Chris Hero Released By The WWE, Every Cloud.....By Stuart Rodgers @TheIndyCorner

So Chris Hero has been released from the WWE, he never made it to the main roster, he had been in the development territory FCW and then NXT as Kassius Ohno. When he was signed a couple of years back from the independents I was happy for him as he is a man who took his profession seriously, a lot more than most. He traveled the world to hone his skills including an extended stay in England to learn the British way of wrestling. Of course before heading to the WWE he was in ROH with his then tag team partner Claudio Castignoli (working there now as Antonio Cesero) as The Kings of Wrestling, both guys were signed around the same time and many thought they may of gone in as a team which would of been great as the WWE have not had a decent tag team division for many years in my opinion but the choice was made by the WWE to go in a different direction. Eventually Castignoli got the call up to the main roster where he would go on to win the US title, Hero however was left in developmental. There were many stories floating around the internet claiming Hero had been told to 'get into a better shape' and I was led to believe he had done just that but today, with this story coming out many are saying they are not surprised really he was released as he was told to improve his 'look' but didn't and so can't have any grievance with being released.

Moving on, Hero is now once again an independent wrestler and I for one am looking forward to seeing him in various indy groups such as ROH & PWG and hopefully back over here to the UK wrestling for some of our tremendous promotions. I mentioned PWG and word is, Hero has already been booked for their next run of shows, All Star Weekend in December which is going to make an already great looking pair of shows even better. As I tweeted this morning 'what is the WWE's loss is the indies gain' and I fully expect Hero to put the disappointment of being released by the WWE behind him and show why he was signed in the first place by putting on some tremendous matches on the indies

Follow me on twitter @TheIndyCorner, LIKE the podcast page http://facebook.com/TheIndyCorner and checkout the podcast http://theindycorner.podomatic.com or on itunes http://tinyurl.com/IndyCorneriTunes

And That's My Opinion...by Dave Green

#1 - Entrance music

Hello. I’m Dave. I’m a fan of wrestling. I want to stress that right away. I am a fan. I do not claim to be an expert in any of the elements that make a pro wrestling match. I have my opinions and preferences, yes, but I do not claim to be an expert.

I do not have a particular favourite style of wrestling. While I generally tend to appreciate the technical side of the sport mixed with high impact moves and high flying, I am usually just as happy watching a pure comedy match. I do tend to stay away from death matches. While I am not squeamish, I just don’t understand why people think it’s worthwhile to use light tubes, barbed wire and chairs to the head when we know what we know now.

I am also a music fan. I do not have a particular favourite style of music. While I generally tend to appreciate rock of the indie variety with a side portion of electronica and folk, I am just as happy boogieing with my hospital radio co-host to some cheesy disco. I do tend to stay away from modern day R&B and pop. While I am not squeamish, I only just recently saw a recent Miley Cyrus video (no, not the wrecking ball one, the other one) and I kind of worry about the future generations if she is a role model. Plus twerking makes me feel quite ill.
It has occurred to me over my many years on this planet how important music has become to pro wrestling. To a fresh pair of eyes watching a wrestling show for the first time, it helps establish the performer in many ways, ways in which I would to chat about to you right now.

A brief history lesson...

I believe I am right in saying that the first wrestler to use entrance music was Gorgeous George. During his heyday in the 40’s and 50’s, he entered the arena to the strains of “Pomp and Circumstance” (also the music used by Macho Man Randy Savage). In the late 70’s, the Fabulous Freebirds were the first to use rock music for their entrance, first using “Freebird” by Lynyrd Skynyrd, and then the Michael Hayes composed and performed “Badstreet USA”. Then of course the Rock & Wrestling Connection took place in 1984 that involved the WWF and MTV, which brought in Cyndi Lauper as a major cross promotion for the first Wrestlemania and really set the wheels in motion for the wrestling world as we now know it.

Initially the WWF and NWA only used entrance music sparingly for the bigger stars (i.e. Hogan and Flair). But over time, more and more of the wrestlers had their own themes. Jim Johnston and Jimmy Hart were the main names that set about the task of composing theme music for each WWF superstar and tag team, a herculean task, but one yielded memorable results. Every fan of the 80’s and 90’s WWF had their favourite entrance music: Demolition, Hart Foundation, Shawn Michaels, The Honky Tonk Man, Ultimate Warrior, Legion of Doom, just to name a few. Jim Johnston is still at it today – surely a Hall of Fame honour is on its way to him in the near future. With in-house musicians creating the music, it certainly helps on copyright and the distribution costs. It always breaks my heart when I watch a DVD of an old WWF ppv to find a treasured entrance theme has been replaced by something else just to avoid paying royalties – “Sorry Jimmy Hart, your theme for Dusty Rhodes may be one of the best of all time, but instead of paying you, we’re just going to use the theme from Wheel of Fortune instead.” (Note – this is no joke, that’s what they actually use!)

But what makes a great wrestler entrance theme? My first thought on that is pretty obvious – the opening moment of the song. Now when I say moment, I mean it can be the riff, bassline, drum or vocal. Let’s face it, when watching wrestling on TV, it’s only the first 30-45 seconds of the music you ever hear. The pop of the crowd upon hearing the first few words of Randy Orton’s theme or the operatic tones of Santino’s can be infectious. It’s Pavlovian conditioning, at the end of the day. What better way to simultaneously produce excitement among children and hatred among men than playing the first solitary note of “My Time is Now”? Randomly, I think the one WWF/E wrestler that has benefitted the most from memorable rifftastic theme music is none other than Billy Gunn. A man that has had many themes to suit his various gimmicks, he’s always had memorable theme music - The Smokin’ Gunns shooting sound effects into the wild west rock, the New Age Outlaws chantalongability, “I’m an Ass Man”, Billy & Chuck’s boy band influenced pop – even “The One” Billy Gunn gimmick had a great riff. Only “Rockabilly” escapes my memory, and I think the man himself would have it no other way!



