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

This is the prize for the second half of the 2011 WLH PPV Prediction League as long as we have 20 plus taking part.
It is a WWE R1 (NTSC) Backlash 2006 DVD signed by Shawn Michaels, John Cena, Edge, Triple H, Kane, Big Show, RVD & Trish Stratus. It comes with the COA (Certificate Of Authenticity)Picture at the bottom of this post.

So for those who don't know, what you have to do from now until the last PPV of the year in the WWE or TNA you have to predict the winners of each match, 2 points for a correct prediction. A table will be created and posted on the right side of the site, the new one is there so you can see what I mean. This is open to ANYONE, ANYWHERE in the world. All predictions MUST be submitted to me by 22:00 hrs GMT on the night of the PPV via email wlhstu@aol.co.uk. Good Luck guys.

Here is the line-up

Hell in a cell match: WWE Champion John Cena vs. Alberto Del Rio vs. CM Punk
Hell in a cell match: World Champion Mark Henry vs. Randy Orton
WWE Divas Champion Kelly Kelly vs. Beth Phoenix
Christian vs. Sheamus
Sin Cara vs. Heel Sin Cara

Classic British Wrestling – World Of Sport Years By Alex Kirkham

I was born in 1991, I was brought up with wrestling, learned to love wrestling, and especially love British wrestling. I was educated by my granddad about classic British Wrestling, the stuff he had watched in the 70’s and 80’s, and was so fond of. He was the man who taught me about the true groundbreaking stars of years gone by, who really paved the way for all past, present and future British stars in the wrestling business.

Whereas British wrestling is barely mentioned on British TV in the current times of reality television, in the 70’s it was one of the main ratings grabbing tea time shows in the UK. People would crowd around the television to watch stars like Big Daddy, Giant Haystacks, Kendo Nagasaki, Johnny Saint etc ply their trade on a national stage, giving us an insight into the world of wrestling and more importantly showing a generation the sport.

I think it is only fitting that i kick off talking about the genuine passion that British wrestling evoked in the British public when it was at its height. It was genuinely a well respected, highly anticipated part of weekend sport, one which would be seen by thousands every week. Though the ring was smaller, and the venues only held a few hundred people, the atmosphere was electric. Fans would even get out of their seats and smack the heels with their handbags at points, which showed that crowd interaction played a key role in making the sport so big.

In my view, one of the biggest and most successful names to come from the British Wrestling scene was that of Johnny Saint, widely respected in both the UK & America as one of, if not our finest export wrestling wise. One of the greatest technical wrestlers of all time, Johnny Saint was simply a fine example of someone who had trained hard and gained the respect of his fans and peers because of this. He is of course the creator of the wonderfully named Russ Abbott Special, a move which arguably has shaped many a wrestling finisher over the last 20 to 30 years in my eyes. His matches with the likes of Johnny Kidd, Colin McDonald & more recently his appearances for Chikara fighting the likes of Bryan Danielson & Claudio Castagnoli stand out for me, in a career which was one which lacked titles or belts, but was simply phenomenally respected by the world of wrestling.

As well as Johnny Saint, 2 big names dominated the world of British wrestling in the 70’s, and big is no understatement. Weighing in at 26 stone and 38 stone respectively, Big Daddy & Giant Haystacks were 2 of the stalwarts of the era. They used their size and strength week by week, often beating smaller wrestlers, but on many occasions feuding with each other, in what can only be described as the best feud British Wrestling may have ever seen. Haystacks impressed so much in British wrestling that he eventually found game in Stu Harts Stampede promotion, before eventually becoming a member of the WCW roster and member of the Dungeon of Doom as Loch Ness, a run which was sadly cut short by Cancer in mid 1996. Whereas Haystacks looked to the USA, Big Daddy always stayed in the UK, where he was loved by fans, worshiped if you will. He feuded with the best talent of the generation, and always put on matches that are still things of legend. He is credited with helping start the career of Gentleman Chris Adams within wrestling, as well as helping push young talent like Steven Regal, Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith into the public eye by teaming with them.

Now I can’t go any further without speaking about the Dynamite Kid & the British Bulldog. Together they are two of the finest and most well known stars to come out of the UK, due to their runs with the WWF & New Japan. Smith started wrestling in the UK at the age of 15, with his cousin the Dynamite Kid, who by then had become a fixture of the British Wrestling scene. Davey Boy worked hard in tag matches, teaming with the likes of Big Daddy & Dynamite to further expand his reputation, leading to a series of extremely entertaining matches with Jim Breaks, for the British Welterweight Title. While Dynamite, already established would compete against the stalwarts of the UK scene like Mick McManus & Kendo Nagasaki. It was these matches, these performances in British Wrestling that would see both Dynamite & Bulldog scouted by Stu Hart and taken out to Canada to compete for the illustrious Stampede Wrestling.

Onto a personal highlight for me from classic British wrestling, a favourite tag team of mine had to be Steven Regal, now known as William Regal and Robbie Brookside. These two great competitors would often find themselves paired together; facing some of the toughest opponents the company had to offer. One of my favourite matches of all time was Brookside & Regal vs Nagasaki & Barratt, which for me showed why British wrestling was such a great spectacle for the fans. Regal of course is one of the most successful, decorated and well respected British guys to have made it state side, and to know he got his break following his displays in the UK, always makes watching his matches slightly more sweet. Brookside also found success in the US, competing on WCW Nitro on many occasions as well as a plethora of dark matches for the WWE on their frequent tours of the UK.

I’d like to finish my analysis of stars, by talking about a masked star that graced British Wrestling, and went by the name “Kung Fu”. He brought with him a healthy mix of black belt martial arts and Judo, to be my favourite of the old crop if you will. He wasn’t the most popular wrestler, didn’t always have the best support, but he made up for that in exciting and entertaining matches. He would often wrestle, in what looked like a velvet dressing gown and a mask made of Velcro and abandoned felt. But let me tell you, if you ask me who i remember from the old British wrestling shows, with the most memories, it will always be Kung Fu. I cannot say enough good words about him, and if you ever get the chance to watch one of his matches, then by all means, take my advice and watch it!

I’d love to go into detail about every star who worked in the classic British wrestling scene, but that would take well months, and as much as I’d love to do that, I simply haven’t got enough free time. I’d like to mention some of the guys who made British Wrestling what it is today, that I wasn’t able to mention. The likes of:
• Kendo Nagasaki
• Mark Rocco
• Blondie Barratt
• Clive Myers
• Fit Finlay
• Dave Taylor
• Marty Jones
• Steve Veidor


Above: Marc Rocco (third from left) with friends (left to right) Bryan Danielson, Claudio Castignoli & Colt Cabana)

And to be honest there are countless others I respect, for both their amazing entertainment value, and for their work in paving the way for the young British guys currently trying to breakthrough in both the FWA and in North America. Without doubt the world of sport years were phenomenal for British wrestling, it really was sport at its finest, and I’m just grateful I had a grandfather who shared my passion for wrestling, and could teach me about it all.

Any comments, hit me up on twitter @WholeKirknShow

The Indy Corner 25/9/11 - ROH Back on TV & More

I wasn't able to call in fo the Indy Corner this week on TWS but this is what I sent the guys.

ROH’s first TV show is now in the books, 50 minutes without ad breaks but only 2 matches, OK, the matches were a decent amount of time but there seemed quite a bit of talking but I hope this won’t put the people who are giving the ROH product a try for the first time as it’s supposed to be a ‘more wrestling, less talking’ show.
As for the TV show, there is a bit of confusion as how to view on the ROH site, well - The ROH site says, Ringside members - Monday. General access members - Thursday http://rohwrestling.com/membership So yes, if you want to watch it via the site on a Monday then you have to be a paid member, to watch it for free then it’ll be available on Thursdays.

In other ROH news:

In addition to ROH talent not being allowed to work iPPV events for other promotions, ROH stars are also not being allowed to work with promotions that have any kind of local television. The contracts with Sinclair are exclusive to ROH when it comes to appearing on television and iPPV. They are still allowed to work indy dates when they aren't booked for ROH.

On to other things:

I am not on the TWS pre-show this week as I am at FightClub: Pro’s Project Mayhem show, it is a 3 day event featuring workers from CZW, WXW (Germany), BJW & of course some of Fight Club's very best. The first night of the shows was Friday 23/09 which I didn’t attend but I was at Saturday’s show and I’ll be at Sunday’s. The UK has had CZW guys over here before such as former owner (John) ZANDIG & Wifebeater, and they did a ‘death’ match but this time around, CZW have brought over a few more guys including Adam Cole (from ROH’s Future Shock team), Devon Moore (current CZW champion), Sami Callihan and current CZW owner DJ Hyde. Night 2 was amazing, good wrestling in the Junior heavyweight tournament that featured MK McKinnan, Rockstar Spud, Jonathon Gresham and that aforementioned Adam Cole. The Bound To Violence tournament was CRAZY – barbed wire boards, thumbtacks, panes of glass oh yes, proper wild. Sunday will feature the finals of both tournaments. Danny Havoc of CZW didn't make the show as at customs over here, when asked he said he was 'visiting friends' but apparently, passport control googled his name realized he was a wrestler and sent him packing. DJ Hyde put it across another way during the show however.

