SteelChair Wrestling Magazine #4 by SteelChair Wrestling

the unlikely rise of Kevin Owens

Lesnar!

STEELCHAIR

WRESTLING

PROGRESS WRESTLING

LUCHA FUTURE AT ROYAL ALBERT HALL

IS SHANE DOUGLAS A WRESTLING LEGEND?

MATT CROSS ROCKSTAR SPUD JIMMY HAVOC

// ISSUE 4

SteelChairMag.com

2015

JAY LETHAL

July

UNDISPUTED

// dusty rhodes: Hope & hard times //

WELCOME

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WELCOME FROM THE EDITOR

e are back with our biggest issue yet, and best of all, until the next issue it will be available free to all via our Android app and online.

EDITORIAL David Garlick Editor / Design david@steelchairmag.com

Alan Boon Deputy Editor alan.boon@steelchair.co.uk

Shane Bayliss News Editor news@steelchairmag.com

With ROH on a high after joining Destination America in the States, we are pleased to be able to speak with the current ROH World AND Television champion Jay Lethal.

Cover Photo: Lee South

We’ve made big PROGRESS this issue speaking with PROGRESS Champion Jimmy Havoc. PROGRESS is also this month’s promotions ‘Introduction to...’.

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Lucha is in the spotlight as we review Lucha Future at The Royal Albert Hall, and we speak with Lucha Underground’s Matt Cross aka Son of Havoc.

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We’ve so much more. Go read! David Garlick @davidgarlick

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HIGHLIGHTS

52 JUNE 2O15 STEELCHAIR 03

2 ordinary guys With extraordinary opinions....

The

Altered Angle Podcast Follow us on Twitter @TheAlteredAngle

Listen to us on Stitcher radio, iTunes and Tunein radio.

PAST MONTH

MATCHES OF THE MONTH

CENA VS CESARO RAW 6/7/15

Another blinding match from Cena as this time Cesaro battled valiantly but fell just short in the U.S Championship Open Challenge infront of a very appreciative Chicago crowd.

CENA VS OWENS ELIMINATION CHAMBER 31/5/15

In Owens first WWE main roster match he dominated Cena and ended up scoring a huge pinfall win over the leader of the Cenation after a massive pop up power-bomb.

PRINCE PUMA VS JOHNNY MUNDO LUCHA UNDERGROUND

In a brutal and gruelling 60 minute iron man match, these two really showcased why LU is the promotion that everyone should be keeping their eyes on.

WRESTLER

OF THE MONTH FINN BALOR

Winning the NXT Title and stealing the show at the WWE Network Special ‘Beast in the East’ took it for Finn Balor who the Wrestler of the Month. Honourable mentions go to Johnny Mundo, EC3, Kevin Owens, John Cena and Will Ospreay.

OWENS VS BALOR BEAST IN THE EAST

In the city he made a name for himself, Finn Balor battled Kevin Owens and the demon once again won a title in Tokyo after an impressive brawl, Balor hit Coup de Grace to realise his dream.

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A.J STYLES VS ADAM COLE RING OF HONOR

Two of the best wrestlers in the world went head to head in a great main event in which Styles eventually came out on top after hitting the spine-busting Styles Clash.

EVENT OF OF THE MONTH NJPW DOMINION As the seventh of New Japan’s thirteen big yearly events, it’s fitting that the events of Dominion, held at the Osaka-jo on July 5th, will shape the way the promotion books the second half of its year. Kazuchika Okada’s IWGP title win over AJ Styles raises so many questions for the G1 Climax that Dominion had to be event of the month.

JULY 2O15 STEELCHAIR 05

PHOTO: WWE VIDEO

BROCK LESNAR

06 STEELCHAIR JULY 2O15

WORDS: DOMINIC GRIFFIN

BROCK LESNAR

IS 38 “THE MAGIC NUMBER?” n July 12th, Brock Lesnar turned 38. The same age as John Cena, AJ Styles and Hiroshi Tanahashi, three of the other greatest wrestlers living today.

The same age as Shawn Michaels when he tore the house down at Wrestlemania XX with Triple H and He Who Must Not Be Named. The same age as Chris Jericho when he flourished with his Anton Chigurh > influenced persona, “The Best There Is At What I Do.” The same age as Kurt Angle when TNA gave him a second lease on life and he had an exhilarating feud with Samoa Joe. Is 38 the lucky number for second acts in pro wrestling? Brock’s looking better than ever. Old enough to have some grizzle but young enough to still go at an elite level. Not unlike the best Hollywood leading men, maybe our grapplers just get better with age, and we happen to be experiencing something of a renaissance for rassle dads. (Speaking of second acts, CM Punk turns 38 in two years....)

NEWS

Finn Balor’s last opponent before heading to WWE was Jimmy Havoc

AMERICAN DREAM PASSES AWAY

The passing of Dusty Rhodes came as a shock to the whole of the wrestling community, and had a visible effect

JEFF JARRETT RETURNS TO TNA

on a large portion of the WWE roster as the company tolled the bell at the start of the Money in the Bank PPV. The American Dream helped to pave the way for the modern era of wrestling during in his time in the ring, and outside of the ring he helped to mould the future of wrestling with “his NXT kids.” Rest in Peace Dusty.

NXT DIVAS DEBUT ON RAW

In a move that people have been crying out for, and that WWE has been teasing

It was widely accepted that the relationship between TNA and cofounder Jeff Jarratt was non-existent. That was until DOUBLE J made an unannounced return to TNA prior to Slammiversary announcing himself as a competitor for the newly created King of the Mountain title. It is now looking like there is a relationship between TNA and JARRATT’S new GFW promotion, but as of yet it isn’t clear what the extent or the end goal of the relationship is.

since Money in the Bank we finally saw the arrival of some much needed new talent in the Divas division. This new talent came in the form of Charlotte, Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks who have been doing things on NXT that the main roster Divas could only dream about. Only time will tell if these girls are given the same opportunities on the main roster, but there is no time like the present for WWE to create a Divas division that is talked about for years to come.

EC3 BECOMES TNA WORLD CHAMPION

The creative team at TNA saw something in EC3 that WWE didn’t, because since debuting in TNA, he has never looked back. Maintaining a record of never being pinned or submitted in his time with TNA, EC3 managed to beat Kurt Angle the week after Slammiversary to become the new TNA World Heavyweight Champion. It now remains to be seen who will end the streak and become World Heavyweight Champion in the progress?

FINN BALOR WINS IN JAPAN If you didn’t consider putting money on FINN BALOR defeating KEVIN OWENS for the NXT title in Japan at the ‘Beast in the East’ event then in all honesty, you are a bit of a mug. With OWENS now a major player in the main roster, it was only a matter of time before the title was dropped to allow him to slow down his NXT appearances, with a match in Japan against a man who built his career in the country the as perfect opponent.

JULY 2O15 STEELCHAIR 09

PROGRESS WRESTLING

PHOTOS: DEREK BREMNER - DOWNLOAD 2015

T N I AN

C U D RO

WORDS: COIRÉ MC CRYSTALL

O T N TIO

G O R

S E R W

10 STEELCHAIR JULY 2O15

S S E R

G N I L T

Glen Joseph, PROGRESS Downloadco-owner, our free app recently on Google touredPlay New -Zealand Search for in the SteelChair Buddy: The (oneBuddy word) Holly for regular Story updates musical

ROGRESS Wrestling -

the ring is small. The crowd is nearly right up to the sides. Some of the wrestlers give

you the impression they’d be at home headbutting you at a Mastodon concert.

PROGRESS PRIDES ITSELF ON BEING PUNK ROCK PRO WRESTLING

Others look like they sing (or scream) in a band that’s too cool for you to know

that PROGRESS are the punks worth

being few and far between. It was the

the name of - but rest assured, they’ll

listening to, because they’re could tell

lack of this style of wrestling in the

be playing in a pub that’s just slightly

not just Britain, but the world a thing

UK which led Jim Smallman to create

outside your comfort zone. And yet

or two about wrestling. In a world of

PROGRESS - a promotion which seems

others look like they should be on some

wrestling shows where punters try to

less like a calculated move to capitalise

brochure for a UK-wide elite athlete

sell bootleg John Cena t-shirts and the

on a particular style and aesthetic of

programme. PROGRESS Wrestling,

wrestlers come out, make pantomime

wrestling and more like an expression of

always in the big, loud, stylised,

faces and leave as the adults try

Smallman’s own personality.

capitalised ‘PROGRESS’, prides itself

desperately hard not to look like weirdos

on being ‘Punk Rock Pro Wrestling’. To

in front of the kids who those types of

Everything about PROGRESS seems

many, punk rock is an aesthetic. It’s

shows are very obviously for, PROGRESS

to be designed to make the promotion

ripped jeans, tattoos, hairstyles that

is an oasis. It’s on the top shelf of

unique. The iconography is severe and

make managers instinctively mutter

English and Irish promotions catering to

purposeful, with the words ‘THIS IS

‘I regret to inform you that we are not

adults. When people said cartoons were

PROGRESS’ emblazoned throughout.

currently hiring at this time.’

for kids, you could point to anime like

The promotion’s logo is a dignified

Akira and say ‘This is ours.’ When people

Eagle over the words ‘PUNK ROCK PRO

But that’s not punk rock. That’s what

say wrestling is for kids, this is what we

WRESTLING’. Instead of a title belt, the

punk rock looks like to some people.

have. This is ours. PROGRESS wrestling

Heavyweight Champion used to hold a

That’s what the mainstream wants you to

is British wrestling’s Akira. It has peers

large staff, with the tag champions being

think punk rock is, through ignorance or

now, but make no mistake at this point

given a shield that breaks in two down

malice. That’s the cynical view of punk

- PROGRESS is progress - PROGRESS

the middle - one half for each holder.

rock, which amplifies its worst aspects

is here because of a lack of what it

These quirks make PROGRESS stand

to keep you from enjoying it; the same

provides.

out amongst other promotions although

way people who don’t ‘get’ wrestling feel

sometimes not for the best reasons.

the need to badmouth wrestling. Punk

The origin of PROGRESS is so earnest

is counter culture - it’s rejecting the way

it’s hard not to root for this promotion.

Due to the stern eagle and nebulous

things are. In a now famous interview

Jim Smallman, one of the founders

military/regal symbolism that

broadcast in 1977, Iggy Pop said about

of PROGRESS is a comedian who

PROGRESS has used for its branding,

punk rock, and I’m paraphrasing here:

decided to marry two of his biggest

some fans began to catch on that

“I’ll tell you about punk rock: punk rock

loves: punk rock and Japanese Strong

this stuff kind of looks like old Nazi

is a word… about music that takes up

Style Wrestling. For those who aren’t

iconography. The resemblance wasn’t

the energies and the bodies and the

familiar with ’Strong Style’, it’s basically

intentional, mind, but that did not

hearts and the souls and the time and

shorthand for ‘could be real’. Strong

stop fans from dubbing the former

the minds of young men who give what

Style wrestling originated in Japan

object representing the heavyweight

they have to it and give everything they

with Antonio Inoki. Inoki was a big fan

championship as the ’Nazi staff’.

have to it…. I don’t know Johnny Rotten

of real fighters - boxers, kickboxers,

Eventually the staff was replaced by a

but I’m sure he puts as much blood and

martial artists, and emphasised a style

more traditional heavyweight title. It

sweat into what he does as Sigmund

of wrestling that borrowed heavily from

was an honest attempt at cultivating an

Freud did.” - Iggy Pop on Punk Rock.

stiff strikes. Borrowed very heavily.

identity and an air of mystique around

Like sushi, Kobe beef or game shows

the title - seeing Jimmy Havoc wielding

When you look at that definition and then

that are human rights violations,

this big staff like some kind of evil

look at the spirit and the energy which

Strong Style has been mostly kept in

Dragon King from a time gone past or

PROGRESS brings to the table, it’s clear

Japan, with true Western facsimiles

a Japanese RPG was a sight to behold, >

JULY 2O15 STEELCHAIR 11

PROGRESS WRESTLING but once someone starts comparing you to the Nazis it’s probably a good move to shift. Nevertheless, it’s an interesting bit of history which has integrated itself into PROGRESS Wrestling’s lore. Another thing which is a unique calling card of the promotion is it’s naming style for its events. Starting from the first event, every numbered PROGRESS event is a ‘Chapter’, giving the show a real narrative feel and rewarding fans who are following the promotion like a book. Furthermore, it gives newcomers a clue on the order of the shows, which is pretty useful for reasons which I’ll detail later. In terms of production values, indy wrestling doesn’t get much better than PROGRESS. The ring looks tiny, even when you take into account how programmed we all are to see WWE’s massive rings as the ‘regular size’. The crowds seem really close to the ring apron too, a sea of people surrounding the wrestlers, reminiscent of the survivors fighting off the horde in a zombie movie. This gives the actions an insular feel, like the crowd surrounding are concert goers and the ring is a mosh pit. Except instead of unpleasant men throwing themselves at each other for no reason as tends to be the case with mosh pits, there’s generally quite good wrestling of many different styles. The action is generally shot with a hard camera, and some roaming cameras on the outside to fill out the visuals. The editing is usually very good - some indy promotions suffer from a severe lack of experience in editing, often either leaving shots hanging too long, making cuts too quickly or cutting in such a way that makes no sense to the narrative that the wrestlers are trying to tell and generally disorienting the audience. While PROGRESS Wrestling’s production isn’t perfect, it’s still great. PROGRESS Wrestling have an aesthetic that they’re going for, and they capture that

12 STEELCHAIR JULY 2O15

The inaugural Progress champion Nathan Cruz has appeared on Raw as one of Adam Rose’s ‘Rosebuds’.

aesthetic nicely - the canvas is printed

a price. There are no regular offerings

Additionally, though PROGRESS brands

with their logos and slogans, the mat

on the PROGRESS Youtube page, and

itself as punk rock pro wrestling,

is black (I am a big mark for differently

since the venues PROGRESS runs hold

they have appeared at Sonisphere in

coloured canvasses), the ropes apron

so few people, the best chance of seeing

Knebworth, a world famous Metal festival

matches the rope, they have a display set up for lights and effects PROGRESS Wrestling is clearly the work of someone who cares very much for design. An example of a technical hiccup would be Chapter 13: Unbelievable Jeff! wherein the hard camera

PROGRESS COULD TELL, NOT JUST BRITAIN, BUT THE WORLD A THING OR TWO ABOUT PRO WRESTLING

issues led to that footage being generally unusable and there being some sound problems.

