines for long.

With a ground swell of support from fans lead by his former mentor Steve Corino it appeared that Steen would eventually be back in ROH. However things didn’t go to plan (as is usually the case when the crazed Steen is involved) and when ROH finally agreed to let Steen back in the ring to cut a promo, he hit Corino with the package piledriver and told all of ROH to go fuck themselves!

This lead to Steen invading major ROH shows, disrupting things as much as possible and making the life of ROH Executive Producer Jim Cornette a living hell. In recent weeks on ROH TV it has become clear that the only way for Steen to come back to ROH would be to face Corino in a match at Final Battle. If Steen wins, he’s back in ROH for good – one year after his initial exile.

The beauty of this whole story has been the slow build and the tremendous blurring of the lines between shoot and work. While everyone knew deep down that CM Punk had to clear his ‘shoot’ promo with Vince, with Steen he’s so convincing as an unhinged nut job you do question if what he’s doing is real. The moments were Steen invaded ROH shows were so convincing that you could easily believe that Steen was out to kill ROH and desperate to come back and finish the job.

Considering they’ve been able to maintain this angle for over year is a testament to the great story telling ability of everyone involved, from Cornette and Hunter Johnson, to Corino and Jimmy Jacobs and of course Steen himself. The use of the internet and in particular Steen on Twitter has really shown how to use the internet to the benefit of an angle. Cutting edge stuff.

The fans are absolutely hooked by Steen and his quest to come back to ROH to fuck things up. This, along with Richards vs. Edwards 2, are great examples of two completely different styles of wrestling angle that ROH have produced in 2011. They are two shining lights pointing out why ROH is streets ahead of any other promotion in terms of their commitment to long term and hopefully money drawing angles. Plus you can see both play out at Final Battle in what are the definition of ‘must see’ matches in ROH in 18 days!

So as we get closer to Christmas and Final Battle 2011 I sit here, feet up, fire blazing, brandy in hand as the winter weather batters my house and I feel that while ROH have had a hugely significant year, there’s still so much more to come. The Sinclair deal, the TV show, IPPVs, the expansion into new markets. It’s an exciting time to be a ROH fan and here’s to 2012 and more great angles, more cutting edge in-ring work, growing TV ratings and Davey Richards vs. Kevin Steen for the ROH World Title at Final Battle 2012!!

Thanks for taking the time to check out my look back at 2011 in ROH and some of the star performers. I hope you guys enjoy Final Battle and have a great Christmas and New Year. Keep supporting ROH and keep supporting Wrestling’s Last Hope. Don’t forget you can follow me on twitter @WLHDuckman where I’d love to hear your thoughts on 2011 for ROH, Final Battle and anything else on wrestling or MMA.

Until next time…

Peace

Duckman

Oh and as an added bonus, here’s my favourite matches in ROH in 2011:

1. Eddie Edwards vs. Davey Richards – ROH World Title match – Best in the World.
2. Eddie Edwards vs. Chris Hero – ROH World Title match – Toronto, Canada.
3. The Kings of Wrestling vs. Charlie Hass and Shelton Benjamin – Honor Takes Centre Stage 1.
4. Christopher Daniels vs. Eddie Edwards - ROH TV Title match - 9th Anniversary Show.
5. Charlie Hass and Shelton Benjamin vs. The Briscoes - 9th Anniversary Show.
6. Eddie Edwards vs. Roderick Strong – ROH World Title match – Manhattan Mayhem 4.
7. The All Night Express vs. The Briscoes – Ladder War 3 – Death before Dishonor 9.
8. Eddie Edwards vs. Roderick Strong – Ringmaster Challenge Match – Death before Dishonor 9.
9. The Briscoes vs. The All Night Express – Chicago Street Fight – Supercard of Honor 6.
10. El Generico vs. Michael Elgin – Honor Takes Centre Stage 1.

WLH PPV Prediction League Phase 2: A Great Prize To Be Won

2011-12-06T19:34:00.000-08:00

So here we are, TNA's final PPV of the the year, the Iron Man match if nothing else should be a cracker. Get your predictions in by 22:00 GMT on Sunday. Following this one, just the 1 PPV left of the year, WWE's TLC and then, the person with the most points will win the multi-signed WWE Backlash 2006 DVD.

1 Bobby Roode vs. A.J. Styles (30 Min Iron Man Match For TNA title)
2 Gail Kim vs. Mickie James (Knockouts Title)
3 Jeff Hardy vs. Jeff Jarrett
4 Crimson and Matt Morgan vs. Devon and D'Angelo Dinero (TNA Tag Titles)
5 Austin Aries vs. Kid Kash (TNA X Division Title)
6 Robbie E vs . Eric Young

James "Sinister Minister" Mitchell Interview - By Sean Walford & Kyle Patin

2011-12-06T12:25:00.001-08:00

During this past week's edition of my own pro-wrestling radio show, Aftershock Pro-Wrestling Radio, former TNA, WCW & ECW veteran James Mitchell joined myself & co-host Kyle Patin. Mitchell was an absolute pleasure to talk to, and I thoroughly encourage you to check out the interview (See Below) as he talks a number of different subjects. That have all made headlines in the dirt-sheet's this past week!

Here's a teaser of some of the things Mitchell says in the interview;

On why he left TNA:
"After the stuff that went down with Judas Mesias, I believe he had a dispute over working days and he went back to Mexico. They told me at the moment your on hiatus until we find you someone to work with, and at that point I had just signed a three-year deal.

"That went on for a while and when I went to them and said excuse me guys but you realize my contract is rolling over and I have a lot of unused dates that you owe me money for, I'd be willing to come backstage and produce promo's for the guys etc, anything to be worth my money, cause your going to have to give me a balloon payment for the rest of this year. I think they took me off TV in March of 2008 and so this was in July or so, I was told due to infamous loop-holes they have in wrestling contracts that I'd be paid for the balance of that year but they where not going to honor, the extra two years or whatever it was based upon the conditions of the contract."  

On the current state of managing and whether he would ever return as a manager:
"Ok, well first thing that has happened was before I went to WCW was they started bringing in the girls, hey more power to the girls but I have seen very few of them that can cut a promo. They make great models or whatever, but most of them are not, with exceptions, unable to tell a story. So that got in the way but there was still managers. To me the big shifting point was when Eric Bischoff put himself on TV and started becoming basically the mouthpiece for the NWO. Then Vince McMahon immediately did the same thing.

"Somewhere, once during the Monday night wars the two became mouthpiece's for there company and that seemed to coincide with both of them saying we don't want managers any more. Was this a contentious decision? Probably not but things happened and they both sort of filled the role of managers, and the other thing was that well everybody knows wrestling's a work now so nobody really believes that you manage these people. Ok fair enough. Oh you know what everybody knows wrestling's fake so nobody believes these two guys in-ring really hate each other and that they are fighting over a real championship. There's a level of suspension of disbelief that if you buy into wrestling then it all works. When wrestling goes to hell that's where it all goes to stupid stuff.

"So there's no reason in my opinion that nobody would believe that somebody had a manager. Because a manager serves a very important role, there are plenty of people like the majority of people that I have managed over the years that are great performers. Can't talk or there talking doesn't reach the level of there incredible in-ring talent, and that's a managers role. But you know I'm not going to force myself on a industry that may have no place for me."

You can check out the interview here!

Let Me Speak On This - with WLHSTU (4/12/11)

2011-12-04T10:31:00.000-08:00

Just a few things I want to write about this week, hope you enjoy.

Getting Over: A Discussion

I recently had a discussion with a friend on the wonderful world of twitter about the term 'getting over' in wrestling. He seems to think that to get over means you have to draw money either by people buying tickets or PPV for a show you're on. I however think if the crowd pops for you when you come out or the fans chant your name even when your not in the ring then I take that as being over.

Someone who gets both of the latter is Zack Ryder, now I can honestly say I have never watch one of his YouTube shows but I always hear Ryder used it to get himself over so the crowd does pop for him and as the recent Survivor Series showed, his name was chanted when he wasn't in the ring and so weather I or the 'smart' fans are not a fan of him the guy is over.