Night 1 Results (Thanks to Sam Bradley):

1. Jonathan Gresham def MK McKinnan
2. Yushihito Sasaki def Yuko Miyamoto
3. Rockstar Spud & Adam Cole def Blue Dragon & Jim Hunter
4. Trent Seven def Sami Callihan - Amazing
5. Clint Margera def Dan Ryder

Night 2 Results:

1. MK McKinnan def. Emil Sitoci & Jim Hunter
2. Big Van Walter & Dan Ryder def. Trent Seven & Dave Mastiff (post-match Mastiff clobbered Seven with a sweet lariat)
3. Adam Cole def. "Rockstar" Spud & Jonathan Gresham
**DJ Hyde promo, explains Danny Havoc won't be there, he's in charge of CZW business so Callihan has to face Yoshihito in Round 1 also**
4. Best 2/3 Boards: Yoshihito Sasaki def. Sami Callihan incl. assistance from DJ Hyde to advance to Round 2 tomorrow.
5. Assorted Weapons: Devon Moore def. Clint Margera to advance to Round 2 on Sunday.
6. Light-Tubes Match: Yuko Miyamoto def. Jimmy Havoc to advance to Round 2 on Sunday. Miyamoto moonsaulted into a ceiling beam also. It was nuts.
7. Panes of Glass: DJ Hyde def. Sami Callihan to advance to Round 2

Keep your eyes open on http://wrestlingslasthope.com early in the week where I will post pictures of nights 2 & 3. Search YouTube for username dahardcoreone where you will find a couple of videos I posted from night 2 - Please ignore the Bruno Mars video up on there ;)

Edit: On the YouTube page there are now videos from night 3 as well, as stated, later in the week there will be a write up with pictures etc.

For or Against: Hogan vs Goldberg on Nitro With Matt Husson & Shaun Nichols

Matt Husson: (For) Granted Hogan vs Goldberg could have been one of the highest earning PPV’s in WCW’s history! They weren’t looking for a one off pay day, they were looking long term! Held in the sold out Georgia dome in Atlanta (The home town of Goldberg’s American football playing career) Goldberg beat Hogan clean to become the new WCW Champion and in turn helped the match draw a 6.91 rating for the quarter-hour, the highest rating recorded in the ratings war up to that point! Not easy considering Steve Austin had only just beat Shawn Michaels for the WWF title two weeks prior at Wrestle Mania XIV. Holding the title match on Nitro was a deliberate tactic to draw both fans away from the WWF and the casual wrestling fan over to WCW. Not something you could expect to happen if the match were to be held on PPV. In today’s terms that would be like asking a UFC fan to buy a Strikeforce show. Not everyone has the luxury to buy both shows at $40(?) a pop so you stick to what you know! Also, let’s not forget the heavily hyped Starrcade from the previous year. You know the one that was supposed to be the nail in the WWF’s coffin! But after the atrocious ending (The fast count that wasn’t a fast count!) all but killed the fan’s faith in WCW’s PPV’s which is well documented in the PPV buy figures for that time. Nitro proved to be unpredictable and offer something the WWF wasn’t prepared to do at that time, Nitro had an exciting advantage. From the 6th of April till the end of the 1998, the ratings rarely went below 4.0, ranging from 3.6 up to 6.0, staying steady right all the way up to the middle of 1999.

Shaun Nichols: (Against) There is a reason why Sting vs Hogan at Starrcade 1997 was the most successful WCW PPV of all-time by a large margin, it was a match that was bulit over a long period of time and when it came down to it people paid their money to see it. Rather the match was executed well is irrelevant and while I agree with Matt that the match failed, the build up did not. Even though 1998 is seen overall as a year that WCW performed well there is clear signs that the writing was about to be put on the wall, WCW became obsessed with using stars outside of professional wrestling and used such greats as Karl Malone, Dennis Rodman, Kevin Greene, Jay Leno followed by none other than the Ultimate Warrior as PPV main eventers. Goldberg beating Hogan on Nitro is simply down to panic, the show itself drew 39,000 fans before anything was announced such was the drawing power of WCW as a brand at that point. Hogan wanting to impress Turner execs wanted to face Goldberg in a dark match where he would lose in front of such a large audience confident that they would believe that it was Hogan that drew the crowd even though that was false. Infact once that WCW announced Hogan vs Goldberg would take place they sold a mere 2,000 extra tickets so well short of a sell-out. Bischoff running scared of the WWF now benefiting from Steve Austin, felt that he had no choice but to put Hogan vs Goldberg on TV. Yes it popped a great quarter rating but in a matter of weeks counted for absolutely nothing. WCW fell behind the WWF when it came for Monday Night ratings, Hogan continued to be the center of attention and although he had the belt, Goldberg was seen by WCW as very much as an afterthought. I must also point out that this match took place more than 3 months after Wrestle Mania XIV so I see that argument as very weak but must point out that because Steve Austin reached his pinnacle by winning the WWF title on PPV it solidified him as a TV draw as became evident in the months and years that followed. Goldberg also would have benefited from winning the title on PPV and so would WCW as they missed out on an easy PPV money. WCW chose to win a weekly TV rating rather than make money and in less than three years they paid the penalty for such a ridiculous strategy which they continued to repeat and they ended up going to out of business.

Hit me up on twitter @WLHSTU as none of the guys have twitter accounts with your thoughts or via email wlhstu@aol.co.uk

Pipe Bomb Poof by James A. Caine

Okay so by now we all have heard about it, seen it on television, watched it countless times on youtube, read about it, posted in forums and on blogs about it. We all have the knowledge of CM Punk's now infamous and illustirous ranting that was 'cut short' by WWE audio guys because he was 'saying to much real life personal shit' about a multi-million, possibly billion dollar company. This one little act skyrocketed CM Punk into the limelight back in June of 2011 during which time he was no longer under contract with WWE, but clearly discussing contract options with them.

Let's tangent a second here. Wrestling is fake. There are stories all over, and in today's modern age we sometimes blur the line between what's real and Kayfabe anymore. This particular angle with Punk and his WWE title theft not only blurred that line, but seemingly erased it altogether.

I digress, CM punk suddenly was a household name. A guy who's been wrestling since the mid to late 90's. Suddenly this guy was everywhere. Even now, I'm sitting here writing about him. A guy I personally passed and overlooked on the basis of a meet and greet one night in the early 2000's where punk proved that he was undoubtedly, (at least to me) an asshole in real life, someone who truly believed his own super ego. Since that day I never truly appreciated Punk, or his wrestling abilities. Now that he's all over the place I can't seem to get away from him, and therefore... I have to speak up. He's getting the push, or at least he was. But what is there I can say about a man who has essentially proven himself to be a dickheaded human being? I can start by saying, HOLY SHIT THIS GUY CAN ACTUALLY WRESTLE.

Okay, so he always could. He was well trained, and "paid his dues" as Bret Hart would say. I admit I overlooked that in him for my own selfish personal reasons, but in today's WW-Cena atrocity, guys like Chick Magnet Punk (yeah that's what the CM stands for, go look it up.) need to be given more spotlight. Unfortunately the way things are going, Cena's 15 minutes of fame are over, and the alarm clock has rung for him. OR has it?

As of this past Monday, CM Punk has been given another title opportunity, this time it is a triple threat hell in a cell with John Cena, and Alberto Del Rio. Del Rio himself, while being in general a mexican version of John Bradshaw Layfield (Which is a horrid angle or gimmick to have), is actually (like Punk) a VERY talented wrestler... at least in this writer's eyes.

CM Punk calls the microphone a pipe bomb, and what he did with that bomb in June was set off a nuclear reaction that roused everyone who has ANYTHING to do with WWE or it's product. However that reaction was short lived as the most likely and possible outcome of the next WWE Pay-per-view will be the same old borish trash we've come to expect from WWE. Cena overcomes the odds, and goes home champion leaving CM Punk holding a dud, instead of an all out explosive... Then again... he used that bomb once... maybe he's still got some atomic words to drop for the voiceless fan out there, and WWE writers realize this. For now one can only speculate what will happen, and this writer personally hopes to see a change in WWE, and John Cena disappear. Whatever the outcome, CM Punk will be one to watch. The reason why? Nobody in WWE needs to give him that (kayfabe) 'push', CM Punk pushes himself, and he has pushed himself above an otherwise biased opinion of him, and probably in more people than just me... I could be wrong though.