PROGRESS is by buying their shows

and recently finished a string of shows

To their absolute credit PROGRESS

digitally. PROGRESS are really taking

at Download Festival in Donington Park.

made the most of the roaming camera

advantage of the digital age by offering

Its no secret that adult wrestling fans

footage and stuck it up on Youtube where

their shows not only on DVD, but also as

and metal fans have a significant amount

the entire thing is available for the sweet,

digital downloads through their Demand

of crossover - really, a trip onto youtube

sweet price of free. On this show you

PROGRESS service. While each show is

or any pro-wrestling event will tell you

can see two of the greatest wrestlers

fairly pricey at $12.99, there is a lower

that, so it’s a smart move by PROGRESS

in the world Fergal Devitt (the now-Finn

cost of subscription at only $7.40 a

to be working their way into the festival

Bálor in NXT) and Zack Sabre Jr face off

month, basically working like the WWE

niche.

in a dream match of sorts. Its nearly a

Network. This is PROGRESS main way

public service of PROGRESS that they’re

of cultivating a worldwide fanbase, as

Overall, PROGRESS Wrestling fills a

putting on such important dreamy

their London shows are always sellouts

space a needed space, not just on the

matches that could easily be out of the

and are known for selling out in mere

British wrestling stage, but on the world

grasp of English fans; consigned maybe

minutes. It’s unfortunate that in this

stage. With such creative people at the

to a tour on NJPW or NOAH in Japan.

day and wrestling the quality of which

helm like Jim Smallman the creative

However it does drive home the point

PROGRESS produces has become

direction of the promotion will no doubt

that what you’re seeing in PROGRESS is

consigned only to the internet; but it is

go in many interesting directions and

not what the mainstream provides. While

still better than 10 years ago when UK

though if you are reading this outside of

Finn Bálor is poised to become a big, big

promotions like PROGRESS could not

London, you have very little chance of

deal in the WWE, PROGRESS Wrestling’s

solely exist on DVD sales.

actually being able to attend a Chapter

offering of super-gifted-artist-athlete

show live, the ability to watch all the

wrestlers facing in each other in the

It helps PROGRESS that they generally

PROGRESS shows on demand for such a

tradition of Ric Flair/Ricky Steamboat

rotate between a handful of different

low price is very enticing. Overall, having

barnburners is something that WWE

venues for their shows. This means that

the cream of British talent and some

really only gives us begrudgingly; almost

they know what they can and can’t do

imports (albeit used sparingly) is a big

like its some kind of tax for them to pay

with the venue from a visual standpoint

plus for PROGRESS. PROGRESS are

so that we’ll watch more insufferable Big

and are consistently getting better at

surfing the same wave as the other top

Show turns.

shooting in these environments. Initially

shelf of British promotions, but they’re

working out of the The Garage in London

doing it with such style and ability that

Unfortunately, whilst good shows don’t

for their first chapter, PROGRESS has

you could easily look and think ‘Yes

show their age so the sparse free content

hit upon a routine of running ENDVR

that’s what it looks like. PROGRESS is

on the PROGRESS Youtube channel

shows at The Garage or the Bedford and

progress’.

is extremely watchable as a taster for

working out of The Electric Ballroom

the promotion, PROGRESS comes at

for their flagship Chapters shows.

JULY 2O15 STEELCHAIR 13

PHOTOS: LUCHA UNDERGROUND

MATT CROSS

14 STEELCHAIR JULY 2O15

WORDS: ALAN BOON

SON OF HAVOC

MATT CROSS

INTERVIEW WITH MATT CROSS hen Son of Havoc first

appeared on Lucha Underground, way back in episode one, he seemed to be an

incidental player, nothing more than enhancement talent for the bigger names. But over the next few weeks the character grew, and that was in no small part due to the man behind it, Matt Cross. Known for the first part of his career as M-Dogg20, Cross made a name for himself in IWA-MidSouth and CZW, before spending time in Ring Of Honor and independents all across the US and around the world. Currently one third of the Trios champions in Lucha Underground, we sat down with Cross to talk about his unique journey… HEY THANKS FOR TAKING THE TIME TO TALK WITH US. HOW’S IT ALL GOING? -Doing well! Thanks for letting me share some of my experiences and be sure to follow along with my travels on social media at: www.twitter.com/ mdoggmattcross and www.facebook. com/mdoggmattcross WHEN YOU WERE THAT YOUNG KID DOING BACKYARD WRESTLING DID YOU EVER DREAM YOU’D END UP ON A LUCHA TELENOVELA? I’ve spent Thanksgiving, with Hulk Hogan, in Australia. I was once in Dublin, on St. Patrick’s Day, with Sheamus. I’ve been among half a million people at Woodstock Poland and I’ve wrestled in front of 72,000 people at the Stade de France in Paris.

JULY 2O15 STEELCHAIR 15

MATT CROSS

I exchange texts with Stone Cold Steve

we are all aware of the opportunity we’ve

M-DOGG20 FOR YOUR WHOLE CAREER,

Austin. I’ve eaten eyeball tacos in Mexico

been given, aware that we’re forging

WAS IT TOUGH TO SWITCH TO BEING

City and thrown up on the streets of

forward with a true alternative, and aware

THE INITIALLY ANONYMOUS SON OF HAVOC?

Singapore. I’ve wrestled in prison’s before murderers. I’ve visited schools in the Middle East and hospitals in Hawaii. I’ve been hungry in Hungary, ate Belgian waffles in Belgium, broken bones, and sang Karaoke with members of the Yakuza in Japan. I’ve danced until 5am in Bogota, Colombia and I wrestled on the

I DON’T THINK ANYONE COULD FORESEE A LIFE LIKE THIS

Ultimate Warrior’s final show ever in

It’s probably not widely, or at all, known but I slipped into the character literally on the first day of tapings. I saw it as a huge opportunity and was confident in my ability to make it work. For years, I’ve felt like I only needed a chance, and I knew that Lucha Underground would be that spotlight that I’ve been after. I’ve

Barcelona, Spain. I don’t think that

that we are a part of the change that

wrestled in 20 countries now, and it’s

anyone could forsee a life like this...and I

people have been clamoring for for years.

unfortunate that a lot of my success has

wouldn’t change it for the world.

It’s an unbelievable environment and I

come overseas and therefore doesn’t get

couldn’t be more proud to call Lucha

the publicity it deserves. The greats can

Underground home.

adapt, the greats can reinvent themselves

WHAT ARE THE BEST THINGS ABOUT WORKING AT LUCHA UNDERGROUND?

and deal with adversity in stride. I’ve ...AND WORST?

It feels amazing to be working with such

spent the entirety of my adult life in this business, far too long to be content with

a talented group of people (both in front

The worst is that we don’t film year

being ‘good’, I need to, at the very least,

of, and behind the cameras) who are all

round. I’ve been treated so well, love

strive for greatness and I knew, with Son

on the same page and thrilled to advance,

being around true professionals,

of Havoc, I could reach for those heights.

and redefine, professional wrestling.

and am insanely excited for the future. I SAID “INITIALLY” BECAUSE YOU’VE

There is a palpable excitement backstage,

16 STEELCHAIR JULY 2O15

HAVING BEEN MATT CROSS &

DONE A FINE JOB FLESHING OUT A

Cross wrestled for Italy Nu-Wrestling Evolution as Spartan 3000, inspired by the movie 300

FOR MY CHARACTER, MY VERBATIM INSTRUCTIONS WERE, “WE LOVE YOU, BE YOU”

VERY SLIGHT GIMMICK: YOU, THE WRITERS, OR BOTH?

its time in the sun. I believe people have always clamored for it, and for one reason or another, it’s been put on the back burner.

My verbatim instructions were, “we love you; be you”. It feels

With my 10 year background in competitive gymnastics I can

amazing to have trust, respect, and freedom from those running

add a whole new dimension to traditional lucha libre. It has

the ship. I feel like the rise of Son of Havoc throughout Season

been awesome working with the talented AAA luchadores and

1 of Lucha Underground has been unparalleled. Every time I

they are excited about the unique flair I bring to their style.

went to the ring, I made an opportunity for myself. I feel like people know, understand, and appreciate that I’ve been around

DID GETTING CUT FROM TOUGH ENOUGH BACK IN THE DAY

since day one, busting my butt. I’ve been offered a number

ACT AS A SPUR?

of professional wrestling contracts during my career, and the Lucha Underground contract is the first one I’ve ever signed.

I had hoped that being a part of the program would give me

I’ve never been interested in compromising my beliefs or ideals

a platform to showcase my personality and skills. In the end,

and Lucha Underground is a perfect fit for me, and I believe

it was a television program. I jumped into (not over) a fire, I

it’s wrestling’s future. I’m forever grateful to be in a situation,

routinely breakdanced in the house, nightly when everyone went

and company, where momentum and the fans are not taken for

to sleep I would juggle fruit standing on the kitchen counter,

granted, or insulted. The believers saw something in Son of

I asked John Cena, to his face and on camera, if he’d marry

Havoc, and the writers have run with it. It’s an awesome, open,

me, and I turned the house (daily) into a parkour course....

creatively fulfilling environment.

all in my one week on set. It’s unfortunate that they choose to not give audiences a glimpse of me or my time there and it’s

ONE OF THE MAIN SELLING POINTS OF THE SHOW WAS

encouraging that Lucha Underground knows talent when they

THE HIGH-FLYING LUCHA STYLE, WHICH YOU’VE SLIPPED

see it.

SEEMLESSLY INTO. HOW HAS THAT BEEN? WHAT’S BEEN THE REACTION FROM THE MEXICANS TO YOUR WORK?

WITH THE NEW TOUGH ENOUGH UNDERWAY DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR THE NEW BATCH OF COMPETITORS?

On the first phone call I ever received, it was explained to me that a select few American wrestlers were wanted to

If you’re truly passionate about professional wrestling, there’s

help bridge the gap for US television audiences. Guys who

a way. Embrace the grind, work hard, and look forward to

understood and respected Lucha Libre, and who had a storied

sleeping on floors, wrestling in barns, making 20 hour flights,

background that could add to the show. I felt uniquely suited

missing your loved one’s, being paid nothing, and realizing that

for this opportunity and I’ve always felt that there’s something

the roar of the crowd isn’t quite as loud when you’re stuck in a

primal, raw, and unfiltered about high flying, high risk wrestling.

hospital bed. The fact is, it takes someone special and if you

You don’t need to understand the mechanics of a backflip to

really love it, well, then...I’ll see you on the

enjoy it, it’s essentially programmed into our DNA to respond.

open road.

It’s awesome that Lucha Underground is finally giving this style

JULY 2O15 STEELCHAIR 17

LINUS REPORT

WORDS: ALAN BOON

LINUS REPORT: BATTLEGROUND H

ey, it’s WWE Battleground! It’s that show when we finally get to see Brock Lesnar destroy Seth Rollins,

right? Right?!?

SHEAMUS V ORTON The show started with Sheamus coming out for the opening match. A million people groaned and hit the Duggan button. And then realised they were watching live and screamed. Sheamus got the “you look stupid!” chant, which some people think is unfair. Those people are IDIOTS. He looks even worse since he had to carry about that tiny golden suitcase that he won at a confusing episode we’ll call Money In The Bank. Sheamus was fighting Randy Orton, who got a big hometown pop when he came out. Their feud is tepid, at best, because Orton is only ever on one show a week and even that was after disappearing for a few weeks on his holidays. And then they had a match. And it was a REALLY LONG MATCH, that did not fit any of the usual traditions of the PPV opener, or even any kind of pattern you’d be able to follow sensibly, even at 1am. Oh, they worked hard enough but at no point were they engaging or made you excited for the rest of the show. And there were so many finishers and finisher-class moves in the sixteen minutes (which isn’t actually that

18 STEELCHAIR JULY 2O15

long, it felt twice that) they wrestled for that I could have gone a whole three hours before seeing another. Oh, yeah, Randy Orton won, with an RKO (outta nowhere!), because putting the Money In The Bank tiny gold suitcase on Sheamus wasn’t enough, you also have to make sure he’s a loser, too. Backstage, JoJo spoke to Stephanie McMahon about the revolution in the Divas division sparked by Stephanie bringing in three girls from NXT on Raw. Before they got to that, Stephanie made a joke about towering over JoJo like The Big Show and JoJo’s reply was one of those, “oh, she took that the wrong way. You’re so fired!” moments, like the time that one girl said Stephanie was twice her size and we never saw her again. Anyway, something something Divas.