I would like you guys reading this to please comment on this subject either on twitter @WLHSTU or on the facebook fan page http://facebook.com/WLH11

New Scene Wrestling

Onto other things, UK wrestling has had a good year in 2011 and I hope for great things in 2012, the year was going to start off with a bang right here in my home city of Birmingham as New Scene Wrestling had advertised a show for Jan 1st that would feature current ROH champion Davey Richards against his American Wolves partner Eddie Edwards however, it was announced Richards would be unable to attend probably because NJPW would want homing Japan ready for the Jan 4th Tokyo Dome show but that's just me speculating. Anyway, after a tag team from WXW in Germany also cancelled NSW made the decision to cancel the whole show and to be fair, I think was the best idea. Not wanting to let the fans down they have announced their next show in early Feb in Birmingham once again and the first match announced features three top British workers those being Zack Sabre Jr. Joel Redman and my personal favourite MK McKinnan. I look forward to further announcements for the show but I know for sure, with that match there, I'll be at the show.

The Indy Corner - What's Happening is.....

To close, anyone wondering where The Indy Corner radio show is, I heard myself on the Total Wrestling Show today, like all the other listeners, Indy Corner is coming back in the new year. Annoyed myself really as Ring of Honor has their biggest show of the year coming up and I'll not be able to discuss this on air. These things are out of my hands to be honest, sorry to anyone who misses the show.

Until next time

Stu

@WLHSTU on twitter

BritWres - Things Are Looking Good

2011-11-28T13:47:00.001-08:00

British wrestling has seen a big upturn in 2011 in my books, OK, no promotion has yet to secure a TV deal but I am sure one will soon. Just over the last couple of weeks three British promotions have been in the wrestling news.

First, on the weekend of November 19th & 20th the FWA did their usual show at the Memorabilia Show at the N.E.C. in Birmingham. I was lucky enough to be there on day 1 where the group put on three matches the third of these was a tremendous match between Jonny Storm & The ‘Rockstar’ Spud. Jonny went into the match as the babyface and Spud as the heel, the latter of course being from the Birmingham area but by the end of the match, the two had switched roles and they took part in a superb double turn. The crowd was a mixture of wrestling fans and general Memorabilia show goers but the two guys in the ring did such a great job as did referee Chris Roberts that they were able to pull it off.

Hopefully big things to come from the FWA, please check out their great youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/frontierwrestlingtv

On Friday November 25th, I went to the final show of the year from the AWESOME Fight Club Pro. This show was entitled ‘Infinity 2011’ and I have done an article on this show elsewhere on the site but I just want to repeat, I love FCP, the guys give 110% and the company NEVER fails to impress me. Also, due to the crowd at FCP, the aforementioned Spud was back in his heel role and it works a treat at FCP, the guy is awesome in his role, great gimmick – Top guy overall. Just in case you missed the other column, it had the Infinity 2011 tournament which consisted of two 4 way matches with the winner of each going into the final – MK McKinnan, my favourite worker of 2011 as I have seen him live 4 times now and was in 2 of my favourite matches of the year, one of which was on Project Mayhem Night 3, see below, won the tournament. Also, it was night 1 of the UK leg of the Nigel McGuinness retirement tour, he was set to face FCP champion Trent Seven and he did just this but along with the added spice of former ROH champion, like Nigel himself is, Eddie Edwards. Edwards ended the night as FCP champion, great match, great show and year in FCP overall.

I can’t wait for the next FCP show, please support them by LIKING their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fight-Club-PRO/234516669556 and BUY Project Mayhem on DVD off them over at http://fightclubprob.com

And to top this off, this past Sunday, IPW-UK had their 7th Anniversary show and the card was loaded, thanks to @gadget80 on twitter here are the results :
Marty Scrull over Dean Allmark (Cruiserweight title tournament bracket A final), Project Ego beat Tempest Warriors, Joel Redman over Nigel McGuinness, Eddie Edwards over Noam Dar (who was in for Martin Stone who could not compete but was there), Dave Mastiff won a 4-way over T-Bone, John Ryan & Terry Frazier to become number 1 contender to the IPW-UK title , IPW-UK champion Sha Samuels over the Lion Kid. The main event was IPW-UK tag team champions Marty Scrull (again) along with his Leaders partner – Zack Sabre Jr. going over The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson). I imagine this match was great, the Bucks have a bit of a reputation but loved their match recently on ROH TV so I can’t wait to see this match.

British wrestling is looking good, there are more promotions of course that I have not mentioned, Steven Fludder is doing great things up in Preston with PCW so look out for his upcoming show in December that will feature McGuinness as he continues his retirement tour.

FightClub: Pro INFINITY 2011 - Thank You Nigel

2011-11-27T11:28:00.000-08:00

I was at FightClub: Pro's final show of the year on Friday, and oh what a show it was. The show was built around the 2011 Infinity tour which consisted of 2 4-way matches and then the final but also, it was the show that had Nigel McGunniess on in the first match of the UK leg of his retirement tour. Nigel would be facing FCP champion Trent Seven, the two guys started the show off with an in-ring promo, as the guys were getting ready to go to the back some music began to play, people were looking around at each other wondering who it was, I did know who it was as a ROH fan because it was former ROH champion Eddie Edwards. Eddie got on the mic, and said how he wasn't booked for the show but when he heard there was a world title up for grabs he wanted to be a part of it and both Nigel & Trent agreed so the match was set.
The first match of the night was the first match of the Infinity tournament as it was Lee Hunter vs. Bobby Barrett vs. Dave Mastiff vs. Clint Margera - Order of elimination was Barrett out first followed by Mastiff and then Margera so Lee Hunter went into the final.
The second match was the second in the Infinity tournament as it was Jim Hunter vs. MK McKinnan vs. Dave Williams vs. The Rockstar Spud - Order of elimination was Williams out first, followed by Hunter and then Spud who went down to the MK McKinnan shining wizard.
The next match was the triple threat for the FCP title, all 3 guys looked terrific, and as I said to a friend i was with on the night, Nigel did not look like someone who needs to retire. In a total shock after an awesome match, Eddie Edwards pinned Trent Seven and became the new FCP champion. After the match Eddie took to the mic followed by both Trent and Nigel. Awesome speeches by the guys, I have posted a video of it at the end of this article.

Somehow, MK McKinnan & Lee Hunter had to follow that great match but they did just that, may not of been MK's best match in FCP but was still very good and Hunter held his own too. And to end the night, we had McKinnan crowned 2011 Infinity champion and he went onto say amongst other things "I love this shit" couldn't of put it better myself.

As stated, this was FCP's final show of the year and it was AWESOME like all the othera I attended which was just the 3 prior to this but I'll be hopefully going to a lot more next year if not all and I suggest you guys go and check FCP out too if you can. For now, BUY the Project Mayhem 3 disc set from http://fightclubprob.com

I'm hoping for a Best of DVD to be released by FCP sometime soon so I can see this stuff again, as well as the stuff I missed like Davey Richards vs. Trent Seven and MK McKinnan vs. El Generico plus the matches featuring Mike Quackenbush & Colt Cabana.

As promised, below is the video of the speeches by Eddie Edwards, Nigel McGunniess & Trent Seven

R.I.P. Bison Smith

2011-11-22T21:13:00.000-08:00

Bison Smith passed away on November 22nd 2011 in Puerto Rico due to heart complications at the age of a mere 38 yrs old.

I had the pleasure to watch the big man wrestle in person for Pro Wrestling NOAH back in 2008 right here in the UK. Bison can also be seen in the Beyond The Mat documentary when it shows All Pro Wrestling where Bison got a lot of his training.

Not overly known for working the American wrestling scene, Bison made his name in Japan for NOAH where he was one of the top ganjin's.

Pro-wrestling has lost another star and at such a young age. People should check out Bison on Colt Cabana's Art of Wrestling podcast either on http://welovecolt.com or iTunes

R.I.P Big man.

You cant see M… My heel turn By Azan Saigol

2011-11-20T11:26:00.000-08:00

Tonight The Rock returns to wrestling after seven years. Tonight The Rock teams with John Cena for the first time. Tonight John Cena turns heel?

