APRIL 2015
OVER THE TOP ROPE
WRESTLEMANIA PREDICTIONS AND ROUND UPS OF THE ROYAL RUMBLE AND FAST LANE ISSUE 1- £2.50
BRAY WYATT BURNING THE UNDERTAKERS CASKET
EDITORS NOTE:
Hello and welcome to this months edition of Over the Top Rope, the new professional wrestling magazine. As a big professional wrestling fan I was delighted to have the opportunity to be able to write a magazine dedicated to the sport. Hopefully you, the readers will enjoy reading this as much as I have enjoyed writing about it. Also feel free to contact me with ideas about the magazine in the future In this issue we will be talking about Wrestlemania 31, where I will be offering my previews and predictions for the big event and also discussing what has been done right and wrong in the build up to the event. Also there will be a recap of one of the most controversial Royal Rumble events in history and also we will be looking at Fast Lane. We wlll be reviewing the WWE Network as it has now reached the UK after a year long wait. In other issues topics being discussed wll the UK wrestling scene with PCW hosting Road to Glory 2015 featuring top international stars such as Alberto El Patron, Matt Hardy and Chris Masters. There will be a opportunity to look at TNA Wrestling after its recent UK tour and look at how the new television deal in the US will affect the roster and how they can build to the future. There will be some of the best tweets from wrestlers so far this year and also have the Over The Top Rope Quiz with categories going from easy to difficult. Thanks again for reading and enjoy! RYAN TAYLOR
CONTENTS:
JOB ROLES PAGE 2: OTTT PICTURE EDITOR: RYAN TAYLOR WRITER: RYAN TAYLOR OF THE MONTH PUBLISHER: RYAN TAYPAGE 3: CONTACT DELOR TAILS AND EDITORS WEB EDITOR: RYAN NOTE PAGES 4-5: ROYAL RUM- TAYLOR CONTRIBUTORS: RYAN BLE TAYLOR PAGE 6-7: FAST LANE PAGE 8: INTERVIEW PAGE 9: WRESTLER OF THE MONTH PAGES 10-11: WRESTLEMANIA 31 PREDICTIONS CONTACT DETAILS: EMAIL: OVERTHETOPROPE@OUTLOOK. COM TWITTER: @OTTTMAG ADDRESS: 105 NEWTON HALL, PADGATE, WARRINGTON, WA2 0DB
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ROMAN REIGNS OVER AL The 2015 Royal Rumble will always be remembered for having one of the most controversial main events in the history of the event. This is the time where the WWE fans turned their backs on the WWEs new chosen one and voiced their anger at the main event. The Royal Rumble kicked off with the pre-show match between the New Day duo of Big E and Kofi Kingston and the hottest tag team in WWE: the team of Tyson Kidd and Cesaro. The match started off with Big E and Tyson Kidd. The power of Big E was on show with some big power moves on the smaller Kidd. Then the tag was made to Cesaro who recieved a thunderous ovation from the crowd in Philadelphia. But Big E was still in control of the match and Kofi was using his speed to try and halt the new tag team in WWE. But it wasn’t to be for the New Day as after over ten minutes of good back and forth action between two young tag teams Kidd and Cesaro took the victory with a vicious suplex into a swinging neckbreaker by Tyson Kidd. Onto the main show and the New Age Outlaws made a return to take on another new tag team, who have been called up from NXT, in the Ascenion. Konnor and Viktor had been slating legendary tag teams over the last few weeks and this was the result of that in a match which seemed very rushed PAGE 4
in its buildup. The New Age Outlaws did all their pre match routine to the joy of the crowd. The match itself was only passable and it only lasted 5 minutes with the NAO dominating for most of the match until a blind tag from Konnor helped set up the double team finisher, the Fall of Man. Again there was a tag team match in the third contest of the night, with the newly crowned WWE tag team champions The Usos taking on the former champions the Miz and Damien Mizdow. Mizdow is currently turning into one of the most over superstars in the company and he received another thunderous reception in Philadelphia. This match also showed why the Miz is seen to be one of the most entertaining heels on the roster as he riled the crowd up perfectly by teasing the tag to Mizdow but then going back to fight the champions by himself. The match heated up until the end with both Miz and Mizdow registering close near falls after executing the Skull Crushing Finale finisher on the champs. However the growing animosity between the Miz and his ‘stunt double’ proved to be their downfall as the Usos capitalised on this and executed their big splash from the top rope to secure the victory and to retain the Tag Team titles. The Divas took centre stage again with another tag match, which in my opinion shows how lazy the bookers
of the WWE were for the midcard of this event by not hosting one singles match or a Intercontinental or US title match. Paige and Natalya faced the Bella Twins in a decent tag match by current WWE Divas standard but it still was just a passable effort with not much drama or creative moves in the match to hold the audiences interest for the majority of the match. Nikki Bella, the current Divas champions, scored the pinfall victory over Natalya with a vicious forearm to the face. The WWE title match was next on the agenda as Brock Lesnar took on John Cena and Seth Rollins. This match highlighted the positives in WWE and was one of the best triple threat matches ever from the company. Lesnar came out all guns blazing using his massive German suplex on both of his opponents, tossing them like rag dolls across the ring. The WWE World Champion was making his first appearance in the ring since the Night of Champions pay-perview since September, but he didn’t show any signs of ring rust in this contest. Cena and Rollins also had some quality exchanges in the match, with Rollins proving to many why he is the future of the WWE. One of the highlights of the match was when Rollins dove off the top rope and elbowed
