DVD Review - PWG Cyanide : A Loving Tribute to Poison 11/12/2010 By Shaun Nichols

This was the final PWG show of 2010, a year that as been very successful for the promotion with a number of excellent shows including the superb PWG Seven event. However the last show PWG Secrets of Guerrila Island earned mixed reviews, the Cyanide show would hopef.ully turn things back around. The show opened with Willie Mack making his PWG debut, he got over huge with the fans with his crowd pleasing offence. Avalon plays the inept comedic heel who loses every time out, here he actually got a fair amount of offence which surprised me. What Avalon is good at is taking bumps and he deserves credit for helping Mack get over with the PWG crowd. Match was exactly what you would want from a seven minute opener.
The next match I have to be honest, I expected more from. Roderick Strong as always had good matches in PWG and Chuck Taylor continues to evolve and enjoy his breakthrough year. They were given a fair amount of time but never came close to breaking out into a really good match. Roderick took the win with a Tiger Driver but the match although adequate wasn't very memorable.
PWG have some really good tag teams, one of which are the Cutler Brothers who got over great with the fans in a number of matches against the Young Bucks in 2009 and early 2010 where they were chasing tag team gold. Here though they seem to be fitted into the role of midcard tag team that put on good matches. RockNes Monsters (Johnny Goodtime & Johnny Yuma) were teaming for the first team though they seem to be a regular team in 2011. Full of big moves and entertaining double teams it was the Cutlers who ended the year on a deserved high.
Joey Ryan is still trying getting over the fact that the PWG fans were not thrilled with him winning the 2010 BOLA tournament, here he went back old school as he said he was now a 'Technical Wizard' though that as now morphed into the 'Hollywood Submission Machine'. Ryan is clearly a key player in PWG but over the last couple of years he's slid down the card doing a lot of comedy and mixed tags so it'll probably take a while for him to become a main eventer again. Gatson who looked like he could be moving up the PWG card by getting to the semi final of BOLA he seems to be failing to connect with the fans although he's a decent worker. Ryan not surprisingly won by submission with a bodylock kimura.
Continuing to brag about being in TNA, the Young Bucks are still enjoying winding up the fans. Their very entertaining double moves do mean that they can struggle to remain as hated heels depending on who they are wrestling. The Fighting Taylor Boys are perfectly fine wrestlers but aren't that over that the fans will support them over the Bucks. The Bucks got back to winning ways with the great 'More Bang for Your Buck'.
Match of the night featured the welcome return of Kevin Steen and yet another memorable performance from Dragon Gate's Tozawa. Though this wasn't quite as good as Tozawa's MOTY candidate against Chris Hero at BOLA night 2. First move was Tozawa hitting a running tope on Steen on the floor and from there it didn't let it up. Tozawa later tried a second tope but Steen caught him and nailed him with a nasty powerbomb on the ring apron. Steen finally prevailed after hittiing three package piledrivers, after the match Steen deservedly put Tozawa over and they have now formed a tag team for a few shows in 2011, check out DDT4 2011 to see their run to the finals.
The shows main event eventually became a tag team title defence for Generico & London but only after they convinced Castognoli to give them a shot at the PWG World title if they were able to successfully retain. London actually concentrated more on his wrestling than he normally does and the story of the champions battling against their larger challengers was very well told. Champions were successful to send the fans home happy. As Generico got the win with a roll up he got the opportunity to challenge Claudio at the next show, after the show we had a series of interviews Paul London rambled on forever, Chris Hero teased that he would face Claudio for the World title sometime in 2011.
Overall PWG shows are usually very entertaining and Cyanide was no different, it's not the best PWG show of the year but you'd be hard pressed to find many better independent shows that took place last year. PWG as also started 2011 in a similair vein their first three shows of this year have all been very well received and I would encourage all fans to check out PWG if they haven't all ready.