Yes, this question is asked every Sunday before a PPV. But tonight is better then ever. Think about it, it’s at BLOODY Madison Square Garden. Turning Cena would be HUGE. I mean look there is no way Rock and Cena can go into Mania as The crowd will not accept The Rock as a heel against Cena. Obviously babyface vs. babyface does not work. You want to tell me that it’s bad marketing. Well clearly you did not live through the Attitude Era. The nWo was a heel stable. They sold tons of shirts. When DX was a heel stable, they sold tons of shirts. When the Austin 3:16 shirt came out, and Stone Cold trashed the crowd on the mic, everybody was wearing his shirt. Why is WWE afraid to have this guy turn for the betterment of their overall product? By turning Cena heel, they're essentially turning him face since 75% of the crowd can't stand him now, anyway. His merch sales might actually go up.

Another reason for Cena’s Heel Turn:
You might have noticed for the past few weeks, the whole focus of this match has been on Cena and Rocky. What if this was done on purpose just to show how Cena would turn on Rocky? I mean he invites him to be his partner out of the blue, then screws him over at the most historical stadium. Think about it. Rock gets a beat down by Cena Miz and Truth. Okay, maybe that is thinking a bit too far. What if Rock and Cena win the match and at the end Cena attacks The Rock to end the PPV. Keep in mind that this is the Garden, and Vince is not sending the fans home without a “BANG”.

Well as far as im concerned. Tonight is going to be AWESOME. If I was you I would buy this PPV simply for the mainevent. Other than that, let’s see what happens. If Cena turns HEEL, well lets just say it will be another proud moment where I can tell the world why I love the WWE. And if not, atleast I got to see The Rock wrestler after seven years.

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UFC To Rely On Unique Challengers By Shaun Nichols

2011-11-20T10:08:00.000-08:00

The two biggest fights in UFC in 2012 will arguably see the two most dominant champions face their biggest challenge. Georges St Pierre is next scheduled to defend his title against Nick Diaz, while Anderson Silva is lined up to defend his title for a second time against Chael Sonnen.
Now while it's fair to say that GSP and Silva are well established main eventers and PPV draws it is also fair to say that their opponents go a long way to determining just how successful those PPV numbers are going to be. GSP's biggest PPV success in recent times was against Josh Koscheck who masterfully used that season's Ultimate Fighter to boost the buyrate. Anderson Silva the undisputed Middleweight champion was boosted considerably by the trash talking abilities of Sonnen. Chael is able to talk like no other UFC fighter and was solely responsible for thousands of extra buys.
The fight which saw Sonnen dominate Silva for four and a half rounds, until Silva was able to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat by locking in a triangle armbar. With Sonnen failing the drug test and then being banned it looked like we would not see the re-match that most UFC fans were craving.
Chael Sonnen though is back and brasher than ever, made his return to the octagon at UFC 136 against Brian Stann. Many commentators had doubts that Sonnen could return to his previous heights after his extended lay off. In the run up to his match, Sonnen toned down his usual antics realising that Stann seen by UFC fans as a genuine American Hero. Instead he let his performance do the talking for him by completely dominating Stann.
Once the fight was over, Chael was back to his usual self by calling out Anderson Silva who was in attendance. As I said earlier Sonnen is like nobody else in the company his ability to connect with the fans and to get them to pay to see him fight is on a different level to anybody else. He challenged Silva to a fight in his post match interview but with stipulations attached. If Sonnen can beat Anderson then the current champion would have to leave the division, if Silva could beat him a second time than Chael would not just leave the division but the UFC itself. Surely Vince McMahon was taking note of this??
What this did was make Chael Sonnen the number one contender, regardless of the fact that Anderson Silva wants nothing more to do with him. As far as Anderson is concerned, he beat Sonnen and therefore he has nothing more to prove and there are other potential challengers waiting. He sees Chael as disrespectful and is in no hurry to want to help Sonnen get a big pay day. The problem for Silva, is that there is one fight available to him that will draw considerably more than anyone else he can fight. That fight is against Chael Sonnen and Dana White will make sure it will happen in 2012.
Their fight will do a lot more buys than their first in August 2010, they can use the footage of that first fight. Anderson's outrage at being forced to defend against somebody he sees as unworthy and than the icing on the cake, the promoting skills of Chael Sonnen. Fans will be clear as to whether they will be supporting Chael in his efforts to become the new UFC Middleweight champion. The stipluation that Chael issued after the Stann fight as now been withdrawn, with Chael claiming that the offer only had a limited time period and Silva missed it but it hardly matters. It got Sonnen the match that he wanted, and while he'll probably regret walking off 'Off The Record' with Michael Landsberg in the last few days when the host pushed him on it. It won't stop Chael from being the king of promoting a fight.
Nick Diaz on the other hand is a completely different animal from Chael Sonnen. While Chael utilises press conferences and general promoting like nobody else, Nick Diaz would rather not promote anything at all. And there lays the charm you could say, one Nick Diaz in UFC is considered to be a blessing but having anymore than one would be a nightmare for the company.
Diaz was scheduled to face GSP at UFC 137 but was axed from that match when he missed numerous event related appearances. Surprisingly Diaz wasn't cut from the card but was pushed into the semi main event against BJ Penn. This allowed Carlos Condit to take the title match, which as it turned out didn't happen when GSP had to pull out due to a knee injury. This meant that Diaz was back in the main event and if he could beat Penn then he would be next in line to face GSP if he successfully defeated Condit at a later date.
In typical Diaz fashion, he was unhappy having to figt Penn stating that they were friends and it wouldn't be right. He only agreed to fight Penn when BJ had already agreed to fight Diaz first. In the press conferences he did attend, he was often late rarely said anything to promote the fight. He didn't want any part of the media circus but in the UFC that's not something that can be avoided.
Diaz dominated the fight and convincingly won by unaminous decision, after the fight he then called GSP out. He said that the UFC Welterweight Champion wasn't hurt and could have competed and if he was trying to really push for a fight against GSP he then said the magic words 'he's scared'. It's funny because your wondering who GSP was scared of? He wasn't facing Diaz, but rather Carlos Condit. And most people thing would expect GSP to beat Condit.
GSP was outraged and demanded to face Diaz next with Condit stepping aside. GSP in the press conference said that he would give Nick Diaz the worst beating that had ever been given out in a UFC fight. Quite the prediction from the usually composed Canadian. Diaz for his part continued with his now legendary and bizarre performance in the post-show conference. He complained how badly he had fought, when everybody else fought that he had done a great job. He complained that he wasn't paid enough, couldn't afford to pay his training team. Couldn't afford to buy a house in a nice neighbourhood and that he felt that he was always on the verge of being robbed by drug users. He was simply on a roll and most journalists got to the point where they were laughing at Diaz because they thought he was joking. He wasn't and that pissed him off even more and his numerous complaints including a suggestion that he should be paid the same as Floyd Mayweather led to Dana White responding with a few choice words for Diaz.
That being said, Dana knows that a GSP-Diaz fight is the one that makes the most sense. It will also be a bigger success in 2012 than it would have done had they fought last month as originally planned. They have greatly motivated GSP, a great clip of Diaz saying the champion's scared which is basically the money shot in countdown specials.
So in a year that UFC have generally seen their PPV buyrates fall, they will greatly benefit from two completely different characters. Both Chael Sonnen & Nick Diaz will be essential in helping the company earn two massive nights of income, regardless if either of them actually manage to win.

Chikara: High Noon Review By Ashley Hendricks

2011-11-20T02:06:00.000-08:00

On Sunday November 13th, The Wrestling world was given a treat as CHIKARA Pro presented their first iPPV, High Noon. I may just be a CHIKARA mark and I may be giving it too much credit but this PPV was the best PPV I have seen all year, if not top 5. This PPV was worth the wait and worth the money. To purchase this iPPV (until it comes on DVD which by Chikara’s standards, it may already be out) you can go to GFL.TV, now on to this Review.