Special mention must go to Mankind. As suggested by Mr Foley himself, Mankind entered to a creepy, sinister string section like something out of a Hitchcock film. But after he had destroyed his opponent, he had different music for his exit, a beautiful piano piece, as if calming Mankind down so he did not do any more damage. It was highly original and I am not aware of anyone who did this before or since.

Not being much of a viewer of WCW during its peak time, I do not know a lot of their theme music, though of course the nWo theme is widely regarded as one of the best due to its individual sounding nature. Goldberg also has music had fitted the grandiose nature of his entrance, so much so the WWE didn’t bother to adapt it too much when they brought him in 2003. TNA could really do with some better music for their acts. Aside from Jeff Jarrett’s, The Beautiful People’s and maybe Kurt Angle’s, there’s no entrance music on Impact that makes me immediately recognise who is coming out.

Another reasonably important part to an entrance theme is the lyrics, if there is any. The lyrics need to reflect the wrestler(s) they are singing about. This can veer from the good (Demolition – “Here comes the Ax and here comes the Smasher / We’re Demolition, Walking disaster”, lyrics even Low Ki himself recited on an edition of NXT) to the downright awful (Beer Money – He’s from the country/He’s from the city/Watch your money/And your alcohol!). If you get the words right, you have a song that many fans will recite from memory better than any song on the radio.

A wrestler performing their own entrance music has become more popular in recent years. Aside from the aforementioned Freebirds, the earliest performance of an entrance by the actual wrestler I can recall would be the Honky Tonk Man. But of course, he didn’t perform that live as he entered the ring (and I don’t count that abomination at Wrestlemania 6 – and neither should you!). The Mountie very proudly performed his own song, which was everyone’s guilty pleasure, and often sung it to the camera as he made his way to the ring. Actual live performance was few and far between. The earliest of that I can recall would be “The Real Double J” Jesse James, who performed “With My Baby Tonight” on his way down the aisle. Now that was a song that could easily have been in the charts (so we wrestling fans liked to tell ourselves to lend some credibility to the gimmick). Mr James wouldn’t stop there though, as he brought K-Kwik to the mass audience to “Get Rowdy” in late 2000 and then as part of the 3 Live Krew in early TNA. Oh, in case you don’t know, K-Kwik went on to become Ron “The Truth” Killings and then R-Truth, who’s still rapping his way to the ring to this day. Yeah, thanks Jesse. In Dragon Gate in Japan, Rich Swann has taken the live singing gimmick to the next level. He beatboxes his entire entrance. Not really sure what it tells me about him as a wrestler or character, but I certainly took notice when I first saw him. And standing out is what it’s all about, right? And no one stands out in their entrance more right now than Aiden English. NXT's resident artiste serenades his way to the ring to a different piano accompaniment every week, extolling his virtues to us through the medium of musical theatre, before rounding off with a huge "Double U Double U EEEEEEEEEEEE". Sounds ludicrous - and it is. But he pulls it off so well, to the point where the audience at Full Sail constantly ask for an encore and throw roses into the ring when he graces us with one. Not bad for a newcomer and particularly not bad considering he's always slightly off key.

Of course, if the company doesn’t have its own musicians, then wrestlers will need to find their own music. The use of music on the indie circuit has become even more integral to establishing a character. If your image isn’t on the TV, then this entrance may be the first time a crowd is seeing you and getting the entrance right always makes a good first impression. I first saw Tommy End at Progress Chapter 9. I’d never heard of him before I got into the building when they announced him as a substitute for Jimmy Havoc. His music was a quite intense metal riff which I had not heard before, but before I could even attempt to recognise it, out he came, stomping to the ring, no pausing for applause, just out the door, onto the stage, down the steps, into the ring, ready to fight. No pomp or ceremony, just straight forward to the point. The entire entrance with the music summed up his character to me right away – he’s in that ring to do business and wrestle. He’ll accept the plaudits from the crowd if and when he earns them after the match. At Revolution Pro “Uprising”, two different characters were established using almost the same music. Zack Sabre Jr entered to the LDRS techno theme as has been established over many years on the indie circuit. His recently turned heel LDRS team mate Marty Scurll entered later on to a slower, darker version of the same song. Both of them were introduced as “one half of the LDRS of the New School”, however if you weren’t aware of the change of attitude of one of the members, it was certainly established by the dark tone of the second of the two entrances. On the negative side though, the dark version of the same song only reminded me of the unfortunate Sin Cara vs Sin Cara storyline of a few years back.

I remember going to see Progress for the first time, first wrestler out was Noam Dar. His music – “Morning Glory” by Oasis. This gave me a good first impression mainly due to being an Oasis fan, so in my mind he had good taste and I cheered his entrance. Then I realised he was a heel. And I realised that Oasis was a great band to use due to the cocky swagger of Dar very much emulating one Liam Gallagher, a character the majority of the world loves to hate. My most recent viewing of Dar was at the previously mentioned Revolution Pro show at York Hall recently. There he came out to a different Oasis song, “Live Forever”. If I hadn’t seen him before, I would not have made the connection, but the change of song made me wonder if he had a change in tune with his character having just come back from a four month injury lay off. Then I saw he was the same cocky git, so maybe not.

Through all the differing rock music offerings that indie wrestlers use to establish themselves, it seems strange that the best entrance in indie wrestling at the moment comes from a tubby Scotsman that enters to the sounds of the Queen of Pop. Grado’s entrance at Progress Chapter 9 was an event. His reputation preceded itself as nearly everyone in the room knew who he was, but this was my first experience of him live. His entrance involving dancing to the ring to “Like a Prayer” by Madonna makes him stand out from the pack and gets everyone involved in the fun aspect of his character. It may not be for everyone, but no doubt it’s an impactful entrance. On ICW’s YouTube channel, there is a great match between Grado and Mikey Whiplash. At one point, the entire crowd sings “Like a Prayer” to spur on Grado. How many times have you heard a crowd sing a wrestlers entrance in that way?!