Willie Mack vs 'Pretty' Peter Avalon *3/4
Roderick Strong vs Chuck Taylor **1/2
Cutler Brothers vs RockNes Monsters ***1/2
Joey Ryan vs Brandon Gatson **3/4
Young Bucks vs Fighting Taylor Boys ***3/4
Kevin Steen vs Akira Tozawa ****1/4
Peligro Abejas vs Kings of Wrestling ****

For Sale: NOAH Show May 14th Ticket And Meet & Greet Ticket

Wrestling fans, I have a £35 ticket for the NOAH show in Wolverhampton on May 14th and a £10 ticket for the meet and greet. Looking for face value only and postage. Get in touch if interested

Some of the matches announced:

KENTA vs. Zack Sabre Jnr
Ricky Marvin vs. 'Wonderkid' Jonny Storm
Shiozaki & Tanniguchi vs. Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero & Claudio Castignoli)

WLH PPV Prediction League - Prizes To Be Won

Every WWE & TNA PPV anyone who enters the prediction league has to predict the result for each match on the PPV, if you get the result right, it's 2 points for you in the league the first counting of points will be after the WWE Summer Slam show in August and then after the final PPV of the year. The winner of the league will have a choice of a DVD of their choice from a list to be determined. I must say, don't want to annoy any American readers but this is for UK readers only for a DVD, any American readers that take part will get a PAYPAL payment instead.

Obviously, you don't have to predict for every PPV but the more PPV's you do, the better chance you have of getting more points.

Email ALL predictions to wlhstu@aol.co.uk

Christian vs. Alberto Del Rio (Ladder Match)
The Miz vs. John Cena vs. John Morrison (Triple Threat Cage Match)
Randy Orton vs. CM Punk (Last Man Standing)
Rey Mysterio vs. Cody Rhodes (Falls Count Anywhere)
Jerry Lawler & Jim Ross vs. Michael Cole & Jack Swagger (Country Whipping Match)
Michelle McCool vs. Layla (Loser Leaves Smack Down)

WWE Draft 2011 Aftermath By Trey Dent

Every year the WWE draft offers some surprises and twists no one saw coming. This year could be the exception. Most of us knew that one of the main stars on Raw had to move to Smackdown. With Edge retiring, it left a void at the top of the brand that only John Cena or Randy Orton could fill. During the course of the draft, both men at one point were on Smackdown, leaving many watchers scratching their head. Of course the big shocker was that Cena ended up being drafted back to Raw, ending the show with many kids and teens happy. With the main draft and supplemental draft over, we are left to wonder how things will shake out. Which superstars will rise to the top and which will end up being future endeavored?
This year some interesting moves were made in hopes of elevating some young talent and perhaps also saving the careers of some older talent who haven't broken through. Here are some of those guys who could get a huge push due to the changes.

#1- Daniel Bryan-- Bryan's move to Smackdown may be the best thing for him. Smackdown is know as the "wrestling" show compared to the other brand. Bryan will now have a chance to shine on this brand and show off his considerable technical skill in the ring. Being on Smackdown will give him a chance to shine as just the pure wrestling talent he is and also give him a chance to steadily improve on his mic work. Think Chris Benoit in the early 2000's when he just went on tv and hurt people and made them tap without saying a whole lot.


#2- Kofi Kingston-- Kofi coming back to Raw will now give him the chance to shine as potentially the number 2 babyface on the brand. WWE has been trying to give that spot to John Morrison for a while but his lack of charisma has really hurt him. Kofi has that fresh face and charm that fans gravitate towards and being on Raw right behind John Cena will give him a chance to shine. It doesn't hurt that he has kept growing in the ring and on the mic and now has a chance to showcase those skills back on the big stage.

#3- Sheamus-- Sheamus over the last year has been on a roller coaster ride. He captured the world title for the second time earlier in the year then fell into a horrible slump. He rebounded to win King of the Ring then fell into a horrible slump again. Once again he rebounded to win the US Title then became an afterthought so to speak beating some of the lower tier babyfaces that had beaten him during his slump. With Del Rio drafted to Raw, Smackdown now has a void at the top of their heel roster which Sheamus has a chance to fill. Once again Sheamus has the brass ring right in front of him. All he has to do is reach out and take it and re-establish himself as the young dominant stud everyone projected him to be.

#4- William Regal-- One thing about Regal is he knows how to wrestle. Don't let his age fool you, the guy can still compete with the best of him and being on Smackdown will hopefully give him another chance to shine. It wasn't that long ago that he was poised to have a World title push, only to lose it because of his violation of the Wellness Policy. A nice long feud with Bryan would be classic and re-energize the man from Blackpool.