Match 0 – Jigsaw vs El Generico

This match was available to everyone on the pre-show available on Ustream. The problem for me was Ustream was skipping and jumping throughout the entirety of this match, so I can’t really report on it. I did see the end which was Jigsaw picking up the win via double foot stomp.
Winner- Jigsaw
Rating ***

Match 1 – The Colony vs The Young Bucks

I like the Colony and I don’t mind the Young Bucks as faces, so I was excited for this match. Both are great tag teams and it did make for a great contest. Solid Colony crowd. The commentary (Remsburg, Chikarason and Loudspeaker, not all at once) were fantastic at explaining how Chikara works for the newbies) Fire Ant out shined everyone in this match. Solid action from all, especially when they focused more on the Lucha side of wrestling, when you could roll out of the ring and it is considered as a tag out. Matt Jackson is a beast of a man, capable of doing a double powerbomb into a buckle bomb and lifting the Colony on his shoulders. The ending came when A missed Bang for your buck leads to a roll up for the pin and the win in a fantastic opening contest.
Winners – Colony
Rating *** ½

Match 2 – Sara Del Ray vs Jakob Hammermeier

Saras gonna kill you at Happy Birthday chants to start the match. Sara Del Ray pretty much beat the shit out of this poor Bastard. He got a bit of offense but Sara dominated him. Glorious. Sara won via Royal Butterfly.
Winner – Sara Del Ray
Rating ***

Match 3 – Green Ant vs Tursas

The culmination of over a year’s worth of build-up and one of the best matches on the card, here was Green Ant vs Tursas. Green Ant did the slam again but this time on the floor followed by an elbow drop from the top to the floor. Tursas was his usual behemoth self, just being a general badass but Green Ant used a modified Chikara Special (called the Chikara Special: Green) for the submission victory.

Winner – Green Ant
Rating - *** ¼

Match 4 – Colt Cabana vs Archibald Peck

This was a fantastic match, not because of the wrestling; it was because of the comedy. Whenever Archie would go to attack Cabana, he would fall flat on his face. Fantastic. The ending came when Colt Cabunny (Arichie’s mascot in a Cabana singlet) hit Archie with a baton, leading to Colt getting an easy win.
Winner – Colt Cabana
Rating - ** ½

Match 5 - Gregory Iron vs. Icarus

The most hated man in independent wrestling going the most inspirational wrestler, in which was built as the final confrontation. I enjoyed this match. There wasn’t much I could say about this match. The crowd was a little dead. Icarus got the pin after the Blu Ray. After the match Gran Akuma (who had returned the previous night) made an attempt to attack Icarus only to knock the head out of poor Iron.
Winner – Icarus
Rating - ** ¾

Match 6 – Spectral Envoy (UltraMantis Black and Hallowicked) vs. The BDK (Ares and Tim Donst)

Great feud ender. Fun match. Great Spots. Fun brawl all across the arena. UltraMantis Black is over like a motherfucker in Philly and I don’t blame the Philly crowd, Mantis is a legend. The interesting part is that Tim Donst walked out on Ares leading into Mantis pinning him for the win.
Winner – Spectral Envoy
Rating - *** ¾

Match 7 – Eddie Kingston vs. Mike Quackenbush

The main event of the show was master vs. student as ‘The War King’ Eddie Kingston went up against ‘The Master of 1000 Holds’ Mike Quackenbush for The Chikara Grand Championship. The Chikara Grand Championship looks pretty. Before the math Bryce Remsburg was looking very emotional. Kingston was over with the crowd. Quack was until he started acting Rudo during the match. Eventually Quack started brawling and Kingston started using submissions. During the match, the lockeroom emptied as Chikara wrestlers past and present (no Hero or Claudio) surrounded the ring. Kingston eventually won. The title was then presented to him by friends and family of the late Larry Sweeney. He then cut a promo calling out; WWE, TNA, CZW, John Cena, CM Punk, Triple H and AJ Styles. The show came to a close with Kingston, Ultra Mantis, Hallowicked, Icarus and Jigsaw (Chikara’s class one) in the ring together.

UFC 139 Henderson vs. Rua Preview By Paul Dyer

2011-11-19T14:51:00.000-08:00

Coming on the heels of one of the most hyped MMA shows in the sports history, UFC 139 from San Jose seems almost forgotten. It’s hardly surprising that some events are missed as this will be the 24th live show produced by the UFC in 2011, by the end of the year they will have had an average of 2.25 shows a month. And that’s just from one company, don’t forget about Strikeforce, Bellator, Dream, Titan Fighting, M-1 Global, Maximum Fighting and the numerous others all over the world. To be a hardcore MMA fan in this era is to be a master of the calendar and time management. Between Friday and Sunday there will be 4 decent sized MMA cards and the main will obviously be the card headlined by the former Pride alumni in California.
I’m only going to preview the main card as quite frankly I don’t have the time to do the Facebook or Spike TV prelims and most of you won’t be watching them anyway! First up we have one half of the “greatest fight in UFC history” Stephen Bonnar vs. Kyle Kingsbury. Bonnar is on a 2 fight win streak after having a bad run and Kingsbury in his third fight of 2011 going for his 5th straight win. Neither fighter is what you’d call elite nor can see either ever getting to that level but this does have potential to be an exciting balls out slugfest. Kingsbury has the edge by a slight margin in the wrestling department and I can see him clinching towards the end of the round en route to taking it by decision but as with most of the fights on the main card it’s a pick ‘em.
Martin Kampmann vs. Rick Story intrigues the hell out of me, as both men have real potential to fight for the welterweight strap if they have a few solid victories in succession. The Dane is coming off two controversial decision losses to Jake Shields and Diego Sanchez, even if he does lose this fight, I don’t think he’s in danger of a three strikes and you’re out of the UFC. Story is also coming of a loss as he was upset by Charlie Brenneman at UFC Live 4 back in June in a great 3 round matchup. Kampmann has the upper hand in the striking but Story is by far the better wrestler, so I think this comes down to Kampmann’s ability to stuff the takedowns or his aptitude to stand back up after the event. I can see this going all three sounds with Kampmann taking a close victory.
“The California Kid” Uriah Faber vs. Brian Bowles in a bantamweight clash of former WEC champions. Faber will be as over (to use a pro wrestling parlance) as anyone on the card due to his history of fighting in his home state. He’s coming off a loss to UFC bantamweight title holder Dominic Cruz in a match that won fight of the night honours. Bowles on the other hand is coming off two victories after taking his first loss of his pro career against the aforementioned Cruz. Brittle hands have slowed down Bowles’ progress and that could be a major factor if he decides to switch his usual game plan. Faber comes into the fight physically stronger and much more aggressive fighter and will be the more eager to get it on the ground. If he does get the Georgia native to the ground he will continually make him work and won’t stop working from the top. I see Faber taking it again by decision to again face Cruz in 2012.
Wanderlei Silva vs. the UFC debuting Cung Le is your co-main event of the evening. Everyone knows “the Axe Murderers” game plan, start swinging and hope you hit something. Cung is more of a puzzle, he’s 39 years old and hasn’t fought in 18 months while concentrating on his film career. Does ring rust play a factor in the San Shou masters debut? I think yes is the answer. Silva’s chin is as weak as any in UFC including coming off a 27 second KO loss to Chris Leben. This is the tale of opposites, Le needs to remain at distance and use his fantastic kicks whereas Silva needs to stand in the pocket and use his Muay Thai/punches to try and decapitate the former Strikeforce standout. I’ll give it to Silva by TKO but again it’s a tossup.
Main event time is the returning Dan Henderson against the former light heavyweight champ Mauricio Rua. What a great fight to headline the forgotten UFC. This is a five round fight and that could really make a huge difference to the 41 year old Henderson. Henderson has struggled in five round fights and seems to fade in the championship rounds but he also has a right hand to die for and unbelievable power. Shogun is a frustrating fighter at the best of times, as he sometimes looks a world beater and other times looks distinctly average. I’m leaning ever so slightly to picking the Brazilian as I think he can sit in the pocket and use his vicious knees to Hendo’s body in the latter half of the fight and during the opening salvo stay away from the hands of the former Olympic grappler with kicks from distance.

This should be a great night of fights on PPV in North America and ESPN in the UK, and don’t forget the prelims on Facebook. @Theszbien signing off.