The use of popular music has certainly made its way back to the mainstream in recent years, and there’s money to be made from it now. During the Attitude Era, the likes of Kid Rock and Limp Bizkit reared their ugly heads to provide music for The Undertaker. Motorhead finally gave Triple H a decent theme to enter to. Various rap and metal bands collaborated with WWE on full albums of differing quality. Vince McMahon has understandably been hesitant to use other artists’ songs for his wrestlers’ theme music, but it has provided memorable moments. The use of Alter Bridge’s “Metalingus” provided Edge with the music he still uses to this day. Tatu’s “All the Things She Said” gave the world an immediate impression of Victoria’s crazy character when she debuted. And, of course, who doesn’t enjoy a bit of “Cult of Personality?” That song not only establishes CM Punk’s character, but gave Living Colour themselves a new lease of life. So everyone’s a winner, right?

Now of course, over the years, WWE brought in many music stars as special guests for various Wresltemanias: Run DMC, Salt ‘n’ Pepa and Willie Nelson to name a few. These were only for live performances and they were all of varying quality. Though none quite as bad as the DX Band at Summerslam 1998. However, WWE took a long time to realise they could make some money from their own music. They seemed to think the album “Piledriver” and a few ill-conceived Simon Cowell influenced singles (Slam Jam, Wrestlemania) would suffice for their fans. Finally realising the popularity of their music, WWE finally put out anthology albums. Now themes are immediately available to download. Themes for the current crop of superstars can be given instant gratification if they are popular and well received enough for people to want to buy them. I guess the wrestlers themselves have to make sure that their theme isn’t so popular it eclipses them (Hi Fandango, I’m looking in your direction).

But what if your theme is established and you want change? If it’s a change in character, then it is probably necessary. Remember when Eddie Guerrero turned on Rey Mysterio? How foolish would he have looked if he’d come out the next week to the same “Lie, Cheat, Steal” music?! Again, getting it right is a matter of timing and character. When Daniel Bryan returned at Summerslam to face Nexus, he came out to a dirgey rock riff that had no personality whatsoever. He even stated that in an in-ring promo! The next week, he came out to Rise of the Valkyries, with a bemused Edge looking on. The ridiculousness of the vast sounding orchestral symphony soundtracking little Daniel Bryan to the ring was a funny image, but one that worked because you could see Bryan was loving it. It established a slightly geeky character, but one that was fun. Of course, in the ring was another matter. As we all know, he still uses the same tune but just a little bit rocked up.

Two famous instances when a change of theme took place involve two very well known themes with rather different results. In the weeks after Money in the Bank 2011, Raw ended an episode with John Cena beating Rey Mysterio and becoming WWE Champion, replacing the champion that had just left the company with the title belt. Then a guitar riff cut in, one that no-one recognised. Of course we all now know that riff as the intro of “Cult of Personality” and out came CM Punk. Now the argument of whether he came back too early and that entire storyline has been beaten to death and I’m not about to start that up again. But the new music (replacing a perfectly good theme itself) immediately established the new CM Punk.

The other instance occurred at Wrestlemania 21. JBL enters to a chorus of boos. His WWE title on the line against the challenger. John Cena. The newest face on the main event scene. A man whose popularity was sky rocketing. He'd made his way out of obscurity to the Wrestlemania main event in just over two and a half years. The crowd are waiting for the first sound of his theme music. The arena is ready to erupt. It hits...and the crowd goes mild. The crowd were wanting "Basic Thuganomics", they got a hitherto unknown tune called "My Time is Now". The change for John Cena's theme was necessary. He was slowly changing from his rough around the edges hip hop character to the squeaky clean babyface we know today. To make the change before the biggest match of his career on the biggest stage of them all was a bold move. Sadly it took the crowd slightly out of the moment and I don't think it achieved the desired effect. The fact that what followed was an intensely uninspired bout with a damp squib of an abrupt ending didn't help matters.

So all in all, a wrestler's theme music, be it an original composition or an established piece, needs to have the following - a memorable hook, an impactful opening and a style that suits the wrestler that it is for. Bearing all that in mind, here are my personal top 5 wrestlers entrance themes

5: Bray Wyatt - "Live in Fear" by Mark Crozier. Apparently discovered on a licensing for television website. Says the man himself: "As soon as I heard the bass line of this one, a spark happened. It was magic. He was able to capture a mood in a melody. The mood is very eerie. The song and Bray Wyatt come together so well because Bray is an enigma."
Couldn't put it better myself

4: Hulk Hogan - "Real American" by Rick Derringer
Come on, it has to be in there. So good, Hogan stole it from Windham & Rotunda, who were using it in the first place as the US Express. Strange to think of a younger me singing along "I am a real American", not very patriotic but demonstrates perfectly how a catchy riff and cheesy lyrics can make a memorable entrance.

3: The London Riots - "Diesel Power" by Prodigy
The best tag team on the UK scene in my opinion (other teams may have great wrestlers in them, but these two are a true team), they enter to a mashup of various news reports about the riots in the capital a few years back before the belting bassline pounds out. Perfectly encapsulates the brooding and scary mood the Riots bring to their matches.

2: The Brood - "Blood" by Jim Johnston
Absolutely the best entrance of the Attitude Era. You can keep your glass smashing, bell tolling, cooking smelling - the Brood's theme just had IT. Combined with the amazing sight of three men coming up through a ring of fire, the eerie voices whispering at you before an actually simple instrumental with strange grinding guitars were something no other theme had. Gangrel still uses it to this day. Not sure if WWE know that though.