#5- Tyler Reks-- One thing about Vince McMahon; he loves big monsters. Ever since he took over the WWE back in 1982, Vince has always seemed to be fascinated with big monster guys who his babyfaces had to vanquish. From Big John Studd to King King Bundy to The Undertaker, the man knows how to make a big guy look evil. Tyler Reks has the look to become the next big monster. We all thought he was headed that way when he was on the Smackdown team for bragging rights, then nothing. Just faded away into Superstar obscurity. Now he has that chance to re-invent himself on raw and become the next big monster. The only thing holding him back is the fact that Raw is full of strong heels right now with the Miz, Del Rio ,R-Truth and CM Punk all standing in his way.

#6- JTG-- Call me crazy but I have always been a fan of JTG. The kid has a strong motor and always competes. His in-ring work may not always be the best but he has energy and charisma. What I see for him is a pairing with R-Truth. JTG and R-Truth could become what Cryme Tyme should have been. Just a down right dirty physical African American tandem. Everyone knows Vince likes to book his top heel with a sidekick and JTG could be that sidekick. Then, given the chance to shine, could eventually break away from that group and really stand out.

Those are the six guys I think could really benefit from the draft. Here are a couple of other interesting things that emerged after the draft. All the members of Legacy are now back on the same brand. With Ted DiBiase's move to Smackdown, could we see him and Cody Rhodes reunite? Another option instead of reuniting Legacy would be to move Tyson Kidd into that spot and have the three of them compete together with Cody being the focal point of the group. With Curt Hawkins moving to Raw, could actual tag team wrestling be coming back? A lot of us internet fans have been clamoring for the return of it to the WWE for years. We marvel at the tag team division ROH has and even respect the tag team work that TNA has. Could the WWE finally be taking notice. We have both Uso brothers headed to Smackdown, Hawkins and Ryder both on Raw and no one from Nexxus and The Corre switching sides. Now WWE finally has some teams on the same rosters that have cohesion and experience to make for some great tag team matches if given the chance to shine. Finally, the Diva division has some really great potential matches lined up now. With Beth Phoenix back on Raw, could she finally square off against Kharma (aka Awesome Kong) in a match that quite a few women's wrestling fans have long looked forward too. And look for Kelly Kelly to really get a chance to shine on Raw. She has the look and has improved in the ring tremendously to really become that breakout diva the WWE hasn't had since Trish retired.

Be sure to follow me on twitter @Thecaptaino or you can check out my own wrestling show I do at www.thecaptainobvious.webs.com Any comments or questions are appreciated and welcomed.

The Captain Obvious Trey Dent

WWE Raw House Show in Birmingham, England by AH Walker

The WWE always makes two trips to the UK a year once in April and once in November and they never disappoint. As usual I along with two friends had attended and I am proud to say that this was my favourite of all of the shows I have attended.
The show started off with a 6 man tag between Santino Marella, Vladimir Kozlov and Evan Bourne against The Usos and Tyson Kidd. The Usos are shit. That needed to be said. Tyson Kidd got some major heat which is surprising seeing as he is barely on TV and as expected Santino was way over. The faces won after a Cobra/ Shooting Star Press.
The second match saw Percy Watson vs Primo. When Percy was announced he got no pop as no-one knew who he was. Primo attacked him before he got in the ring. Primo attacked him in the ring but Percy made a turn around and defeated Primo out of nowhere with a Complete Shot.
The third match was a divas title rematch between Eve Torres and Brie Bella. Standard Raw diva match. Switcharoo in the match as expected. Brie Bella won.
The fourth match was Sin Cara vs Alex Riley. Sin Cara did not botch his entrance. It was a-mazing. This match was great, Sin Cara is adapting to WWE’s style well and Alex Riley is definitely improving in the ring. Sin Cara won after a powerbomb reversal into a Code Red.
The next match was definitely the highlight of the match. CM Punk vs Randy Orton in a special stipulation match. The stipulations were a Street Fight or a 2 out of 3 falls match. You can probably guess which in the crowd wanted. CM Punk grabbed the microphone and imitated Justin Roberts’ voice which made me howl with laughter. The match spilled to the outside and into the crowd which I couldn’t see. Eventually Punk got the microphone and said ‘You should have chosen 2 out of 3 falls, Birmingham’ before slamming the microphone in Orton’s back. Orton eventually won this match following an RKO.
Next R-Truth and Melina then hosted a dance contest. It should be pointed out that Melina didn’t say anything. At all. Long story short, some 8 year old won.
The first match after Intermission was Dolph Ziggler vs John Morrison. This match started of slow but then it got going. Both wrestlers were over but then Ziggler got some heat. John Morrison won after Starship Pain.
The seventh match was Daniel Bryan vs Sheamus for the US Title. This match was great. Sheamus had showed dominance throughout and Daniel Bryan had short bursts of offence. Sheamus won after two Brogue Kicks.
The main event was The Miz vs John Cena for the WWE Title. The Miz cut a good promo as expected. Both played to the crowd really well. The finish was Alex Riley smashing Cena in the back of the head with the briefcase causing a DQ.
Here is when it gets interesting
Miz and Riley then beatdown Cena until Sin Cara made the save. The anonymous general manager made an impromptu tag match. Sin Cara did a pretty awesome lionsault when Cena hit the 5 knuckle shuffle. Cena then finished of A-Ri with the AA to close the show.