LL AT THE ROYAL RUMBLE
ROMAN REIGNS CELEBRATES HIS VICTORY Brock through the Spanish announce table. The match went back and forth with dramatic near falls. However it was Lesnar who won. After Rollins hit a spectular Phoenix Splash on Cena, Lesnar appeared out of no where and F5ed Rollins to retain the title. The Royal Rumble match kicked off with the Miz and R-Truth starting the proceedings. The big surprise came in at number, after 10 years away Bubba Ray Dudley returned in a WWE ring and the crowd went wild for all his signature moves. Bray Wyatt proved to be the marathon man in this match, and it helped place him in the upper midcard region. After eliminating superstars such as Erick
Rowan, Luke Harper and the Rumble. After more eliminareturning Boogeyman, Wyatt tions, the fans got even more was up against Daniel Bryan. mad when favourites Dolph Bryans was the fans choice to Ziggler and Dean Ambrose win the match. However, and were eliminated by veterans this is where the controversy Kane and the Big Show, who started, Bryan was eliminated have been portrayed as losquite early in the match by Wy- ers in recent weeks before att with help from Rusev. The the Rumble. Reigns thought crowd voiced their displeasure he won when he eliminated and for the rest of the match both Kane and Show, but they their discontent was only get- attacked him until the Rock ting louder. made a surprise appearance The match favourite Roman and helped his cousin. Reigns entered at number 19 However Rusev had not been and, for the first time sine he eliminated, and the Philadelturned babyface in 2014, he phia fans ended up chanting received a hostile reception for him to win, but Reigns from the crowd in Philadeltossed him over the top rope phia. It was at this point that to win the match. fans realised that the man they The Rumble will go down as wanted to win was not and the the night that, at least for one man who they did not think night only, the fans sided was ready to headline Wrestle- against Roman Reigns. mania would win the PAGE 5
WWE SENDS US ON THE FAST LANE FAST Lane was the companys last PPV before the grand spectale that is Wrestlemania 31 and the WWE gave the fans an idea as to what the main matches would be at the Showcase of the Immortals. There was no match on the Preshow but there was a special edition of Miz TV with the guest being Brock Lesnar’ s advocate Paul Heyman. Heyman talked about how his client was ready for whatever challenge he had to face at Wrestlemania whether it was Roman Reigns or Daniel Bryan. Heyman was again on excellent form with his promo and he proved again to the WWE universe why many consider him to the best promo man in professional wrestling at this current time. The show then kicked off with a 6 man tag team match with the team of Dolph Ziggler, Erick Rowan and Ryback taking on the Authority members Kane, The Big Show and Mr Money in the Bank Seth Rollins. Ziggler, Rowan and Ryback were looking for revenge after being “fired” by theAuthority for representing Team Cena at the Survivor Series PPV. However they would not get that revenge on this night as after 13 minutes of good, solid action Kane pinned Ziggler with a chokeslam. The major talking point happened after the contest was over. As Rollins was looking to curb stomp Ziggler Randy Orton made his return after 4 months and took out Rollins who was to blame for his storyline injury (in reality Orton was away filming a movie for WWE Studios) PAGE 6
The Viper received a thunderous ovation. Next was the battle of brothers as Goldust took on Stardust. The Rhodes brothers were on a path to wrestle each other for a long while and when it came to happen it was a disappointment. The match looked sloppy and not very good to the audience and it had a weak finish, even more so now that the feud looks to be other, with Stardust taking the win with a rollup. Stardust attacked Goldust backstage and said that Cody Rhodes, the man who portrays Stardust, is dead. Cesaro and Tyson Kidd then dethroned the Usos to become the new WWE Tag Team Champions. The match was a high quality bout between the two best teams in the WWE at this moment. If this match was allocated a bit more time it could have been one of the best tag team matches in recent years but they did well with what time they had. Following a great sequence of near falls, Tyson Kidd took the victorywithhisfishermansneckbreaker finisher for the pinfall. This is the teams first reign with the Tag Team titles and Kidds first title reign reign in 5 years. Then one of the main events of Wrestlemania was made official in a segment between Triple H and Sting. Triple H came out wearing his street clothes, indicating that there will be some physicality between the two. Sting came out to a great ovation for only his 3rd WWE appearance. Triple H explained to Sing the reasons why he shouldnt fight