NEW DAY V PMP Hey, it’s The New Day! They came down to the ring, walking the line between being really, really fun, cool heels and throwing out cheap heat designed to get a crowd that didn’t really want to boo them to boo them. The WWE Tag-Team champions, The Prime Time Players whistled their way out next, to a negligible reaction. So Darren Young & Titus O’Neil fought Big E & Kofi Kingston, which meant that Xavier Woods got to do what he does best and throw shade from

ringside. Young played babyface in peril for most of the match, which meant that O’Neil only had to come in for the end, which is the best use of a man with bad foot placement. He came in and threw people around, which – given Big E throws people around, and The Ryback throws people around, and Cesaro’s whole thing is that he’s the strongest poundfor-pound – makes me wonder how Mark Henry is still employed. Sadly, O’Neil’s hot tag meant that The Prime Time Players retained the titles, but it wasn’t a bad match, especially after the never-ending slugfest we’d just seen. O’Neil pinned Big E with a spinebuster and I wonder how long even heels this over can continue to lose. Backstage, Paige met with her pals, Charlotte & Becky Lynch. Oh, earlier, Stephanie McMahon said there’d be a Divas three-way later in the show, and for a while I thought this meant it was between these three, like when The Four Horsemen used to wrestle each other all the time. But it wasn’t, only one of these girls would wrestle, and Paige said nice things about them.

WYATT V REIGNS They showed a hype video for the Bray Wyatt versus Roman Reigns feud, which really failed to ignite any interest at all. I love Bray Wyatt. Well, I love the concept of Bray Wyatt but the execution is more often than not

poor to terrible. So out came Bray Wyatt, holding his lantern and all that, and then Roman Reigns came down to the ring, from where he lives now, up in the bleachers. Then these two men, involved in a blood feud that involved Reigns’s young daughter, waited for the introductions to be read and the bell to be rung before they fought. Very much like the opener, this went too long. And they did too much stuff. But, unlike the opener, there was some decent stuff in there. But it should have been part of a muchshorter match. Don’t go twenty minutes when you’ve only enough stuff for ten, I guess. The crowd, which was odd all night, were halfand-half for Wyatt and Reigns, but also a few of them didn’t care at all. Part of the problem is that a “supernatural” heel needs a cartoon babyface and Reigns’s look is so off that it’s an odd visual which bleeds into everything else. So they did a ton of stuff and, at the twenty minute mark, Wyatt left the ring and grabbed some steel chairs. Reigns grabbed them off him and threw them in the ring. While the referee was removing them – because, really, that’s his job – a tall man with a beard wearing a hoodie came out of the crowd and attacked Reigns. WHO COULD THIS TALL MAN WITH A BEARD HELPING BRAY WYATT BE??? Reigns was rolled back into the ring and Wyatt hit Sister Abigail for the win. The tall man with a beard entered the ring and removed his hoodie to reveal… Luke Harper! I am Jack’s complete lack of surprise. The Wyatt Family are back together. Well, there’s only two of them, so kind of like when John Deacon refused to have anything to do with the Queen reunion.

The announcers introduced some of the St Louis Cardinals who were at ringside. They’d just finished an eighteen-inning game, which is, like, two minutes’ exercise for anyone other than the pitcher. Baseball, eh? Backstage, JoJo spoke to Naomi, Tamina, and Sasha Banks, who I REFUSE to call Team BAD. Naomi’s boobs appeared in shot a week before she did and she hyped her team. Banks said she was here to get the job done, and then Tamina kinda sexually intimidated JoJo again. Weird.

T.NAOMI V T.PAIGE Team Naomi (see?) came down to the ring for the Divas three-way, and then Team Paige came out, too. Lastly, Team Bella came out, and they all stood in the ring, staring at each other. Team Paige picked Charlotte to represent them, and Team Naomi picked Sasha Banks. Team Bella appeared to pick Nikki Bella, but then she switched, using the slowest and most public “twin magic” ever, and Brie got the nod. So they had a decent match. Really, the best Divas match of the year on the main roster. Yeah, it was awkward at times, because three-ways often are, but they mostly hit everything they were supposed to hit and I bought the build of the match. The crowd, though, could not have cared less. Putting Charlotte & Sasha Banks on PPV just six days after their debut on the main roster was a brave move but it didn’t work for the live crowd, who really didn’t know anything about them beyond the tall girl being Ric Flair’s daughter. Still, they worked hard, and they hit their spots, and Charlotte got the win, locking Brie in the Figure-Eight leglock after Brie had kicked Banks out of the ring. It’s a tentative start

for the relaunch of the Divas division. Ironically for a division built on the girls being reality stars, these new girls need more personality pieces. They threw to the pre-show panel to discuss the action so far. Backstage Renee was there, looking angelic, which just made me resent JoJo & Rich Brennan doing her job on Raw the past few weeks all the more. They revealed Bad News Barrett had beaten R-Truth on the pre-show, so you can sleep easy now. Then they showed a hype video for Kevin Owens versus John Cena.

CENA V OWENS Hey, it’s Kevin Owens! He came out, looking strangely bereft without the NXT title belt, for his WWE US title match with John Cena. Cena came out next and they had a stare-off in the ring while Eden Stiles introduced them. Then they locked up and Owens punched Cena IN THE MOUTH, which was cool. So, remember what I said about Randy Orton & Sheamus doing too much earlier in the show? Well, Cena & Owens did, too. The difference being that Cena & Owens had made a thing out of doing all that stuff, and it was in the semi-main-event, and Cena & Owens are fun to watch. So we got a Code Red again (third time’s a charm, because it looked sweet) and Cena hit his moves and Owens hit his moves and Owens hit Cena’s moves and it flowed really quite nicely and didn’t feel too long at all, despite going exactly the same amount of time as Wyatt versus Reigns. Owens got a lot of the match, although Cena wasn’t playing dumb victim, which should have told you that Cena was going to win. And he did win, with Owens tapping out to the STF to take Cena 2-1 up in their

JULY 2O15 STEELCHAIR 19

LINUS REPORT series. And you know what? I could watch these two feud for the rest of the year. That’s twice that Cena’s had an ace feud this year – Rusev between February and May, and now Owens in June and July. Who’s next? Knowing my luck, it’ll be fucking Sheamus. After the match, the referee tried to help Owens out of the ring but Owens threw him aside and left under his own power. Cena celebrated as they replayed a crowd shot of a mother and son in Cena gear leaping for joy when he won, while a pair of millennials in KO shirts sulked. That’s pro-wrestling, right there. The announcers said that The Ryback was poorly and was unable to defend the WWE Intercontinental title against The Miz & The Big Show tonight. There is a God! So The Miz came out and cut a talky, saying he had loads of publicity set up for when he won the title and now it was wasted. He said he didn’t think The Ryback was injured, just scared. He said he was the only man with the heart to appear, because who knew where The Big Show was? And, he said, The Big Show had probably been missing since the Attitude Era. Heh heh. He said that The Authority should crown him champion for showing up but The Big Show’s music played and The Big Show came out. The Miz kept talking, saying they should get together as ShowMiz but The Big Show just KO punched him and left the ring. Wait, is this turn number 41???

ROLLINS V LESNAR Hey, it’s our main event! It’s Seth Rollins versus Brock Lesnar for the WWE World Heavyweight title! They showed a hype video and then Rollins

20 STEELCHAIR JULY 2O15

made his way down to the ring. If Owens looked odd without the NXT belt, then Rollins looked super weird without his goons. A tiny, tiny weasel with no goons. Then Lesnar came out, with Paul Heyman beaming a big smile behind him, and bounced all the way down to the ring. Lilian Garcia handled ring announcements, Jimmy Korderas held the title aloft, and then it was ON. I’ve waited for this for ages. It’s sure to be climactic, right? So Lesnar killed Rollins early doors. Rollins got a little heat back but then Lesnar killed him all over again. Then the suplexes started. And continued. And continued. Rollins had had enough and ran out of the ring, climbing over the barrier and into the crowd. Lesnar chased him and LEAPED the barrier and dragged him back. A man in the crowd was the dictionary definition of awestruck. Lesnar hit some more suplexes and Rollins got a tiny comeback. He took Lesnar off his feet and then tried to hit the Pedigree but Lesnar threw him off. Lesnar had him up for the F5 but Rollins wriggled free and knocked Lesnar out of the ring. Rollins hit two tope suicidas and then looked for a third but Lesnar popped back into the ring and resumed the tour of Suplex City. After hitting suplex number thirteen – in just eight minutes – Lesnar hauled Rollins up for the F5 but then The Undertaker’s dong sounded and the arena went dark. When the lights came back on, Rollins and the referee were nowhere to be seen (and we wouldn’t see them again before the show went off the air) and The Undertaker was stood in the ring. I think Lesnar was doing his best to

act scared but it didn’t take. After all, this is a man who he killed sixteen months ago, and who didn’t do shit to him since, even when they were in the same arena for Wrestlemania. Yeah, nonsense. The staredown continued and then The Undertaker grabbed Lesnar and tried to chokeslam him. Lesnar blocked it but The Undertaker KICKED HIM IN THE BALLS. The crowd really didn’t know what to make of this, because The Undertaker is supposed to be the big babyface and Lesnar is the big babyface and what the hell were they thinking booking this? Once Lesnar was up from the “ow, my groin!”, The Undertaker hit a chokeslam and then the Tombstone piledriver. He made to leave the ring but Lesnar’s corpse was still twitching so he returned for another Tombstone. Then some weird blue mist filled the arena and lightning flashed and The Undertaker threw up his fist into the air and that’s your show. This was a Bullshit Show. Although they’d tried to build it around three top matches, no-one really cared about the Bray Wyatt/Roman Reigns encounter. The focus was squarely on Cena/Owens and Lesnar/Rollins. The former delivered, although the ending was a little weak (eh, it’s Cena), but the latter was TOTAL AND UTTER BULLSHIT. Is there any interest in seeing the unstoppable Brock Lesnar going up against an old man again? Especially if it keeps the belt on the weakest champion since the brands merged back together? I guess we’ll find out. All roads lead to Summerslam, it’s just that some of them have potholes.

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JAY LETHAL

ROH WORLD AND TELEVISION CHAMPION, JAY LETHAL SPEAKS! 22 STEELCHAIR JULY 2O15

JAY LETHAL

INTERVIEW: JAY LETHAL s a company Ring of Honor are probably at the strongest point of their entire existence in the US wrestling scene. With a recent broadcast deal with Destination America bringing them into homes across the United States, and a mix of established names and Indy darlings, Ring of Honor’s time is now. So with that in mind Steelchair Magazine spoke to the man who could arguably become the face of the company, the ROH World Heavyweight and ROH TV Champion Jay Lethal.

FIRST THINGS FIRST, CONGRATULATIONS ON WINNING THE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE. IT MUST BE PRETTY COOL> HOLDING RING OF HONOR’S TWO BIGGEST TITLES? It’s amazing, I’ve said it in a couple of other interviews. I can’t believe that I’m the number one guy, the World Champion and the Television Champion, so the undisputed champion of a wrestling company that’s known around the world for it’s wrestling. This is where the greatest wrestlers are, and I can’t believe I’m the number one guy in that company, it’s crazy to me. It’s an honour! EVEN MORE SO NOW, BECAUSE ROH HAVE RECENTLY DONE THE DEAL WITH DESTINATION AMERICA. SO YOU LITERALLY ARE THE FACE OF ROH, ON A BIGGER SCALE THAN EVER BEFORE IN TERMS OF THE COMPANIES EXPOSURE TO THE US PUBLIC.

> >

JULY 2O15 STEELCHAIR 23

JAY LETHAL

Right, which is amazing. The timing of this is also one of the things that makes this so shocking for me, what a perfect time to be the champion. YOU’VE RAISED THE PROFILE OF THE TV TITLE DUE TO YOUR LENGTHY REIGN, AND YOU’VE ALREADY SAID THAT YOU AREN’T GOING TO BE UNIFYING THE BELTS. SO WILL IT BE A CASE OF YOU DEFENDING BOTH BELTS ON A REGULAR BASIS? That very well could happen, so there is a chance that I could have to wrestle twice on the same show. But hopefully that won’t happen too often. YOU ARE THE LONGEST REIGNING TV CHAMPION, WOULD IT BE NICE FOR YOU TO DO SOMETHING SIMILAR WITH THE WORLD TITLE IN TERMS OF BREAKING RECORDS? I think that’s every champions goal, but one thing I’m interested in doing is, I think it speaks volumes when a champion holds onto a

24 STEELCHAIR JULY 2O15

championship, and he does so well with that championship that nobody brings up who’s had the belt in the past. For instance when I have the Television Championship, I don’t remember hearing anyone say “well Lethal’s the champ now, but Taven used to the champion, or how good Roderick Strong did when he had

because I’m doing such a great job, that will be an ultimate feat.

I CAN’T BELIEVE I’M THE NUMBER ONE GUY, THE WORLD AND TELEVISION CHAMPION

I lost count, but I saw in a recent review that it was thirty something defences, which is crazy.

the championship.” I feel like they didn’t reflect on the past, because I was doing such a good job with the Television Championship and that’s my goal now with the World Championship, which will pretty much be impossible considering who has had it. But if I can get them while I have it to never mention anyone from the past who’s had it

WITH THE TV CHAMPIONSHIP, YOU’VE TAKEN THE IDEA OF A FIGHTING CHAMPION TO ANOTHER LEVEL BECAUSE YOU’VE DEFENDED IT OVER THIRTY TIMES IN A YEAR AND A HALF.