1: Madison Rayne - " Killa Queen" by Dale Oliver
Yes that's right - my favourite entrance music in all of wrestling comes from a TNA Knockout. Everything that makes a great theme is here. Immediate impact with a pounding guitar riff right away. A catchy lyric on the chorus (only four words, I know, but still...). And perfectly encapsulated Madison's character, that of the arrogant female that was at the time on the roll of her life and defeating everyone that TNA put in front of her. On a disappointing One Night Only Knockouts ppv that TNA put out recently, Madison's theme hitting at the end of the night to present Gail Kim with her prize for winning put the biggest smile on my face.

So there you go - a retired TNA Knockout has the best entrance music in all of wrestling

At least that's my opinion

Hope you enjoyed my first column. Follow me @dagreeno and give me suggestions for future columns. The more random, the better.

The Most Ridiculous Promo Ever By Shaun Nichols

I did think that maybe one of the other contributors to the site may have wanted to discuss Triple H's promo in the main event angle of the go home show for the Hell In A Cell PPV, but as no-one has done so I'd like to give my thoughts on it.

As you can tell from the title of this blog, I like many other wrestling fans thought it was one of the most ill-judged interviews ever put on TV with seemingly the only idea being that Triple H wanted to bury as many stars from both the present and the past as he could. Remember that this was the last Raw before the PPV so this was the last thing that many WWE fans would see and in many cases would determine if they would pay the $54.95 to order the HIAC show.

In the previous episodes of Raw they had worked to convince fans that after the disasters of Night of Champions and Battleground events that here they would deliver a new WWE champion. The key then you would think is to go and get the WWE Universe excited about the conclusion of the Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan feud. But like many times when The Game is on hand with a microphone it became obvious that he's only interested in putting himself over.

The interview had two main points, firstly he buried the accomplishments of Chris Jericho, Rob Van Dam and Edge all of which are currently not working for the WWE. There was no reason at all to mention any of the them, Edge has retired and apart from making the occasional appearance will not be a part of the WWE. He is though a WWE Hall of Famer, won the WWE/World titles ten times and was for a long period of time the mainstay of Smackdown and the leading heel in the company in the 2000's.

He was a major star in the WWE for a very long period of time, won as major titles in the WWE as anyone else and was celebrated with two very good WWE DVD sets. He also left on his own terms when he realised he was risking major health issues if he didn't retire which may not have gone down well with Triple H.

The mention of Chris Jericho is probably stranger as it was only a few weeks earlier on Raw in a segment which saw Triple H and Edge argue back and forth. During that, Hunter had confessed that he although he usually assessed talent well he had been wrong about Jericho and that Y2J was a major star although at the same time he again buried Edge by saying he didn't draw a dime. Why do companies keep thinking the fans care about who drew money anyway?

Here though Jericho although popular with the fans, wasn't a big star and didn't do well for business. This led Jericho sending out a couple of tweets after Raw had gone off the air. The gist of the them was that he felt that Triple H despite his many pushes didn't do much either, and that he had other things that he could do in his life. Finishing by saying goodbye to the WWE and that wrestling wasn't as important as many people involved with it believes it is.

Now Chris Jericho does like to keep people guessing about what his future plans are so he could easily be trying to use Triple H's words as a distraction but actually it could be used as the basis of a future programme. With that being said the WWE aren't that keen to have Jericho in major programmes as he is only round for short periods and then goes off to work on other projects. So the idea of a Triple H vs. Chris Jericho feud in the early part of 2014 is probably unlikely.

Assuming that Jericho's responses are genuine and him being buried in that interview was something he wasn't aware of beforehand then it seems a particularly stupid move to annoy a supremely gifted performer who'll come back and do whatever you want him to do without any issues.

The final attack was on RVD, this is someone that I just think Triple H felt he could name to get an easy reaction. RVD is very popular with the fans but wasn't someone who had the same long term impact on the product as Edge and Jericho. Van Dam for his part didn't react at all and probably wasn't all that surprised, when he left the company the announcers played it up that RVD would return at some point and that was likely to be a matter of months rather than years.

The second part of his promo was yet another attempt to get fans to believe that Daniel Bryan wasn't worth paying to see. Quite the masterstroke as this would be the fourth PPV in a row that he would be in the main event.

Triple H stated that he was a real star and he would not waste his time wrestling someone like Daniel Bryan. He also said that he only wrestled other real stars and specifically mentioned The Undertaker, Brock Lesnar and The Rock. You'll notice that both Randy Orton and John Cena by that definition are not real stars.

The Undertaker is under a contract but wrestles basically at Wrestlemania and maybe one more time in a year depending if he feels up to it.

Brock Lesnar is again under contract but is only available on a very limited number of dates and hasn't been seen since SummerSlam and doesn't seem likely to appear on WWE television before 2014.

The Rock isn't even under a WWE contract and although he loves wrestling and will probably wrestle again at some point, he is an actor and the studio bosses weren't exactly thrilled with the injuries he picked up wrestling so they wouldn't really want him to wrestle in the future.

So out of the four real stars that Triple H mentioned, the only one that appears on WWE programming on a regular basis is himself. Now that really is a surprise. The current stars that are carrying the company like Cena, Orton, Bryan and CM Punk are merely secondary stars and are inferior to what came before them.

What's pretty funny is that if you really think about it John Cena is easily a bigger star than Triple H was over the last 20 years, and he only trails behind The Rock and Steve Austin as to what he actually means to the company.

What's also clear is despite of everything that the trailers for Hell In A Cell PPV tell you, the major feud that dominates Raw is Triple H vs. Big Show a match that will occur at some point but we don't know when.