Rockstar Spud – The Baby Jesus Of Professional Wrestling By Alex Kirkham

As British wrestling goes, there are many stars who can put their hat in the ring to be the best. But there is only 1 baby Jesus of professional wrestling, and that is of course Rockstar Spud.The young Birmingham native, who has plied his trade in a plethora of wrestling companies, including TNA, PWG & FWA. He is 5ft 3inches of charisma, charm and talent, and has a bright future within the business. He may be considered the smallest mainstream wrestler in the UK, but he sure makes up for it when he steps inside the squared circle.
Spud, who can name Jack Storm, Chris Gilbert & Don Charles amongst his trainers, broke through into main stream wrestling around 2003. After initially competing for a number of independent companies both in the UK and abroad, Spud made his debut for the IPW promotion from its creation in 2004. It was here, where he would start a long and hard fought feud with British wrestling stalwart Jonny Storm, a feud which would help shape modern British Wrestling in my view.
Spud would also become an integral part of the 1PW promotion, where he would notably feud with Independent superstar Stirling James Keenan and the TNA Wrestling monster Abyss. In each feud, Spud would play the role of the underdog, beating the odds to come out on top against the larger athletes. Along with his long time partner Luke Dragon Phoenix, he found success within the tag division, as well as a reign as the open weight champion.
As well as wrestling for IPW and 1PW, Spud also soon made his debut for the FWA into the flyweight division that the company was about to start. He would go on to compete in the inaugural FWA flyweight title tournament and lose to Ross “RJ Singh” Jordan in the final, a match filled with controversy and that would stem into a long lasting feud between the pair within the FWA. What would end up being a 14 month feud would see both men push themselves to the limit in many hard fought contests, resulting in Spud winning a last man standing match at FWA Last Fight At The Prom.
Soon after his feud with Singh, the FWA began a talent exchange deal with prominent US promotion Ring Of Honor. It would see Spud appear on 2 ROH shows, as well as on their 2 UK events of the same year. As well as competing for ROH, Spud would go on to compete for PWG while they toured the UK. Within this tour, Spud was able to gain experience of seasoned independent wrestlers like Excalibur & Joey Ryan, providing him with both big match experience and notoriety amongst a larger audience. 2006 was definitely a standout year in the career of Rockstar Spud, he gained so much experience throughout the year, shaping him to be a batter athlete in years to come. Spud would there after continue to be a main stay in British Wrestling, finding increasing success within the FWA.
But Spud isn’t just a wrestler, he is a classic performer. This was highlighted best when he appeared on the BBC3 show “Snog, Marry, Avoid” where by people with questionable dress sense, are given a revamp and made to look in a sense normal. Spud appeared on the show, in his Rockstar Spud persona, to be “made-under”. It wasn’t as much the actual make under that was important here, it was the way Spud carried his character into a non wrestling environment and kept it believable and entertaining. He showed what a skill he has when it comes to the acting side of wrestling, not just the physical side.
When you look at Spud, from an outside perspective, you see a hard working young guy, who has worked his way up the food chain in British wrestling. His hunger for the business is 2nd to none in my view. A man who is only 28 years old, but is a 16 time multi belt champion, whose career is sure to last many many more years with yet more accomplishments.
As a personal favourite of mine, Spud along with RJ Singh, Zac Sabre & El Ligero are the real future of British wrestling, and i personally can’t wait to see how they help shape the industry in Britain, Europe and the rest of the world.

Hit me up on twitter @WholeKirknShow

Mark Henry As World Champion By Ben Ford

Hello people of the wrestling world before I start my first article I would like to thank Stu who gave all of us the chance to do articles.

I thought I would hit the ice with an simple article Mark Henry has been wrestling since the late 90's which is interesting since his career pretty much up to now was not really big up before this year. The wrestling of WWE has changed quite recently since we have had Randy Orton losing the world heavyweight championship. This must of be one of the biggest upsets in WWE for quite an long time. Who ever said he would be world champion at the time before Night of Champions must be lying. It will be interesting for Mark Henry moving forward, will he hold the championship for long or will it be quite short?

I want to get your guys feedback its your opinion what I will do for the next article and I will bring this up on TWS So hopefully you will all tune in the link to TWS is on this site on the right hand side.

My facebook is on Stu's facebook and any questions you have I will respond to them

Yours sincerely
Ben Ford

The Storyline That Makes Me Proud To Be A Wrestling Fan By Jimi James

I am absolutely in love with a current wrestling angle. No, not CM Punk and his pipebombs and Ice Cream Bars. No, not anything Ring of Honor. The storyline I'm speaking of comes from Florida. Relax, it's not TNA.

If your not familiar with Florida Championship Wrestling, do your self a favor and seek out the product they offer. FCW has great young talent who are being groomed to be future WWE superstars. But, one angle they have right now, is hotter than any angle going in any company.

Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose.

Three matches have taken place between these two, and all three are classics.
The third match, might just be the best match I have seen in a long, long time.

From the minute Dean Ambrose arrived in FCW, one thing was clear, magic was
about to happen. Ambrose, a pretty ordinary guy to look at, electrified FCW with
a debut promo that embodied a psychopathic genius quality that captivates. His
promo targeted one man, Seth Rollins.

These two men have had similar paths to get to where they are, but these paths have never crossed, until now. Ambrose arrived in FCW obsessed with showing he is as good if not better than Rollins. After beating Hunico in his debut match in FCW, Ambrose tormented Rollins with promos to finally receive what he wanted, a match with Rollins.

Rollins is the currently the first and only FCW 15 Champion. It is this championship, that gives Rollins and Ambrose a perfect stage to tell their story. The FCW 15 Championship is defended in 15 minute Ironman matches, where the competitor with the most falls after 15 minutes, wins.

The first match between these two was off the charts. Fifteen full minutes of action, only to have no falls occur. You will notice immediately, that Ambrose and Rollins' styles mesh perfectly. This match benefitted from having William Regal on commentary. Regal is absolutely spot on telling their stories and putting both over as they battle.

The second match was given an additional 5 minutes to find a winner. But, after
20 mins, the result is the same as their initial encounter, a draw. After the match, Ambrose takes the FCW 15 Championship (which is a medal, not a belt), and throws it at the FCW control room in the arena. It was Ambrose disgracing a championship that Rollins holds dear that turned this angle into a true war.

Over the next few weeks Rollins and Ambrose brawled after promos and backstage. It was clear these two needed to settle this matter. So it was decided that these two would battle in another FCW 15 match, but this time, it would be a 30 minute time limit match.

The week before the match, a contract signing took place. This contract signing
was as powerful as a CM Punk contract signing, but with far less words being spoken. The demeanor of the two combatants, told more of a story than any words.

The third match, as I said before, is the best match I have seen in I don't know
how long. The entire episode of FCW was dedicated to this match. To show how
great this angle is, it split father and son. Ricky and Ritchie Steamboat were
brought out to say a few words about the upcoming match. Ritchie took his former
tag team championship partner, Rollins. Dad took Ambrose.

I'm intentionally not getting too specific in this as want those that read this
to search for it and watch. Appreciate the work of Seth Rollins and Dean
Ambrose. Appreciate this storyline for what it is, a true old school wrestling
angle.

Let Me Speak On This - with WLHSTU

So here we are, September 20th, a few things I want to talk about, first off, a few days now since the latest ROH iPPV Death Before Dishonor 9 from New York City. I had been a bit harsh on the card beforehand because the current ROH World Champion Davey Richards wasn't on the show and some of the match-ups on paper didn't look the best but I was pleasantly surprised with the matches I doubted. Check out the replay if you can over on http://gfl.tv or buy the DVD from http://ROHWrestling.com when it's available.

In the land of WWE, they just had the Night of Champions PPV, I have not seen any of it but I know the results. Mark Henry as World Heavyweight champion could be a good thing for the roster, shaking things up a bit. I expected The Miz & R-Truth to win the tag titles to be fair but they didn't. I am glad Dolph Ziggler retained the US title, I may not watch much of the WWE product but I do like Ziggler's overall work. John Cena once again is WWE champion, not something many are happy with, I don't really care one way or the other but what I have seen of Alberto Del Rio I liked and I thought he would be a good heel champion but the WWE have decided to go with the tried and tested formula of John Cena. And finally from the PPV, Triple H wrestled and beat CM Punk, not heard too much if the match was actually any good just that Miz & R-Truth interfered as well as Kevin Nash attacking both guys (Punk/Triple H). I did think Punk would win because I thought the fact Triple H was stepping back into the ring he would leave the C O O gimmick behind, which was on the line if he lost. Oh well, maybe the push Punk was getting really is over, we'll have to wait and see but I hope not.
A few more things from the WWE, I read Daniel Bryan is not having the best of times, on somewhat of a losing streak (although he won the PPV dark match over Heath Slater) and this guys is the holder of the MITB briefcase, not a good way to book the man that is supposed to be working in a top match at the next Wrestle Mania. As a former name on the indies I really want him to do well in the WWE. I hear former indie worker Claudio Castignoli has finally signed a WWE development deal and is in FCW where he has already faced former ROH World Champion Tyler Black who works under the name of Seth Rollins, Claudio is now known as Antonio Cesaro, no word on his former Kings of Wrestling partner Chris Hero yet, I was like many hoping they would come in together as a team working with CM Punk. I hope Hero comes in soon.