I MEAN IN OTHER PROMOTIONS, YOU’VE GOT TITLES BEING DEFENDED ONCE A MONTH OR EVEN EVERY TWO MONTHS. THIRTY DEFENCES IN A YEAR AND A HALF IS UNPRECEDENTED. IS THAT SOMETHING YOU PLAN ON DOING WITH THE WORLD TITLE? ARE YOU A FIGHTING CHAMPION AT THE END OF THE DAY, NO MATTER WHAT THE PRIZE? I am a fighting champion, but I do believe that when the World Championship isn’t defended on every show it brings a little more prestige to it, because it isn’t like

“oh, another World Championship match.” I felt I was able to get away with that when it was the Television Championship, because I was out to make it more important than the World Championship. But I do believe deep down inside, that if the World Championship is defended every single time I step into the ring, like I was doing, it will bring it’s meaning down a little. Although I do hate sometimes that Championships go two months without being defended because there is a build up to a big match. I do hate that, but from a wrestling standpoint (and wrestlers do over think things), I think if it’s defended too many times it loses it’s prestige. WINNING THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, MAKES YOU THE THIRD TRIPLE CROWN WINNER, AND THE ONLY ONE TO HOLD ALL OF ROH’S SINGLES TITLES. HAVE YOU ANY DESIRE TO GO ONE FURTHER AND COMPETE FOR THE TAG TITLES AND BECOME THE FIRST QUADRUPLE CROWN? Actually I was going to say that, I wouldn’t mind doing that. So far I’m the only man to hold nearly every single title that Ring of Honor has had, because I had the Pure title as well and if I was to capture the Tag Team Championships, I would be the only person to ever hold every single championship that Ring of Honor has had. It would be very cool to say, but I haven’t given too much thought to it, I think it would be amazing because any time you can be put in a class or category of your own, and have others wanting to be in that class is an amazing

thing. Maybe we can find another member of the House of Truth for me to team with! OR JUST DO IT ALONE? Rememberer when Stone Cold has the titles, who did he team with? Mick Foley maybe? I know The Rock and Foley, so them! DIDN’T MATT MORGAN HOLD THE TNA TITLES ON HIS OWN FOR A BIT? See, I think that’s kind of ridiculous. IN TERMS OF ROH AND THE RELATIONSHIP THEY HAVE WITH NJPW, ONE OF OUR TWITTER FOLLOWERS WANTED TO KNOW IF YOU COULD DEFEND THE TITLE AGAINST ANY NEW JAPAN STAR WHO WOULD IT BE? Hands down Nakamura! It just got announced I’m teaming with him at one of our next shows, and I got to wrestle with him in fourway. I have been for a very long time a fan of Shinsuke Nakamura, I would one hundred percent if I had to pick somebody defend it against him, he’s amazing, he’s so cool man!

DONOVAN DIJAK COLUMN

At 16yrs old, Jay Lethal won a competition to earn 6 months’ free wrestling training

AY LETHAL IS THE BEST IN THE WORLD. IT IS INDISPUTABLE, IT IS UNDENIABLE.

After defeating Jay Briscoe live on pay-per-view for everyone to see, there is no longer any debating as to who holds this coveted title. When I decided to join the House of Truth, many of the critics questioned my decision. They couldn’t understand why I would give up a chance at the Ring of Honor World Television > Championship. Jay Lethal has shown the world why I made the correct decision. He is unstoppable. We are unstoppable: Because we are lead by Truth Martini, who is now not only the manager of champions, he is the manager of THE champion. It cannot be overstated just how crucial Truth Martini is to the collective success of both Jay, and the House of Truth. Only one man in the world has the power, influence, money, and respect to lead such a celebrated athlete to the promise land, and that man is Truth Martini. Being in the ring as Jay Lethal celebrated his unparalleled victory at Best in the World was an experience like no other. To be surrounded by an aura of greatness like no other in the history of our sport was not only extraordinary, but it also taught me what it takes to be the pinnacle of professional wrestling. To be the Best in the World. To be Jay Lethal.

JULY 2O15 STEELCHAIR 25

JAY LETHAL

ROH IS THE NO 2 WRESTLING COMPANY IN THE WORLD RIGHT NOW. THE SAME AS THE LIKES OF AJ STYLES AND SAMOA JOE, YOU MADE A RETURN TO ROH AFTER SUCCESSFUL RUNS IN TNA. WHAT IS IT THAT MAKES IT SO SPECIAL FOR WRESTLERS TO COME BACK TO RING OF HONOR? For me it was the fact that this is a company that is known for it’s wrestling, when I came back I had been in TNA for almost seven years maybe a little over, and I don’t think I had a single match that was over fifteen minutes, even in my Ric Flair match you don’t get to showcase everything you can do or your wrestling skill. On the TV shows like TNA and WWE, to actually do mat wrestling will eat up so much time in the broadcast, so sometimes

26 STEELCHAIR JULY 2O15

companies shy away from that, but in ROH you can actually show what you can do. Which is why so many fans love it! That was why it was important for me to come back, to prove “this other company didn’t want me, but I am much better than what they think I am” and I got to show that. That’s the other great thing about Ring of Honor, it’s that you can show that you are a great wrestler. Not too many people realise, in a company like TNA most matches are seven minutes in total and they put a commercial break inbetween it so it seems a little longer, but if you are there live a match going over 10 minutes is rare. TNA (FROM THE OUTSIDE) SEEM TO BE HAVING SOME ISSUES, AND A LOT OF PEOPLE FELT THAT WHEN THE ROH AND DESTINATION AMERICA DEAL WAS ANNOUNCED IT WAS A STAB IN THE HEART OF TNA. WHERE DO YOU SEE ROH GOING, ARE WE ON THE VERGE OF SEEING RING OF HONOR BECOMING THE “SECOND PROMOTION” AND MAIN COMPETITOR TO WWE?

I believe that now that Ring of Honor is the number two wrestling company in the world. I’m not going over board and saying we are the number one company, because at this point it would take about fifty years to catch up with WWE. But I do believe that Ring of Honor has some of the greatest wrestlers in the world, and we put out one of the greatest wrestling products with the emphasis on actual wrestling. For years Ring of Honor has struggled with getting their product out to the masses, and now that we have that it’s just a matter of time before everyone agrees that Ring of Honor is the number two company. But I, along with the rest of the locker room already believe that we are the number two company in the wrestling business right now. UNFORTUNATELY IN THE UK, I

Lethal was probably most famous for playing Black Machismo on TNA - a parody of Randy Savage

THINK OUR ACCESS TO RING OF HONOR IS A LITTLE LIMITED SO WE ARE HEARDED TO AN EXTENT TO TNA AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO WWE. AS A FORMER TNA STAR, DO YOU KEEP UP WITH TNA? DO YOU WATCH OTHER PROMOTIONS, AND KEEP YOURSELF AWARE OF THE COMPETITION?

WAS THE CHARACTER SOMETHING YOU CREATED, OR WAS IT PITCHED TO YOU? DID YOU ENJOY THE CHARACTER? BECAUSE TO ME IT FELT ALMOST EXPLOITATIVE, AND FELT LIKE SOMETHING OUT OF A BLAXPLOITATION MOVIE. WERE YOU HAPPY WITH THAT CHARACTER?

Actually much like a magazine looks at other magazines to see what’s going on, and staying ahead of the competition, I believe that every wrestler should be watching every other wrestling programme just to make sure that they stay ahead of the curve. So with that said I watch any and everything wrestling. I particularly pay closer attention to TNA because I do have a lot of friends that are still there, I was there for seven years so I made some strong connections and bonds, that can only be created over a period of time. Other than the fact that my friends are there, I still hold a place in my heart for TNA wrestling, because they helped put Jay Lethal on the map so to speak with the whole Black Machismo character, that’s what made me stand out and made people take note. I watch WWE as well, I have a few friend there which is cool to see what they’re doing.

I was not happy in the beginning, because I’ve always been a huge Macho Man fan, him and Ric Flair. I felt in the beginning, that it was kind of making fun of him, until Kevin Nash said “you gotta stop thinking of it as making fun of him, those little jokes you put in there are just helping people swallow this pill we are trying to give them, in actually your homage to your idol.” That’s when I actually started to feel good about it, but in the beginning I was a little hesitant. When you get into the wrestling business nobody really wants to be the funny guy, everyone wants to be the bad-ass world champion Steve Austin type. It isn’t until you can handle being pointed and laughed at, that you can truly come out of your shell. It was initially Kevin Nash’s idea to do it on TV, and Jeff Jerrett loved it because it was initially something I did in the locker room when things got a little boring.

JULY 2O15 STEELCHAIR 27

PHOTO: CHRIS MARCIANO

KEVIN OWENS

28 STEELCHAIR JULY 2O15

WORDS: LIAM O’ROUKE

THE UNLIKELY RISE OF KEVIN OWENS

ince McMahon is going to take one look at Kevin Owens and just take a shit” - Karl Jones, Squared Circle Gazette Radio, December 2014.

Direct, yes. Vulgar, perhaps. But indicative of everybody’s expectations when it came time for Kevin Owens to make the big move? Without a shadow of a doubt. I first saw Kevin Steen in 2007 in Ring of Honor, where he and El Generico [Sami Zayn] were gearing up for their Ladder War against The Briscoes, and I’d be lying if my first impressions of both Steen and Generico were completely positive. While I could appreciate their abilities, their weaknesses were also readily apparent to me at the time, and both of them had such obvious ceilings on them that I found it hard to jump on the bandwagon. Generico was a silly gimmick, screamed “indy for life”, and his bumping and selling was so over the top cartoony that it was preposterous. But that eventually got toned down, and with the removal of the mask, a fine tuning of his style and an emphasis on his superb facial expressions, Sami Zayn blossomed into a far more well-rounded talent that is better in this incarnation than he ever was as “The Generic Luchador”. And therein lies the fascinating paradox. As Zayn altered his presentation, so did Steen, but Steen took on a lot more of the traits that looked certain to impede his career more than progress it. When ROH decided to run with Steen as the dangerous anti-authority outsider, his physique regressed further, his overall look went from a jobber singlet to an almost backyard-ish t-shirt and athletic shorts ensemble, and he started becoming typecast in stunt show matches on ROH

> JULY 2O15 STEELCHAIR 29

KEVIN OWENS iPPVs that didn’t showcase him at his best. Jim Cornette himself made the comment on Twitter that this version of Kevin Steen would be destined to wrestle in front of 200 people forever. Indeed, if there was one guy that most people could point to and say, regardless of whatever talent he has, “that guy won’t get a chance”, it was Kevin Steen. You most certainly would not say he’d come in and pin John Cena clean as a sheet in his first PPV. His success in NXT was one thing. The fantastic introductory videos were encouraging, giving him a depth of character most are lacking. His heel turn and title win couldn’t have been executed better, and gave him a chance to showcase many of the elements he’d developed as the main heel in ROH. A knack for knowing how to play the bad guy, even in an environment that applauds that ability. A very dislikeable aggression in the ring and a wonderful dynamic that they could play on for years if executed properly, that he, through borderline delusion, would commit such dastardly and diabolical acts all in the name of providing for his beautiful family. But again, NXT success means absolutely nothing. That crowd will react to anything and try to make anything “special”, even when it isn’t, because they feel like they’re a part of something. And as we’ve seen many times, just

THE RISE OF

KEVIN OWENS

30 STEELCHAIR JULY 2O15

because something gets over on one level doesn’t mean it will get over, or even get a true chance to get over, under Vince’s watchful eye. And yet, despite every shred of doubt, WWE has gone extremely strong with Owens thus far. Not since the debut of The Shield in 2012 has WWE brought somebody

JIM CORNETTE SAID THAT KEVIN OWENS WAS DESTINED TO WRESTLE IN FRONT OF 200 PEOPLE FOREVER in so high on the card so quickly, and it’s refreshing to see. At the time of writing, his two PPV matches with Cena and NXT Title match with Balor in Japan have been top-notch, he’s been given ample mic time to get over and go toe-to-toe with Cena on Raw, he’s likely the next United States Champion, and he’s been afforded concessions very few have gotten walking in the front door. It’s at times like this I’d love to walk around through the mind of Vince McMahon for one day. All of these self-dictated limitations on what can work and what can’t, what’s right and what’s not, for so long. And then a guy comes in, typical of everything he hates, and he puts him over the golden goose, and all indications are they’re serious about him as a top level heel. While things are certainly looking good at this stage, there is still

some trepidation, and rightfully so. There is always the feeling with Vince that, at any second, the axe will fall, and he’ll go back to the line of thinking he’s always had, and Owens as a priority will crumble. There’s the worry, and it’s well-founded, that the depth of character that served him well everywhere else won’t be given in the emotionless, banal environment, where almost all of the 180 minutes of Raw are paint by numbers. Indeed, those great videos and the family dynamic have rarely been touched on, and are no longer the backbone of a potentially great character. In this world, Kevin Owens is just a bad guy. As expressed in the past with characters like Bray Wyatt and Alberto Del Rio, WWE isn’t great with evolving personalities past month one, and that could hurt Owens badly. In addition, we can’t overlook the fact that WWE is a babyface company, and heels are beaten regularly without much care or consideration for the public perception these losses create. Owens coming in and beating John Cena was a wake-up call. Owens going 50-50 in meaningless matches with the likes of Orton, Neville and Ambrose won’t do him any favours, and history has shown that WWE falls into that trap far too often. But while this awareness is key, the fact we have come this far shows that none of the rules apply when Vince McMahon doesn’t want them too. And while a completely different article could be written about just how frustrating that reality is, if Kevin Owens if the guy

PHOTO: ANTON JACKSON

Kevin Owens was one of the original four faces of the Mount Rushmore stable in PWG, with the Young Bucks & Adam Cole

Vince makes the exception to many rules, I can truly say for the first time that I don’t see a ceiling on him. Seth Rollins is a fantastic wrestler, but he’s missing the main event top heel charisma that Owens has. Sheamus is very good, but there’s an emotional void that only allows you to love or hate him so much. Bray Wyatt, by the nature of his character, only had a small window

to break through as a difference maker, and they blew it. Owens has what the others don’t. He is a potentially fascinating character, capable of eliciting true hatred from the masses, that can talk, can wrestle, can brawl, and can provide a great week-to-week body of work that doesn’t feel hackneyed and irrelevant. He’s a classic old school heel brought to life with modern attributes. He could be the next alltime great heel for this company.