the Game at Wrestlemania and mentioned the Hall of Fame and numerous other deals but Sting was adamant in his claim to finally wrestle in a WWE ring and the challenge was accepted. Triple H then tried to hit the Stinger with a cheap shot but Sting was wise to it and laid him out with the Scorpion Death Drop. The Divas then took centre stage as the current champion Nikki Bella put her title on the line against former two time champion Paige. The match was a short one and did not do to capture the audiences interest while it lasted. Nikki won with help from her sister Brie. Then the next match at Wrestlemania was announced in spectular fashion as Bray Wyatt finally announced the man that was the subject of his promos. The gong was sounded and the arena went wild as many people thought that it was the return of the Undertaker. The music hit and the druids came out with a casket and the people went wild as they thought the Deadman had returned but they were in for a major suprirse. The coffin opened and Bray Wyatt sat up, and in my opinion, cut the best promo of the show and one of the best of the year so far. In it he explained how the people had feared the Undertaker and that the Phenom is no longer the new face of fear as he lost his streak. Wyatt declared himself the new face of fear and issued the challenge to the Deadman at WM31.
TO WRESTLEMANIA 31
STING LAYS DOWN THE CHALLENGE TO TRIPLE H FOR WRESTLEMANIA 31 John Cena then tried to claim the United States Championship from Rusev. This was the biggest match of the Russians career so far and he rised to the challenge. Cena was protrayed as a veteran in this match and it was a case of whether he could stop the rise of Rusev. The match took pace as Cena used his experience against the young champion but the strength of Rusev proved crucial as the bout wore on. This was an entertaining match while it was lasted and the right finish was achieved. Cena looked to have Rusev beat with with interference from Lana Rusev locked in the Accolade submission, Cena tried his best to power out but
Rusev tightened his grip on the hold and eventually Cena passed out and was unable to continue the match. This set up the main event match about who would challenge Brock Lesnar at WM31. Roman Reigns had probably his best match as a singles star in WWE, mainly thanks to Daniel Bryan who is the best wrestler WWE has to offer at the moment. It was a classic match of strength vs skill and the two engaged in a highly competitive match with near fallss and heightened drama aplenty, each trying their best to claim the main event spot at Wrestlemania. Roman Reigns went close with the Superman Punch but Bryan kicked out. Bryan then hit his
running knee, but Reigns became the first man to kick out of the move, and as such he hit the spear on Bryan and got the pinfall victory. Daniel Bryan then shook Reigns hand in a great sign of respect and told Reigns to “kick Lesnars ass�. Fast Lane was a highly successful pay-per-view for WWE as it helped set up the main event and numerous other high calibre matches for WM31 and produced some major talking points. Sting vs Triple H, Bray Wyatt vs the Undertaker and Reigns vs Lesnar were all made at the PPV and now it should be interesting to see what happens in California and whether WWE will put on a great show PAGE 7
THE OTTT MONTHLY INTERVIEW
Each month in Over the Top Rope we will be interviewing names from around the wrestling business. This month I interviewed Findlay Martin, the former editor of PowerSlam, a UK based wrestling magazine which ran for over 230 issues. Findlay is now currently writing a ebook which should be released at some point this year and is also currently part of a podcast on WrestleTalk TV. I asked Findlay about his favourite interviews during his time as editor of Power Slam and he said one of his favourites was “Shane Douglas. This was after his flop run in the WWF as Dean Douglas so he was still quite raw about what happened. We also managed to interview Hulk Hogan when he first went to WCW in 1994 and that was a big moment for the magazine.” I then asked Findlay his opinions on certain wrestlers and, as readers of Powerslam magazine would confirm, he was honest and to the point about his opinions. When I asked him about John Cena he said that “he
has created no other main event stars in his ten years on top. This is one of the reasons why Powerslam closed because there was no big main event stars to put on the cover. When you look at the Austin era there was no supply of stars and that helped boost the sales of the magazine. Cena should take on a reduced role in the WWE and the WWE are too reliant on him. The guy is doing more harm than good” I then asked him about the Undertaker. “I don’t think the Streak should have ended at Wrestlemania 30 last year, and especially not to Brock Lesnar. Lesnar hasn’t benefitted from the match and the Undertaker has lost his aura. He should have kept his streak until Wrestlemania 32 in Texas. He could have been inducted in the Hall of Fame the night before, but not show his interview to keep up his mystique. I think that could have been the biggest selling point for Wrestlemania in Texas and that could have sold over 100,00 seats.” I then asked him about
arguably the biggest success story of the WWE in the past 4 or 5 years, Daniel Bryan. “He overcame the odds as he is a likeable guy. He got over very quickly with the WWE fans and the fact that he is a nice guy helps his course. I am happy that he has made a lot of money from the last few years after years of wear and tear on the independant scene. He is probably the best technical wrestler in the WWE and it won’t be too long until he holds the WWE World Heavyweight Championship again. However I dont think he should win the Intercontinetal title at WM because the title has been so badly presented on TV over the years that it would be demeaning to him to hold the title.” I would like to thank Findlay for this interview in the magazine and I would advise people to buy his ebook when it is released and to also listen to his podcast on WrestleTalk TV. Next month we will be speaking to WrestleTalk TV presenter Marty Scurll about all things wrestling.