In IMPACT Wrestling, Bobby Roode won the Bound For Glory series (as predicted by most) at No Surrender and will now face IW world champion Kurt Angle at the BFG PPV in which I'm sure will be a GREAT match. Also in IW, hoping I am not spoiling anything for anyone but Hulk Hogan has apparently announced when his contract is done (October) he along with Eric Bischoff are leaving the company. The question is, will the anticipated match with Sting take place before he leaves if he does? We'll see.

And to close, I want to get back to ROH, Kevin Steen who is 'banned' from the company showed up at the DBD 9 iPPV just like he did at the last iPPV. He got himself involved again and I am liking all that is going on with Steen and the angle that is going on. I have a feeling it'll be Steen vs. ROH World Champion Davey Richards at Final Battle 2011 in December but as was pointed out to me, he may actually face Steve Corino (who he attacked at Best in The World) and then ROH will do a year long build maybe towards FB 2012 and Steen vs. Richards. I can't wait to see where this all goes. Steen is awesome at the moment, just get hold of the PWG Eight DVD to see his 3 matches on that card to see what I mean. And pre-order his new t-shirt (see side of my site of how to). Check out the Wrestling Roundtable video from ROH Death Before Dishonor 9 at the end of this article - BRILLIANT stuff.

ROH's new TV show starts on the 24th and even though it's not available all over the US it is available to the rest of the US and the world via the ROH website, should be awesome.

And one last thing, I'll be at the FightClub:Pro Project Mayhem shows on September 24th & 25th should be great.

Why Austin Aries Is The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread By Alex Kirkham

As an avid follower of TNA / Impact Wrestling since its inception, I have seen talent come and go on a regular basis. Back in 2005, current ROH talent Austin Aries debuted in TNA, following an online poll conducted to see who fans would like to see face then X Division Champion Chris Daniels. Aries won by landslide over Jay Lethal, Roderick Strong & Matt Sydal, to set up the match. Aries would stay with TNA for 2 years, culminating in him being released at the end of 2007. Now as was often the way with TNA at the time, Aries was never used to the fullest, and was placed rather far back in the queue as regards X Division talent.
So it was with great surprise, relief etc that Aries returned to TNA in June of this year, competing in and winning the X Division showcase, earning himself a contract with TNA. Now as a long time fan of Austin Aries and an admirer of his work, I think it is only fitting that someone like him is working in one of the biggest wrestling companies in the world, and being greeted by increasing success.
But 1 thing is bugging me about Aries at the moment. I mean don’t get me wrong, he is a great choice as X Division champion, and a phenomenal athlete, but I feel he has the talent to be fighting for the world title, just like he did successfully in ROH. I feel that as long as he stays in the X Division, he is being held back, and that he would definitely open the world title picture in TNA up to levels that we possibly could never have imagined.
For me, Aries carried ROH in the years between Samoa Joe, CM Punk, Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuiness leaving, and Davey Richards, Eddie Edwards & Roderick Strong rising to prominence. He should in my view be given more of a chance to fight the bigger names in TNA, because as prestigious as the X Division title used to be, it no longer holds the dignity or respect it used to.
If i was TNA, I'd filter through Aries to the world title picture, I mean if Bobby Roode is the next World Champion, then i dare say Roode vs Aries would be a superb match, for a TNA title that needs a few standout matches to put it back on the path to success.
That’s just me opinion of how to push Austin Aries further within the company, whether or not TNA ever push him, that is up to them. But I greatly recommend they do, as it would without a shadow of a doubt improve the reputation of their world title, and give the fans a chance to see double AA put on some awesome matches.

Any feedback, hit me up on twitter @WholeKirknShow

The Indy Corner 18/9/11 - ROH DBD 9 iPPV

Major SKYPE issues prevented me doing my usual segment on the Total Wrestling show (see link on the right side of the page)so here is this weeks, all about the ROH iPPV from last night - Death Before Dishonor from New York.

Last night was the ROH iPPV Death Before Dishonor 9 from the Manhattan Centre in NYC. I paid for this even and was up to 4am watching it and it was a killer but anyway onto the show. The pre show had Andy 'Right Leg' Ridge went over Grizzly Redwood in a qualifier for the Survival of The Fittest match. It was an OK match, I've not seen or even heard of Ridge before and not watched much of Redwood's work so it was OK.

Onto the first match of the main show. The Embassy of Tomasso Ciampa & Rhino went over ROH TV Champion Jay Lethal & Homicide. As you may recall, Homicide went over Rhino at the last iPPV - Best in The World and I thought that was his last ROH appearance, I think this one may just be it. When he got a 'hot tag' into the match the crowd was pretty dead. I think they hold some animosity towards Homicide because he is part of the Urban Wrestling Federation. He did actually comment on his facebook after the match, while the show was still going on

“not the hometown hero no more, I'm the a rod of roh. Don't let me be a bad guy Cause I will love it like pussy and nana is right. Congrats puto. Hurt but I'm always good make room for the bad guy , there a SOB coming. Hood justice Sept 25 in pay per view”

I have always been a big fan of Homicide as I have stated before on The Indy Corner, I think it’ll be a while before we see him in an ROH ring again if ever.

Next we had one half of the ROH tag team champions Shelton Benjamin against ‘The Prodigy’ Mike Bennett. Even before the show I really didn’t think this match would grab my attention, and it didn’t really. As I think most ROH followers would of guessed, Benjamin went over.

The next match was the returning Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson)vs. The Bravado Brothers vs. Future Shock (Adam Cole & Kyle O’Reily) in an elimination match. I wasn't surprised to see The Bravado's eliminated first and as ROH tag teams go, they are not on par with the rest. Future Shock who are training partners with the ROH world champion Davey Richards are a really good, solid tag team but again, I had predicted the Young Bucks would win and they did just that. Good match overall.

Now, the next match was El Generico against Jimmy Jacobs, the latter is trying to ‘find redemption’ in ROH after his past indiscretions when he ran rough shot over the promotion as leader of The Age of The Fall with one Tyler Black before he went onto become world champion and then the WWE. Anyway, Generico was supposed to face Steve Corino but Corino took a booking in Japan so Jacobs took his place. Now with this being wrestling I thought we may see Corino turn up but we didn’t but someone else did turn up and that was one Kevin Steen. He came through the crowd and asked for a microphone, he spoke a bit and to be fair I can’t really recall what was said but not long after they cut his mic but one thing I did hear him say when the mic was off was “ask Corino to ask Davey Richards why he’s not here defending his title” – A bit random I thought, could be something for the future in ROH. Steen made it into the ring attacking dome of the security then he was about to attack Cary Silkin but was halted. On a side note, Steen is set to face his former partner Generico in a ladder match in PWG for the PWG title on October 22nd.



The next match was the other half of the ROH tag team champions as Charlie Haas took on Michael Elgin, unlike the match with his partner Benjamin, I did want to see this match because I thought they would give Elgin a win as like I have said on previous episodes of The Indy Corner, I believed they would give Elgin a push in the company but alas it wasn’t to be and Haas got the win.

The next match was the battle of the former ROH world champions as Roderick Strong took on Eddie Edwards in a ‘Ringmaster Challenge’ match. The first fall was pinfall only, the second fall was submission only and if needed the third fall was to be a 15 min Iron man match. It’s no secret I wasn’t a big fan of Strong being the ROH champion but that aside, this match was VERY good – I saw a comment on twitter last night (early hours) ‘Stellar’ and it was just that. Strong took the first with a pinfall following his ‘End of Heartache’ move, Eddie took the second with a submission following an achilles lock and then the third was supposed to be decided over 15 minutes Strong got a pin over Edwards after Strong’s manager Truth Martini held Edwards’ leg down and then after that, Martini tried to interfere again and hit Edwards with the Book of Truth but missed and hit Strong, Edwards then hit Strong with the Die Hard. Following this, the bell rang and the 15 minutes was up. So with the crowd chanting “five more minutes” out came Jim Cornette and said that “it doesn’t matter how long it takes, this match will carry on until there is a winner” – Edwards was eventually able to hit the Die Hard again get the win and take the Ringmasters Challenge.