Classic Rivalries: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada By Shaun Nichols

Between February 2012 and October 2013, these two met in six major single matches. Five of those were for the IWGP Heavyweight Title (the main title in New Japan Pro Wrestling) with the sixth occurring during this year's G1 Climax tournament.

All of those matches are considered to be excellent, with at least two of them securing ***** ratings, their feud as been compared to such legendary rivalries such as Flair vs. Steamboat or Misawa vs. Kobashi.

Their first encounter occurred as I said in February 2012.

1) NJPW New Beginnings PPV 12/02/2012

Okada had only recently returned to NJPW at the previous months Tokyo Dome show, beating Yoshi-Hashi in about 5 minutes to a very underwhelming reaction. You may possibly remember Okada from his completely meaningless run as Samoa Joe's sidekick in TNA doing a gimmick inspired by Bruce Lee's character in the Green Hornet TV series.

Nobody really gave him a chance to win here, as Tanahashi was NJPW's biggest star and was already enjoying a 13 month title run which included a record 11 title defences. However all good things must come to an end and shockingly Okada defeated him when he nailed him with the Rainmaker (short arm clothesline) after hitting with him Tombstone piledriver on the floor after Tanahashi had crashed and burned on a flip dive. People were stunned, and as Okada celebrated he found himself challenged by Tetsuya Naito.

Okada made his first IWGP title defence on 04/03 against Naito in an absolutely fantastic match which went a long way to show that Okada could have great matches without having to be carried by Tanahashi. It really was a strong MOTY contender in 2012 and I rated it at ****3/4.

2)NJPW Dominion 2012 PPV 16/06/2012

This was where Hiroshi Tanahashi got his revenge and regained his title and has a result tied the all-time record for IWGP title reigns by winning his 6th championship. It was seen pretty much as a given that Okada would drop the title back to Tanahashi as the fans still saw him as not being on the same level as Tanahashi. However his short title run and especially the plaudits he got for his match with Naito meant that his first run as champion would be seen as very much a success.

During the match they also started to build on their previous encounter, Tanahashi repeatedly managed to block Okada's Rainmaker finisher and also hit the Tombstone piledriver en-route to securing his spot in history with his High Flow (Frog Splash) finisher. Match was around the ****1/2 range.

Kazuchika Okada then moved out of the IWGP title picture, as Tanahashi had ready made challengers in Togi Makabe and Masato Tanaka. However Okada was still very much in the plans and went on to win G1 Climax 2012 tournament which came along with the prize of challenging the champion at the Tokyo Dome show in January 2013.

Okada pinned Karl Anderson to win the tournament and became the youngest winner of the G1 at the age of 24. However to get to the Tokyo Dome he would have to defend the title opportunity along the way, which he was able to do including a strong performance defeating Karl Anderson once again at the King of Pro Wrestling PPV. Also on that show Tanahashi defeated Minoru Suzuki in an absolute classic that was rated ***** by Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer.

3) Wrestling Kingdom 7 (Tokyo Dome) 04/01/2013

From a drawing point of view this was a huge success for NJPW as they claimed that 29,000 paid to see the show in the Dome which would make it the most successful Tokyo Dome show for 10 years. It was also available on internet PPV and apparently secured 100,000 orders and the feed didn't break either.

It was also a fantastic card, which saw 5 of the last 6 matches rated at **** or better.

The best of the bunch was Tanahashi defending against Okada, with Okada winning the G1 tournament and having strong matches against a number of different opponents he was treated as a serious title challenger.

Tanahashi was having legendary matches against all challengers and though the highlight up until now had been the Suzuki defence, he was on a string of ****+ title defences. This was another classic world title defence which built slowly, made perfect sense with wrestlers remembering to sell if they had a body part worked over for a period of time. They also produced an awesome ending with lots of big moves, great reversals and a finish which played off Tanahashi's attack on Okada's left knee before finishing him off with the High Flow. The match was rated ****3/4 in the Observer.

To earn another crack at the IWGP title, Okada went on to win the New Japan Cup on 23/03 against Hiroki Goto in another very good match. Meanwhile Tanahashi was quietly cementing his status with another classic title defence against Karl Anderson from February. The scene was set and they would meet again at Invasion Attack.

4) NJPW Invasion Attack PPV 07/04/2013

By now when Tanahashi faced off against Okada it now felt like a big major deal with the crowd reacting to everything that both guys did. This was also the first time that Tanahashi started to bend the rules which got him some boos from the fans.
That's not to say that he was turning as that didn't and hasn't happened so far but a sign that the fans were equally invested in both wrestlers. With the fans reacting to both men when they made the ropes from a submission attempt or made a comeback from a period of selling. It looked like Tanahashi would successfully retain but he met only Okada's knees with the High Flow, after more great action Okada managed to follow a Tombstone piledriver with the Rainmaker to start his second run on top. This was rated ***** by the Observer and deserves it.

The 2013 G1 Climax tournament was probably the most stacked in it's history with two blocks of 10 wrestlers and both Okada and Tanahashi were paired in Block A. They both also started pretty slowly so as they met on the eighth night of the tournament they both had 4-3 records.

5) G1 Climax - Night 8 10/08/2013

This would be the only 30 minute draw in the entire tournament, they still basically pulled out all their major moves including Tanahashi's big diving plancha, the High Flow, Okada's Red Ink (a move similar to the STF) and with time running out Tanahashi managed to duck under Okada's attempt to hit the Rainmaker. Match rated ****1/2 by the Observer.

You wouldn't expect Okada as champion to win the G1 tournament and he didn't. He lost on the last night to Satoshi Kojima to fall out of the running and setting up another title defence. Tanahashi did win Block A by defeating Katsuyori Shibata on the last night, before losing to Tetsuya Naito in the finals in a matches rated at **** and ****1/2 respectively.