And if Vince sees the same thing, and can continue to look past his personal biases and do what he’s failed to do for anyone not named Brock Lesnar, which is protect a strong heel consistently, Kevin Owens may be on the verge of true greatness in WWE. And I most certainly wouldn’t have predicted that.

JULY 2O15 STEELCHAIR 31

FIGHT CLUB PRO

WORDS: SHANE BAYLISS

FIGHT CLUB PRO REVIEW

alking into the

match were Robbie X, Jim Hunter, Eric

Planet Nightclub in

Ryan, Tyler Bate, Dave Mastiff and

Wolverhampton, it looks

Rockstar Spud, however a sneak attack

like a scene from Mad

by McKinnan and Damien Dunne would

Max or the Running Man.

mean that Spud was unable to compete,

The wrestling ring in the middle of the

with Dunne taking his place in the match.

room is surround by steel fencing and

It was a fast paced match with action

sheet metal, that’s because we are here

spilling out of the ring on a number of

for Fight Club: PRO the West Midlands

occasions culminating in an impressive

based promotion that is making a lot

moonsault from top rope to the floor.

of noise (literally, the atmosphere is

After that action returned to the ring,

deafening). Today’s event hails the return

with a run of back and forth one on one

of TNA star Rockstar Spud back to the

segments, Mastiff hit a canonball and

“cage.” The major announcement prior

looked like he was going to pick up the

to the show was the MC McKinnan would

win, before somehow Tyler Bate hit a

defend his title against the winner of six-

huge suplex for the win, winning himself

man match due to open the show, and so

a title shot in the process.

that was how the night would open. The six announced contestants for the

32 STEELCHAIR JULY 2O15

The night’s second match was scheduled

The first rule of Fight Club Pro is “you don’t talk about Fight Club Pro...

for one-fall (I don’t know why the

name not mine) was Welsh lass Nixon,

and Spud had a good match, with Spud

whole “one-fall” thing hasn’t caught

who seemingly had an axe to grind. It

picking up a big win after ‘Spudding’ out

on in America), and it was a tag match

was a pretty physical match, with the

and hitting the Underdog. The win meant

between Eddie Dennis and Mike Bird vs

cage coming into play on numerous

that Spud is elgible to cash in the trophy

Wild Boar and Dan Moloney. The match

occasions. Although certain promotions

at any time, and he made it clear that

started with a nice bit of comedy from

might shy away from putting women into

he was fully intending to do that whether

Eddie Dennis trying to avoid Wild Boar.

matches with men, this match proved

it be next month, the month after or in

Once the wrestling got going, after a

that there is no reason women can’t play

six months time, he has his eyes set to

good bit of action from Eddie Dennis,

with the big boys with Nixon hitting some

be “Fight Club fucking Pro Champion”

Boar and Moloney managed to get on

big moves and taking some big bumps

(yeah, this wasn’t a family affair). Before

a role and kept Mike Bird down for a

at the same time, she even managed to

Spud left the ring, he conducted a good

long portion of the match. The match

bring the audience into things by using

old fashioned sing-a-long of ‘Living on a

was eventually won by Wild Boar and

some random bloke as a stepping stone.

Prayer’ with the crowd.

Moloney, with Moloney pinning Eddie

Brookes would eventually retain the

Dennis.

Infinity Trophy by using the trophy to

The next match on the card was

hammer Nixon in the face.

originally billed as Jimmy Havoc vs Trent

After a short break, the wrestling

Severn, but Havoc had pulled out days

returned with a match for the Infinity

Apparently one defence wasn’t enough

before for some reason so he wasn’t

Trophy (essentially Fight Club’s Money

for Brookes, so he decided to get on the

competing tonight. Instead Severn’s

in the Bank) which guarantees the

mic and call out anyone in the locker

opponent was Manchester grappler Jack

holder a shot at the Fight Club: PRO

room who was man enough to take him

Gallagher who was sporting a lovely pair

Heavyweight Title. Taking on holder Chris

on, and that person turned out to be

of leopard print pants, which members

Brookes (poor mans Rodney Trotter, fan

Spud who was now fit to wrestle. Brookes

of the crowd noticed and thus assumed

JULY 2O15 STEELCHAIR 33

FIGHT CLUB PRO

WE SPEAK TO ROCKSTAR SPUD LATER IN THE ISSUE it was some kind of homage to Tarzan.

has the ability to back it up. Despite a

Club: PRO highlighted that they have the

This was a proper wrestling match, with

strong performance from Tyler Bate,

potential to mix it up with the perceived

a good mix of mat wrestling, grappling

McKinnan would pick up the win and

‘big boys’ of the British wrestling scene.

and one up-manship which culminated in

retain the Fight Club: PRO Heavyweight

With a strong fan base already in place,

a ‘chop off’ between the two men. I won’t

Championship.

that will only grow I don’t think it will be

lie and admit that I’m a big fan of Severn

long until the Planet Nightclub will be too

after seeing him take on Mikey Whiplash

This however was not to be the end of the

small to hold this noisy little promotion

in Birmingham earlier in the year, and

night, because it would seem that Spud

and they’ll be looking for pastures new. If

he didn’t disappoint, getting the win over

wasn’t planning on waiting to cash in the

you get the chance to catch Fight Club:

Gallagher with an impressive spinning

Infinity Trophy and did it right there and

PRO do it now whilst you’ve still got the

piledriver.

then. However it wouldn’t be for Spud

chance to embrace it in the confines of

after McKinnan retained the title due to

the Planet.

The nights first match had set up the

an interference from Jimmy Havoc, who

evenings main event with MK McKinnan

apparently although not competing was

defending his title against Tyler Bate. If

in the building. Havoc and McKinnan

there was a wrestler on display at Fight

were eventually ran out of the building by

Club: PRO who you would but money on

Clint Margera who seen enough from the

being the future of British independent

announce table and decided to step in.

wrestling, then it would probably be Tyler Bate, the guy has style and he

34 STEELCHAIR JULY 2O15

In all it was a good showing, and Fight

WORDS: SHANE BAYLISS

PHOTOS: ANTON JACKSON

JIMMY HAVOC

PROGRESS CHAMPION JIMMY HAVOC CHATTED WITH US AT DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL 36 STEELCHAIR JULY 2O15

JIMMY HAVOC

INTERVIEW: JIMMY HAVOC ownload is one of the biggest music festivals of the summer, so it isn’t the first place you would expect to see some top class British Wrestling action. However this year PROGRESS Wrestling were on hand every night, to highlight some of the UK’s best talent including PROGRESS Champion Jimmy ‘Fucking’ Havoc. We managed to catch up with Havoc whilst he was lurking around the VIP area.

TWO NIGHTS INTO THE FESTIVAL, WHAT ARE THE CROWDS LIKE? IT MUST BE A PRETTY INTERESTING > SHOW? I’m really enjoying it! The first night we got between five hundred and a thousand, and I don’t know if people knew what to expect but last night we had about three thousand people there. Really loud and really fucking into it, so yeah really good. IT DOESN’T LOOK LIKE IT’S THE BIGGEST TENT? No, its a small tent but its open sided so you can go back as far as you want. WHAT IS THE MIX LIKE, IS IT WRESTLING FANS OR DRUNK PEOPLE? Bit of both, a lot of people walking back to the camp-site seeing what it is and getting hooked in a bit. There is a lot of PROGRESS fans

> >

JULY 2O15 STEELCHAIR 37

JIMMY HAVOC here as well, a lot of people who seem to know who I am which is cool, and know what PROGRESS is. THE ‘INDY’ SCENE AT THE MOMENT. It’s blowing up massively! THAT’S CERTAINLY WHAT IT FEELS LIKE ON THE OUTSIDE, IS IT THE SAME FEELING ON THE INSIDE? It feels like it, the last couple of years everything has improved so much in terms of crowds, and people getting into the product that we are delivering. I think some of that is down to WWE because their product is improving as well, when WWE do well the independents do well, because the more people watching their product the more watch our product. Especially with the rise of NXT, people are getting more access to that ‘indy’ level wrestling, with story. Its just an alternative that people enjoy! YOU’VE ALSO GOT PROMOTIONS SUCH AS PROGRESS AND ICW OFFERING THE ON DEMAND SERVICES, SO THERE PROMOTIONS ARE MORE ACCESSIBLE TO FANS, WHO CAN KEEP UP WITH STORYLINES AND SUCH. YOU AREN’T GOING INTO AN ‘INDY’ SHOW KNOW KNOWING WHAT’S HAPPENED PREVIOUSLY. It seems like British wrestling as a whole is getting so much better, the product we are delivering compared to five or six years ago is so much better. Because of that, the On Demand stuff is brilliant. PROGRESS sold their last show out in twenty-one minutes, so the On Demand stuff as much as we might want to move venues there’s no point because we might lose

38 STEELCHAIR JULY 2O15

that atmosphere, the atmosphere is what sells those tickets. So because they can’t buy tickets they are more inclined to buy into the On Demand so they can see the shows, so for us its win win. THE MOVING VENUES IS A GREAT POINT WITH PROGRESS, BECAUSE THEY BRAND THEMSELVES AS PUNK ROCK WRESTLING. SO TO MOVE VENUE, YOU GET CONSIDERED AS SELLING OUT. If we move to Wembley Arena its killing the vibe, and what we are trying to achieve and the mission statement. OBVIOUSLY YOU’RE CURRENTLY PROGRESS CHAMPION, AND YOU ARE ONE HALF OF THE SOUTHSIDE TAG CHAMPIONS. No, we lost them last weekend. Thanks for reminding me prick! DO YOU CARRY YOUR FEUDS OVER DIFFERENT PROMOTIONS? Each promotion has its own storylines and things going on, but for me personally when I turned heel in PROGRESS I said to everyone “this is my character now.” Because its really difficult for me, if I’m portraying a character in PROGRESS which is so widely known, its difficult for me to go somewhere else and get cheered. My character is me, its who I am and that’s what I want to portray everywhere. I kind of said to promoters “I need to turn heel, and if you don’t want me to turn heel I’d rather you not use me” because my character is more important to me than being on everyones shows. I SUPPOSE YOU COULD PROBABLY GET AWAY WITH IT IN THE STATES DUE TO ALL THE STATES HAVING DIFFERENT PROMOTIONS, AND

THE SHEER SIZE OF THINGS. BUT OVER HERE ITS A BIT HARD. Because everyone watches each others products, its difficult to find that balance and change yourself up between shows. PUTTING ON A SHOW AT DOWNLOAD, I KNOW YOU DID IT AT SONISPHERE LAST YEAR DID IT JUST STEM FROM THERE? I KNOW JIM IS OBVIOUSLY ONE OF THE DRIVING FORCES OVER AT PROGRESS. No Jim, John and Glenn all have a good part in that. Jim is more of the face of things, but behind the scenes John and Glenn do as much work as Jim. Without the three of them PROGRESS wouldn’t work. In terms of this, its good for us wrestlers. Its a treat for us, its a good weekend away, its something I would have paid to come to anyway, so for me its a bonus because I’m being paid to be here and I get to wrestler every night in front of a wicked crowd, so the people who’ve been picked to be on this show are being rewarded for their hard work. At the same time its an advert, what we’re trying to do is sell our product, same as all the bands. Like At The Gates, I’ve never listened to them before, caught them today thought they were really good so I might buy there album later. Same principle! People might be walking past go “what’s this?” ESPECIALLY AT THE TIME YOU ARE ON (MIDNIGHT), PEOPLE ARE GOING TO BE WALKING PAST TOWARDS THE CAMP-SITE. Exactly! Three thousand of them last night! I KNOW YOU’VE WATCHED AT THE GATES, AND ALSO LACUNA COIL.

IF WE MOVED TO WEMBLEY IT WOULD KILL THE VIBE

ANY OTHER BANDS YOU ARE PLANNING ON SEEING WHILST YOU ARE HERE? My top three this weekend are Slipknot, Rise Against and A Day To Remember. There aren’t many bands I don’t want to see, the line-up is really fucking good. AND THERE IS THAT OPPORTUNITY TO DISCOVER NEW BANDS. We don’t wrestle until midnight every night, and the bands finish at eleven so literally that’s my day. See the bands I want, check out bands I’ve never listened and see what its like. ARE YOU STRUGGLING BY THE END OF THE DAY? OR ARE YOU MANAGING TO SLEEP IN? I’m all right actually. I did get unnecessary pissed yesterday, and was pissed off my nut by six o’clock so I did go to bed and catch a couple of hours sleep and I was fine.