James Malloy's Wrestle Mania Diary

James had some issues so was only just able to get this blog to me, enjoy guys.

Friday:In the morning I checked in to the lovely Mariott Marquis and met up with a fellow I met on the message boards when planning my trip. When we went to get something to eat we met Titus O'Neill coming out of the fast food joint we went into. (To be fair I didn't recognise him as Nxt never improved after the moustache promo in my opinion)


On the way back to the hotel we noticed 5/6 people standing opposite a back entrance to the hyatt Atlanta. We noticed this was because this was the WWE's private entrance and we saw HHH, Orton and HBK enter the hotel. HHH and HBK acknowledged the crowd by waving, Orton seemed all business

That evening I attended the Wrestlemania party with Kevin Nash. This took place in a night club and was a good buy. The crowd was very hardcore wrestling and one of the guys beside me entering was showing off the tatoo he'd got earlier in that day of the Wrestlemania 27 symbol. Met Nash, Sean Waltman, Road Dogg and Raven. Asked Raven to sign an autograph for a friend of mine and he recognised the name as been from Northern Ireland. He made a slightly off colour joke about the IRA which I thought was funny but his wife beside reprimanded him for it

On returning to the hotel I took a tripr to a bar across the road(look I'm Irish drink's gonna play a big part for me) and in the bar was Husky Harris, Michael McGillicudy, an Uso(not sure which one) and Jerry Brisco. Was drinking with a wrestling fan from Vegas, this is one thing you'll notice if you go to any wrestling show people are just so damn friendly and mania's no different,When he left I was finishing up a pint when I noticed I was standing next to a very drunk McGillicudy. I plucked up the courage to shake his hand and say I hoped he was on TV soon.He recognised the accent, asked who I was drinking with and when I said no one he invited me into his group and bought me a whiskey. The only decent this was to buy one back. Husky was gone at this point as he was too drunk but I got to talk to Jerry Brisco (who was also very drunk) and thank him for everything he did for the business.

The next thing I remember really is waking up Saturday in time for the morning madness included in the Mania Package. For gold package holders like myself this meant meeting the Miz. AWESOME. Had forgot my vinyl aggression figure so he signed a photo of his in WWE magazine and made a joke about how they didn't photoshop him well. Anyone I met who went to this signing was very complimentary about the Miz.

Went straight over to the Axxess sessions straight after this and in my first axxess visit got to meet the Bella's,JR and The King. Told the King I liked his book and it was a brilliant read. He said shame it wasn't a brilliant write. One thing you'll notice if you do Axxess is queues are long but Saturday morning was very easy to see the museum type things at axxess like the Undertakers graveyard and the temporary museum which would be packed later in the day.

The Saturday afternoon Axxess I met Kaitlyn who was very friendly and oh my god she's even hotter in person and Daniel Bryan.Queues were ridiculous on the Saturday and getting Bryan for example took 50 minutes out of a 4 hour session. Axxess still remains totally worth doing but I'd recommend doing early sessions or if possible the Friday or Thursday night as anyone who went to them got more signings.

Saturday evening was the Hall of Fame. Personally I though Bullet Bob gave the best speech,Triple H was funny as hell during the induction and LOD's speech was the most emotional but obviously HBK's meant the most to all present. The WWE had a sign up asking for no catcalling and people unfortunately paid no heed and it did noticeably unsettle Shawns speech

Sunday was hectic. Visited Axxess again in the morning and met Eve Torres,Uso's and R-truth (shortest queues ok, wanted to meet Christian but his queue was easily an hour and a half and they change every two hours so there was no guarantee I'd get him). Also had to leave at 11 in order to be at Wrestlereunion for the 11am start time. Leaving axxess was disapppointed to see the new merchandise stall outside the Georgia dome as it had the new red cena shirt. I really was hoping for a Cena heel turn at Mania