WLH PPV Prediction League Phase 2: A Great Prize To Be Won

2011-11-18T22:52:00.000-08:00

Here we are again, another PPV, one of the WWE's biggest - Survivor Series. We'll see The Rock team with John Cena against R-Truth & The Miz. It's a great prize to be won, so all those people who have been involved in the prediction league should get yours in via email to wlhstu@aol.co.uk

Here is the line-up:

The Rock & John Cena vs. R-Truth & The Miz
WWE Champion Alberto Del Rio vs. CM Punk
World Champion Mark Henry vs. The Big Show
US Champion Dolph Ziggler vs. John Morrison
WWE Divas Champion Beth Phoenix vs. Eve (LumberJill Match)
Traditional Survivor Series Match: Team Orton - Randy Orton, Sheamus, Mason Ryan, Kofi Kingston & Sin Cara vs. Team Barrett - Wade Barrett, Cody Rhodes, Jack Swagger, Hunico & Dolph Ziggler

Alex Shane – Stealing Shows And Creating History By Alex Kirkham

2011-11-17T20:22:00.000-08:00

Alex Shane will steal the show in 5 seconds, steal the show in 4 seconds, 3 seconds, 2 seconds, Now. Something British fans of wrestling have grown used to over the last 10 or so year, is the figure of Alex Shane. The 2 time FWA champion, is one of the pinnacle points of the revival of British wrestling, and continues to light up FWA tapings with his no nonsense attitude and his barrage of moves. Though Shane’s career has not always been plain sailing, its to his credit that he is a 2 time FWA Heavyweight champion and one of the finest heavyweights to grace this country since the late 70’s.
Under the watchful eye of the great Dino Scarlo, and fresh from a spell with the prestigious NWA Hammerlock promotion, Shane, then under his real name of Alex Spilling, was approached by the newly formed Frontier Wrestling Alliance promotion. Along with his tag team partner Guy Thunder, Spilling appeared on the 2nd ever FWA show and from there on out, he never looked back.
His success with the FWA, allowed Shane to open his very own wrestling school, where he could mould the future stars of the business. As CCPW (Capital City Pro Wrestling) grew, it became the official London home of the FWA, but also opened doors for Shane, allowing him to move into the booking side of the sport, helping run the 1st FWA event in 2001. It was later in the same year, that Shane would adopt his most successful and well known persona, as the “Showstealer” he would become key to the development of the FWA and its success.
By the beginning of 2002, due to events in and out of the ring, Shane had seized majority control of the FWA which meant he was helping making British Wrestling a formidable force once again. As arguably one of the top face persona’s in British Wrestling at the time, Shane was loved by fans, culminating in he and former rival Ulf Herman winning the FWA tag titles in late 2002. This was huge success for Shane, but soon things would change, as just months later, Shane would turn on Herman, and become one of the most hated figures within the sport at the time. This was the beginning of the rise of Alex Shane, taking his status to the top of British Wrestling, and leading to him to notable feuds with the King Of Oldschool Steve Corino and the Anarchist Doug Williams, the latter of whom Shane would defeat for his inaugural FWA Heavyweight Title.
During the boom period of British Wrestling, Shane put his booking skills to the ultimate test, Shane presented International Showdown live, with a star studded card including Samoa Joe, CM Punk, Raven, Sabin, Daniels, Styles and the list goes on and on. In what was dubbed “As Good As It Gets” by British media, it was a showing of what British wrestling could do, and what it had achieved since its rebirth.
As a showing of the acclaim Shane was gaining, he was named Ring Of Honor’s head of European marketing, where he would promote ROH events, promoting the companies 1st ever overseas tour with huge draws and financial gains overall. Shane worked off of this success, to promote his own “King Of Europe Cup” later in the same year, featuring talent such as Doug Williams, Nigel McGuiness, Chris Hero, Claudio Castagnoli and the late great Trent Acid to name a few. Again it met with huge success, as it closely followed the ROH events, and built off the hype they had created. It simply showed that Shane as a booker had gained tremendous fans and backing from companies like the FWA & ROH and was showing his skills with his booking.
By now the name Alex Shane was big in the world of wrestling booking, both in the UK and in the US, which is why it was no surprise when TNA wrestling approached Shane to promote their 4 day tour of the UK in 2008.
The name Alex Shane, held respect, honour, and dignity by 2009, so it was no surprise that he was the man who put forward to the idea to bring back the FWA, which had folded 2 years earlier in a storyline feud. By August of the same year, the FWA made its comeback, to wide acclaim and enormous praise for Alex Shane. Although he remained backstage mostly, he did make his return to the ring in 2010, with yet more success, helping lead the newly formed “Agenda” faction into the New Year as the most dominant unit in European Wrestling.
As the FWA returns this weekend, with their Memorabilia event at The Birmingham NEC, i feel it only necessary to thank Alex Shane for his countless work and enthusiasm for both the FWA and British Wrestling as a whole. Id personally like to say that he has done so much for the sport, and that i congratulate him on past, present and future success. He embodies the determination that kept alive one of the countries real great sports. Again i thank Mr Shane for his prolonged involvement in British & European wrestling, and wish him & the FWA success in the future.

Never forget your passion for wrestling people

Hit me up on twitter @WholeKirknShow

Wherever you read this article, it originates from http://wrestlingslasthope.com

The picture that accompanies thi article is Alex along with Colt Cabana, try and check out Colt's podcast The Art of Wrestling with Alex as his guest, it can be found on iTunes or http://welovecolt.com

4FW Halloween Spectacular Review By Paul Dyer

2011-11-14T11:05:00.000-08:00

My love hate relationship with the wacky business that is professional wrestling continued a couple of weeks ago (29th October) as my driver (@PhilJones77) and I made the 90 minute drive to Swindon for the latest show from 4 Front Wrestling.
Now I have to be honest, I knew two things about this show before traveling down. I knew Dick Togo was working it as part of his retirement world tour and some guy called Prince Devitt was going to be there. That’s all I knew but these two things were enough to make me part with my money, a feat that is rarely duplicated. As some of you may know I have interest/obsession with the way shows are produced and much to my own chagrin am hyper critical of bad staging, poor microphone/sound system and most of all, my numero uno pet peeve on wrestling shows is a poor ring. So you have to be surprised that coming out of this show I have nothing to complain about and ask anyone that knows me I like to complain! The show was unbelievably well produced on a level I’ve not seen in the UK since the “glory” days of the UWA. The guys and gals running the show were extremely professional throughout and a pleasure to deal with. It may sound like I’m “putting them over” and I am, if 4FW (@4FW) is anywhere near you, hell even if they’re not it’ll be worth your while. One last thing I have to make comment of is how great the audience was for large portions of the show, they knew most of the guys and knew the storylines that were in place and were very vocal which helped the show a great deal.

The first match of the six match card pitted the former Ring of Honor Pure champion, John Walters against Joel Redman. I cannot say enough good things about this match, I loved it. I’d obviously seen Walters during his ROH tenure but this was the first time I had seen Redman but definitely not the last. Both are mechanically very good indeed with Walters having more personality but that will come for Redman over time. The two worked very well together with some really beautiful reversals and nothing obviously botched. With it being a technical match it did take the crowd a little while to get into it but the guys did their job with Redman winning with a small package.

Next up was the first of two tag team “attractions” of the evening. Jack Dynamo came out first and did a really good job of explaining his recent heel turn on former ally The Saint, which cost the former the 4FW heavyweight title. For someone not aware of the storyline going into the tag match, this promo was excellent and certainly helped with the storytelling of the match for a newbie. The match consisted of the aforementioned Dynamo tagging with current 4FW champ JD Knight against the saintly one and the recently returned Eddie Ryan. Again another fine match with all four wrestlers doing a great job but I have single out Dynamo for his great facials and selling when Saint was tagged in. A lot of the match was Ryan working with the dastardly heels for large portions and teasing the tagging in of The Saint which got the crowd into it until the roll up finish at the end with the bad guys stealing the pin.