The final match was The Briscoe Brothers against The All Night Xpress in ‘Ladder War 3’ This match was as crazy as we thought it would be, crazy bumps left, right and centre. I knew the guys would bleed and I thought it would be Jay Briscoe first but it was Rhett Titus and boy was he a mess, to use a quote from yesteryear, he really did have a crimson mask. Jay was the next again, he was a mess, there was a point where you could see the blood squirting out of his head – nasty. Mark was next and then the crowd was chanting towards Kenny King “make him bleed” and I believe they got their wish in the end. The object of the match was to grab the contract that was hanging above the ring to become the number one contenders for the ROH tag team titles. Even though we have seen it before, I thought The Briscoes would get the win but it’ll be something new now as it was the ANX who won.

Overall, it was a good iPPV, not great but good, if I were to rate it, I’d say 7/10.

Here is a video from AFTER the show with the one and only Kevin Steen

WWE Night of Champions Preview By Azan Saigol

WWE Night of Champions is on the horizon, and with all WWE titles on the line, it looks to be a night full of significant action that will have an effect on mid-card titles, all the way to the headlining titles. Although Night of Champions isn't nearly as hyped as the past two PPV's, this has potential to be a highly entertaining event, depending on how a few of these matches play out. So let's get started!

Honestly I am not as excited about Kelly Kelly’s match, but what I think that’s going to happen is total dominance by Beth, then Kelly will get a roll up so winner in my opinion: Kelly Kelly

The United States and Intercontinental championship matches should be average to above average matches. All I am hoping for is that the fatal four way does not have any botches! I’m hoping for some innovating maneuvers from Jo-Mo. I think Dolph and Swagger will work as a team at the start, and of course the wild card is Vickie Guerrero. I’m sure she will have a say in this match. But in the end the winner in my opinion is: Alex Riley

The Miz & R-Truth have formed an alliance when both men realized that there are conspiracies against them that are keeping them from winning the WWE Championship. During a recent episode of RAW, The Miz challenged the champions and R-Truth accepted the challenge his partner made on behalf of the champions. I don’t honestly see Air boom dropping the titles so soon to Miz and R truth. I could see the titles change hands the next night on Raw or on the next PPV. I am looking for some great high flying from Kofi & Bourne. Along with some dirty heel playing by Miz & Truth. With that said the winner in my opinion: Air Boom

The main event is John Cena vs. Alberto Del Rio, but you already knew that.
Cena vs. Del Rio a match that his not been built up as much. I can definitely see Del Rio and Cena go into the next PPV. Let me give you a few reasons to WHY Del Rio must retain the title:
Since winning the title, Del Rio has gotten mixed reviews from wrestling fans. Some find him interesting, great on the mic and solid in the ring. Others find his gimmick to be boring. While I feel like he is fairly over as a heel, one way to ensure that he remains over is to give him a proper title reign of six months or more. It would do the WWE good to have Cena lose at Night of Champions and put him in a program that has absolutely nothing to do with the title. Ultimately, I think he'll get involved in the Triple H/CM Punk angle in some way. So with that said the winner should be: Alberto Del Rio

I am not so excited about the Henry vs. Orton match, but here’s how I think it will play out . Honestly this is as good as I've ever seen Mark Henry booked. He has been a one-man wrecking ball. He IS the monster main event heel I'm guessing Henry beats the crap out of Randy, RKO out of nowhere, and that is all. But one last thing.. I can see Orton vs. Henry round two at Vengeance!

Last but not least! The match we are all waiting for yet we all know how it’s going to play out. Nash will return and cost HHH the match so that Johnny Ace can take over, because otherwise there is literally no point to Ace hanging around after Vince's departure. Also, conveniently, it's the only way both Punk and Triple H can stay face after this match, because Punk can claim innocence and just take the opportunity presented because it fits his character, and you know Triple H wants to stay face even though the storyline would suggest it's the wrong move. Now maybe Nash screws Punk… AND THAT makes this match more interesting. Throughout this match the only thing that will be playing in my mind is… Who is Nash Screwing? Or whom is Johnny Ace screwing? Also it would be nice to have some blood in this match (wishful thinking?) Winner: CM PUNK

All I know is that this Sunday is going to be AWEEEESSOOMMEEEE
And once again if you have any comments/questions or feedback get back to me on my twitter @azansaigol and follow me.

Thanks, Azan

RJ Singh (Ross Jordan) – Wrestler, Teacher, Respected Sportsman By Alex Kirkham

To most Wrestling fans, the name of RJ Singh may not be on they are familiar of, or have heard of before. But to those who follow the ‘Bombay Dream’ know a hard working, dedicated, talented wrestler who is one of the shining lights of the FWA promotion. By day Ross Jordan is a mild mannered Deputy Head Master in a London Primary School, but come the weekends, this young man explodes onto the wrestling scene as one of Britain’s top wrestlers. All of which is impressive, but more so when you realise that Ross is of Asian descent, which within the multi-cultural universe of wrestling, is one continent that isn’t as well represented as most would assume.
A graduate of the prestigious FWA Academy, Ross was trained by a man who I regard as the father figure of the FWA revival, the showstealer himself Alex Shane. Learning the trade from one of the finest British wrestlers for a generation, put Ross in good stead to be a great star in the British wrestling scene, competing for the number 1 company in FWA. It was soon after the completion of this training that Jordan made his debut, wrestling former FWA & WWE alumnus Hade Vansen. After a solid debut match, and patient waiting, Jordan soon got another chance to shine, in a series of matches with fellow British wrestler Stixx. In what would become a series of highly regarded matches, Jordan was constantly elevating his name in the British Wrestling Scene, pushing himself harder to succeed with every match that passed. These matches helped serve as a springboard, to propel Ross onto the main roster of the FWA, and as the end of 2004 approached, he was being widely considered the companies brightest young prospect.
Come 2005, Ross Jordan was a hot name amongst British Wrestling fans, which resulted ultimately in him being entered in, and winning the FWA Flyweight Title Tournament, where he defeated Spud, another young starlet, for the title. After controversy over that win, Jordan faced Spud in a standout ladder match at the FWA New Frontiers PPV, again coming out victorious, in a match that in my view cemented his name amongst the top FWA stars for many years to come. What would follow, would be a near 14 month feud, between Spud & Jordan, would go down as one of the best feuds in the company’s history, every match, every segment, providing quality entertainment to the fans, and earning both competitors huge respect and acclaim.
It was at the start of 2007, that FWA fans were first shown the ‘Bombay Dream’ gimmick by Jordan. This new gimmick saw him claim to be the world’s greatest Bollywood star. This new gimmick drove Jordan forward; to the point where he claimed a victory over ROH & PWG star El Generico in a 3 way dance. Victories like this, coupled with his new gimmick, were what kept Singh as a main stay on the FWA mainstream, and gained him many fans along the way. Next on Jordan’s hit list was the masked superstar El Ligero, another main member of the FWA and XWA roster. This feud would centre around the British Flyweight Title, currently held by Jordan, leading to a number of heated confrontations between the 2, culminating in Jordan losing the title to Ligero at Last Fight Of The Prom.
It was following this title loss, that fans were first exposed to RJ Singh, following Jordan’s name change during his time with the LDN Wrestling Company. It what would be a career defining moment, he carried his new name into the re-launched FWA to continue his feud with the masked El Ligero, a man whom he was more than familiar with following their XWA feud a year before. This feud would carry on for a substantial amount of time, resulting in yet more highly regarded matches between the 2, providing yet another reason for fans to be excited for the newly re-formed FWA.
So far I’ve concentrated on the in ring career of RJ Singh, one which i have high regard for and have followed avidly for many years now. But i would also like to highlight what I feel Ross Jordan does for the wrestling community in a non competitive sense. In a sport heavily dominated by American, Japanese, Mexican & Canadian stars, it is a pleasure to witness a British athlete of Indian heritage breaking through in the sport. As popular world wide as wrestling is, there is definitely a lack of athletes who represent the heritage of countries like India, Pakistan etc, so to see one so highly decorated and popular within the FWA is great. And for me, he is the perfect role model for young Asian guys, trying to break into the sport, a hard working guy, who went through the FWA Academy, bided his time until he got his break.
I salute the FWA for showing this breakthrough talent, and also Ross Jordan, who I believe is a shining example that hard work and dedication, are the formula to a successful career both inside and outside the ring. I must say not many wrestlers in the world, have my honest respect, but Ross Jordan is one of those who certainly does. Good luck to him in his career in the FWA and beyond.

Until next time, this has been,
Alex Kirkham @WholeKirknShow

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

This is the prize for the second half of the 2011 WLH PPV Prediction League as long as we have 20 plus taking part.
It is a WWE R1 (NTSC) Backlash 2006 DVD signed by Shawn Michaels, John Cena, Edge, Triple H, Kane, Big Show, RVD & Trish Stratus. It comes with the COA (Certificate Of Authenticity)Picture at the bottom of this post.