6) King of Pro-Wrestling PPV 14/10/2013

The final encounter at least for a while, having 6 major matches in just over 18 months may seem like overkill but the story is going to put on temporary hold. Okada stated that if he couldn't beat Tanahashi then he would vacate the title, even a draw would not satisfy for him.

Tanahashi on his part said that if he couldn't beat him then he would no longer be able to challenge for the title while Okada was still the champion. They even teased booking a champion vs. champion match (Tanahashi holds the CMLL Universal title in Mexico) but that was dropped.

The thoughts going in was this was time for Tanahashi to get the gold back as it makes sense for NJPW to have their biggest star headlining the Tokyo Dome show in January.

They went into this match with 2 wins each and the draw from the G1 so this was also for the bragging rights to see who would finally come out on top. They told an incredible story and built on everything they had done in their previous match and even adding new touches such as Tanahashi putting Okada in the Gedo clutch, this was great as Gedo is Okada's manager and he was flipping out at this apparent show of disrespect. Tanahashi worked consistently on Okada's right arm to the point where when Okada finally hit the Rainmaker it took him that long to make the cover, Tanahashi was able to beat the three count. His injured arm made his other finisher the Red Ink from being fully effective so again the challenger survived.

They teased a count out spot when Okada hit by a flying plancha retaliated with a Tombstone piledriver that led to Tanahashi only just making the 20 count. However Tanahashi's luck would not last and after avoiding the Rainmaker several times he was eventually nailed by it for the loss. The Observer gave this match *****.

For sheer match quality it is undeniable that the feud between Tanahashi and Okada should be considered one of the all-time great series, I have a soft spot for the Flair/Steamboat series in 1989 but from a in-ring perspective that doesn't match up to these two. I'm sure that they will have future great matches and the likely inclusion of Tetsuya Naito who is also a super talented wrestler means that NJPW is likely to continue to present awesome title matches and main events for a long time to come.

TNA Disaster: Dixie, Hulk & AJ = No BFG Buys By Shaun Nichols

TNA only now offer 4 PPV events are year, with that in mind you would think that TNA would consider these shows to be very important with strong storylines leading to their fans wanting to pay good money to see the conclusion play out on PPV.

Bound for Glory is TNA's biggest event of the year, and other the last few years have seen the company running a BFG Series to determine the challenger for their world title. This year was no different and with very little surprise AJ Styles was the victor and will go on to challenge Bully Ray for the gold.

Since winning the BFG Series, AJ Styles has had very little interaction with Bully Ray on TV and if you weren't paying that much attention to the product then you'd be hard pressed to realise that he will be facing Bully Ray for the title in a storyline that has taken 12 months to get to. What you will have seen is Impact's final segment over the last few weeks ending with interviews from Dixie Carter, AJ Styles and Hulk Hogan with each one frankly being more ridiculous than the last one.

Let's have a look at each of the closing segments of the last few weeks and highlight where TNA is doing a fabulous job of shooting themselves in the foot.

Week 1
This was confrontation between Carter and Styles. Styles stated that he was working without a contract (he isn't as he's got a short term contract until the end of the year), that Dixie had destroyed the chemistry of what made TNA great. That she didn't understand how to treat the stars and mentioned Jerry Lynn, Petey Williams, Jay Lethal, Alex Shelley and Low-Ki left because of it. That she wasted money on wrestlers who treated TNA like being on a paid vacation (probably RVD & Booker T). None of the guys he mentioned would make a difference to TNA and Jerry Lynn has retired.

Dixie responded by saying that she was sorry she had ever given him the impression that he was important to TNA, she said he was average and not as good as he used to be. If it wasn't for her and her family than he would be living in a trailer park. That AJ Styles did not build this house and that he should be thankful that she ever allowed him to play in it. Dixie really did come across as a very poor imitation of Stephanie McMahon.

So after watching this, you have to wonder why AJ Styles is trying to win the TNA World title when he feels the company has been destroyed and he doesn't have a contract to stop him leaving. Meanwhile Dixie is pointing out that the challenger in the main event of the biggest TNA show of the year, isn't very good and he was never 'phenomenal' and although he was never great to start with he's worse today then he was years ago.

Week 2
This saw firstly a Hogan promo where he was trying to get fans to show AJ that they wanted him to stay with the company. It wasn't the greatest reaction immediately but Hogan stuck with it by practically begging the fans to cheer for Styles. Styles did come out to a nice pop, Hulk said he'd fix things later on.

Later turned out to be our main event segment, things started well when Hogan gave Styles a new contract to sign and said he believed in him. Enter Dixie Carter, who immediately gushed out brilliant Hulk was and how much of a difference he had made to TNA. I know Hulk has complete control of his angles but it's quite a stretch to take that comment seriously.

Dixie then ripped up the contract, Styles said that was the biggest mistake that she had ever made. She responded by telling him to get out of the ring, and just like a child being told off by their parents off he went never to be seen again. She then complained how hard her life was and how nobody understood just how difficult it was making all those hard decisions and the fans should respect her. She now knew what she had to do to help TNA and she wanted Hulk to join Team Dixie.

This week really gave no reason for anyone to rally behind AJ Styles, he was basically treated as someone who should be quiet when the 'important' people are talking. Dixie's promo clearly shows that she thinks Styles is not any kind of asset to the company, while Hogan in his 60's and someone who will never wrestle again is essential to the success of TNA.

Week 3
Another bad week for AJ, though he did manage to cut a promo stating he would take the title from Bully Ray. Dixie then went to have security throw him out but Styles chose to leave voluntarily because he didn't want to breathe the same air as she did. This AJ is really someone who'll stick up for himself.