The last match before the intermission was current K-Dojo “student” Owen Phoenix versus the reigning IWGP Junior Heavyweight champ Prince Devitt. Devitt played heel to the generic babyface of Phoenix and seemed to have a blast in what is an unusual role for him. Phoenix is very vanilla at the moment but working and learning with the K-Dojo guys is only going to benefit him and you can see the potential that he has, nice smooth movements and transitions between moves so I’m eager to see him reach his potential. The match was good from start to finish with some really stiff chops from Prince and a couple of double foot stomps from the top rope to lead to the bloody Sunday by the Irishman for the pin.

First match after the interval was fellow Welshman Wild Boar against Jason Larusso. This was decent and Wild Boar certainly has potential but nothing between these two really struck me. This could be just because it was straight after the break but whatever the reason nothing caught my attention until the finish, which saw Larusso hit an ace crusher for the face win. Another tag match next as The Professor and Matt Lomaxx against the Asian duo Ho Holun and So Sai King. The work in the match was alright, nothing fantastic but nothing bad either. The two major positives for me were The Professor’s facials that reminded me of William Regal’s which is high praise indeed and then we have the greatness of Ho Holun. He has amazing presence and is highly entertaining, especially when you compare him to his tag team partner who apparently was a huge fan of the now era Masahiro Chono. Finish saw The Professor package piledrive Holun for the win for the bad guys.

The final and main event of the evening as former WWE superstar Dick Togo went head to head with Behnam Ali. This was part of Togo’s retirement world tour and all I can say is I am very glad I saw this match and shake the man’s hand and say thank you for his incredible efforts through the years. At 42 years old and 20 of them in this business, he gave everything of himself to make this match the best it could possibly be, including juicing for the added drama and it worked beautifully. They took the crowd by surprise by brawling to the outside near the start of the match and again that only added to the excitement. The style that Togo has worked for his career isn’t the most conducive for long term health but he hasn’t lost much speed and more than makes up for it with being smart and doing things at the right time. The highlight for me came in the middle of the match with a sequence that follows, both guys on the apron and Togo gets knocked down, Ali runs and gets launched into the corner post. Togo gets to his feet the does a gorgeous rolling senton for a huge pop. After about 30 minutes of really good action the finish saw Togo hit his famous top rope senton for the 1-2-3.

In true Jerry Springer style my final thoughts are that bell to bell this was one of the best shows I’ve seen in an awful long time and I’m very glad that I made the trip and I’m certain I’ll be making more in the future, at least until I move back to Texas! @Theszbien signing off!

Thankyou Mr. Cena By buzzUK

2011-11-14T10:43:00.000-08:00

John Felix Anthony Cena, wrestler, actor, rapper and tv personality. The winner of 22 titles in his wrestling career,with world titles held in UPW, OVW but the mainstay of his career thus far is 19 titles in WWE 12 of which were World titles, with a record 10 times WWE champion. The fourth highest number of combines days as WWE champion behind the likes of Hulk Hogan.

However, despite all this glory and being WWE's main guy for some years now, just the mere mention of his name brings up such a mixed bag of responses like never before seen towards a WWE superstar. There are the kids and women and some guys who love Cena, he is the WWE to them, they won't say a bad word against him. John Cena's mentality of hustle, loyalty and respect is their mentality, they were their t-shirts, their caps and their wrist bands with pride.

Then however we have the other side of the coin, these are mainly the guys, they have a real dislike of this guy, they love to see him lose. I would imagine that most of what they would call him if asked direct is not possible to put in this column.

The question is, why? Why is their such a split down the middle of fans for this guy. I mean let's be honest here, he works his backside off to make every match a great match. In all the years of watching wrestling, I have never seen anything like it. I would not even compare it to the Rock, as when the whole "die rocky die" was going on, I very much doubt that he was the number one best seller of merchandise like Cena is.

John Cena is a freak of wrestling, he gets booed and cheered in the same match but despite that he is constantly in the main event picture, and in my opinion thereason for that is purely down to that very reason. He gets a reaction, love him or hate, cheer or boo, you are reacting and that is what WWE and Cena wants. It means one way or another he is doing his job, if your getting no reaction then it means the crowd don't care, your not over my friend.

That point alone brings me on to this whole turn Cena heel debate. Let me ask you guys reading this a question, why? Why turn Cena heel. To me it doesn't matter if he is heel or face, he is going out there and doing what he does. It's not a question of good or bad it's about getting the job done, and that what he does. He has the best of both worlds, the truth is and this is my opinion turning Cena heel is a pointless exercise and will achieve nothing.

I will be completely honest here, I am not a huge Cena fan, but then again I am not a massive fan of one individual wrestler, I am a wrestling fan and I love seeing different guys getting their chance at glory. That is my one gripe about Cena and I don't blame Cena personally at all, he isn't the one booking the matches, he is doing his job and putting on the best show he can.

Ask yourself this, if you were John Cena and you were in the main event picture or part of one of the biggest story lines at that point, would you turn around and say sorry but I would rather not do this let some one else do it. Cena is no different to that guy or women in offices around the world, who is the man that every one goes to, the top guy or gal and They will be no different to Cena they will do their job and keep taking the plaudits and accolades that comes with it.

John Cena is a product of a new world of wrestling, and a new world wrestling fan. If you love him then cheer for him, if you don't like him then boo him. Wrestling is all about reactions, putting on a good show and have the best match you possibly can. In that case I say Cena is doing exactly what he is supposed
to.

If you don't agree with this then let me know @buzzuk ... Please be polite....

Duckman on UFC on FOX

2011-11-14T10:31:00.000-08:00

One night stands – great aren’t they? What do you mean you don’t know? You mean to tell me you’ve never had one? Not once? Not even a five minute knee trembler in a damp pub car park? Really? Poor, poor you. What a sheltered life you have lead. I actually feel quite sorry for you now. Wait, look, I’m sorry, don’t cry. I’m sure your life has been great. Please. Ok how’s this for a deal - I’ll get you one for Christmas! How’s that? Granted, I can’t guarantee it’ll be enjoyable, memorable or indeed legal, but at least you’ll be able to say you’ve done it.

Although once you’ve joined the ‘one nighters’ club you could find that the hype outweighs the actual event. In fact it usually does. Don’t get me wrong, at the right time and with the right person, a one night stand can be awesome. It isn’t always about guilt and leaving before the lights come on you know. Sometimes a clumsy and slightly embarrassing one night stand can actually be the start of a beautiful new relationship.

For anyone who has read the title of this article, then read the two opening paragraphs and STILL hasn’t worked out I’m writing about UFC’s debut on FOX this weekend – get out. No, seriously, get out right now. This isn’t the right place for you. You’re looking for the kind of wrestling/MMA opinion and comment that usually comes on three large, brightly coloured, cardboard pages that are marked as ‘waterproof’ and ‘chewable.’ Just Google something like, ‘me like punching’ and I’m sure you’ll end up in the right place…the MMAfighting.com message board perhaps? Now there’s an example of evolution in reverse if ever I’ve seen one…

So then, for those of you who do remain (all three of you), please bear with me as today Duckman isn’t interested in wrestling. Today it’s all about the morning after the night before and what we’ve learned about the UFC’s big debut on network TV with FOX. Now, before anyone complains, I know this isn’t about wrestling and that might cause a few people to question what they’re reading. I mean you’ve come to WLH, so no doubt you want to read about wrestling.

You’ll just have to trust me, non believers, this is a damn big deal for MMA in general, not just the UFC and I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about it. But fear not, I have a purely wrestling related article currently gestating and it will soon be given to the world. In other words – normal service with Duckman on WLH will be resumed soon!

With that disclaimer out the way, what ‘s the main news coming out of the ‘biggest night in MMA history?’ Well, first things first – we’ve got a NEW UFC Heavyweight Champion, namely the brutally powerful and technically excellent Brazilian striker – Junior Dos Santos. He did what many pundits and fans didn’t think he could - hand Cain Velasquez his first ever loss in the UFC. Not just any old loss though. This was one of those losses that will end up being a question on the UFC Trivial Pursuit game (due to be released in time for Christmas 2015).