SPEED ROUND IF YOU COULD ONLY WRESTLE ONE VENUE FOR THE REST OF YOUR CAREER WHICH WOULD IT BE? ELECTRIC BALLROOM. WHO’S THE FIERCEST COMPETITOR YOU’VE COME UP AGAINST? ZAC SABRE JNR. WHICH MATCH YOU’VE WRESTLED ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF?

THE FOUR WAY FROM PROGRESS CHAPTER TWELVE. WHICH MATCH DO YOU LOOK BACK AT AND GO “WHAT WERE WE THINKING?” THERE ARE SO MANY OF THEM, I CAN’T PICK ONE. WHO’S THE ONE PERSON (PAST OR PRESENT) YOU WISH YOU COULD WRESTLE? MICK FOLEY.

JULY 2O15 STEELCHAIR 39

PHOTO: LUCHA FUTURE

LUCHA FUTURE

HIJO DEL FANTASMA STARRED AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL IN LONDON, WE WERE THERE...

The stars of Lucha Future appeared on BBC’s The One Show. Blue Demon Jr slammed Chris Evans.

LUCHA SHOCK! LIVE! LUCHA FUTURE (11/07/2015, LONDON)

> >

LUCHA FUTURE

WORDS: ALAN BOON

LUCHA SHOCK! LIVE! LUCHA FUTURE (11/07/2015, LONDON) T

here are times when

rapturous standing ovation was the least

your seemingly mundane

that they deserved. They’d wowed and

life transforms into

stunned, inspired ooohs of astonishment

something spectacular

and bwahahahas of laughter, and left

and bizarre, extraordinary

everyone with a twinkle in their eye that

and delightfully odd, and utterly, utterly

may not have been there at the start of

wonderful. Sometimes you never see it

the show.

coming, and that makes the spectacle unfolding before you all the more

And it was a show! Carefully built, from

fantastic, but there are also those times

the MC’s opening monologue on the

when you know you’re going to see

history of the Royal Albert Hall, its

something special. The minute I saw that

proud wrestling tradition, and the culture

Lucha Future was going to happen at the

of lucha libre, through the musical

Royal Albert Hall was one of those times.

accompaniment of Bostich + Fussible (who made a star out of a sousaphone

On the surface of it, it’s a weird fit.

player), to the steady progression of

One of the world’s grandest concert

match action, each different, which

halls, built by royalty for the hoi polloi

culminated in the hilarious main

to experience high culture, and the

event. “Send ‘em home happy,” is the

scene of the most British night of the

promoter’s maxim. Maxim achieved.

year, the Last Night Of The Proms, is a strange place to see a working class

The opening bout featured the smaller

art form from a very unBritish place

minis who often ape their larger

across an ocean. But the fit was perfect,

counterparts, and certainly did on this

like hand in glove, and the thousands

card, and they were fast and funny

in attendance – whether they knew

and flew all over the ring and ringside,

the luchadores on show, when Fénix

lucha libre before they entered or not –

on their way to a fun contest. Blue

took on Pentagón Jr in what was billed

certainly got it.

Demoncito Jr & Octagoncito, who the

as a battle of the high flyers. Some may

announcer had mistakenly declared

have been surprised, then, when they

Although not strictly branded as such,

the rudos, or bad guys, overcame their

started with a display of mat-based hold

the luchadores stepping into the ring in

evil opponents Mini Abismo Negro &

exchanging, an exhibition of the skills

London were the top stars of Mexico’s

Mini Histeria, but the crowd didn’t care

the Mexicans possess alongside their

AAA promotion, and – bar two or three

whether they were good or bad, just that

willingness to throw themselves through

occupied elsewhere – could be said to

they had put on a hell of a show.

the air for our entertainment.

certainly accomplished in winning over

Next was the evening’s most anticipated

Despite some interference from the rudo

a crowd mostly unfamiliar with their

match, at least amongst those with a

referee, the técnico (or good guy) came

work, and by the end of the show a

previous knowledge of lucha libre and

out on top again, but the display was

be the cream of their crop. They were

42 STEELCHAIR JULY 2O15

PHOTOS: LORNAJANENEWMAN.COM

THE LUCHADORES STEPPING INTO THE RING IN LONDON, WERE THE CREAM OF THEIR CROP such that fans at ringside threw money

but it was just a man in a hat pressing

programmed with men, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s accepted

into the ring, a Mexican tradition that

buttons on a tablet computer while

that the top women will be able to mix

sadly did not carry much further back

another man pumped away on a huge

it with the mid-card men with little

into the auditorium, presumably for fear

brass instrument, but it worked and

argument.

of braining other fans with a fifty pence

fitted perfectly and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been listening to

piece.

them all week.

Teaming with Bengala, an experienced high-flyer, was Faby Apache, daughter

During the interval which followed,

The second half of the show started with

of a famous luchador, and a legend in

Bostich emerged from behind his station

the introduction of some luchadoras,

her own right in her mid-thirties. In the

at the top of the entrance way and

women wrestlers quite unlike the Divas

opposite corner, backed up by Drago,

came into the ring, accompanied by his

featured on the mainstream American

was Sexy Star, a breakout star of the

sousaphone player, for a more visual

wrestling shows. These women, at

Lucha Underground, the most critically-

live performance. Well, I say more visual

the top of their division, are often

acclaimed wrestling TV show on air

JULY 2O15 STEELCHAIR 43

LUCHA FUTURE

BY THE END OF THE SHOW A RAPTUROUS STANDING OVATION today. And it was Sexy Star & Drago

interspersed with some incredible

audience. With 2015 being the Year Of

that triumphed, again a victory for the

wrestling. Texano Jr had suffered an

Mexico in the UK, Lucha Future played

técnicos, and afterwards Sexy Star told

injury in Mexico last month but he still

their part in bringing Mexico alive.

us that she loved us, which is the closest

worked as hard as the others, eager

I’ve come to a beautiful girl declaring

to bring lucha libre to London, and

For fans of lucha libre, like myself, they

affection for me in a long time.

although we didn’t get to see el Hijo del

did much more. Although the efforts of

Fantasma’s incredible suicide dive out

other lucha promoters in the UK are very

Then it was time for the main event,

of the ring (maybe one for next time,

much appreciated and enthusiastically

and the heavyweights made their way

yes?) the crowd could not have been

supported, this was a chance to see

to the ring. The rudos were introduced

disappointed with what they saw. And,

some of the top luchadores outside

first, with el Hijo del Fantasma wearing

yes, the good guys won again, but that’s

their native land, and I can only hope it

a specially-made Union Jack mask,

exactly as it should be on such a show,

happens again, and with more regularity.

accompanied by Texano Jr and Villano IV.

isn’t it?

It may be a peculiar fantasy to one day

The técnicos then made their entrance,

see a full AAA show on our shores but if

with Psycho Clown (yes, a psycho clown

The evening closed with the whole cast

is a good guy – he usually teams with

in the ring, accepting the acclaim of

Monsther Clown & MURDER Clown, and

the fans. Pentagón Jr even tried out

(Lucha Future was promoted by ¡COMO

they’re good guys, too) and La Parka

the sousaphone, much to the delight

NO! as part of the Year Of Mexico in the UK.

(a dancing skeleton – what?!?) coming

of the hardcore fans more used to

You can watch AAA’s Sin Limite TV show

out before the attention of the crowd

seeing him commit acts of extreme

on their YouTube channel, and there is

was drawn to the top of the arena,

violence. Looking around the crowd as

live lucha libre from Lucha Britannia every

where Blue Demon Jr, on the thirtieth

they left their seats and exited into the

month at the Resistance Gallery in Bethnal

anniversary of his debut, appeared

warm summer night you couldn’t help

Green. See luchabritannia.com for details.

spotlighted and clad in traditional Aztec

but feel satisfied that Lucha Future

Thanks to Gerry Lyseight for his help with

finery.

had accomplished its unstated aim,

this article.)

and put on a fantastic show which will And then they had a match, twenty-

hopefully return to spread the culture

five minutes of side-splitting comedy

and traditions of the sport to a wider

44 STEELCHAIR JULY 2O15

you can’t dream then what’s left?

Follow Masked Republic on Twitter & Instagram @MaskedRepublic

The ONLY place to get OFFICIAL lucha libre star merchandise shipped to you worldwide! Use Code SteelChairMag For 10% Off Your 1st Order!

WORDS: STEPHEN KEENE

PHOTOS: ED WEBSTER

DUSTY RHODES

‘The American Dream’ Dusty Rhodes has passed away at the age of 69. Dusty was legendary both in the ring and also behind the scenes as a trainer, producer and booker, working for everyone from Jim Crockett Promotions, WWE, WCW and TNA, before returning to the WWE in 2005 helping to shape the future of the WWE. Dusty was also the father of current WWE Superstars Dustin ‘Goldust’ Runnels and Cody ‘Stardust’ Runnels. It goes without saying there will never be another ‘America Dream’ quite like Dusty Rhodes.

28 STEELCHAIR JULY 46 JUNE 2O15 2O15

DUSTY RHODES

DUSTY RHODES: HOPE & HARD TIMES t’s perhaps too easy to distil a 40-odd year career to one moment. Maybe it is too easy to distil professional wrestling down to one moment. But when that moment is Dusty Rhodes’ “Hard Times” promo, I think it makes sense. There’s whole world there, and a whole life.

Professional wrestling is perhaps the true working class artform. It is escapism, drama, action, glamour, > all those things that you need after a hard day. But it is also a morality play. It is where we see the trials and challenges of our own lives played out in the ring, at the TV studio, in the arenas. We see good fighting evil, and good doesn’t always prevail. We see the hardworking and the honest thwarted by the entitled, the lucky, and the cheats. Just like we see in our own lives. Professional wrestling is catharsis. You can see your own struggles there. You might not always succeed. Your heroes might not always succeed. But perhaps one day they will. And that gives you hope. Dusty Rhodes was hope. Hope for the downtrodden and the sidelined. Hope for the working man and the man who can’t work anymore. He was there for all of us who go through hard times.

JULY 2O15 STEELCHAIR 47

DUSTY RHODES This moment, the “Hard Times” promo, was in 1985. America was in the midst of the Reagan Era. The western world was in thrall to the free market. The trickle-down effect was yet to trickle down from the rich to the poor, and it wasn’t clear that it ever would. Industry was changing. Or closing. And in 1985 we were in the midst of the go-getting, look out for yourself decade. This was the culture now. Get bigger, stronger, and richer. The self is good. Selfish is better. Even in professional wrestling. The Vince McMahon revolution saw a parade of muscle-bound, shouting, singular personalities Ayn Rand would have been proud of. McMahon’s hero Hulk Hogan might have asked kids to say their prayers and eat their vitamins, but watch his matches and you’ll see he pulled as many dirty tricks as the bad guys. This was the 1980s. You win how you can.

DUSTY DIDN’T LOOK LIKE YOUR STANDARD HERO. AND THAT WAS COMPLETELY THE POINT. Then here we have Dusty Rhodes. The American Dream. And here he is redefining that dream. The old dream, that you can make whatever you want of yourself, has gone. That’s not the truth for the ordinary working man or woman. That was just a myth. You find that out when you lose your job and can’t get another one.

The American Dream cannot be built on rampant individualism. Ric Flair’s world of limousine riding and jet flying is for the few, not the many. Dusty tells us, shows us that the American Dream has to be built on community, on compassion, on love. That was a pretty astonishing thing to be saying in 1985. It is a pretty astonishing thing to be saying now. Dusty Rhodes didn’t look like your standard hero. And that is completely the point. He was an everyman, and the wonderful thing about an everyman is that we can all relate to him. But when I say everyman, I don’t mean any man. He was not just an archetype. Dusty Rhodes was a character. A completely unique character. A huge guy with blonde curly hair, lisping and jiving sounds like a character, a caricature even. Yet with Dusty Rhodes it feels completely real, completely natural. We were seeing him. He was a character. But an honest one. Wrestling is all about larger than life characters, the real world turned up, intensified. But it resonates most when it genuinely still feels real, even when we know that it is not. The best characters are those who feel true, where the persona is an extension of the person. That is a hard thing to pull off, to be yourself yet not yourself. Dusty managed that better than most, maybe better than anyone. There were many Dustys. There was Dusty the wrestler, in the ring. Dusty the talker, out of it. Dusty the booker, the man arranging the whole circus. Dusty the husband, the father, the

DUSTY RHODES WAS HOPE. HOPE FOR THE DOWNTRODDEN AND SIDELINED. HE WAS THERE FOR ALL OF US WHO GO THROUGH “HARD TIMES”. friend. He had his faults, he didn’t always get things right. And that is perhaps what made him so compelling, so easy to relate to. He wasn’t perfect. And we loved him because neither are we. I think great art makes you feel less alone in the world. And I think professional wrestling can do that as well as any novel, any piece of music, any film. Dusty Rhodes did it better than anyone. When he talks of “Hard Times” he literally reaches out to the fans, gestures for them to reach back to him, reach out to each other. Let’s gather for it. He leads a near communion. We might feel like nothing is going our way, that the fates are against us, or maybe just economics are against us. But the American Dream, the dream for any of us wherever we are, need not be just about looking out for ourselves. It can be about looking out for others. And knowing there is someone out there looking out for you. Someone who will fight for you. You, we, will always have Dusty Rhodes.

BRAND NEW OFFICE T-SHIRTS

LOOK BACK

WORDS: LEE HAZELL

A LOOK BACK AT THE 1ST ECW HARDCORE TV Lee Hazell looks back at the first episode of ECW Hardcore TV

A long, long time ago,

the floor, but was that because it was

wrestles like the Human Suplex Machine.