This left Dixie to concentrate on the really important issue of Hulk Hogan, Hogan by all accounts has left TNA although this could easily be a swerve and he ends up playing a key role at the PPV.

Dixie wanted to know if Hogan was going to join Team Dixie, Hulk said he'd always wanted to be a part of a power couple and teased he would agree. Finally though he told her he was quitting, Dixie thoroughly dejected immediately fell to her knees and grabbed his legs and begged him not to leave.

You have to hand it to Hulk, he really does understand that if you can choose to put yourself over then why even consider trying to help any other wrestlers or the company. As the show ended it was clear that the only person who could be considered a winner was Hulk who left with his integrity intact, Dixie and TNA looked like bunch of sorry losers.

TNA will probably wonder why the Bound for Glory show will not do well, but they should understand that having Dixie come across as a low rent Stephanie, Hogan be the only star on the show and they are telling you he's gone that your not going to do well. Finally having AJ as a weak lead babyface who hates the owner but doesn't have the guts to find something better is a recipe for disaster.

AWW 10th Anniversary show – Wolverhampton Civic Hall, Wolverhampton – Sunday 15th September 2013

Before travelling to any wrestling show, I always wonder if the time spent on the road will be worth it. After my previous experience of AWW (back in February) I had no doubt that it would be. That show saw an excellent ladies match between Emi Sakura and Shanna, as well as some top UK and International talent. This time would be no different as the likes of El Ligero, Nathan Cruz and Mark Haskins would be joined by former TNA star Doug Williams, and two exciting Japanese wrestlers in Kenbai and Hiromu Takahashi.

These two Japanese guys both put on great matches; first, Kenbai took on El Ligero in a match that I fully expected to be a great one. I wasn't disappointed as both men started with excellent, and flowing sequences resulting in a stalemate each time, showing how equally matched they were. This wasn't going to be a walk in the park for either man. Towards the end, Ligero seemed to show signs of frustration as he couldn't put his Japanese opponent away – trying for three-counts at every opportunity before throwing Kenbai to the floor – hoping to gain the victory by count-out. After an exciting ending, Ligero managed to roll up Kenbai for the win – an excellent showing by both men. It's matches like this that melt my smarky heart and make me realise that I am still just a fan underneath it all!

Hiromu Takahashi took on Nathan Cruz in the other 'International' offering. This had great sequences at times but differed from the Ligero/Kenbai match; hard hitting throughout and what I would call the war of the night. Both men were physically drained by the end as Cruz would take the victory.

Other than the star-studded main event, two other singles matches were on the card, pitting some of the best UK talent against each other. The opening match of the night saw former TNA Bootcamp contestant 'Party' Marty Scurll take on the ever-popular T-Bone. Bone's strength and intimidating look took centre stage as Scurll would run away in the early going. Really great work from Scurll throughout to get the crowd to hate him; T-Bone instantly loved as a result. I've lost count of how many opening matches that I've seen T-Bone in this year and it's credit to him as he puts on a great show everytime and gets the crowd 'warmed up' leading into the rest of the night.

The pop of the night, for me, went to Mark Haskins. The Oxford native came out to a huge ovation against his very bearded opponent, Saul Adams. The early part of the match would see duelling 'Yes' and 'No' chants as well as a 'Sh*t Matt Morgan' chant that was quickly thrown out as Haskins would remind that part of the audience that there were kids present. I still don't understand why some people don't think about that kind of thing when at shows. None of us – fans or wrestlers – need to swear to have a good time and put on a great show. Much of this match was entertaining with Haskins grabbing a handful of beard at every opportunity. Despite Adams getting the somewhat surprising victory, Haskins would trash Adams' feather boa and mirror, infuriating the bearded, vain, Sensational one.

With all the star names that I've mentioned above, there was also a six-man tag team match between some of the AWW's brightest prospects. Charlie Garrett, Matt Lightening and Daniel Valentine would be victorious over the heel team of 'The Real Deal of Sex Appeal' Tukay, The Judge and Sam Wilder. Most notably for me was the performances of Garrett and Tukay – Tukay in particular as I haven't seen him wrestle since the February show. At that show, he was also in a six-man tag match but seemed a little nervous and a little too 'smiley' for a heel. He seems to have improved greatly since then – looking mean at times and giving great facial expressions depending on the situation in the match. It makes me happy when I know that there are youngsters that are taking their wrestling training seriously and I think Tukay is right up there in that respect.

The main event saw four gentlemen that were looking to resolve issues from the previous show. The new AWW Champion Johnny Storm, the former champion Brandon Thomas, the claimant to being the next AWW Champion Stixx, and former TNA Star Doug Williams all had scores to settle in this one. The main situation that I could see in this match was that Stixx is a dominant force that will, in the near future, challenge Johnny Storm for his AWW title. As the faces entered the ring they would charge their opponents' corner only to have Thomas bail out of the ring and Stixx refusing to budge; firmly locking eyes with the new champion. This would continue throughout as Stixx would show the gap in size between him and Storm. Luckily, Storm's lightening quickness would show through at times as he got the better of both larger opponents. The ending would see Storm and Stixx brawl to the back leaving Thomas to fall prey to the experienced Williams.

Results
T-Bone defeated 'Party' Marty Scurll
Charlie Garrett, Matt Lightening & Daniel Valentine defeated Tukay, The Judge & Sam Wilder
El Ligero defeated Kenbai (Match of the Night)
'Showstealer' Nathan Cruz defeated Hiromu Takahashi
'Simply Sensational' Saul Adams defeated 'Star Attraction' Mark Haskins
AWW Champion 'Wonderkid' Johnny Storm & Doug Williams defeated Stixx & 'The Messiah' Brandon Thomas (w/ Violet Vendetta)

Overall, an excellent show from top to bottom. All the matches with top UK talents delivered and the six-man tag match was performed at a really fast pace at times which made it really enjoyable and exciting.