It was the defining moment of Dos Santos’ career and a finish that’ll play over and over again on UFC TV. It was as brutal and final a finish as he could have hoped for; an over hand right of epic proportions, powered by two hundred and forty plus pounds of Brazilian fighter, connected with Velasquez just above the right ear and he was done. A few more punches on the ground to seal the deal and 65 seconds into round one, the fight was done! New Heavyweight Champion! Awesome, right? Not totally…

I’m one of the lucky MMA fans who live in the UK and therefore all of my UFC viewing is free and sometimes the coverage is even better than what is broadcast in the states. This show was the perfect example of that advantage.

In the weeks building up to the show a lot was written, bitched and shouted about the fact that FOX had decided to air only one fight during the hour long broadcast, namely the main event . Their reasoning was simple and understandable - this was a taster for non-UFC fans to see what the sport is all about. FOX wanted big names and a big fight to go with them. Even the most causal fan will read or hear the words, “heavyweight championship of the world” and understand that it’s a big deal. So the call was made to air a ton of hype videos and interviews and then just the Heavyweight Title fight.

So why am I lucky being a UFC fan in the UK? Well, our version of the show had THE fight of the night on it and what a great fight it was – one of the best of the year. Benson Henderson defeated Clay Guida in an epic, fast paced, highly skilled and extremely exciting 3 round unanimous decision to become the new number one contender to the Lightweight Title. This was the fight that most commentators and fans believed should have been shown on Saturday night and you know something? They were right.

This was 15 minutes of the very best of MMA, the perfect appetizer to the main course Heavyweight Title showdown and a fight that would have easily hooked a lot of casual viewers. The action was so exciting, so intense and so unpredictable that both Henderson and Guida would have been made stars if the fight was shown on FOX. Problem was, they didn’t show it and with the featured fight going less than ninety seconds, this would have been a great way to fill some time and give new viewers a different ‘flavour’ of MMA from the big dudes.

It’s important to note that this was a decision made by FOX for this particular show. UFC could have put up more of a fight to ensure Henderson/Guida was broadcast but given the early stages of the deal, I’m not surprised they went along with what FOX wanted. Plus if you’ve got a net connection and a Facebook page, you could have watched the fight online.

Don’t be scared though homie (copyright the AWESOME Nick Diaz), when the FOX specials officially start airing next year they will have more than one fight and will be more along the lines of the usual non PPV shows the UFC produces. However as a fan of MMA I can’t help feel that a HUGE opportunity was missed to bring in casual fans by not airing the Henderson/Guida fight.

While the Heavyweight Title fight was the draw and the focal point of the show, they had an undercard fight available that would have helped establish what MMA is all about prior to the heavyweight title fight airing. Very similar to the booking used in WCW in the late 90s. The big names in the main event would get the asses in the seats. But the athletic and state of the art style of the workers on the undercard keep those asses in the seats and bring them back for more in the future.

As it stood, fans in the US watching the show on FOX got 30 minutes of interviews, comment and hype videos, then 10 plus minutes of walk outs and introductions, 60 seconds of fighting and then another 10 minutes talking about the 60 seconds of fighting. If I was a first time viewer to the UFC I’d have been let down by what I’d seen. Although from my perspective, having had the Henderson/Guida fight on the version of the show I watched, I loved the whole hour!

That being said, I think you’d have to be very naïve to believe that the future of the UFC on FOX can be judged off one event. Even with all the hype and the biggest Title in the UFC on the line, this wasn’t even the first official show on FOX. It was a taster. It was a teaser. Granted a huge fight happened and a Title changed hands but in terms of showing the wider public what MMA and the stars of the UFC are all about but I just can’t help feel there’s so much more to come from this deal. We haven’t even scratched the surface with just what UFC on FOX can do for both companies.

There’s no doubt both sides can learn a lot from this show but the early signs are promising. The rating information is in and UFC on FOX drew an average of 5.7 million viewers for the one hour show. I wouldn’t be surprised if that number topped 6.5 million if the fight had gone on longer and perhaps been more of a back and forth war. These days word of mouth travels so quickly on Twitter and Facebook that if a classic fight had unfolded on Saturday, the rating would certainly have increased. Then again that’s the problem with a shoot sport, sometimes shit happens that you have no power over.

According to FOX, it was the most watched professional fight since boxing heavyweights Lennox Lewis and Vladimir Klitschko drew 7 million viewers to their HBO fight in 2003. The network also says it projects it’s on course to win its key demographics, including the coveted 18-to-34-year old age group. That demographic Vince is desperate to bring back to WWE. Still not in competition though, right Vince?

Interestingly the biggest news from the fight was the reaction in Brazil as one of their fellow countrymen captured the biggest Title in a sport that has it’s roots firmly planted in Brazil. A TV viewing audience of approximately SIXTY MILLION watched the fight live on Brazilian TV. A viewership percentage of over 35%! As Dos Santos said when he heard those numbers, “wow, I’m famous!” Damn right you are buddy!

Now THAT is a number that UFC, FOX and everyone else involved in MMA should take a note of. There’s an practically untapped market in Brazil that could easily propel UFC/MMA into being one of the most watched sports on the planet in a few years time. Personally I think they’re on their way there but the market in Brazil could certainly speed the process up. With JDS now standing at the top of the MMA world and Anderson Silva universally accepted as the best pound for pound fighter in the world, plus the absolutely rabid reaction to everything UFC by the fans in Brazil, the pieces are falling nicely into place to open that market up and take UFC/MMA to the next level.

Away from all the numbers and the hype surrounding the debut on FOX what have we actually learned? Well, we’ve learned that JDS throws wicked punches like no one else in the sport. We’ve learned that perhaps Cain Velasquez wasn’t fully healthy for the fight. We’ve learned that there is a market for MMA on network TV and with the right kind of promotion and most importantly, the right kind of show, some big ratings could be drawn. Conversely we’ve learned that if you have a one fight show and that fight goes sixty seconds, it’s always a good idea to have a backup plan!

The big test will be once the UFC on FOX programme gets going next year and we can judge how many new PPV viewers are being attracted to UFC. THAT is the whole crux of the matter because just like pro-wrestling, UFC draws a huge chunk of its income from PPV buys. The success of UFC on FOX will of course be judged by the wider public on the ratings they draw. That’s not the key measure though and it’s going to be very interesting to see if UFC will be able to use their position on FOX to hype upcoming PPVs.

All in all you have to call this event a success. The rating is strong and solid in the demographics UFC and FOX are hunting down. There’s a lot of buzz surrounding the UFC and in particular Dos Santos. Plus the door is open for a rematch once Cain is healthy and back to winning ways – a rematch on PPV that could draw some big money. On top of all that we’ve got the small matter of Dos Santos’ next opponent, either Alistair Overeem or Brock Lesnar who will face off at the end of December for that right.

So there you have it. UFC on FOX, one of the most significant moments in MMA history and a glimpse into the future of UFC on network TV. So tell me, was your one night stand with the UFC on FOX as good for you as it was for me? I’d love to hear your thoughts on the show, the lack of Henderson/Guida on the TV show, if you were viewing UFC for the first time, what did you think?

Thanks for reading and continuing to support Wrestling’s Last Hope. Be sure to check out all the other recent articles by the talented dudes here. There are also two great audio interviews on the site with indy legend Homicide and future star Adam Cole, so give them a listen and give Stu some feedback for his future interviews and audio show appearances. And finally, don’t forget you can follow me on Twitter @WLHDuckman.

Ok, that’s an article written and cheap plugs done…time to fly!

Until next time…

Peace

Duckman

Remembering Eddie Guerrero By Azan Saigol

2011-11-13T10:15:00.000-08:00

Today for many people is just another ordinary day. Many people are sitting at home enjoying their Sunday watching some TV. Some wrestling companies are putting on a PPV tonight, while another wrestling company just finished it’s tour in Europe. Today none of that matters to me as on this day just six years ago, November 13, 2005. The world lost one of the greatest person and wrestler Eddie Guerrero.