So for those who don't know, what you have to do from now until the last PPV of the year in the WWE or TNA you have to predict the winners of each match, 2 points for a correct prediction. A table will be created and posted on the right side of the site, the new one is there so you can see what I mean. This is open to ANYONE, ANYWHERE in the world. All predictions MUST be submitted to me by 22:00 hrs GMT on the night of the PPV via email wlhstu@aol.co.uk. Good Luck guys.

Here is the line-up

World Heavyweight Champion Randy Orton vs. Mark Henry
WWE Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio vs. John Cena
WWE Diva's Champion Kelly Kelly vs. Beth Phoenix
WWE Tag Team Champions Evan Bourne & Kofi Kingston vs. R-Truth & The Miz
US Champion Dolph Ziggler vs. Jack Swagger vs. John Morrison vs. Alex Riley
CM Punk vs. Triple H (No DQ, if Triple H loses he resigns as C.O.O of the WWE)

No Surrender: The Roode Awakening By Jordan Merrick

No Surrender 2011 promised a number of things.
It promised us four title matches, a number one contender for the World Title and lastly, Mickie James dressed as Wonder Woman. But did it deliver??

The Pay Per View had a total of nine matches, and took up the entire three hour block it was given. To break down the Pay Per View, here are the results with my review.

Match One: Jesse Sorenson vs. Kid Kash

Solid opening match, Kid Kash carried this one well, Sorenson seemed a bit green, but is pretty popular with the fans. Sorenson showed promising signs, and has what it takes to go far in the X Division.

Winner: Jesse Sorenson 6/10

Match Two: Bully Ray vs. James Storm

I absolutely loved the start of the match. Bully Ray got so much heat, and it worked very well with the crowd. At this stage, the crowd were warming up and really backed Storm. “Pussy Ray” chants echoed the arena! Solid wrestling, and, dare I say it; I saw some good potential for James Storm as a solo wrestler. Was a solid little match with an ending that was bound to happen, a DQ victory for Pussy…I mean, Bully Ray.

Winner: Bully Ray: 6.5/10

Match Three: Mickie James vs. Winter

The match started of great! Mickie James was wearing the said Wonder Woman attire, and to be honest, it was the only thing hot about this match. There was some solid wrestling, but nothing too special. The crowd’s excitement slowly depleted during this one, and the ending shouldn’t have happened. Three title changes in a little over a month is not good, no matter what title it may be.

Winner: Winter: 4.5/10

Match Four: Mexican America vs. D-von/The Pope

Wasn’t too bad, but wasn’t very good either. It was solid, nothing too special, did its job as a filler. The ending was so half assed, and it totally killed the match. Not much else to say about this one, other than Pope is pretty damn over.

Winners: Mexican America: 4/10

Match Five: Matt Morgan vs. Samoa Joe

Nothing bad to say about this match; both men wrestled solidly and were over with the crowd. Was very glad to see Matt Morgan back into the ring, real shame he got injured. He’s got some big man talent and is getting better on the mic, give him maybe one more year and he’ll be a champion worthy competitor. Once again, solid match, best filler of the night.

Winner: Matt Morgan: 5/10

Match Six: Bobby Roode vs. Gunner

This match was fantastic. Class wrestling from both men, and the submission stipulation was no disappointment. I’ve always been a fan of technical wrestling, and together Bobby Roode and Gunner put on a great wrestling match. The fact Gunner was able to relinquish the Fujiwara armbar like he did was awesome! It showed real class for him as a wrestler, as well as TNA’s faith in him. The chanting in this one for Roode and BMI was off the charts! Best match of the night so far.

Winner: Bobby Roode: 8/10

Match Seven: Austin Aries vs. Brian Kendrick

Yet another brilliant match! These guys have great chemistry, and put on an intense, hard fought match. There was even a point where Brian Kendrick got drilled into the floor and I thought they were gonna push for the ending of the match. What happened? They slowed it down with Aries flying into the crowd with a huge thud! Ah, what these wrestlers do to entertain us! I saw some people complain about the ending, I don’t understand why. Was a high quality match, and was up to par with the awesomeness that was the four way contract match at Destination X.

Winner: Austin Aries: 8/10

Match Eight: Bobby Roode vs Bully Ray

This match was the thing that made fans mark the fuck out for Robert Roode. Ray did his job as a heel, but when Bobby Roode took everything Ray could do, and asked for more, fans were going crazy. Bobby Roode was over as hell, and will ride this huge wave of momentum through to Bound for Glory. The match itself was nothing too special, but it succeeded on so many levels, that it deserves a big mention.

Winner: Bobby Roode: 7.5/10

Match Nine: Sting vs. Mr Anderson vs. Kurt Angle

To be honest, Kurt should have been suspended after the shit that went down, and the fact a last minute title match was made, I assumed he was dropping the strap. Off that topic though, and onto the main event of No Surrender! The match was solid; I loved the three man German Suplex spot. It delivered as best as it could, but of course, the ending was gay. I was happy and content with Hulk interfering, but with mace? Really? That is ridiculous. We didn’t need another wrestler lose due to some sort of vision impairing projectile. Gee, thanks Russo! The fan in me is happy Kurt won though, Kurt Angle vs. Robert Roode Bound for Glory will be awesome!

Winner: Kurt Angle: 7/10

Thus concludes the summary of the matches, but did it succeed as a whole?

I for one thought it was a great pay per view, it delivered good quality wrestling, Robert Roode winning and awesome X Division action; well worth the money! This leaves TNA with a really good chance to build up a very solid card for Bound for Glory. Things they need to take into consideration are:

Not letting Hulk Hogan wrestle Sting
Develop a strong feud between Angle and Roode
Give us AJ vs Daniels and RVD vs Lynn again!
Do not let Ninja’s kidnap Joe

All in all, TNA have a strong opportunity here to use the success of this PPV to make Bound for Glory the best show TNA has ever put on!


Until next time,

Many warm regards,

Jordan (Danger) Merrick

Get it together WWE By Albert Parra

WWE seems to have strayed from the basics in wrestling. Such as calling the women's division divas & focusing more on cat fights then actual wrestling. Sure we can appreciate them wanting to draw fans with "sex appeal" but to quote Owen Hart, " enough is enough it's time for a change". There are some divas that are better off being Valets then in the ring on a weekly basis. Thank God for female wrestlers like Beth Phoenix , Natalya and Eve. But if you had to compare women's division as a whole then TNA Knockouts would be able to out wrestle the WWE women division.

Another area is the tag team division. Not only are you teaming up random superstars. They are coming out to different entrance themes and a fair share do not even have a tag team name. Airboom recently got their name due to a vote by WWE UNIVERSE. And the only TRUE tag team ,The USOs, are not even given a shot at the gold let alone on TV . What's up with that (Hurricane Helms reference).

These are only but a few areas that WWE is just hurting themselves. I wish that the WWE would go back to the basics and stop trying to re invent themselves.

I have enjoyed writing my first blog. Feel free to follow me on twitter @heyyo1227 & @heyyo1228 . Would love to hear from those who have read this.

My Favourite Ten Matches I've Seen Live By Shaun Nichols

As a child growing up a key part of my weekend was watching World of Sport on a Saturday afternoons and also by enjoying holidays in such tropical delights as Blackpool, Skegness and Scarborough I was also taken to see the wrestling by my parents during those early trips. Watching wrestling live especially as a young boy opened me to a world of wonder. Among the stars I saw were Marc Rocco, Kendo Nagasaki, Marty Jones, Clive Myers, Dave Finlay and unfortunately Big Daddy & Giant Haystacks. I also remember vividly watching the ring announcer going up to the ring and giving a signal to a wrestler, ten seconds both wrestlers ran off the ropes missed one another by a foot and collapsed for a dubious double count out. So I can't say it was always good.
However I do think that I've been lucky enough to see some really great matches and also as given me the opportunity to see some legendary wrestlers perform live so with that in mind let me go through my personal top ten.

10. Mitsuharu Misawa & Narumichi Marufuji vs Kenta Kobashi & Go Shiozaki (NOAH European Navigation 2008) - This match features simply because it gave me a chance to see two legends that I had watched on VHS tapes having classic matches for years. Also I'm a big fan of Marufuji who unsurprisingly did the majority of the really good work, Kobashi and Misawa were several years best anything close to their best and we did get the standard fare of chops from Kobashi and forearms from Misawa. But to me I really enjoyed the chance to see all four of these guys working in front of a very appreciative crowd.

9. Chris Jericho vs Kurt Angle (WWF Rebellion 2001) - This was a UK PPV show from the MEN Arena in Manchester and took place just before the end of the WWF vs The Alliance feud. Although obviously both Jericho and Angle are fantastic talents they also have the benefit of being able to work a standard match without the usual outside interference that marred a lot of the matches in that period. It only went 15 minutes and Jericho won by reversing an attempting Angle slam into a winning roll up.