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WRESTLER OF THE MONTH: SETH ROLLINS HAD SOME GREAT MATCHES SO FAR IN 2015 AND SHOULD BECOME THE NEXT WWE WORLD CHAMP IN THE NEXT FEW MONTHS
WRESTLER OF THE MONTH: SETH ROLLINS PUT IN SOME FANTASTIC PERFORMANCES IN 2015 AND WILL BE WORLD CHAMPION IN THE NEAR FUTURE
IS THIS THE WORST BUILDUP In just a few weeks the WWE will host the grand spectacle of Wrestlemania 31. Wrestlemania is the most exciting time on the calendar for any fan of professional wrestling and although this is still the same in terms of the actual event itself, the build up to it on the television shows has been nothing short of awful. For example, the main event which will see the 2015 Royal Rumble winner Roman Reigns face the WWE World HeavyweightChampionBrock Lesnar. This bout has already been met with disapproval from the fans and the buildup to the match has been more about Brock Lesnars WWE contract status than about the match itself. There has also been a lack of interplay between the two wrestlers themselves, instead it has been betwee Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman, the man
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who has been single handily saving the main event interest with some dazzling promo work over the past few months. Reigns will probably win this one. There is the match between Bray Wyatt and Undertaker taking place at Wrestlemania. This will be the first that anyone has seen of the Undertaker since the most famous defeat in the history of pro wrestling at last years Wrestlemania. Bray Wyatt has been calling out the Deadman in haunting promos now for over a month, and yet there has only been one response from the Phenom. This is another buildup which has suffered from a lack of interaction between the two superstars. Another thing as Findlay Martin said to me in our interview “Undertaker can’t lose again at Wrestlemania if
he wants to do a retirement match. If Bray Wyatt loses then that is two Wrestlemanias in a row where he has looked weak against top tier superstars and that might ruin any chance he has of achieving main event status.” I am predicting the Undertaker to go 22-1 at WM. Triple H will also compete at Wrestlemania against a man who will be competing in his very first WWE match, Sting. The WCW icon made his much anticipated debut back in November at the Survivor Series PPV, but instead of challenging the Undertaker and creating the dream match that everyone wants to see, he decided to take out Triple H in the Team Authortiy vs Team Cena main event. Ever since then the storyline
P TO A WRESTLEMANIA?
seems to be built around Sting waiting 14 years to get his revenge on the WWE for the closure of the company that he was one of the icons, World Championship Wrestling or WCW. There is a big problem with this storyline though, many fans will have seen Sting wrestling in Total Nonstop Action or TNA. This idea of Sting waiting 14 years is a flaw in the storyline. The confrontation between the two have often lead to Sting leaving Triple H flat out in the middle of the ring, which means that the heel has been outsmarted time after time. The match should end with a Sting victory as he should not lose his first match after becoming the last big name who no one has seen in WWE to join the company. Seth Rollins vs Randy Orton has been on the cards ever
since Orton took some time off in November. Rollins was credited, in the storyline, with being the one to have took Orton out of action. This match should be one of the best of the night and in my opinion Rollins will get a great reception from the hardcore wrestling fans in California. I am predicting Orton to win, but for Seth Rollins to cash in his Money in the Bank if Reigns wins and stays face, either at Wrestlemania or on Raw the night after. John Cena has humilated Rusev in recent weeks and he should win the United States Championship at Wrestlemania after losing at Fast Lane. The Intercontiental title will be defended in a multi man ladder match between a bunch of midcard stars and a main event name in Daniel Bryan.
I predict either Bryan or Dean Ambrose to win the match and this should be a good match for the crowd to get in to. The Divas match will be filler with AJ and Paige beating the Bellas. The Andre the Giant memorial battle royal will be another filler match and my prediction for this match will be Ryback. Wrestlemania should be a decent event but with a lack of buildup as compared to previous years it hasn’t excited fans as much and as such it has made the big show seem quite normal.
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