The first time I saw Eddie Guerrero was back 12 years ago on Nitro. At the time Eddie was upcoming and a great cruiserweight competitor in WcW. He was looking for an opportunity and waiting for his chance. Capturing many titles in WCW such as the cruiserweight belt. Eddie Guerrero has also held numerous championship belts in all of the organizations he wrestled in. How many people can say they did the same? He was extremely popular in the WWE including when he played the part of a heel.

Watching Eddie wrestle was one of the greatest things. I remember his match again JBL at Judgment day. Eddie put on one of the greatest performances of his life. No matter what kind of match Eddie was in he seemed to have that thing where you knew that regardless of his opponent Eddie would bring up the crowd and give one hell of a match. One popular thing he did that went along with his “ I Lie, I Cheat, I Steal” mantra was when he would wrestle in a match, he would take advantage of the referee being distracted. He would get a steal chair, slam it down on the mat and then toss it to his opponent. He would then lie down on the mat and pretend he was hit by the chair. The ref would turn around after hearing the banging noise; see Eddie on the mat and his opponent holding the steel chair. The referee would then think the opponent hit Guerrero with the chair and disqualify him, thereby causing Eddie to win the match.

One thing that Eddie Guerrero has taught me is to never give up. After Eddie’s relapse and getting released from the WWE for drug usage. He fought hard and returns just 14 months later and captured tag team and intercontinental gold within months of his return. I have watched WWE for many years, but as we all know it is suppose to be fake. One thing that I realized was the night I found out about Eddie’s death. I sat and got a bit emotional as I realized I was never going to see this guy on my TV screen on Monday nights from now. It was one of these moments that made me realize how true my passion for this sport is. After reading this article, I hope you all go on Youtube and watch one match of Eddie Guerrero’s so you can say what a great wrestler he was.

Eddie Guerrero wrestled in the ring like he lived his life. He was fast and wild. Ultimately it caught up with him and he paid the price for it. Fast living often results to a fast end. Eddie Guerrero was loved by all and was inducted into the WWE’s Hall of Fame in 2006, just months after his death. Long Live Eddie Guerrero. Viva La Raza.

Twitter: @azansaigol

Let's all remember Eddie Guerrero for the great man and wrestler he was.

The Indy Corner's Interview with Adam Cole of CZW & ROH

2011-11-12T08:57:00.000-08:00

The Indy Corner returned on November 9th and during the show we had an interview with CZW Junior Heavyweight champion & ROH roster member Adam Cole, look for the show on iTunes in the next day or so but here is the interview in full conducted by the one and only Steve Grieve along side co-host of The Indy Corner, WLH's own Stu Rodgers.

I would appreciate any feedback be it good or bad just so I can try and improve my interviewing skills so to speak. I didn't get to ask all my questions to Adam but I hope one day we'll have him on the show again, where we'll try and focus on him this time, anyway, hopefully you'll enjoy the interview.

Let Me Speak on This (11.11.11)

2011-11-11T23:24:00.000-08:00

I've just finished listening back to the interview Steve Grieve and I conducted with Adam Cole on The Indy Corner live on Wednesday night over on the totalwrestlingshow.com network. I don't want to go on about it too much but when doing the Indy Corner there is one particular listener who does nothing but hate, not so much Steve, TWS or the show but more so myself. I have no idea who it is because obviously they won't say who they are but I just want to know off other listeners what do they think of myself on the radio? I'm not trying to boost my ego I just want to know if radio shouldn't be my thing, any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

The previous two interviews that have taken place on the Indy Corner with Homicide and Blk Jeez have been pre recorded and conducted by Steve on his own but this time around it was a live interview and Steve was a bit under the weather so I knew I was being thrown in at the deep end. Steve asked some questions before I got the chance to ask my own. It went OK, Adam Cole was awesome really but after listening back I need to be less excitable I think is the word but over all, I loved the interview.

Please follow Adam on twitter @AdamCole

So onto other things, for the record the following was written by myself on
2/11.

In a bit of a shock to me, Evan Bourne has been given a 30 day suspension for violating the WWE's wellness Policy. Bourne of course is the current Unified tag team champion along with Kofi Kingston. Not sure what will happen with the tag belts, ideally they should strip 'Air Boom' of the straps because like any wellness violation the WWE make it public and so should make it look like Bourne other than his suspension gets punished by being stripped of the title.

In other news, John Morrison finally gets a win on RAW. yes, after multiple weeks of jobbing out, JoMo seems to of turned a corner and many attribute this to the fact he has split up with his girlfriend Melina who got released by WWE on reportedly bad terms. We'll need to see what happens because with the news of Mick Foley returning there will even less time for the likes of Morrison on TV.

In closing, this weekend, CHIKARA Pro Wrestling have their first iPPV High Noon,
http://gfl.com is the place to go to order it.

One final plug, on November 25th FightClub: Pro have their final show of the year at The Planet in Wolverhampton, the show will feature Nigel McGuinness kicking off his UK stint on the first leg of what is being led to believe is his retirement tour.

Information for both shows can be found on the right hand side of the site.

Until next time, this has been Stuart Rodgers

WLH PPV Prediction League Phase 2: A Great Prize To Be Won

2011-11-10T09:16:00.000-08:00

Here we are again, the next installment of the WLH PPV Prediction League, we have TNA's Turning Point this Sunday (13th) and I want all of you who have taken part to send in your predictions to wlhstu@aol.co.uk - Don't forget the prize at stake here, a multi-signed WWE DVD region 1 - Backlash 2006, autographs featured are Shawn Michaels, John Cena, Triple H and more.

Here is the line up, don't forget, if anymore matches are announced other than these, they will not be added to the list. Fingers crossed AJ Styles is fit enough to wrestle.

* Jeff Hardy vs. Jeff Jarrett
* Crimson vs. Matt Morgan
* NO DQ MATCH: Rob Van Dam vs. Christopher Daniels
* KNOCKOUTS TITLE MATCH: Velvet Sky © vs. Gail Kim
* TNA X-DIVISION TITLE MATCH: Austin Aries © vs. Jesse Sorensen vs. Kid Kash
* TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Mexican America and Sarita © vs. Ink Inc and Toxxin
* TNA WORLD TITLE MATCH: Bobby Roode © vs. AJ Styles

Vince, what's Going On? By BuzzUK

2011-11-09T11:18:00.000-08:00

Has Vince McMahon hit the nail on the head by insisting that no one use the wrestling word, and should we all just call it sports entertainment.

I think this is a fair enough question when all the TV shows we watch, whether RAW, Smack Down or even IMPACT. We are getting less and less wrestling on our TV. Every week there are those out there who watch the whole show through and make note of how much actual wrestling takes place. With out any actual data, but purely based on what I have seen over the weeks, I make it about an average of 40 minutes wrestling on 2 hour TV shows.

This can't be right can it, I mean do we really tune in week in week out and only get only 1/3rd of a show. Now don't get me wrong I appreciate a decent segment or skit like anyone else, but when it is taking over I have to say enough is enough.

I mean this coming week is a prime example, I will not be surprised if we have the least amount of wrestling in weeks, as we have the king of the segment The Rock back on our screens, a rumoured appearance by Mick Foley, Kevin Nash will take us back to the 1990's with another droning promo that adds nothing.

I guess that's why Vince wants us to call it sports entertainment, maybe we all had it wrong in the first place. We expected wrestling on a wrestling show, so stupid of us. I mean hell they can't even call themselves wrestlers any more.

I want to turn in to a TV show and not spend half of it, fast forwarding through things like Michael Cole and JR in some stupid adds no value skit. If you want Cole to be something else, make him something else, you want JR commentating then put him there. Don't waste your viewers time with such pointless things and expect them to keep tuning in.

This continual push away from actually put wrestling matches on TV outside of PPV is just bad business. You want viewing figures up, then it's quite simple:

1) Don't put the Muppets on wrestling
2) Don't mess with tradition, put your major segment first and get in to the
wrestling
3) Put something that people care about, not cole and jr...
4) Give us some real commentary, it can make a match.. Watch Undertaker vs. HHH at
Wrestle Mania and listen to JR
5) Give the Mid card guys something to aim for, that way matches mean something

Other than that quite simply put.... WE WANT WRESTLING???

Let me know your thoughts @buzzuk on twitter