8. Owen Hart vs Vader (WWF One Night Only 1997) - This like the NOAH match as got picked because it gave me the chance to see a wrestler live who I had been a big fan for a long time. That man was Owen, who I have considered to be a better wrestler than Bret. Because this was the USA vs Canada feud with the Hart Foundation, Owen was a big fan favourite and traded insults with Jerry Lawler to open the show to ensure he was seen as the babyface. He needn't have worried, Vader was in his usual big monster role and Owen got to show off his tremendous skills. Unfortunately Owen didn't get the win but I didn't care, I had seen a really good match and I was still happy that the fans had buried the Patriot earlier on in the show.

7. PAC, BxB Hulk & Naruki Doi vs CIMA & Young Bucks (DG UK Invasion 2009) - From an entertainment point of view, the first DG show in the UK will probably come first. The main event most definitely delivered. The fans were clearly supporting PAC and his team but they way CIMA interacts with the crowd is so entertaining and not forgetting the double team moves of the Bucks which are arguably the best in the business. The main lasted well over 20 minutes when PAC's team got the win. For the record the Bucks did shake hands after the match.

6. Bryan Danielson vs Nigel McGuinness (ROH Unified 2006) - This was title vs title and a part of me expected that we would see some kind of screw job. Surely a match like that would have been saved for New York or Philadelphia. Fortunately this was not the case and the fine people of Liverpool saw one of the best and dramatic ROH main events. Although Nigel was clearly respected by ROH fans in the US but in Liverpool he was very much the hero. Danielson also had his fans and they worked a tremendous match which built the drama up brilliantly with the ringpost spot. It may have gone slightly too long but we got a clean finish and McGuinness came away with probably a breakthrough performance which showed that he could be the main player in ROH.

5. Kensuhiko Nakajima vs Go Shiozaki (NOAH European Navigation: Night 2 2011) - Although a lot of the crowd may have given the MOTN honours to either the Kings of Wrestling or even the KENTA vs Zack matches. For me this was even better, I had very high expectations going into this match. I had seen Nakajima a number of times in ROH and had always been very impressed and Shiozaki had in the last few years became a legit NOAH main eventer (and current GHC champion). This epitomises the strong style with hard hitting moves and very stiff kicks being the norm. They had a 20 minute time limit and as we moved past the 15 minute mark, every big move and desperate kick outs of pin attempts provided great excitement. It finished as a draw and our pleas for another five minutes were ignored although they did work incredibly hard so no-one felt cheated.

4. Shawn Michaels vs British Bulldog (WWF One Night Only 1997) - This was the main event, this WWF show was also the first show I'd seen live for the WWF so I have very happy memories of the event as a whole. The sold out arena were very vocal because Shawn had started DX by this time and he certainly had his fans, Davey was as close to a hometown superstar. This will also go down as Davey's last great match and he always had really good matches with Shawn. I remember hundreds of fans in the seating area on the arena floor all standing on their seats screaming for the favourite. Shawn took the European title thanks to outside interference from Rick Rude. Davey had asked if he could win as he had a member of his family attending who was seriously ill. Shawn in his pre-God days said hell no. Still at least it was an awesome match.

3. Briscoe Brothers, Jimmy Rave & John Walters vs Alex Shelley, Austin Aries, Roderick Strong & Jack Evans (ROH Generation Next 2004) - You could tell I was a massive fan of ROH in 2004 because I went all the way to Philly to attend. The appalling taxi drivers meant that I missed the first two matches but after this 45 minute classic I had stopped being pissed about the earlier problems. The show was held in a tent, the main event of Samoa Joe vs Homicide was only fair. This though was tremendous and was a fantastic way to introduce a new faction. Most of the fans didn't really know that much about Generation Next apart from Shelley who had been a part of ROH for a while. Austin Aries put down an immediate marker, Jack Evans thrilled the fans with an awe inspiring 630 degree splash though he does sound like a girl. The existing stars lost nothing by finally being defeated but Shelley & friends were booked to perfection.

2. Austin Aries & Roderick Strong vs Briscoe Brothers (ROH Unified 2006) - For me this was even better than Danielson-McGuinness, this was billed as the Briscoes finally opportunity to win the belts from the champions. This I think was my favourite match that I saw in 2006 and it stood up equally well when I saw it back on DVD. I'm sure most people reading this have already seen this. So I'll simply say that was a fantasic, dramatic match that again like a lot of ROH matches built to perfection with the right number of false finishes. Awesome match.

1. Susumu Yokosuka vs Shingo (DG UK Invasion 2009) - Occasionally a match will take place which will catch people out. I'm sure quite a lot of people attending wasn't neccesarily expecting a lot. In the early moments Shingo, due to his appearances in ROH was the clear favourite. I was in the minority and was supporting Susumu who I have been a big fan since he used to wrestle as Susumu Mochizuki back in the Toryumon days. Slowly though the fans started to realise that this was going to be a very even match and that although Shingo clearly as the advantage in strength. Yokosuka was more than able to keep himself in the match by the 20 minute mark fans were chanting 'match of the year', they were right and better yet Susumu won. Have to say I took great delight in telling the fan next to me that I knew all along that Susumu was going to win. Good times.

I'm going to the DG show in Nottingham next month and hope that I'll have to change my top ten. Any feedback let me know, cheers.

WWE Rising To A New Independence By Richard Rodriguez

Hello to all the wrestling fans of the world. I am very excited to be writing my first article for WLH and discussing WWE’s plan on launching a new WWE Network. Feel free to follow me on twitter @heyyo1228 and @heyyo1227.

As many of you know in March 24, 2004 Vince McMahon launched the 24/7 wrestling channel that never really took off, and to this day is still airing depending on which cable provider you have. On September 5, 2011 on WWE RAW, a new WWE Network was announced to launch at some point in 2012. To any fan that saw that announcement I can imagine the initial reaction was excitement where as I had more questions than anything. Is this going to be another mismanaged idea? Is WWE going to capitalize on this buzz or let it fade away like the attitude era? How can a network compete with 24 hours a day online access to basically any independent promotion and legendary matches? Is WWE going to miss this opportunity?

As mentioned earlier, WWE has a 24/7 channel that either no one is aware of, or you have to pay for and until now all they show are classic matches over and over. Think of how many networks WWE pays a percentage or a fee to air on like USA,SYFY,SPIKE, On Demand, and ABC just to name a few. Think that if WWE would purchase a basic established channel and still ran the normal programming, but combined more wrestling shows, it would potentially further establish that channel and their programming. How many times have you watch Monday Night’s show, and the announcer says that RAW is the number one show. They could have their own channel, and have free PPV’s like a clash of Champions including all WWE produced films. The creative ideas for this are endless, and until now WWE hasn’t capitalized on it.

To any wrestling fan that missed this time period I apologize. To the fans that watched and were a part of the weekly “Monday Night Wars” we have slowly seen those days of glory where wrestling fade away into this PG era. This watered down version of wrestling where a chair isn’t allowed, and a water bottle is. It Just makes me wonder if the WWE simply caters to a younger demographic. By the time the network is up and running, no one would want to watch what they are airing. To this day, the attitude era wasn’t great because you saw T & A every week. It was the respect that every single person in that company devoted to making wrestling a real experience every week, connecting to any fan that watched. That dedication is sadly missed.

As far as competition goes, you have independent promotions like Ring of honor, and Territory league to name a couple mainstreaming their content online. With You Tube, you can search and find any match that has ever transpired and it’s free. In times of recession and economic hardship why would anyone spend money on material easily accessed for free? If WWE would let’s say purchase a channel like USA or SYFY, and have all their shows aired on one channel plus get in coordination with up and coming promotions airing their material they would never run out of talent. All profits would go to them. It would force the average fan of any of these shows or promotions to watch not only their favorites, but anything else being aired. Again, all those classic matches and all the millions of hours of footage they have in the WWE library would still air combined with current programs from all promotions. They would never run out of material. Hopefully it works out, and we as fans get what we want which more is wrestling.

Tag Team Saviors By AzanSaigol

To even say WWE has had a tag division over the past few years is a stretch of
the imagination. Having a team co-hold a championship and the occasional title
defense does not make a division. First I will talk about the unified tag
titles,than I will go into the change that is coming, and lastly I will go into
detail about what tag teams are needed to save the division.

First off two sets of tag team champions never was a good idea. Now that the Tag
Championship value is at an all-time low the idea is even worse. Right now no
one cares who holds the tag titles. But if there are 4 guys running around with
tag belts, not even those people could possibly care. The one good thing about
the tag team champions was that they got to appear on both shows. There was one
team that made good use of that and let you know it. It made them seem
important. It made people care. That was the team of Jerishow. For those couple
of months while they had the belts, the titles meant something. Hell, they once
headlined a PPV. After that what happened? Jerishow disbanded. To give credit
where it's due at least they had a storyline which led to Show and Jericho to
split. Now what we have is teams spliting at random. Let me give you some
examples:
The Hart Dynasty was broken up. The Gatecrashers were broken up, then Vance
Archer was released. The SES was broken up. Santino and Kozlov had a run as
Champs before being broken up. Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel were randomly
broken up as well after dropping the belts to Kane and Big Show, who also
randomly stopped teaming after Del RIo smacked a car into Big show.