Wrestlereunion was as busy as I thought it was going to be with my VIP ticket met Winter, Christy Hemme, Tommy Dreamer, Scott Steiner,Tatanka, Iron Sheikh, Nikolai Volkoff, Bruno Sammartino,Lita, Carlito, Bob Orton and my all time favourite diva/knockout/whatever you call her she's amazing Mickie James. Bought her album as well and it's actually pretty good


Went to a luncheon after the signing and sat at the same table as the lovely Christy Hemme. She was nice but some smark kept on asking about the bikini football league. Tommy Dreamer was at table opposite and he was a funny guy.Bruno Sammartino gave a very good address

When we went downstairs and I was waiting at the bar with Dan from London waiting for two more of our part to get back from their hotel up the road before heading to the Georgia Dome. When the rest of our party arrived Lita and Carlito came into the bar just after. Aussie Dan bought them a drink after they agreed and London Dan convince me and another lad Derek it was ok to go over drink with Carlito. In interesting stuff Carlito said he doesn't like the PG direction but he thinks TNA pushes it too far, he prefers doing shows to signings, he doesn't really watch the product and he doesn't think TNA know how to use talent right. This was an interesting thing to say as Mickie James was behind him but she was too busy chatting with Lita. Yes this scene was as surreal as it sounds.Lita gave us free cd's of her group and signed them, still haven't listened to that.

There's countless websites you can read a Mania review on so I won't bore you with that. All I'll say is it was loud as hell in there.Taker HHH was easily match of the night but thought Rhodes v Mysterio gave it a run.


After Mania Aussie Dan, London Dan, Derek and myself made it to a bar in Atlanta. We bumped into Tommy Dreamer here and he was cool also

Monday night I did some Atlanta touring CNN centre and Coca Cola. Good attractions nice city. Quick trip to Hooters pre raw with Derek (London Dan had gone home couldn't find Aussie Dan at his hotel). Was ringside for Raw best seats I ever had for for a wrestling show. Got numerous messages from people back home saying the could see. I was steps adjacent wearing a Miz shirt. AWESOME. Left the arena and went into a horrible thunder storm. When me and Derek went back to the hotel bar we noticed that the tough enough crew were in a adjoining private room. In random notes on that Michelle seemed especially hammered, Afro seemed a bit uptight and the blond one was hyperactive.

Thats it my Mania story and it was damn fun. Cost the guts of $3,000 from start to finish really but so worth it. Thanks and join me next year won't you?

WWE Draft 2011 - My Thoughts

The 2011 draft is on the horizon and the internet is full of speculation of who is going where and just what will happen?

The 'word' is, this draft has been brought forward because Edge has retired and Smack Down is in need of a 'main eventer' as The Undertaker works less than a part-time schedule. From RAW who can go to SD as a main eventer, the good money is on Randy Orton, as not only do they need a main eventer they need a baby face and I can't see it being John Cena moving over so I think Orton is a given. With Del Rio as champion on SD and Orton chasing him for the belt I think will garner interest from fans of the show and up the ratings and maybe even PPV buyrates.

I'd like to see Daniel Bryan leave RAW and go to Smack Down in the hope he can have more wrestling matches even though WWE don't do 'wrestling' anymore. Alex Riley could do with leaving RAW to get himself away from The Miz but in saying that, unless they are taking the strap off Miz, he propably needs Riley as he will act the cowardly heel who needs outside interference to hold onto the belt.

Sin Cara is apprently getting heat backstage at RAW for general attitude and 'botching' spots. Could he be moved on already or if Vince wants to punish him is that the answer, changing his brand or should he just ship off to FCW? A lot was made of Cara not having to go to FCW beforehand to learn the 'WWE' style, maybe they regret that now.

I can't think of too much that could happen in this draft to surprise me really. WWE is not really my thing and now they have taken wrestling out so I just think WWE programming, moreso RAW because it's live and on Monday nights, is going to become more of a skit based show rather than actual matches hence the use of all these hollywood writers over the years, I mean the guy who is all over the internet at the moment Dave Lagana (http://iwantwrestling.com) was a writer on the TV show Friends before he got his job with WWE and that is the general jist of WWE which it has been for years and the writers get all the heat when the product isn't the best, but is it really their fault? Vince says what goes.

Post any comment please.

Follow me on twitter @WLH_Stu