It's shows like this that make the travel time MORE than worth it. I believe the next AWW show is sometime at the end of November and I think I'll be needing to make the trip back up to Wolverhampton!

For my work (on WWE and British Wrestling) please visit jimmosangle.co.uk and follow me on Twitter @jimmosangle

Support British Wrestling

Bret Hart: The Dungeon Collection DVD Review By Shaun Nichols

The Dungeon Collection is the latest WWE release for Bret, and is basically a collection of rare matches throughout his career and as such haven't been seen on previous releases. It's a three disc set that covers his career from Stampede all the way through to his ill-fated run in WCW.

Before each match he gives his thoughts on the match or his opponents. Some of these are really interesting such as the 'Hitman' gimmick was a cross between Dynamite Kid and John McEnroe. Or why Owen Hart changed his style for his feud with Bret in 1994. Others are where he just says nice things and others are just really strange with the 'highlight' being where he thinks Ric Flair doesn't understand psychology which is a ludicrous thing to say.

I'll give my thoughts on what I believe are the best things on each DVD and my general thoughts overall.

Disc 1

The best thing on Disc 1 is a singles match against Dynamite Kid from the WWF in September 1985, it really is very good but before the match starts we get Bret saying that Terry Funk called it a master class and Randy Savage compared it to being back in school. It's very good as I say but it's not that great.

Other matches include an intriguing 10 minute draw against Buzz Sawyer from Georgia in 1979 which is a pure wrestling match in front of a crowd that didn't know him at all. Another couple of matches from Stampede against Dynamite Kid and Leo Burke which had great crowd reactions but had cheap finishes which only led to further matches we aren't going to see.

An early match against Mr Perfect from 1989 gives an interesting taste of the classic matches that would follow a couple of years later but were slightly hindered by the fact that WWF fans hadn't seen enough of Mr Perfect to see him a big star.

Another contender for match of the disc, was a very exciting tag match where the Hart Foundation battled The Islanders in front of a really hot crowd in Philadelphia for the Tag Titles in 1987. Where the fans were pretty convinced they were going to see a title change.
Bringing up the rear is a very rare match against Andre The Giant from Milan in 1989, this really was a disappointment as at this point Andre couldn't really do much at all. Though it's pretty funny to hear the Italian crowd chanting for Hulk Hogan.

Disc 2

On paper this looks to be the strongest disc as it features 20 minute matches against Tiger Mask II (Misawa) from the Supercard held at the Tokyo Dome in 1990 and also a long TV main event against Flair where Hart defended the I-C title.

Both of those matches are good but nothing more, the Misawa match is hindered by the fact we don't get any commentary track. Also Miswa's style just wasn't suited to playing the Tiger Mask character so it's not particularly exciting to watch in large parts. The fans react to that as it's only until in the closing few minutes that they show any real interest.

The Flair match from November 1991 just didn't click. I don't think that the WWF really knew how to push Flair in his first run. He was cutting great promos saying he was the best wrestler and they booked him to where he had to cheat or rely on interference to beat any average midcarder.

A more interesting match supported by an inspired Bobby Heenan on commentary was against The Undertaker in January 1992. At this point The Undertaker was all about the gimmick and was aided considerably by a sterling effort by Paul Bearer. This was about Bret doing battle against the unstoppable monster and was very good from a storyline point.

Ending disc 2 was another match from Milan but this time against Bam Bam Bigelow, this another good but not great match but is interesting to see that the Italian fans see Bret as a major singles star by this point.

Disc 3

The strongest of the discs in my opinion, it starts out with the best match on the entire set and a very pleasant surprise. Bret defending the WWF title against Diesel at King of the Ring 1994 PPV, not even the awful commentary including ex-NFL star Art Donovan (who had no idea what was happening or who the wrestlers were) could ruin it.

Special mention must go to the great work by Shawn Michaels on the outside, there can't be much funnier sights than a rather tubby Jim Neidhart desperately trying to chase a smirking HBK. This was a fantastic effort by Bret and one of Kevin Nash's all time best matches. Even with the slightly unsatisfying DQ finish this is still comfortably over ****.

Also we get a very entertaining 10 minute streetfight against Owen just before Mania XI which is by the numbers but still great due to the brothers talent. An entertaining match against Jean Pierre Lafitte who had an awful pirate gimmick and a match based on a stupid story of Bret having his jacket stolen and he wanted it back.

Also very good was a match from South Africa against Steve Austin in from September 1996, this was when he was on his hiatus from the company though he officially returned also against Austin at that year's Survivor Series. The match starts pretty slowly features lots of good basic wrestling and an amusing bit of commentary by Owen Hart who tries to convince Jim Ross that his brother has now come around to his way of thinking.

The set closes out with two of Bret's matches in WCW, the first was against Booker T from Nitro in January 1999 and is a very fun encounter with Booker getting plenty of his offence in and Bret playing crafty heel to perfection.
Closing out is his match against Sting from the Mayhem PPV in a WCW Title tournament semi final, what's clear is that no-one really cared. We had a completely pointless run-in by Lex Luger that ended up being ignored. I think it's only included to remind fans how dreadful WCW was in the final 18 months.

Overall Thoughts

I actually had really high hopes for this set and there are some pretty enjoyable matches on there but I actually expected a little bit more. It isn't as good as the first Bret Hart set of 'The Best There Is, The Best There Was, The Best There Ever Will Be'.
Saying that there is plenty to enjoy just don't expect it to be the best WWE release because it really isn't. The top five matches I would say are as follows.

1. vs. Diesel
2. vs. Dynamite Kid (the WWF 1985 match)
3. vs. Steve Austin
4. Hart Foundation vs. The Islanders
5. vs. Booker T