Now if we talk about the change that is coming, The heavy creative influence HHH
has in real life helps bring back the tag division At the moment we have four
tag teams The Uso's, Raw - Otunga & McGillicutty, Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne and Miz & Truth In one night, the number of actual Tag Teams doubled. This is a great
sign. I know four teams is by no means a big number, but it's a great start.
Compared to what we had before. Miz Truth and Kofi & Bourne will bring some
real credibility to the division. It's also a good way for those four talents to
get consistent television time, but there is one thing missing. A gimmick within
the tag teams, back in the attitude era teams like Dudleys had a table gimmick,
the Hardy's had a high flying gimmick and so on. What my point is that now that
we finally have a few tag teams we need gimmicks to go with them as heel and
baby face tag teams just won't cut it.

In my opinion the tag teams to save the division will have to be Truth and Miz,
Air Boom, if HHH signs Generation Me and the Kings of Wrestling that would
tremendously help the division. I could see Vickie manage the team of Ziggler
& Swagger as well. No matter what the case things are looking up and, as an
integral part of any wrestling promotion, WWE's Tag Team Division is about to
matter once again.

If you have any comments, suggestions, or views leave me a comment on my Twitter
and follow! @azansaigol Would love to hear from you all cheers!

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

This is the prize for the second half of the 2011 WLH PPV Prediction League as long as we have 20 plus taking part.
It is a WWE R1 (NTSC) Backlash 2006 DVD signed by Shawn Michaels, John Cena, Edge, Triple H, Kane, Big Show, RVD & Trish Stratus. It comes with the COA (Certificate Of Authenticity)Picture at the bottom of this post.

So for those who don't know, what you have to do from now until the last PPV of the year in the WWE or TNA you have to predict the winners of each match, 2 points for a correct prediction. A table will be created and posted on the right side of the site, the old one is still there so you can see what I mean. This is open to ANYONE, ANYWHERE in the world. All predictions MUST be submitted to me by 22:00 hrs GMT on the night of the PPV via email wlhstu@aol.co.uk. Good Luck guys.

Here is the line-up

Kurt Angle vs. Mr. Anderson vs. Sting (For The TNA Title)
Bully Ray vs. James Storm (Bound For Glory Series Match)
Bobby Roode vs. Gunner (Bound For Glory Series Match)
Mexican America vs. Pope & Devon (For The TNA Tag Titles)
Brian Kendrick vs. Austin Aries (For The X Division Title)
Mickie James vs. Winter (For The Knockouts Title)
Matt Morgan vs. Samoa Joe

Let Me Speak On This - with WLHSTU

So Jeff Hardy gets 10 days in prison for his drug offences, will TNA can him like they have his brother? Speaking of which, Matt Hardy hasn't killed himself yet, I don't want him to either but Matt, please go away. Kurt Angle, well, he's getting into the news for all the wrong reasons again. We are to believe he is going to represent the US in the Olympics in 2012, can't see it myself. This is the one of the three TNA wrestlers I am more pissed off about, why you may ask, well it's because Kurt is an amazing wrestler and it's a shame he is going downhill like he is, I hope he can get himself out of this rut. Angle has said recently he has signed a new 3 year deal with TNA, really? I know Dana White said what Kurt said about being offered a UFC contract was untrue

In WWE world, the company have talked more about the WWE TV channel, they have said it will be in early 2012, word is they wanted to announce it now because they are worried UFC will launch their own network even though UFC apparently have no intention of this now they are on FOX but Vince is not happy with some of UFC's recent actions.
Kevin Nash has been 'fired' from the WWE but I think really he has just gone off to film another movie, it'll be a sure fire Oscar winner.

Tickets for the UFC show here in the UK in November went on sale yesterday, it's actually right here in my hometown, am I going, am I shit!! UFC always charge us bullshit prices because they come here once in a blue moon and they know the British UFC fans will pay it. Maybe I would of gone if they at least gave us a good card or at least a couple of big names, Mir, GSP (although I believe he doesn't like flying), Dos Santos, Anderson Silva etc. but all we get as a headliner is Chris Leben vs. Mark Munoz. Just to add, I actually have been to see UFC live in the UK, it was at 105 in Manchester, on that card was Hall of Famer Randy Couture.

That's it for now, glad I was able to 'speak on this' - Follow me on twitter @WLHSTU

Yoshi Tatsu – Legitimate Contender Or Tajiri Pretender By Alex Kirkham

Remember the glory days of wrestling, back in the 90s and early 00’s when Japanese stars like Yoshihiro Tajiri, Shoichi Funaki, Masato Tanaka, Jushin Thunder Liger, Dick Togo & Ultimo Dragon came across to the major US promotions to put together solid runs against the top US and Canadian stars of the Era. They put their style against the best of the America, and opened the eyes of millions to a new form of wrestling. So it was suprising for many years, for WWE especially to be without a stand out Japanese star, to bridge the gap between their market and the Japanese market. That was until mid 2007 when a hot young prospect came to the USA, following building success in NJPW. Straight out of the New Japan Pro Wrestling Dojo, Naofumi Yamamoto was a hungry young competitor with a desire to succeed. After success in the respected Young Lions Cup, he was signed to a WWE developmental deal and given the name of Mr Yamamoto, eventually evolving into Yoshi Tatsu.
Now don’t get me wrong, I respect the talent and skills possessed by this fine athlete, and have no doubt he is a competent wrestler. But what I have to ask myself really is, Can Yoshi Tatsu emulate previous success achieved by the likes of the wrestlers named above in the cut throat American wrestling world? In my opinion as a long time wrestling fan, I would have to say the answer is no he can’t, and here are my reasons for this.
1. The industry now, and the Industry of 10 or 15 years ago, is a totally different landscape indeed. Where as in years past, people like Tajiri for example, would compete at the top end of cards, for world titles or at least titles in general. The Japanese superstars of previous years, would receive the push because fans craved to see their new style every week and were sent home unhappy if they didn’t. Difference now is, the style which these Japanese guys broke onto the scene within the 90’s, is now widely available from many American stars and therefore people are not left wanting. This means the style of wrestling used by Yoshi Tatsu, or comparably Kazuchika Okada in TNA, are not in such demand anymore and this means a lack of opportunity for them to progress through the company.

2. A lack of legitimately available titles to Tatsu is also a prime reason why I believe he cannot emulate the success of previous Japanese stars. Where as in the days of Ultimo Dragon or Tajiri there were opportunities for titles like the cruiserweight or TV championships, which at their peak, were 2 of the most popular divisions of ECW / WWE. It was divisions like this which offered International stars a way to bed into the American industry without being pushed to the world title too soon. Now without these titles, and with the IC and US titles being contested amongst a small group of competitors, it once again leaves people like Tatsu with little to legitimately aim for.

3. The select band of superstars at the top of the WWE ranks currently means it’s hard for Tatsu to make a breakthrough in the company anymore. When he is relegated to competing on NXT, which as successful as that has been, let’s not lie to ourselves when we say it’s a downgrade show because its internet only. When the top stars like Cena, Orton, Edge, Christian, Sheamus, Punk are constantly at the top, it was always going to be difficult for Tatsu to make an impact, proved mostly by the fact he has been moved from ECW to RAW to Smackdown in 3 drafts, and made no real impact on any of those shows. Not that it’s his fault, I mean he can only wrestle the matches he is provided, vs. the competitors he is given, but it just seems that with the layout at the moment, he will be on NXT for the foreseeable future.

4. Maybe not to such a high degree as the last 3 reasons, but I do legitimately feel, with the new looks WWE have brought Tatsu back with, they are trying to tap into a kind of Great Muta look, and I don’t appreciate the way the WWE feel they can just use that well known look to try and boost an if were honest stagnating character. I mean I understand that Muta is known world round, and that he is a famous wrestler from Japan, but that doesn’t mean that they should plaster his look on a Tatsu, who is nothing like the legend that is Muta.
I don’t want people to think that I’m against Yoshi Tatsu from this article, I’m far from that, totally respect his talent and his will to succeed. This is more me just being realistic in his chances of becoming a breakthrough star within the company, and judging him against the previous Japanese superstars to have graced the WWE / F.
But you know, as long as his career with WWE goes on, with this limited success, you have to wonder, if the famous “Future Endeavours” line is around the corner. I hope it isn’t, and I hope I’m wrong and that Yoshi Tatsu is a name which catapults into the title mix sooner rather than later within the WWE. Good luck To Yoshi Tatsu.

Hit me up on twitter @WholeKirknShow