I can barely remember,

extreme or because they had to cut

And isn’t that all that matters?

the “E” in ECW used to

something from the budget?

The match is the perfect example of

stand for “Eastern”, not

The opening signature is a simple as

Heyman’s style of controlled chaos. A

“Extreme.” This was back

you can possibly get. Clips of past ECW

carefully set up segment that looks as if

in 1993; Paul Heyman was called Paul

moments that perfectly represent what

the whole production is getting beyond

E. Dangerously; Tazz was known as The

ECW was at the time. You have death-

the control of the crew. It never does, but

Tazmaniac; and ECW still had an NWA

defying dives, women’s clothes being

it always looks like it might. The contests

affiliation. But this was the start of a new

ripped off, hard-hitting suplexes, wicked

doesn’t ever officially start. I’ve watched

era. This wasn’t episode one, I’ll confess.

weapon shots, grimacing madmen,

it three times now and can’t make out a

This was episode twenty-three. But that

referees getting choked out and even one

bell ever ringing. I’m not even sure when

was the first episode to be made with

guy getting set alight. This was wrestling

the ref starts officiating.

Heyman in charge. And that gives a better

with few rules. This was a dangerous

Taz starts in the ring threatening Sabu’s

starting point than any number could

television program by a man who had

manger. Sabu starts outside chomping at

yield.

danger in his last name. Literally. This

the bit to get in, but he’s tied to a chair

A show with much humbler beginnings

signature was a pure definition of the

with his face in a Hannibal Lecter mask,

than the flagship broadcasts of its

show it preceded. It was fair warning.

as was his style at the time. But the

two competitors, as you would expect,

The show begins with the contest of

second he gets in the ring he goes for Taz

ECW was produced in a tiny bingo

The Public Enemy vs. Gino Caruso and

like an animal unleashed. Now we’re not

hall in Philadelphia that dared to call

The Silver Jet. This was a squash match

quite sure whose character is based on

itself an Arena. That statement itself

favouring the South Philly hoodlums.

the old Warner Bros. cartoon.

is emblematic of the promotion’s (and

Only The Jet gets any offence in and

The action then skips to Sabu throwing

the promotor’s) cock sure arrogance.

that’s one solitary, if well executed,

chairs everywhere in the audience,

Totally untested, yet supremely confident

suplex. It’s a shame that the first match

essentially ringing the fire alarm to tell

of their abilities. The barrier separating

is so one sided, but the next one doesn’t

people to get the hell out because it ain’t

disappoint.

safe. Him and Taz are about to make

The man who would become Taz faces

the 2300 Arena their ring. The cameras

TOTALLY UNTESTED,

off against the homicidal, suicidal Sabu.

pretend to strain to see the action but

Two men who would go on to become

it’s always perfectly framed. This is the

YET SUPREMELY

wrestling legends, Sabu is very much

kind of fight ECW would make itself

CONFIDENT.

the fully formed article, but Taz… isn’t.

famous for. Violent, visceral, chaotic

The Tazmaniaca, as he was then named,

without being shambolic. They always

is an overgimmicked mess. A typical

know what they are doing but the illusion

Wildman on a budget, he looks like your

that anything might happen is always a

the audience from the performers was

fat uncle whom your parents plied with

convincing one. Sabu hits a moonsault for

a flimsy piece of string resembling a

beer so he would dress up as Tarzan for

the victory.

washing line. There were no mats on

your birthday. But when he wrestles he

The next match is The Sandman vs. The

50 STEELCHAIR JULY 2O15

WORDS: MICHAEL DICKINSON

Hardcore TV host Joey Styles works for WWE as Vice-President for Digital Content

Metal Maniac (so many Maniacs; well,

above by that point. They almost went

it is ECW) The Sandman is once again

the whole show without any kind of

not the ECW legend you remember.

sports entertainment stupidity.

This guy looks halfway sane. He’s

Terry Funks post match interview

wearing more traditional wrestling

says it best. He came to ECW instead

gear for the time made from lycra

of WCW or WWE because ECW has

and spandex; he’s not yet ushering

“Wrestling spelt W-R-E-S-T-L-I-N-G”. It

in the era of the beer swilling, jeans

reminds younger readers that Ring Of

wearing, everyman wrestler that he

Honor didn’t invent basing a wrestling

would help cement. Unfortunately,

promotion around the concept of

this is far from the kind of match that

giving the hardcore fans the in-ring

would define him as the Hardcore

action they want, as opposed to the

Icon. And yeah, it was another squash

soap opera that helps the casuals

in that most of the offence was in the

swallow the concept of Professional

Maniacs favour, with Sandman only

Wrestling.

needing to land one or two moves for the win. This fortified the shows current pattern of one squash match followed by one good match. The good match in question to follow Sandman’s was our main event. Two legends in the business going head to head in a steel cage. Jimmy

A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF HEYMAN’S STYLE OF CONTROLLED

“Superfly” Snuka and Terry Funk.

CHAOS

That’s one hell of a match to put on a TV marque. It doesn’t disappoint. Although this is only for the Television

The first ECW was a well-made show,

Championship and these two would

although not without flaws. The most

both go on to hold the bigger brother,

prevalent being Heyman and Joey

the star power and the stipulation (a

Styles unrefined commentary. Styles

steel cage) raises this to PPV calibre

especially is having a hard time

main event levels.

getting the words out of his mouth

Heyman clearly wanted a prestige

and he certainly doesn’t exhibit the

to his first show in charge, so he

confidence he would have in the mid

chose his two most established and

and late 90’s. But the show has all of

experienced stars. Their chemistry

the hallmarks of the fan favourite and

is palpable, their psychology is

indie icon it would become. A hard

effortless and the action is old

hitting programme full of chaotic and

school physical. And, of course,

violent action from some of the best

the title changes hands. After all,

talent in the world.

unpredictability is one of the key traits ECW built itself upon.

Chaotic without being shambolic.

But the thing that really impresses

Wrestling spelt w-r-e-s-t-l-i-n-g

me after the match is over and the programme ends, is how much of the TV time is spent purely on the in ring action. There is one promo, one “don’t-try-this-at-home” and a thirty second skit after the main event that I was really hoping Paul E. was

remember there was a time when entrance music meant something.

A golden age that slot between the mid-70’s when The Freebirds played Lyrnrd Skynrd and today’s companies paying through the nose to play the latest hits. It was a time when wrestling companies wanted to do everything possible NOT to pay for music rights and did it all in house.

> 1992 was the year I discovered the WWF. Royal Rumble 1992 with it’s megalithic electronic horn title music was a dramatic opener. Music to me became as important as the wrestlers themselves. More than any other wrestler of the time Jake “The Snake” Roberts had the perfect theme. An aural lightshow that could have worked on any number of John Carpenter’s 1980s movies. It perfectly sums up the malevolence of the character, even when a baby face Jake is one bad MF. Like a siren it even creates an air of panic about it. It would work perfectly on an action thriller where a city is under attack. In this case though the attack comes from a moustached man and his large python. It’s an understatedly sinister piece of music for one of the most badass wrestlers to ever grace the squared circle. Even today when ‘Snake Bit’ it’s comes on my generic MP3 player it makes me strut.

ROCKSTAR SPUD

WORDS: SHANE BAYLISS // PHOTOS: KIMBERLEY BAYLISS

ROCKSTAR SPUD INTERVIEW Shane Bayliss chats with RockStar Spud

n the three plus years since

Rockstar Spud joined TNA, he has gone from British Bootcamp winner to Chief-of-Staff to being involved in of 2015’s most brutal

TNA matches; a hair vs hair match at Wembley Arena in-front of a home crowd to cashing in his X-Division title for a shot at the top prize. Yet despite all this the Baby Jesus of British wrestling has not forgotten his roots, and wants to do everything he can to help British wrestling return to it’s heights. LAST NIGHT DIXIE MADE HER RETURN TO THE IMPACT ZONE, TO ANNOUNCE THAT THERE WILL BE AN AUTHORITY FIGURE. I KNOW THOSE AT THE TAPINGS WILL KNOW WHO THAT FIGURE IS GOING TO BE BUT CAN YOU SAY MUCH ON THAT DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH IMPACT THEY WILL HAVE ON THE WAY THINGS ARE GOING TO GO? All I know is that if EC3 thinks he’s going to be in charge going forward, he’s got another thing coming. It’s going to be interesting on Impact Wrestling going forward. THE RUMOURED AUTHORITY FIGURE, IS SOMEONE THAT EC3 USED TO FUEL THE FEUD BETWEEN THE TWO OF YOU BY LAYING SOME BLAME ON YOU. IS THAT GOING TO FUEL THE FIRE BETWEEN YOU AND ETHAN? I don’t think it will ever end between me and him to be honest. You can see it every time we jump in the ring together. The fans feel it, we feel it, I don’t think that fire will be put out for a long time.

52 STEELCHAIR JULY 2O15

Spud began his career with Kev O’Neill’s FCW - their alumni also includes Dave Mastiff and our own Alan Boon

IT DOES FEEL LIKE A FEUD THAT’S GOING TO RUN. WITH ETHAN STILL BEING UNDEFEATED, AND NOW TNA CHAMPION DO YOU EVER THINK YOU’LL TAKE A SHOT AT KNOCKING HIM OFF THE TOP? I can see it down the line, we’re coming to Birmingham on the 31st of January. It’s my home town, we’ve given them Empire Strikes Back with Hair vs Hair at Wembley, so why don’t we give them Return of the Jedi in my home town. Hopefully we’ll take down the great empire like in the movie! I WAS GOING TO BRING UP THE IMPACT TOUR LATER, BUT SEEING AS YOU BROUGHT IT UP. WE SAW YOU IN MANCHESTER AND THE POP YOU GOT WAS PRETTY BIG, SO BIRMINGHAM IS GOING TO MENTAL SURELY. HAVE YOU

WITHOUT MAXIMUM RISK THERE IS NOT MAXIMUM REWARD

EVER DONE BIRMINGHAM AS PART OF TNA? Yes I have, the NIA as it was then. I teamed with Bully Ray funnily enough against Austin Aries and Ken Anderson, we just went out there and tore it up. It is one of the most fun matches I’ve ever been involved with, and will ever be and the audience had fun which is all that matters. A FEW WEEKS AGO YOU TOOK ‘OPTION C’, THAT MUST HAVE BEEN A BIT OF A DOUBLE EDGE SWORD BECAUSE ON ONE HAND YOU ARE GIVING UP THE X-DIVISON TITLE BUT ON THE OTHER HAND YOU GOT A CHANCE TO COMPETE FOR THE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE. WHAT WAS YOUR MIND GOING INTO THAT? WERE YOU ALWAYS CLEAR THAT

‘OPTION C’ WOULD BE THE OPTION

the promos I cut, it really does

YOU TOOK?

mean something it’s not a forgotten championship as much as people say.

Not really clear, but without maximum

I’ve never forgotten it, and I’m sure the

risk there’s no maximum reward, I just

guys risking their bodies every night

gave it everything I had. On that night I

haven’t forgotten about it. Every time

wasn’t good enough to beat Kurt Angle,

it’s on the line everybody goes out and

but I came that close but like a classic

bust their ass, and we’ll keep busting

underdog I’m not down yet.

our asses so you believe in the X-Divison again if you don’t believe in it, but we

IN TERMS OF THE X-DIVISON IT FELT

all believe in it that’s why we are busting

LIKE THERE WAS GOING TO BE A

our asses off. We can’t say any more

CHANGE, BECAUSE AT PRESENT THE

than that really!

X-DIVISON FEELS A BIT FORGOTTEN WITHIN TNA AND IT’S ONLY

WHEN YOU CAME INTO TNA “FULL-

CHALLENGED FOR EVERY SO OFTEN

TIME” FOLLOWING OVW AS THE CHIEF

AND NO DISRECPECT TO TIGRE UNO

OF STAFF PERSONA, DO YOU THINK

BUT IT DOESN’T FEEL LIKE THE MAIN

THAT GIMMICK EVER AFFECTED YOUR

ROSTER STARS SUCH AS YOURSELF

IMAGE IN TERMS OF THE PERCEPTION

ARE GETTING INVOLVED WITH IT, AND

OF YOUR IN-RING ABILITY? PEOPLE

THERE IS A NEED FOR A BIG FEUD TO

ARE NOW GETTING TO SEE YOUR

GIVE IT THAT BIG PUSH AND REGAIN

WRESTLING ABILITY THROUGH THE

SOME LEGITIMACY. DO YOU FEEL THE

FEUD WITH EC3, YOU ARE MORE THAN

SAME WAY?

JUST A LITTLE BRITISH LAD WHO WARES A BOW-TIE AND COLOURFUL

Everybody knows how much the X-Divison title meant to me from all

SUIT.

JULY 2O15 STEELCHAIR 53

ROCKSTAR SPUD

It didn’t bother me at all, because I knew

something a little bit more, I don’t think

in the brand that is Mark Andrews. The

I was a really good wrestler but my job

there is anyone in the history that has

other guys are phenomenal, and deserve

as an antagonist is to make you love the

campaigned more to get beat up than

a job anywhere in the world because

babyface and hate me. So why would I

me when I was a heel. I don’t have to

they are the best that this country has.

do anything to take that away from the

anything, my job is to through a table,

Right place right time, and one persons

babyface? My job is to be hated, my

my job is to get given a piledriver and my

decision and he made it and that’s

job is to get under your skin, my job is

job is to make sure the people want that

why Mark’s on Impact Wrestling, and

to annoy you and my job is to get the

to happen to me. The babyface’s job is to

he deserves to be there because he’s a

babyface over. Why would I do anything

give that to them, so we give it to them!

phenomenal young wrestler.

to jepordise that, by doing cool moves

Simple!

and showing that I’m a really good wrestler? I don’t care wether you knew

YOU CAME INTO TNA THROUGH

PRIOR TO TNA, YOU HAD THE

I was a really good wrestler or not, the

BRITISH BOOTCAMP AND HAVE BEEN

‘PROPER’ ROCKSTAR SPUD PERSONA,

boss in the back knows I’m a really good

FOLLOWED BY MANDREWS. WERE

DO YOU EVER SEE THAT COMING

wrestler, all the boys in the back know

YOU SURPRISED THAT SOMEONE IN

BACK?

I’m a really good wrestler and that shows

THAT SIMILAR X-DIVISON VEIN COME

by the money I’m paid, but my job is

THOUGH, NOT TO KNOCK MANDREWS

I don’t think so, I’m an evolved character,

to make sure that everybody thinks the

BUT HE WAS COMPETING AGAINST

not a lot of people have seen that

babyface is the best wrestler in that ring.

PEOPLE LIKE DAVE MASTIFF WHO

personality. There was the underdog

I know I’m a really good wrestler, but

WOULD HAVE OFFERED SOMETHING

babyface Spud, then there was the

there is a right time for everything and

DIFFERENT.

arrogant cocky Rockstar Spud, then we

that wasn’t the right time, every time

had British Bootcamp and the Chief of

I’m a heel isn’t the right time. That’s all I

Not at all, all six of them have a claim.

Staff and just wanted an opportunity

say to that, essentially that is people not

In fact the final sixteen have a claim of

and would have done anything for the

really understanding what this business

being the best, and deserved of the job.

Carters and now we’ve gone full circle to

is all about. Watching it visually rather

It’s just that Mark showed that little bit

underdog babyface Rockstar Spud. Right

than understanding what the core of this

more, had that little bit more in regards

now is the closest you are going to see to

business is about.

to his clothing brand outside of the

James Michael Curtin in a pro-wrestling

wrestling business, has his band outside

ring, this is me! Every time I pick up a

the wrestling business, he has his fingers

microphone it’s coming from me, and it

in a few more pies and that’s what it’s

comes from the heart, everything I say I

about, we as a company have invested

believe and I am the most comfortable

CAN’T ANSWER BETTER THAN THAT! I was asked many a time to do

54 STEELCHAIR JULY 2O15

Spud made his TNA debut on a house show in Portugal in a 4-way that also included Neville

I have ever been in a wrestling ring

BE IN A BOOM AND THERE ARE A LOT

FLESH, BUT WATCHING HIS STUFF

because I’m just allowed to be me.

OF CREDIBLE PROMOTIONS AND THE

ONLINE I CAN ONLY AGREE WITH YOU

AUDIENCES ARE GROWING. HAVE YOU

STATEMENT ABOUT KNOWING HOW TO

JEFF JARRETT MADE HIS RETURN

BEEN SEEING THAT CHANGE FROM

BE A HEEL IN THE CORRECT WAY.

BEFORE SLAMMIVERSARY, AND

OVERSEAS, CAN YOU FEEL WHERE IT

THERE SEEMS TO BE SOMETHING

IS NOW?

Sha knows what his role is, and it’s to

IN THE PIPELINE WITH GFW. DO

get the babyface over. It is then up to the

YOU GUYS IN THE BACK KNOW

I think now that promoter are running

babyface to take that and get over. Sha’s

WHAT IS HAPPENING, IT FEELS LIKE

their promotions as a business, rather

done his part of the job.

AN INVASION OF SOME KIND IS

than just running a show it’s thriving

BREWING, IS IT A MORE LONG TERM

more. Now the wrestlers are being

YOU WERE ALSO IN PRESTON FOR

RELATIONSHIP?

viewed as performers and attraction,

THE BIG FREE SHOW IN THE TOWN

the promotion can promote them as

CENTRE. THE CROWDS FOR THAT

I have no clue, I didn’t even know

such so people want to pay money to

LOOKED PRETTY HUGE, HOW WAS

Double-J was turning up, and neither did

show up and see them. The psychology

THAT BEING THERE AND GOING INTO

anyone else in the building. It is what it

isn’t completely there yet in terms of

THAT?

is, all I can suggest is you keep watching

being a heel and a babyface, instead of

Impact Wrestling because everyone of

going out and having ‘this is awesome’

It was awesome, it was all for a good

us is as out the loop as you guys, so just

matches, so when you say ‘this is

cause and great for PCW and the local

keep watching every week and see what

awesome’ it means they like both of

council in Preston as well. All the

happens. I’ve got to turn up every week

you so a heel doesn’t have his heat any

wrestler had a lot of fun, all the fans had

to find out what happens.

more, so you can’t draw money with this

a lot of fun and a lot of smiles were put

heels heat any more because he had a

on peoples faces, and at the end of the

‘good match’ and that’s what people

day that’s what the wrestling business is

MOVING AWAY FROM TNA AND INTO THE UK ‘INDY’ SCENE AND WHAT YOU HAVE BEEN UP TO LATELY. I SAW YOU IN WOLVERHAMPTON AT THE RECENT FIGHT CLUB: PRO

need to learn about. That’s what

all about.

I’ve been trying to teach in my seminars, to try and educate people to what this business

YOU’VE ALREADY TOUCHED ON THE TRAINING SEMINARS, HOW

SHOW. HOW IMPORTANT IS IT

is really about and there

IMPORTANT IS IT FOR YOU TO COME

FOR YOU TO COME BACK AND DO

is nobody better at doing

BACK AND PASS YOUR KNOWLEDGE

THE ‘INDY’ SCENE BECAUSE YOU

it than Sha Samuels and

ON TO THE NEXT GENERATION? IT’S

SEEMED TO HAVE A MOMENT IN THAT RING, AND THAT YOU FELT SOMETHING IS THAT THE CASE?

Dave Mastiff. They know exactly what they

CLEARLY SOMETHING YOU FEEL STRONGLY ABOUT.

are doing, and exactly what they

Absolutely, I love teaching, love opening peoples eyes and educating people on

Yeah, every time!

need to do

what this is, because I know the feeling

It is my job now

every time

I get when I’m being taught by Tommy

to come back,

they are

Dreamer, Al Snow, Simon Diamond,

in there.

Shane Helms or Abyss when I come

and give back to what helped make

When they

backstage and give me feedback on my

me and I will always do that. I

are the minority then

match and pass on this knowledge. I love

am proud of that fact because

you know there is a

that! Nobody should lose sight of that,

all these guys helped get me over

problem, so we need

they should always want to learn after

and become the performer I am,

to get more guys like

every match. It’s my job because not a

so without these guys I wouldn’t

that and change the

lot of guys have been taught what I’ve

be anything so it is my job now

way guys who aren’t

been taught, and otherwise this scene

to give back to those guys.

like that think.

isn’t going to thrive forever and it is ready to take off it just needs to be lit

TALKING OF ‘THOSE GUYS’,

I’VE NOT SEEN

THE UK SCENE SEEMS TO

IN SHA IN THE

properly.

JULY 2O15 STEELCHAIR 55

WORDS: BRENDAN MCELENY

JAMES STORM SPEED ROUND EXCLUSIVELY Agree or disagree? FOR STEELCHAIR tweet us at @SteelchairMag VIPS 38 STEELCHAIR JULY 56 JUNE 2O15 2O15

PHOTO: MANDY COOMBES

PHOTO: SWIFTWJ

SHANE DOUGLAS

We look at the legend of the franchise

LEGENDS OF THE RING:

SHANE DOUGLAS WHERE ARE THEY NOW? JULY 2O15 STEELCHAIR 57

he term ‘legend’ can be

overused today in the world of professional wrestling. How do you determine if someone is

a legend? Especially in a business like this, what does a promoter, a wrestler,

PHOTOS: MANDY COOMBES

SHANE DOUGLAS

“THE FRANCHISE” SHANE DOUGLAS CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

a commentator or even a writer have to do to receive their ‘legend’ title? More importantly, legend or not, the life after a momentous career within the business can either be exciting or for some depressing. But what exactly do certain men or women do when they decide it is time to hang up their boots? I’d like to take this opportunity to welcome you the reader to my brand new feature for Steelchair Magazine and what I hope will be the start of a number of intriguing articles.

58 STEELCHAIR JULY 2O15

spotlight when he debuted for Eastern Championship Wrestling, then turned Extreme Championship Wrestling, in 1993. During his time in ECW, Shane Douglas found himself literally throwing the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, as prestigious as it was, on the ground. It was this moment

After watching a number of ECW events this past week on the WWE Network and noticing how vocal this individual has been not only for ECW but in his own career I thought that I would start my first article on 4x ECW World Heavyweight Champion Shane Douglas. Some might say that the legacy and popularity of ECW is due to Shane Douglas and what he did to put Paul Heyman’s rising company on the map in 1994. After a run in WCW, Shane Douglas found his

that Douglas proudly told the world that he was the man that “ignites the new flame of the sport of professional wrestling!” After leaving ECW in 1995, Douglas returned to the WWF with college type dean gimmick. It’s worth noting that during his time in WCW, Shane Douglas was a high school teacher teaching economics and American history. Now we know who Matt Striker watched for influence. Although his run in WWF was short, he still captured

Shane Douglas and Mick Foley trained together

TOP 5

the Intercontinental Championship.

promoting, he has recently been

However, as a result of Razor Ramon,

trying to set up a new wrestling

Douglas’ one and only title in the

company in which he would use his

WWF lasted only 11 minutes. After

experience of promoting Xtreme Pro

departuring WWF, “The Franchise”

Wrestling and Hardcore Homecoming,

returned to both ECW and WCW until

to hopefully build an exciting new

2001. Once WWE purchased the two

product in the coming years. In

promotions, Douglas helped expand

2013, Douglas appeared as himself

the Xtreme Pro Wrestling promotion

in the movie Pro Wrestlers Vs

for almost a year before going to TNA

Zombies. Yes this is a real thing! If

in which he spent 4 years included

you haven’t watched it please find it

as a commentator, interviewer and as

and tell me how crazy it is.....if you

An epic brawl which saw Douglas go up

well as wrestling from time to time.

like seeing Roddy Piper, Hacksaw

against two of the best in ECW.

It was during his time in TNA where

Jim Duggan and Kurt Angle take

Douglas decided to go into semi-

on zombies that is. More recently

retirement before his release from the

Douglas has returned to the NWA,

company in 2007.

after throwing its championship on the ground and at the start of June

SHANE DOUGLAS MATCHES

VS. TERRY FUNK

champion after beating Buff Bagwell in a Russian Chain match. Although it is satisfying to see Douglas still

VS. JERICHO VS. 2

independent championships there

You will be happy to know that Shane

remembered as the man that put the

Douglas is still involved within the

Extreme in Extreme Championship

wrestling business. After returning

Wrestling. Without his outspoken

to TNA in 2009 and spending just a

presence, ECW may not have taken

month there, Douglas returned to the

off as rapidly and as strongly and

independent

circuit which

one could wonder what the history of

is where he

currently terms of

COLD SCORPIO VS. PITBULL 2 HEATWAVE, 96

A memorable match for the ECW Television Championship with four widely talented stars.

competing and winning various is no doubt that he will be forever

still is. In

THE NIGHT THE LINE WAS CROSSED, 94

this year, became the new NCWA

WHERE IS “THE FRANCHISE” NOW?

VS. SABU

VS. JUSTIN CREDIBLE CYBERSLAM, 99

An intense bout with an incredible performance by both in a limited time scale

professional wrestling would be like today without the influence of ECW. That being said, Shane Douglas has wrestled through an incredible career and continues to do what he loves to this day as well as spending time being a motivational speaker. Can you

W/ STEAMBOAT

VS. HOLLYWOOD BLONDES WCW WORLDWIDE, 93

One of the many spectacular matches between these two teams.

think of anyone else better to motivate you? Well yes. Nevertheless it is clear to see that the future still looks bright for Troy Martin who will always be known worldwide as “The Franchise” Shane Douglas.

VS. BAM BAM

BIGELOW NOVEMBER TO REMEMBER, 97

A hard hitting match for the ECW Heavyweight title which saw Douglas try capture the gold.

JULY 2O15 STEELCHAIR 59

#STEELCHAIRCHAT

WE ASKED ON TWITTER: WHOâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S THE WORST EVER WWE CHAMPION? @_Tatew Vince McMahon or Rey Mysterio if you judge of reign length @TheJav151 The Miz @samueLjacksonc JBL @BrendanMcEleny Khali @AlphaMaleBrand Alberto Del Rio or Seth Rollins @DanGriffin21 Alberto Del Rio. Completely forgettable. Zero charisma.

@ACasey994 id say Rey, only because he beat MIZ to win the title..... MIZ atleast beat orton to win

@ryan1234_young Miz

@D_EGGPLANT jack swagger

@Tunes_9 Maybe Miz @shanebayliss JBL @JamieFlood94 Stan Stasiak. Literally a transitional champion between Pedro Morales and Bruno Sammartino. @josephharris67 Seth Rollins @realityerawwe Dolph Ziggler

@BITWvideos22 The Great Khali or Mysterio @imxxawesome51 seth rollins

Agree or disagree? tweet us at @SteelchairMag

@STEELCHAIRMAG 60 STEELCHAIR JULY 2O15

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